Award...

I got this award from Abbey at, "Abigail Charlotte's Web"!!!!!!


I would like to pass this award to....

1. Rebecca at "My Adventures Through Tomorrow"

2. Maritza at " One Day at a Time"

3. Mrs. R. at "Just a Thought"

The Rules for this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate Blogs that you think are super.
3. Let them know that you have given them this Uber Amazing Blog Award by commenting on their blog.
4. Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

Christmas Pics...

Here are some pictures of my Christmas...




Mia and Riley wishing Mr. Higgins and their other dog friends a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve pics...Leanne!!! Our princess...Cinderella, as she would say!


The twins, Leanne and Jeremy!
Our newest addition...Krista! She looks so funny in this pic, but she is so cute I had to post it.
And oh yes...this is Christmas morning, as you can already tell!!!! LOL!!!!
Groggy...but very happy to have received the Tales From Avonlea Trivia Game!


There is a story behind the next picture...This year my grandfather decided to give us all a few gifts from years past!!!! He wanted us to all enjoy some of the treasures that he has collected over the years. So, as you can see Steve go his pilot glasses and I got one of my paps hunting shirts. He thought I would enjoy it...hehehe!!!
Shawn...feeling very accomplished after putting together his new puzzle all by himself!
More puzzles...
Alex was a bit tired out...

The fun part of dessert...The CHOCOLATE FOUNTAIN!!!


We ran out of fruit and pretzels so we tried to come up with some alternatives...so we grabbed the lettuce...I did not try it!!!!!!

The end for now...

My brothers are on their Christmas break so I will have more pics to post of our adventures!!!! Stay tuned...

Wishing you...

...a Merry Christmas!!! Hope you all have a wonderful day with your family and friends!!!! May this Christmas be one that you will never forget!!

Ornaments...

You Are a Snowflake

You live for the winter - blizzards, cold nights, snowball fights! The holidays are just a bonus!

What Christmas Ornament Are You?

What Does Wrapping Paper Say About You?

You Are Considerate and Mature

You approach the holidays with responsibility and cooperation. You'll do your part to make sure that everyone else has a happy holiday. You aren't particularly picky or high maintenance during the holidays. You're happy to be in the company of people you love, and you're willing to "go with the flow." Of all the types, you are the most likely to give someone exactly what they want. You're also the most likely to wrap all your presents well - to prevent peeking!

The Wrapping Paper Test

THE MAIN EVENT...

So, last night our family finally got the chance to go out and get our tree. From previous experience this event always seems to to be the hardest decision of the year!!! As in years past, it is a known fact, we can never just go to one place and find the perfect tree; but it takes several stops to do the job. Which, I must include, is just fine with me, it's kinda fun to go on the search for a tree that fits our criteria. So speaking of criteria let me tell you ours. It must be very tall, not as tall as the Rockefeller Center tree, but close, very close!!!!! It also must be very full and wide. Wide enough that it becomes very difficult to pull through the netting machine. I'm sure you all know what that is!!! Well, this year it was very hard to find a tree in that range. The trees were either very tall and skinny or short and chubby. Which I find so adorable!!! But not for our house, maybe one day when I have an apartment with my best friend!!! hehehehe!! :) That's just our imagination going...I don't think we'll ever really want to leave home. Well back to the story, to say the least we were on the hunt. We went to several different places and were sorely disappointed; but, we were determined to find our tree. We finally stopped at this little nursery, and my brothers and I went running to the back of the lot thrilled with the fact that there were quite a lot of BIG trees!!! Actually way to wide for us that they actually looked oval, and not a Christmas tree shape at all. Well my brother Josh and I went over to a bunch a trees laying on the ground, we were still hopeful. :) Josh went to go pick up a few trees to look at and so did I...well, it just so happened that the tree I was about to pick up was supposed to be the bed of a tired little bird. Let's just say I almost had a heart attack when the bird, very annoyed, came flying out of the tree. Poor thing you might say...I say, my poor heart!!!! Well my tree wasn't the pick but, Josh was the finder of our very large, very wide, very perfect to us, Christmas tree!!!! We were all very thankful to have found our tree!!!

~Pictures during the search...



