Pictures on the cheap

OK so I need to share this amazing website for pictures.  I don't know about you but our photographer charges a lot for professional prints.  I LOVE professional prints but at $22 for an 8x10 I usually only splurge on 1 of each child.  However, I found an awesome website and could not be happier with the prints.

They look professional and trust me I compared them to the professional prints I had on hand and could not tell the difference!  They arrive very fast and only cost $2 for an 8x10. Anyway, check them out!!!  mpix.com

Merry Christmas!

Let me just let out a sigh of relief that it's over.  Ok that felt good!  It was wonderful even with all the sick bugs we had.  And boy did we have a lot: pink eye, stomach flu and colds.  And it was a green Chirstmas which is a bummer.  Favorite gifts: Steve his vest, me the house with lights, Brady a kiddizoomer watch, Pierce his vacuum and Reid I would guess his airplane.  We went to my aunt's Christmas Eve and then we had Christmas Brunch.  Placzak, breakfast casserole, apple-rasin bread pudding, fruit salad and coffee cake.  Then we went to Aunt Sandy's for dinner.

I can't wait to take the tree down. The first reason being so I don't have to say "Don't touch the tree again" and so the boys have more room to play with their new toys.  It may go today!  but the best part of the Holiday was snuggling with all the boys (especially the hubs) every night and watching Christmas movies.  I don't want that to end!!  

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!!

Getting close!

To Christmas that is.  Who's ready????  I am trying to wrap up the few final details.  Our Christmas cards were sent and shared on facebook.  Gingerbread houses were made.  Cookie exchange at work done and no more cookies to show for it either.  And almost all of the gifts are here.

 Does anyone else panic the closer it gets to Christmas and start buying chocolates?  Sponge candy specifically to fill out presents or put with gift cards.  Meatball loves Sponge candy, its a Buffalo thing.  I like it but people go bananas over the stuff.  Hard to explain what it is so I will post a picture.  The best stuff is from Parkside Candy.  I hopped into there shop and picked up 4 bags.

My dad came over on Sunday to wrap.  He likes to wrap, me not so much.  He volunteers every year and we gladly take him up on it.  I set him up in the garage (its heated) with a table, the necessities and it works out perfect because we store all the present in the crawl space above the garage.  Brady went to papa's for a bit and the babies didn't know he was out there.  They are way too busy being mini Christmas tree terrorists anyway.  Then we watched the Bills lose and ordered pizza and wings. 

Brady is off of school for 2 weeks!!  Thursday was Brady's Christmas concert at school.  I admit - I cried.  I just can't believe how big he is now and it's bittersweet.  Here's some shots:

Walking in.

Front row 3rd from the left

The babies were Angels throughout the performance!  And my handsome little (big) boy had a glass of punch waiting for me in the cafeteria afterwards.  He is SO sweet.

Oh and then there is this!  I may have mentioned to the hubs how much I love Christmas Lights.  And I have never lived in a house with them ever.  Well, I came home from work today and didn't recognize our house!  Steve left work early and came home and made this happen:

I swear I don't need another thing.  This exterior illumination has made me SO happy.  This Christmas is going to be awesome.  We are incredibly blessed over here and can't wait to see the boys faces :)

Tree Time!

We are decking the halls over here!!  We got our tree Saturday night and then went and had dinner at Brady's fave place: Pasquale's.  And praise Jesus, all the boys were really well behaved.  They are slowly getting easier to eat with.  Although I admit I am guilty of knowing exactly what we are ordering before we even park the truck.  Yup I will google any restaurant's menu, pick out what we will be ordering and be ultra prepared as soon as the waitress comes over to get our drink order.  And then out come goldfish, crayons, tic-tac-to, etc. to keep these meatballs entertained.  It also helps that mom and dad can eat quick, in between helping the kids with their meals and we always get the check as soon as possible.   Typing all of this has me thinking: Eating with babies is super fun, isn't it? 

