Thanksgiving 2011

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving at our home with my Mother and Father and Brother. It was quite relaxing...even before the tryptophan settled into our blood stream.

This year, we ate turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash and turnip. Plus rolls and homemade cranberry sauce. Afterwards, we had homemade apple pie and a pumpkin spice log from Russo's bakery. (Let me just say that anything from Russo's bakery is just plain yummy).

Here are some of my favorite photos from the day:

The Madore-ables got their aprons on and were anxious to help!

While the turkey cooked in the oven, Daddy played Angry Birds with Sarah

The Madore-ables were very entertained by the squirrels that were running around in the front yard.

In fact, they were laughing!

Oh The Cute Things Kids Will Say

On our way home from Maine this past weekend, we were traveling on Route 95 when we came upon one of the many toll booths.

"I love toll booths!" exclaimed Samantha.

Jeremy and I smiled, knowing that although they are necessary, toll booths just take money from our wallets.

"They would be even better if we didn't have to pay money" Jeremy said out loud.

A moment of silence, then Samantha says,

"But Daddy, the toll booth people give you money."

(We only realized afterwards that Samantha doesn't understand the concept of giving change. All Samantha saw was the toll booth attendant giving our change back, not realizing that in order to get change back we have to give money first).

Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

Over the weekend Sarah and I were having a conversation. Sarah is always telling me, "Mommy? I love you". So, I thought I would take the opportunity to let her know that I felt the same.

So I did.

Afterwards I also added, "Elephant shoes!"

Sarah looked at me as if to say, "Mommy, what are you talking about? Have you lost your mind?" Then she giggled.

Then I said, "Olive juice"

This time Sarah didn't laugh, but made a "eww" face at the word olive. Then she followed up with,

"No thank you Mommy. Apple juice is my favorite!"

Tots And Chicken Nuggets 2011

This past Monday, Samantha's pre-school class put together a "Thanksgiving Potlatch" feast. It consisted of several yummy goodies: stuffing, popcorn, corn muffins, cranberry sauce, and chicken nuggets.

Samantha's class compiled a list of what they were grateful for:

And once the meal started, the class transformed from their birth names, to their Native American names. Samantha was "Princess Shooting Star". She completed her wardrobe with pasta and Fruit Loops (a.k.a Wampum) necklaces plus feathered headdresses and vests.

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Made Me Smile This Past Week

1. Samantha had a Thanksgiving "feast" at school earlier in the week. (I have "feast" in quotes because they served chicken nuggets which just makes me laugh. I'm sure the pilgrims had plenty of chicken nuggets and ketchup for their young ones). For the last two weeks, Samantha and her classmates have been feverishly working very hard on hand made crafts. I will be sure to blog about it very soon! It's too cute not to share.


2. I am very happy and greatful that my cold has finally moved on. Not having a voice for 3 days wasn't fun...especially while I was at work. I'm just hoping and praying that it doesn't move on to my roomates.


3. Last weekend we booked two weddings for Fall of 2012, and we also received a lot of positive feedback from the wedding Jeremy and I photographed in October. Lots of great things happening for our photography business. We're so excited!


4. The best thing about hosting Thanksgiving dinner? Two words: left overs.


5. My girls have really taken on a huge liking to the game of Memory. Jeremy in fact, has uploaded a full sized game onto our iPad. Samantha sat down yesterday and completed about 15-20 matches in about 2 minutes. (The game can be set to the clock, or you can play against friends). Both Madore-ables don't understand the being timed concept, but the fact that Samantha completed a game in just over 2 minutes just amazes me. My girls are so smart and I can't believe that I'm somewhat responsible for that. I've never been proud of anything more than our crazy two girls.

On This Day Of Thanks

On this day of Thanksgiving, I am truly blessed.

• I'm very grateful for my Madore-ables. They're healthy, happy, and they are just so smart.



• I'm very greatful for my husband. He works so hard, and doesn't take much time for himself just so we can have what we need. I'm also greatful for the fact that he helps me be a better person.



• I'm greatful for my parents for allowing us to rent their house so we have a safe neighborhood to live in and the girls can play.



• I'm greatful for the jobs that I have. Not many people can say that they enjoy their job much less than have multiple to support themselves and their families. They allow me to stay home during the day with the Madore-ables and then I head into work. They allow me to witness life's amazing moments that pass by so quickly. They all allow me to earn a living.



