Graig's 40th Birthday!!

Last Friday was Graig's 40th Birthday!  I wanted to surprise him by throwing him a suprise party at work!

Because I wanted it to be a surprise I didn't tell Brock or Ava until they arrived at the party.  We carpool picking up Ava with our friends Dan and Jenn.  Thankfully it was Dan's turn to pick up the girls so he brought Ava with him to the party.  Ava was so confused when she first arrived.  This is me trying to explain to her what was happening.  Brock had basketball practice and didn't get to the party until late. 

Graig's Mom Janice came to the party and brought pictures from when he was little.  They were a big hit!

I was SO happy that Graig was surprised!  He had no clue we were having a party for him! Here is Graig hugging his Mom and Ava when he first came in. 

I had the party on campus so I ordered campus catering for the cake and other snacks.  It made things SO easy!  Everyone in our family loves the cakes from campus!  I get them for our birthdays and other speical occasions. 

I love this picture of Graig and his Mom and of course the big 4-0 sign in the background!!

Here's a group picture of everyone from the party.  I invited mostly his co-workers.  I love how some of them are holding up his baby pictures-ha ha!

I think his 40th bday is one that Graig will remember for a long time!  Happy Wednesday!

Our week!

I have been SO busy I haven't had a second to post! Last week was crazy busy for us!  Friday we celebrated Graig's 40th birthday!  I had a surprise party for him so I spent a lot of time working on the party.  My talented friend Rebecca took pictures for me.  She just gave them to them to me today.  This is one of him just coming in to the party. He was SO surprised! 

Here is one of our little family (minus Brock because he had basketball practice)

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Our birthday's are exactly one week apart.  My friends took me out to celebrate on Wednesday night. Here is an instagram picture of us.  I am so thankful for these ladies!  We had a great time. 

We went to my favorite restaurant and we ordered my favorite spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer.  I had to take a picture of it because it's so good!!

Brock has mid terms this week and he's been busy studying.  Yesterday we were watching football and he turned my desk in the living room around so he could watch TV and study at the same time.    Our friends Dan and Jenn came over to watch football with us.  Their son Marshall (in this picture) is 5.  He loves Brock!  . 

 

Ava and Marty decided to put Marshall up in a cheerleading stunt. 

I also started my project life scrapbook last week! I got the Clementine set for Christmas and it's been one of my favorite presents.  Project Life makes it so easy to scrapbook.   I have a ton of pictures to organize.   So far I've done 4 pages and I have about 400 left to go-ha ha!

I am a total loser it's 8:30 and I'm headed to bed because I have a cold :(  I can't be sick tomorrow because I have an all day retreat with my Greek students and then classes start on Wednesday.  I'll post pictures from Graig's surprise party later in the week.  Happy Monday!

Valentine Craft!

Saturday night Allison, Sabrina and I got together for a craft night. We made heart wreaths like we saw on pinterest. They were free because we only used red burlap and wire. Sabrina had already had both things we needed. I love free crafts! I put mine in an empty frame that was in our dining room. I think they are adorable!

Our weekend!

My weekend started on Friday because I stayed home because it was my birthday! I turned 36! I had a fun filled day. I started at an early morning exercise class and then I went to b-fast with 2 friends Sabrina and Sara. We didn't take pictures
My friend Heidi picked me up and we went shopping and met Rebecca for lunch.

Friday night Graig and I went out for my birthday dinner. Ava and her friend Marty came with us. Here we are at dinner. Don't Marty and Ava looked excited?

After dinner we went to TJ Maxx and I got a couple of things. My favorite thing I got was this framed print.

When we got home I got a package from etsy that ordered. I got a burlap banner for valentines day. This is how it came wrapped up.

Sunday night our friends Dan and Jenn (Marty's mom and Dad) came over to watch football. Here is a picture of baby Henry he shares a birthday with Graig! Graig will turn 40 on Friday and Henry will be 2.

Ava and Marty were practicing the Nutcracker ballet here they are posing. I love these girls!

Our week

This week has flown by in our house!  I am a taxi driver always carting Brock and Ava around to practice, dance, friend's houses, etc. I feel like I'm never home!  I love every minute of it but I feel like I'm always in my car!

This is what we've been up to this week.

Friday night I hosted Bunco!  Everyone brought a bunco prize so at the end of the night everyone went home with a prize!  Here we are all with a Bunco cake made by Allison.

Saturday morning I went jogging with my friend Heidi and fell down!  I skinned up my knees and hands.  I looked at Heidi over my shoulder and tripped on a lip in the sidewalk.  Heidi is an athletic trainer and she thought maybe I broke one of the bones in my hands since it hurt so bad.  I went in for xrays and thankfully nothing was broken!

One of my friends posted this on facebook this week and I love it!!  I am a VERY slow so I can relate to this.  Tomorrow is my 36th birthday!  I used part of my birthday money from my Dad (thanks Dad!) to sign up for a 15k in July.  It's called the Boilermaker and there are 14,000 runners!  I am trying to talk all my friends into running it with me because I think it would be so fun if we all ran together!

Saturday night Allison and I had a craft night.  My idea was to make a valentine swag for our fireplace.I saw this idea on a blog and thought it was so cute.    Anyway, this was my progress.  Thankfully I got on etsy on ordered a valentine swag.  Sometimes it's easier to buy something that someone else made instead of trying to make it yourself. 

Allison saved our craft night and had supplies to make these Valentine's Day frames which turned out really cute! 

This is very random but I found an online typing test and tried it.   It's so addicting! 

Visit the Typing Test and try!

Friday, Friday!

TGIF, I am so glad it's Friday!  It was a short work week but Ava and Brock both had a little stomach bug and just getting back into the swing of things has made this a loooong week!

