Jenn's Life

Duke's 2nd Birthday Party

2012-01-22T16:47:00.000-05:00

This is Duke sticking his finger into the flame of the candle. I am sure you are thinking "how can you let him do that"? Well, I just happened to capture it on camera but it was much faster in person. He did stick his finger fully in the flame and didn't even think twice about it. Just made a face and that was that. I don't know what he is thinking . . . ever.

Ripping through all the great gifts he got! He loves presents. I am impressed that he waited as long as he did before opening them.

I made Gram's famous Texas Sheet Cake for his party for the first time. I only had to call her once while making it and it turned out delicious. I have been eating the leftovers all day. The cake is so moist and the icing is like fudge - YUM!

Aves spent the night with us and we were all pretty tired after the party! There were 23 kids and 18 adults!! That was a lot of people and a lot of fun!!!

Duke's second birthday was a success. Even with all the snow and cruddy weather we had, we still had a great party for Duke's 2nd birthday. We had lots of yummy food from The Pourhouse in Pottstown (Rock's place). Lots of friends and family came to help celebrate and braved the yucky weather to get here.

Thanks to everyone who came! I love getting to visit and eat good food!

Happy New Year Everyone!

2012-01-06T08:50:00.000-05:00

Happy 2012! I CAN'T believe it is 12 years past the millenium! I am looking forward to a new year and all that it will bring. I am hoping it's a good year but as long as we all remain healthy, I will be happy. Anymore, that's all I can say is important.

The last few weeks were a little tough with our little guy. He turned two and all of the sudden, he's is not going to bed for us, he started biting, hitting and just being very destructive and difficult to say the least. He's all boy but that's not going to fly where manners are concerned and with him being physical with other people. I have an arsenal of books to read and reread so hopefully we'll figure it out and find a way to communicate with him better. He's back to school and on a schedule again so I think that the excitement of his birthday and Christmas knocked him off the wagon a bit. He's been better the last few days and I am glad. It is stinking hard being a parent of a toddler.

Our first meal of he new year! Sauerkraut, sausage, pork and apples - YUM!!

Duke eating lunch at his new table!

Trying to make a statement? It does get cold in his room so I am fine with him sleeping in layers :-)

My first attempt at bokeh photography (the blurry lights in the background). Lots of fun and cool pictures you can take with Christmas tree lights. The drum was already laying on the floor and the animals or my son would not stay still long enought for me to take the picture so the drum it was. You'll probably see more of this throughout the year but not uless I figure out how to do it without the big Christmas tree up.

Duke is lapping up any extra ice cream he could get.

Loving him some ice cream.

I haven't taken many pictures of my other kids lately so I thought she looked cute laying on Duke's vest. She is still my little crazy sweetheart. She is my snuggler and my bed heater.

My sister, Megan, got me a whoopie pie cookbook and two WP baking sheets. I love to bake treats so I was excited to try these out! We have our cousin party this week so I thought I would try out a few of the recipes. They turned out pretty darn good and I have to say that the pumpkin with cream cheese filling and the chocolate with peanut butter filling are SO GOOD! The classic chocolate with marshmallow is good but the other two were SO GOOD.

The first week of 2012 is not so bad so far. I am back to work next week and Jack only has 10 weeks of the Police Academy left. It looks as though 2012 is going to be one busy year for us. I am hoping to get in some resolutions but I think I will do it differently this year. I am going to set mini goals for myself throughout the year. Maybe one a month to break it up. Last year, I did get some needed organizing done. I didn't learn to crochet, which is still on my list. I just need the time. Still lots to organize too but I was happy with what I got done last year with all the bumps in the road here and there and with our crazy busy schedules.

Looking forward to a great year!!

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T15:50:00.000-05:00

Christmas tree 2011! I love it.

Duke's pile of goods. Underneath all the gifts is a really sweet table and chairs from Pappy and Grammy. He is going to love sitting and coloring.

Duke was a little shy when he woke up and came downstairs to see what santa brought him. There were 10 people in the room watching for his reaction. When I was his age, this would have caused some serious crying and then hiding. He slowly warmed up and once he got started opening, it went fast.

Cousin, Avah, showing him the ropes.

Avah is learning to read so I couldn't pass up the set of Beverly Cleary books at costco. I love that she is reading.

This is one of Duke's favorite toys! He played with it all morning. It was a last minute gift from Aunt B, Avah and Travis.

Playing a dsi game with Gramma.

New hat and gloves from Gramma

New potty from Aunt Megan and Marc!

Mom-mom and Pop-pop got Duke a new train table with lots of trains. He is showing Pappy how it works.

Taking a chocolate milk break with Grammy. Birthday and Christmas in one weekend will tire any little boy out.

Christmas 2011 is over already and it was very fun and busy. I feel like all I keep talking about this year is how fast time is going, but geez, I can't believe that it's all over! I have a two year old and it's going to be 2012!!

It's time to figure out what it is that I want to accomplish in 2012. I didn't do everything that I wanted to do in 2011 but I think that I made a good chunk in my organizing. I will continue with that in 2012 and hopefully work on one project a month. I really need to organize my photos electronically and the prints. I just hope that my family continues to be healthy in 2012 and beyond. I won't ask for much else.

Duke's 2nd Birthday!

2011-12-30T20:16:00.000-05:00

He got his scooter and some balloons when he came down the morning of the 24th, his 2nd birthday. Aunt Megan and Marc were here and he was excited. Aunt B and Avah came over with some birthday presents and sugar free cupcakes!!

Feeling a little shy about all the attention he was getting. He was snuggling with Daddy, trying to wake up.

Sitting at the head of the table with his Daddy's dinner plate the evening of his birthday! He's a big boy now.

His birthday cake. We went with a basic boxed Betty Crocker. We didn't have a lot of time!

Finally getting to sing his favorite song to himself. He was singing the loudest of us all. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DUKE HORGAN". I am laughing so hard that I can barely sing.

Our family picture in front of the tree.

Lots of family.

The Horgan family on Christmas Eve!!

More family - yayyy! All for Duke's birthday.

It is definitely a crazy busy time of year for a birthday but at least family is already getting together and there's lots to do. It was a whirlwind of a weekend for sure but we all got through it and I think Duke enjoyed himself. It is almost a week past his birthday and we are finally getting back to our schedule. I now have a two year old and have officially entered the "terrible two's". I will probably post more about that later - but not on his birthday post.

He's grown so much over the past two years that I feel like we've had a lifetime with him. He's an amazing little guy and we love him so much. I still don't understand where he gets all the energy from. I get tired just thinking about tomorrow.

A fun Christmas filled weekend!

2011-12-18T21:04:00.000-05:00

This is last weekend when we had cousin Avah for the weekend. We love having her and Duke LOVES having her at our house. She read to him and his little mother hen.

My boss's son goes to the same high school that Jack did so she bought Duke a LaSalle sweatshirt! He loves it.

My dessert for the Callahan Christmas party. Another ice box cake.

The Horgan clan with Santa! We are growing and growing!

My little family with santa. We had so muh fun at the firehouse party! Duke had fun playing with all the little cousins his own age and dancing and singing.

Maybe a future career?

Our little drummer boy.

slash rock star

Mom-mom has the box on her head!! They did the "shuffle" this year. Way more energy than I have for sure! Duke loved it.

We had lots to do this weekend! I was worried I wouldn't get it all done. I had shopping, wrapping, baking, oh and showering and partying. Friday night is when I tried to get most of the baking done and I did. I also finished my shopping and most of my wrapping. Saturday we had the Callahan Christmas party to go to. It's at the firehouse every year and I think now it is up to 102 people! There are so many little kids! I love it. There is dancing and non stop playing. It's one giant play date. Duke had a GREAT time. He loved running around with all the kids and he kept grabbing the microphone. He is really into opening presents this year. It is going to be crazy and fun on Christmas morning. I hope he doesn't get too greedy. I really want it to be more special than just the presents. I want him to look forward to the traditions and not just the gifts but what kid doesn't love presents. Something we have to work on with him.

I love this time of year. The chaos and all the running around for the commercialism of the holiday, I could do without but the music, movies and all the family get togethers, I love. I could sit and relax by the Christmas tree all day long. I remember always loving having the Christmas tree up. I get to look back on the year that flew by and realize how lucky I am to have such a good and healthy family. This economy really stinks right now and times are uncertain but we are healthy and able to work and are surrounded by good people. We can't get any luckier. I often think of all the kids in the hospital over the holidays and all the families who can't afford to buy their kids presents and it always makes me a little sadder this time of year. For as much as I love the joy of the season, I always think about people who are not as fortunate. I am one lucky girl.

Polar Express!

2011-12-10T14:23:00.000-05:00

I would say that our first train ride was a success and a good time for Duke and Avah. Lots of treats and a visit from Santa. What more could two kids ask for?

Our train! Duke has been asking for a few weeks now and today was finally the day.

Getting ready to board!

Aunt B and Avah getting ready to board our car.

A very happy family on the train.

Munching on pretzels and smiling for Aunt Jenn!

Avah being goofy.

Getting ready to hand the tickets over to the ticket taker(?).

Santa talking to Duke and Avah. Avah wants a ds game and Duke wants a train. They each got a candy cane and a bell from Santa and Mrs. Claus.

Enjoying the sites.

Big hugs from Avah.

And a smooharoo for Duke.

Pictures with Santa 2011

2011-12-09T13:18:00.000-05:00

Getting ready to go see Santa at the mall. We got all dressed for pictures and we are prepared to tell Santa that we want "trains" for Christmas. And that we want to "ride a train".

The Polar Express is on the t.v., which is what he is staring at. We are going to ride the "Polar Express" in New Hope/Ivyland tomorrow so we've been talking about it for a few days now. I think he will be too excited for words.

He wasn't so sure about Santa. He said that he would tell him he wanted trains and he did but from Daddy's lap. He also gave Santa a high five.

But when it came time for Daddy to exit the picture, he did not like that one bit. Not one bit. So again this year our Santa picture is sad but we will keep trying. One day he will smile with Santa, one day.