Ok here she is:

Brady doing the star.  Not sure how many more years Steve will be able to pick him up!

No fake trees for us - we keep it real!!!  Our house smells naturally amazing right now and I love it.  After the smell fades we will be burning my 2 faves from Yankee this year: Snowflake Cookie and Magical Frosted Forest. 

Now I just have to keep the kids from touching the tree all the time.  Oh yeah and vacuuming up those pine needles but it's worth it! 

Here we are making cookies or just making a mess:

Is it just me but why do I seem to buy myself so much stuff at this time of year?  I don't know if its because I am out shopping or looking at so much stuff for everyone else online.  But at some time during my shopping I decided I need blue pumps.  I went to my usual piperlime and they didn't have what I wanted but Zappo's came through! 

I plan on wearing them with a new black dress I ordered.  I promised the hubs if he got an A in his class that I would take him to Rusell's.  Best food of your life at that place!  Looks like I have to put my money where my mouth is!  He has 1 more test in lab and lecture and has been doing awesome all semester so that A should be his in 2 weeks.  Steakhouse here we come!   

Organizing or at least trying

I like to look at Pinterest and see the good ideas people have for organizing and storing stuff.  I feel like never in my life have I ever had SO much stuff!  Here were some good ideas I saw.

I love to be organized but all the hard work it takes I don't have time for.  But when I do attempt to organize (after I look at Pinterest) I usually order baskets or bins and sort my booty off.  I ordered these baskets a LONG time ago from pbk for our front closet. 

And they are just now getting some serious heavy use because of all these little boys hats and mittens.  Now I need to order some for my closet!  I was thinking maybe belts, scarves and clutches?  I have no idea how to store infinity scarves so I fold them. If someone has a better way, please fill me in. 

Some of you may have saw this pic on fb. 

That's just us living the suite life at the Bills game.  The CEO of the company we work for gave a few of the construction guys tickets to the game to sit in their suite for their hard work moving corporate offices around.  Let me just say this suite was right up my alley to watch a Bills Game.  Stocked fridge with beer and all the food you can eat!!  Who doesn't love a Pizza Log?  Or pizza, wings, chicken fingers, shrimp, spinach/artichoke dip.  OMG we were full and happy.  Our view of the game was awesome and they won! The bad part is I only want to go to a game if we sit in a suite again :)  Poor meatball. 

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving and it had a lot to do with pie :)  My favorite pie is Banana Cream and every year my family has the same 3 pies: apple, cherry and pumpkin.  Truth is I'm not crazy about any of those.  So this year I made Banana Cream happen and everyone loved it.  I bought it, sorry I worked the day before, but I am so glad I did.  My mom cooked and I HAD to make Sweet Potato Souffle.  I made it for the first time in 2008 and every year it's what I am requested to bring.  My family LOVES the stuff!  This was our attempt at a nice family pic this year:  4 out of 5!
 

I have changed my focus from the kids to the Christmas List for other people: Brady's teacher, bus driver, family, friends, neighbors, etc.  I tend to stick with gift cards because frankly I love a good gift card!  And really who doesn't love some Five Guys? or going to see a movie? or Tim Horton's always comes in handy for the bus driver.

Oh and that big meatball in my life likes to wait and wait to decide on what he wants.  He mentioned a Little Joe's leather vest for riding on his motorcycle or a new pair of jeans. 

I made the mistake of turning him on to designer jeans.  You know what they say - once you go designer, you never go back. Haha.

And our Christmas photo shoot is coming up and I am stressing about clothes.  I think coordinating everyone's outfits is the hardest part.  When Kate and Jack Spade teamed up with Gap I knew my boys would need something!  I love Kate Spade and will admit if I had a little girl I would have gone nuts that day.  I ordered Brady's Jack Spade shirt right away.   

