Anna’s Graduation and Father’s Day

On Saturday I went back home to see my little sis graduate high school. Sitting there watching her walk across the same stage as I did 9 years ago almost to the day was awesome.

And knowing that she will be doing it again, on a different stage that I also walked across, in 4-5 years was even better! I am so proud of her and all her hard work. I was nostalgic and slightly wished that I could go back to those easy, carefree high school days (not really). I just know that Anna will go on to do amazing things and that this is her first big step to accomplishing all her dreams. She has decided to declare her major (she originally was going to do a science exploration program) and she has chosen…. Biology! Way to go Anna! Anna and my parents...All us kids (and my nephew Ethan). From left to right you have Britta, me, Cassy, Anna, Chris and then Ethan.

And of course we had to abuse her a little :)

My adorable niece Jade and nephew Ethan. This picture is so cute!

Brit and my handsome nephew Braydon.

After graduation we went to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse (perfect for my Italian family) and it was delicious. We also presented Anna with the brand new laptop that everyone contributed to and she was ecstatic! I left soon after dinner because I had a long drive back home and some major baking and prepping to do before our party. But I did not leave before Anna and I had time to beat Dad, Britta and Wayne (Cassy’s fiance) at pool. Don’t ask us how, we thought we would suck! Me and Anna and Brit, love this pic!On Sunday Frank and I were up early again (Saturday we were up at 5:45 to hit the Farmer’s Market, Sunday we were up at 6) to finish our final preparations for the party. Our menu? Drinks: lemonade, soda, beer, wine and margaritas. Appetizers: cheese and crackers, a veggie tray, Eric’s delicious bruschetta, cheese dip and smoked shrimp on rosemary sticks which were a huge hit! Lunch: chicken marinated in either Italian dressing or Chiavetta's BBQ sauce, hamburgers, hot dogs, green salad, pasta salad, potato salad, cherry junk and corn on the cob. Dessert was the best though. I made a lemon cake with raspberry filling AND banana split cupcakes (with layers of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate batter). Everyone was stuffed when they left! We had so much fun but I didn't get many pictures because I was too busy hanging out with everyone. Next time we decided we will give Kirst the camera because she takes awesome pictures. It rained (apparently rain on Father’s Day is our new family tradition) but we didn’t care. We had over 20 people at our house, almost half of them kids, but it was awesome! My niece and nephew and cousins all ran around like crazies with Taelyn following right behind. The kids loved the cats and played with them for hours. Brit and Kirst are new BFFs. Adam, my brother Chris, and my cousin Patrick were the little 11ish year old gang that didn’t stop moving or eating all day. Jo fell in love with my Father and Step-Mom after a few minutes, some cracker bribes, and monster fingers from my Dad :o) And Eric and Nikki were there to keep us relatively sane!It was an exhausting weekend, but wonderful because we got to spend so much time with our family. Frank got the best Father’s Day present from the kids, they picked out a beautiful photo album and printed out a bunch of our pictures and started the album for him. He was so excited to take it into work! We also got him tickets to see the Bills play Miami November 29th. I can only imagine how cold it is going to be so we will need something to help us stay warm (I heard vodka could help?!) This will be our first Bills game together so we are super excited! I hope all the fathers at our house on Sunday had a wonderful day. Frank, Dad, Grandpa, Uncle Paul and Wayne - Happy Father's Day!

Kirst went to Boston on a school trip about a month ago and she had taken one of our cameras and I just downloaded all the pictures from the camera. This one is my fave from her trip... She must have taken hundreds of pictures of Fenway for me, but this one is great...

And some more pictures from a month ago when we took Kirsten and Adam to play Putt-Putt (or as they call it, mini-golf). Frank won (probably smoked the rest of us, I can't remember) but it was one of the first nice days of the summer so we just loved being outside!

Adam, Frank and I also went on the go-carts. This was as we were stopping at the end, about 2 seconds before I crashed into Frank (because he had hit Adam and I like 100 times) and got yelled at by the 16 year old boys running the place. We're just that cool.... ha.

Dork...

Hair blowing in the wind.

And our final update. One year ago today we got the call about Ruby and her kitties from Kirsten. We have had our Rubers and Momee for one whole year now! Our beautiful girls!

Ready or not, here we go!