I am happy to say that I am doing pretty good with my resolutions expect for the not drinking diet coke.  I can't help it I LOVE diet coke and I don't think I'm going to give it up.  I love it too much!

I started using my fitness pal to track what I eat and my exercise which I absolutely love.  It makes writing down what I eat so much easier.  And it's a free app on the iPhone!  I have been using it for 2 days this is my day so far today.  I already tracked some stuff that I plan on eating later at my Bunco party! 

I found this picture on another blog and it's SO true!  I do want to eat healthier this year but I also have to be careful.  I have a certain 9 year old that watches everything I do and say so I don't want to be obsessed with this. I just want to be healthy. 

I need to start getting ready for Bunco night which starts in a few hours.  I am looking forward to a fun night with friends!

Happy Friday!

New Year's Resolutions

Like almost everyone I made some New Year's Resolutions on January 1.  I love the start of a new year. I always feel like I have a fresh start to make changes and try some new things with my life.

Last year I actually stuck with my resolution of working out all year.  Now going to the gym and working out is a part of my daily routine.   I love it and I can't imagine my life without working out.   In 2011 I didn't put my resolutions on my blog but I did in 2010 and you can read about them here. 

I thought I would share my 2012 resolutions on here so you can see what they are and so I can hold myself accountable.  I'll give updates on my progress throughout the year so you will know how I'm doing. 

1.  Be a loving wife and mom.  This is my #1 goal this year.  Brock and Ava are growing up WAY too fast  and I feel like they need me now more than ever.  Brock has started high school so he's been adjusting to that huge transition and Ava is 9 and is more independent than ever before. I want to support them and nurture them and guide them through these
 important years.  I also need to support Graig and be a good wife to him.  I am SO crabby and short with him sometimes. I need to work on that this year. 

2.  Eat healthy/write down what I eat  This is always a resolution for me.  I did weight watchers last fall lost about 10 lbs and when I was on WW I wrote down every single thing I ate. I started doing that again on Jan. 1.  It helps me eat better when I know that I have to write it down.  I am going to focus on eating more fruits and vegetables and eating less processed food.  I love diet coke but I'm not going to have it at my house so it will be a treat  when I go out to eat or go to the movies.

3.  Be focused and organized at work  I love my job and have lots of events and projects going on at once so things at work go much smoother if I have a plan. 

4.  Gracious Hostess  I love have get togethers and little parties at home.  I want to do more entertaining at our house this year. 

5.  Faithful friend  I love my friends and I want to make sure that I make time for them this year. I want to support them and be there for them when  they need me.

6.  Don't gossip or be negative  I really thought this would get easier as I got older but I still do this more than I like and I always feel awful after talking about people. 

7.  Blog 4 x per week  I love blogging but sometimes I get so busy it's not a priority.  I want to make sure I blog regularly this year. 

8.  Don't waste $$  I spend a lot of money on clothes, things for our house, eating out etc.  I am going to be more mindful this year about how I spend our money.  Graig and I are going to sit down once a week to talk about our finances so we stay on track. We have financial goals and things we are saving for and we need to be on the same page.

9.  Try Yoga  I am going to go to yoga once a week this year as another way to be healthy and stay in shape.  I've gone twice and it's really hard but I like it so far and I want to learn more about it. 

If you've read this far-thank you! I know it's a long post.  It's a big list but these are the things I want to work on this year.  I wrote these down in my planner about a week ago and I look at them everyday to keep myself focused on my goals for the new year. 

New Years weekend!

I'll give you a quick recap of our New Year's weekend. 

Friday Sabrina and Eliza came over and we exchanged Chistmas gifts and ate lunch together.  After lunch we decided to go to the mall.  I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of this festive occasion but Sabrina and I were both looking rough so we decided not to take any pictures but it was a fun day!

Friday night Allison and I went to Sabrina's for a craft night.  We actually finished a craft!  Usually we just talk and eat and the crafts don't get finished-ha ha 

Sabrina and I made Valentine's Day blocks and Allison made Syracuse blocks.  I think they turned out really cute and they were so easy to make!

While we were there Allison gave Eliza and Ava mani/pedi's.  Here is a look at Ava's mani/pedi she has OPI Lincoln Park After Dark on with silver sparkles on top. 

Saturday morning Allison and I met for breakfast and to get pedi's.  Here's a pic of us waiting at the salon.  The wait was SO long that I had to leave but Allison got a pedi.  I am going back early tomorrow morning so I hope it's not crowded!

Saturday afternoon Ava and I ran a 5k.  It was Ava's first race!  She kept telling me all morning that she was going to sprint the whole way and win the race-ha ha!  It was a fun, laid back race and I didn't have any anxiety or stress about it!    I think because I signed up to do it last minute and I didn't put any pressure on myself to run the whole thing or get a certain time.  I ran it in 36 minutes and Ava finished in 35.   

Here we are before the race. 

 

These are my friends that ran the race. My neighbor and friend Heidi in white ran her first ever 5k!  Melany, Sara, Jenni, and Faith are hard core runners.  I call them my fast friends.  They are amazing runners.    I hugged them at the starting line and met up with them for ice tea and coffee after the race. 

Here is Heidi, me, Ava, Anika (Ava's BFF) and Mickaela before the race.  I love this picture of us! 

I didn't take one picture on NYE.    I met Allison for a NYE drink, we watched a parade, Ava danced at First Night, we ate pizza and wings, and we met some of our friends at the Hampton Inn for swimming and fun.  We were exhausted after our busy day so we  came home at 11pm and rang the new year in at home. 

I hope you had a great New Year's! I am looking forward to 2012