wherever you find love it feels like christmas

Would you believe we actually had to wake up our kids at 9am, Christmas morning?? I am definitely not complaining. I remember vividly waking up my parents at the crack of dawn on numerous Christmas mornings, and how haggard they both looked. So of course, we were a bit joyous in being able to sleep in. But we were a bit surprised. Here they are, anxiously waiting for Dan to open the partition and let them at it. These are their cute Christmas jammies.

Um, yeah...so Mo ended up with a red robot, just what he originally had wished for. We had trained him to ask for train tracks, since that is what we had already bought him. But that lasted for a week, maybe. All I can say is Amazon saved our butts, BIG time. ("MOM, we don't say butts.")

Mi-mi checking out her loot.

This is what she had asked for and I must say, it was super fun to set it all up for her. The people are big enough for her little hands and all the pieces not small enough to possibly lose.

The most coveted gift of the season! Yeah, I know you are all jealous. We both got one from D's parents. And they are both blue. So we can be giant blue blobs together, snuggling on the couch.

He knows me too well...

Auntie Boog helping dress Mi-mi in her new dress-ups.

Is anyone else asking themselves where Christmas went?? It was here and gone in a matter of seconds...at least that is what it seems like. All the planning and preparation evaporated just like that! Before I know it, the kids will both be driving and complaining that their cell phones don't have GPS on it. In the meantime, I try to cherish every moment and enjoy them while their vocabulary is still somewhat limited. ;)

skiin' the beav

I am not an amazing skiier. I am definitely average, at best. But I really do love to do it. Skiing is so peaceful and fun and beautiful. I have always enjoyed skiing but I think now, since my ski adventures are so few and far between, now I immerse myself in my surroundings and try to soak it all in. I got to go (sounds like I have been locked in a cage and only got one phone call) skiing last week while D stayed home with the chitlins. Look at this mountain. It too would be considered average. But you know what? I seriously love going here. This is where I learned to ski. I got left on a black diamond run by some "friends" on my first day of ski school when I was in the sixth grade. Who wouldn't love to come back and just tear up the mountain, with a little avenge chip on their shoulder? And honestly, I don't mind skiing alone. There are no awkward lift rides to the top where conversation should definitely be avoided but some social pressure and the voice of my grandma ringing in my head ("Be sure to introduce yourself and be polite") forces me to open my mouth and blurt out something totally regrettable. I can also go anywhere I please and go at my own pace. Selfish? Much. Especially when it comes to how I spend my time away from the kiddles. I did go with my sister but we ended up doing our own thing and I love her the more for it.

And on this particular day, it snowed. Giant. Puffy. Flakes. Huge, fluffy snowflakes flying at me in every direction. It was beautiful! It also makes everything seem extremely quiet. Have you noticed that? When it snows, all you can hear are the flakes lightly making a noise once they hit the ground or a tree or something. My favorite thing in the world.

This was memorable and a favorite from this month. How about you?? What is one of your favorite memorable moments from this month??

dear people magazine

I know I am behind the times but I just saw the November 30th issue of your magazine, making a pretty bold statement on the cover. You claim to know the "Sexiest Man Alive". Really? Do you really have THE sexiest man alive in your magazine?? After flipping wildly through the pages to find out exactly who THE sexiest man could be (sorry, it is not Johnny Depp), I realized he was not in there. You are totally pulling my leg!

What the front cover should say is, "The Sexiest Man in Hollywood". At this point I would be begging...no, pleading for my money back. Luckily, I didn't spend a dime, a quid, a euro, on your farce magazine.

But, again, I would have to disagree with your claim. Because, as you all know, the sexiest man in Hollywood would be this man:
And, surprisingly enough, he was not included in any of your pages!! (Yes, I will give you a minute to soak this in). Really?? How can Christian not be included?? Seriously, People?? You know...C-H-R-I-S-T-I-A-N B-A-L-E!?! Did you happen to miss the two best and biggest Batman movies ever made? How about 3:10 to Yuma? The Prestige? Swing Kids? Little Women?? Newsies???? And you are supposedly a know-it-all publication. You have gravely disappointed me, again.

Besides, the title for Sexiest Man Alive has already been taken:
So People Magazine, you had better be sure to get your facts straight before printing such nonsense. The legal liabilities are just stacking up against you. Please.

Sincerely,

Utterly Disgusted

snapshot

D: "Mi-mi, would you like to give the opening prayer for FHE?"

