Thankful

First, I should warn you that I lifted all my pictures from my sister's blog, so if you read hers already, nothing new or exciting here....but for those who didn't....


We had another wonderful Thanksgiving this year!  Thanskgiving is always a great holiday because it's all about family time.  My mom makes a HUGE thanksgiving dinner every year, so thanksgiving is a lot more work for her than us.  We are very thankful for my mom and dad for putting together such a great thanksgiving meal (although the treadmilll isn't as thankful...I think it "huffed" when I got back on after my meal)!

We are so thankful that Rob's parents spend thanksgiving with my parents.  It's so nice that our families are all together (and Julie's inlaws even stopped by for a visit so we had all the families together for a GREAT family picture).  The kids get to have grandma, grandpa, nana, and papa together for a holiday...that will be such a special thing for them!  We always have such a nice time...with our favorite family tradition at the end of the evening.

We are also thankful for amazing aunts and an uncle who love their nieces so much and spend so much
quality time with them.  The kids love to be with Aunt Katie, Aunt Julie, and Uncle Joe.  Abigail talks about things that happen with them for weeks (like this Thanksgiving, Aunt Katie put "makeup" on her...that's a repeat discussion daily).

This year we were so thankful to be able to celebrate Lucy's 1st Thanksgiving with her!  We love her so much and were so happy to spend a whole day with her!  Next Thanksgiving she's going to be walking and talking....can't imagine!  We are thankful she is here, healthy and happy!

We are also thankful that my Grandma was able to join us again for Thanksgiving.  She's 97 (I think) and we are so grateful that she is in such great health!

And finally, we are thankful for our healthy family!  Last year we had some scares with Caitlin, but a year later, we are all healthy!  The girls are so amazing...they are so different in their personalities, but both so sweet.  We are thankful that we have our whole family of 4 together and look forward to many, many, many, many Thanksgivings!

And finally, I am thankful that someone took pictures since I didn't!  :)  Here are some of Jules' pics!

A dinner shot

Caitlin really got into Thanksgiving this year!  Thanksgiving was the 1st day she was finally able to eat Gluten-Free food (and I should mention it's been going great ever since) and she loved EVERYTHING! 

Cousins

I know this is a Blandford family picture, but I had to post because it's Lucy's 1st smile on a camera!  The 1st camera smile is always so neat because I think it gives you the 1st glimpse of what Lucy is going to look like when she's older!  She's so cute...and I can't believe she's only 2 1/2 months old!

And last, but NEVER least, it's the Clark Grizwold Family Tradition...with the addition of the Muskovich Family Shot!

Drum roll please....on the count of the 3 everyone is going to turn around....1, 2, 3... 

Yeah!!!  The Lights...and Vodka!  ;)   The best part this year was the heavier than normal road traffic driving by and wondering why a whole family is out doing shots on the sidewalk at 7pm at night!  :) 

We hope that everyone was as blessed as we were to spend another great Thanksgiving with our family!

Happy Turkey Day!

Greatest Show on Earth

Yesterday we went to see The Greatest Show on Earth!  The circus is so much fun...and I love that's it's the same as it was when I was a kid!  The whole Muskovich family went. We had such a great day....and we did it in style.  Uncle Joe got us tickets for the circus in his company's box!  Now that's the way to see the circus!  Thanks Uncle Joe!

This is how to do the circus!!!

We don't need to stinkin' stadium seats!!!

Aunt Julie and Abigail

Aunt Katie and Caitlin

Nat't Anthem....on an elephant

The Ring Master

We also have a GREAT family shot (including Lucy who was busy for a lot of the circus but loved the lights) but I will post later in case my parents use it for a Xmas card!

Still to come:  Thanksgiving and Lighting of Xmas Tree in our town

(And I realized that Thanksgiving isn't much of a "picture" holiday...but it was delicious!!!!!)

Now we have 2 ponies.....

tails!!!

:)

And here's a flashback at our 1st pony

(Make sure you read below for our post today)

Happy Friday!!!!!

