Life is Beautiful...: 2011

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Christmas...

I read this poem today and thought I would share. I pray that our boys will someday be able to write a Christmas Wish List as lovingly as this...

A Child's Wish List

Snowflakes softly falling
Upon your window they play
Your blankets snug around you,
Into sleep you drift away.

I bend to gently kiss you,
when I see that on the floor
there's a letter, neatly written
I wonder who it's for.

I quietly unfold it
making sure you're still asleep,
It's a Christmas list for Jesus
one my heart will always keep.

It started just as always
with the toys seen on TV,
A new watch for your father
and a winter coat for me.

But as my eyes read on
I could see that deep inside
there were many things you wished for
that your loving heart would hide.

You asked if your friend Molly
could have another Dad;
It seems her father hits her
and it makes you very sad.

Then you asked dear Lord
if the neighbors down the street
could find a job, that he might have
some food, and clothes, and heat.

You saw a family on the news
whose house had blown away,
"Dear Lord, send them just one thing,
a place where they can stay."

"Do you know that little bear I have
the one I love so dear?
I'd like you to deliver it
to child in Africa this year".

"And as you can do anything
on this night of your birth,
Could you bring to everyone
goodwill and peace on earth".

"There's one last thing before you go,
so grateful I would be,
if you'd do something special for mommy
she's been so good to me."

I pulled the letter close to me'
I felt it melt my heart.
Those tiny hands had written
what no other could impart.

"And a little child shall lead them,"
was whispered in my ear
As I watched you sleep on Christmas Eve
while daddy and I stood near.

Friday, November 25, 2011

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving!

We celebrated this special day with 28 of our closest friends and family and missed those who were not able to join us! Everybody brought a dish to pass and a bottle of wine to share. We provided the turkey, stuffing, & gravy! I was excited as we served everything on both our china and my Grandmother's wedding china. We started prepping a couple of days before Thanksgiving by lying out the bread to let it dry out for the stuffing. The night before I prepared my first turkey with the help of MC!!! She taught me how to give the turkey a "bath" and to pinch all of it's "blackheads" out! GROSS!!!! We prepped the turkey the night before, made some appetizers, and set up the dining room for all of our guests. On Thanksgiving I was up bright and early starting the stuffing and putting our turkey in the new oven roaster! Instead of cooking our turkey in the oven this year we chose to cook it the way MC had cooked it when Casey was growing up! She had always used an oven roaster which virtually steams the chicken. It doesn't give the best presentation, but man that turkey was juicy! This is the only way I will cook turkey in the future!

As we were getting ready and our friends and family were arriving I started to think of everything I have to be thankful for in my life. I watched Casey running around our house completing each and every task I asked him to complete. He was hanging curtains, setting up tables, watching the boys, wiping down counters, running things upstairs and downstairs, changing diapers, and making cakes. He did all of this stopping here and there to ask me "what else can I do to help" all while giving me a kiss. He is an amazing husband and father and I'm so thankful for him. I am thankful for my beautiful children. I watched as Noah wandered the house and played. He is such a smart and funny little guy. He does things on a daily basis to make me laugh and I am so thankful that he is mine. Gabriel played quietly smiling up at us almost as if he knew Mommy and Daddy were busy running around. He is our little angel. He is the happiest and easiest baby. I am so thankful God blessed us with him even if he was a little unexpected! I am thankful for our parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, Aunts, Uncles, cousins, and nieces! Each and every one of them play such a special part in our lives!

We hope your Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours!

I combined our china and my grandma's wedding china! It was great and not one plate was chipped or broken!!!! Yeah!

The dining room all set-up...

Casey, Grandpa, and I

Casey and MC

Everybody helped with the stuffing! Even Gabe!

Grandpa and Noah watchin' some football!

Aunt Be and Uncle John John

Finally ready to eat!

My BIG helper!!!!

Noah and Grandpa the day after Thanksgiving... I told you he makes me laugh!!! He insisted on Grandpa wearing his "hat"... aka a placemat!

Gabriel gazing at his new best friend!

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Family Visits

The last couple of weeks have been wonderful! We have had a lot of family visits and the boys have loved every minute of it! Noah is particularly fond of his "Gampas"! We kept asking him who was coming to visit and he would ecstatically say "mowa" (aka Maura) followed by "gampa"!!! It has now changed first to "gampa" followed by "mowa" and "be" who is Aunt Beth. Casey's Dad came to visit the first weekend of November, my Dad and sister were here the second weekend and this past weekend Casey and I took a trip to Las Vegas while my sister and Sean watched the boys.

