March 14, 2014

In Loving Rememberance

Two years ago, Tadpole passed away. There is not much time that goes by here that we talk, remember, and smile about this little man that made himself a part of our family. His life will always be a part of ours. My love and prayers go out to all who miss him. He was very loved. God bless you Tadpole. I know that you are playing and laughing and causing mischief all over heaven!

In loving memory of

Tadpole

2010-2012

Tadpole passed away two weeks ago in an accident. I cant tell you how much my heart is breaking as I write this. He was such a busy, fun, and mischievous little boy. It was such a blessing to be a part of his life as he learned, grew, and played with us all here. He loved so many things~ playing in water, playing with the dog, running around, going outside, throwing a ball, and trying anything that big kids were be doing! He was super smart and learned things so fast. Most of the time I could not keep up with him! He will be so greatly missed here and everywhere. I know that without a doubt, he is in heaven filling it with all of his amazing energy! I ask that you keep everyone who is missing him in your prayers, especially his family.

March 12, 2014

What we have been up to!

Stephanie Family moments, Lego, outside ideas 0 Comments

It has been hard to get posting done again! It turns out that I seem to be in the homona haze again that just doesn’t allow good thinking. Which means that I am not thinking well enough to write! 🙂 But we have been having fun! Today we had lego class again and my sister’s birthday, the other day we went to the park, and we got to have my baby nephew over for the day! Here are some pictures!

So there you have it! This is what we have been up to! I am hoping to start writing more soon. Pup has been working on learning about animals in winter, and Bunny has been learning about all the normal stuff! Happy Learning and Living!

March 10, 2014

Monkeying Around Together

Stephanie Family moments, Parties 0 Comments

Today we got to have a super fun, super silly birthday party for Pup! She has been asking for a monkey birthday for months and with lots of help from my mom and brother, we made it happen! There were monkeys everywhere, ears for the kids, A monkey dress for Pup, and of course a monkey cake! Everyone had a great time (I am pretty sure) and there was some silliness as well! Here are some pictures of my sweet darling’s 5th birthday!

March 6, 2014

Happy 5th Birthday Pup!

Stephanie Family moments 0 Comments

Today is my baby’s 5th birthday! She has grown so much and so fast! I cant tell you how proud I am of the little person she is becoming! She is always full of laughter and silliness! She loves surprises and is happy for everyone about….well anything! She is a blessing in and I cant imagine our life without her! Today is Ash Wednesday, and so we started her day out with Mass. My mom met us at Church and we went out for some bagels and doughnuts afterward! Pup loved it. She got a gift while we were there from my mom (and hand knit sweater and kitty hat for her doll). Later on, we took her out for dinner at a cool pizza place. She got to have the pizza with pineapple that she wanted and a birthday cookie! We ended the night with her celebration of life and some gifts (her favorite part)! She was pretty happy! I love my girl!

February 16, 2014

Ice Skating Adventures

Stephanie Family moments, new skills 2 Comments

Today my girls and I got invited to go ice skating with my parents! Boy were they excited! Plus they both kind of held onto the idea that it would be easy and they could skate perfectly! Let’s just say they had to rethink that a bit! 😉 Bunny was more then happy to hang onto the side and with a quick bit of instruction from a nice lady, she was gliding pretty well while she hung on. It took me a while to convince her to skate without holding on to anything, but she did for a bit and she did an amazing job! Pup however took a wee bit more help! She was SO determined to skate on her own and with a lot of falling, she managed to skate around a bit herself. It went a bit like this: step, step, glide, stop and rebalance. She was SOOOO proud of herself for being able to do that without holding on! We got to skate for an hour and a half and after that we were DONE! Poor Pup’s legs were shaking and I had blisters! The girls were so tired they could hardly keep their eyes open the rest of the evening!

February 15, 2014

Happy Valentine’s Day

Stephanie Family moments, Holiday 0 Comments

Valentine’s Day. It is one of those holidays that people either do or don’t do. I love it. There is something so magical about a bunch of pink and happy hearts in the middle of cold dank February! However, this year I was a little bit off! We didn’t decorate until yeaterday. I did mange to get some things together for the girls because I think they love the holiday as much as I do! For each of the girls I made an animal valentine out of hearts and left them to find when they woke up. I also blew up a bunch of red balloons and left them all over the floor! They LOVED it! I also made sure that we had a fun breakfast. Whole wheat pink pancakes with sprinkles and strawberry smoothies were the menu for breakfast! It seems like the simple things are the ones that mean the most to the girls. It was a good reminder that acts of love are sometimes so simple. And it seems like these simple ones are the best! I hope you all got a chance to celebrate with someone you love! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!!!