We have been quiet the past few days, but rest assured that it was not for lack of excitement or activities, it was exactly the opposite. We have been preparing for this weekend and our big Father's Day get together! We repainted our upstairs hallway (we still have a few things to fix and then I will post pictures), cleaned and organized the basement in preparation for the animals to camp down there on Sunday, scrubbed the garage, power washed the front of the house, did some gardening and maybe slept for a few minutes in there. We decided to take tomorrow off of work to finish up preparation for Sunday because Saturday my sister, Anna, is graduating high school! This September she will be going to college not 5 minutes down the road from me (same place I went!) and about 20 minutes from Cassy, another one of my sisters. So now Britta (my last sister), it's all up to you to make your move to our city so all the girls will be together! So I will be going home for the day, meaning most of the work needs to be done before Saturday.

Then Sunday is our big day. We are counting between 22 and 26 guests! Mostly my family but also Eric and Nikki :o) We have been looking forward to this for months and consider it preparation for our second big shindig this summer, "The Big Birthday Bash 1.0" in August for Adam, me, Jo (her first!), Mandy (Frank's sister) and Tae!

And because we can't have a post without including 2 of the cutest faces in the world...

Those were from when we took the girls to a festival last month. I love the look on Jo's face.

Who are these people and where is my family?

Who is this soccer star wearing number 5 that looks a lot like the Adam I know and love?

Who is this ridiculously good looking rock star that resembles my Kirsten? Who is this little munchie who does not like any guy (except for her father) that looks JUST like my Jo Jo Beans (and why does she always have this confused look on her face…)?
Ah finally, this face, this face I know…
Yesterday we took the girls to Adam’s soccer game (he is in a travel soccer league). We went to a few of his games last year and I must say we were incredibly impressed with his improvement! He was actually running down the field, involved in every play, calling for the ball, and he got an assist!!! The soccer Adam of last year was well, lazy :) I was so proud of his hustle and involvement. He looked awesome on the field and his team crushed the other team, I don’t even know the final score, his team scored that many times! I got a lot of great action shots of Adam but I had to share this one. It was just a bad picture I swear, but it looks a lot like the soccer Adam of last year (just teasing!)
Frank’s parents were able to join us at the game which was great! Unfortunately Jo is going through a “people I don’t recognize, especially guys, scare the crap out of me” stage. It made visiting with Grandma and Grandpa a little difficult but I am sure she will grow out of it soon.
And a memo to Kirst... Sweetheart, stop growing up! We aren't ready (especially not Dad)!!! Kidding, but she is getting so beautiful. When did these chubby cheeks:
turn into the stunning young lady pictured here…

Does she look older?

Cause she is still a clown and apparently trying to lick the fishies off of my pjs...

And Daddy got the Ruby snuggles last night. He hates when she rubs her face on his cause you get major cat hair all over your face (Frank is super claustrophobic about cat hair up his nose) but I made him pose for this picture cause it was just too cute.

Are you pictured out yet? Cause I've got one more... I just figured it out when I came across this picture:

Perma-confused face… She gets it from her Father :)

Lily

On 6.14.07 around 2pm I received an email that I had been waiting for for weeks, an email from a breeder I had selected months before, an email telling me that the newest member of my family had been born. My precious, perfect English Lab, Lily. Lily's Mom was Heaven and her father, Legacy, and she was one of 10 pups! Here she is on the day she was born, somewhere in this mess of tiny paws and tails. She was one of the lightest in her litter, so I always thought she was that little peanut right in the middle of the bunch, laying on her side with her legs out (how she still lays today).

The breeder I chose, Susan from MoonLit Labradors, was amazing. Not only does she have the best intentions for her puppies first in her mind, she is incredibly sweet, loving and made the whole "adoption" process special. Every Monday I would get an email with numerous pictures of the litter, stories of how they were growing and lessons/tips about how to raise a dog. Lily was my first dog ever, so I was nervous, excited, scared, everything! I got to see Lily grow...