Too Small!
Still too short...getting there though!
Too BIG!
Our tree...




Just right!

Thanks for reading!!!!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

...snow beautiful snow...


Barely able to see the snow...I went out two o'clock in the morning to get pics in case it was gone by morning!!!!
Still there in the morning...



I loved this picture of my doggies little feet...


So, as you can see, Long Island got it's first covering of snow. This beautiful event happened Saturday night and was sadly gone by Sunday afternoon. When I say gone, I mean gone. By after church there was no sign that it had even taken place. It was fun while it lasted and I can't wait for the BIG snowstorm. I'm really hoping we will get one. Because our snow here on Long Island doesn't stick around for very long, I just had to take some pictures, even if it meant going out at two o'clock in the morning to do it. Desperate times call for desperate measures as they say...

My House at Christmas Time...

Except for the wreath on the front door, My mom and I finished decorating the outside of the house today. Of course we pick the most bitter day of the Winter so far to do it. But, I think it turned out just like we wanted it to. The house looks so warm and inviting this time of year...I absolutely love it. Here are some of the better pics of our house.





"O there's no place like home for the holidays..."

Ode to an Artichoke ( Fire roasted, that is)

It all started when Macy's sent me my bill in the mail. I simply went to pay my bill. But, my stomach was telling me not only to just pay my bill but to eat something as well. It was then, after waiting in two lines at Macy's, when my bill was finally paid, that I started my journey to the Cheesecake Factory. While my mom patiently waited for the hand held buzzer to go off, telling us that it was time to sit down and eat, my best friend and I went and bought some Christmas movies at Barnes and Noble. As we walked back to the Cheesecake Factory, in the bitter cold, our stomachs were a constant reminder that we hadn't eaten all day. It was a happy day when they called, "Cheryl, party of three!!!" We eagerly took our seats and hurried through the menu to find our choice of food. It wasn't long till the waiter came up to us and asked us what we wanted to drink and if we wanted an appetizer. It's always been a favorite of mine, chips and a spinach artichoke dip. In the rush of things (not to mention my stomach was screaming out, "Feed me!") I blurted out "We'll have the artichoke dip!!!!" The waiter nodded his head in agreement and walked away. As we sat and chatted about our purchases of the day, and enjoyed the brown bread, a woman from the kitchen came out with a tray. It had the most unusual green mounds on it. She came to the table and mentioned, "Did you order fire roasted artichokes?" FIRE ROASTED ARTICHOKES? WHAT? All I can think of is a fire breathing dragon in the kitchen who gets paid $10.00 an hour to use his fiery breath to roast artichokes. My mom looks up at the tray very bewildered, and asks a most perplexing question. "Is that what you ordered?" At this time, I'm staring at the green mounds on the tray. They looked as though they had just been picked from Mr. Mcgregor's garden, except they were a sickly green color that one would not expect from fresh produce. I looked over at Abbey, and her jaw was abnormally dropped to a very low position, as she replied, "Oh, Ok." My very hungry stomach was screaming out for something, anything. But, my taste buds were not allowing me to put that sickly green thing in my mouth. Don't get me wrong here, if any of you like fire roasted artichokes, I'm all for it. I don't mind them myself. It's just at this particular time, I needed spinach dip. The waiter felt very bad about the mistake (no, we did not get percentage off or anything free, believe me) and the situation was rectified in a few minutes, and we were happily enjoying our spinach dip. The night ended well, I found some good buys in the mall, and as we walked out of Macy's , with a Starbucks in hand, the very first snow of the season began to fall.

Tis the season...

Today was the start of my very favorite part of the Christmas season...Christmas decorating!!! I absolutely love going through all the decorations; from the ones when I was little, to the newer additions to our collection. I can't wait to share with you some of my favorite ornaments once we get our tree up! This is no doubt my favorite time of the year. I am more than ready to let the season begin!!!!

Here are some pics of the decorating that I did today!! The pics are not great but they'll give you an idea.




These are some of my mom's favorite decorations!! I think they're so scary but...o well!!!

Not a decoration, but she was in the path of my picture taking so I thought I'd take a picture of her too!

That's all for now, stayed tuned for more!!! :)