Then we had chick-fil-a for lunch and all was right with the world.

Tomorrow we are going on a train ride at 9:30 AM. It's about an hour and a half round trip and Santa gives all the kids a present (ornament) and we all get hot chocolate. I am excited to see how he likes the train ride because it's all he's talked about for a couple weeks now. He wants to ride a train. I am not sure how he will feel about Santa and Mrs. Claus being on board but I think he'll enjoy it. I am looking forward to it and taking pictures. He has his jammies all ready to wear.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-12-05T21:18:00.000-05:00

Evan wondering what the heck that round white creature sitting in front of him is.

Duke at the dinner table scooping up his first black olive. He is concentrating very hard.

The Donaldson's at Evan's very first Thanksgiving meal.

Three cute cousins hanging out and Gram Gram and Pap Pap's.

Evan in Pappy's hat. He thinks he is pretty cool.

Duke is wearing Pappy's other hat.

We traveled to central/western PA for Thanksgiving this yar. As always, it's great to see family but it also is a reminder of how infrequent we can all get together and how far we all live apart. I don't know if it's getting older or having kids that makes me have a hard time with this. Anyway, it was a weekend to be thankful and I was very thankful that I got to see my family for the weekend.

We did some shopping, ate some great food and relaxed and just enjoyed the company. I won't get to see all my family over Christmas but I am looking forward to spending time at home with our local family and having company at the house for Christmas day. I just hope we all don't get the flu like last year!! It was crazy.

We got the Elf on the Shelf out for Duke. He seems to enjoy it and the undecorated Christmas tree. The first thing he said this morning was "Christmas tree" and he came down, turned on the lights and then looked for his elf. I love it!

Duke's First Pro Haircut.

2011-11-19T09:49:00.001-05:00

As you can clearly see, he is not happy about this but she got the job done and monk-monk survived too. Maybe he was scared of the nails?

Jack took Duke to get his haircut today. It was getting so long and he would freak when we came near him with scissors. So Jack took him to the hair cuttery this morning. Jack said it was a "nightmare" but they got the job done and he got a lollipop. He looks adorable and now we are all cleaned up for Thanksgiving next week and hopefully our 2 year old pictures.

Today we are gearing up for Avah's birthday party!! We are going to Jumpin' Jacks and then having cake at the house. Looking forward to it all.

Happy Birthday, Avah!

2011-11-18T20:36:00.000-05:00

Today, Avah turned 7 years old! She is growing up extremely fast. Tonight I stopped into her hip hop dance class to bring her a hot chocolate on her birthday and I stayed to watch her dance. She has been taking dance for, I believe, 4 years now and she was SO GOOD! She is so talented and loves to dance. I can't wait to see her recital this year. She tries to teach Duke how to dance and I must say that after a few lessons from cousin, Avah, he is moving like a rock star.

But, mostly he likes to rearrange our house and invade every nook and cranny. This is the area where we had shelves that held my cookbooks. Had to find another place for them because Duke likes to hang out there and eat popsicles.

I thought this was so cute with his little legs hanging off the stool. He is coloring on paper with his severe bed head. He desperately needs a haircut but he won't let scissors 6 inches from his head so I don't know how we're going to do this. I don't want him to have a buzz cut but it might have to happen. It's getting so long.

Halloween 2011

2011-11-12T20:39:00.000-05:00

Dukes first time trick or treating and he did great! His cousin, Avah, was a good teacher! The only issue that came up was him not understanding why he wasn't invited in each house to hang out. He didn't quite understand that after he got the treat, he had to leave. They were super cute though.

My niece and nephews are very creative with their Halloween costumes too. Hard to imagine that underneath the scary masks and makeup are cute kids!

Matt and Chris need to eat a little more candy!!

Evan greeting the trick or treaters in Pittsburgh with his cute little monkey head.

We have a nerd, a scary vampire and the devil at mom-mom and pop-pop's for dinner.

Duke and Daddy ready to make their rounds in the hood.

Miss Avah in her pretty monster high outfit and scary makeup!

On to the next house.

Spooky!!!

I kind of wish we got trick or treaters at our house but we don't and we weren't home anyway, walking Duke around. I like seeing all the costumes! We saw lots of Dads dressed up walking around with their kids. It was a nice night to go out and we got lots of candy, er, Duke got lots of candy. No one gives peppermint patties?? I love those.

Snow in October?!

2011-10-30T14:43:00.000-04:00

I don't remember the last time we had snow like this in October! It was a bazaar day yesterday when it started to snow and it was snowing - heavy! I thought for sure it was not going to stick and it was just be a snowy rain but it was coming down hard and fast. We lost power for about 5 hours during the day. Just when we were trying to decide what we were going to have for dinner and how we were going to make it, we decided to get up and gather our candles and flashlights before it started to get dark. As soon as Jack went to get the flashlights the lights came on. Thank heavens, it was getting cold.

"Is there enough snow out there yet, Dad?"

"Now is there enough snow out there, Dad?"

Ok, lets get ready!

Time to play in the snow!

Snow is yummy!

Duke's first snowman!

Looking good!

Big hugs for the snowman.

All warm in his jammies and hat.

Apple picking day! We were supposed to go yesterday but the snow storm changed our plans a little bit.

Cousin Avah is ready to go! Looking cute as ever!

She was looking forward to teaching Duke how to climb a tree.

I gave my sister, B, the tough job of pulling the wagon through the thick, wet snow.

Crazy cousins.

Looking for big apples, and good trees to climb!

I can reach it!

Mommy and Duke

Avah is posing in a tree for a picture.

Hmmm, who could have taken a bite out of this apple?

All done. Ready to go get some cider donuts and cider and get in the warm car!

Duke is all tired out and taking a nap now. He couldn't wait to crawl into bed and now I am relaxing watching QVC and waiting for Jack to get home from school. He will then take the remote from me so he can watch football. I can't wait to hear all about his day though. Today is the first day at the shooting range.

Claire Bear

2011-10-29T13:24:00.000-04:00

For anyone who knows me knows that my pets are my family. They are not my animals, they are considered members of my family. As annoying as they can be at times, my feelings will never change. The hardest part of being a pet owner, which I had to discover the hard way last summer, is when one dies. It is like taking a piece of your heart and it is hard. Much harder than I would ever expect it to. When one dies suddenly and tragically, it is all the more painful because you start thinking of all the things you could have done and should have done differently. It is hard. And I don't wish it on anyone, ever.

Last night, my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Jerry went through this. They adopted a bulldog, Claire Bear, last year. Claire Bear was immediately loved and became a part of their family. Their daughters and their families loved her too, especially the boys, Zach and Elliott. Claire Bear was so friendly and loved the energy of the kids. She was gentle and loving and playful.

Unfortunately she got outside when the pizza man came to the door and was hit by a speeding car in their neighborhood and Claire Bear died. My Aunt had just posted a picture of her wearing a Cardinals hat for the world series. It can happen that fast and a happy night can turn dark and sad in an instant. When I got my cousins texts, my heart sank. I remembered how sad I was when Stoli died and how much their entire family loved Claire Bear and my heart broke for them. I know they will get through this tough time and move on remembering all the happy times with CB but it will take some time. The snoring at night (and all day), the toys, the empty food bowl and leftover food will be reminders of her until eventually it's just the memories left.

She was so good with kids. Duke was loving her up during our trip this summer when we got to meet her.

Having a bully breathing in your ear is one of a kind. Duke spent a good amount of time with her when we were there.

She will be missed tremendously.

Halloween Time!

2011-10-28T19:26:00.000-04:00

This has been the first week that we had time to get pumpkins and get ready for Halloween. Thank goodness we picked up a costume a couple weeks ago. We had a Halloween family dinner this week at mom-mom and pop-pop's and a Halloween parade at day care. We got to pick a pumpkin and carve it tonight and now all we need to do is apple pick on Sunday after the snow storm (not a typo) and trick or treat on Monday!

We showed up to dinner and Daddy, er Batman, was already there!

Cute cousins all dressed up.

Eating some brains for dessert!

Lots of pumpkins to choose!

Having fun at the pumpkin patch. Then Bridget showed us the way out of the corn maze! So much fun at Merrymead Farm.

Found one!

Halloween parade at school. Walking with Mr. Curt, er Oscar the Grouch, who Duke just loves.

Duke did NOT want to be Tom Selleck this year (or Burt Reynolds). That was out of the question.

He got a new cup in the mail today from Gramma Beth so he got a chocolate, peanut butter and banana milkshake.

First pumpkin carving. This is so cool!

Ewwwwwwwy, Goooooey

All done!

Family Photo!

2011-10-22T20:01:00.001-04:00

Cutest family ever.

Check out all the cute photos here at Joelle's Blog!

Been baking . . . a lot.

2011-10-21T21:08:00.000-04:00

This week I had two requests for cookies. Five dozen for a baby shower and five dozen for a bridal shower. I love the creativity of baking cookies but my weeks have been much busier with Jack in school. Trying to make extra money where I can, I am very happy to take on the extra work.

Owl and Moon theme for the baby shower. I went with the colors that were on the invitation.

This cookie was for a bridal shower. I had free reign to do whatever I wanted to do so I went with something simple and classic. The flower was on the invite and the color is the same as the bridesmaid dresses. I was nervous about these. They get picked up tomorrow so I can't wait to see the reaction.

I can't wait to clean my house tomorrow! Yes, you read that correctly. I have been so busy baking and decorating and keeping kids fed and entertained that my house has been destroyed in the meantime.

Jack's 3rd week of school was another good one. He is doing well and enjoying most of it. He is out tonight riding along with a REAL officer until 1 a.m. I am nervous but excited to hear how his night went when he gets home.

For my exciting life, I am pumped that a new Shop Rite grocery store opened around the corner from us! Yep, so good deals to get. I now need to get back on track with my coupons. Going to a new grocery store is as exciting as it gets right now. Yawn.

It's Been Awhile.

2011-10-16T15:13:00.001-04:00

Since last month . . .