• I'm greatful that my Mom can make it possible to watch the Madore-ables from the time I leave to go to work and Jeremy comes home



• I'm greatful for my friends...old and new.

And last but most certainly not least:

• I'm so greatful for this wonderful, amazing, life that is always full of adventures. Always full of hugs and kisses. Always full of smiles. Always full of chaos and always full of snuggles. I don't know what I did in life to get to where I am today, but I certainly am thankful everyday, but especially today.

So, on this day of thanks, I hope you take a moment or two in between passing the turkey and the mash potatoes and focus on the things that you do have in your life. Let yourself be surrounded by your friends and loved ones and celebrate!

H A P P Y T H A N K S G I V I N G!!!!

(I am especially greatful for our Madore-ables)

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile

1. I love the fact that gasoline is now underneath $3.50 a gallon. I also love the fact that I can make a full tank of gas last about a month.




2. It may seem petty to some people, but this past weekend, I won an award at work. "Top Rookie". The prize consisted of a t-shirt and a $250 gift card. It was such a nice and unexpected surprise.




3. Tis the season, and the cold and flu season has begun. We've all had a round of colds in our house. I think I'm the last one to catch it (hopefully). That's not the part that made me smile. What made me smile was yesterday morning, Sarah came up to me, gave me a big hug and asked me if I was feeling any better. When I told her that I had a stuffy nose, she asked if she could kiss it. Ironically, she made me feel a lot better. Well, she at least made my nose unstuffy.




4. Last week, I noticed that my battery gauge on the dashboard of my car was on the lower side of things. There were some other symptoms too, and Jeremy figured out that I had a bad alternator. Well, come to find out, I was running an errand (without the Madore-ables thank goodness) and my battery completely died in the parking lot. That of course was not the part that made me smile. What did make me smile was the fact that Jeremy came to rescue me, jumped my car with jumper cables, and was able to fix the alternator all in the span of a few hours. I was also able to make it to work on time thanks to my Mother lending me her car. Thank you Jeremy and Mom!


5. Yesterday after I came home from work, the Madore-ables were waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Not only were they donned in new sneakers (the ones with BRIGHT l.e.d lights) but they were also wearing their new dresses. I don't know what they were more excited about! The girls spent a good part of the afternoon stomping around in their sneakers to make the lights blink.

Sarah's Memory

Sarah loves to play the game of Memory.

She does a really great job too and always collects more pairs than Mommy and Daddy (and Nanny too).




And because Sarah is so entertaining, here's another video.

Sarah's Dictionary Addendum

Recently, we introduced the Madore-ables to Richard Scary's "Busytown" with Huckle Cat on streaming Netflix on our iPad. Each show has a sort of mystery in the story line, and Samantha really gets into it.

Sarah has really started liking it too. In fact, she loves it so much that she calls the show "Uncle Cat".

Sarah's Make-Over

Does anybody notice anything different with Sarah?

She looked like this up until last week.....

And then one morning Sarah woke up and looked like this!





When I asked Sarah where her hair went, she replied very honestly (as she always does)

"Daddy made it go snip snip snip!"

I found some photos recently that my Mother saved...does Sarah remind you of anyone else?

Oh The Cute Things Kids Will Say

Sometime last week, Samantha asked me her usual questions after she woke up from her sleepy slumber:

"Mommy? What are we doing today?"

I had told her that we needed to run some errands, and there were 2 special surprises that would happen. (One was going to Imajine That, and the other was going to my friend Sarah's house for a playdate). I knew that if I told the Madore-ables about either of the events prior to them happening, I would be hounded with a gazillion questions until we left the house.

So, Samantha asked if she could guess what we would be doing.

"Are we going dress shopping?"

"Are we going to church?"

I love the fact that our Madore-ables not enjoy dressing up, but enjoy going to church each week...

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Made Me Smile This Past Week:

1. Less than 2 weeks for Thanksgiving!



2. Jeremy is finally home from his business trip to Washington D.C! The girls and I missed him very much.



3. My Mom and I took the Madore-ables to Imagine That earlier in the week. They had such an amazing time. I took a step back and let them play on their own and it's amazing where their imaginations carried them. Sarah isn't very keen on bounce houses, but tried it and seemed to like it. I'll blog about this sometime next week. I highly recommend this place to any parents with young children. I loved the fact that I was able to score a free pass. The girls loved the fact that there was so much to do!



