Mi Vida Ocupada: My Busy Life!

Bebe's Birthday Bash

My niece Bianca turned three years old last week so we had a little family birthday party for her at Brian & Michelle's house.

I took plenty of photos while practicing with my camera, you ready for them all??!!

The birthday girl

 

 

Bianca posing with Uncle Jeff and Grandpa Jim in their new "Chile" t-shirts......( Jeff and my dad literally got home from South America the night before the party)

One of Bianca's big presents was a new bike! Big sister Annika helping with helmet

Speaking of Annika.....

 

 

 

Uncle Jeff is so silly....

 

I can't forget the little dude! (who at this moment was in the mood for a photo apparently because he made this face and got all up in my camera!!

 

Last but not least, some pics of the cakes!!

 

 

 
 

Michelle has more photos from the party on her blog so go check them out :)

PS On an unrelated note..... sweetsauer.com will be moving to a new server and platform this weekend so make sure you subscribe using this feed otherwise you will not continue to receive my blog updates!

Pizza Time!

My dad's birthday was on Dec 30th and if you have been reading this blog over the years, you may remember that my dad has a very unique and special (almost famous) birthday.  Every year we celebrate together (usually more than once!) and we usually have pizza.  This year we met at Davanni's Pizza (after my bros took our dad to see Avatar earlier in the afternoon) for a quick dinner (review to come soon).  I had just gotten my new camera so I brought it with to test it out.

My niece Bianca

 

My nephew Bennett.  I know this isn't the greatest picture (sorry Michelle!) but I just LOVE that with the SLR only part of the photo is in focus with a blurred background.  Kick ass!!! This is with the 18-55mm kit lens, using flash. 

 

And there ya have it, my first pics with my new camera :)

Christmas Eve Fondue with the Fam

Christmas Eve fondue is one of my family's favorite traditions....

This is our set-up

 

Marinated Meats (and its hard not to notice all the other traditional fryer-foods like mozzarella sticks, tater tots, jalapeno poppers, etc that my brothers have incorporated into the dinner over the years)

 

Spear meats with fondue fork and place in hot oil! (The kids sit at a separate table and it will be a few years yet before they are able to fondue their own foods)

 

The process is lengthy and the kids were impatient waiting for the adults to finish so they could open presents! Here are a few other photos from the night

 

 



The kids had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed all the gifts they got.  We got the kids each two sets of nice warm, soft Carter's PJs and I think they really liked them... they wore them home that night :)

 

They even enjoyed Chocolate fondue in their Pjs!

 

PS I wasn't sure if our Christmas Eve get together was even going to happen this year since local meteorologists were predicting the "Storm of the Century" with 30 inches or so to fall over Christmas.  We ended up getting only 8" and the roads were fairly clear and drivable (although slippery)on Christmas Eve but still bad on Christmas Day.  I hope weather didn't postpone Christmas for others, I know weather was bad all over this year!

Pre-Thanksgiving Family Dinner

Last weekend my family got together for dinner at my parents' house since we would not all be together on Thanksgiving this year.  We had a grilled ham, roasted red potatoes with butter, dill and parmesan (my favorite), salad and dinner rolls, with pumpkin cheesecake made by Michelle for dessert.  My dad let me borrow his camera again for

Here is a pic of Michelle, Amanda and me.  I always wanted sisters and they're the closet thing I'll ever get :) We will all really miss Amanda when she moves out of state around Christmas.  Her job is putting her on a new assignment for the next two years.  I hope that time goes fast.

 

Bennett and Bianca both got their hair cut earlier that day and were looking pretty cute trying on Grandma's mardi gras beads

 

 

That's all I got!

Birthday Brunch for My Mamacita......

This past Sunday the whole family met up at Running Aces Harness Park for brunch to help my mom celebrate her birthday.  Here it is 3 days later and I am still full from all the food I ate! Just kidding, but I really was full for at least 24 hrs afterward!

It was a semi-nice November day, nice enough for Jeffrey to show up in his flip-flops.  I have many photos of Jeff "posing" like this one, someday soon I will have to devote a post strictly to these photos ;)

 

A few photos from brunch:

 

 

 

 

These are the last photos I took before returning my dad's camera back to him.  (so sad to be without again)

Glad you had a nice birthday mom and I hope you're having fun in AZ!

The Sweetest Kiss.....