Duke took his first bubble bath.

Kimmy and Brian celebrated their engagement! Duke is going to be the Ring ~~Terror~~ Bearer!

We watched Avah play soccer.

We went to "Horganfest" at Matt and Kim's.

We jumped off hay stack mazes!

We got together to celebrate birthdays.

We celebrated Mom-Mom's birthday with grandkids and cupcakes!

Had some CRAZY weather.

Practiced for ~~Brian and Kimmy's wedding~~ Halloween.

So we had a busy month since my last post. We have had many illnesses and family hospital visits over the past month too. Everyone is coming along and recovering but no more scares for awhile! I hope that the rest of the year sloooowwwwsssss down so we can enjoy the fall weather, the holiday's and each other more.

Jack started the police academy at the beginning of October! He is on his way to a new career. I am happy to see him so happy. From what I can tell he is really enjoying it and made the right decision. I also know that this is life changing for all of us so I need to get used to having a cop for a hubs. That means strange hours, working holiday's, worrying about Jack everytime he goes to work, and a gun in the house. A patient of mine has a husband who is a police officer and her advice to me was "Make plans as if he's not going to be there" - what? She meant party/event plans with him having a hectic schedule. I think we'll adjust just fine. He has to iron his uniform every night so that's cool ;-)

I started watching QVC again. Every October I start turning the channel to QVC just to listen. I don't buy anything, it's just like my mac 'n cheese, my comfort food. Something about the cooler weather and the preparation for all the holiday's makes me enjoy watching QVC. Does this qualify me for a psych eval? I hope not.

My cousin, Hilary in MO gave birth to a precious baby boy named William Collins Austin. He is ADORABLE. I wish you all could see the cute birth announcement we got in the mail. I have it on the fridge and everytime I look at it I smile. I want to kiss his chubby little baby cheeks. Come on over and take a peek at it.

Some other events since we chatted last - our hot water heater bit the dust, the breaks in the Taurus bit the dust and I (did not bite the dust) celebrated another birthday.

Happy Birthday Bridget!

2011-09-13T19:46:00.003-04:00

Happy 4th Birthday Bridget!

2011 Resolutions

2011-09-05T20:11:00.004-04:00

My new recipe binder for all my printed recipes, emailed recipes, magazine clippings, etc.

Well, I looked back on the resolutions/goals that I made for myself at the beginning of the year and cringed. I have really only been working on organization. Crocheting and exercising - I forgot all about and saving, well, that just isn't happening this year. I have put together a coupon binder to help me save on groceries and such. I finished my recipe binder and am almost finished with our family binder. So I organized some paperwork and recipes that I had lying in a pile for awhile. The family binder is almost complete and should really help with organizing our family info into one spot and easy to find. The binders help with my piles of paperwork clutter. It's a start.

I even have my snickerdoodle recipe from Mrs. Platt's home ec class in junior high!!

My Calendar. I am really trying to keep track of it all and delegate certain tasks to days of the week.

I have watched some exercise dvds. I didn't actually do the exercises but that's the next step. There will be NO pictures of me exercising by the way.

Cheap and Easy

2011-09-04T10:45:00.004-04:00

That's what's for dinner. I have been trying recipes in the crockpot for a couple years now because I don't have to do alot of cooking when I get home from work and there's less clean up afterwards. You can pretty much toss in any piece of meat and at the end of the day, you have a tender and juicy dinner. I should have titled this blog "Broke and Lazy".

Here's a recipe for you (and you can modify it anyway you like)

2.5 lb of cheap chuck roast (any cheap roast will do and size may vary depending on the mouths you have to feed.)

1 packet of dry ranch dressing

1 packet of dry italian dressing

1 packet of dry brown gravy mix
If I don't have one of the above, I just don't add it. It still tastes good. I usually stock up when there is a sale or buy the store brand - whatever's cheaper. Sodium, what sodium?
1 cup of water

Vegetables of your choice. I like potatoes or chopped carrots but you can even toss in a can of veggies, frozen veggies or whatever you like.

Toss all of the above in crockpot on low for 8 - 10 hours or high for about 6-8 hours. We've used all different lengths of time and temp and it pretty much comes out the same. When it is done that cheap and tough chuck roast just falls apart. Leftovers are great for sandwiches.

I would serve it over egg noodles but we used rice this time and it was still great. We had a leftover can of succotash from one of duke's lunches that I just dumped in with 2 hours to go.

YUM YUM!

If you have an easy and cheap crockpot recipe that you like, please share!!

Our new deck.

2011-09-03T14:09:00.005-04:00

Well, not exactly but it sure looks like it! My Dear Dad. Aaaaaaaah, my dad, he drove all the way to our house alone and in pouring rain to spend the week with us and restain our deck. It was a mess before he did this. Just years of use and weather took its toll and well, it just wasn't on our list of to-do's. I don't know why because we do spend a lot of time relaxing, playing, eating and so forth out there. We just liked to complain about it I guess.

Here is the deck before, if you can even see what a mess it is. The stain is chipping off to the point that it basically looked liked we just spilled stain in places.

My talented son. He is eating a fudge stripe cookie without any hands. He stuck it to the deck window and is trying to eat it. Please don't judge my parenting skills. I think he is just showing off for pappy.

Keeping a close eye on pappy while he works.

AND, the new deck! It looks fantastic. We love it.

Now we just need new deck furniture because that old stuff we were using now looks REALLY old. Just sayin'.

So it took 3-1/2 days and 5 gallons of paint to do two coats. Lots of back breaking hard work. Is everyone as lucky as me to have a super dad?

OCNJ 2011

2011-08-26T20:06:00.004-04:00

Our weekend trip to seem Me-Mom and Be-Bop was so much fun! Duke wasn't crazy about the cold water but he loved the sand and loved playing in the back yard with his cousins. We took long walks in the morning on the boardwalk and got coffee and we played catch phrase at night. Duke was not a fan of keeping his clothes on and once we changed his diaper he deemed that an opportunity to get up and make a run for it. So he is half nude in alot of my pictures.

All the kiddies. Duke is not at the cooperative age for group shots.

Nude sun bathing. He is channeling his cousin Zach from MO in this picture.

Chris and Bridget posing for a picture.

This is as good as it got with Duke in the shot. He was not happy about the group photo sitting in the water.

Duke and Daddy coming back from playing in the ocean. Daddy isn't too happy that he lost his sunglasses in a wave.

My sweet boy playing in the sand. I love the little shoulders.

"Hi Mom-mom"

Little Loucky is getting so big! He is taking his littler cousins for a ride on the "dingy".

Got to ride on the boat!

Pants are optional in beach tennis.

The Great Bunny Rescue

2011-08-25T17:25:00.005-04:00

It was our first night at the shore and this is how the great bunny rescue began. Uncle Brian and the boys were setting up the crab trap at mom-mom and pop-pop's house. Someone (Brian or Matt) looked into the water and notice a bunny swimming. When we realized that bunnies don't normally swim, Kim decided she had to save the bunny. She wanted to kayak out to get it but was afraid she was going to tip the kayak. Brian said he would steer for her to make it easier.

Here they go kayaking to try to catch the bunny, who at this point was swimming fast and frantic to find a spot it could easily get out of the bay.

On their way back, Kim is smiling, they rescued the bunny.

The bunny was so exhausted from its swim that it just did not move.

We are on our way to take the bunny to a safe place to get his energy back so it can get back home.

Safe and sound. I have a feeling some kids and brave adults are going to get an extra big basket this Easter. Who knows.

Philadelphia Zoo

2011-08-24T21:06:00.005-04:00

Mom-mom and Duke at the zoo.

Kim and her boys.

My family.

The monkey exhibit.

Last Thursday mom-mom Horgan took us to the zoo. Duke's first trip to a big zoo! We went to visit Duke's new day care first thing in the morning for Duke to see the other kids getting dropped off by their parents and for me to spend some time with him there and see how he does. We weren't their more than 10 minutes before I smelled a "BM" (that's day care talk for a poopy). I was a little embarrassed but figured they deal with this all day. I didn't bring his diaper bag in and it was pouring outside so I just dealt with it for a little while longer. Duke did pretty good but he did make sure I was right there most of the time so we'll see how he does when I have to leave. I just don't think I can handle walking away from his crying face.

Turkey.

The Butt rock.

Duke was so excited to see a huge "track-torr" at the zoo.

It rained all morning but by the time we got to the zoo the weather was beautiful. It was not crowded either, which makes for a nice time. After the zoo we headed to the shore to visit me-mom and be-bop. I will put together a separate post for the shore trip.

Happy Birthday to Megan, Kim and Loucky!

2011-08-21T20:21:00.003-04:00

Today is my sister, Megan's, birthday! She is in Washington D.C. with Marc so she did not get the cupcakes I delivered to her house this morning ;-). Oh Megs, you know if I lived closer you'd be getting a special treat for your big day. One of the many cons of not living close to your family.

Today is also my sister-in-law, Kim's, Birthday! We were at OCNJ together with our families so I did get to see her on her birthday. I think she is still celebrating right now at the shore with a little more peace and a little more quiet!

Happy Birthday!

Yesterday was my brother-in-law, Loucky's birthday. We celebrated at the shore with cake and some catch phrase. Very fun and very competitive.

Happy Birthday, B!

2011-08-16T19:27:00.002-04:00

Happy Birthday to Aunt B! We hope she had a great 27th birthday! She does so much for little Duke and we appreciate her very much! Duke is just making sure the cupcakes taste ok.

Weekend Visitors

2011-08-15T20:06:00.004-04:00

Fun at the park! Speeding down the slide!

Ann and Dad (a.k.a. Grammy and Pappy) came to visit this weekend. We had a nice relaxing visit and celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday. Duke LOVES having visitors at the house, especially his pappy. We went to the park and played with toys and had lots of fun.

Grammy's making a shower gift.

Pappy catching some zzz's while duke is napping.

Daddy and Duke. Love the matching hairlines!

