Magda turns 8! Let's ice skate!!

Magda wanted to take her friends ice skating for her 8th birthday party this year.  

Our town has a great little outdoor rink--

so we bundled up, laced up our skates and hit the ice!

There is nothing as fun as skating 'round and 'round
with your best buds to fun pop music
outside on a cold winter's day

...


with your Dad!! 

We put out a little spread...

warm chicken noodle soup and butternut squash soup for lunch.

(Greg's idea...SUCH a good idea!)

And hot cocoa for the Zamboni break.  

The outdoor outlets came in very handy, as did the crock pots!

For party favors, each girl got a little gift bag with a mug, 

filled with a serving of hot cocoa mix

and a home-made marshmallow--with how-to instructions.

(That now that I read them, the instructions aren't really that great..

but the card is cute!)

For each girl, I also made for their gift bag: a little hand-embroidered felt mitten--

because I am insane.

Luca was a total pro; 

he has never ice skated before but after a few tries, 

you would never know it!  

He was so good and now he is obsessed with wanting to play hockey.

(great..)

Hot Cocoa/Warming Station--those tissues came in handy, so did my coffee!

Home-made marshmallows; So so good and easy. Recipe here.

Paper bags filled with popcorn...for a quick snack!

Coconut cupcakes, that I think, were my best yet!

Recipe from Ina...Kind of hard to go wrong with Ina.

Happy Birthday My Precious Girl!!
We love you and are so proud of you...can't believe you are 8 years old!!

To see what we did when Magda turned 7...click here!
And when she turned 6...here!

Greg's Big Day!

Greg ran the Baltimore Marathon this weekend!! 

He did an amazing, amazing job...

the kids and I cheered him on at mile 15 

on the corner of S. Linwood and O'Donnell

Streets in the Canton neighborhood of downtown 

Baltimore with--our home-made signs...

We waited and watched for him--very patiently...

Magda was a little nervous for him...

But then!! Out of the blue--we saw him running towards us!!

(that is him below with his hand waving hi to us)

Here he comes!! Doesn't he look good!!

 Really good!!

and there he goes...the kids tried to keep up with him for half a block or so...

but then we just had to bid him farewell and wish him good luck!

We cheered other runners on too, 

but we are so proud of our Dad and Husband--

he did a totally kick-ass job!  

Go Daddy Go!!

We love you!!

Magda & my iPhone

My birthday was a couple weeks ago and all I wanted to do was take the day off work, 

hang out with my family and make a special meal...home-made pasta.  

That is exactly what we did and I asked Magda to document the meal-making part of the day, 

which she happily obliged--using the camera on my iphone.  

She took a LOT of photos, and I thought it would be fun to share the best ones 

(they were all good!) but here are the best.  Tweaking courtesy of me and Instagram...

Making the pasta dough

Luca & the pasta maker

Putting the dough thru

Still life with Luca

 : )

Fresh pasta drying

Thru a wine glass.

Still Life with Cat

With Lemon

With me!

Awesome job, Magda!!  I love your photos!!

Thanks for taking such fun shots of my special day!!

Luca turns Five Years Old!

Luca just turned FIVE YEARS OLD and we had a 3 day extravaganza to celebrate!

 First, there were presents, cards, books and fun toys...

(ok, fun for him--slightly problematic for me and Greg; see below on left.)

Magda is reading a card to Luca on right...

Besides an awesome star wars watch, a lego set, an indoor basketball hoop, Luca got some beautiful books, a fun puzzle and an outdoor basket ball and a lovely water color painting--to just name a few...

And there was swimming...

And there was a home-made chocolate cake, which was pretty awesome if I do say so myself!

And that was just Saturday and Sunday!! 

On Monday, we invited the neighborhood kids to celebrate with us at the park with ice cream.

We scooped up 5 different flavors; cones or cups, 

and then the kids played 

while the adults sipped a lemon drop punch I made

 (for the grown ups only!)  

It was hot and buggy but we had a great time.

I have to say, the whole park party is such good idea!!  

I highly recommend utilizing your neighborhood park the next time you have a party to celebrate...

And, as an extra bonus, all the melted ice cream stays at the park--not on your floors!

The party set up.

Scoop fast! We recommend, 2--better yet: 3 adult scoopers...ice cream melts fast!

A happy bunch!  And Luca had a great time...

Happy Birthday Luca!!

cannot believe our little baby is 5.