My niece Bianca kissing Grandpa, taken at Jeff's house last Sunday.

 

So cute, I had to share!

Little Readers....

My parents had a little brunch this past Sunday and I got to spend a little bit of time with my nieces.  It is amazing to me how smart they are and how quickly they catch on to things.  They are smarter every time I see them!

The girls had fun reading their books and they looked so cute while doing so!

 

That's all for now.... I just wanted to brag for a minute about how cute and smart they are ;)

The Long Forgotten Colorado Post #2

I am just home from another out-of-town adventure but I can't post about that until I finish blogging about my trip to Colorado two months ago.  By now you have probably read about the first half of my Colorado trip (back in early August!) so I better get on the horn and tell you about the 2nd half of our trip.....

After staying two nights in the Westminster/Boulder area, my immediate family drove two hours up into the Rocky Mountains to stay at the vacation home of a friend-of-the-family.  It was an awesome place, big enough for all of us to sleep comfortably (and then some!).

 

Our mountain cabin was at 10,000+ altitude.  It took some time adjusting to the altitude and several of us (myself included) got dizzy and nauseous.  It was about 5 minutes after we arrived at the cabin that I fatally dropped my camera.  No wonder I felt so sick! The combo of the altitude and breaking my baby was enough to really do a number on me, but I am a trooper and toughed it out.  That night we kind of took it easy and just hung out at the cabin and grilled steaks for dinner.  A friend of my brother Jeff lives in Denver and came up to hang out with us Sunday night too.  The group of us enjoyed some wine and a beautiful night out in the hot tub after the kids went to bed.  I am told that everyone who has a home in the mountains up there has a hot tub and I can see why.  Such a cool way to enjoy the evening.....

 

When we got up on Monday morning my mom made omelets for everyone (and she makes the best omelets!) then all of the adults (with the exception of my mom who stayed back to babysit Annika, Bianca and Bennett) went to Hoosier's Pass to do some mountain hiking.  It was at this place that I did my Colorado video blog.

It is so incredibly beautiful and peaceful in the mountains.  You have to experience it for yourself to truly understand the feeling.  Doesn't this look like a post card?  We hiked for a couple of hours up into the mountains.

 

 

A few with us in them....

 

After hiking for a few hours we went back to the cabin and had sandwiches for lunch.  Later Monday afternoon Jeff, his friend Bill, Amanda, and I all drove into Breckenridge while the rest of the group stayed at the cabin with the napping kids.  We had ice cream and cookies from Clint's Bakery and took advantage of the free wi-fi for a few hours. 

The rest of the group met us a few hours later but unfortunately it had started to rain in Breckenridge, so walking through town was not very appealing.  We decided to change our plans from having pizza in town to heading back to the cabin to make fajitas for dinner instead. I love fajitas  and Jeff makes really good ones ;) Later that night we sat in the hot tub again for awhile and then played cards.

Tuesday morning Jeff and Amanda talked me into going hiking with them again that day.  We went back to Hoosier's pass but hiked up the opposite side of the mountain.  Pretty high up there in the Continental Divide!

Jeff took this panoramic shot.  Click on it to make it bigger, it is quite spectacular!

 

Another panoramic shot

Other beautiful shots

We kept seeing these various piles of rocks along the mountain path....

 

Had fun making optical illusions with the distant mountain peaks....

 

A few posed pics....

 

 

After our hike we went back to the cabin, met the others and then we all drove into a nearby town for a picnic.  They had this cute but tiny old church

 

After the picnic we went back to the cabin where we played horseshoes for a few hours while the kids took naps.  We had a lot of fun!

  

 

Once the kids were up we all drove into Breckenridge since the weather was better than the previous day.  Breckenridge is a cute town. 

We had wanted to ride the gondola but it was closed that day.  Good thing we found other ways to amuse ourselves! We saw a license plate that read "BigButt" so Amanda and I posed by it...

 

The kids had fun playing at the little park in Breckenridge (photos by Michelle Sauer)

 

We walked around for a few hours and then ate dinner at Fatty's Pizzeria.

We enjoyed a mellow evening back at the cabin, watching movies and hanging out.  We got up early the next day, had breakfast, packed and cleaned up and then headed out of town.  A couple of family photos at the cabin before we left....

 

It was a very cool trip and I am thankful that my family helped make it possible for me to be there.  This was our first family trip in over 16 years, which made it even more special. Thanks for everything, guys!

