You make my heart smile and my soul dance!!!

1. I love the way you call any food you like "nummy treats".  "Mama, nummy treat peas, nummy treat"?!
2. I love the way you call Mama when you wake up in the morning and when I go in to get you you are smiling from ear to ear and give me a big hug.
3. I love your slobbery kisses which are plentiful.
4. I love your enthusiasm for life, not just your energy which you have in abundance but your love for EVERYTHING!
5. I love the way you LOVE your Daddy and he loves you back.
6. I love the way you make my heart smile and soul dance.
7. I love your sweet little toes, which are always moving and wiggling.
8. I love the way you look up at me.
9. I love your smell first thing in the morning when you come in our bed and cuddle with me.
10. I love when you don't know I am watching you and you are cuddling and kissing your "babies". It's so sweet to see the love that you want to give to everyone, even your dolly's.
11. I love the sound of your sweet little voice.
12. I love watching you discover new things.
13. I love when you giggle uncontrollably.
14. I love your beautiful blue eyes.
15. I love it when I am walking out of your room at night after putting you to bed, as I'm walking out the door I say, I love you baby, sweet dreams, sleep tight and I hear your sweet little voice from under the covers saying, love you Mama, seet deems, seep tight.

When I was a little girl and actually up even into my 20's my Dad would always bring me a rose on my Birthday.  I remember being probably 7 or so and sitting on the floor in the middle of my party and seeing my Dad walk in with it in his hand. Mario knows this story, I had told him at some point.  Yesterday he came walking in the door with something covered up with a bag that he went upstairs and hid.  I went up to our bathroom and he was putting a rose in a vase. He said, "You told me how your Dad used to always bring you a rose on your Birthday and this is to give Stella tomorrow....

I love him. I love her.

Stella had a rockin day.

Dada brought her breakfast in our bed while her and I watched the new "tinky" movie.

She opened some presents.

We walked on the beach, she caught some crabs in a bucket, we watched dolphins play, she found a "hidden" present in the brush.

She opened more presents.

We took her to dinner.

She got to watch The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown.

My baby is 2.





Hellllloooo Punkin!

The other night we carved pumpkins. Stella kept taking the lid off and saying, "Hellllloooo Punkin"! She took a few seeds out but then would rub her hands on her shirt. She's starting to have this thing about getting stuff on her hands. If she gets food on her hands during dinner she'll say, "Wipe Mama, wipe"! I LOVE homemade pumpkin seeds. SO good!

Papa & Aubrey

Last weekend it was Mario's dads' Birthday.  He came out and we all went to the Stone Crab festival.  We walked around, looked at booths, Stella rode a baby horse and ate crab. Then Larry came back to our house for some Pot Roast that had been simmering in the Crockpot all day. Have I ever mentioned the secret ingredient to Pot Roast is Paprika? When you season it add Paprika. It was a really fun day and it is always good to have Papa out to hang with us. Happy Birthday Papa!

Roller Coasters

So it's been a kind of emotional roller coaster of a day.

This is going to be pretty random but that's kind of how I feel today.

While the last week I have been so grateful for all I have, the last day or so I've been struggling with feelings of anger, frustration and letting things go. 

Mario has a family member who is always talking about us.  We are always hearing something catty they've said and  most of the time you just brush it off.  I have actually over heard comments myself numerous times when they thought I couldn't hear.

I've been told a few times about conversations they've had about Stella's birthday party.  They keep talking about why am I making such a big deal about it. The funny thing is they aren't even coming. Why should they care?  Why should they have feelings to begrudge a child a birthday party. If I want to throw her a circus, why do they care? It doesn't make any sense to me.  After the third person told me that they had been talking to them about it I was so annoyed. It's a completely hypocritical situation where relatives of theirs have events and make purchases beyond their means off of donated money. The ridiculousness of it just is ironic and annoying.  I hate hearing about people talk about how "religious" they are, then gossip and put other people down. Happens ALL the time in this situation. So I had started this ranting post (this is the mini version, let me tell you) when I got a call from Mario. 