Officer Jack

2011-08-10T19:08:00.003-04:00

Today Jack found out that he was accepted into the Police Academy. I am very proud. I am also very VERY anxious and scared. Do I believe he will be a great cop, yes. Do I think people are crazy and all on drugs, yes. Maybe I will finally lose the last 10 baby lbs with all the worry. Anyway, the academy starts October 3rd and it lasts until about March. I think he will do great and I am looking forward to the next part of our lives. I hope the next 8 months are not as stressful as I am thinking they will be with Duke starting day care and Jack shooting a gun and not working but I am usually up for a challenge. I will keep you all posted on his progress.

At least he looks good in a uniform.

The last 24 hours

2011-08-05T19:26:00.003-04:00

I have been eating these. Why do I make them when I am going to eat 80% of them.

More Mountain Fun

2011-08-02T09:14:00.004-04:00

Sunset at the mountains.

The lifeguard on duty.

"cheeeeeeese"

Buds

Tube surfing

Yummy s'mores

Cool

A character (three characters)

When can we go back!!??

Mountain Weekend in July!

2011-08-01T19:51:00.006-04:00

We had our summer weekend in the mountains mid July. A beautiful weekend in July this year. Weather was near perfect and it was perfectly relaxing and fun. Fun family and good kids. The days were spent sitting at the dock, swimming and feeding the ducks. The busy day made for big appetites in the evening grilling out and making s'mores. All the kids were so tired from the nonstop swimming, riding the wave runners and kayaking.

Most of these pics, my SIL, Kim took. She takes some good pictures so I snagged them.

Kayaking with Dad.

On the wave runner with mom.

Avah, Matt and Chris played nonstop in the water.

Hot Air Balloon

2011-07-10T19:34:00.002-04:00

I went outside to let the dogs out this evening and saw this flying above our yard and house. Pretty.

Margaret Anna turned 7 and a busy weekend!

2011-07-08T18:55:00.010-04:00

The last weekend in June, my sister and I had our first ever yard sale. I had stuff boxed up from college! I want rid of it and if I can make some money getting it out of my house, great. We didn't advertise except for craigslist so we mostly got drive-by's. Some strange folks stopped by but it made for a busy and entertaining weekend. We plan to do another one in September and advertise better.

For the yardsale I made lemon cookies to go with the free lemonade we had for the patrons :-). It was a hot weekend.

My niece, Maggie, had a birthday at the end of June. She turned 7 going on 16. She had a party at mom-mom's pool with her friends and Jack, Duke and I crashed the party. It's a long story. So, I took some pictures while we were there of the little cuties.

After the pool party we played a game she got for her birthday. We had to guess what the card on our forehead was. Pretty cute.

Sunday, we went to Parker P.'s first birthday party. He is the cutest kid around. I love his Bieber hair. Obviously, he didn't want to get his hands dirty on his birthday.

After Parker's party on Sunday, we went back to the Horgan's for a pool party like we used to have before kids. Well, not quite like we used to but same cast of characters plus some little ones.

**If anyone knows why blogger won't let me delete these HUGE spaces in my posts, please let me know!!**

Blueberry Breakfast Casserole!

2011-07-08T17:25:00.005-04:00

We brought home some home grown blueberries from our visit to gram and pap's this weekend so I'll be making THIS again.

My cousin, Hilary, made this during our MO visit inJune. Jack and I LOVED it. SO, I got the recipe and made it this past weekend when we went home for the 4th of July. I am making it again this weekend.

We had so much good food in Missouri so I am testing out some new recipes. This is so good.

The dish is a Pampered Chef stoneware dish that I rinsed with water and rubbed the stone stick across a couple times. It was the easiest dish I ever had to clean and it baked this casserole to perfection. Check out the great stuff here. I wish I could do my bridal shower all over again. I would register everything here!

Playing Catch Up, MO Part II

2011-07-07T19:17:00.007-04:00

Sleeping on the way to Silver Dollar City!!

Waiting for the train at Silver Dollar City.

Elliott reading the paper as we're walking around the park.

Aunt Sharon feeding "Big E".

Duke feeding "Big E"

Missouri Trip 2011

2011-06-15T20:27:00.003-04:00

Last Thursday we left for the airport at 5:00 am for our trip to Missouri to visit my family. My Dad's sister (Aunt Sharon) and her family live in Sprinfield and it's been quite a few years since we have made the trip. This time, we had a little 17 mos. monkey ready for his first airplane ride. I have to say that he did very well for his first flight. No crying fits and he did fine sitting on our laps. We just had to entertain for a full 2.5 hours of flying time. He napped for a little bit on the drive from Kansas City to Springfield but not long. He must have been pretty excited.

Once we got to Springfield we got ready to go to dinner at Bass Pro Shop. I believe the restauranat was Hemmingway's and they had all you can eat crab legs! We also celebrated Ann's birthday after dinner. Duke was getting tired at this point but after dinner we took a stroll through Bass Pro to look at the animals and such. Duke LOVED the "tractors" and the boats.

Here I am with my smooshly little nephew, Evan. He is too sweet and cuddly but you certainly don't get to hold him long before someone comes and wisks him away for their turn to snuggle.

My sister, Megan, had shirts made for all the great grandbabies of my grandfather, "Pappy Wood". He has been gone for many years now but he is making sure there is no shortage of little boys in our family. He only had grand daughters and now we are all having boys. The shirts say "Pappy's Dream Team" with the boys name and birth number on the back. Very cute.

We did so much more. This was only the first 24 hours we were there. More to come.

Toddlers and Tiaras

2011-06-05T19:57:00.006-04:00

Avah had her first "real" dance recital tonight. The last two years it was at the dance studio in front of the parents. This year was in an auditorium, on a stage with a crowd!! She was amazing and a natural. The crowd didn't phase (faze??) her at all. She is a performer and looked as though she LOVED every second of it.

Getting her ready was fun. I wish I had more time. I shoved my sister aside and took over doing her hair and slapping some "real" lipstick on. My sister was trying to put tinted chapstick on. I got out the liner and everything. Little girls were screaming in the background as mothers, dads and aunts were brushing hair back as tight as they could get it. It was an episode of toddlers and tiaras! This made me realize that I may become a crazy woman if I ever had a girl. I am scared that Duke might be embarrassed of me when he starts playing sports OR DANCING, whatever.

I can't wait to see her next year! She is always amazing me. I can't wait to see all the wonderful things she does as she gets older.

Duke is finally riding with Daddy on the "track-tor" He is obsessed with it until you turn it on. But he is coming around.

My FIL celebrated a birthday at the end of May! Now Duke sings "Happy Birthday Pop-Pop"all the time. I thought we would have to hear "E-I-O" forever but now it's "Happy Birthday Pop-Pop". Just something else he is obsessed with - his pop-pop.

Memorial Day 2011

2011-05-31T20:25:00.004-04:00

Had another great weekend at "home" visiting the family! Would have stayed longer if I didn't have to work ;-(. I need to play the lottery.

A week to clean and get the house in gear and then off to MO to visit!!!!

Beginnings of a Busy Summer

2011-05-22T14:21:00.007-04:00

Apples for a teacher who got her masters's

Brian's birthday cake.

Birthday cookies.

I would have to say that all of May has been very busy so far. It's coming up on Memorial Day already. I hope the summer goes a little slower. I haven't done much spring cleaning but I have been baking like a champ and trying to keep up with the parties and pictures. We soon start traveling to visit family and hopefully slowing down.

I've been making some more cookies. Some for my Brother-in-law, Brian's, 30th birthday and some just for fun.

Drinking some milk before bed. This is the night we found him nude from the waist down in the morning. A onesie is now necessary for bedtime.

Someone doesn't like his picture being taken.

Someone else does.

Making horse and baby shower cookies this week then heading to western, PA to visit. All the sudden it's going to be August.

I don't know why blogger has these spaces in my posts but I can't seem to edit them out no matter how many times I try.

Cookies anyone?

2011-05-16T21:01:00.003-04:00

Last week was the week of ballet slippers for a 3 year olds birthday party (Happy Birthday Lily) and graduation cookies for a highschool grad in MO (Congrats Jacinda).

This week is beer mugs and horses. Lots of baking and decorating going on lately. Best part is watching the kids devour them.

Evan Visits Gramma Beth

2011-05-11T19:37:00.000-04:00

Wedding in CT and Mother's Day!

2011-05-10T20:20:00.004-04:00

What a busy week last week! Made 58 tropical bird cookies to ship to Pittsburgh, had a wedding in Connecticut and celebrated my second Mother's day! Update on the bird cookies - they made it to Pittsburgh with only a few casualties. Two flamingos were goners and a few broken flamingo legs. It is so disappointing but most made it just fine. I made 10 extra to allow for breaking but I was hoping for a perfect delivery. At least I know what adjustments to make for shipping.

The wedding in CT was Jack's cousin Jimmy. He was married to Jen in San Diego prior to being deployed to Afghanistan and after his safe return, they celebrated with a traditional ceremony and reception in Jen's hometown of Branford, CT. It seems like just last year we went to Jimmy's Naval Academy graduation. Since then he went to flight school and spent a year oversees. He is quite impressive and has accomplished so much for not even being 30.

The trip to CT Saturday morning was slightly stressful once we got past NYC. 95 was closed due to an accident and we ended up taking a few wrong turns but took the scenic route through West Chester, NY and Greenwich, CT. It could have been worse. Oh - we hadn't had anything to eat all morning and I had to go to the bathroom for the last 3 hours. Five hours later, we made it!! CT never disappoints. Every place we have visited is nice.

I love wedding flowers!

The very happy bride and groom.

The view of the Long Island Sound from the reception. This is a house on a tiny island. All I kept thinking is how do they go grocery shopping? Any pizza place deliver?

We left Connecticut at 6 am to get home to our little boy. The ride home was great - hardly any traffic. We took Duke to the park and then went to a Mother's Day picnic! It was nice to see the little kids playing and all the dads waiting on the moms.

MIL with her boys.

Mom-mom with her girls.