Jake's Benefit was a Success!

Well, the fruits of our labor were realized on Friday with a very successful Benefit on behalf of baby Jake.  Many friends and family were able to make it out for the event and we had a great time while raising $$ for Jake.  We only had one camera between all of us for the evening, so it got passed around quite a bit.  Here are some of my favorite photos from the evening....

(The t-shirts were designed by me and Mary)

Grooving it up on the dance floor.....

The BFFs

One of Dad Brent and Mom Kim

Thanks to everyone who came out, to everyone who made donations and to everyone who bought raffle tickets from me.  We all appreciate it!!

Early Fall Colors!

Back in August I started noticing that the trees had already started turning colors here.  Doesn't this seem too soon? I can't remember another year when they started changing so early! This maple tree next door to my parents' house is already at its peak.

My parents had us all up this past Sunday for boating and a barbeque.  This was the first time I had been up to their house all summer since Father's Day.  Of course I had to take some photos of my nieces and nephew before returning my dad's camera back to him.....

For as long as she has been around, Miss Bianca LOVES to wear sunglasses.  Little stinker knows she is adorable! (And doesn't her mama look beautiful in this pic too?)

Bennett was totally out of his element on the boat.  Unlike his usual busy self, he just sat there immobile, chilling on the boat!

This "I don't know what to do" look on his face is priceless!

Bennett DID help grandpa drive the boat for awhile

and so did Beebs

Me and Jeff

I was teasing Jeff about his baby "mustache" and made him pose for a close-up.  What a funny guy, this king of the Funny Video Search.  (Have you checked it out yet?) He is also "pretty much the only guy in the entire world who knows how to ______" (Only Jeff can fill in that blank with the special technological things he is able to do! LOL) PS Does teasing your baby brother ever get old????!!!

After a delicious meal of smoked turkey, twice baked potatoes, corn on the cob, salad and grandma's homemade apple pie, we took the girls down to the boat to do some fishing.

How cute are they?

Annika with one of her fish....

My grandparents were up for dinner as well and I guess I forgot to take pictures with them.  Hopefully I will see them again before they head home to AZ in a few weeks.

It was a great day at the lake, I hope everyone else enjoyed their weekend also!

Family Vacation in Colorado

Its been quite the summer of traveling for me, as I am sure you have noticed.  After spending three weeks in Austin, TX for a project I was hired to work on, I flew back home for approx. 12 hrs before hopping on another plane headed to Denver for my cousin Katie's wedding anniversary party/family vacation.  This was the first family vacation I had been able to go on since my 16th birthday (many, many moons ago!) and I am glad I was able to go.

For the first few days we stayed at the Westin in Westminster (a far cry from my hotel in Austin!), which is between Denver and Boulder.  Between all of us we took a ton of photos, but here are some of my favorites from the hotel area....

 

 

 

 We walked around and explored the area which included a Happy Hour stop at Que Bueno for margaritas and appetizers.

 

Some of my other aunts, uncles and cousins on the Sauer side of the family also came to Colorado for Katie's party and some of them even stayed at the Westin.

Later that evening Jeff and I wandered over to Bar Louie with our cousin Heidi and her boyfriend Tony.  There was a 20-year HS reunion going on, it was great hearing all the songs that I listened to in 6th grade! LOL

Congrats & Adios, Andrea!

One of my cousins who just graduated from college is starting a new adventure in her life.  She has accepted a position as a nurse in Tucson, AZ and is moving out there sometime this week.  To celebrate her graduation and to wish her well, her mom (my mom's sister Carol) threw her a party/pig roast.  Pictures from the celebration:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Graduation Parties Galore!

I have mentioned many times that I have a big family on both my mom and dad's sides.  Nearly 40 first cousins, many whom are married with kids now!  With that many cousins there is bound to be a graduation here and there, right? Guess how many cousins I had graduate this year?  5 from HS and two from College.  Wow!

Last weekend I attended a couple of the graduation parties. Here are the photos from Natalie's party:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Father's Day 2009

Spent Father's Day with my family up at my parents' house.  We had been planning to do some boating but it was very overcast and slightly windy, but we did get down to the marina for a little while.  The girls were trying to catch minnows in the little net my dad bought them for that purpose.

I don't think they caught many minnows but Annika was quite pleased with herself that she caught a "butterfly" in Grandma's garden (Made of wire! lol)

 Bennett trying to keep up with his big sis... this kid is always on the move and boy does he move quick!