Almost 3 years ago one of his oldest childhood friends died in unfortunate circumstances.  That kind of sounds silly, when is death not unfortunate.  Still a very sad situation.  Mario had grown up close to the family and after he passed Mario has stayed in touch with his brother who was a few years older. Mario took him out on the boat fishing numerous times and they would talk about shared memories.  They stayed in close contact and both were still hurt by the loss obviously.  The last time they went out he came in and had tacos with us around the table.  This morning Mario received a phone call that his brother passed away last night at not even 40 years old.  They think it was something heart related but don't know much yet.  It rips my heart out that these parents have now lost both of their boys within 3 years.  They were their only children.  I cannot even think about it for very long.  I only had met the parents once at the funeral, if I had never even met them before and did not know the family they would be heavily on my mind right now. It's just unfathomable to  me.

I deleted the catty post.  I am going to try to rise above the people that feel the need to make comments about their own insecurities and stay in that place of love for my family, those around me that do love and care for us and those who are hurting right now.

I'm still waiting for them to get back to me regarding my mammogram. Mom also finished treatment yesterday. 7 rounds of chemo and 33 radiation treatments. I'm feeling a little raw right now. 

Love each other and kiss your babies.
I'm sure there's more then one family that would give anything to be able to do that right now...

images via We heart it

Gratitude

This week I have just been thankful for everything.  For my husband who loves being a husband and Dad and tells me all the time how he loves our family. For being able to take my baby girl on a walk with friends at the beach in beautiful 80 degree weather in October. For having a wonderful family. For a healthy beautiful baby girl. There's just so many things. When you see others that aren't so fortunate or worry about something like your health it puts things in perspective.  I love living in that space.  It's so easy to get caught up in things and forget that but life is so much more beautiful there so that is where I wish to stay. 

Busy Busy

Yes, that IS lipstick.  The other night I stupidly left my purse sitting on the stairs.  You would think I would learn these lessons but I have to keep banging my Mommy head against the wall.  I was cleaning the kitchen after dinner and she took a lipstick out of my makeup bag and took it over in the corner to her Elmo kitchen.  There isn't really anything she can get into in the Living room, well...except my purse.  I thought she was a tad quiet (always a warning) so I went over and looked behind the kitchen and THIS is what I found.  I bet I was an even funnier sight.  Trying to grab my camera and keep her from touching anything and take a picture. Dork.  She loves putting lotion on, I'll put a drop on her hand or arm and she'll rub it in.  I think this was what she was doing with the lipstick although I'm not quite sure how it ended up on her toes.  She is so funny.  We were taking a walk the other day and walked by someone house which was decorated for Halloween.  She said, "Look Mama! Pumkinween!!! So now Halloween is Pumkinween.  So cute.

We've been pretty busy lately, only to get busier as the week goes on I'm sure. Stella's birthday is Thursday and party is Sunday so I'll be prepping for that.  Last night I made a few more wands and a sign while Mario "sewed" a Peter Pan hat.  He actually did a really good job! He gets jealous when he sees how much fun I'm having and has to get in on the action.  Although, really I love the memories.

Now we're off to the Stone Crab festival for Mario's dads' Birthday!!!

Game Day Grub

***Disclaimer***

These are not our ribs, I unfortunately forgot to take a picture.

This pic is courtesy of Bon Apetit!

My neighbor gave me a recipe for these Whiskey Bourbon Ribs that would be perfect for Game Day!  They are SO good and you can make them with any kind of Rib, but she recommended Pork.  The sauce also makes a large amount.  I had enough to fill a empty ketchup bottle, which I had emptied in making this recipe.  Then use the sauce with other things as a BBQ sauce and let me tell you boy is it tasty!!!

Whiskey Bourbon Ribs

Rib Rub
3 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

11/2 Tablespoons Paprika

11/2 Tablespoons Salt

11/2 Tablespoons Pepper

1 Teaspoon garlic

Combine ingredients together and rub on ribs.  In the bottom of a large baking dish pour 1 cup water and 1/2 cup liquid smoke.  Cover with 2 sheets of Aluminum Foil.  Cook in oven for 3 hours on  170 degrees.  Let cool for 2 hours, cover with sauce and grill.

Whiskey Bourbon Sauce

1/2 diced onion

4 minced garlic cloves

3/4 Cups Bourbon Whiskey

1/2 Teaspoon Pepper

1/2 Teaspoon Salt

2 Cups Ketchup

1/4 Cup Tomato Paste

1/3 Cup Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Liquid Smoke

1/2 Cup Worcestershire

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

1/3 Teaspoon Hot Sauce

In large pan over Medium heat combine onion, garlic, and Whiskey.  Simmer 10 minutes.  Stir in remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to medium low, and let simmer 20 minutes.  Let cool for 1 hour.