Mi-mi: "Okay."

D: "Dear Heavenly Father..."

Mi-mi: "Dear Heavenly Father..."

D: "Thank you for this day..."

Mi-mi: "Thank you for The Wizard of Oz..."

Then, Mi-mi turns to Grandpa and Auntie Agnes, who were joining us for family night, and says, "I just said Wizard of Oz." Huge grin follows. Grandpa and Auntie Agnes could not contain their giggles. Once Amen was said, we all burst into fits of laughter.

What a nutter!!

favorite children's books

I apologize for not posting my favorite children's books in a while. I have been saving up for this giant post you are about to get. :) I know you are excited and I promise you will be thoroughly pleased by the end of it. Not pleased because it is finally over but pleased because I have so many great recommendations for you!!

There are so many wonderful children's Christmas books out there. I want to narrow down some of, you guessed it, my favorites for you. Yes, Christmas is in 3 days but it is not too late to snag a copy of these, snuggle with your little ones and read up. Though I really like to snuggle up and read these, with or without kids! I'm a sucker for children's books, as you may have guessed.

Here we go:

I hope and pray you were lucky enough to grow up reading Little Critter books. I absolutely LOVED Critter when I was a kid! I couldn't get enough and still can't! I'm lucky to have kids who like him as much as I do. It is a great excuse to read these wonderful books by Mercer Meyer over and over. Merry Christmas Mom and Dad shows exactly the creative genius stored in every child. Critter wants to do so many things for his parents to make Christmas that much better. I love how the dialogue is from his point of view and the illustrations show us exactly what has been left out of Critter's narrow perspective. The gentle beauty of the story of Christmas is shown in this great board book. With a simple, lyrical text and radiant artwork, this book is perfect for the youngest child to be a part of the wonder of the Nativity.
Yes, such a depressing and sad tale of a little match girl who, in fear of being beaten by her father, doesn't want to return home without having sold a single match. So instead she remains outside in the cold, no shoes or warm clothes to shield her from the bitter elements of winter.
But I love it because it is real! It is a great reminder that we always must look farther than our inner circles. We must always be willing to help others, not only at this time of year, but all year round. Hans Christian Andersen also poignantly shows that a child's imagination is never dampened by the hardness of life.
If anything, snag this book and just gander at the wonderful illustrations. They are so alive and colorful and imaginative! I have to give props to my mom for introducing this one to me. Actually, she gave it to my brother for Christmas one year and I've sort of adopted it (sorry, bro). According to Berkley, this true tale was told to him every year by his father at Christmas time. The setting is during the depression and "Red" would love a new bike for Christmas. Of course, with money being sparce, a bike is pretty much out of the question. So he decides to find Kris Kringle himself to ensure that a bike will be waiting for him under the tree Christmas morning.
I think this was another one my brother got for Christmas. Ha! This wonderful book shares with us the insight of what a tree must do in order to be picked to be in the Queen's castle and decorated for Christmas. Unfortunately, for this one tree, being perfect turns into a challenge: a bunny seeks refuge under his limbs; a bird builds a nest within the confines of the branches, making the tree not so perfectly shaped and full.
Rest assured, this one was actually given to me one Christmas. No "borrowing" or "adopting" involved with this book. So last, but certainly not least, for three little trees who dream of what they will be someday - a holder of treasure, a fine ship, a hilltop beacon pointing to God - life proves to have something rather different in store. They are disappointed that their lives are so mundane. And, as the years pass, "the three trees nearly forgot their dreams." Yet each eventually gets its wish, although not in the way it had foreseen.

Enjoy!! And have a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

swift

Taylor Swift had a crazy year. She has blown up the charts and won me over...that is definitely saying a lot. I am not much of a country music fan. There are some country artists I like but it is not my music of choice. This may be changing with the current tide of pop music and the raunchy factor. Taylor did awesome hosting SNL, stayed composed during the mis-hap at the MTV Music Awards, and is just overall awesome in my book. I especially love this rap she did with T-Pain. How freakin' cool is this??

disco elves

Who knew we were such a talented family.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

rockin' around

I'm posting these late. We decorated our tree the last day of November. We always get a real tree. We tried one year to have a fake tree (the first year we were married) but both of us decided that was not what we would want for the years to come.

