Big Al Turns 71!!! (picture overload)

Al turned 71yrs young last Sunday.  On Saturday they, Diane and Al, had a VERY fun party planned at a "bowling alley."  It was a blast!!!!!  Most of Al's kids were there and most of Diane's family as well.  The kids bowled like there was not tomorrow and so did some of the adults, which resulted in some very sore arms the following day :)

Al and Diane.... 

 Most of the grandkids.  Note Milli, not wanting to be in the picture, at all! 

Bowling pics form the rear... the best "form" goes to Dave Pearce, seen bottom left. 

left to right: Me, Bob, Dave T., Jake, Abuela, Sean and Dave P.  

Bowling pics from the front.  

Again, I think best bowling face goes to Dave Pearce or Al.  LOVE IT!!!

left to right: Sean & Alex, Dave T., Sarah, Todd (Diane's son, he is just awesome! and a new grandpa!!!), Todd and Mackay, Sean M. & Chole, Karalee & Alex, Gary, Me, Gary (again), Birthday Boy and Dave P.

Cutie Pies.  I just love these two!!!

Max, Megs and Jake.  Max was so funny this evening.  He was singing Beiber (sp? don't even care to look it up) and was actually pretty good and was cute to take our jokes.  These "older" cousins are super cute with the younger ones.  I love Jake's crazy face in this picture too.  

Maddie and Leah.  Later in the evening they were playing bar tenders with Jake.  

Lots of opened soda cans, ooooops!  But they had fun.  :) 

Emily with her chubbers, Riley.  He is a cute "little" tank! 

My cutie pie, Otapotamous and Abuela.

Milli was so good all night.  She was just pleased as could be playing with balloons and "coloring" on the bowling score sheet.  Plus, she was just so happy.  LOVE HER!!!!! 

This was such a fun party!  We all really enjoyed it!!! But of course, the best part was celebrating Al.  It was his b-day after all and we love him.  :)  He is a sweet grandpa.... Happy Day to Al!!!!

Realizations

This weekend we had Trevino's over, at least a few of them.  I attempted to recreate Karen's very delicious lasagna.  First of all, Lasagna is, in itself, a labor of love.  Lasagna takes time!  We don't eat lasagna very often at our house, because somebody doesn't like the texture/taste of ground beef (or turkey for that matter). 

My realization was that I cannot re-create Karen's very delicious lasagna, even with the recipe in hand.... it looks much better than it tasted, see?

 I also realized that I love Dave's family.  I already knew that, but after what seemed like forever since seeing them it was just GREAT to see them and be with them!  Plus, how cute are Al and Otis together!??!  I think just adorable!

I realized that Milli is one of the cutest little things in this house and she could NOT stop talking about her cousins coming over!  It was so fun to see them play together so nicely, it makes for a great evening together....

I realized that I am a mean mom for feeding Otis this not-so-delicious baby food.  Have you ever tried the green beans or green peas!?!?  YUCK!  I tried it by accident and I hope it NEVER happens again!  Poor Otis, but I will continue to feed it to him.

I realized that this VERY simple salad of a bunch of spinach, tomatoes, onions and strawberries with a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan and a drizzle of Raspberry Vinaigrette should always be part of my day, YUM!

I realized that $10 of tomatillos and jalapenos will bring a lot of joy to that someone who does not like the texture of ground beef (aka. Dave).  That and some chips :) 

 

I realized how happy a full basket of fresh fruit makes me.  Its so colorful and yummy and healthy and pretty and best of all the kids love it as much as I do.  

And best of all I realized that as much as I see this face I DO NOT get tired of it one bit!  Every time I pulled out the camera to snap some pics of our little man he would pull this and blow in and out of his nose. I just love it!  

Day After Christmas (picture overload)

We have had an Uboldi Day After Christmas Party for a while now.  Its always fun and really mellow.  This year was no exception.   

It was super fun to have the shindig at Abuela's new place.  It so spacious and open, plus she loves it!  You can't beat that.  We had Tortas Fritas (Argentine scones), Pasta Frola, Ham and Cheese Empanadas, Artichoke Dip, Fruit Salad and Mate Cocido.  Everything was DELICIOUS! 

 Lots of picture taking took place......

 Cute cousins played together perfectly!  So fun to see them all.  We don't always get to see Dylan and he is getting so big!  (Maria, Preston and Marissa have been sick, so they didn't come :( ) 

 Abuela and Otis.  Oti was freaking out and we didn't hear him.... poor baby!  

Abuela was feeling bad for him.  She's a softy when it comes to her grandkids ;)

 The big girls playing and being too cool for pictures.  

 Handsome Dylan

 Gabi making Otis laugh.  Gabi is like her mom, they both love the babies in the family.

This little sassy pants is beautiful!!! Her and Milli are either best of friends making mischief or little stinkers to each other.  I'm sure they will be good friends when they grow up. 

 Otis getting lots of love from Aunt Amy

 More pics....

