Sisterly Love

My heart feels happy whenever I see these two play together. Maddie is a wonderful big sister.

The Fathers in my life

I have been an extremely lucky girl.....to have a great husband and a great dad. Thank you for everything you both have done for me!

Ervin, I sometimes take you for granted and I am sorry....today, I thank you for all of your hard work and dedication to our family. This week for example, I don't know what I would have done without you. You have taken such great care of me this week while I recover from surgery... and you also have taken great care of the kids. I love you!

Dad, you are the most amazing person I know.
Thank you for being the best dad there is. You have always been there for me whenever I needed you. You taught me how to be a good person.
I am happy to say that dad is out of the ICU and is stable. Thank God...

failure!

So I finally weighed myself. I have been avoiding the scale for weeks....I finally just sucked it up and stepped on. NOT GOOD. I am back to my January weight. Oh..My...GoD...I don't know why I do this. I feel like a failure.

Good news is...I am having surgery next week. I am getting my tonsils out. My throat will be sore....I won't be able to swallow without pain...I will definitely lose weight.

Last night I took a long hour walk....and today... I will do it again. Started the day off good with a mushroom egg white scramble.

I know how to lose weight. Something is not letting me... I am keeping myself from this. And now....it is not all about how I look...which....I am hating the way I look and feel right now.....but I need to lose weight for my health....I need to be healthy!

My dad is in the hospital right now with pancreatitis. He is not looking too good. He is in the ICU..with an NG tube, 2 IV's, heart monitors, a foley catheter, a rectal tube, dilaudid PCA. He is wheezing needing breathing treatments...and is very swollen. I almost didn't recognize him when I saw him yesterday. He has diabetes and kidney disease. I was reading on the internet last night...the prognosis doesn't sound too good when you add in the kidney disease. I am just hoping that he will pull through this. My dad is one of the strongest people I know. It just hurts to see him in that hospital bed...looking so helpless and in pain.

I use food to cope. Not good.

If you are the praying type...Please pray for my Dad.....

Easter thoughts...

This year Easter has been a big eye opener for me...I have always grown up as Easter being the day that Jesus rose from the dead. We would celebrate by going to mass and have a family celebration with lots of food. We would have an Easter egg hunt set up by the parents....maybe dye some eggs once in a while for fun.

Well, I just realized this year ( I know this is nuts that I just figured this out) that other families celebrate Easter differently...as in...the celebration of the arrival of the Easter bunny..... the celebration of spring....The Easter bunny would bring Easter baskets full of toys and chocolates and lay eggs everywhere. I had no clue that parents gave presents and Easter baskets to children that was FROM THE EASTER BUNNY. I always thought that that the gifts were from parents. I was shocked....and I felt like my kids have been missing out on the whole Easter bunny thing. It's like missing out on the tooth fairy or Santa Clause! My parents never laid out Easter baskets for us or hid eggs that the Easter bunny laid so I had no idea that the Easter bunny was supposed to do that!

I am in favor of celebrating Easter in both ways. I don't have any judgements for those that celebrate the coming of the Easter bunny solely. I think that it is definitely important for my children to know the real and true meaning of Easter......but I think they definitely should not miss out the fun stuff too.

So , this year, at the last minute, I hid Easter eggs and had 1 basket full of candy that the "Easter bunny" brought over. I woke up Jacob and Allie and said that the Easter bunny came. They looked at me with puzzled faces and came down the stairs. They started searching for eggs....and Allie said....with her hip out, pointing around, with raised eye brows..."I don't think the Easter bunny did this...I think you did!" It was pretty obvious that they are too old and that they have missed out on this thing for all their lives! HA! I tried.....but maybe it is not too late for the younger ones......

Gatlinburg

We decided to take a family trip to the mountains.....Stay in a cabin, relax in a jacuzzi tub, do some sightseeing. I wanted to just spend time with my hubby and kids and do something fun that we could all enjoy.

We all had a great time. The kids said it was the best vacation they have ever been on! (They also said that when we went to Chicago), but it truly was a really good time. We had some great bonding time and we were able to do fun activities. We were able to let go of the hustle and bustle at home and just enjoy ourselves, doing whatever we wanted to do.

During our stay in Gatlinburg we visited "The Upside Down House" as the kids kept referring to it.

