Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is Dad's birthday so tonight we all went out to dinner. We went to a great restaurant in Philly on Chestnut Street. We had our own private room, which was great because we could be as loud as we wanted to be. It was Mom & Dad, the Katrina's, the JJ's, us, and Johnny's friend Bob. (Bob is in from NY visiting the JJ's for a few days.) Livi had fun going around the table, spending time with each of us, and Char had fun because she was eating the whole time. That girl loves to eat! Plus she had fun making us all laugh with her goofy faces and eating her cupcake without her hands. She is just too cute. I think Dad had a great birthday spending time w/his wife & kiddos. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! We love you very much!

Vacation

Vacation! What a wonderful week...of no work! I decided to take this week off and "do nothing." The only problem is, I'm not "doing nothing." I think I just sat down on the couch for the 1st time this week. I've been running around exchanging xmas gifts, dropping off & picking up dry cleaning, doing a BJ's run, cleaning, and food shopping (will do that tmr). Oh, and silly me forgot to get a sub for WW last night so I did have to get dressed up and go into work for 2 hours...arg. But what I can say is that I am on vaca from work!!! :) Also, I did treat myself to a facial this morning. It was wonderful and I think I may have fallen asleep. Brian stayed home with me on Monday but he did work yesterday and today. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week because he is off tmr and Friday, so it'll be a nice long weekend with my hubby. I'm hoping we will have some time to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Baltimore for Joe's 40th

On Saturday we drove down to Baltimore, with the neighbors, for the night. Joe turned 40 on Monday and he wanted to celebrate with all of us at a couple bars he loves down there. After lots of traffic, we got down there around 6ish Sat night. We checked into the hotel, got changed real quick, and met up to head out to the 1st bar. We bar-hopped to about 4 different places but the last place was the best. It was a dueling piano bar and we had a ball! We kept requesting songs and were amazed that they knew the words to every song. The next morning we got up and headed home right away, hoping to avoid traffic, and we did. Brian and I lounged around the rest of the day on Sunday watching football. As usual, we had a blast hangin' with everyone. We have all become such good friends.....we are so lucky to have such great neighbors. It's not everyday that you come across neighbors that you can consider friends.

Christmas at the Fetter's

Late afternoon on Christmas day we drove down to Aunt Pinky & Uncle Charlie's house. We were the 1st to arrive so we got to exchange gifts and visit with them. Later on the rest of the family started to arrive...Rob, Aunt Denise, Uncle Harry, and all the cousins and their kids. We had a delicious dinner and wonderful desserts. The kids all had a ball playing with their new toys from Santa. The girls sat around the dining room chatting while the guys hung in the family room watching football. We had a great time with the family! Merry Christmas Evensen-clan! We love you all!

Christmas morning

Christmas morning was wonderful. We woke up to Jadie standing over us and licking our faces. I know she didn't know it was Christmas morning but it was fun to pretend that she did. We went downstairs, put on xmas music, and put the egg casserole in the oven. We sat on the floor to open our gifts and Jadie thought it was play time so she kept bringing toys over to us. I wanted to occupy her so I showed her the stocking and opened a gift for her. She was SO excited! But the smart dog that she is....after 10 minutes of playing with the new toy she went over to her stocking, looked at it, and then at us. As if to say, "give me another!" It was too funny! Autumn laid under the tree the whole time because she felt safe behind all the boxes, but as we opened the presents she was not as safe anymore and Jadie saw her. As usual, Jadie ran over to her and she hid behind the couch. We had an awesome morning! Brian did very well with my presents this year! He bought me clothes for the 1st time and did an awesome job! He also got me 2 pandora beads, 2 pair of shoes, a jacket, and a jewelry cleaner. I got him a bunch of tools, 3 shirts, ties, gloves, and a shutterfly book of pics throughout the year. We talked about how maybe next Christmas we will have a baby with us and I shed a few tears. I want nothing more than to have a baby with my hubby. He just hugged me and told me that it will happen, when it's supposed to. The rest of the morning we stayed in our PJ's and watched TV until we had to get ready for dinner at the Fetter's. When we put Jadie in her crate I opened the cats xmas presents and they had a ball running around with them. Our 3 furbabies had a great xmas!