My little guy at the park on Mother's Day. I love this guy and being his mommy.

Tropical Birds

2011-05-06T10:57:00.004-04:00

I had a request for some tropical bird cookies for a mother/daughter dinner in Pittsburgh. My Aunt Vonda requested so, of course, I said yes. I decided to do toucans, parrots and flamingos to make them colorful.

I think they turned out pretty good for all the different colors. I am new to royal icing decorating so I was nervous because with all the different colors and detail, fondant would have been really hard.

Hopefully they make it to pittsburgh in one piece (literally) and they like them.

I could not have completed them without help from my sister, B. She stayed for almost 4 hours with me yesterday to help with the kid and decorate.

Easter 2011

2011-04-24T20:14:00.006-04:00

This year's Easter has been so much fun (for me, at least). B and Avah were going to come over at about 8:30 am for monkey bread and an egg hunt so we were up early to get the food ready and make sure the eggs were ready. I had Duke's basket all ready on his chair with a trail of eggs leading him to his basket of goodies. I waited and waited for him to get up and sure enough, the little bugger picks Easter to sleep in until 8:15! He got up right before Aunt B and Aves showed up and then it was off to the races. Eggs and candy galore. The first egg that he opened had gum in it, of course. After our breakfast of chocolate, we did sit down for monkey bread and some time to relax. Aunt B and Aves left for church and we cleaned up and tried to rest.

The weather outside this morning was so warm and so nice that since Duke wasn't planning on taking an early nap, we went outside to play for a little while. He loves it. He has all the energy in the world all bottled up in a 22 lb body. It was actually really warm out today.

After we came in, Duke took a nice afternoon nap and then it was tubby time before we were headed over to mom-mom and pop-pop's house for another egg hunt and Easter dinner. Duke got to play with his cousins and Rhoads cousins. Lots of little kids looking for eggs and eating candy. He always has fun at mom-mom and pop-pop's house. Lots to do and get into.

So it was a really great Easter for all of us. Having an active little guy brought back lots of the feelings of excitement I used to have for Easter.

Easter Bunny 2011

2011-04-19T20:26:00.011-04:00

Last Friday Duke and I met mom-mom at the mall to see the Easter bunny and get Duke's picture taken with him. I had a feeling it wasn't going to go well this year but wasn't sure and thought we would try. It didn't go well. He was ok with the bunny until he actually had to sit on his lap. I don't blame him I suppose. A big adult sized bunny is a little creepy and I don't know why I feel that it's necessary to get a picture with him but I do. Crying or smiling, I like to have a picture to compare to the previous year. I really don't think I am traumatizing him from a 30 second photo op but I am sure someone out there will tell me that I am.

Trying to make friends. And yes, I did leave my house looking like this. My old jeans and crocs. It was midday and I was, once again, hoping I didn't run into anyone who doesn't normally see me like this.

Duke is trying to drag me away from the bunny.

After we got our picture, we all went to play on the (overpriced) rides in the mall. Duke had fun playing with all the little cousins.

First lunch date with Cecilia. He is already trying to steal her lunch.

Sneak peak into a little house project. Finally painting and trying to organize the computer/craft room. I'll have more pictures once I get the room put back together and really cleaned out.

I have been going through the house and purging items for my first garage sale this summer. We have way too much "stuff" that is unused and just sitting in our house collecting dust. I am even getting rid of (eek) some of my books. I am realizing I won't read some of them again and they need to go. The more Duke gets into and I have to clean up the less I want in the house.

I went through my closet today and got rid of 70% of my clothes, shoes and accessories. They were just hanging in there or sitting in boxes unused for years. Most of the clothes don't even fit and some were only ever worn once. It felt good to clean it out but it was sad to see how little clothes I have left to wear.

As I look around my family room tonight, it barely looks like I got rid of anything and I probably filled two boxes in just this room alone today. Too much stuff.

Busy Boy

2011-04-10T19:55:00.004-04:00

Cheese face

Daddy's nose

Sweetest face ever.

Nothing new to report. Just another busy weekend of getting nothing much accomplished. That's okay, I suppose. I have a cute and busy boy to run around after. I surely don't get much cleaning or organizing done but when he is old enough to not need me so much, I'll have plenty of time. I just hope it all doesn't pile up so much that I am not on TLC's Hoarding show.

My Dad and Ann (Pappy and Grammy) came to visit this week, Wednesday - Friday. Duke just LOVES when his family is around and especially when they stay overnight and he can play with them all day. He is a different little boy when he is being social. He loves the attention. I happen to think he is a very sweet boy.

Today we went to the Purcell's to celebrate that it has been 5 yrs since Katie (Jack's cousin) was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma. She has been cancer free for almost 5 yrs now and we are all very thankful for her health and recovery. All the little kids played outside and Duke played with bubbles for the first time and even tried to drink the bubble bottle (and pretty much succeeded).

Irresistable.

2011-04-04T19:15:00.003-04:00

Evan Douglas

My Handy Husband

2011-04-03T11:46:00.006-04:00

There's nothing like having a handy man for a husband. His most recent request from me (and my sister, Annie) was to move our laundry room from our 1st floor to the upstairs off our bedroom. Why? Because it was taking over two, yes TWO, hours to dry one load of laundry. The dryer vent had a long journey from the dryer to the outside and was nearly impossible to clean completely of lint. This had my sister worried that our house was going to burn down. So he created a rather fantastic laundry room in the sitting room off our bedroom. It now takes 50 minutes to dry laundry and I LOVE IT!!! It has made my life so much easier. He ripped up carpet and tiled and did the plumbing and put in cabinets and did I mention that I love it? All for less than $300. I can never get a picture due to my never ending pile of laundry. Someday.

This past week he did the tiling for a family who is redoing their bathroom. I think that it looks great. The family seemed to be pretty pleased too.

The First Meeting.

2011-03-26T20:33:00.005-04:00

Aunt Megan with Evan

Duke in a wig (duh) he found at Aunt Megans.

We got to travel to Pittsburgh this weekend to meet and visit with my new nephew, Evan. He is cuter than cute. He is so tiny and snuggly and smells so yummy. I forgot how tiny babies can be. We had his zero month photo shoot and went to Megan's for dinner. She made us all yummy chicken stuffed shells and let Duke run around the house like a mad man. Unfortunately the weekends go way too fast and we have to make the long drive home tomorrow but we had a fun and relaxing weekend visiting!

Happy Birthday Jack!

2011-03-20T14:42:00.005-04:00

Today is my dear husbands birthday. We didn't have much planned for the weekend except for some relaxing time and golf, and basketball, and hockey and Phillies baseball spring training with a little COPS and America's Most Wanted thrown in. He is getting lasagna for dinner and now that it is all made and ready to bake, I feel bad because I really didn't give him an option. Anyway, he did get a cheesecake that we ate last night and I have another cake (that I chose ;-)) ready to go for dessert.

Today is also the first day of spring. It was almost 80 degrees on Friday! It has since gotten colder but it was so nice to be outside without a jacket on. I can't wait for summer. Duke LOVES to play outside and now, regardless of the temperature, that is all he wants to do. So even though it is chilly out today, we bundled up and went out for a little bit. He went to the dr. on Thursday and has croup and wheezing, which he is on a daily breathing treatment for. The dr. said that getting out in the cold air might help his breathing. He is feeling much better today.

Duke and cousin Avah, picking out the marshmallows from Lucky Charms cereal.

Duke resting on daddy's leg.

Golf?

Pulling his wagon.

Digging in the endless bag of golf balls.

A bit colder outside today.

Or basketball?

Maybe in a few years.

Still digging.

Mobile Phone Photos

2011-03-18T07:38:00.004-04:00

Relaxing with Bubs.

Aunt B got him a milkshake. He is obsessed.

Weird.

Turbie Twist fan.

You can get everything at Costco!

More Evan

2011-03-17T18:45:00.002-04:00

Evan Douglas Donaldson

2011-03-15T20:18:00.003-04:00

Today, our new little nephew, Evan was born! I can't wait to meet him and see how the new Mom and Dad are doing. All seemed to go well for the labor and I am waiting to hear how the delivery was for my sister. It was almost just like little Dukes. About 10 hours of labor and one hour of hard work and out comes a healthy baby boy.

CASHBACK for internet shopping!

2011-03-04T10:48:00.005-05:00

I know a lot of my family and friends think I am nuts lately with my 25 lb coupon binder and all my deal sites and coupons conversations but seriously - if I can save a buck, I am going to take advantage of it and share it. In this economy and with gas prices going through the roof, it is worth it to save where you can. SO, here is the latest website I have been saving with. It's Ebates.com.

What you do and ALL you have to do is sign up and shop! When you do your internet shopping through this site you get a percent cashback for your purchases that you can check on your account whenever you want. FOUR times a year they will mail you a check for what you earned. It's that EASY. No strings attached - seriously check it out.

Sometimes they have big deals that will give you up to 50% cashback.

How it works is the participating stores (kohls, walmart, barnes and noble, and thousands more) give this site a percentage of the purchases we make and Ebates give it right back to us, the consumer. You can read all about Ebates on their website.

So check it out - why not get money back for all your purchases.

My Talented Family

2011-02-26T21:54:00.008-05:00

Busy weekends since the last time I posted to the blog. Once again, I feel like another year is flying by. I will be glad when the winter is over but the months can slow down a little.

So I wanted to highlight all the creative and talented ladies in my family. We had my sister, Annie's, baby shower this past weekend and she received so many hand made baby gifts. There are so many talented people in our family. I can't even post all the pictures - there are just too many.

B, Gram Barb, Mom, Annie, Me and Aves in the center.

Me, Megan, Annie, Ann

My mom made Baby D a sock monkey.

This is a blanket that Ann made for Baby D. I also need to mention that the one she made for Duke is the softest blanket ever.

Aunt Megan cross stitched Baby D a blanket.

My mom made the centerpieces for the shower. CUTE!! I love the monkey.

CUTE!!

Ann made a diaper cake!

