Dana's baby shower (9/3/2011)

A new niece is coming... a new niece is coming... and we celebrated her soon-to-be arrival today at a baby shower for Dana (and Pablo)!

These two are going to make great BIG sisters!
Aunt Brandi loves you, Savanna Banana & Squirt! :)


The shower was great! Lots of good food, good times, fun with family, and lots of baby stuff to "ooo and ahhh" over! I can't wait for my new niece, Jayla, to be here! She's due at the beginning of October! :)




Little sneaks to match her Daddy's... too cute! :)

Gifts from AUnt Brandi, AUnt Kelly, & Memom... we like to plan ahead-- as you can see on the clothes line! :)

Easter Sunday "best" (4/24/2011)

**Happy Easter!**
me & my little bunnies... :)

... and my little "niece" bunnies! :)


Easter dinner at our house this year. Dinner was good and they kids had lots of fun playing together. The Bunny left a bunch of eggs at our house for the kids, so instead of an egg hunt (it was rainy out), we had a little "egg-stravaganza"... eggs were flying & rolling, the kids were scattering to grab as many eggs as they could! :)


As you can see, they collected their eggs any possible way they could! If I would have only given them a bag or basket ahead of time... lol!



Hope all of you had a great Easter! Happy Easter from our family to yours! :)

Family goes GREEN for St. Patty's Day (3/2011)

Some of the family from AZ (ToniAnn, Stephanie, CJ, Thomas, & Matthew) came in this week and it just so happens to be St. Patty's Day week! We all got our green on and headed to the local parade on Saturday. We had a great time at the parade... and spending time with the family while they were here!











May the luck of the Irish be with all of you... always! **Happy St. Patrick's Day!**

Christmas Eve '09

Christmas started off great! :) On Christmas Eve, I made dinner and some of the family joined us. "Uncle Stephen" (Mike's brother) came in from AZ for the holidays, so he and his girlfriend, Michelle, joined us, as well. After dinner, we went to Christmas Eve mass, which was really nice & the kids were so well behaved in church!
In the mix of it all, the kids got to begin opening some of their gifts... they got new dolls from Aunt Kelly & Sam (Princesses and Buzz Lightyear), new dogs and outfits from Uncle Stephen & Michelle, and a swingset from Memom... to be delivered in the Spring! :) Let the excitement begin!
Later in the night, Angelia handed out the gifts she purchased at the Santa Secret Shop at school. I remember doing this when I was in elementary school and loved it! :) Anyway-- she bought things for her sisters, brother, & Mommy & Daddy. She got stretchy frisbees for the girls, a squishy toy for Ant, a #1 Dad mug for Michael, and a pretty necklace with a MOM charm on it for me! OMG-- my heart melted seeing her so proud of her purchases and the thought I know she put into picking them out. This is definitely the JOY of the Christmas season... the happiness and joy of the children!

East meets West (8/15/09)

Michael's cousin - Glenn, his wife - Shilo, and their son - Micah, came to NJ from Washington state for a visit. While here, we got to spend the day together at Uncle Billy & Aunt Barbara's and had a great time! This was the 1st time we got to meet Micah. I feel like I already know/met him because I have followed Shilo's blog updates of him since he was born, but there's nothing like seeing someone in person. Micah is just an adorable, happy little guy! :) He loved playing with the little ones and laughed & giggled all day! :) It was great to see them and spend the day! Hopefully we'll get to seem them again soon, but until then-- thank goodness for blogs... it keeps us connected-- even across the country! :)

More visitors... more fun times! (July-Aug. '09)

With Stephanie still here visiting with us, (Aunt) ToniAnn, (Uncle) Tom, Thomas, and Matthew came to visit us from AZ too for a week! :) As always, it was so great to see them and everyone had lots of fun and good times while they visited. While they were here, we went to Belmar (beach), we celebrated Thomas' 11th birthday, the kids went to Chuck E Cheese for the 1st time, they went down the shore to enjoy the Boardwalk, and spent a lot of fun, quality time together.
Here's some pics of their visit and the good times they shared...













Aunt Toni, Uncle Tom, Steph, Thomas, & Matty... we are all so happy that you could come back East to visit us. As always, it was great to see all of you and spend lots of time together. Thank you for everything! We hope we can all be together again soon... here in NJ or in AZ. As always, we love you and miss you! :)