I found a 2T Polo Navy sweater in Pierce's closet that Brady never wore - Score!  So this was how the navy, white and gray theme started.  I had to order a shirt for Reid and dad and a dress for me but we are finally ready.  Now we just need to say a prayer everyone cooperates!   

The Storm is Over

Life is slowly returning back to normal around here.  We went to Target and Wegman's and it feels so good to be out and about.  There were TONS of people out shopping for food and it made me feel a little panicked.  Like why are they buying bacon?  Should I be buying bacon?  What if its the last package?  We like bacon - go for it!   Haha.  Oh and I picked up this essential: 

Only available at this time of the year and it is my favorite!! 

I wish I could say the house was spotless or laundry is all caught up since we have been stuck home but it isn't!  And who really knows when we will get mail again or deliveries.  But that hasn't stopped me from shopping.  I am in love with the cute stripes at Gap this season.  I had to get the gloves! 

 

Steve has really been amazing during the storm.  There were times I wanted to break and he was a rock.  Wrestling with the boys all while going out and shoveling and snow blowing in between.  And he didn't get on my nerves once!  I could totally be stranded with him any time.   

 

Back to work for me Monday and Wednesday next week for me and I am looking forward to it.  I have once again been requested to make sweet potato soufflé for Thanksgiving at my parents house.  That will be taking place Wednesday night.  I am the late girl at work Wednesday (8-6) so hopefully not too late!  How many people really want a colonoscopy the day before Thanksgiving?  Actually, it might be great idea :)  More ROOM!    

Snowed In

We live in Buffalo and you may have heard we are getting pummeled.  This photo is breathtakingly beautiful and awesome. 

Day 1 I was so happy that daddy stayed home and we were all going to be together.  We had plenty of food.  Things were good, the boys headed out to play.  We had no idea it was just going to keep snowing.

Day 2: We are out of bread, the boys are on their last bag of their beloved salt n vinegar chips.  We are hanging in there.  I called in sick to work because we haven't seen a plow since the storm started.  And then at 7pm a front loader came down our street!!  Steve and I put the kids to bed, headed out and I knocked the snow down while he used the snow blower and we cleared a path to get the truck out.  It was exciting knowing we could leave when it was safe.

Day 3: It is snowing again, hard.  I am feeling discouraged.  This is really becoming a horrible snow storm (people are dying) and we are all going a tad crazy.  You know when you get extremely tired and get all silly?  Well, that is me right now.  I am laughing at everything but feel like it could turn to tears at any moment.  Trying to plan the next meal, keep the kids happy and busy, the house somewhat clean and not lose my shit at any moment.

But the truth is I'm kinda scared.  Scared as to if or when we will lose power (my parents just did), when we will be able to leave the house, when can we get gas for the snowblower or my husband's meds?  Or if we can make it to a store will there be milk or bread left?  It's scary to know if something happens, even if its stupid like cutting myself with a knife cutting up vegetables or one of kids falling and needing stitches, how will we get to the hospital?

Nothing like being trapped at home and all of your focus goes right to food.  Maybe because there is nothing else to do but we are thinking about dinner when we are making lunch.  Finding a bag of onion rings in the downstairs freezer and getting all happy makes you feel like a fat ass! 

And this door with all that snow is making me feel claustrophobic.

Day 4: So much for the path we made, it snowed another foot and a half :(  I called in sick to work again because I have no way of getting there.  The thruways are still closed, union and transit road are closed also.  But when we woke up another front loader has come down our street.  Steve siphoned gas from his motorcycle for the snow blower and he is heading out once again to dig us out.  The driving bans are still in place so who knows when we can actually leave.  But it just feels better knowing we can get out when its safe.  I am still worried that when we finally get to a store, they won't have any food anyway.  And Steve is out of blood pressure medicine. 

Trying to keep the kids occupied

I am trying to find the silver lining.  We are warm, our bellies are full (maybe too full) and we are together.  Meatball and I are quite the team during a blizzard!  Had I have known we were going to be trapped for 4 days I could have potty trained P.  Kicking myself for that one.  I'm sure we will look back at these days and laugh.  But right now I need to get out!!

