Family Trip to Michigan

In May, we ventured to Michigan for a 10 day trip.  Jeff & I hadn't been up north for that long since our trip after he got back from Afghanistan so we had many reasons to come visit, the biggest being my mom, Sue, was getting married!  We managed to roll  A LOT into that 10 days...many of which are shown below.  Of course, with our luck, all three of us managed to pick up some sort of bug and were all sick...thank God it wasn't all at the same time!  Here are some pics from our visit. 

Cash got to celebrate his 2nd birthday twice while we were in Michigan.  His cousin, Jacob, shared his birthday party with him and Aunt Jenny even got Cash his own Thomas cake!

Here we are celebrating Jeff & Cash's birthdays with the Ouellette's.  Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray opened up their home to the family to come visit with us and we had a fantastic time.

We were very lucky that we got to meet our newest nephew, Elijah, while we were in town.  Here are the brothers, Jeff & Dave, with their boys, Cash and Elijah.

Cash was able to enjoy the cooler Michigan weather and play outside a lot during our visit.  Here is Papa Gordie (my dad) and Cash playing at a park.  I was so thankful that Cash got to spend some time with his grandparents...Gabby (Barb) and Papa (my dad) were such wonderful hosts to us and let us take over their house while we were staying with them.  As crazy as it all was, I'm sure that they missed us after we left!

I got to have a Girl's Night out with my college roommates while in town!  Jessie, who lives in Maryland, was in town to see her newborn niece, and Monica and Hayley still live in Michigan so we had a college roommate reunion.  It's been 10 years since we all lived together, but that night, it felt like we were back in college!  We even closed down the bar...that's say a lot since 3 of us are now moms!  I am so blessed to have these beautiful ladies as some of my dearest and best friends!

Since we were in Michigan for Jeff's birthday and I knew that we wouldn't have a problem finding a babysitter, I surprised Jeff with Tiger's tickets.  We hadn't had a date night in over a year and we had a great time even though it rained some and the Tigers lost.  Nothing beats spending time with the man you love!!!

Here I am with my Tiger, Alex Avila!  I was so excited to meet him before the game and as much as I wanted to, I resisted from giving him a smooch on the cheek or a pinch on his butt!!!

Our newest family photo, courtesy of my cousin Christine at Mom & Rich's wedding.

What a blessing that I was able to share in Mom's big day and that she had all her kids and grandsons with her.  Here is our newest family photo. 

I am so very happy for my Mom and Rich.  They are just too cute together and he is such a wonderful man to her.  I am so glad that she found someone to spend her life with and that he treats her like a queen! 

Well, there was our trip in a nutshell.  We had a great time are so thankful we got to see so many friends and family members.  We aren't sure when we will make another long trip up to see everyone, but we will definitely make sure to let everyone know.  I want to thank everyone that helped to make our trip such a great time...Dad & Barb for letting us stay with you; The Turland Family, especially Jacob, for opening your home up to help celebrate Cash's birthday; Aunt Rene and Uncle Gray for having another birthday celebration for Cash and everyone that helped keep Cash busy so that Jeff & I could visit with all of you.  Thank you again!!!

Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans...

I'm sure that many of you can relate to the great John Lennon's above quote.  As a SAHM (stay at home mom) to a 2 1/2 year old, that quote couldn't be more of my every day life.  I had very high hopes for this blog when I began it quite a few years ago.  At that time, I was thrust back into being an Army wife, keeping my family and friends updated on my husband's deployment and our ventures to buy a house.  I had all the time in the world to sleep in, go shopping, go to the beach, hang out with friends and spend hours updating everyone via email or the blog.  Well, times they have changed.  My days are now filled with cartoons, snack time, going to the park, watching the same movies over and over, playing cars, trains and planes...all while taking care of the home and keeping up with the laundry, grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning.  Oh and let us not forget that independent, full of energy and spirit little boy!  Normally, I would apologize for not keeping up with the blog and for not posting in such a long time.  Am I sorry?  Yes, I am.  I know that this is a way for many of you to see what is going on with our family and to see new pictures of Cash.  But I will not apologize for NOT taking time out of my busy day to do a weekly blog post because I feel obligated.  Time with my baby boy (I know, he is almost 3 and most definitely NOT a baby anymore) and family time with my husband and son are far more important...especially now more than ever.  We will never get back these days and moments.  And while I would like to choose to forget certain times and moments (can we say terrible twos??), I am trying to soak in every single moment and lock it away in my memory.  So I will say this...I will do my best to update more often.  Will it happen as often as I would like?  Probably not.  Will it happen as often as some of you would like?  I don't know.  All I can say is that I will do my best to make monthly posts.  With that being said, I will try to get caught up on our year so far.  With Thanksgiving coming up the end of this week, I know that I have so very much to be thankful for...including those of you that are still following along on our blog!  So thank you...and I wish many blessings to you and your families during this holiday season!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Cash Albert!

