Friday's Letters

Dear Baby M - I cannot believe you are 2 years old already! Where did the time go? I can remember your tiny little fingers & toes and sweet baby smell like it was yesterday. You are growing and changing so much every single day, and I am constantly amazed by how much you know. You are so very sweet, and also so very sassy - just like me. I cherish every day with you, because I know that before we know it you will have traded in snuggles with mommy & daddy for Starbucks with your girlfriends... all the mundane things that seem so trivial right now because they are a part of our day-to-day; coloring, reading stories together, bath time - I will miss those one day. I wonder what you will be like as a teenager, as a woman... where will you go to college, what kind of man will you marry, will you have lots of kids of your own? I have so many hopes and dreams for you, my love; and I know you will have so many of your own. I will be here with you every step of the way, helping you achieve those dreams. I love you so very much, my sweet girl, and I look forward to what the next year will bring. 

Dear Retail - Quit it with the Christmas commercials, advertisements, sales... NEWSFLASH! Thanksgiving hasn't happened yet! Get back to me on 11/29!

Dear Hot Chocolate - It's nice to have you back, I've missed you! PS - I may be leaving you for DD red velvet latte... 

Dear Mother Nature - Please, please, please don't make it too cold tomorrow morning! I'm doing another 5K, and I really don't want to freeze my a$$ off! K, thanks! 


Dear Veterans - Thank you so much for all you have sacrificed to protect our great nation. The selflessness you and your families display as a part of our Armed Forces is unparalleled, and my family and I are so very grateful for your service. We are also thankful for the day off to honor you.

Baby M Turns 2!!!!

It's hard to believe that just 2 short years ago we were anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little princess. I say this mostly because it's hard to imagine our lives without her in it now that she's here. 

I worried a lot when I was pregnant that I wouldn't have enough room in my heart for all the boys and a new baby. I wondered how all the pieces would fit together, how I would find enough of myself to go around. 

I had some complications after my delivery, so I wasn't able to hold her right away... In fact, it was hours before I held that precious girl in my arms - but I knew from the moment they placed her on my chest that there would be no trouble making room for her in my heart, that with her here our family was complete. Clearly all the men in her life felt the same way :)

Every day this girl amazes us with her sweetness and her kind heart. She is also a spitfire like her mother, so her sass always keeps us on our toes. Combine these two things with all funny things she says, and there is never a dull moment in our house with M around. It has been a pleasure getting to know her as she has grown from a baby into a toddler and started to come into her personality. As difficult as it can be with her testing the limits and wanting to do literally EVERY. SINGLE. THING. on her own, this is my favorite age so far. 

This past Saturday at 12:12 am our baby girl turned 2 years old. We started celebrating from the moment she woke up, and didn't stop until Sunday night! We all had a blast! Good times with good friends and family, this was the theme for M's birthday weekend. 

Friday night before I went to sleep I set out all her presents in front of the fireplace with a bunch of balloons. I wanted that to be the first thing she saw when she woke up in the morning. 

Her brothers had a doctor appointment in the morning, so when they got back we all headed to our local mall for lunch and a special trip to Build-a-Bear Workshop for the birthday girl. Stuffed animals are her favorite, so she LOVES it there. After a few hours minutes of debate, she picked out a My Little Pony, 

who she lovingly named Rainbow. 

She had so much fun filling up Rainbow's heart with special traits, stuffing her, and giving her a "bath". Then we made the birth certificate and the big screen behind the cash register lit up with a special birthday message for our girl. 

She loved that, once we told her what it said! 

After Rainbow was boxed up and ready to go we headed home to get ready for the PARTY! We had a few friends and family at the local gymnastics gym, All American Gymnastics, to celebrate. It was great because they had everything there. The entertainment, the food, the cake, they even had goodie bags! Of course I didn't realize they provided the goodie bags, and got some personalized goodies from my friend Amanda at AmandArt. She's awesome! 

M had the best time running around with her little friends. I think the trampoline was her favorite, but they also let her fly on the trapeze at the end and she really loved that! 

Then we had cake, and after that the family came back to our house to open presents. She had a good time with that too! 

I made those really cool candy corn cupcakes that have been circulating all over FaceBook, and of course didn't take any pictures of them. Another blogger FAIL! 

