Just "stuff"...

I'm a big advocate of "count your blessings". I have a lot to be thankful for... really. Someday I'll have to do a post of JUST that... but the past couple of days have been trying. It's not all fun and games all the time is it? :( Doesn't mean that God isn't good ALL the time but sure is hard down here going through the trials. Struggling here in our little bubble....but His faithfulness will sustain us. I was looking for some scripture today and came across this verse that to be honest if I HAVE read it before (which I'm sure I must have but can't remember) it never hit me like it did today...

II Corinthians 1: 3,4 ~ Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God

Mr. Y said in church on Sunday, when talking about his wife's illness, the old phrase goes "Misery loves company" but he spun it different and said "Misery NEEDS company". We NEED each other. We need to be able to rely on one another and lift one another up in prayer, encouragement and sometimes just having a good time by escaping the "misery" for a bit.

My blessings....

Monday Night Dinner

What a fun time we had with the Y "kids" last night!!! Well, that is when they FINALLY showed up.... :) When the story came out that they were late because they had been at the hospital visiting their Mom... ookkkkk I was feeling bad about the picture we took before they got here... when B told us it was because her brother, kidlet :) couldn't decide on WHAT HE WAS GOING TO WEAR.... Well... I decided the picture was going up for their viewing pleasure this AM :)

Dinner, Fun with the Dogs (B, so happy you brought Zoe for Rebound to play with and offer as entertainment! :) and B knows that I LOVE a good cooking project, or is that cookie? project when she comes over? Mostly its that I like to make her WORK when she comes... perhaps that's why her visits are so few and far between :)

COME BACK AGAIN VERY VERY SOON!!!!! :) WE WILL MAKE CREME BRULEE B!!!!! :) YOU WILL LOVE that project!! :) :)

Grub...

What? Did you THINK it was over?? :) No no no… we got home around 4:30 Sunday night and I set to work on veggie lasagnas. (Pic: not quite as dramatic when you don't see all the prep and I'm taking a SIDE shot from my fridge huh?:)

Husband works with a dear dear lady who was in the hospital last week with pneumonia and was able to come home on Friday. We are going north for a Dr’s appt Tuesday so we thought we’d take the long scenic route home and deliver dinner. :) White, veggie lasagna, salad, French bread and maybe if I/we get inspired tomorrow night (Bethany??) a blueberry pie :) Of course I had to make TWO lasagnas! If you are going through the effort you should at the least be able to reap some of the benefit right? :)

Tomorrow (Monday) we have a couple of kidlets (although I suppose once you hit 18+ you are not a “kidlet” anymore right B?? :)) coming for, at their request, “Italian Food” :) That was all Husband needed in order to whip up some homemade meatballs tonight before he went to play bball with his buds.

Sunday

*Disclaimer: Brando ~ I know it LOOKS like we are having fun at Mimi's without you but I ASSURE YOU that is NOT the case!! :)

Sunday has a lot of pics so it deserved its own post :)

This IS FUNNY people... seriously FUNNY.... it never fails that Husband and L end up wearing the same clothes. "The other L" and I shop together quite a bit and we have similar tastes. So.. when its a GREAT deal and they have it in both their sizes... yes well you see where I'm going with this. They have just about the SAME casual wardrobe! :) and they wear things on the same day. This morning at church was just one step further... D is the guy on the left of L and is his brother in law (married to L's VERY FUN sister R and the one that hosted Girls Night In from a prior post :)) This was at church this AM :) Too cute!!! :)

After church we celebrated L's birthday and as always is the case... the kids cracked me up....

Our family has some sort of FREAKY obsession to FRUIT that Mrs. R (L and R's Mom) just ENCOURAGES :) THANK YOU MRS. R!!!! :)

Tracy... this is to show you what "normal" New England kids do when it's cold outside and we have fresh snow on the ground!!! THEY DRESS FOR THE WEATHER AND PLAY OUTSIDE!!!!!

*the "real" normal disclaimer: if you are or own any of the people in the above pics and wish them removed just let me know!!!

I'm TI-ED

Phew… try to keep up… weekends around here are typically OUT of control… this one was no exception. All fun stuff but is it SUNDAY NIGHT ALREADY!?!?!?

Friday night grabbed a quick bite at L&L’s before heading to GA’s game. Didn’t bring the camera, hence… no pics. They won and now I BELIEVE?? I def. could be wrong.. have the best record in the state?? GBoyz, correct me if I’m wrong…. So PROUD of you girls in that CRAZY AGRESSIVE GAME WITH THE REFS WHO NEVER TOOK THE "REF CLASS" (had they taken the class they may have made the RIGHT calls!!)

Saturday was a pretty free day which enabled me to clean the downstairs, run some errands with Husband, and come home to iron (rather beat my head against the top bunk of a bunk bed… but when you are married to a teacher who has 34 pairs of kahki pants and 56 oxford shirts… yah you get my drift) Then the fun started... It was Husband's BEST FRIEND'S SURPRISE 40TH Birthday party!!! We went to dinner with he and his wife first and then got him to the hall. We think he was surprised but he claims he "knew" :)

Good time had by all even if we were out until 11:30... 2.5 hours past my bedtime!! :) I'm OLD NOW!!!! :) (oh wait, maybe I've ALWAYS loved to SLEEP :)

Girls Night In....