Grandparents Day

Yesterday was Grandparent's Day at school!  I remember so vividly Grandparent's Day at St. Huberts.  My grandparents always came, we went to church together, we showed them our school, and then they took us out to lunch!  So I was very excited that Abigail's school has Grandparent's Day.  Our girls are so lucky because both sets of grandparents live close and they get to see them both often!  So I decided instead of having all 4 grandparents, we'd invite one set this year (Wennerstroms) and one set next year (Muskovichs) and then the following year....dun, dun, dun....we'll have 2 kids at school here!

Nana went with Abigail and they had a great day! 

Making a cross together

Abigail, Luca, and their grandmas!  That's lots of Italian grandma in this picture!!!!!!

I hear this handprint square is part of a classroom quilt.  How cute?????

And what would grandparent's day be without lunch after?????

I had to work most of the day, so Abigail stayed with Nana (and Papa when he got home from work) and they did some "errands". Abigail LOVES the word "errands" and often tells me we need to go do them!

And not only lunch, but out for a fun dinner too!!!!  Augustino's!

I'm not sure who had a better day, Nana or Abigail!  I'd say it's a tie...I know they both had a great day together!  These sort of traditions make me so happy we found this schoool!!!!  (And I should mention Caitlin also had a GREAT day...she had a whole day alone with Mommy....we don't get those days often so we really enjoyed our day together.)

I also am behind on our weekend at Bass Lake.  We went up there last weekend (our last visit for a while...we don't go much in the winter) and had a nice relaxing weekend.  The weather on Saturday morning was perfect, so we were able to take advantage of the nice weather and have a campfire.

Caitlin exploring the lake...her 1st time "walking" at the cabin!  She can't wait for next summer!

Yard work

We appreciate these family moments so much!

Papa teaching Abigail how to make hot dogs on the fire.  (This is when the rain started...and continued the rest of the day.  Perfect day for a PUZZLE...which took Rob like 8 hours literally to do).

This weekend we are pretty busy, including Baby O'Connor's baby shower! 

My Oh My....Shutterfly!

The time is finally here...Time to pick the Xmas card picture!

All moms know what I'm talking about.  We take pictures all year long trying to get the "perfect picture for the Xmas card".  Every single picture taken on vacation is followed by an evaluation if I could use it for Xmas.  I pick outfits during the year that I think would be great for our Xmas card!  It's really an obsession!  I blame my parents....we grew up knowing our vacation would partly involve getting the perfect picture for our Xmas card!  And we always did!

Well, we did it!!!!!  The Wennerstrom family got the perfect Xmas card picture.  How did we know it was "the one"?  Well....simple....both kids were looking AND smiling!  Any mom of a 2 and 1 year old knows that getting both kids to look and smile is the complete battle!  And we did it!!!!  (There may be a little unwanted drool, but hey, that's life).  And then, it gets better.  We actually got a family shot of the 4 of us all looking.....that's called a BONUS!  So we have 2 pictures for our Xmas card. 

Now What?????

Shutterfly makes that simple!  I'm not sure what people did before Shutterfly, but we love going there for our Xmas cards!!!!  And this year is no exception.  This year Shutterfly is giving bloggers 50 free Xmas cards!  That's right, my first 50 Xmas cards will be free thanks to Shutterfly!!!  One more reason to love Shutterfly.

Okay, back to Shutterfly.  Every year the selection gets better and better.  Not to mention they are so afforable.  Last year I went to a photo studio and paid too much for pictures I didn't love and ended up with "okay" Xmas cards.  But this year I decided to save some time, money, and frustration, and do it myself!!!So, I have spent hours, and hours, and hours checking out Shutterfly (not that you need to, that's just my way.  I like to shop around...ALOT)  and I have narrowed it down to 3 cards:

I love all 3 and may use any of them.  The 2nd one is the "traditional" picture card and is much more affordable (we're talking like 32 cents per card), but even the 1st and 3rd cards are still affordable at a little over $1 per card!  We aren't one of those "write a letter about all that's happening" family...but we think our Xmas card is important.  It lets those who are special to us know we are thinking of them at this time of year!  It lets them know we care about them.  And of course, it's a chance to show off our adorable kids!  :)

Which ones did we choose????  You'll have to wait a few weeks to find out!!!!!!!