There is nothing like the smell of pine wafting through the house. Plus it is a fun adventure to pick out a tree with the kids. They had an especially good time jamming to some Christmas tunes around the tree.

Mi-mi checking out the ornaments.

The pictures of the house were actually taken today. We are now getting a good amount of snow, which is nice because that means the temperatures are back up to "normal" (33 degrees compared to -12). Personally I'd rather have snow than dry, bitter cold that turns my nose hairs into frosty icicles.

This kind of captured the falling snow but of course, it doesn't do the beauty of it justice.

What is it about the mixture of snow and Christmas lights that makes things so magical? My kid-like giddiness takes over and I just cannot help myself.

fanatical friday

I just absolutely love watching shows from my childhood. Especially ones that center around a holiday. Mo and I watched this one the other day. By the end, I was very overcome with emotion (i.e. the ugly cry). Mo kept asking me if I was okay and telling me that Small One was bought by a good guy. Therefore, no need to cry. Well, if you haven't seen this before I HIGHLY recommend you get it and add it to your collection. My mom is actually the one who found it. It is included on the Mickey's Christmas Carol DVD. I even called my sister in MA and left her a voicemail singing the song from the movie, "Small One, Small One, Small One for sale!" Oh my goodness...we were like two pre-teens in Sweet Vally High, reminiscing over memories from this wonderful story. For your viewing enjoyment, here is a clip from The Small One.

snl weekly

Is it sad when the opening skit is the funniest in the show?? Sorry, Blake Lively, you tried but did not succeed. You are just too beautiful, young and a bit conceded to be funny. And the show that made you famous is not good. At. All. It does not take talent to be on your show. Okay. There were a couple mildly funny skits; the Tiger Woods accident one got a few chuckles. The Shy Ronnie Digital Short got a smile or two. But this opening skit really had my shoulders shaking. I just love how such a dumb and crazy incident can really be played out, and be so, so funny. I mean, really??! Two very rich white people sneaking into a White House party makes National news?? Doesn't the media know these people want the publicity and attention...and they are getting exactly what they wanted? Why feed the ego? It is okay for SNL to spoof these two nutters, even if it does give them an extra 2 minutes of fame. Enjoy.

the art of capturing moving pictures

Have you seen the movie Julie and Julia?? Such a great film and one that makes you absolutely wish you had a large plate of Bruschetta in front of you or a giant chocolate cake with sliced almonds pressed to the outside. So in saying it is a delicious and mouth-watering movie, truly makes sense. How wonderful would it be to live in so many countries like Julia Child did. How wonderful to learn to cook in France! Such a feat to translate so many recipes and convert them to be made into such an amazing cookbook. A cookbook I probably would not dare to master, let alone pick up. Just to touch it would taint the name of Julia or "French Cooking". Overall, you must see this movie if you haven't already. I'm sure the book is just great. I will need to borrow it from the library. If only I could actually get through all the books on my nightstand already. Now that is a feat in itself. Will keep you posted.

How about some other movies that make me wish I was a master cook or a choclatier?? Chocolat, for example. This movie absolutely makes me wish I knew what cayenne pepper tastes like in a divine hot chocolate mixture. Or what my chocolate flavor is after staring into a spinning South American carved disc. To even know how to make homemade chocolates would be great.

A friend, who is now my cousin-in-law, has recommended, several times, a movie that must be watched at Christmas time. I happened upon this movie today at Shopko and it was only $5. Since she has recommended it, I took her opinion all the way to the bank and bought the movie. I will be sure to tell you whether or not to trust her opinions (I already know you can but if my opnion counts in any way, then I'm sure you will care to know). Joyeux Noel is now part of our home movie collection and will be viewed ASAP.

Bus Stop is another movie which must be enjoyed. I enjoyed it so much that my overdue rates at the video store were enough to buy my own copy. It got to the point where I completely forgot I didn't actually own the movie, that it really had to be returned or else...
I would dare say it is the only movie where Marilyn Monroe's true acting talent is visible. She plays a bit of a ditsy blonde but in such a good way and there is a good way to play that role. Reese Witherspoon did it so well in Legally Blonde. I truly believe you must be smart in order to play stupid. It takes talent to know exactly how to do it. Unfortunately, Marilyn Monroe became the icon for ditsy blondes. She let herself be played into roles where her breathy voice and smizing eyes could make men go jump out of their seats and holler for more. Of course, this is exactly what made her famous. But I really wish she would've graduated into smarter roles as her career grew. We do all know how her true potential never came to fruition.

