Avah Turns Five!

Our niece, Avah, turned five on November 18th. She REALLY wanted a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party this year so on the Saturday after her birthday, she had her big party and a great time. I must say that Chuck-E-Cheese on a Saturday is not for the faint of heart. It is crowded with kids and their parents trying to keep track and keep up with them. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOON!

The night of her actual birthday, she wanted pumpkin pie.

Avah and Uncle Jack having a sword battle.

The Costco cake that she designed. She loves her chocolate!

Shower #2 - Horgan Shower!!

I really could go on and on about how blessed I am to have such a wonderful family of my very own but also to have married into such a wonderful and loving family. Jack and I are so thankful to have our families, for all the love and support they give and for everything they do for us. Our new baby Duke has no idea how very lucky he is to be coming into this world with parents who love him so much and for the families that come along with his parents who will spoil him to no end.
Just one week ago, I had my 2nd baby shower - the "Philly shower" hosted by my mother-in-law, Mary Lu. It was a fantastic day and I got to see so many of my good friends and family. Everything looked beautiful and the food was so delicious!!

I helped bake and decorate cookies for the day for favors and table decorations. My sister B, SIL Kim, and nieces and nephews were over at my MIL's house and we spent a good 2 hours decorating trying to decide who piped a straighter line. I think the cookies turned out amazing!



The centerpieces were masterfully done by The Rhoads Garden with the baby block theme to match the invitations and the decorations.


My mom came into town from Ohio which was a nice surprise. She made it despite the flat tire, broken rim and rental car fiasco on her trip home. I think flat tires run in the family. My friends all came in and the only downside to the whole day was that I didn't get to spend as much time as I would have liked chatting with everyone. It just goes by too fast.


Duke got so many cool gifts that he is all set for when he arrives. I just can't wait for him to get here!!!
My SIL Kim took all the great pictures of the day but she did have some competition!!

Please click on the link and vote. It only takes a minute or two and it is for a great cause. Veterinary bills are outrageously expensive for bulldog rescues and they need any help they can get.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Shout out to my dad and soon-to-be Pappy Wood on his birthday! Hope you had an awesome day Dad!!

I'll be posting pictures from my shower this past weekend and hopefully I can get baby Duke's room somewhat organized for updated pictures. We are making progress.

Stoli's FHO Surgery Update *graphic pics*

The past couple of weeks, our little frenchie girl, Stoli was limping on her rear, right leg so we took her to the vet to see what was going on. Of course it was no little and easy task to fix and required a pretty invasive surgery to get her back to health. I was so upset. I felt so bad that she is only a year old and she had to have this major hip surgery for a displaced hip. The vet (we have a wonderful vet at North Penn) took x-rays and showed us how her femur ball was completely out of the socket and she would need FHO surgery - femoral head ostectomy. They go in and remove the ball and neck of her femur bone! Ouch.

Stoli just home from the hospital. She hates that cone.

The cone had to be put back on to calm her down. She was so excited to be home and to see Rose and Bubba that we were afraid she would pop a stitch or hurt herself more so we put the cone back on and she rested on the couch for a little bit.

Stoli had her surgery on Tuesday, the 3rd and we got to pick her up last night. It is so hard to see such a young dog limping and in pain but I must report that she did great last night at home and is doing well this morning. The hardest part, believe it or not, is keeping her still! She still tries to move around like she did before and she will be able to eventually but for now, she has to heal. I think that she will heal quickly and be running around with Rose in no time at all. She certainly hasn't let Rose get away with anything since she's been home. She'll still play with toys and walk around (and sometimes run) the house playing. She needs to keep the muscle tone up in that hip, so it is good that she is still using it and exercising it.

Here she is this morning laying at my feet in the computer room. This is one of her only "calm" moments this morning. She carries Jack's dirty socks around the house - see at bottom of picture.

Her wound - it looks awful and huge but she seems to be doing okay. She is on a cocktail of meds to help her feel better and heal fast.

We have 4 more laser tx's to go and then we can put this all behind us.

Halloween 2009!

This year Jack and I decided that with a new baby on the way, it would be too much for us to throw our annual Horgan Halloween Bash this year. I was teetering back and forth on whether or not we should do it because they are always so fun and I LOVE seeing everyone's creative costumes. Some family were disappointed too so my MIL stepped in and saved the annual Halloween Bash and decided to have it at her house this year!!! I should be titling this post "How my MIL saved Halloween". Since Jack's cousin, Dianne, turned 30 just days before, it was turned into a surprise 30th/Halloween party - even more fun!

Dianne, Chris and their adorable twins! I thought the twins were spinach but they were two peas in a pod - so cute!

There were so many fun and creative costumes that I can't possibly post them all on here. Jack and I went as bacon and eggs, there was Pee Wee Herman, greek gods, busy bees, you name it. There was even an entire supermarket of babies.

Avah had her Halloween parade at school and I went, hand sanitizer in tow and she looked so cute. She was a rock star, which someday, I swear she really will be. Then off to dance class on Halloween morning. This is her outfit! What a character she is. She definitely loves fun.


