Christmas Thoughts

This Christmas is going to be tough. It will be my very first without my family. I will miss the big family gatherings, the homemade chili on Christmas eve, The big family gift exchange that is always good for a laugh. I will miss watching my family open presents, and GULP, I will even miss the SNOW! (BUT ONLY ON CHRISTMAS)
It snowed here the other night (in Louisiana? yep) But of course it did not stick. Joe and I just sat on the front porch and watched it fall. I giggled a little :) I always took for granted having snow for the Holidays. I never thought how cheerful a fresh blanket of snow could be.
I never took my family for granted (and i hope that they know that). At times I miss them so much that my heart physically aches. I miss my Mom, her home cooked meals, her Christmas platters of goodies she always gave away, especially her Jalapeno cheese logs YUM! I miss my dad, he is always so caring and loving and can always bring a smile to your face. I miss my sister who is my Hero in every way. My Nieces and Nephew and the excitement they exude during the Holidays, they always make me laugh. I even miss the quiet nature of my brother in law. I will miss everything I have come to know over the last 25 years.
But gladly this Christmas won't be all about missing things and sadness. It would be far worse if we had moved somewhere where we knew no one. I am so thankful that Joe's family is here and that they are so welcoming and loving. I am excited to see what traditions they have and how much fun we will have.
I am also excited to begin some new traditions ourselves. Maybe making homemade cookies for Santa, or making some Christmas crafts as a family, or I might deviate from the opening all the presents on Christmas Eve (besides the ones Santa brings that night) and just wait til morning. But I have a feeling I won't have the patience for that one :) I am interested to know what fun Christmas traditions all you out there in Blog Land and your families share?
On an end note. I am so blessed to have my Husband and 3 little ones with me. To be surrounded by Love. And to know that I have already received the best gift of all.
Much Love to you all. Or should I say Y'all ( hey I'm southern now. lol.) And
MERRY CHRISTMAS.

Thanksgiving ( a little late, sorry)

Thanksgiving was fun. Not the same but fun. All of Joey's family here in Louisiana went to their other sides of family for the holiday so we just had a quiet holiday with ourselves. It was just Joe, the Kids, Myself, and Joey's Dad Vincent. I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner all by myself, I was a little scared. But it turned out great. I cooked a turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, candied yams, and cornbread dressing. We also had store bought rolls, pumpkin pie, and pecan pie.

I had never cooked a turkey before, but a after some google-ing I had a pretty good idea of what to do (thank you google). It turned out great. And the cornbread dressing was just like my moms, so it made me feel good. But I did miss what I am use to. I have a huge family on my mom's side and usually after we eat everyone talks and laughs and jokes. But since it was just us it was so quiet it didn't feel natural. I am thankful that I have a big family. I miss them so much.

But being out here, so far away, is going to give us the opportunity to start new family traditions, and to become part of different ones with Joe's family. I am thankful that we do have family here. It would be so much harder if we didn't.

Simple Joys

Need I say more?

Admiration and some help

Ok, so I happen to follow two amazing photography blogs. Simmons Moments and Tiffany Morton Photography. And Everyday that they have a new post is like christmas to me. Kristi at Moments does the most beautiful family portraits I have ever seen. She is so creative and I Love Love Love the way she positions her subjects. And Tiffany, Oh Tiffany The way she photographs babies makes me want to have another just to get pictures taken by her. So all this Photography looking, and staring and obsessing over wants me to learn how to take better photos not for a professional reason just so I can take great photos of my little ones that I will cherish and look at and be proud of. So any suggestions? What cameras are best to learn with? Is photoshop elements enough to start out with? How do use natural light to my advantage? Help me I am dying to learn!! And I need a new creative outlet, Painting and drawing is hard for me to do right now because of the little ones, I can't leave anything out or it will just get ruined. I thought photography would be nice to just turn on the computer and do my thing. So please anyone with any advice I would love to hear it.

Happy Birthday Hayes

My sweet little baby turned one on Sunday. I can't believe a year has gone by so fast. I feel so blessed to have Hayes in my life. When I was pregnant with him, I was so worried that I wouldn't Love him, and that is hard for me to admit. The only reason why is because he came as a big surprise, at a time in my life when things were not doing well. Joe was having trouble sorting out his life, and the kids and I were left on the back burner. I spent the most of my pregnancy alone, without Joe. I left him when I was three months pregnant and feared how things would turn out. Joe came around, and did all that I asked to let him come back into our lives. And on November 8, 2008 Hayes was born, and all the worry and fear that I had been feeling washed away. When I heard him cry my heart swelled and I knew I would always Love him unconditionally. The past year he has brought so many smiles, laughs, and moments of Love. I am so blessed to have my family, and I thank the Lord that he gave us Hayes and that he gave Joe and I a second chance. I look forward to watching all my children grow, learn, and explore. So Happy Birthday baby Hayes, I will love you forever, look out for you for always, always and ever my baby you'll be.

