4

Even though we had a play date because it was his birthday .....

I think it was me that really need him this week.

There aren't words that could do this little one justice.

He is getting older and more grown up every time I see him, which is something I can hardly take in knowing that the older he gets, the less he is going to let me steal him away. I fear gifts and happy meals are only going to be good bribes for a few more years, but for now I will savor the little moments we get together.

Happy birthday little Zayners!

last month

Did I miss March?

Time is going by too fast. We are busy. I think about doing a blog post, but then I think about making cookies....or catching up on the DVR.....or scrapbooking somebodies wedding pictures(1 week!!). And clearly all those things turned out to be better options.

First things first.

Easter.

It came and went. We celebrated a week early with my family and turns out we were divinely inspired, because I wore flip flops while the rest of you who celebrated a week later froze.

The kids went crazy when they found a letter from the Easter Bunny telling them he left eggs for them to find to practice for the real Easter.

How was I ever entertained before these kids got here?

It was the perfect ending to a chapter in our family story. (More on that later)

The day before Easter, we celebrated with Cole's family. As always, we colored a million eggs...such a fun tradition

Cole takes egg coloring very seriously.

Sasha and J.R.

And we can't forget Dan on his yearly quest to make the ugliest egg.

Mission accomplished :)

This is Bella. She is the newest addition to the family. Well, not our family, but Sasha's. They got her a couple months ago and she is such a sweetie. Crazy but sweet.

March also brought Miss Mylee's 2nd birthday. We enjoyed cake and ice cream and good company while she slept through the fun. She finally woke up just as soon as we were all about to leave and we got to see her open her presents.


Lastly, my parents moved away. It has been a bittersweet time in my life. I have been spoiled for so long working just minutes away from their house and getting to have lunch with them every day.

I have so many memories in the house that I mostly grew up in. I didn't think it would be hard. It is. I don't get attached to things and I'm not a super sentimental person. But, I guess I am.

With the end of this chapter brings an awesome new one. They patiently waited while their new house was being built and it is finally done! They love the neighborhood, they love the house and my dad loves being closer to work.

I am sad they are farther away, but happy that its close enough to see them often. With the way that it has all fallen into place, I have no doubt that this is where they are supposed to be.

One last family picture at the old house

That wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

My lesson has hopefully been learned because April is and will be CRAZY!!!!! Lots of fun things coming up, so check back later :)

a Shower & a Birthday

Saturday was my sister-in-law's PinK bridal shower I threw for her....

I made some cute fortune cookies for deco/giveaways. Inside was a saying or quote about LoVe and candy. They turned out so much cuter than I imagined.

Cute cookies found here

These Foot Scrub favors turned out so fun. After the shower I actually tried it out and it makes my feet feel soooo nice!

Cute idea found here

These babies were a lot of work, but so worth it! I think Sasha and Cole's mom agree that it was a horrible idea. We all ate way too many of them. Oh, and they were PinK inside!

Recipe found here

Everything turned out so cute and I had a blast putting it together! I love weddings and all that comes with them. I am so excited for Sasha and have really loved seeing her beautiful wedding plans come together. To all those that came to celebrate....Thank You!

The bride to be!

Later that same day, we celebrated my mother-in-law's birthday....and not just any birthday...it was a BIG birthday. Now that I think about it, we should have made a much bigger deal out of it than we did....

Regardless of what birthday she celebrates, we hope she always has a special one!

And of course Whit was there with her party face on

We love and appreciate you!

7.25.09

Me Day.

A big ThAnK YoU to all who made my day(s) special!

If I could be anywhere in the world today....

I'd be with this cute little guy...

celebrating his 3rd birthday!

I can't stand how far away he is at times like these. We were lucky enough to have Trev around while his mom & dad were in San Diego last month. He is one of the smartest, cleanest, most well behaved, loving boys in the world. No matter who he is around, he will always brighten your day (he's even cute when he's in a bad mood!)

I wish I were there to give him a squeeze! I might just have to break out the ice cream in his honor :)

Happy Birthday Trev!!!! Love you!

Birthday Boy

Little Zayners turned 3 last week! We celebrated last Thursday with cake, ice cream and presents! This little stinker has been talking about his "Bob Builder Birthday" since Christmas. No one has any idea where he came up with the idea that he would absolutely have a Bob the Builder birthday party, and there was NO changing his mind.

Zayne is such a sweet, sensitive, loving, smart, independent, expressive little boy. He has brought so much sunshine to so many lives in his short 3 years of life. No matter what kind of mood I'm in, he can always put a smile on my face and make me laugh. This little one will always have a special place in my heart.

Missy Miley

This cute little girl turned OnE on Monday!

She could totally pass for my child (and I'd gladly accept!)

She was so into the idea of a birthday party. She dug right into her pink cupcake, squeeled and giggled after every gift she opened and danced around to her musical stroller from Grandma & Grandpa all night.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, if I knew all my kids would turn out as good as she is, I'd have at least 12 of them! She is one of the best babies alive. She never makes a peep and has a constant smile on her beautiful little face. She loves jewelry and chocolate and all things GiRLy, but loves to be included in EVERYTHING her brothers do.

If I had the power, I'd stop her from growing right now...she is just perfect.

LoVe YoU BaBy MiLey!!

Happy Birthday!!

We celebrated Cole's mom's birthday this past weekend. Her birthday was actually on Friday, so we let her open her gift that night. (Its never a birthday without Whit's help.)

On Saturday, we did most of the celebrating. We had a girls day out to get our nails done and then had cake and ice cream with Cole's grandparents. (her cake is thinking summery thoughts...my kind of cake!)

