ABC's

A - Age: 31
B - Bed size: Queen
C - Chore you hate: scrubbing the bathtubs
D - Dad's Name: Len
E - Essential start your day item: coffee
F - Favorite actor(s): Julia Roberts, Matthew McConaughey and lots more
G - Gold or Silver: Gold
H - Height: 5 foot
I - Instruments you play(ed): claranet
J - Job title: Family Manager, Housewife, Stay at Home Mom
K - Kid(s): 2 daughters
L - Living arrangements: Own a house in the burbs - live with hubby and 2 daughters
M - Mom's name: Joyce
N - Nicknames: Annie, Hun, Babe, Mommy
O - Overnight hospital stay other than your own birth: When my daughters were born and when I had Kidney surgery
P - Pet Peeve: Not doing things to the best of your ability, laziness.
Q - Quotes you like: Live Simply, Love Generously, Care Deeply, Speak Kindly and Leave the Rest to God
R - Right or left handed: right
S - Siblings: 1 brother (1975 - 2004) RIP Danny I love you and miss you terribly.
T - Time you wake up: When I get pulled out of bed.
U- Underwear: Comfy, Clean and colorful
V - Vegetable you dislike: Brustle Sprouts
W - Ways you run late: chaos getting the kids ready, lack of planning
X - X-rays you've had: several on my kidneys
Y - Yummy food you make: Chili Mac, Italian sausage with peppers and pasta, Magic Bars - there are too many to list.
Z - Zodiac: Virgo

Happy 3rd Birthday My Darling Kylie

Today my sweet little Kylie is 3 yrs old.

It feels like just yesterday that I held her in the hospital

and when we introduced her to her big sister.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of her ...

Jason's Surprise 30th Birthday Party

I am so happy how wonderful this party turned out. It was not easy keeping this from the man I share everything with. It was so worth every minute I put into it to see how happy it made him. I can’t say enough great things about Jason, he is an outstanding husband, father and friend and he truly deserves every happiness in the world. I am so blessed to have him to spend the rest of my life with.

Here is a very surprised, happy and teary hubbie!

Jason and his brother Scott

Jason and Mom

Jason with 2 of his childhood friend's, Dori and Justin

Paige, Annie, Abbie and Joe (Paige's fiance)

Jason and I went to high school with Paige and Abbie.

Siara (our neice) and Jason

Thank you Siara for helping decorate at the last minute!

Siara and I

HEPD Crew

This was the most delicious cake EVER (for real). Thank you so much Carri!

Jason blowing out 30 candles.

Jason still blowing out 30 candles

New Years Eve

The girl's had their first sleepover on New Years Eve. My friend Didi and her son came over and spent the night. We went out to dinner with the kids, came home, had dessert, snacked on munchies, and watched movies. Miranda and Matthew were able to stay awake till after midnight. Kylie almost did, she fell asleep at 11:15pm. Jason worked but was home at 11:20pm to ring in the New Year with us.

Kylie loved wearing Matthew's Car Slippers.

A Fun Gingerbread Party

After Christmas, but before the New Year, we hosted our first annual Gingerbread Party. Here are some pictures to show you just how much fun we had.

Brianna (the pro) had no problems at all, but in the bottom right hand corner you can see Amy is having a hard time keeping her's together.

Amy not giving up and still working hard to keep it standing. (Let me clarify, Jason started that Gingerbread House, he just jumped right in, not reading the directions, so he is to blame for that house always falling apart, but we forgive him.)

Kylie and Amy posing for a picture after all their hard work.

Morgan, Betsy, Miranda and Kylie hard at work.

The 4 little cousins (Morgan, Kylie, Miranda and Betsy)...

And the Gingerbread House that they made

A Recipe to Share...

Chili Mac

1.5 - 2 cups Elbow Macaroni
1 pound Ground Beef
1 can tomato soup
1/2 soup can water
4 oz tomato sauce
1 can kidney beans or chili beans
1 - 2 cloves garlic or garlic powder to your liking
1/3 cup Chili Powder (less or more depending on how you like it)
1 small onion
1 cup - 1.5 cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Cook Pasta Till Done
While Pasta is cooking, brown ground beef and diced up onion together
When beef is no longer pink, drain grease
Add soup, water, tomato sauce, kidney beans (drained), garlic and chili powder.
Cover and Cook on Medium - High Heat until chili is less liquidy. Check and stir frequently so it does not burn on the bottom of pan.
Once Chili is done add pasta and cheese, stir and enjoy. We like to put oyster crackers on top.

I hope your family likes this recipe as much as mine does!

IM BACK IN BLOG WORLD

I am so sorry that I have not posted in FOREVER! I have gotten caught up with life. From Holiday Parties to planning Birthday Parties to Fun times with Friends to Organizing area's of the house and Playing with our new 4 legged friend. It's all coming soon - I promise, day by day I will update you on everything that has been going on here since my very unplanned break from blogging!

Happy Winter!