Wonderworks was a really cool place. It's kind of like a science related amusement park (without rides). It had all kids of interesting and cool things for children to experience and learn.

We also visited Cades Cove. If you are ever in Gatlinburg, this place is a must see. The trip to get there alone is beautiful, it's 24 miles of winding mountain road. You can't take your eyes off the scenery, my neck started to hurt because I couldn't stop looking out the window. Cades Cove is a historic settlement in the Great Smoky Mountains that can be toured. It is an 11 mile loop that you can drive or bicycle. It is very rich in history and has beautiful views. I would definitely go again.

We stopped by and took in the scenery of the Smokies. This place is so beautiful.

We also went to the Ripley's Aquarium. I was really impressed with how cool this aquarium was. The kids had a really good time, even Grace.

The rest of the time we just relaxed at "home" in the hot tub, played games, cooked, and enjoyed the scenery from our cabin.

older by the minute

My babies are growing up so fast. The other day I saw a picture of Allie...she was about 3 years old and I can barely remember what she was like back then. That was only 3-4 years ago. Those years went by so fast.

I have a box for each kid that I put special keepsakes in, like their first baby hat, their hospital bracelets, pictures, art projects, etc... It was fun to see what has been collected so far.

I know I say this all the time.....but I can barely keep up with what is happening around the house that I forget that I need to remember these moments with my babies...

Allie and Maddie

she is pulling herself up and standing tall already.....and crawling all over the place now!

just tryin on the boots!

snow day!

First snow day of the year....

This is what I see when I look out my front window....it is so pretty...

and here is what's inside....kids playing Wii.

Holiday fun

We went to a local light display a few days ago and it was lots of fun. We had some great quality family time and it was pretty affordable. This place had lights, horse carriage rides, games, face painting, Santa, rides, and more.

Gracie's first picture with Santa !

Did you notice who didn't take a pic with Santa? Yes, Maddie did not want anything to do with the jolly old man. She was terrified and cried and screamed. So,....we didn't make her take a pic.

The kids had such a good time. This is what they looked like when we got home! (Maddie and Gracie were also asleep.)

play time

I love how Gracie is watching Maddie ..... and how just minutes before Maddie placed all these toys out for Gracie to play with....just melts my heart.

Saying Goodbye

is hard to do...

My husband lost his dad this past Friday. Papa was a good man with a kind heart. He loved his children and family very much. He will be greatly missed by many. Ervin was his "sidekick" growing up and they were very close. His heart is aching a great deal. Ervin is like his dad in many ways......and can see Papa in Ervin .....




One thing about Papa is that he LOVED the Beatles. Every time I hear a Beatles song, I think of him. He passed his love of the Beatles to Ervin and that is something that they will always have.

Here's to you Papa....may you rest in peace....

Celebrations

We've been doing a lot of celebrating lately! Ervin's bday, Allie's bday and Easter all were clumped together this year! I had to work on Easter so I missed out on all the fun festivities...egg hunts, yummy food, and the joy of family! I did get a glimpse of the girls in their Easter dresses. Allie complained that her dress was too itchy! and I heard that Maddie was trying to take her dress off in the car on the way to the party!

Aren't they just adorable???

Ervin turned 33 this year. We celebrated by going to the boat aka casino. My mom treated us to an overnight stay for free as well as dinner and breakfast buffets. We even brought the kids. The kids loved the pool! We had a good time.....the only downfall.....losing 300+ dollars to those awful slot machines!!! My mom won 35,000 dollars a few months ago and I was hoping to win a little! Not so much!!! We had cheesecake, Erv's favorite to celebrate!

Allie turned 6 this week! I cannot believe how much she has grown. She wanted her party at Chuck E Cheese. We went there on a Saturday and it actually wasn't tooo crowded! We were there early around 11 am so that may have made a difference. She had a really good time and got some cool presents including an i pod shuffle from grandma and grandpa. She loves listening to music and wanted her own tunes to listen to. I am now trying to download some music on to it but I am having some technical difficulty! Why is it that you can spend hours on the computer waiting for downloads! So frustrating!!!

My baby girl is 6 years old! She has grown into such a loving and beautiful person. She is sensitive and funny. She loves it when we spend time together. She loves her family...and we love her too!

Happy 6th birthday baby!