Saturday, after we got home from the beach these are what we made for dinner.  It was kind of a last minute thing and they obviously take a while!!! So we ended up eating at like 9 but it was worth it! I had made a homemade Potato Salad and Baked Beans to take to Mario's dads' birthday party Sunday so we had that with it! YUM!!!
Enjoy! 

Home Turf

Saturday it was back to our "home turf".  We had a great but busy weekend.  Friday my friend Jenny and I took the kids to the children's museum.  Saturday we headed down to our beach, then Sunday we had a Birthday party for Mario's dad. Stella built sandcastles and Mario threw out the cast net and came up with some bait fish that could have entertained Stella for hours.  She had so much fun seeing them jump around and throwing them back.  She wasn't scared of them AT ALL!

Ewwww!

She actually still has a fish in her hand. Bleck.

Boy does this girl love the beach.  She sat in this hole and dug for probably an hour straight. Sometimes when I go get her in the morning her first words are, "Beach Mama"! The weather was gorgeous and we were talking about how we probably only have a few more weekends to be able to go and actually wear swimsuits.  I always wish for the heat and humidity to go away but once this weather gets here I wish it would just stay forever but all too soon it's gone and the cold is here.  For now though, we will enjoy it.

On another note I have a Mammogram this week.  To much information for this blog, I know.  There are 2 reasons I am bringing it up.  1 is to throw it out there to the universe for positive energy. 2 because it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and I want to say if you are saposed to go and have been putting it off GO.  If you have never had one and have been putting it off please GO! If you have them every year and are just procrastinating GO! Early detection in anything health related is so important.  If you have a family history they recommend starting them at 35, but there is also something to do with the age of diagnosis so ask your Dr. what they recommend. This is close to home though.  Mom will be done with her 33 radiation sessions next week.  Her treatment will be done and hopefully she can head down the road to recovery.  There have been a lot of health scares/issues with family this year. Mom included.  I think for this reason I am scared. Irrational most likely, I know.  You can't help how you feel though.  I think if it were a gall bladder test or something that wasn't so close to home I wouldn't sweat it.  This though is heavy on my heart this week. I also hate tests that don't give immediate results, you have to wait for the Dr. to call you. Cruel and unusual punishment. So for now I am going to soak up my most wonderful baby girl and enjoy every moment. 

Recovering from the Mouse





They have all sorts of activities for adults and kids at the condos we stayed at.  The last morning they brought down ice cubes with little plastic bugs frozen in them and released them in the kids pool.  Stella had a great time trying to catch them.  What a great idea and I'm going to copy it, well probably NEXT summer! They filled up water balloons and then put the bugs in the balloons and froze them. After they were frozen they took the balloon off the ice cube which left a ball of ice with the bug frozen inside.  The ice cubes floated around and melted fairly quickly but the kids had a great time finding the "bugs"!

Stella loves the beach chair Nana got her! Perfect size!

We were wiped out after Disney and spend the last 2 days at the Beach and Pool!  Lots of relaxing going on and recovering from our Disney hangover.

There was an air show that weekend so we got to see them practicing out over the water most of the afternoon. Other then being a tad loud at times it was so cool to watch!

Stella surprised us the last night, as she figured out how to get out the pack and play.  She has yet to try with her crib at home but the only place we could put it in the room was right next to the bed. She had been "asleep" or quiet for about half an hour and we were sitting watching TV in the living room.  She got out of the pack and play, opened the door and walked right out into the living room. She was quite proud of herself.  This led to a 3 hour stand off between her and I. I tried laying down with her and she just wanted to play.  I put her in the pack and play and she would just get in and out. She thought it was a game. Finally I just had to put her in and sit there on the bed Super Nanny style, putting her back in if she tried to get out. She even outlasted her Dad who fell asleep on the couch while all the fun was going on in the bedroom. Poor girl was probably funned out and overtired but Mom was pooped after she finally was out.  There went our last relaxing evening from 8-11.  Phew.

There was a lot of fun to be had by all on this trip but not a lot of sleep.  Mario is a morning person and would get up at 6ish every morning. He does this at home on weekends. Are you kidding me? Anyways, I have a hard time sleeping once I'm woken up so up with the sun it was.  The plus side was getting to see some amazing sunrises.

Seriously breathtaking...

All in all a great trip to end the summer.

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