Did you notice Bennett's adorable curls? When he would stop for a split second I had to get his pic no matter who had him! (Lots of Bennett pics today)

 

 

I have said it before, but my niece Bianca is the funniest little kid! She is talking so good and she has the cutest little voice and how she says things.  She is also the queen of funny faces. Here I caught a genuine smile and I just love it

For dinner we had Smoked Ham, cheesy hashbrowns, grilled veggies, baked beans, corn and dinner rolls.  Don't these grilled veggies look amazing? They were!

My Gram & Gramp also came to dinner.  The past year since their 60th Anniversary party went so dang fast! They celebrate their 61st in less than 2 weeks.

I hope everyone had a lovely Father's Day too!

Out on the lake...Finally!

This past Sunday my parents had us all up for a day of boating and dinner.  This was the first time I had been out on the lake all year!  It was a very windy day so the boating portion was very short-lived, although we hung out at the dock/marina for a few hours to do a little fishing.  The community marina where my parents live is the hottest fishing spot on Lake Chisago.  Check out all of the anglers we could see very close to us:

This was our biggest catch of the day, a 3 lb large-mouth bass

My nieces did some fishing with their daddy (my brother Brian) and Grandpa

Grandpa and Bianca

Bianca and Brian

Annika and the fish she caught

 

Oh, and we saw a couple of loons out on the lake very close to the boat (wish you could see how red their eyes are but for some reason you can't tell in this photo)

 

My weekends are going to be very busy this summer, so I hope I have a chance to get back on the lake soon!

Last-Minute Get Together with my BFFs

I spent some time on Friday night over at Mary's house.  What was supposed to be a low-key evening with a few of us girls turned into a backyard get together with several of our group. Amazing that it worked out that way on a Friday night!
I was only able to take a few photos before my camera battery died....

Chase and Angelina dressed up with power tools

The kids checking out baby Jake

 

Isn't Jacob precious?

 

Lanee & Rog

 

Mary, Kim, and Me (This was the last photo and then my camera battery died)

 

Luckily Kim has an phone with an awesome camera so we were able to get one of just us girls....

 

I hope we're able to get together a lot more this summer!

Mother's Day 2009

And I now resume to my normal blogging!!
(Thanks for hanging with me through the many posts of photos from the Photo Hunt!)

Mother's Day was a very nice day, honoring the wonderful women who raised us.  I started this wonderful day with my in-laws at a Japanese restaurant.  Yay for sushi! (I can't believe I did not take any pictures at the restaurant so I will have to just throw in this gorgeous photo of sushi from my archives :)

 

Later in the afternoon we went up to my parents' house for dinner and some fishing.

The lake is so relaxing!

 

The girls did a little fishing with Grandpa and Daddy.  (Annika is obsessed with nightcrawlers and thinks they're fun to play with.  Gross! Michelle has more pics of the kids on her blog)

Me and my momma

 

The Sauer girls

 

Michelle and Bennett

 

Brian, Michelle and the kids (Bianca, Bennett and Annika)

 

I hope all of you had a nice Mother's Day too!

My Little Bro's Big 3-0

Saturday was a special day, as my little brother Brian turned 30!!
He got a nice BBQ smoker for his birthday and had some friends and family over to enjoy some food and help celebrate this milestone. 

 

 

  

We had turkey, beef brisket, sausages, ribs and I also brought over some bacon-wrapped turkey tenderloin skewers and steak. It was like an awesome meat buffet! ( Did I mention that my gas grill died on Friday night right before I was about to throw the meat on the grill? I brought everything over to Brian's on Saturday to cook there instead).

 

I love Brian & Michelle's backyard- it's almost like being in the wilderness!

It was a nice time and I am glad Brian had a great birthday!

A Hippity Hoppity Easter

It was a pretty nice day on Easter this year (in fact we've had about 7-8 days straight of sunny weather!).  Spent some time with the in-laws for a nice early dinner before heading over to my uncle's house later in the afternoon.  It was nice to see some of my cousins I haven't seen in awhile (and their kids!) and also my nieces and nephew. 
My dad and Annika

The kids had a blast playing on the giant trampoline. 

 

Bianca's hair was going wild with static electricity!!! Poor kid bonked her head last week and had to get a bunch of stitches.
 