And grow...And finally on August 14th, 5 days before my birthday, I got to bring home my Lily. Isn't she the cutest thing you have ever seen? Ironically Frank and I were only friends at this point and he was just as excited as I was about my pup. We were in a training class together and I think that is all I talked about :) Little did we know, someday she would be his pup too!Lily is a clown to the max. She loves life and is ridiculously excitable. She cannot just walk, she dances. When we get home after work she is in her crate bouncing around because she is so excited to see us. She is wonderful with the kids, Tae calls her Lildee, and she wants nothing more then to be with all of us. She is my back-up helper chef when Tae isn't home. When I am cooking she comes over, lays down next to the stove and just watches me. She was, and probably still is, spoiled but I can't help it. Look at that face.... This pic below was taken the night I picked her up from her spay surgery. She is incredibly smart yet truly has selective hearing. She is my shadow, following me everywhere, every time I go upstairs she is right behind me. But I must watch out coming back DOWNstairs because she definitely has no idea how big she is and will plow you over if you don't pay attention. She is our vacuum cleaner when the kids drop food on the ground. This picture was from her first birthday. Last year her birthday fell on Father's Day weekend so we took the big kids and the dogs camping to celebrate. It was miserable, it rained all weekend, but somehow we had an amazing time.Lily has thrived since Frank, the kids and Willis came into her life. Willis gives her the companionship she so desperately wants and needs, especially when we are at work, and Frank gives her the structure that I can't. Lily loves the kids more then anything and she is soooo good with them. Tae feeds them both dinner every night and loves to give them treats. They even listen to her when she tells them to do a trick! Willis and Lily are inseparable and I love Willis even more because of the way she is with Lily. Willis has totally taken on the big sister role and she protects Lily, teaches her, snuggles her, loves her and I adore seeing the two of them together. There are many times when I question myself, question if I am doing a good enough job in life, question if I am helping to raising the kids well and loving them enough, question if I am trying hard enough, making everyone happy (as I am sure everyone does). Lily reminds me just by the look on her face that, I am. She adores me, I adore her, pure and simple.

Happy Second Birthday my beautiful, precious Lilabean. We all love you!!!!

How SWEEP it is.....

This is a bulletin brought to you by the fuzzy cat of the house, Mr. Fenway. He would like everyone to know that once again, for the 8th time this year, the Red Sox beat the Yanks, this time in his home - Fenway Paaaahhhhkkkk! 4-3, and a ridiculously good game!I think Fenway could give Papelbon a run for his money with his "I am one scary dude, you don't want to mess with me" scowl. If he only had a baseball cap that he could peer out from under the brim of...

Now if you are a passionate, die-hard, crazy fan of any sports team you will probably know what I am talking about here. Sports fans are superstition, period end of story. We knock on wood. We talk in whispers in case the tv can hear us. We pretend we don't read stats which quote things like the last time a certain team beat another team this many times was a long time ago (1.9.1.2) and that team went on to win the big championship game. We wear the same shirt every game because we believe it must have some good-luck-dirt on it. We cook food because we truly believe in Kitchen Karma and therefore our team could potentially do better if we are making delicious food.... And when said team wins 3 games in a row where you made some of the most scrumptious meals you could think of, it only encourages your superstitious craziness. Behold the reason the Red Sox won last night:

Pomegranate and Pine Nuts

Ingredients:

• 3 pomegranates (or 1 cup Pomegranate juice)
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• Half chicken, cut into 4 pieces
• 4 cups of cooked brown rice
• 1 sweet yellow onion, peeled, cut in half, and sliced thin
• Garlic salt
• 1 cup pine nuts toasted and chopped fine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 3 slices of bacon
• 2 cups of fresh green beans
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 8oz crushed pineapples in a can

Juice the pomegranates by cutting them in half and using a citrus reamer, or scoop out the seeds and press them through a sieve. Remove the seeds from one pomegranate to use as garnish.

Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Salt and pepper the chicken and place into skillet. Cook the chicken just enough to lightly brown on all sides. Remove the chicken to a platter and set aside. Cook brown rice until tender then add handful of chopped onions, pinch of salt and pepper.

Turn the heat to medium and add the rest of the onions and a couple pinches of garlic salt. Cook until soft (about 3 to 4 minutes). Add half the chopped pine nuts and cook an additional minute. Whisk in the pomegranate juice, lemon juice, honey, cinnamon, and cumin. Add the chicken back to the pan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and continue to cook until chicken is done (about 45 minutes to an hour).

Meanwhile, cook bacon about ¾ of the way and chop into small chunks. Heat 3 tbsp olive oil over medium heat and add beans, bacon, pinch of garlic salt, and the rest of the pine nuts and cook until beans are desired tenderness. zIn a small bowl, whisk together the yogurt, powdered sugar, granulated sugar and pineapple juice. It should have the consistency of mayonnaise.

Place a serving of rice onto each plate. Add the chicken and spoon some of the pomegranate sauce over the rice and chicken. Add a dollop of pineapple yogurt on top and sprinkle a few pomegranate seeds around the plate. Place green beans in separate bowls and serve! And? Once again Chopped was a success! The best part was the amazing pineapple yogurt that topped the chicken. I had seconds of the topping! So sweet and wonderful! The green beans were delicious, the bacon was an excellent addition! The pomegranate rice was perfect. Chef Franscisco went above and beyond on this one, and the Red Sox benefited :)

Tonight we are headed to Eric and Nikki's (except Eric is out of town) for hockey game 7. Rumor has it that she is making a Mediterranean Tortellini and Sangria to drink! This weekend we are repainting our upstairs hallway and Sunday is a special day. It is Lily's second birthday!!! I think a trip to the dog park is in order (their favorite place ever) if it is nice outside. My puppy is growing up!