4. Earlier this past week I was able to have a day off and was able to have a play date with a friend of mine who I haven't seen in a couple months. My girls had such a great time. I don't know about you, but when I their age, I used to love to go to other kids houses. New surroundings. New toys. Well, my girls had such a great time with the toys, and it made me brainstorm a little for Christmas present ideas :)



5. This past week I have set my alarm a little bit earlier so I've been awake when the Madore-ables have woken up. We begin our mornings cuddled up on the couch watching Peep and the Big Wide World and Pocoyo. What a great way to begin the day!

Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

When we first potty trained Samantha (which seems so long ago at this point) we told her to listen to her body if she needed to *ahem* go or not. From that point on, I felt that she had fewer and fewer accidents.

Samantha told me recently that she needed to go potty, and off she went. When she came back, she very seriously told me,

"Mommy! I just listened to my tummy and I knew to go to the potty. When I listened, it said to me (*and here is when Samantha makes this funny deep voice that I only wish I could describe in writing, but alas I cannot*) "Sammy, go potty!"

Oh The Funny Things Kids Will Say

Last weekend I had just finished getting the Halloween costumes on the girls, and we were getting ready to head out for trick or treating. Jeremy was putting on his coat and getting the camera ready when Samantha asked,

Samantha: "Daddy? What are you going to be for Halloween this year?"

Jeremy: "Just Daddy"

Samantha: "You mean, just regular Daddy?"

Rolling In the Deep

In the words of Adele:

The Madore-ables were rolling in the deep over the weekend.

In leaves that is.

The girls had never jumped in leaves before, but couldn't get enough of it. In fact, they were very upset when there weren't anymore leaves to rake. Don't worry Madore-ables, there will be plenty more leaves to rake before they are completely off the trees!

Halloween 2011 - Part 2

Halloween was originally postponed until this past Saturday due to the crazy snow storm that we had last weekend. The Madore-ables didn't seem to mind. They still looked very cute as Dora the Explorer and a brightly colored butterfly even if we were trick or treating in November.

There were many events that excited the girls: wearing silver sparkles on their face; glow stick bracelets and who got to ring the door bell?

There were also several funny things that were said that night as well:

Samantha: "Daddy! What are you going to be for Halloween?"

Jeremy: "I'm going to be Daddy this year Sam"

Samantha: "Oh. Just regular Daddy?"

Sarah kept calling all the homes we went to "Trick or Treats". So, she kept asking when we left one house, "Can we do more trick or treats? I'm not tired yet!"

For some reason, Sarah was fascinated by the number 3. After every house we left, Sarah kept asking us, "3 more houses? And of course, we'd get to the next house and she would ask again, "3 more houses?"

Samantha plays Farmville and has really taken a liking to planting a new crop each day. Samantha thought it would be festive to plant pumpkins. Well, unfortunately, Samantha's pumpkin crop died out, so Sam had to replant. When Sam found out her crop died, she said:

"Aww, my pumpkins died? Well, I will miss them!"

Dear Sarah (35 Month Update)

Dear Sarah,

You turn 35 months this month, which means you are just one month away from your 3rd Birthday. It's amazing at how much time flies when you're having fun, and just how much a year will make a difference.

You remind us every day to appreciate the little things. Nanny recently dug up a buried treasure from when I was Samantha's age. Pop beads. You (and Samantha too) have been making the most beautiful bracelets and necklaces I have ever seen! They can be difficult to pop inside of each other, but clearly you have no problems with any dexterity. Mommy loves to see yours and Samantha's faces when I say "yes" to your question of "Can you wear this necklace to work Mommy?".

You've been following Samantha's lead in writing letters and putting letters together to make words. You have the letters, "H", "I" and "A" mastered. You have several "HI's" all over the driveway. Clearly people can see we're a friendly family before they come over. You've also been asking A LOT on what time it is. Lately, you can look at a digital clock and say "It's (enter time of day here)"

You have really been enjoying puzzles lately. It's so nice to see the "wheels turning" in your head as you put the pieces together. Mommy finds that she's helping you less and less because you're actually solving the problem yourself more and more.