They came out really good though, & they tasted delicious. After presents we sang happy birthday again, this time to M and her Uncle E who shares the same birthday.

Once all the company was gone we all snuggled up on the couch and watched Monsters University. Jay and I didn't really love it, but the boys thought it was hysterical. 

Sunday we vegged out for most of the day, watched the Jet game and played with all of M's new toys. Then we headed out to Chili's for one last birthday celebration for M and her birthday buddy Uncle E. We had to wait even though we had called ahead, but the manager gave us a bunch of free stuff so that made up for it. The food was great and the company was even better. Usually M gives a hard time eating when we are out but she ate her entire meal and then some. Then we sang happy birthday one last time with some super delicious ice cream and skillet chocolate chip cookies (yum!), and some spiced pumpkin molten cake (double yum!) for the birthday uncle :) 

YUM!

DOUBLE YUM!

All in all, it was a great weekend. I still can't believe our baby girl is 2 years old. She is always learning and growing, and teaching me something new honestly, so I'm really looking forward to what the next year will bring.

Happy Hump Day All!!!

Hope the rest of your week goes quickly!

We've been busy!!! A little of this & that...

I have been such a slacker with my posts. I know, I know. Major blogger FAIL. But....

We have been SO BUSY!!!!

I am a week behind, but I'm going to fill you all in anyway!

When I left you last I was getting ready to do my first 5K. The good news is, I DID IT!!! Not only did I finish, but I ran the entire thing, and I did it with a personal record for myself of 33.01, 10.39/M. My fastest mile so far has been 10.15, but that was only one mile, so this was a pretty big deal for me. 

I was so excited to see my hubs and kiddos when I ran across that finish line, but of course it didn't quite work out the way I had planned it. I thought I would come back that Monday after and write a great blog post with tons of pictures of my sweaty ass zipping across the finish... but what's that saying? We plan, God laughs.... 
Jay was standing a little before the finish because there was a curve and he wanted to see me coming, only he didn't! I ran right past him and he didn't see me! Even though I was wearing florescent orange in honor of the pumpkin 5K! So, I have no pictures of my first official finish :( 
Last year when we walked, there was a professional photographer who you could purchase the pictures from. Of course I didn't buy any then. This year because I am dying for that picture, I still haven't heard anything. That would be my luck!

Thankfully my dad and I took this selfie before we started, so at least I have that! 

Marianne Volpe 5K & Pumpkin Fun Run 10/26/13

I got such a rush from this 5K that I decided to do it again, this weekend!!! I think I'm addicted. I signed up for another 5K in the town next to ours. I'm hoping it won't be too cold, & I can have a similar experience. Hopefully Jay will get a picture this time!!! 

The next day Jay and I headed into the city with our best friends for any awesome grownup day out. We ate at 5 Napkin Burger, which was super yummy. Then we hit up Carlo's Cafe & Billy's Bakery for dessert. We walked everywhere, so I totally burned off the cupcake cupcakes I ate! It was really nice to have my love to myself for an entire day.

That wrapped up a totally awesome weekend, and on Monday we had baby M's 2 year birthday pics and cake smash. We did a cake smash with her last year also, and the photographer I used was so amazing, I just had to do it again this year. We haven't gotten all the pics back yet, but she did give us a sneak peak. If you are in the Long Island area, you definitely need to check out Gina Rae Miller Photography. She is amazingly talented and such a pleasure to work with! She gave us this little tid-bit, and I absolutely love it! I can't wait to see the rest!!! 

We had Halloween this year! The kids were so excited to actually get to dress up and go trick or treating this year! You don't realize how much the little things like this mean to a child until you can't actually do them. They were robbed last year by that biotch Sandy, so even though it was freezing (to me), and windy, and rainy... we braved it and hit the streets. It was worth every frigid moment to see the smiles on their faces. Of course our big guy refused to dress up, and I didn't get any pics of the other two because they went trick or treating at their mom's this year... but I have a few good shots of these two beauties :)

SuperGirl

Zombie Doctor checking out his stash while SuperGirl tries to figure out how to get some!

Such a good big brother! 

This girl was on a serious candy finding mission! 

All this led up to our girl's second birthday this past Saturday. We did lots of celebrating, and a good time was had by all... but I will leave that for another post. 

Don't forget to vote today everyone!!!