Girls Nights In have to be one of my MOST FAVORITE things to do. When you can show up in your comfy clothes, eat food, pedicures, watch movies, have girl talk, etc. etc. I like to host, I like to go, I just LOVE hanging out with my girls.

With a little handsome man mixed in for fun at the end of the night... they don't come much more cute than this guy!!! :) :)

Feeling the football and the lovin' on Sunday

Just curious... should I be worried about her?? :) Seems like she is movin' in on MY man! :)





And what's that G? Cosmo?? hrrrmm.... :)

And then a little more of Saturday...

Saturday went a little somethin' like this....

As Promised... let's start with Friday shall we?

We arrived late late Thursday night, (not psyched with the layover in Orlando when we only had another 40 min. flight to go)

infact by the time we got to G&M's house it might have actually been FRIDAY... but who's counting.. we hugged, chatted and went to bed WAY to late for people that had to get up for work, or be woken the next morning by two little people... but really... what's bad about that?? :)

I had teased Husband that I was going to give him 8 hours with A. and they would be in love... I think it took all of about 3 min.!!! :)

After lovingly being woken up by B. snuggling into bed with us because she was so excited (oh how I LOVE that girl) Husband made coffee that came literally STRAIGHT from Puerto Rico, from one of G's workers, to G, and then into my coffee cup. Doesn't come much more "fair trade" than that kids! DelICIOUS!

We decided to head to the beach since it was going to be 80-85 degrees out and if I'm going for the weekend I NEED SOME SUN PEOPLE!! :) G was able to take off from work and meet us for lunch which was SUPER nice and Husband was psyched.

We played in the sand and took off in time to grab an ice cream and head back home for HOT WINGS (per Husband's request!) :) Had a nice time just hanging out together at their house and enjoying what we used to do best when they lived up here... HANG OUT, EAT AND CHAT! :)

Ready or Not?

We are off to FL ~ G&M with their two adorable babes, B&A are going to be welcoming us into their home for 3 days and 4 nights. Our plans are... Bass Pro Shop and Wings Plus :) That's it. If it is sunny and warm, I fully intend to be OUTSIDE in my tank top and shorts. If it's cold, I'm going home. :)

Now I am just trying to calm my nerves. I do.not.like.to.fly. I just want to GET THERE ALREADY. So now I am focusing on our destination and the fact that it is less than 12 hours away. Oh yeah... and this is the FIRST time Husband and I have EVER flown together :) Crazy huh? Married 6.5 years and not a ONE flight :) It will be SO nice to have him sitting next to me. The last time I went to visit our friends he was not able to get out of school so this is a treat.

As mentioned before... be sure to tune in for pics pics and more pics when I get back. The new camera is all packed with EXTRA memory cards (and BATTERIES TRACY!!!) :)

Shirking Responsibilities

We splurged tonight and instead of staying home, folding laundry, eating leftovers, packing and cleaning the house… we enjoyed the company of some very extended family… in fact, its not even Husband’s family or my family extended. Well I guess kinda since it is SIL’s family… Try to follow this one… we went out with J’s wife’s parents, her Dad’s cousin and his wife, her Dad’s uncle, her Dad’s cousin’s husband, and her sister. Did you get all that ?? :) Doesn’t matter we all know who we are and how we are connected.

Here is the story behind our new dear friends D&J and why we got to see them tonight:
D&J came up for an unfortunate event L there was a death in their family so they drove up from MD to go to the services.

History:… D is SIL’s Dad’s Cousin. They have a gorgeous camp on a lake about 20 min. from our house and we spend quiet a few weekends visiting by “sea” In fact I have only driven there once. Its more fun to take the boat :) They live up here in the summer but have to spend the colder winter months at home in MD :) So it was a “treat” to see our "summer friends" in the cold of winter… I just love this lady and have so enjoyed getting to know her cute self :) We spent a wonderful time visiting while we were kayaking last summer and I look forward to many more trips in a few months paddling around “her” lake.



Of course baby CJ was there… in this pic he really doesn’t look happy but TRUST me he was sound asleep on my shoulder about 30 seconds after Husband snapped the flash in his face! :)

Things will be quiet ‘round these parts for the next few days. Husband and I are scooting out of town for some warm weather and sun (we hope anyway) I hope to be back with pics pics and more pics from our stay with friends and a treat of some outdoor warm weather.

*Don't forget the rule about if you are in the pic or own anyone in a pic and want it removed....

Snow Day

Early release from work today and Husband home with a snow day meant we could get this little project done of hanging his Christmas present. I know it is not exactly centered (Tracy!!) but we had to hit a stud so this was the best we could do. I don't mind it but it is driving Husband a little bit batty. :)

And I'd like to insert a little shout out to GBoyz!! :) Glad to see your comment and just for the record... Liane and I will REMAIN "obsessed" for the next 6 years... :) Just come to grips with it... that's what we are telling Brando! :) We love you!! :)

Family Time

We have spent a lot of "family time". I can't imagine it any other way. I started taking pictures again yesterday.... here we are trying to put the pieces back together. As you can see from the last picture there is a HUGE missing piece of our family puzzle with the empty chair and we will never be really "complete" until "we all get to heaven..."


I am forcing "the love" :)

Brando... you are a good sport to give the important women in your life right now a distraction :)

Good vs. Evil?

This should simply be titled.. "Uncle Scott and his ham" :)

*as always... let me know if you are/ or own any of the children in these pics and want them removed