Christmas Cheer

There are many fun things that have happened since my last post and I promise to blog about them soon, but first, I MUST write this from the bottom of my heart....

If you are a faithful blog follower of mine, you know how much I love the fall! Well, if it is even possible, I love the Christmas season even more! I know...hard to imagine. Although I don't think any lights or trees should go up until AFTER Turkey Day, once "Black Friday" is here, I am a Christmas nut!! I LOVE driving down the roads at night and seeing all the Christmas lights on the houses. I especially love driving downtown Alpharetta and seeing all the pretty lights! I love all the trees glowing through the windows of people's houses. I DON'T love how crowded the mall and every other store in Atlanta gets or how rude some people become but i DO love the "magic" in the air. I LOVE sponsoring several children from a nearby shelter and shopping with Noah for them every year. I always pick a child Noah's age and let Noah pick out the toys. Then we usually sponsor a few more kids because I can't imagine a child not having anything to open on Christmas morning.

I know I have mentioned my amazing neighbor before. The one who is a single mom with 2 children, one who has severe mental disabilities. Unfortunately times are VERY hard for her right now. She recently had to sell ALL of her furniture downstairs to pay some bills and right after that, her washer and dryer broke. Her living room is completely empty! Just one chair and a very old and tiny tv that they watch local channels on. Although she never complains, I know she is super stressed about the Holidays coming up. She doesn't have money for a Christmas tree so I am going to surprise her on Monday with one. Once I get Claude on the bus, I am going to bring over the tree I got for her, decorate it, and watch her excitement when she comes home Monday afternoon. I am also going to hook up an old DVD player to her tiny tv. I am not telling you this to gloat but rather to ask for your help. I know she doesn't have money to buy her children Christmas gifts and I can see the stress in her eyes. I want to make sure her kids have a great Christmas!! Would you be willing to help??? Would you be willing to buy just ONE gift for the kids so they can have something to open Christmas morning? Some of the things I was thinking were:

• family friendly DVDs
• Gas gift cards in any amount (for the mom)
  
• jewelry for a 10 year old girl
• books for a 10 year old girl
  
• Matchbox cars for Claude (he loves them)
• Walmart gift cards for groceries
• gift cards to McDonalds, Brusters, Ihop, Regal movie tickets, AMC movie tickets, anything else you can think that would be fun things for them to do.
  

They never get to do anything due to lack of money so anything you can donate would be awesome!! I know I can count on all of you, my faithful readers. Please consider buying one thing for this amazing, loving family that has touched my heart!! I would be happy to come pick up whatever your family decides to donate!! xoxoxo

Merry Christmas....to you and yours!!

Thanksgiving Break!

YEEAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! It's Thanksgiving break!!!!!!!! YIIPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! I have a whole week to spend with Noah! He is off all week and we have lots of fun things planned. Some fun things include:

• lunch with my dad
• Monkey Joe's with my friend Beth and her kids Keith and Bruce
• a trip to Lake Sinclare for 3 days to see all the in-laws at the lake house they are renting
• Dinner with Barrett and Aimee
• no school!!!!
• no work!!!!!!
• TONS of fun with my favorite boys!!!

I LOVE Thanksgiving!!

cakes

My mom used to make wedding cakes for a living. She has made all my birthday cakes and even made MY wedding cake. Her cakes taste better than ANY other cake I have EVER tried. And no, I am not bias, it is the truth. I think the secret is in her frosting and because of that, I am a frosting snob. I cater a lot of weddings and always like to try the wedding cake and I just haven't found one that comes close to my moms!!

I recently started making my moms frosting and I think I have done a pretty good job at getting close to hers. So being the team soccer mom and trying to save some money on the party (since not everyone has turned in their money), i decided I would just make cupcakes. Well, yesterday I was way overwhelmed with lots of different things going on and trying to get all the cupcakes made, the frosting made, get dinner started for our Fringe night and a house full of people and it all seemed way too much. After one small meltdown and then dropping one batch of cupcakes INTO the hot oven causing another meltdown...and almost a fire, I was about ready to throw in the towel and head to Costco and order some. Luckily I didn't. I took a deep breath and kept making the cupcakes. After dinner Noah wanted to try one so of course i let him. As if he knew what was going on in my head he turned to me and said "Mom, these are so good. They taste just like Nonna's!" It was the best compliment ever and a good reminder as to why i was actually doing it all to begin with. For Love. Just like my mom used to make them for me (and Barrett too I guess). :) So Noah, I hope you know how much I love you.... and when you get home from the soccer party you will find a whole batch of cupcakes I saved...JUST FOR YOU!!!!

Iron Man Love

Aimee was home for the weekend so Iron Man, Nonna, Archbishop, and I met her for lunch in downtown Roswell...

this picture cracks me up because Noah made me take it 4 or 5 times until he thought he was in the right place. He was trying to only peek his eyes out. crazy kid.
then we took a little walk around town to see some scarecrows.

This Iron Man scarecrow was my favorite!! I loved it so much I took it home with me.
Happy Fall Y'all!!!

More Halloween...

Nonna and Capt Rex...
is he tough or what??

Halloween Day

Allen had to go to the Life Teen Mass so Noah and I went trick or treating at my dads. For dinner, Dad and Diane made "mummies" for dinner. It was so cute...it was a ho tdog covered in a crescent roll with mustard eyes.

Then Captain Rex and I got lots of loot...

Fall is here!!!!!!

It's The Most Wonderful Time......of the year!!!!! Seriously, It is!! I could live in Fall weather all year long!! I love everything about it!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the cooler weather, I love the fire in the fireplace, making homemade soup and chili for dinners, cuddling under a blanket with my boys watching movies, flannel pj's, fuzzy slippers, pretty scarves and matching gloves, picking out pumpkins at pumpkin patches, hayrides, bonfires...with s'mores!, I love that it gets dark so early and i can light all the pumpkin spice candles all over my house. I love all the fall decorations in my house...the scarecrow, the gourds, the sunflowers, the pumpkins, everything!!! I also love camping!! The Fall is the best time to go camping! The leaves are all changing colors and it could not be more beautiful! Noah had off a couple days off school so Allen, Noah, and I headed up North for a night of camping. It was so great!!! It was right on Lake Lanier which made it about 15 degrees cooler but it was so beautiful!!
Allen and Noah set up the tent while i set up all the food.

my sexy hubby after his job well done of setting up the tent...

playground to the right, lake to the left...beautiful!
what a view huh??
We were loving all the deer!! And since we were basically the only people in the whole park (since it was a weekday) the deer were all walking around in the open, it was so cool!!!
We ate LOTS of s'mores!!!
and glow sticks are always fun at night...


The morning was soooooo cold!!! We enjoyed the fire so much!
Noah wanted to take a picture...



What a great trip!! It's just one more reason to love Fall!!!