Gingerbread Houses-2015

 Kimberly got to work recently on our traditional gingerbread house from a box.

 great progress

 The next morning....still in her pajamas.  ...working hard...

 Finished!!!  And actually standing tall and straight!

 We then headed down the road to our local casino to see their beautiful gingerbread display. (we didn't let the kids gamble)

 Of course, everything is exciting, including parking at the top of the parking garage.  Luke wouldn't go near the edge.  

 Santa was there to greet us at the entrance to the Gingerbread Village.

 This village was amazing!  This year they added a train.  Luke loved it. 

 Santa's workshop

 SO MUCH CANDY!

 sweet, sweet kids

 That's a lot of candy canes.

 Kim-9, Luke-10 and Daddy-?

 Mom, Kim and Luke

 One BIG tree

Merry Christmas!

I'm getting up there....

 My family prepared a wonderful celebration for my birthday....

complete with enough candle to warn the family!

Our Portrait

Pat and I at our nephew's wedding.

28 years of married bliss this July.



They almost lit the house on fire

lighting my birthday candles.

Yes, I take you again....

to be my husband, the father of my children, and my love, for the rest of my life.

Pat and I had the pleasure of renewing our wedding vows yesterday on the occasion of World Marriage Day. We will be married 25 years in July and were invited by the Bishop of Syracuse to share in a Mass at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and renew our vows during the Mass.

We were greatly honored and have been greatly blessed.

Is a power outage a problem?

Not when the kids set me up so I can still knit!!

Multi-tasking

Showered with love on my birthday!!

I was filled with JOY and showered with love today on my 44th birthday.

How can I possibly be 44?

I don't think I feel any older that 22--although now I have kids that age!
Everyone was home except Matthew, who is traveling home in a blizzard from Buffalo--he is almost home now though!
A birthday dinner of Pizza Pub pizza with everything!!

My very beautiful cake made by my very own baker-Becky, delivered by Luke.

The traditional candleglow photo.

The cake even came with jewelry

smooches of thanks

Beautiful, heartfelt cards!

A new Christmas tree from big kids, Pat and Becky

Thanks for the help, Amy.

Thank-you everyone for the "Happy Birthday" wishes and love---and of course, the chocolate!

Happy Birthday To Me!!

I had a wonderful birthday today, with a grand finale at the local Pizza Pub. Mark was especially nice today, offering to give up all school work for the day so that I could just sit back with my feet up and relax. After basketball practice, we headed off for pizza. We were all excited, these girls more so than some of the other kids.

Family and friends, and all 10 kids. What more could a mother ask for.

There was even entertainment for the littles. (They didn't even need quarters, they had plenty of fun "playing" the demo.)

Becky made my delicious cake. I opted for wonderful taste over wonderful presentation. It is a cream cheese, pudding, whipped cream, shortbread type of cake-the official name, on the very old recipe card is "gooey stuff."

That candlelight seems to be glowing sort of like a small campfire.

Did you put on enough candles, Becky?

I was blessed to have good friends help us celebrate.

Thanks for the wrapping job, Amy. This gift looked a little tricky to wrap!

Becky gave me a---physics review book?

No, but it was a very tricky disguise-to hide the movie

Get Smart. Very spy like, Becky!

December 2008 family portrait

Party's over, time to go home!

Thank-you everyone, for a wonderful birthday!!