One of my cousins has identical twin boys (4 years old).  DOUBLE TROUBLE, no doubt!

Just look at these little turkeys trying to get a nice family photo! lol

My cousin Nick turned 21 on Easter Day.  Ahh, to be young again!

Jeff and Amanda

Brian and Michelle

 

My mom and dad

Brian and Bennett

Some of my aunts, uncles and cousins

(Ooops-  no postable pics of me this year )

And that was our lovely 2009 Easter celebration  ;)

Hangin' with my Besties

It was nice that I was able to spend some time with my Bffs over my break: Bradie on Wed, Lanee & Sony for a bit on Thursday and Kim & Mary on Friday.  Mary had Kim and I over for dinner on Friday.  I love it when Mary cooks! This time she made us chicken gyros which were quite good. One of the best parts of the night was snuggling with Jacob, Kimmy's new baby.  What a little sweetie! He has been kind of fussy for her lately but he was on his best behavior with us.  I can't believe he is almost 7 weeks already.  Remember when I met him when he was one day old? That time went too fast!

 

Mary and Kim with Jacob.  Kim looks fantastic! You'd never know she recently had a baby (if the adorable proof wasn't right there!)

This is Mary's son, Chase.  He wanted a piece of candy and accidentally grabbed a super sour one! This look on his face is priceless!

 

 

Mary is also one of the world's biggest animal lovers.  Here is her pretty kittie Louie

As soon as I took a  picture of the cat, the dog was also in my face!

 

That's it for now!

Little Sweeties....

I spent some time the other day with Bradie and her girls, they're getting so big!

Later that night Bradie and I went and spent some time at Lakewood Cemetery.  It was practically sun down by the time we got out there, so we must've been a sight wandering through the graveyard at night.  We've already had more than our share of ghostly encounters together. Check out my graveyard pics.  (It was much darker than it appears in the pictures, my camera is just good at compensating for the lack of light!)

Birthday Party for Bennett

It was a beautiful day yesterday (and today is even better!) for Bennett's birthday party.  I was only able to attend for a little while, but I was actively taking photos the entire time ;)
The Birthday Boy with his new ball

Michelle and Bennett
Brian and Annika

My mom and Bianca- I was going to crop this until I noticed Annika in the background on the left and the reflection of Michelle and Bennett in the microwave on the right!

 

Jeff and Amanda

 

Me and my mama

Erin and Stew

My dad and Bennett

 

Michelle's grandpa and Tucker

Rick (Michelle's dad) and Annika (do you like her Tinkerbell wings and costume?! she was a lucky girl to get this gift from somebody on her brother's bday!)

Jodi (Michelle's mom) and Bennett

 

I wasn't able to stay for dinner or cake, so hopefully Michelle will be posting some of those photos on her blog later ;)

Welcome, Baby Jake!

 As I announced yesterday, Kim and Brent's Bundle of Joy made his appearance into the world at 10am yesterday morning.
Kim is feeling much better today after a very rough bout of labor (22 long and horrible hours) and recovering from the whole process.  Despite her fights and protests of allowing me to take a photo, I made her do it anyway.  I think she looks beautiful as a new mother!

I  visited Kim and the baby for a little while over my lunch break today and I think I fell in love.  Jake is so sweet!

A slightly closer view of Jacob.

So there he is!

Congrats to Kim & Brent!

Just wanted to announce that my BFF Kim had her baby boy at 10am this morning!
7 lbs 11oz, 21 inches
I will post pictures when I can :)

Fajita Night with the Fam :)

Had dinner at my parents' house last night to see them one last time before they head to Florida for the next several weeks.  They'll be gone next week during my actual birthday so we celebrated a little early.... Fajitas in my honor.  My camera is finally working again after buying a brand-new battery so we got a few photos (my dad took most of them with my camera).
Me with my nieces, Annika and Bianca
Bianca in my face saying "CHEESE".  Love it!! So funny

Me with Michelle and Bennett
Brian and Bennett
After our lovely fajita dinner we had a German chocolate cake- the girls helped me blow out the candles
Now if only I'd be able to get away from work so that I could spend my actual birthday with them in Florida one of these years ;)

Bianca's Birthday Bash

Brian and Michelle threw a party for Bianca's birthday this past Sunday.  They had family, friends and neighbors so it was a semi-big gathering.  Lots of little kids :)

I have to say, Bianca is one of my favorite kids ever.  Seriously! She is so cute and has such spunk and personality.  The faces she makes have always cracked me up and now that she is talking, she is pretty charming ;)
Knowing that my brother and Michelle are taking the kids to Florida in a few weeks, I got the girls each a pair of cool shades.  I also got Bianca some Snow White dress up shoes and a My Little Pony.  She loved those glasses!