I cannot believe that Cash is 2 years old already!  We knew that we would be having a couple birthday celebrations when we went up to Michigan the end of May, so we decided to have a quiet day on Cash's birthday.  It also happened to be Mother's Day, so we had twice the celebrating to do!  The day was really all about Cash and we had fun playing with his new gifts!  It was nice to have a day to spend together as a family and I hope that we are always able to celebrate Cash's birthday this way!

Checking out his new Cozy Truck from Mommy & Daddy

Giving his Elmo balloons kisses

Happy birthday to you...Even though the cupcakes had Elmo on them, he wanted nothing to do with it!

The Porcaro Family

Easter 2013

Easter was always a favorite holiday for me.  I have very fond childhood memories of dyeing eggs, searching for them Easter morning and going to Grandma and Grandpa Bardeleben's for a big family dinner.  Some years I really lucked out and my birthday was on Easter so I got double the goodies!  Jeff and I decided that we didn't want our house covered in egg dye, so we opted out for a better idea.  Cash LOVES stickers and we chose to have him decorate plastic eggs.  Not as exciting as dyeing them, but we will definitely do that next year!  We just weren't really up for the challenge this year, and honestly, I don't think it would have impressed Cash too much!  So on Saturday morning, we decorated our eggs...and yeah, Cash could have really cared less after doing the first two or three. 

Excited to use some stickers

The finished eggs

 Cash gave us a treat on Easter morning by sleeping in til 9 am!  Once we went in to get him, we were greeted with smiles and kisses as you can see below!

And then he was off!  He found a few of the eggs, but he was more intrigued with his Easter goodies.  Not only did he have his basket from us, but Grandma Sue & Papa Rich and Papa & Gabby sent boxes too!  We let him have some M&Ms (his favorite) for breakfast, which is only fair...Easter is the one morning you can eat candy for breakfast!  Other than our morning festivities, we spent a nice quiet day at home.  I'm sure next year will be more exciting...guess we will see!

What Ma...no candy????

Digging into the goodies from Mommy & Daddy

Cool stuff from Grandma Sue & Papa Rich

Papa and Gabby sent a box too...he really liked the Hot Wheels inside!!!

2013...Our Year So Far

I can't believe that tomorrow is the last day of March!  I honestly don't know where some of the days go even when at the time, they feel like they last forever!  We have had a great beginning to 2013, and have even had a few visitiors too! 

In January, Jeff's mom, Michelle, came to stay with us for a couple weeks.  Cash loved having another person to play with and wear out!  While Grandma Michelle was here, we had a belated Christmas with her.  Cash loved helping unwrap the gifts, even if they weren't for him!  We had a lot of fun playing and showing Grandma Michelle all the new things he can do and how much he has grown.  I'm sure that Grandma was welcoming a few days in Fort Myers Beach with some of her other friends to recoup after all the fun here! 

Cash opening his workbench from Grandma

Three Generations

At the end of January, Cash came down with his first cold.  I know, he's almost 2 and hasn't had a cold yet???  Well, that is one of the advantages of me staying home with him.  We know that once he starts preschool or day care, he will be sick pretty much the first year!  Poor baby did a great job of dealing with it all...he was a hot little mess!  It was so sad for Jeff and I to watch him lay around and not play...he is seriously on the go from the moment he wakes up so we really knew he wasn't feeling good at all.   But after about a week and a half, he was really bad to his normal self. 

Still all smiles after waking up covered in snot!

At the end of February, we went to see the Tigers play the Tampa Bay Rays here in Port Charlotte.  We always look at the Spring Training schedule to see if the Tigers come to town so we can go to the game.  Charlotte Sports Park is about 20 minutes from us and is a great place to spend the day...there is a little playground and we purchased general admission tickets, so we brought a blanket and found a piece of nice grass to sit on for the afternoon!  We weren't too sure how long we would be able to stay...the game was right during Cash's normal nap time, but he made it to the 7th inning before having a mini meltdown!  We had a great time and I know that this is something that we will try to make a tradition every year for as long as we can!

Our little Tiger's fan...all decked out in his Detroit gear!