November 8, 2009

November 8,2008

I love you Hayes Joseph Greco.

Love,

Mommy

Halloween 2009

So I am a little sad that the holiday is over. But the kids sure had fun. I had to work that night but fortunately it wasn't until 8 so I had time to spend with my kids. Ty wanted to be scary so he was a skeleton. Irie was a fairy princess but when I took pictures of them I forgot to put her wings on. I was so frazzled. I needed to get pics done, she was headed for a melt down and I knew she was going to have to nap before we went trick or treating. So in the pics just pretend she has wings. They both were a little ornery when it was time to go, but after we hit that first house and they realized what it was all about, they were all about the CANDY! And they said thank you without being told :)

It was also way nice to have a WARM Halloween. The kids got to go out just like this. No huge coats covering up there costumes. It was so fun. But we've already had to hide the candy.

Irie with her "happy face" pumpkin.

Ty with his "scary zombie face" pumpkin. I forgot, I have to right this down. At about the 3rd house we went to, This cute little old lady oohed and awed over the kids, and she was so sweet, as we were walking down the drive way Ty yells back over his shoulder "Happy Halloween, thanks for the candy, see you next week!" All of us were laughing. He says the funniest things lately. And some really bizzare things too.

How cute our these!!!!!!!!

I found these cute little clothespin dolls on my favorite site Etsy. If you have never been to Etsy I totally suggest you visit. You can find just about anything that you are looking for and everything is handmade. These cute little dolls are from Lollipopworkshop and they are uber cute. I spent hours looking at her dolls. A lot of them are for cake toppers which I think is so awesome, how cute would it be to have one on your little girls birthday cake and then have it as a keepsake. I so totally want one for Irelyns birthday.

Look at her cute little balloon!!!!!

I love this ones cute little buns.

I believe she even hand sculpts all the little props for her dolls.

So cute my teeth hurt.

Loooooooooooooooooooove!

Their little earmuffs are so stinkin cute.

Little gingerbread men oh my gosh!!

I want one so bad!

This one is the best. Do you see the little mice? I love her attention to detail. So if you think these are as cute as I do stop on by to Etsy and check out Lollipop workshop.

Beach Babies

We went to the beach the last two Saturdays and we all really enjoyed it. I had only seen the ocean twice in my life and that was on the west coast and the water was really cold there. But here the water is warm. Irelyn was so fearless the first time we went but the second time she was more timid. Ty is my little water baby. He just walks out into the water like its no big deal, he just loves to sit in it all the way past his shoulders.

Hayes just sat on the beach with Paw Paw and watched everyone. He really loved the breeze blowing his hair.

We caught some Hermit Crabs and decided to take these four home. We kept them in a plastic storage tub in the kitchen for a week. But I didn't want them to die so we brought them back.

Poor Hayes was so tired when we got back. He didn't even make it through dinner. Poor guy.

Ok i tried and tried to make this picture turn the right way but it refused. Irelyn tried to catch things in the water. but all she got was sand.

The second trip Hayes just layed around and watched everything through the openings of his little pen.

Ty was Daddy's shadow on the second trip. Here my men are being Manley and hunting blue crabs.

It was time to say good-bye to our four little friends and release them back into the wild where they belong. Ty grabbed the first one and hucked it into the ocean with all his might while yelling "good-bye crabs!!!!!!!!!!!!" so we explained about being gentle and released the other three in a not so cruel of manner.

And they scurried off. every now and then while we were there we would come across one of them still trudgeing along in the water hundreds of feet away from the freedom zone.

then we filled up the tub with more animals. up above you will see two blue crabs. By the time we got home we had caught three red jelly fish (they don't sting), two clear shrimp, and ten blue crabs. We let the jelly fish and shrimp go. It was really fun and I hope we can go at least one more time before it gets to cold. I am so glad that so much interesting and fun stuff is so near.

Perfect ending to a perfect day.

Swamp Things

A few weeks ago the weather was nice and we were bored and the kids were climbing up the walls bursting with energy. Someone Joe knows from work told him there was a nature preserve not far from our house. They weren't kidding! It took us about ten minutes to drive to this place. If I remember right it is the Big Branch Marsh. It was so beautiful. I don't know how deep the swamp was but the board walk went right out to the middle and then cut to the right and curved back. We saw some egrets which are birds with really long legs like a crane, a turtle sunbathing on a log, and some minnows. We didn't see any alligators but we did hear some baby ones chirping in the tall swamp grass. The kids had a blast. Ty would get a little to close to the edge sometimes and my heart would jump in my throat. I was being paranoid of course. All I could think of though was him looking over the edge and falling in or a giant hungry alligator leaping out of the water and biting him in two. But thank goodness Ty is still in one piece.

Ty being a little adventuring explorer. I especially Love the monkey backpack he insisted on wearing.

Lily pads are so pretty. Honestly I had never seen these in real life. Well there's one more thing to cross off on my bucket list. Yayyyyy.