February 14, 2014

Sledding Adventure

Stephanie Family moments 0 Comments

So we are in the middle of one of the coldest and snowiest winters I have ever know, however we still have not made it to the sledding hill! Well this was something that needed to be remedied before the warmer weather finally hit! So we were off to the hill today! The sun made the 20 degree weather feel so warm and perfect! We all had a great time and ended with some bumps and bruises and lots of laughs! 😉 There is something magical about playing in the snow and I am starting to realize how much better it makes everyone feel! In fact it seems to drive some of those winter blues away.

January 28, 2014

A Frozen Birthday

Stephanie Family moments, Parties, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Today my sweet amazing girl is 8! I cant believe that she has grown up so fast! I love her so much! I love that she is so particular, that she know what she wants, and that she always sets out to succeed. I love her ablilty to manage things, and to guild and teach other people. She is truly a gift and even when it doesn’t seem like it, I know she is here to teach me to love, to achieve my best, and live in the moment! This year my girl didn’t know what she wanted for her birthday. She finally decided that she wanted a Frozen Birthday Party. She was so excited about it, and ready to have all her family and friends over to celebrate. However the weather, and her small case of pnenomia we weren’t able to have quite the party we thought, but we still had fun. It was just Grandma and Grandpa, and Bunny’s Best friend, but it was everything it needed to be. My brother made some amazing cut outs of Anna and Elsa. He drew and painted them. They made the decoration amazing! We also hung snowflakes we made by cutting coffee filters! My mom made some, the girls made some, and I made some. To be honest, they are pretty fun! 🙂 I also had some pompom yarn that looks like snowballs that we hung up! The center piece of the whole party was the cake! My mom made a beautiful cake with all the charaters from the movie. To top it all off, a sparkly tinsel back drop with pine trees was all set for pictures! Bunny loved it and since she was finally feeling betterish, she was able to enjoy it!

As you can see, it was a great party. Everyone had fun and there were lots of smiles, and lots of happiness! This all happened yesterday. Today was her official birthday and to celebrate we did her Celebration of Life as a family. After that it was pizza and a movie together (Bunny’s dinner of choice). She loved everything, Pup loved everything, and I am happy that she was happy! So happy Birthday to my sweet darling 8 year old! I cant wait to live another year with you!

January 19, 2014

Silence is Golden

Stephanie Family moments, Nature Walk, Uncategorized 2 Comments

Today I made the girls go out to the park with me today for a walk. They were not totally interested, but I thought it was a good idea! Fresh air makes everything seem a little bit better! I took the sled and promised (bribed them) that I would pull them around. We started at the nature center and looked at the animals there, and then we headed out on the board walk. I was pulling them through the snow, while they looked for animal tracks. We saw deer tracks, rabbit tracks, and even (what we thought were) fox tracks! While we were walked, I would stop here and there to look around. What I noticed when we stopped was that girls couldn’t seem to be still. Hmmm….so I made a point to ask them for silence. It was hard, but when they were still, we could hear the birds, the wind moving through the grasses, and our own cold breath. What a great thing to take time to do. I realized that we hadn’t done that in a long time. It has been a long time since I took time to be silent with my girls. Especially when that time is out surrounded by the gifts God created for us to enjoy!

Silence is Golden! How do you cultivate and embrace silence in your family?

January 14, 2014

Winter Focus

Stephanie Family moments, thoughts 0 Comments

Winter has been a lot of fun here and also a lot of gray. Do you ever find that? It is amazingly beautiful when the snow if falling in delicate unique flakes all around you. The sun that they sparkles on that pristine whiteness is a gift to see. But when that sun shines for while, those beautiful white flakes turn a dirty gray color as the edges of the mud underneath it starts to show through. When that happens, there really isn’t anything outside that is pretty anymore. In fact it amazing how everything looks like it is the same color. Trees, bushes, houses, streets, everything! So how does one avoid depression with all that gray? I honestly don’t know! But today, since it was 45 degrees, and we have had a bit of a cold here, I thought that getting outside might be good for all of us. Guess what? It was! There is something so great about getting outside and in fresh air! I took the girls to the park to play and was hoping to play with my camera to get some fun pictures. But with all the gray, it was hard to find anything that caught my eye. But then I got on the playground with my kids and I found something! Something beautiful, happy, full of life and color. The girls. I know, this is nothing new, but somehow I thought that the winter allowed for a chance to focus on the things that matter most! In the winter, the color of nature is dormant, the fun we have outside is curtailed, and there really is not much to do. But there is family. And winter seems like the perfect time to look away from the dull, gray, lonely outside, and focus inward. Toward the family that lights up our lives, and toward the happy faces that make the snow and the gray glow brilliantly together! Somehow that gray cloud seems to become a pretty silver winter atmosphere, and that brilliant snow, becomes a world of color and joy in the presence of people we love. Perhaps that is the reason for this dull gray season with moments of intense brilliance, is to make us look for the color, the joy, and the beauty in the places closest to us. After all, when we are not looking around us for beauty and entertainment, we are able to see the best things we have in their full color right next to us!