One of the things I love about Beebs is that she is a girl after my own heart: she loves to eat and she isn't too picky! We had a variety of delicious dips and salsas and then a Mexican buffet for dinner.  Bianca wasn't sure how to eat the burrito when it was rolled up so she just unwrapped it and ate it with her fork.  lol
Bianca loves cake probably as much as her mother.  (Cake is Michelle's #1 food in case you didn't know! lol).  This look on her face cracks me up!!!!! Who knows what she is thinking!!??
Look how big Bennett is getting, he is only about six weeks shy of turning one.  Time flies!

Michelle has a cool slideshow on her blog if you want to see more pics!

Happy Birthday Beebs!

My niece Bianca turns 2 years old today. How did that happen so fast???!! I clearly remember the day she was born and it doesn't seem like it could've been two years already!  Hope Bianca has a great day today.  Looking forward to her birthday party this upcoming weekend.  Happy Half-Birthday to Annika today too, as she turns 3 1/2.

Christmas Eve.....

I went up to my parent's house on Christmas Eve for our traditional Fondue dinner.  Dinner was great but what was the most fun about Christmas this year was watching the kids enjoy it.  This was my nephew Bennett's first Christmas :)

Jeff got the girls each a cool play-tent and spent the time setting them up.  Annika's was a Princess Castle and Bianca's was a Garden Tent (or something like that)

Bianca and Grandma sitting in her tent
This one cracks me up....Bennett was ticked about posing for this pic with uncle Jeff!

 

 

 

My brothers chipped in and bought me a new external HD for Christmas.  500GB. Score!  I have since backed everything up from my computer and encourage you all to do the same.  Better safe than sorry! 

Irresistible Little Babies!

Every year in December a group of my HS girlfriends and I try to get together for a special holiday meal (two years ago we went to Saji-Ya and last year we went to Bucca.  We thought we'd try breakfast this year instead of dinner and include some of the new babies.  We went to Elsie's in NE Mpls.  It was great although only four of us were able to make it.
Ready for some baby cuteness?
Newest addition: Andrea's baby Lucie (on her one-month bday)

Mandy and Madden (6 months)

Bradie and Neven (almost 6 months)
Our group

We plan to have another Girls Get Together some time in February so that some of the others can join us :)

Another sweet baby!

Congrats to my friend Andrea and her husband Kraig on the new arrival of their long-awaited baby girl, Lucie (born Fri Nov 7th).  Isn't she adorable!!??

Dinner for mom's bday

Had dinner up at my parents' house on Saturday night to celebrate my mom's bday.  Some photos from the night:

Sunday Dinner with the Fam (and my NEW senior pictures!)

My parents had us all up on Sunday night for one of our monthly dinners (and to recognize Michelle's birthday which is tomorrow!)

Can you believe Bennett is 7 months old already???

It was unseasonably warm that day (almost 80') and the colors on the trees were sooooo beautiful!!  I love this little bench overlooking the lake

Michelle and I were practicing taking photos (aka goofing around) and she took some casual portraits of me- Senior Picture Style!!!!  I thought about it and I have been out of school for so long, that I could've started at Kindergarten and made it all the way up to Senior Year for a second time by now!! LOL

 

Thanks, Michelle...these are great!

So many babies!

On Saturday I went to a baby shower for an old friend of mine, Andrea.   It was nice to see some of my old friends from school who were also able to come.   Would you believe that we had four babies among the group?? Bradie, Anne, Mandy and Gretchen all have new babies, and they are all so cute! Of course I took a bunch of photos!
Andrea with all of us girls

Andrea opening her very own copy of Porn for New Moms

Bradie and Neven

Anne and Sammy

Mandy and Madden (You may recall Mandy was in the Hot Mama contest back when she was preggo)

Me and Bradie

Congrats to Andrea and her husband on the upcoming arrival of baby Lucie!

Vikings Good-Luck Charms :)

We had family brunch at my parents' house this past Sunday just before the Vikings game and Annika, Bianca and Bennett were all dressed up in Vikings gear. (Bennett was the only one who would cooperate for this photo!) The Vikings actually pulled it off and won their first game this year!