At the Halloween party, Aunt Lynny, surprised us all with the wonderful news that Jay and Amy were expecting their first baby - due June 20th! Everyone was so excited for her - she has been dying to be a mom-mom. The parents to be looked thrilled and we are so happy for them. She told everyone by dressing up as a grandma for Halloween and in her brag book was a cute little note that she was going to be a grandma and Jay and Amy were having a baby.


To view the Halloween pictures I took, click here. It is a snapfish album and I hope it works.

Baby Shower!

Jack, the dogs and I went back home to visit family and go to my first baby shower for little Duke. Ann planned a very nice and fun shower with friends and family back home at the Elks in Clearfield. We got a ton of wonderful gifts for the baby and had a nice time catching up with family that we just don't get to see often enough. The gifts were very thoughtful and we loved them all. His room is looking quite lived in despite him not being here yet.

The yummy cake that looked almost too cute to eat.

My sister, Megan, and I next to the cake.

Ann, Dad and I before the shower. I look HUGE in this picture but decided that I better start putting pictures of me up so everyone can really see how big I am getting. But seriously this might be the last one because I can't bear to look at it. I just pretend that I am still the same size prepregancy and don't look in the mirror too often.

Ann had the gift table set up real cute before the shower with a basket for all his new books and a place to put all his new goodies. It looked awesome and he got soooo many new books that I can't wait to read to him. I loved that idea.

Ann made this diaper cake with lots of cute goodies for her soon-to-be grandson. It's really cute so we'll see how long it takes until I have to take it down to get at the diapers!

OK. This was a gift that was "to" Pappy Wayne from Cousin Hilary and family in Missouri. Dukes Pap is a huge Cubs fan so we will wear this just for Pappy Wayne but "GO PHILLIES!!!". I think it is adorable and just made convince Jack to let him wear it just when the Cubbies play.

Mmm hmmm. It even has his name on it!!!

Aunt Megan made this just for her first nephew. It is very cute and one of my favorite gifts of the day! I think he'll love it.

Grandma Ann made this for Duke and we LOVE IT! It is so soft and beautiful that I can't wait to wrap him up in it. I think he'll be getting his picture taken in this right away!

I had a really great time at the shower and again feel so grateful for the friends and family in our lives who care so much about us. We are always counting our blessings.

Duke's Room (so far)

We are starting to get Duke's room put together and the more we put in there the more it is looking like a babies room. I still don't have any cute animal theme on the walls or anywhere but I like the blues and browns. He will have toys and books in there to look at and we will eventually get some wall hangings. I think I am going to do family photos in cute frames from Restoration Hardware Kids and Baby. Their boy stuff goes with my "theme" of blues and browns if you can call that a theme.

The only artwork he has to be framed and hung on his walls so far is by his cousin, Avah. She made this masterpiece just for her "Christmas Cousin".

His already large shoe collection. Yes, those are cowboy boots you see in there from his Mom-Mom. He has a whole outfit to go with, which will be photographed and posted once he fits into it.

His awesome dresser/changing table from his Great Grandma Harper, Grandma Beth and Grandma Ann. It is already getting piled with wonderful gifts.

He got lots of great clothes from Aunt Jen from when his cousin, Loucky was a baby. I have them spread out on the floor in front of the dresser.

His toy basket that is already getting filled with books and goodies, mainly from his crazy Aunt B (Aunt Peach). She always has something for him and blames it on Avah having to pick up a toy or book while they're out.

These baskets will go on his bookshelf that is coming soon. We got all the baskets from Restoration Hardware.


Duke's crib, where I hope he sleeps peacefully most of the night for us. His Mom-Mom Horgan got him his new crib. His first "silky" is hanging off the side ready to be cuddled from his cousin, Avah. His bed linens are hanging there too just waiting to be washed and put on a mattress.

So that's what we have so far. Hopefully we have more share soon. Our house is starting to fill up with new baby gear and toys and some great hand-me-down toys too. Thank goodness for sister-in-laws who want to get rid of their baby stuff!!! Our friends and family have been extremely generous and we love them.

A Saturday of Baking

The apple peeler! If you bake apple pies a lot - get one!

Before baking

After Baking - YUM!

It was kind of a rainy, fall Saturday and I had a ton of apples sitting on my table so I decided to try out mom's dutch apple pie recipe. I was dreading peeling all the apples I needed to make the pies so we went to BB&B and got ourselves an apple peeler. The best $16 I spent this year. It took 10 minutes to peel, core and slice 7 apples!!! The rest was easy as pie (had to do it).

I also wanted to bake some Halloween cookies for the Eagles game at the Francis' and for for my mother-in-laws birthday today. Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Birthday to my MIL today and to Aunt Lynny yesterday!!

The niece's and nephew's Halloween treats this year.

The day was spent with my house smelling like cookies and apple pie! What could be better than that? We haven't tasted the pies (2) yet but hopefully they taste as good as they look. I am going to warm them in the oven before I take them to the party.

The girls watching my every move. Bubba was at my feet.

I still have a bunch of apples so I need to find some quick, easy and yummy apple recipes.