Later that night, we went out for some de-lish Chinese food and Confessions of a Shopaholic (see it!)

We had a fun birthday weekend with everyone! Happy Birthday Babette, hope this year brings you everything you wish for! We love you!

Christmas Miracle

Today my little nephew Vincent turned 5. As he opened his gifts and blew out his small number of candles, I couldn't help but be so overwhelmed with emotion that this little one is here with us blowing out candles on his 5th birthday.

2 1/2 years ago, he wasn't feeling well and hadn't been feeling himself for awhile. He had been taken in for an ear infection and a number of small things before he became really sick. He was admitted into the hospital for pneumonia the beginning of July in 2006. Cole and I went to visit him on the 4th of July and nothing seemed right. It didn't seem like it was something so small and I just had a gut feeling that something wasn't ok.

Just days after that, he was taken to Primary Children's for something that no one could figure out. After weeks of test after test, doctors still had not found the answer to what was taking over his body. On two occasions, my parents were called down to say their "goodbyes". I can without a doubt say that those couple of months were the absolute hardest months of my entire life.

After a couple of certain tests, several doctors had a conference and had an idea that it could be a rare disease called CGD or Chronic granulomatous disease. Basically, Vincent had no immune system. So when he got pneumonia, his body had no way of fighting it off. A doctor (or I'd like to think...angel) who had spent a lot of time studying this disease finally came into the picture. They knew what it was, but had a hard time fixing it. In what seemed like his last minutes of life, the doctor called a colleague of his for any ideas he might have to help before it was too late. He suggested a steroid treatment that ultimately saved his life.

It is truly a miracle that this little one is still here with us. There were so many times in those months that so many of us felt like we could not go on.

Although he has had Christmases with us before this one, he is a continual reminder that Heavenly Father lives and loves us enough to give us miracles when we've almost given up hope. There is no better time of year to be reminded of the every day miracles that happen in our lives. Every year Vincent will always be my little Christmas miracle.

Here are a few pictures of our little celebration we had tonight....

I love you forever buddy!

Yup, he's MY main squeeze....

Happy Birthday to you....Happy Birthday to you!!!! Happy Birthday Dearest Coley.....Happy Birthday to YOU!!!!!

To celebrate his big day, here's a little tribute to my one and only:

26 things you may or may not know about Cole...

1. He is sure to kiss me goodbye everyday before we part...even if he's half asleep.

2. His favorite food is pizza. He could eat it 5 times a week. Sometimes we do :)

3. He can't kiss me when I have any lip stuff on cause it grosses him out. He can detect the slightest trace of chapstick.

4. As much as it pains him, he will sit through The Hills with me every week.

5. He could never have too many electronics.

6. He lets me sleep in as long as I want on Saturdays. He'll usually get up early and clean my car for me....awwww.

7. He is one of the smartest cookies I know. He's really good at thinking logically...I'm not.

8. When we're driving in the car, he'll sing along to songs on the radio, but make up his own words. He'll usually add my name into every song. blush

9. He will only eat a hamburger plain. Ketchup only.

10. He has almost no arch in either of his feet.

11. He loves a good nap as much as I do.

12. He treats his dog like his child. Every time he sees her, she brightens his day.

13. When he was in high school, he got hit in the face with a hockey stick and it detached his retina. He still has stitches in his eye.

14. He can play any game unbelievably well under pressure.

15. He loves spicy food. Not just spicy, but burn your nose hairs spicy.

16. He nicknames everyone. Mine is usually Mad-i, his mom-Mook, his sister-Pug, his friends- Naton, Brin, Tig....and so on. Strange, but fun.

17. On our honeymoon, we walked down the street from our hotel to get dinner and on our way back it was pouring rain. Not like any rainstorm you've seen either, it was literally like buckets of water coming down (we were in Florida). As we were running back, Cole kept teasing me that the alligators were going to come out because of the rain. He doesn't know that I really was terrified. But it was still one of my favorite memories so far.

18. He loves most all sports and has a lot of favorite teams, but his heart will always be with the Yankees. I love that we have that in common.

19. He played soccer in high school and was good at it. He can't wait til the day he has time to play again.

20. He is so good with money. He has taught me to be frugal....thank goodness!

21. We were on TRL on MTV and met Alicia Keys. She accidentally hit Cole in the head and said "Oh I'm sorry baby".

22. He can't sleep unless there is some kind of fan on. Even in the winter.

23. He's really excited to be a dad one day.

24. He looks so good when he's all wet.

25. His favorite holiday is Halloween. We've had our house decorated for a month already. All Halloween day, he listens to the radio until he hears "Pumpkin Head Harvey" and then sings it ALLLLL night. He really cracks me up.

26. He is sweet, caring, thoughtful, smart, strong, energetic, hard-working, good looking, hilarious, playful, loving, generous, loyal, and best of all he is my hubby :)


If I were a creative wife, I would have attempted to make you this cake.....

Maybe next year. Have a super fabulous day love! Sooooo lucky to call you MiNe!


Love you!

I Hate Goodbyes.

(don't forget to pause the music at the bottom)

Can't believe they're tearing it down. ESPN gave Yankee Stadium a 6 hour funeral yesterday (a beautiful one I might add) before the last game and we were able to enjoy bits a pieces of it throughout the day. Such history in one place! I may have shead a few little tears.

We'll miss you friend.

Luckily, we had something to take our minds off the mourning....we celebrated Sasha's birthday! She turns the big 22 on Tuesday, so we went over to the in-laws for dinner, cake & ice cream.


Have a happy birthday Sash! (Click here to wish her a happy birthday!)