More pictures from brunch:

Fall BBQ....

Spent some time on Friday with dear old friends Jeff and Toni.  Yummy chicken sausages on the grill and fun times watching their little girls playing.  Wish they didn't live so far away! 

I can't believe Georgia is already old enough to be missing her front teeth!

And Cydney is just too cute! (I wish I could take credit for this photo, but it was taken by another papparazzi)

 

Toni and Me

Gotta do this again soon :)

 

Labor Day at the Lake....

Some photos from Sunday up at my parents' house.....

Michelle and Bianca

Patio/garden in the back of the house (overlooking the lake)

Salad that my Gram made with many bright and colorful fruits....

 

Lunch Date

Yesterday I had a little lunch-date at Ciao Bella with Leah, Kara, and Kara's daughter Olivia. 

I am seriously in love with Olivia, she is the cutest thing! Can you believe those big brown eyes or those cheeks??!!

Kara often puts the cutest clips in Olivia's hair and has passed along the link to Lil Sugar Plum in case anyone wants cute accessories for their little girls!

The Path that Leads to Cloud 9......

A few days ago I spent the day with my oldest and dearest pal, Bradie, and her three adorable daughters......

The youngest, Neven, is just 7 weeks old.  What a little sweetie!!!!

I have mentioned Bradie on this blog many times over the years, but now it is time for some of you to get to know her yourself!  Bradie now has her own blog, Cloud 9.  She is a very busy mommy of these 3 girls so she doesn't promise to post regularly, but she would like to get back into writing for fun and maybe even do a few Wine-o Wednesday posts (Michelle, I think you've started something here!)  Please go show Bradie some love and welcome her into the blogging community :)

Look who turned 3 today!

My niece,  Annika Leigh!

 I can hardly believe how fast the time went! Some of you may remember how excited I was on the day she was born because that is the day I became an Auntie.  My SIL Michelle also details an account of Annika's birth on her blog today.

Every year I have made a collage for Annika, celebrating the past year of her life.  First year, second year, and now her third year......

Brian and Michelle had a party for Annika at their house yesterday and the girls had a great time and enjoyed their new gifts. (It is Bianca's half-birthday today, they are exactly 18 months apart)

Annika and her daddy

The girls both got baby dolls, which they loved so much!

 Bianca is totally in love with her new Elmo

Me with Bennett

Oh, he makes the cutest smiles!

A huge thanks goes out to my dad for letting me borrow his awesome camera! Its been killing me not to have my own for all the random Kodak Moments.

Hanging out....

I hung out all day yesterday with Bradie and her girls.  They are so cute and sweet and smart!  I brought my Macbook over to their house so the girls could check out Photobooth.  We had a fun time!
And of course some normal ones too! Bradie has 10 weeks to go until baby girl #3 is born.  She'll probably kill me for posting this pic of her, but she is still beautiful. (Lookin g at this photo, would you even know she was pregnant if I hadn't just told you?)

Bradie and I went out for dinner (Acapulco Mexican Restaurant) when her husband came home from work.  I wasn't feeling too good, but it was still great hanging out with my life-long childhood buddy!

Big Sisters!

As of last night at 6pm, my nieces now have a baby brother, Bennett James!

Go on over to Michelle's blog to congratulate her and Brian, get the details of the birth and see a photo of Bennett!
I will be visiting him today at lunchtime, and will post photos later :)

Little cutie pie!

I just had to share these cute pictures of Kara and her 3-month-old daughter, Olivia.  This baby is the cutest little papoose I have ever seen!

Sweet Baby B turns 1!!

Happy Birthday to my sweet little niece, Bianca, who turns one years old today!
Some of you have even been on this blogging adventure with me for a long time now and may remember when she was born. 
How fast this year went!
Today is also Annika's half-birthday (2 1/2 years old). Remember when Annika was born? It's really cool that I have been blogging long enough to document it all!

Brian and Michelle had a really nice party at their house yesterday, the girls had a lot of fun opening presents and playing with all the new toys! I tried to get a photo of them in the matching dresses I gave them for Christmas, but you can imagine how easy that was to manage! LOL

Bianca can be so sweet and her smile melts your heart.  Isn't she a doll?!

Lunch with the girls....

