Birthday Party #1!

We had to plan birthday parties early this year, and since we're doing multiple things, I told her she could have a small group of friends from school over to celebrate with her today.

 It was a perfect day to swim!

 They lounged, and had races...

 did shooting contests...

 handstand races...

took selfies...

 ate pizza and salad...

 opened gifts...

 and had fun with the ice cream sundae bar...

 Zoe's birthday creation...

 They even put on the old Just Dance on the Wii just for some laughs.

It was a fun afternoon, and I love seeing them laugh and talk, and just having fun. Let party month begin!

Celebration Dinner...

We headed to Orange County today. Zoe needed to get some pointe shoes and we wanted to spend some time with Mimi and Gramps. We're not sure when we are all going to be together again for a while, so we decided to go out for an early birthday celebration for the kids.
This place is great, and they brought out a giant cotton candy dessert. We also got the s'mores tray. :)

 You take the tray outside and roast the marshmallows in the fire pits.

 Delicious!

 We finished those pretty quickly. So we came inside to work on the cotton candy!

Jeff has been working on our family tree, so he was filling us in on the latest information he's discovered. It's so fascinating, I can't wait to find out more.

I think this is going to be a month long celebration for these two!

Celebrating the championship!

Cooper's flag football team had their final team party and celebration tonight. We had a casual, fun night at the pizza place. Coach Portis gave a great talk, and talked about each one of the boys. Cooper had the most catches for the season, and was a strong leader. It was nice to have the neighborhood boys together on a team, and a school friend too. I loved having such a positive coach, who emphasized the fundamentals of the game, and stressed having fun!

 They came away with these great trophies too...

I'm not sure what the football future holds, but it was a good season!

Cooper's Day...

Time for Cooper's celebrated day...

Love this kid so much! He chose a brownie, fudge, ice cream layer cake for his dessert. It was delicious!! Cooper, we are so blessed to have you complete our family. I know the Lord has special plans for you. :)

FNL Champions!

It has been a roller coaster season for the Saints! They won some, moved around a division, then lost a bunch, then moved again. Through it all, they kept their spirits up and tried to just have fun. They made it through playoffs to the championship game for their division tonight.
Coop was co-captain and they were ready to play.

 They were ahead 14-0 for the first half, and were playing great.

 After the 3rd quarter we were down 18-14. The other team was fighting hard.

 We had a beautiful sunset and sky throughout the game. Our boys were determined to win, and Coop scored the last touchdown with only a minute left in the game. We won 20-18!

 The boys were so excited!

 We are so thankful to have had Coach Portis. He is incredible with these kids and remains positive and calm under all circumstances.

 These neighborhood boys have such heart. They were determined to win this for Jared, who had never won a championship before. I love to see the bond they have and how they constantly support one another in whatever they're doing.

The awards night is next weekend, so they will receive their trophies there. We finished with a team pizza night to celebrate their win. Congratulations on a fantastic season boys!

Early birthday gift!

Mimi and Gramps ordered Coop his birthday gift a little early this year to give him more time to use it. He knew it was on its way, and was anxious for it to arrive!
Once here, he took his time and methodically opened and unwrapped each piece...

 It took several days, since he's busy wrapping up his sports seasons, but we finally got the drum set and cymbals all assembled. He LOVES it!

I can't wait to hear the new music he can create with this thing. Happy early birthday Coop!

Mother's Day...

I woke up to donuts for breakfast and beautiful roses from my garden, and some great cards from Joe and the kids. I love the thought they put into making those cards and the sweet messages they wrote.

 We took a quick picture before heading off to church.

 We met my parents for lunch to celebrate with them. It was nice to just visit for a bit since we haven't spent as much time together lately!

Joe headed to work in the afternoon and the kids and I had a great time walking the dogs, playing at the park, and watching a movie. It was a perfectly relaxing day....feeling blessed.

A Big Birthday!

Happy 60th Birthday Joe!! We got up early and had a birthday breakfast before he had to head to work. We had eggs and caramel baked french toast.

 Joe drew him a beautiful card, and he opened his gifts. He is beyond excited to have tickets to see Theresa Caputo, from the Long Island Medium, in a couple of weeks. It will be nice to celebrate some more then!

 He had a long day of work, then we had a basketball game for Coop. We had a delicious dinner out, and came home to some dark chocolate pudding cake and ice cream.

We love you and are so thankful for the work and sacrifices you make every day to take care of us! Here's to health, happiness and new beginnings in this next decade!