I just love movies...and not just any movie (The Ugly Truth really is that: absolutely, horribly ugly). I really love good movies. Movies that actually took some thought into making. I do occasionally like the shoot em' up, blow 'em up, run 'em down kind of movies (i.e. guy flicks). But there are even some "guy flicks" that had some thought to them: Tombstone, The Last Samurai, Open Range, 3:10 to Yuma, Gran Torino, The Last Castle...just to name a few. But, maybe not so surprising, movies like Les Miserables, Little Women, Dear Frankie, Becoming Jane, Anne of Green Gables/Avonlea, Somewhere in Time, Pride and Prejudice, Amadeus, Fried Green Tomatoes, Manon of the Spring, The Mission, The Scarlet Pimpernel really entertain me. Pretty much any movie that was either adapted from a book or from true life. ;)

I get it; I realize there is more on that film than just moving pictures (ahem...Transformers...). I find myself excited that my time was not wasted by watching it. Rather, I was enlightened, moved, inspired, buoyed up. How great to transform life into a story played out right before your eyes. Not only for entertainment purposes, but to make one think. To really open your mind to other cultures, ideas, art, history.

I am definitely not an expert in talking about or reviewing movies. I just know how much I enjoy them...wait, let me rephrase that...how much I enjoy watching thoughtful, inspired, well-directed movies. Movies that make me want to jump out of my seat, holler and move right in; to literally join that world, live it, breathe it, feel what it would've been like.

Any recommendations I should add to my list??

This is one of my favorite pics ever. Whomever snapped it should be thanked a million times over. What a perfect moment to capture in time! I am flanked by two of my favorite cousins and then my twin brother is on the end holding the shears. Not exactly sure why he had those but I'm assuming we were helping clean up my great-grandma's yard. That is where this picture was taken.

We all turned 30 this year. In fact, today is La's birthday; she is the cute blonde in the gingham dress. She is the last of us to cross over into a new decade.

How young we were!! Our whole lives ahead of us. No worries. No money problems. No marriage problems. No illnesses. No kid problems. No unwanted fat on our bodies. No nothing. How wonderful would it be to live this day one more time? To live in this moment, knowing all that I know now?? To be able to wear little blue terry cloth shorts again and have them be that baggy on me. Ha!

I am so grateful we are all still so close. I am grateful we all can share memories like this with our kids and laugh about our naivete.

advent

I have a hard time when Christmas gets too far away from what we are truly celebrating: Christ. So when I was looking for a cute and creative advent calendar, I was immediately drawn toward this one from Fisher-Price. We already own the Little People Nativity set. So this matches perfectly. The pieces are soft and easy to attach. The kids have loved placing them on and it also gives me an opportunity to talk about what happened on Christmas night, so many years ago.

fanatical friday

Wish, wish, wish I could've been at the Brandenburg gate to not only celebrate the fall of the Iron Curtain but to also see U2 live. They were giving out tickets online...you just had to find a flight to Germany. Um...yeah...didn't really work out. BUT I am glad that YouTube exists and I can see what it would've been like. Enjoy.

ta-da!!

Here are the long awaited before and after photos of my hair. I guess it wasn't a huge, drastic change...but I did dye it darker and cut a heavier bang. Okay. So here is a pic of my hair before:

Here it is after:SO what do you think? I have really liked the change.

BTW -- these pics were taken at the in-laws family party where we did the ornament exchange and also celebrate D's birthday. It was tons of fun and we stuffed ourselves like turkeys.

ornaments

My in-laws decided to do a Christmas ornament exchange between all the cousins. It turned out great and was so much fun to see all the different types of ornaments given and received.

This ornament exchange got us to thinking about a tradition we would love to start this year. We already snag ornaments from places we visit. We have two new ones to add to our tree this year: a crab from our trip to Florida and a couple we picked up in Hawaii. But we want the kids to be involved more and so we have decided to let them pick out a new ornament each year. And we are thinking that they are more likely to choose something they are into that year. For example, went to the local Hallmark store this morning and let them loose. Well, not loose as in all over the place, but let them take their time looking at each and every ornament.