This seemed appropriate.

Brady the Gymnast

I'm having a proud mama moment over here.  Brady is 6 now and has been going to gymnastics since he was 2 when we did Mommy & Me.  Let's throw it back!

He is on Level 1 team gymnastics now and had his first meet (ever) and did so well.  He got 2nd place all around, 6 ribbons and a medal.  He rocked the highest score in vault and did such a good job on rings.  Our little guy is getting pretty ripped (dad's jealous).  You should see him pump out some sit-ups or push-ups! 

He hates his shorts that he had to wear and I hated the price.  $36 for black daisy dukes??  Thank god everyone else's shorts were just as small.  And thank goodness I saved 2 pairs of briefs for those dukes or I would have been running to Target.  His skinny legs are just adorable :)

Brady really seems to enjoy gymnastics which is so nice.  He actually wants to go to practice every week.  And it gave me a Christmas idea for some "gymnastic wear".  Maybe a sweatshirt or some sweats for practice. 

And on a side note: you guys need to check out piperlime right now.  The sale is crazy!  All off season but if you are planning a spring vacation like us, its a great time to shop for maxis.  Some of these dresses are less than $20 and free shipping.  And 20% off right now. Promo BZ4MBCMT7NP8

 

Wrapping Paper

It's that time of year again.  I don't know about you but I like to have presents wrapped in all different colors under the tree.  Gold, silver, red, blue, green, white, etc.  I love color! 

My aunt introduced me to the Current Catalog a long time ago.  And I have been buying all of our wrapping paper from them ever since. 

It is the thickest and really just the best paper on the market.  I hate wrapping presents and don't even get me started on when it rips!  No cheap paper for us and this stuff will not rip.  I am lucky my dad loves to wrap presents so we have him come over and he gets it all done, perfectly I might add. 

They also have great cards which I like to keep on hand for Birthdays and other special occasions.  Check them out or wait till after Christmas when they have their huge sale!!  Jumbo rolls last forever.  Happy Shopping!

www.currentcatalog.com

Emerald Cut Love

I am freakin obsessed with emerald cut diamonds and have been for a long time. 

There is just something so classic about it. 

I could probably pin emerald cut diamonds all day long!

Steve bought my engagement ring back in 2009 (yes we had a 3year engagement) and the jeweler actually tried talking him out of an emerald cut!!  The jeweler was so afraid that I wouldn't like it.  He kept saying they don't sparkle and that I would want a princess cut.  Boy was he wrong!  And what's better than 1 emerald cut diamond? 3 emerald cut diamonds!  I tried taking a picture of my own ring and that was damn near impossible.  So I will leave it to a professional.  Photo cred to Bossy Photography

Even though I don't wear my ring that often, I do love it and try to wear it on weekends.  I am so afraid of wearing it at work when I don gloves all day long. And then when I am in mom mode there's a lot of things that don't get done.  I'm lucky if I shower most days! 

Someday when we hit the lottery this girl will be buying herself some emerald cut earrings to go with her ring.   

Dreamin about my Christmas List

Now most of these will NEVER happen but a girl can dream right?  Where is that damn money tree when you need it :)

Naked 3 Palette.

Ugg Slippers!  Need I say more?

Gap Down Vest, How stinkin cute is that?

Le Creuset French Oven.  Hot damn these things are expensive.  My bestie got me a le creuset stock pot in soleil and it started the love affair.  If you watch Food Network, these things are everywhere.

Canada Goose Jacket.  I mean this is pretty much a need - Its Buffalo cold.  Red would be perfect.

 

 

I am still rocking an iPhone 4 so a new phone is a must! Gold Please.

 

 

 

 

And really any pair of boots from the Frye company would make this girl very happy on Christmas.