My sister, B, and I made noah's ark themed cookies for the shower.

My nephew, Matthew, turned SIX on Feb. 7th. He has been learning to snowboard with his mom and dad so his creative and talented mom, Kim, made him an awesome cake! Look out cake boss!

She also made these adorable little treats. They are cake bites inside of chocolate. YUM! They are almost too adorable to eat (almost).

And this is my son who is practicing for the circus. He is trying to balance on a basketball while watching tv. His dad is the foot helping him balance so we don't get another bump on the head. He is a nut! Oh and the cleaning lady never showed up that week so the house is a mess in the background (wink).

My grandma also made a quilt for baby D but I didn't get a good picture of it. It is really beautiful. Lots of thoughtful gifts for the new baby.

I think that is all I got right now. February just flew by. We are all now patiently awaiting the arrival of Baby D in March. I am sure that March will be over before we know it too. To see some awesome preggo pictures of my sista click here.

Not Much Going On

2011-02-09T19:56:00.004-05:00

The past couple of weeks have been spent surviving the cold! A little bit of cabin fever setting in but I am hoping the groundhog is right and spring is right around the corner. The baby has been keeping us entertained during our time in the house. The boy doesn't stop for and instant.

Maybe this is why he doesn't stop?

Rocking out

Ice! Poor Bubs hates going outside in this weather.

Duke and Daddy waiting for Bubs outside.

Updating his blog.

Duke's 1st Birthday Party!!!

2011-01-22T19:47:00.007-05:00

Today we celebrated (again) Duke's first birthday!! He loves parties. He just enjoys the companyof others and is not one bit shy. We were so glad to have friends and family come over to help us celebrate. THANK YOU everyone for coming over.

Pinata and about 10+ kids + chaos!!! But fun chaos. The kids were wild but (to my knowledge) no one got hurt and everyone had fun. Parents, the little ones should sleep good tonight!

I still can't believe my little monkey is a year old. It is just crazy how big he is getting.

I have to really think of a new theme for his 2nd year. Or can we still go with Mickey?

It’s in the genes.

2011-01-21T21:22:00.001-05:00

Goals continued.

2011-01-14T07:41:00.007-05:00

Alright, so I am a little late in posting this. One of my goals is to be more organized so that I can do things in a more timely manner.

Goal/Resolutions

1. Organization - have my house running like a well oiled machine by the end of 2011 and going forward. (This is very unlikely to happen - very unlikely)

Yes, this is the big one. To achieve this, I am going to try to schedule my weeks as far as household chores, duke's schedule, work schedule, bills, etc. It is going to have to be written down for me so I wake up and know exactly what to do.

This also means no more clutter so day by day I will have to work on clearing out the time sucking clutter in my life like all the mail I keep meaning to go through that piles up on our kitchen island and elsewhere.

Organization is my big one for 2011 because I feel like the house and disorganization takes up too much time from other things that I could be doing like more time playing with Duke and spending stress free time with my family. I'll be able to go places and have people over without feeling like I should be home cleaning.

2. Learn to crochet - this is because my little sister, Megan, got me a really cool basket of yarn and a few books to crochet cool little animals. I have wanted to learn to crochet last year but I got busy over the holiday's and just didn't have much time. I am going to have to "schedule" (see goal #1) learning to crochet into my weeks.

3. Exercise - I do realize that this goal/resolution is cliche and that everyone in the states resolves to become healthier and lose weight. That is not the goal. Mine is just to exercise and get moving again. Once I get back into it and "schedule" it into my days, I think it will make me feel better and motivate me to do more. I need the energy, desperately.

4. Save our hard earned money - I don't buy clothes for myself or have a closet filled with shoes but I do waste money on full priced groceries and other meaningless and unnecessary items. I collect things it seems. So by couponing and cutting back on my grocery bill and hopefully other expenses in our lives, we will be able to pay down some bills and I will be able to stop worrying about the economy going belly up. I've got one coupon class under my belt and learned a ton about saving money on grocery items. I just look back at all money I ever wasted on full priced items and cringe. Time to move forward.

So these may seem basic and like everyone else but at least 3 of the 4 tie together and will hopefully help me make each them a part of my life for 2011 and going forward.

Duke's goal for 2011 is to lose the double chin - or to not let Uncle Brian take his picture anymore :-)

Keep your fingers crossed for us.

Goals for 2011

2011-01-04T22:43:00.002-05:00

Working on my goals for 2011 this week. I am trying to make the list so that it can be at least 85% accomplished. Obviously, "be more optimistic" isn't one of the goals/resolutions. Hopefully the list will be complete by the weekend so I can get started on a plan. This is going to be tough. I tend to put stuff like this off until everything I can clean is clean but I am going to focus and get it done. Even if I have a mountain of laundry and dust bunnies staring me down. I have never written a list down before and certainly have never stuck to one. So this is going to be a big year if I can do it. I wanted to add it to my blog so I feel somewhat accountable. To be continued . . .

"Ay, Dios Mio!"

2010-12-31T21:43:00.000-05:00

Goodbye 2010, Hello 2011!!!

Goodbye 2010!

2010-12-31T13:51:00.003-05:00

His new face he's making.

Fun times with Dad.

Had a great 2010 but looking forward to a new year. Loved every moment of watching Duke grow and change through his first year! Hoping for good health and much happiness for our 2011. Also looking forward to meeting my new little nephew. It should be a great year.

Happy 1st Birthday Duke!

2010-12-26T21:12:00.004-05:00

On Christmas Eve, our little guy turned one year old. How quickly the year went by. He had all his aunts and uncles and grandparents there for his first birthday dinner. It was a really fun day and he did great opening his presents. We gave him one at a time throughout the day so he wouldn't be overwhelmed and he loved opening them and playing with each of them a little bit. Mom-mom and pop-pop Horgan had dinner for all of us and he ate his first birthday cake.

He had such a great first year and we enjoyed every moment with him. I can't wait to see what this year brings.

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed

2010-12-26T12:06:00.002-05:00

A blog of poop

2010-12-17T07:42:00.005-05:00

Over the past week there's been a lot going on. We've begun introducing milk into Duke's bottles so we can switch him off his formula when he turns one in a week. Plus, he's had a cold and to help with the runny nose and cough, we've been giving him a tsp of benadryl in the morning. Well, both can lead to constipation. Sunday morning was his last poop. Monday - no poop, Tuesday - no poop. While I was working and didn't get to see much of his behavior during the day, I did know that when I got home, he strained a lot and was a bit more fussy. Tuesday, my sister said he was pretty lethargic and when Jack got home, he agreed. Jack said he did not eat much in the afternoon for him and he decided he wanted to take him to the ER. I left work and went home to feed the dogs thinking that at the ER, they would give him a stool softener and send them home. The baby was constipated. But in the time that I went home, fed the dogs and made it to the ER, they extracted some poop and found a little blood. So they wanted to do a sonogram to rule some other things out. They couldn't do the "procedure" there so they said he had to be taken to CHOP in and AMBULANCE!!! They hooked him up to and IV (torture) and away we went to Philadelphia.

I thought he looked so fragile with his hospital gown on.

At CHOP he gets x-rayed, sonogrammed and poked and prodded all night. The intussesception was ruled out (thank goodness). All they found was A TON of poop. It was midnight and at this point they wanted to keep our baby overnight to monitor him. I was devastated because I knew I had to leave and go to work. Jack was going to stay with him so I could work but being a new mom and leaving your baby at the hospital is the worst thing in the world.

On a side note, I am the worlds ugliest crier. My sister Annie is a close second. We are just not cute criers. Our face contorts to horror movie status and it's just not pretty. I have to look like a freak show the whole way to the car. Three people ask me if I am ok on the way out of the hospital and I didn't think the security guard was going to allow me to leave.

On Wednesday, he FINALLY took a nap. Very little sleep for him.

Okay, so after I get home at about 1 AM, Jack texts me and says that Duke pooped!!! But they want more to come out. So they are at the hospital all day on Wednesday. They do an enema and give Duke some miralax and now he is pooping like a champ and he is diagnosed with CONSTIPATION and home they arrive at 7:15 PM!!!!!

Mom and Dad Horgan went down and spent the day with them, thank goodness to help Jack and to bring them home safe and sound. It was over 24 hours of hell. I don't know how the parents of sick children do it. My heart broke for all of the long term patients there at CHOP. I hope that I never have to go back there with my son again.

Waving bye - he was ready to come home.

Yesterday he did great! He is pretty much back to normal. He was pretty exhausted and it is good to have him home and running around like always.

This was the day after he got home. He was a happy camper.

Moral of the story: Always call your pediatrician first!!!!!

Sorry Santa!

2010-12-12T20:52:00.003-05:00

Friday was the big day! We had his one year picture and Christmas picture at JCPenney's and then we were off to see Santa for another picture! The JCP pictures did not go well. That is actually an understatement but I am over it :-). I was really disappointed in the photographer and her impatience with a not yet one year old's inability to smile on command and sit still. I have never been one for "portrait" type photos and she didn't really seem like she wanted to catch the moment and try to get what she could. If he wasn't sitting and smiling, she wasn't snapping any photos. SO we are going to try again at another place next week and see how it goes and if that doesn't go well, I'll have to fork out the bucks and have someone come to us and work with us. It will be fin (my mantra of the week).

So after that mess, we were off to see santa!!! Duke's first pictures with santa and they came out great! In my opinion - they are great. I love the I don't like santa pictures - they are funny. I just hope he is not too traumatized. He kept looking back at him hoping that it would be his dad.

Poor guy.

Cousin Avah is trying to telepathically tell Duke not to ruin this moment for her. She needs to get her list to santa. Duke is looking at her in disbelief that she is ok with this.

Trying to make his escape.

And he's fine. Barely any tears just not thrilled with be placed on this strange mans lap.

Picture day!