Have you been to Hallmark lately?? Gees!! They have surely stepped things up over the last decade. Or maybe I just didn't even notice the ornaments before because we really didn't have a reason to. They have an ornament celebrating every type of thing in life: movies, characters from TV and movies, classic toys, movie stars, comic book heroes, musical instruments, holiday characters (of course)...and the list goes on. I began to regret my decision to let them choose. It was a very hard decision but both made excellent choices.

Mo's choice was a bit surprising to me. I thought he would for sure choose Spiderman but instead he picked up this one:

It is seriously cool. So I was not about to argue with the little man. Guesses for what Mi-mi's choice was?? Yuppers. Anything associated with The Wizard of Oz is definitely a no-brainer for this little blonde cutie-patootie. Would you believe it also plays the song "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"??? It couldn't be any more perfect.

P.S. we also plan to write their name on it and also the year so we can keep track. Maybe all their ornaments from over the years will make a great present to them on their wedding day! Among other things, of course. ;)

happy happy joy joy

Happy birthday to D. I wonder if he likes being married to an older woman. I love being married to a younger man. It keeps things lively. ;) We have had lots of fun celebrating and holding his hand while entering the threshold of a new decade. Here is one of my favorite pics of him and Mo-mo. Enjoy.

snl weekly: double-dose

With it being Thanksgiving weekend I am feeling extra generous. Here is another favorite skit of mine that I failed to post earlier (not sure why). I must apologize if you have not seen this sooner...especially if it was because you were waiting for me to post it and I failed you. Not sure what it is about her but I love Lady Gaga. Not only was her musical performance on SNL superb but her acting chops are pretty saucy. Check out Andy Samberg putting her to the test when a fashion faux pas comes head to head.

snl weekly

The musical guests on SNL a lot of times overshadow the nonplus of skits. Lady Gaga's performance is memorable. Taylor Swift did an amazing job of hosting AND performing. But I think this performance takes the cake. Green Day is a band from my high school days and it's awesome to still have them around. Especially on award shows like the AMA's where most of the acts bombed...except for Green Day. So here they are with a fever and the only prescription is more COWBELL.

favorite children's books

I remember being so fascinated by snow. Do you remember how fun it was to throw on your snowsuit and giant moon boots to spend hours playing in the first snowfall? And the many afterwards? We could literally spend hours outside playing in the snow, never tiring of the many things one can do in the snow: snow angels, sledding, and building snowmen, to name a couple. So it is no wonder that my kids now share the same enthusiasm about snow and snowmen. They love being out in the snow and also reading stories about snowmen, especially the most famous one of all. Snowmen At Night and Snowmen At Christmas have become instant hits at our house. The rhyming story about all the fun that goes on after dark is delightfully cute and the wonderful illustrations capture the essence of joy snowmen must feel when they sneak off in the night to meet up with their friends. Christmas is such a magical time of year and to incorporate that with the snowmen deserves two thumbs-up: gathering for snowy ice treats, singing around the city's Christmas tree and then welcoming the snowman Kris Kringle opens a whole new world to the imagination of a child. Who knows...maybe it is snowmen who have the most fun, not blondes. :)

grateful

I have so much to be thankful for today. There truly is not enough space or interest (I'm sure I would bore you all to death with my list) here for me to document every single thing I'm grateful for. But I do want to tell you how grateful I am for my D. He is hard-working, an amazing, gentle father, patient, loving, loyal, faithful, strong, and super-duper sexy. Because of him I am a stronger, more confident and loving person than I think I would have been. Of course, I have many weaknesses but he always points out the strengths and helps me overcome my faults. He gave me a life and it is one I couldn't live without. Is that statement somewhat ironic? Anywho. You get the picture. And speaking of picture, here is one from the first day of our committed, eternal, hard and fun life together. I love that he is the only one who is locking eyes with the camera lens. I also love how happy he looks. Such a beautiful, happy day and to have that captured by the look on his face is, truly, priceless.

herrrrrrcut

So I decided I was sick of my hair and got a haircut. This was my inspiration. Anyone else watching The Biggest Loser this season? I just love that show. Especially love that while I'm watching it, I'm usually snacking on something. Isn't that how it always is? Well, it shouldn't be. I should be working my tail off too. Anywho. The Biggest Loser make-over show was last week and I love this haircut Rebecca got. I have been wanting something new, just to change it up and to also be a bit easier to fix in the mornings. My friend Steph is absolutely amazing and worked her magic. Before and after pics soon to follow!!

snapshot

Mi-mi's prayer tonight at dinner:

"Pwease bwess the food. Pwease bwess Dorofy, Toto, Lion, Tin Man and Scarecrow..."