What you don't know is that right after this picture was taken we headed upstairs and watched a movie in our room!!! Wow! Life has changed!

Dinner at Lawry's... unbelievably delicious!

As most of you know Noah is obsessed with car keys and anything that Mommy and Daddy carry/use/wear! I was making breakfast the other day and came around the corner and here was my little Noah... these are my glasses, phone and car keys! I had to laugh and of course snapped a pic!

Pooh Bear (Aunt Eileen) and Tigger (Grandpa Vincent) stopped by to say hello to the boys! My Aunt and her husband had dressed up as Pooh and Tigger and she thought the boys would love it! Gabe loved it... Noah was unsure!

Pooh and Gabey

Notice Noah's face...

Gabriel loves this car!!! He is learning to walk by pushing it from the back...

Pushing the car around! He's only 7 months old!!! I'm in so much trouble!

Grandpa and Gabe...

Uncle Tim reading with Gabriel... they love their "grandpa" Tim!!! Our California family meets every couple of weeks at a local sushi restaurant just to visit/catch up... Uncle Tim is amazing with our little guys and they adore him!

My cousin Stephen and his girlfriend Katherine... he is a marine stationed at Camp Pendleton

My Dad, Uncle Tim, and Aunt Eileen (they are 3 of 12 kids)

Grandpa Wood and the boys

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

I thought I would post a few of the pictures we had done of the boys. It's no easy task gettin' pics of these boys! LOL... We walked out with scratches and bruises on both!

I love this picture!

Can you tell this is at the end of the "photo shoot"!

Gabe: "MOM I can't work with this guy! "

The infamous pluggy and blanky!

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Crock-Pot Cookin'!!!

I just had to share this recipe! Since having Noah and Gabriel I have become a HUGE fan of the crock-pot. How can you beat throwing a few ingredients together in one dish, waiting for a few hours and then voila... you have DINNER! I found this recipe online when looking for something different. Casey said it's a keeper and even I liked it! YUM!

Broccoli, Mushroom, and cream cheese chicken

Ingredients

4-5 large chicken breasts cut into cubes
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 package italian salad dressing mix (1ounce)
3 cups sliced mushrooms
1 large onion chopped
1 can cream of chicken soup (10.75oz)
1 bag frozen broccoli
1 package of cream cheese, cubed
1/4 cup dry sherry
Angel hair pasta (cooked)

Directions

1. Toss cubed chicken with olive oil and italian salad dressing mix and place in crock pot. Let cook for 3 hours on low.
2. In a skillet saute onion for 5 minutes or until onion is tender
3. Add soup, cream cheese, sherry, mushrooms and broccoli to skillet. Cook until hot. Add to crock-pot.
4. Cover and cook on low for one hour. Serve over cooked Angel hair pasta!!! YUMMY!!!

I got this recipe from here...

http://family.go.com/food/recipe-cp-629861-cream-cheese-chicken-with-broccoli-t/

Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween Night

HAPPY HALLOWEEN
We had a great time celebrating Halloween! Uncle John John, Shannon, Uncle Sean, Aunt Bethie, & Maura all came over to help celebrate! We started the evening with Uncle Johnny hanging the "falling" spider. He put it on a pulley system and let it drop when trick or treaters came to the door! It was fun to scare the kids! Muahahahahahaha!!!! Next we filled our tummies with some yummy pizza hut pizza, then we all got dressed up to go get some treats! Uncle Johnny showed up as a pizza hut delivery guy/hick, Shannon showed up as a tube of toothpaste, Uncle Sean as white trash, Aunt Bethie as a pirate, and last, but not least, Daddy.....as..... DUFF MAN! For those of you who aren't familiar with the DUFF MAN he is a character from the Simpson's. Don't feel bad if you don't know as we had a lot of kids stopping Daddy/Casey to ask "who he was supposed to be". Casey replied have you seen the Simpson's... kid... "nope"... LOL... Now we are officially old. Noah, Maura and Gabriel loved going to the houses and REALLY loved the "free" candy! Noah was begging for a milky way right up until we were taking him up to go "night night"! What a fun night...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!