Grandma Sue (my mom) came to stay with us the first week of March.  I know that I was really looking forward to having some time with my mom and I knew that she couldn't wait to see Cash!  We had a great visit and Cash loved having her here.  Grandma even got to come to swim class with us!  Cash did a great job that day...I think he was showing off for Grandma and knew that she was taking lots of pictures! 

Playing with Grandma

Our little fish at swim class

Three Generations

Cash got his first big boy haircut this month too.  It wasn't originally planned to be so short, but momma messed up a little and we busted out the clippers!  Needless to say, Cash is NOT a big fan of having his hair cut AT ALL!!!!  The end result isn't so bad and he looks more like a little boy now!

Cash before his hair cut...

And after!  Such a big boy now!

So that's what has been going on in the Porcaro house the last few months.  Nothing too exciting but enough excitement for us!  April brings momma's birthday, and May brings Cash's 2nd birthday, daddy's birthday and a big trip for us to the Mitten!  We will be traveling up north for a trip for my mom's wedding and to visit with everyone for almost two weeks.  We hope that we will get to see a lot of family and friends while we are there.  We hope that this post finds you all well and know that we miss everyone and send our love!

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas morning at the Porcaro house!  I was just so excited for Cash to get up and see all the presents under the tree...and wouldn't you know, that little boy slept til 9 am!  In his defense, he played really hard on Christmas Eve at our friend's, the Laurine's, and wouldn't even slow down to eat dinner.  I was awake at 8am, biting at the bit and waiting for Cash to wake up!  It was so nice to get to just enjoy our morning and let Cash take his time opening his gifts.  He did a great job this year and was really into tearing off the paper and even though it took well into the evening to get everything opened, he was loving it!  Here are some pictures of our Christmas morning!

Cash went came out of his room and went right to the big gift in the Sesame Street paper...he wasn't shy about starting to tear the paper off at all!

He just kept grabbing all the Sesame wrapped gifts

"This one next, momma!"

Tearing off the paper like a champ

Checking out his new Ernie learning pad

Too cute!

And of course, he loved playing with all the wrapping paper

Trying to figure out his new Story Reader from Papa Gordie and Gabby

The Story Reader reads the books aloud to him...he thinks it's pretty cool!

Jeff couldn't get this Elmo out of the package quick enough!  Thank you Papa David and Grandma Sandy! You can also see the "hit gift" of the day in the background...his riding pirate ship from Grandma Sue and Rich!

We had a wonderful, lazy day in our pjs and all enjoyed a nap that afternoon.  The rest of the day was spent playing with all the new toys and talking to our family up north.  The only way our day could have been any better was if we could have shared it with our parents and siblings.  The holidays are hard when you can't share them with your loved ones, but Jeff and I are making our own traditions that we hope Cash will always remember and look upon with fond memories as an adult.  We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones and know that we send many wishes for a happy and healthy New Year to you all!

Wrapping Up 2012

Where, oh where, has 2012 gone?  I have been asking myself that question for the past few days!  I'm sure that you are asking where we have been the last few months as well, since I realzied that I have not updated since August! 

First, we would like to wish all of our friends and family a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!  I cannot believe that it's almost the end of December already. A dear friend of mine once said that once you have a little one, the days are long and the years are short.  I couldn't agree more! 

We have continued to be busy and equally blessed as 2012 is drawing to a close.  Cash is 19 months old now...and boy, does he keep me busy!  Each day is a new adventure with him and I honestly believe that I am more exhausted at the end of the day than he is!  He seems to really be picking up on new things lately and it's so exciting when we realize that he is doing something new or something by himself that once required assistance.  Since I haven't updated in awhile, I will post a few pics from the last few months and give any news that has been going on.  So, here we go!


September:
Cash turned 16 months old this month.  He loves to play outside and doesn't sit still for long at all!  Since we haven't had any "professional" or nice pictures taken of Cash (since he will not cooperate for that too much), we decided to take him to Gilchrest Park in downtown Punta Gorda for a little photo shoot.  As you can see, we did get some great shots, mostly of him on the move.  But that is how he is...always going and smiling along the way!  If you would like to see more of Cash's 16 month photos, let me know and I can email you the Snapfish link!

October:
October brought us some beautiful weather, which meant a lot of playing outside and at the park!  Cash loves being able to "explore" things and we have found a really nice park near us (about a 5 minute car ride) that is on the water and has a ton of shade for days when it isn't quite so nice out!  We were able to go to a local church that was having a Fall Festival and Cash picked out a pumpkin for daddy to carve and as you will see, he did an awesome job again!  We also took Cash out trick or treating for the first time this year.  He really wasn't too into it...we took him to downtown Punta Gorda (which is set up a lot like downtown Plymouth) and it was a MADHOUSE!  Next year, we will have to find something more low key or take him to the mall until he is a little bit bigger to tackle the craziness!  While we live in a lovely neighborhood, there aren't many sidewalks so trick or treating is a little different down here.  Overall, we had a great month of October!  Here are some highlights. 