Christmas Eve at Grandmom's

After spending the afternoon at Mom & Dad's we all headed over to Grandmom's house. All our Aunts, Uncles, and cousins on Mom's side were there, with the exception of Jeanna and Ricky. We had a delicious dinner and then started with our pollyanna's. We do a classic pollyanna where we draw names in the summer-time and buy for that person. We also do a fun pollyanna where we all buy a generic gift and take turns opening and/or stealing gifts from other people. That is always a lot of fun because there is usually 1 or 2 gifts that everyone wants. Corinne knew I wanted the throw pillow that I opened so she stole it from me. We always laugh a lot during this game. Lastly, we have a pet pollyanna since we have so many pets in our family. Jadie loves her candy cane bone and the cats equally enjoyed playing with their new toys on Christmas morning. We had a wonderful night with our family. It's always heart-warming to be with them and to be able to feel the love in the room. Merry Christmas Corney-clan....Brian and I love you all!

Christmas Eve at Mom & Dad's

Our Christmas Eve festivities began at 2:00 at Mom & Dad's house. It was us, Corinne, Ryan, Livi, Lo, and Johnny. Jeanna wasn't able to make it this year because she had to work....we definitely missed having her there. Mom and Dad had a ball giving us all our gifts. Mom had a bunch of snacks prepared for us all to munch on while we opened everything. We definitely timed it all right this year because we had plenty of time before we had to go to Grandmom's. We didn't have to rush at all! This year Charlotte is much more aware and kinda understands getting gifts so it was so much fun to watch her. With every gift that she opened she squealed...just like Corinne did as a kid, actually she still does. Livi loved her new doll house that Meme and Gpop got her. She is such a "mini me" of me! She was so into setting up her doll house with all the furniture. We were all laughing. It is so funny because it's as if Livi and Lo are Corinne & I re-incarnated. It was a beautiful afternoon, filled with love, laughter, and fun! Brian and I love you all!!!

Visit w/Aunts & Uncle

Tuesday night Aunt Pinky, Uncle Charlie, and Aunt Denise came to visit with us. We had some wine and an app until we headed out to dinner. We went to a local Italian resturant and had a yummy dinner. We had a really nice time chatting over dinner and look forward to seeing them again for Christmas.

Creative Cat

Check out little Miss Autumn laying in the blanket basket next to the window. Guess she wanted to sun-bath and got creative since the tree and all the presents were in her way. Too funny!

Grace-Pescatore Christmas

Due to the snow on Sat, we re-scheduled our dinner with the Pescatore's for Monday night. We all met up at the Saloon in South Philly for a wonderful Italian dinner. The restaurant was almost empty....the roads were still really bad....but we didn't mind. It was like we had the place to ourselves. We were able to be as loud as we wanted. All of us were there, except Jeanna because she had to work. Scott is home from London for Christmas so it was really nice to see him. Our friendship with the Pescatore's is so strong that they are family. As a matter of fact, the waitress asked us if we were family and we responded yes! Friendships like this are precious and it's one that I truly value.

Winter Wonderland

This is what it looked like last night around 10pm....what a pretty winter wonderland.

24 inches of snow!

Yesterday we got 24 inches of snow! Wow! When was the last time we got that much? We did have dinner plans with the Pescatore's but we all decided it wouldn't be safe so we re-scheduled. Brian and I did go over to the neighbor's house though. Joel & Ceil had their Christmas cocktail party. We had a ball, as usual, and only had to walk across the street. Here are some pictures of Jadie outside watching Daddy shoveling out the cars. (These pictures are from early yesterday...when there was only about 6 inches on the ground.)

Tim's Christmas party

Last night we went down to AC for Tim's Christmas party. Brian's Aunt's, Uncle, brother and cousins were there. It was a nice evening of cocktails, munchies, and much fun. Just the thing to get us into the holiday spirit.

Cookies with Mom & Aunt Rita

Last night was the 2nd annual cookie night w/Mom & Aunt Rita. We decided to keep the same roles as last year since it worked out so well before. Mom was in charge of the oven, Aunt Rita was in charge of the SuperShooter, and I was in charge of the decorating. Of course there was wine and much girl talk. We took breaks throughout so we could eat our hoagies and the yummy pecan dip. We talked a lot about family and the future of the Grace/Camarote families. We dreamed a bit about perhaps there being a baby with us next year for the cookies....but only time and God will tell. We laughed alot and just had a good 'ole time. This new tradition is a beautiful one and I can't wait for years to come.

Happy Birthday Brian!

Today is Brian's day and I waited for him to wake up to see what he wanted to do. He had a touch of a stomach bug and didn't want to leave the house. So, we laid around the house most of the day. I did venture out for 2 hours, in the pouring rain, to Christmas shop. Tonight we went down to Brigantine for dinner at Aunt Pinky & Uncle Charlie's. They hosted a nice dinner to celebrate.