One of Mommy's favorite (and now you're favorite too) activities is picking up Samantha at school. Mommy sets an alarm clock on her phone to remind her when to leave the house. Whenever the alarm goes off, you yell out, "It's time to go pick up Sammy!". The sweet thing is you're truly excited. Even when we arrive at the school and we wait in line, you're yelling out "Hi Sammy! We're heeeeeeeere!". Mommy laughs every time.

You are doing so well these days, and it's hard to believe that you ever had some low muscle tone in your neck when you were an infant. You let nothing stop you these days and you do everything you can to keep up with Samantha. You're certainly giving her (and us) a run for our money! Just remember that we love you, and just because we don't get what you're looking for that second doesn't mean we won't get it for you. Just try to learn to be patient. Also, please stop hitting your sister and pulling her hair, that's very not-becoming on little girls.

We love you Sarah. Thank you for always being our little ray of sunshine.

Love you always,

Love, Mommy & Daddy

Here is a photo of you from one year ago in November 2010

And here is what you look like today in November 2011!

Five Things Friday

Five Things That Happened This Past Week That Made Me Smile:

1. I love the Fall. Call me crazy, but I love this time of year. This weekend we're setting the clocks back which means...one hour of extra sleep! Woo hoo!


2. Due to the crazy snow storm we had last weekend, Halloween/trick or treating was postponed until tomorrow night. The Madore-ables were really upset, but when I told them both today that we're heading out tomorrow night in their costumes, they were SO excited. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll take plenty of pictures ; )


3. I have been at my night time job for 2 months now, and I really am loving it. The people I work with are truly a great group of people (and I'm not just saying that). They really work hard, and they're always willing to lend a helping hand just because. I've also had my hours extended, so not only does my paycheck look great as a result, but I can qualify for health benefits starting next month which means we can get off of our current health plan and start saving $400 a month. Time for our savings account to start growing again.


4. I found out Thursday night that our good friends Kerry & Jimmy welcomed their second child into the world. Congratulations to Jimmy & Kerry and big sister Shannon! Hooray for babies!


5. Jeremy announced last week that he is taking a business trip to Washington D.C for work next week for a few days. I was able to snag myself a free pass to Imajine That in Lawrence. I'm so excited to take the Madore-ables. And, yes...I'm sure photos will be taken ; )

Dear Samantha (52 Month Update)

Dear Samantha,

Today is the 3rd of November which means you are 52 months old. The Summer flew by as usual and here we are approaching an amazing time of year.

You've been enrolled in your preschool for 2 months now and are absolutely loving it. It's so nice to know you're excited to go to school. (Mommy and Daddy hope this continues!) So far, we've had two field trips (apple picking as well as pumpkin picking) and one Halloween party. Your school calendar has so many fun activities on it. This month, we have a Thanksgiving potluck lunch, and next month we're rolling into Christmas and maybe a Christmas play. I don't know who's more excited about this.

You've had no problem in making friends in your class, which makes Mommy and Daddy very happy to hear. Your best friends are: Kae, Bobby, Julia, Evan, Luke, and Chloe. You've actually gotten to the point where when Mommy drops you off at school in the morning, you hang your coat up with your backpack and tell me

You've really taken an interest lately in some Phonics games on our iPad. You've 100% learned all of your letters and can write them both in upper case and lower case. Now, you're actually putting letters together to make words and are sounding them out too. You've done an AMAZING job at spelling your full first name along with your last name...it's quite the number of letters to remember!

We are amazed in how your coloring has improved between this Summer and now. You're actually coloring inside the lines a lot of the time. Mommy has been saving your artwork and all of your projects from school and when school is all over for the year next June, it'll be nice to look at everything you've done.

You still continue to enjoy helping out not only in school, but also at home too. You seem to enjoy helping out more than you do playing with toys. You do a great job at being a big sister to Sarah, but you do need to learn to remember that Sarah also needs to learn things too. We know it's hard to remember sometimes, but we know your heart is always in the right place.

I know there are some days where you think Mommy and Daddy are just being mean because we didn't give you another movie to watch, or another scoop of ice cream. I know it's hard to want to listen, but we hope and pray that you learn soon too. You certainly test our patience and are learning your boundaries. Thankfully this is just a phase. Always know that we love you and we're always here for you.

Love you always,

Mommy & Daddy

Here are photos of what you looked like one year ago in November 2010

Here is what you look like today in November 2011

(Your preschool class dressed up as black cats for your Halloween party)