Met up with Kara, Angie, Mary and their kids for a nice little lunch on Saturday :)

And this little cutie is Olivia, Kara's baby.

Merry Christmas!

A few photos from Christmas Eve...

 

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas...... It is snowing like crazy again here today, please drive safe in the snow!!

Babies Galore!

Was fortunate to spend some time with my friends and their new babies during the past 24 hours.

Here is Eva, Leslie's little muchkin.  She is just turning 1 month old :)

We also spent a some time with our neighbors this afternoon.  Here is Jere (Shannon) with his baby Jonah, 6 weeks old.  I can't believe how much bigger Jonah has gotten in the past few weeks.  They get so big so quick!

Darrell and Denise both got a chance to snuggle with Jonah (when I wasn't hogging him!)...

Babies are so much fun!

I still need to meet Kara's Olivia, Aimee's Genevieve, Cora's Audrey, Laura's Owen and Susan's Evan.....soon hopefully! Dang, there is just a slew of babies all around me!

Halloween re-cap

Glad I got to enjoy my evening (despite not feeling well for the past couple of days).

Went "trick or treating" over to Lanee and Rog's house for a brief time after work.....

Lanee made me wear this witch hat because it "matched" my orange/black outfit.  Have I mentioned before that I hate the color orange? Orange/black were my HS colors.  Ewww. 12 years of playing soccer in orange uniforms ruined the color for me. It is slowly growing on me though.  Halloween is the only day you'll catch me wearing this color combo!!

And there was a scary spider and a freaky pumpkin head doll...

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Went home handed out candy to the trick or treaters for a short time before going to get some yummy tacos in the hood near where I work. Also went to see the late night showing of 30 Days of Night.  Kinda scary movie about vampires.  Perfect for Halloween!

Oh, and Casper visited my house last night....

Also wanted to show off the cutest picture of my nieces, Annika and Bianca.  Aren't they adorable? Michelle has a few other pics on her blog too.

More sweet babies!

A couple more of my long-time girlfriends have had babies recently :)

First was Leslie (aka Peanut Butter ) and Aiden who had baby girl Eva Christine Oct 11th (6 lbs 14 oz, 22 inches long).....pictures to come as soon as I am able to visit them or retrieve them from my phone :)

Then Kara and Jesse had baby girl Olivia Ashley on Oct 25th (7 lbs 4 oz.  She is 21 inches long).  PS That makes Olivia another full-moon baby!

Congrats to you all!

Beautiful baby girls and their mamacitas too!

Ghetto-Fabulous Names......

So by now it is no secret that I work at neighborhood schools in really tough, poor neighborhoods in the inner city.  I absolutely LOVE what I do, and wouldn't ever dream of trading my poor, needy, diverse students for the more well-off white kids in the suburbs.  This is my niche.

So that being said, I do have to tell you that I have come across some very interesting names throughout my career and have started to make a list of the ones I remember.  I wanted to share with you some of the unusual  "names" of students I have personally known.    (I am not even going to go there with some of the ethnic names I've come across!) The following names span all races....

Golden              Daisy

Foxy                  Charisma

Dream              Hope

Precious (I've known at least four girls with this name)

Faith                 Destiny

Diamond (again, 5-6 girls with this name)

Sparkle

Heaven             Unique

Star or Estrella

Lyric                    Darling

Honey                Modesty

Sunshine            Jersey

China                   Dakota

Carolina              Georgia

Green  (whose last name also happened to be a shade of green)

Sterling                 Seven

Prince                  Justice

Reality                  Irony

***************************************************************************************

Anyone care to share unusual names of people they have known?

Full Moon Babies....

Apparently babies love to be born around the full-moon!

My friend Aimee (whom I used to teach with for three years at my old school) just had a baby girl on Monday Sept 24th.  Her name is Genevieve, Evie for short.  How sweet are those cheeks??

My next door neighbor and good friend Shannon also had a baby boy on Thursday, Sept 27th.  Jonah Paul weighed 8lbs 11 oz.  I can't wait to meet him tonight and will post pics asap :)

*****Insert pic of Jonah here*******

I also wanted to give a shout-out to Raina, and her new baby boy, Lukas James, born Sept 15th.  Raina might not be blogging anymore, but I know some of you are still friends with her on Facebook, etc ;)  Another darling baby! 

My friend Leslie is also due this Wed the 3rd, but may already have had her baby this weekend!!