I am so sorry that I have not posted anything in so long (again). We have had quite a few snowy day's, so most of the time we are enjoying inside where it is warm. A few things we have been doing while enjoying the holiday season...decorating the house, baking cookies, shopping for and spending time with friends and family, reading Christmas stories, going for drive's in our town to admire all the pretty holiday lights and decorations, and enjoying the holiday edition of "Saturday Morning Breakfasts" (this morning Jason made Santa Clause French Toast and Reindeer Oatmeal). Thursday we went to see Miranda sing in her school's Christmas play. All the children did such a wonderful job!

This coming week is going to be busy for me, time has caught up with me and I still have quite a few things to do before Christmas Eve. I have 5 people to shop for, Kylie and I need to get hair cuts and I need to buy Kylie new shoes to go with her Christmas dress. So that is what I will be working on from now until Christmas Eve.

I hope you all have a blessed Christmas and a very safe and Happy New Year!

Happy Day After Thanksgiving!

I am sorry it has been so long since my last post ~ it has been busy here. The girl's have been fighting something that just wont go away. They have bad colds and coughs but despite we had a wonderfully blessed Thanksgiving yesterday. My parents, best friend and her son came over to our house and we had a delicious early Thanksgiving dinner. Jason had to work that afternoon and evening so we ate at 1pm so he could have a Thanksgiving meal before work. We had Turkey and Ham, Mashed Potato, Sweet Potato, Stuffing, Green Bean Casserole, Rolls, and Cranberry Sauce. For dessert we had my mom's homemade Cream Cheese jello, Pumpkin Pie, French Silk Pie, and Mini Eclairs. We watched the annual parade which the kids love to watch, the kid's played, we joked, laughed and ended the night relaxing in front of the fire with a nice warm cup of coffee and Baileys. I am sorry I do not have any pictures to share with you, I was too busy cooking and didn't take any pictures. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday yesterday!

A Recipe to Share...

Here is one of my families favorite dinner's I make...

Italian Sausage, Peppers and Pasta

2 – 3 cups Penne Pasta (you can use any pasta you have)
1 pound uncooked Italian sausage links
½ cup beef broth
½ green pepper cut into strips (I use a full green pepper)
½ red pepper cut into strips (I use a full red pepper)
½ yellow pepper cut into strips (I use a full yellow pepper)
2 Romano Tomatoes sliced and then cut into four pieces
½ onion or 1 small onion diced
2 tablespoons olive or vegetable oil
4 tablespoons basil
Salt – to taste


1 - Cook and drain pasta as directed on package
2 - Cut Sausage links crosswise into ¼ inch slices. Spray non stick skillet with cooking spray; heat over medium high heat. Add sausage, cook sausage until brown and no longer pink in the middle. Stir in beef broth. Cover and cook over medium heat 5 minutes.
3 – Add diced onion, tomatoes, peppers and 2 tablespoons basil. (I also add 1 or 2 cloves fresh garlic) Stir and heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4 – In a mixing bowl, toss pasta with 2 tablespoons oil and 2 tablespoons basil. Divide pasta among bowls and top with sausage mixture.

Blessings in Times of Sadness

Yesterday was a very emotionally hard day for me. My cat whom I got as a 4 week old kitten died yesterday morning, she was 8 yrs old. Despite the day's circumstances, I kept my plans to go visit my grandmother yesterday afternoon. While I went to visit Bushia, the girl's spent a few hours at Papa and Grandma's house. (Bushia mean's grandmother in Polish, and that's what we call her most of the time). Bushia lives in an assisted living home. She was very surprised and very happy to see me. She hasn't been her happy self for the past 5 day's due to some hearing loss from ear wax (she is getting drops to loosen the wax which causes her to not be able to hear normally, but that will be all taken care of at her dr appt tomorrow). Usually she keeps busy going to play Bingo and to Art and Music Class and to different meetings they have there, but because of the hearing loss she just stayed in her room. Bushia is 94 yrs old and we have always been very close. Even though she is up in age she is still very smart, funny and so with it. Her mind is like a 70 yr old, no kidding, and she does not look her age! I am so blessed to have special time with her, even though it is not as often as it use to be. I usually visit her 2 - 3 times a month. While I was visiting, we talked and did some cross word puzzles. She was laughing at how much easier it was for me to find those words that she was so sure were NOT in that puzzle. She would say "You are kidding me, you found it!?!" Since I was there at her dinner time, we had dinner together in the main dining room which was so nice, and good food! After dinner, we visited more and then it was time for me to leave. She continued to thank me for coming to visit her and told me how happy it made her. It's a blessing for me to have that time with her and in return we blessed each other by being together. Here are some pictures of my dear grandmother.

At my parents house celebrating Easter - 2000

Grandma and I (again at my parents house) - 2003

At a family wedding in 2006. She still always has her sense of humor. That is her making funny faces with my cousins! Before that picture was taken we were dancing with her while she was in her wheel chair.

Grandma and I outside in front of her home - 2008