2010-12-10T08:13:00.004-05:00

Two weeks from today, Duke is turning ONE! I can't believe it. Today we are getting his one year/holiday picture at JCPenney's. He has a cold so I am hoping they turn out ok. His nose is slightly red with crusty's. Hopefully if I give him a bath after his nap, we'll be all spic-n-span for the 12:15 photo shoot. I don't think this is going to go off easily. I have a hard enough time changing him into one outfit let alone two if I am lucky. Maybe he'll be a cheese for the photographer and ham it up.

Off and running with monkey.

The pj's do not lie.

This morning I was changing a dirty (very) diaper and I barely got him cleaned up and he got up and took off with monkey. Not cool. So I gave up and let him run around in his glory for a little bit. He thought he was so funny.

Yes grandparents, he is standing on the fireplace. He is all boy.

I think he is very pleased with our undecorated Christmas tree.

He is learning to use a straw now.

Watching Barney in the very messy living room. I like this picture because it looks like he actually sits still for more than 30 seconds.

We do have some Christmas decorations up and the tree is up but not decorated yet. I am not ready for that battle! We may be decorating the top half only. It still looks pretty lit up at night :-). He doesn't seem to bother it much now but once all those toys are hanging from the branches - it's going to be a whole new story.

I am hoping for him to see Santa Claus at the mall today too. I will take him after pictures. Hopefully he doesn't lose patience and we can get in and get out. I think Aunt B and cousin Avah are coming to help.

One More Month!

2010-12-03T13:52:00.002-05:00

Cake Boss

2010-11-21T08:32:00.007-05:00

For Avah's 6th birthday party, she decided on having a "Cake Boss" theme. It is one of her favorite shows on t.v. according to her mom. She also decided she wanted a 3 tiered birthday cake to go with the theme. Challenge accepted. I figured that if I can make fondant cookies, I can make a fondant cake. Well, I made it but it was nowhere near as easy as the cookies.

Here was the process. My sister and I had to bake six different cakes - two for each tier. That we started on Thursday and finished friday.

Then we had to fill them with buttercream and stack them. We did bottom layer vanilla, middle layer chocolate and top layer white cake.

Next was icing each tier with buttercream to keep the cake moist before you put the fondant on.

Here are the tiers with fondant. This was the hardest part. As you can see - they are nowhere near perfect but it is harder than it looks on t.v. I don't know how they get the fondant looking seemless. I figured that the decorations will cover the mistakes for the most part.

Starting to decorate and adding some bling. She wanted purple polka dots.

She also wanted zebra print middle tier but I was exhausted and didn't know how I was going to do that. So I left is as it is.

I think she liked it!

Here are all the kids decorating their own cupcakes so they each had a candle to blow out.

Our nephew, Christopher, loved eating up all the leftover icing.

Happy Birthday Avah!!!

And Duke got a buzz cut from his daddy. He is still carrying around the balloon from the party yesterday.

The party is over and I can tell that Avah had a great time with her friends. I hope next year she just wants brownies or something easy like that. She is always cooking up something big though so I am getting nervous :-).

Kiss Kiss

2010-11-18T15:56:00.003-05:00

Thanksgiving is a week away, which is just unbelievable to me. One week from today, we will be feasting on yummy food all day long and enjoying time with family. I can't wait, but I can because it too will all go so fast. Then the chaos starts with decorating, parties, birthday's, and shopping!!

As the time is flying by, Duke is growing up and mastering walking. He is actually jogging, not walking. He is learning to kiss and so many more things. He is trying to form words and he LOVES to look at our pictures in the house. I really really hope he doesn't destroy the Christmas tree. I am getting very nervous because he gets into EVERYTHING!!! He eats EVERYTHING!!! He spill EVERYTHING!!!

Sweet Avah is growing up too. She turned 6 years old today!! I made her monkey bread and Duke and I took it over for her this morning. Within 30 seconds, Duke spilled her hot chocolate (luke warm at this point) and then spilled a plate of monkey bread carrying a handful down the hall and taking bites on his way to Avah's room. Happy Birthday Miss Moon. I hope we didn't make your birthday morning more chaotic than it needed to be.

Look Who's Walking

2010-11-06T16:33:00.002-04:00

Everyday he gets better and better. He prefers to walk over crawl, which is nice but it also means lots more bumps and tears. I have to give him credit for his determination.

Laughing Mickey

2010-11-04T09:27:00.002-04:00

I have some short vids from Halloween and one from breakfast this morning. Duke was ADORABLE in his Mickey costume. I love that he let me paint his nose. Halloween is so much fun with little kids to dress up. We didn't get any trick or treaters but we did walk around the neighborhood with cousin Avah.

Duke's First Halloween Parade!

Duke's little cousin, Gaia is helping push the wagon in her cute little sheep costume.

Duke is laughing at his daddy fake sneezing at breakfast. We'll do anything to get him to open his mouth as you can see - it's not easy. We have to work hard for every bite.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T19:51:00.004-04:00

Mickey Mouse!

Duke's first Halloween! I was hoping to find a stink bug costume but Mickey Mouse was much cuter. He did good. We went over to the Rhoads' for a Halloween parade and then went trick or treating with cousin Avah!!

Cousin Avah as a 50's waitress.

Duke and daddy's first ride on a horse.

The end.

I Have a 10 Month Old!

2010-10-28T12:25:00.004-04:00

Duke was 10 months old on Sunday, which means that Christmas is two months away!!! A first birthday and the holiday's coming up!! We had a full weekend with visitors and fun fall activities.

Saturday we went to Merrymead Farms to get a pumpkin and caramel apple and to run through the corn maze. Lots of fun and lots of people.

Family day ;-)

On your mark, get set, GO!

Dad and Duke running through the corn maze.

Crazy cousins

Someone is getting a little tired of taking pictures.

Sunday, Grammy and Pappy Wood came to visit for the night. We went out to lunch and played in the yard and had a fun day. We love company.

Two weekends ago, Matt and Kim had the first "Horganfest" at their house. They had hayrides, pinata and lots of fun stuff for the kiddies. Duke had fun playing in the corn.

Digging through the corn at Uncle Matt's and Aunt Kim's.

Getting a little taste of the dangerous life from Uncle Brian.

Skills

2010-10-22T14:55:00.008-04:00

This morning I woke up at about 5:15 am. I wish I could get up even earlier than that but I just can't crawl out of the warm comfort of my covers earlier than that in the fall. I woke up hoping to accomplish a year's worth of cleaning in about 2 hours before the dried snot nosed little "angel" woke up. He's been sick with a cold and not the happiest or most independent little camper around town. Still, I love being home with him and not working.

This is the sum of his attitude after he woke up at about 6:15 am. I think he has a sixth sense to when I am awake and wanting to get work done. On a normal day, I am waking him up to drag him out the door to Aunt B's house in the morning. Not today and probably not tomorrow.

This is his reaction to finding out the cupboards have all been "Duke proofed" in the house. Not happy.

Through the past few days he's been starting to walk, point, and do all sorts of fun things. I just can't even keep track of his mad skills.

"Peek-a-Boo"!!!! "Wheeeerrrrrrreeeee's Duke?"

Here he is pointing at me. Now I think this is pointing. It could be "no, no, no" too because when I say "no, no, no" I am pointing my finger.

These are the stills of him taking some steps. He's been taking up to about 8-10 steps on his own and without our encouragement. It is only a matter of days before he is tearing through the house.

Yes, mother of the year was snapping pictures as her child came crashing to the floor. Mom-mom, Gramma and Grammy - he was just fine.

Duke is showing off his ripped abs in this photo. I actually don't know what he was so excited about in this picture but as long as he is smiling - I don't care.

I had to put him in the living room while I folded a basket of laundry because it really shouldn't take 45 minutes for fold one basket of laundry. He is always trying to find ways to escape and he's a climber!

And FINALLY! Aunt Megan and Uncle Marc came to visit!!! At first Duke played shy guy but he gave Aunt Megs hugs and then it was back to his normal self.

Early Birthday Present for Duke

2010-10-10T14:24:00.005-04:00

Playing with the wheel - he is so excited.

"Can you put it together dad?"

For some reason he kept kissing the girl on the box. Heh! As if she is the one who got him his new wagon. What's a mom gotta do to get some love?

Okay, so I found a good deal on a Radio Flyer wagon online Friday. I decided to cash in on the deal and order it for either birthday or Christmas for Duke. I ordered it by noon on Friday and it showed up at my door Saturday!!! That was the fastest free shipping EVER!!! So I got really excited and had to give it to him right away. I know, I am going to be one of those moms who get more excited than the kids. Now I have to come up with something else but I have a few ideas. Plus, it's good to have when the weather is still nice to cart him around outside (convincing?). Duke loves it and helped his dad put it all together.

Going for a ride in the house with Rose.

Time to take it outside!

Going for a ride with BF Rose.

And Rose makes her escape!!

Time for a bottle and a nap - long day of assembly and riding. He cozied up in his wagon and chilled for a bit.

Go Phillies!!

2010-10-09T17:11:00.003-04:00

Once again, the Phillies are in the playoffs for the World Series!! I am hoping that they win this year so we can tell Duke the Phillies won his first World Series!! He got this outfit from Rock and Jill and it fits perfectly just in time!!

This is Duke's new pj set that was on sale at GAP. Too cute for $5. It glows in the dark too. And yes, that is a dog toy in his mouth and a doll in the background.

I don't know if you can tell or not but we attempted a hair cut. His hair is shorter in the Phillies picture and longer in the pj picture. It is hard enough to trim his nail so we just did what we could get of his hair. I think it's ok.

We're all feeling a little under the weather this weekend. Just coughing and tired. Duke has a runny nose so we're trying to lay low and relax. The weather is so beautiful. It makes it hard to want to stay inside. I want to take him on hayrides and pumpkin picking - blah.

Punkin'

2010-10-05T15:00:00.004-04:00

Duke picked out his first pumpkin this weekend! I was so excited to take him and we have many more places to go but we made a quick pit stop to Freddy Hill Farms on the way to mom-mom's house to get some pictures. I love this time of year with the fall colors and knowing the holiday's are coming up - QVC watching time!!! The pictures always come out so pretty.