At least she remembered to bless the food. :)

anniversaire

I am amazed that it has been 8 years but so, so humbled as well. I still have so much to learn. But again, I could not have found a better partner-in-crime. He is my best friend. He is my worst critic. He accepts my faults and loves me through it all. An 8 year old wine is good but not great. So here's to more aging, more experiences and more ups and downs together.

fanatical friday

Thanks to the new Twilight movie, New Moon, and my wonderful magazine subscriptions, I have some great reading material to fill in the gaps over the weekend. :) The gaps I'm referring to are the "down time" moments I get after squeezing in some major cleaning, laundry, food prep and playing with the kids. Here's to a couple of great weekends full of reading, eye-candy and the movie release next weekend!!

tricks and treats

Not sure why I hadn't loaded these until now. I just love Halloween and am sad when it is over. Much like Christmas...except after Christmas, there really isn't much to look forward to. February always seems so far away and the snow would be much more enjoyable if I could ski more often. How ideal to wake up and just go skiing...all day...once a week.

We did have a ton of fun on Halloween this year. We barely made it around the block but did manage to get loads of candy. We had fun visiting grandparents too and watching fun Halloween shows like the ones I mentioned before. I even stayed up and watched Hocus Pocus. To me, that was a treat. But the best of all was spending time with the kids and watching their faces light up every time a neighbor put a treat into their welcoming bucket. And BTW -- my idea was to decorate those ice cream buckets. As you see, it didn't happen. Maybe next year. ;)

favorite children's books

Here is a cute book about turkeys that I got from the book orders. 10 Fat Turkeys is a cute rhyming tale of turkeys who like to mess about and do crazy stunts. Each sets them flying to where there are no more turkeys on the fence...and no more fence. But in the end, they find something else to climb and get on being crazy turkeys. Check it out.

wizard of oz

Mi-mi goes through stages. One month she could not live without watching The Iron Giant. Then it was Pete's Dragon. Now, she cannot live without The Wizard of Oz. She loves the singing. She loves the characters. She constantly talks about the lion, the scarecrow and the tin man like they are her best friends. She even loves the tornado in the beginning. She always gets so excited to tell me that "the tornado is coming!!" She loves Toto too. But she especially loves when Dorothy lands in Munchkinland. She jumps up and down and dances with all the Munchkins. She loves the Lollipop Guild and laughs giddily when D re-creates the song and dance for her. It really is quite a sight to see him do it.

I'm thinking I'm a bit of a pushover because I usually let her watch the movie. In my defense, she does beg for it ALL DAY LONG. Plus she is so stinkin' cute. I can't say no. I've tried a few times and it turns into fits of rage and tears.

I did try to explain to her that the workers at the beginning on Aunt Em and Uncle Henry's farm are the tin man, scarecrow and the lion. She didn't really care or understand. Not sure why I even attempted to explain and ruin the magic of it all for her.

I'm bummed that Dorothy's red shoes were not on display when I went to the many Smithsonians. How cool would it be to wear these for a minute?! Probably the most coveted shoes on earth. The red shoes truly steal the show. How uncool would the whole movie be if Dorothy wore those black school shoes she wears in the beginning?!?

The movie is such a timeless classic and from it comes one of the most famous, and most sung/recorded songs on earth. One of my favorite versions is from Israel Kamakawiwo:

snl weekly

Taylor Swift hosted and sang on last week's SNL. I thought she was pretty funny and the skits were some of the funniest in a while. Highlights: Firelight sketch, Scared Straight sketch (Bill Hader cannot keep a straight face), Driving PSA skit, The View skit (Swift as Kate Gosselin) and Swift's opening monologue. Pretty original and funny. Here it is for your viewing enjoyment:

fanatical friday

Here is a clip from the very sweet Mat Kearney concert we went to last week. Of course, I really liked him before but I'm loving him now. He was really good live and was an impressive show-man. Enjoy.

berfday

Here are pictures from the big day. We really had a fun, relaxing day. It was great to spend my birthday with the people I love and could not live without. Here is Mi-Mi doing her best impression of what 30 looks like: And here is Mo-Mo's impression:

I told D that I wanted to carve pumpkins for my birthday and celebrate with family.

I got my wish for both. Thank you for making my day perfect!!