I love this picture of Cash...he is roaming around our yard and I just caught him at the right time!

Cash and Momma at the Fall Festival

He was so excited to pick out his own little pumpkin!

Our handsome little man!

"Exploring" around the house!

Cash is ready to go trick or treating!

You can't see it that great, but Cash was a bag of Cash!  His "bag" says US Federal Reserve and has fake money coming out the top!  We still have his costume and I need to take some better pictures of him in it!

Here is Cash taking a look at his pumpkin...he did NOT want to help daddy clean it out at all...maybe next year he will be more into it!

Jeff did a GREAT job on the Elmo face!

November:
November brought our family many blessings as one chapter closed in our lives and a new one opened.  As you all know, we were brought to Florida with the acceptance of Jeff's job in 2008 at the Wal Mart Distribution Center.  In November, Jeff accepted a new position with PPI Technologies in Sarasota, FL.  Jeff's buddy, Moke, that he met at Wal Mart, has been with PPI for about a year now and his position as the Shipping & Receiving and Inventory Control Manager was going to be opening up since he was being promoted to a Project Manager.  He was asked if there was anyone that he would recommend for the job, and he called Jeff.  Within a week, Jeff submitted his resume, interviewed with the company and accepted the position before leaving the interview!  We feel so blessed that this wonderful opportunity came our way.  Jeff has been so extremely happy with the new job and I couldn't be more proud of him! 

Before Jeff started his new job, we were able to take a little 3 day staycation to Tampa.  Awhile back, I saw a great deal on Living Social for a 2 night stay in Tampa with tickets to the Lowry Park Zoo and the Florida Aquarium.  So we packed up and boy, was it an adventure!  For those of you who have traveled with a little one, you know that it's never really that easy.  Our first night did not consist of a whole lot of sleep for any of us, and it also happened to be the night we turned the clocks back!  Needless to say, we got an early start to our day and had a great time at the zoo (with a little nap for Cash as well!).  Our weather was fantastic and we wrapped up our couple days with a great morning at the Aquarium. 

Cash and daddy trying to relax for bed...Cash was having too much fun sleeping in the big bed to settle down!

Cash and daddy checking out some animals

Cash took his first Merry Go Round ride at the Zoo with momma...best part, it was free!

Cash and daddy checking out the Tampa traffic

Hanging out at the Aquarium

Thanksgiving was a wonderful day for us.  Jeff was off work and had that Friday off as well.  I cooked the full Thanksgiving meal and we hung out at home and just relaxed.  It was a nice day to just be with my boys and while we missed being with our families that day, it was a day to be thankful for all that we have together.  I was able to do some Black Friday shopping since Jeff was home and we put up our Christmas tree that weekend as well. 

December:
I absolutely LOVE the Christmas holiday season!  I am always so excited to set up the tree, wrap the gifts, bake delicious treats, listen to Christmas music and just enjoy the month of December.  This year, I have been especially excited because of Cash.  I couldn't wait to see his little face on Christmas morning and to share in the joy and wonder of a child.  Since we have not traveled to Michigan for a few years now for Christmas, I am always in a rush to get all the boxes out and make sure that all my crafty things (mostly ornaments for the nieces and nephews) are done.  This year, I was surprisingly on top of things!  It's been a bit of an adjustment the last couple months with Jeff's new job...he is now working "normal" hours again (he was working four ten hour days at Wal Mart and had three days off) and I have had to really use nap time to my advantage to get things done.  Jeff's company closes down for the holidays, so we are trying to enjoy our couple weeks together before the New Year begins and it's back to work and school for daddy.  I know that Cash has loved having Jeff home for the past week and I have too.  It's nice for us to get to spend some lazy days together.  We were able to go see Santa this year at Fisherman's Village.  Cash wasn't too sure about him when we got up there, so Mommy had to sit on Santa's lap too!  But Cash did give Santa high fives, as you will see in the pictures.  I will do a separate post for Christmas morning, but we had a wonderful day together!  Here are some December pictures. 

Getting ready for our Christmas card photo shoot!

The Porcaro Christmas tree

Our new tradition...each year we will add Cash's hand print to the tree skirt...what a wonderful keepsake to look at each year!

Momma and Cash with Santa

He didn't want to sit by himself or really look at Santa, but he did give high fives!