And in addition to our Xmas cards, Shutterfly makes shopping for gifts so easy!  Here are some of our favorite links:

Want to make your own Xmas card???  Go here

Did I mention we use Shutterfly for the traditional calendar??? The girls give their grandparents, aunts and uncles, and great-grandparents a calendar of pictures from that year!  It's a great gift that keeps on giving all year.  More information on calendars is here

Have someone who's hard to shop for????  Go here for personalized gifts that anyone is sure to love!

Are you a blogger????  Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly: http://bit.ly/sfly2010

God Bless Lucy

Last Sunday, Rob and I had the HUGE honor of becoming Godparents to our niece Lucy.  We know Lucy is surrounded by people who love and watch out for her...and we were so honored to be chosen as her Godparents.  Lucy looked beautiful...and was the best, most well-behaved baby at the HUGE baptism.  I wish someone would have got a picture of the chaos that happened on the alter..there were 11 babies and like 60 people on the alter because a couple babies had like 20 Godparents.  Plus, it was during a Bears game...more to come on that later! ;) 

Our BEAUTIFUL Goddaughter, Lucy Alexandra!  She looked like a little angel, and acted like one too!

Love Love LOVE

So proud and honored

Aunt Katie and Abigail

(Here's where the football comes in...check out the 2 grandpas in the background.  Yep, that's the grandpas checking the football scores during the baptism.  Ha Ha..busted on film.  But what you can't see are the Dad and Godfather, who were checking scores WHILE ON the alter....NO, you say, that would never happen...would it???  Well, if you can use the "camera phone" as a cover, then I guess it just might have.  ;)  Lucy, if you are ever reading this, you should know NONE of this happened during YOUR baptism...it happened during one of the 10 other ones...some which really were crazy HUGE.  You were born into BEARS families...it's a blessing, I promise).

The cousins at the party after

Lucy,

We LOVE you so much!  We promise to be there for you whenever you need us.  We will spend lots of time together and can't wait to watch you grow up!  God Bless you on your baptism.  We love you!

Love, Aunt Beth and Uncle Rob

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

I also wanted to post the last pictures from Caitlin's 1st bday.

The morning of her B-day...having a birthday breakfast together. (Check out Elmo's eyes...they make me laugh)

The Birthday girl getting ready to have some cake.  We were going to go out to celebrate her birthday, but I wasn't feeling well so we decided to stay in, order pizza, and just enjoy "family time".

Opening 1 of her birthday presents; a twilight ladybug for her room.

Her big birthday present:  her new chair!  It is really cute.  She loves it!!!  Don't believe me????

This is where you will now find her anytime of the day....so cute!

Our "best" attempt at a family picture!

The girls playing in Caitlin's birthday present...it was so cute how they drove it together.

Happy Birthday Caitlin Bug!  I think you had a wonderful birthday!  We love you!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Caitlin had a GREAT 1st Birthday!!!  She was surrounded by family and friends...and felt so loved!  It was very funny because she knew the party was for her.  She loved being the center of attention...and made everyone around her laugh!  A lot of kids feel overwhelmed with all the attention, but not Caitlin...she thrived!!!!

Here are a few pictures from her 1st birthday party:

Happy Birthday, Caitlin!

Under the rainbow

Concentrating very hard at opening her presents

Riding in her new car

Opening Tickle Me Elmo is HARD work...but worth the reaction Caitlin has when she sees it

The rainbow cake (seperate post to come on how to make it)

Luke, Caitlin, and Rosie (they are all the same age and will all start kindergarten together...so neat since their mommies have been friends for over half their lives)

Caitlin and Grandma

Blowing out the candles

A picture with Uncle Joe...I couldn't find many of Abigail but had to show her new dress from Auntie MoMo and Uncle B from Madrid....she put it on and never wants to take it off

Caitlin had a great 1st birthday!!!!!!!  Thank you to all who were part of her special day!