The end.

9 Months Video

2010-09-25T11:40:00.002-04:00

Out on the driveway eating leaves and moving around.

9 Months Old!!!

2010-09-24T11:21:00.004-04:00

This is what dinner with dad looks like. Blueberries EVERYWHERE!!! BUT, I think he has the most fun getting messy with dad. It looks like he has 5 o'clock shadow going on. Look at all the toofs coming in!! I can't believe how big he is getting.

Ugh, where did summer, September and the last 9 months go??? Time went by way too fast. My little guy is 9 months old already and I feel like if I blink, he's going to be off to college.

I can't even imagine how much fun the next 9 months are going to be. I have had the best time watching him grow and change. Just when I think he is at the best stage, he starts doing something new and the fun begins again.

He is days or even hours away from walking. If only I would just put him down more, he probably would be walking. He's eating a few more grown up food items and maybe a few leaves and bugs along the way. With all the stink bugs this year, I am sure he'll down a few of those.

Blub, Blub, Blub and No Hands!!

2010-09-17T09:18:00.002-04:00

Duke's favorite game is making noise with his lips.

He is starting to stand up now on his own. We'll see him just standing there sometimes. Hasn't tried to take a step yet but he is getting good at standing without leaning on anything so that should come soon.

The quality of the pictures is not great - not sure how to fix that.

Is It Here Yet?

2010-09-16T13:52:00.002-04:00

Fall that is. The weather is getting a little "crisper" and it is starting to feel a tad like fall. I can't wait for it! October is my favorite time of year. Not because it is my birthday (definitely not because it is my birthday) but because it is time the leaves start changing, the weather is perfect and it is just a beautiful time to get outside. This will be Duke's first fall and first pumpkins, hayride, etc. and I am so excited. I hope the weather at Merrymead Farm is good this year for the Great Pumpkin.

One thing we did last year that is a MUST this year too is apple picking at Solebury Orchards. It was so fantastic and the apple pies that we made after were so delicious. I can't wait for that again. Lots to anticipate this fall.

First Day of School and the Arts Festival

2010-09-12T12:13:00.006-04:00

Sitting outside her school.

Avah getting ready to leave the house.

Matt's first day!

Last week were the nieces and nephews first day of school!! For two in particular, Avah and Matt, it was there first, first day of school!!! I can't believe how they are growing up. I just can't. I wasn't able to see either of them off :-( but I think they both did great and had a good time. Only 16 more years to go (at least). I don't even want to think about them graduating.

Matt getting off the school bus.

And Avah being Avah. North Penn, here she comes!

Jack was in a golf tournament with his dad this weekend at Cedarbrook CC and even though they didn't win first place, I think they did pretty well. I think Jack played good for how much he's gotten to practice or play since the baby has been born. Last night was the final night and there was a dinner for the golfers and their wives/sig others. We had a really nice night getting out of the house and ate tons of good food. We may have brought home some dessert for the Eagles game today too. ;-)

Yesterday during the day we went to the Doylestown Arts Festival, which was so much fun! B, Avah, Duke and I spent hours there walking around seeing the art and all the dogs people had out walking around. There was live music all around and it was just so much fun and the weather was perfect. I am already looking forward to next year. We ran into college friends and sorority sisters of mine who make their own beautiful jewelry. It's amazing how talented everyone is. Avah got a pair of pearl earrings and I got a pair that matched my dress last night perfectly. We're excited to have Sarah and Hannah come to our house this fall for a jewelry party and to meet up with some old friends.

One of the live bands at the arts festival was the Little Rockers, a kids music group. That was so much fun dancing with Avah and Duke to all the fun songs. They all got to shake their eggs and participate.You can't tell that Duke and Aunt B are dancing but they are.

The Little Rockers!!!!!

My little rocker.

Aunt Megan got him this outfit. This will be good in my family until spring :-).

End of Summer

2010-09-11T08:10:00.003-04:00

Summers always seem to go too fast. The last weekend in August we traveled to western, PA to see my Aunt Sharon from Missouri. She came in to visit family and meet Duke. I was SO excited to see her and for her to see the baby. My aunt always has lots of stories to tell and they all remind me of growing up and how much fun we all had. I wish the whole Peacock family could have come too but we are all grown up now with families and lots of things to do! I have to get a trip together to go to MO with Duke and take him to all the fun places we used to go to when we were little. I miss Silver Dollar City!!

This is Duke hanging out on the deck showing off for his Aunt Sharon. We had such a great weekend and we miss her already.

We traveled in again on Labor Day weekend and just had a nice long relaxing weekend visiting. Family from OH came in and we had a great weekend. I tried to learn to crochet dishcloths (work in progress) and ate tons of junk. My grandma made scotchies and texas sheet cake for everyone and there was barely a crumb left. I think I ate 20 scotchies in a day. YUM!

Duke on the deck again (favorite place to be) playing with all his toys. Check out Bubba's tongue in the back!

Cousins Laura, Alison, Shane and my Uncle Steve after playing cornhole.

Gramma Beth and her grand kiddies. At least one is behaving.

Duke and crazy cousin Aves :-) But who looks like the crazy one in that picture?

Our niece Avah had my camera for awhile taking some family shots. Here's one of us. She did a pretty good job!

Now it's back to focusing on getting the house cleaned and organized for fall. No small task with a little one moving ALL over the place and wanting my undivided attention. I have to utilize nap times. The weather this weekend has been beautiful. My sister and I are taking the kids to the Doylestown Arts Festival today. I am really looking forward to getting outside and seeing all the vendors. Better get ready.

This is Duke getting tubbies when we got home. Do you think he hung around Gram and Pap Harper this weekend?? :-) He LOVED riding around with Pap Pap Ron on his scooter. He thought he was cool stuff.

My son thinks he's a dog.

2010-08-26T12:24:00.006-04:00

This post may not win me any mother of the year awards but I'll survive. My son believes he is one of the dogs. He gets in the dogs water, he picks the dog toys out from the gazillions of toys he has laying around to play with and he carries the toys around in his mouth. I will say that he uses his hands to eat his snacks (for that, I am thankful).

Yes, he stole the toy right from Rose's mouth. Disclaimer: Rose was just at the vet and is very healthy. Is her mouth spic n' span clean - no but who's is. I know - I clean them 3 days a week.

He is running (like a dog) away with his loot. Rose is not going to let him get away with this.

Tuesday was Duke's 8 month birthday!! I can't believe it - really! I have an 8 month old. I will soon be planning his 1st birthday. Where does the time go? So on Tuesday we had to do his traditional photo shoot with his 8 month sticker. This is how it went.

He was so excited to get a tubby before we took pictures. He loves his tubbies but lately he tries to climb out??

One of the first pictures. I wish I could say he was like this for the rest of the shoot but sadly, no.

"Why I otta!!!!" It started to go bad. He was getting annoyed and didn't want to sit still for anything. It is very close to his bedtime at this point and he was having none of it.

And this is the last photo on the camera. He was done, completely done. He proceeded to rip the sticker from his chest and scream curse words at us until we gave him his bottle.

Bouncy Seat Fun

2010-08-20T10:49:00.002-04:00

Nothing new is going on with us. Duke is getting bigger and faster and louder. He loves his bouncy seat but it seems to put him to sleep. He fell asleep in it again this morning!

Duke LOVES Mickey Mouse. I guess it's time to start saving for a Disney trip.

Bubba snoring - I ran out of memory card - it got really loud. Turn up the volume.

That's all I got for today.

Anniversary's and Birthday's are exhausting!

2010-08-17T19:04:00.004-04:00

This past weekend, Jack and I had our 5th wedding anniversary! We went out to dinner without the babe for 2 whole hours! It was nice to get out but if I said I didn't miss the baby, I would be lying. The weather was perfect for a dinner outside at Basta Pasta in Skippack.

Yesterday was "Aunt B's" birthday. Her present was babysitting Duke all day ;-). So happy birthday to my sista who takes such good care of my boy when I am at work. Thank goodness for her, my peace of mind.

Here he is watching "toons" in the morning. He LOVES Mickey Mouse.

Today while she was babysitting him, he fell asleep in his jumper. He does not like to admit when he is tired because we might just put him in his crib for a nap if he does.

Getting very sleepy.

Out.

Not yet.

Now he's out.

More vids

2010-08-12T18:01:00.002-04:00

First Tooth

2010-08-10T19:42:00.003-04:00

Duke has his first tooth coming in! It is so cute in there.

So sleepy.

This is my favorite picture of him right now. I just LOVE LOVE LOVE his little lips, nose, cheeks, eyes, eyelashes, chin, etc. I even love the dog hair on his nose and dried food stuck to his head. I am sure I will see this face many more times following a "puh-leeeease mom" in the years to come.

Duke Vid

2010-08-08T10:40:00.002-04:00

Our first cell phone video attempt. Ignore the commentary - I didn't think you'd be able to hear anything :-)

Coupons

2010-08-08T09:41:00.003-04:00

I've run across some really great websites in my journey to learn how to save money with coupons. It is becoming a tad less work now that I know the stores coupon policies, like who doubles and how much and who price matches, etc. I just wish that they would all price match and double coupons to make life easier. BUT websites are out there to help minimalize time spent clipping and comparing.

Here are just two that I've come across so far:

MomSaves
CouponMom

I like these because they are easy to use and explain how their site works. If anyone has sites that they like to use - let me know and I will post them.

First Time at the Shore

2010-08-03T12:12:00.003-04:00

This was way back in July but I am long overdue with some posting. Now that my computer is running at a normal speed, I can update faster and easier.

It was Horgan weekend at Me-Mom and Be-Bop's house and Duke's first experience with the bay and ocean.

He liked the waves at first and the sand between his toes but I think that after awhile the heat and overstimulation from the water got him a little cranky. He loved hanging out a the house though. It was a beautiful weekend and I wish we could have stayed longer. Weekends on the bay never last long enough.

Mom-mom must be driving a little fast. He is hanging on for life!

Sitting in the yard loving the grass on his feet.