39 times around...

Happy Birthday to my sweet, patient and awesome husband. 

I am so glad to be part of your adventure in this life.

Look what babies were are in that photo, I think the first one of us together!

Oh what a wild ride it has been.

Love you!

Party!

Spider-man showed up around 9 this morning... 

I highly underestimaged the amount of space and tangle that 25 balloons would need and make.

there were presents (THANK YOU!)

and best friends

And cousins

and a whole heck of a lot of bouncing around by big and small. 

I think everyone is going to sleep well tonight!

Two

I remember you flying into this world, with intensity that has not faded in your two years around the sun.
I didn't know what it would be like to be a mother of two, or a mother to a girl. But as soon as they hand you to me, I knew that my heart had room, because a heart can grow and grow and grow and be filled with more than we ever knew.

Fifi, you are the silliest little monkey there is.You love to make people laugh and can get out of a fix with a sly little smile that melts your daddy and cracks me up. Your favorite pass time is to pick on your brother or the dog. Seeing who you can get a rise out of first and, if neither of them are willing participants, you are more than happy to make Daddy or I your next victim.

You have a thing for textures and all things tactile (including a few things I wish you wouldn't, I can handle the yogurt finger painting, but the poop-painting phase needs to end...please?)
I love watching you, just to see what your next move will be.
You are so different than O, so different- but I love that you are crazy and wild and full of life. You make me remeber to be silly, to laugh at myslef and to make others laugh, you remind me to stick to my guns and fight for what I want.
I love that you are my teacher.

Smart and feisty and beautiful. Don't ever change.
EVER.

Today, you are two. I (we) love you Fifi-Magee.
Happy Birthday!

Stomp Rocket and Mustaches

We are officially in the birthday season.
O's BFF, L just celebrated her 4th birthday, which means O and Fifi''s is only two weeks to go.

 
 During our pregnancies, E and I hoped that the kids would be buddies and sure enough, they are the next generation of giggle twins.

When I asked O what he wanted to get L for her birthday he instantly told me, "She really liked the stomp rocket that I got for my birthday last year. Can we get her that"? He always blows my mind when he pulls something like this out of his memory bank.

 

So a stomp rocket it was.
Here it is in action....

While the kids jumped and send the small red and yellow rockets into orbit, the adults were entertaining themselves with other things...sticky mustaches to be exact. We were cracking up how we instantly looked like our dads. 

Happy Birthday L,we love, love, love you!

The Food of the Fourth (and Drink)

There is just something about summer time food. 

Things you don't usually eat unless the temps and the fun are running high.

Here is our Fourth (or the weekend before, in this year's case) of July Menu.

We enjoyed "Mundo's Ribs" also know as "Andy-que"

This is the basic idea/recipe that was used this year for the ribs.

Start with 6 racks of ribs.

For the Rub:

4tbls brown sugar

2tbls paprika

2tbls essence of emeral

2tbls garlic powder

2tbls black pepper

2tbls kosher salt

2tsp cayenne pepper

Mix the rub ingredients well and rub thoroughly on the racks of ribs. 

Wrap the ribs and put in the refrigerator over night.

Grill all day long (about 6 hrs) on a Weber grill 200-250 degrees. Start with ribs, bone side down. The first hour of cooking, smoke with apple and cherry wood briquets. 

Rotate the rack of ribs from back to front about half way through the total cooking process.

Grilled corn on the cob and garlic bread. The gang likes to wrap the bread and corn in foil and grill until done. The bread gets unwrapped and grill marks are 'applied'. We fancy it up that way. tee hee.

Grilled zucchini

I wasn't in on this recipe, but slicing the zucchinis into 'steaks' and then marinating in balsamic vinegar, olive oil, smashed garlic, salt and pepper and some lemon juice usually does the trick.