 Marcos feeding Otis and being a cute uncle.  He is always so sweet and has a very big heart!

 How cute is she?!?  Time for presents!  Abuela spoiled us.  Abuela chipped in for our Cherry Hill passes this summer... summer can't come soon enough! 

Awwww!  Precious!  :) 

 The tradition of Christmas jammies.  The kids love the cozy jams and that is always the first thing they open and immediately put it on.  Three grand kids missing in this picture. 

Then, the group hug. 

There was also some intense wrestling with all the kids against Esteban and later Amy.  I didn't get any pics of that but it was fun to watch.  Esteban won't admit it, but the kids gave him a run for his money ;) 

It was a very nice evening.  Relaxing, fun, loving, yummy, entertaining and always a good time! 

ps.  Dave was there but apparently camera shy :)

OUR Thanksgiving

Last year we had Thanksgiving at Al and Diann's house.  It was very nice and A LOT of work for them.  This year they were going to one of Diann's kids' house.  SO.... Dave and I decided to host it with Karalee and Sean and their boys and Abuela. 

(Dave had to come in to help me take the turkey out of the oven to check the temperature.  

Every time he would say, "I cannot believe how big this thing is!" 

That is the biggest pan I have and the bird was touching the ends of the pan and literally hanging out off the pan!)

I was VERY nervous about making a nice dinner for all of us.  We all have things that we love to eat for thanksgiving and I did not want to disappoint.  I made a menu plan and went with it.  It included turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, sweet potatoes, corn bread stuffing, Karen's raspberry jello, cranberries and rolls.  I did most of the cooking the day before. 

Karalee's friend, Spencer Stokes, brought us a turkey that was SO big.  This turkey was bigger than Milli!  It was THIRTY-TWO POUNDS.  I could not believe its size when I saw it.  My fear of making a lovely thanksgiving feast became worse than before.  I researched and researched how to cook such a giant bird and NOWHERE did I find cooking times for a 32lb turkey.  However, I knew it was going to have to cook for a long time.  I woke up at 3am and put the turkey on a low 275 and cooked it like that for TEN HOURS, yes TEN HOURS! Then I uncovered it and cooked it for an additional 2.5hours on 375.  It was juicy and SO pretty.  I gave it lots of TLC.  I massaged it with 4 cubes of butter, thyme, rosemary, basil and parsley.  I also spread the butter under the birds skin.  It was so fragrant....mmmmm! 

 (You MUST try the Corn Bread Stuffing by THE Pioneer Woman, its delicious!)

When our guests arrived we finished the last few things and got to eating.  We only ate 1/4 of ONE breast!  Needless to say we will be eating turkey for a very long time.

(The adult table.  Leah was invited to be part of it since the kid table only seats four :))

 (The kid table) 

 

We had such a great time with the Skamnes Family!  We chit chatted, played sequence, chit chatted some more, laughed (A LOT), ate some pie and it was fantastic! The kids played so nicely together and I was sad to see them go. 

T-Day 2010 was a wonderful success... a little stressful, but successful!

Uboldi "Thanksgiving"

Marcos and Maria hosted our Uboldi Thanksgiving.  It was wonderful!  Maria made cute little eatable pilgrim hats, I had several :), super cute and super tasty.  The kids wore Native American "hats" and later put a little play of some sort for us.  The kids played very good for the most part and the adults just chit chatted and ate peacefully (while the kids played).  

Marcos read a story about the first Thanksgiving, it was nice.  Then we filled a "thankful tree" with the things we were thankful for.  The kids all said they were thankful for each other.  It was very sweet.  It was a late night, but worth the very tired kids.

As we left I felt and overwhelming sense of love my the family that I belong to.  I love the holidays for that reason alone.

Thank you Marcos and Maria for the lovely evening!

Otis + Friends

Rockwell, Otis and Marissa

How cute are they?!?!?  

Halloween 2010

Our Halloween celebration started with pumpkin carving.  Leah had the idea to put our names on our pumpkins and I think it was a good idea.  They turned out pretty cute :)

The kids wore their costumes all day!  

Leah was a cowgirl.... 

Mylo was Woody.... 

Milli was a Lady Bug.... 

Otis was a Peanut.... I think they were all cute :)

After a cold and wet trick or treating we made our special people round ending at Mike and Mary's.  We had a chance to see some of the Uboldi cousins, who had already removed their costumes.  It was  a fun evening.  Wet and cold, but still very fun!

Today we had a Trevino Halloween Party at the Pearce home.  The kids were all dressed up and it was a lot of fun.  The kids played games, ate lots of goodies and took some pictures.

Uncle Dave was a trooper!  He was a "Woopie Cushion".  It was very funny!  The kids were very creative with their costumes, particularly the older kids :)

The kids became mummies with "fancy" TP! 

They also played some musical chairs/cushions.... Always a good time at the Pearce home! 

We had a fantastic Halloween!!!!