Xmas with the Galiano's & Franzen's

Friday night we went to Rick & Antonella's house with Dana, Anthony & the girls. We ordered in some yummy food and had lots of wine. The kids had a ball playing with their new toys. We always have a fun time when we are with the Galiano's & Franzen's.

Stuffed pepper

Last night Brian and I went out for Chinese food and we brought home left-overs. I woke up this morning and was excited to not have to think about dinner. I love when we have left-overs! I remembered I also had a stuffed pepper in the freezer from when I made a bunch about a month ago. So, I took it out to defrost. (Yea, I know, Chinese and a stuffed pepper don't really go together...but who cares.) All day I was excited because I knew I didn't have to come home and cook. I called Brian around 4:00 and told him I was going to do some Christmas shopping since I didn't have to run home. A few hours later I walked in the house and was starving! I opened the fridge to pull everything out to heat up for us and low and behold the stuffed pepper was gone! Ugh! "Brian!?!? Where is the stuffed pepper?" He said "huh, what do you mean?" Yup, he ate it. I was so disappointed because I was looking forward to it all day. Ugh! Now I know why my Mom writes notes on things that she puts in the fridge. I'm gonna have to start doing that!

3 days and counting

Yup! Today is the 3rd day, in a row, that I've used the elliptical machine! The 1st 2 days I only did 25 minutes and today I did 1/2 hour. Also, today I'm back to counting points. So far, so good! Let's see if I can loose those 9 lbs before the JJ's (Johnny & Jeanna) wedding in May. Oh wait! I need to loose it by Feb.....we are going away with Allison & Kevin. Ok, I have a challenge!

That darn machine

Enough is enough. I'm tired of feeling unhealthy and seeing the "muffin top" reappear when I put pants on. Today I asked Brian to bring the elliptical machine back out of the corner. I used it for 25 minutes and it felt so good. Well, it didn't feel better than laying on the couch and surfing the internet...but it felt good because I felt healthier. I'm hoping to start my new years resolution 3 1/2 weeks ahead of schedule. I've gotta start counting points again too. Ugh! Why is it that I've been a WW for 9 years and I was always so good with it until this past year? I keep telling Brian "it's because I'm happy" but I know if I get on that darn machine I'll be even happier.

Brian's surprise 35th

Whew! It worked and Brian was completely surprised! Last night was Brian's surprise 35th birthday party. He thought we were going to dinner with the Miller's at PJ's in Medford. As we walked in the lobby Brian saw another one of his friends, Den, there and was so shocked. I thought he knew right then and there but he still didn't put the pieces together. He said he was just so happy to see Den that he didn't think about it. He ran over to him and said "hey buddy, what are you doing here?" Den was as white as a ghost and looked at me. I didn't know what to do so I just pushed Brian in the direction of the party. I felt bad and walked back to give Den a hug and told him not to worry that I don't even think Brian figured it out yet. I missed his face when he walked in but everyone told me that he was completely surprised! What a sigh of relief! All those little white lies and hiding of emails and text messages paid off. I've been so stressed the past couple of weeks thinking he'd figure it out. He knew something was up but told me today that he thought it was next weekend, since his birthday is on the 13th. We had such a blast! The food was great and the drinks were flowing. There was much laughter and just plain 'ole good times. We watched the end of the SEC championship game, the Flyers game, and then a UFC fight. Everyone had a wonderful time. We took a cab home with the neighbors and Johnny & Jeanna and continued to party til around 3:30am. Johnny & Jeanna slept over and I made the 4 of us breakfast this morning before we headed back to PJ's to get our cars.

Happy Birthday my dear hubby! I love you very much and had so much fun surprising you last night. It gave me great joy to see you so excited and happy. So, does that count as my birthday gift to you for the next few years? HaHa! Just kidding!

Stand-off

This weekend we decorated the inside of the house...Finally! I usually decorate the entire house the weekend of Thanksgiving but we've been so busy that we haven't had time. We had a ball decorating. Brian is such a kid at heart when it comes to Christmas. He wore a Santa hat the whole time. We also had Christmas movies playing to help get us in the spirit.

Autumn & Harvey have always loved the tree. When we pulled it out of the box Autumn was staring at it in awe...as if to say "oh yes! It's Christmas time and I can't wait to climb in that tree and pull ornaments off of it." It was too cute. Harvey likes to lay under the tree. Today I walked by and saw Jadie sitting next to the tree and staring at Harvey. It was like they were having a stand-off.

Autumn hangin' w/Daddy

At night, when Jadie and I go up to bed, Autumn and Daddy hang out. Brian tells me that she will come out from behind the couch and demand attention. The other night she was interested in the pretzels Brian was eating...too cute!