Red Sox and Chopped Round 2

Pomegranate and Pine Nuts

These were my choices for Chopped tonight, starring the incredibly handsome Chef Francisco. First Pomegranate. Frank and I have a "thing" for pomegranate. A year and a half ago pom exploded around our area. It was in everything and was used in specialty drinks, featured on menus etc. Well Frank and I had jumped on that flavor bandwagon right before it became popular and so we always thought it was funny seeing the fruit everywhere. So I thought it would be an appropriate first choice. Frank could use it as the fruit or use the juice in his recipe! Pine nuts have always been a favorite of mine. I love the taste and the texture that they give a meal. Tae is also allergic to nuts so we don’t get to use them very often but since it is a kids-free dinner, I thought it would be a great time! I cannot wait to see what Frank creates!

The last two days have been excellent for one big reason - the RED SOX! Living in Upstate NY, we rarely get to see the Red Sox on tv, usually only when they play the Yankees or if it is the ESPN game of the day. Well Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights this week… Red Sox vs. the Tankers. (side note: Frank and I both have crackberrys which have smart text. Whenever I text him and write out the word, Yankees, the smart text always changes it to Tankers which I think is appropriate and quite hilarious). Tuesday night we put on our Red Sox gear, got Taelyn all ready for the game and cooked a delicious white pizza with tomatoes and ham - YUM. The result, 7-0 Red Sox! Last night we once again put on our gear and cooked Hibachi. The result, 6-5 Red Sox! (We have now won each of the 7 games against the Tankers this year!!!) So tonight is Chopped, good food = good game. I am EXCITED!

Here are some pictures of our Hibachi night and our dueling grills :o) Usually we do steak and shrimp but tonight we did feel like running to the store so we just did chicken and Frank added bacon to his!

12/9/08

This is my man: This is "our" place:Nine is a special number to me, but when December 9th, 2008 came, it was just another day. We went to work, had a regular day and then left to pick the kids up from daycare. Frank had another idea however. He pulled into the parking lot of "our" place. I had no idea what was going on and turned to him very confused. He said, “Do you remember the night we went out for a drink after work? We parked your car here and took mine to the restaurant. After I dropped you back at your car, you were driving away and turned and blew me a kiss. That was the moment I knew in my heart and soul that you and I were meant to share our lives together and that’s when I first realized how desperately in love I was with you….” And then with both of us crying, he pulled out the most beautiful ring and asked “Will you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life married to me?!” Of course I said YES!!!

This is our sign of commitment:

6 months. 6 months of love and teamwork and devotion and learning and growing and finding ourselves. 6 months of friendship and nurturing and passion and adoration and happiness and love. Frank, I love you more then words can possibly express. I cannot wait to spend every moment of my life with you...

Circles of Love

A few months ago I had told Frank that I wanted to get a piece of jewelry with all the kids names on it. I often feel like I don't get the opportunity to show off how proud I am of the kids and how much I love them and I wanted a reminder of them on me at all times. So my wonderfully sweet fiance surprised me with this this weekend....This is my new favorite piece of jewelry, next to my engagement ring of course. It is a small ring pendant with 4 charms on it. Each of the charms has one of the kids names and a Swarovski crystal in their birthstone. The whole thing is small and dainty and beautiful and I love it.

He purchased it from a website called The Pretty Peacock and has been waiting patiently for it to arrive :) I have already received quite a few comments on it and haven't taken it off!

I must explain that whenever I am sitting on the couch, I am covered in cats. At least 2 but sometimes up to 4, and the rest are sitting on the back of the couch. They love when we sit down because all of them are huge snugglers. Well I usually have to fight them off when I am sitting on the computer or working on something or sewing (my latest craft!) and writing this blog was no different. So I turn around and see this on the back of the couch:

My biggest boy and littlest boy snuggling on the couch together. Rigby and Nacho, so freakin cute. And Ruby is sitting on the window sill chirping at the birds. This is her favorite pastime and she spends hours a day talking and chirping at the birds in the backyard. I am guessing this stems from her wild days when she was a stray, maybe the birds were her friends? dinner?