Grandma's Mac Salad

This recipe will  yield about 6 servings

Ingredients

2 cups dry elbow macaroni, cooked, rinsed, and drained

1/3 cup diced celery

1/4 cup minced red onion, soaked in cold water for 5 minutes, drained (I have left this out when I made it while pregnant/nursing, because onions and Fifi weren't agreeing, and it still came out really good)

1 tablespoon minced flat-leaf parsley

1/2 cup prepared mayonnaise

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 tablespoons sour cream

1/3 cup sweet pickle relish

4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon yellow mustard

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

In a large bowl combine the macaroni, celery, onion, and parsley. In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, 2 mustards, Worcestershire sauce, relish, sugar, vinegar, sour cream and salt. Pour the dressing over the salad and stir to combine, season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve cold (it just doesn't taste right unless it has chilled, so plan ahead for this one, it's worth it).

Store covered in the refrigerator, for up to 3 days. I promise, it won't last that long though.

Also enjoyed before dinner, Garden Party Cocktails.

After dinner?

Root-beer floats, of course.

I hope your Fourth of July is filled with good food, good friends and FUN.

Happy Birthday AMERICA!!!

Happy Father's Day

To one of the best dads there is. I love you and I am so glad you are the father to my kids...

164:366, the graduate

Let's just say I have officially entered the phase in life where a kindergarten graduation makes me get all choked up...
This girl is the oldest of the cousins and to think that she is heading into the first grade throws me for a loop. I distinctly remember holding her for the very first time. I remember it almost as clearly as I do holding my own two. I think it was so vivid because I had just lost our first pregnancy and then she was born. 

 I was full of hurt and anger and empty, but holding her, it filled me with hope and love and joy. Her tiny body in my arms set my mind straight that I really did want to be a mama.
E. is a beautiful, smart, girly-girl/tomboy who keeps all the other cousins in line and all of us laughing along the way.
We love you so much E and we can't wait to see who you become.

going to the chappel...

Or really more like the Danville Library and Community Center. Which sounds funny at first, but couldn't have been a more pretty and perfect place. Danville is a sweet little town, the down town is quaint and has a ton of great shops and places to eat. I wish I would have had a bit more time to wander. Word on the street is that there is a killer candy store, we avoided that for fear of a complete freakout session....

We checked into the hotel and then headed straight for the pool to cool off.
Last Friday was hot, hot, hot and we needed the dip.

A quick clean up after our swim, and we headed to the rehearsal. Neither of the girls would give the wagon the time of day, but we let them run around and get used to the area and the people. We crossed our fingers that tomorrow, they would get in and ride down the isle with smiles on their faces.
From there, we headed to the restaurant down town.

The kids did more running around and did their best to each spill at least one drink. 

Dinner was delish and the company was pretty sweet too.

I snuck up on the soon to be newly-weds as they were catching a quite moment alone...
aren't they adorable?

Saturday involved a really nice run with my SIL (she said we did 5+ miles! ahh, that low elevation stuff rocks) and swimming and then a quick nap for the kids. I didn't give Fifi much time to wake up, and totally didn't give her time to think about me putting a clip in her hair, fancy shoes and a pretty pink dress on her, all of which she had been fighting me on back at home.

I think she was adorable in all that pink.
Her cousin, was equally as sweet in her pink too!
The girls got in (I think the flower petals helped) and rode down the isle perfectly.

B and the oldest of the cousins E, enjoying the wagon post-ceremony

The ceremony was short, but sweet and then it was on to the party!
I really enjoyed watching the two photographers do their work. Since we had to hang around for Fifi to be in the photos, I got to be in the mix a little more than I normally would have for that part and not feel like a creeper doing so.

Can you handle that veil?! If I would have worn something like that in Reno I would have been halfway across town before the end of the ceremony because of the wind!
I can hardly wait to see the end result of the shot the photographer was getting in the last shot here.

I was teary eyed all afternoon with how sweet the wedding was.
Their first dance about put me over the edge.

Good thing she dance with her dad to "Sweet Child of Mine"- set the party going just right!!

JT and Lo, we thank you for having us be a part of your special day.
You have something magical between you.
Hold it, care for it and may you have a beautiful and long life together!