3 Christmases

Dean, Geno and I have had a great holiday season with our families.

We started with Christmas eve in West Virginia at Mom's house. We all had fun hanging out and chit-chatting. Dean, Geno and I exchanged gifts with Mom, Mary and Chuck. We also had our annual gift exchange with my siblings. I had Anna, Anna had Sara, Sara had Dean, Dean had Zach, Zach had Kate, Kate had Nathan, and Nathan had me. It was really nice hanging out with everybody.

Dean and I drove home after church. We got home around 10pm and began to prep some food for Christmas day.

For the past three years we have hosted the Morrow Christmas at our house. We usually do Thanksgiving at Mike and Amanda's, Christmas at our house and New Years at Barry and Allison's. We got up early and finished prepping the food. Everyone came over around noon for lunch. For lunch we had: cheese ball and crackers, ring bologna, buffalo chicken dip, carrots and celery, chips, chex mix and deviled eggs. For dinner we made a turkey with stuffing, a ham in the crock pot, macaroni and cheese, green bean casserole, applesauce, and a salad with a yummy rice vinegar and olive oil dressing. We had a lot of pies and cookies for dessert.

We woke up the 26th and got ready to head west to Pittsburgh to celebrate Christmas with Dad. Dad and Christi made a yummy lunch of lasagna, meatballs and sausage. Along with munchies and cookies. We got to hang out with Nate, Sara, Anna and Zach again. Uncle Rick and Uncle Tommy were there too. We played the game "Boxers or Briefs" which is always hilarious. We skype-d with Grandma. She predicted that Sara is having a baby boy. (I say girl). We had a great visit.

We stayed at Dad and Christi's place last night and are going to do a little shopping today in Pittsburgh. We are going to the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey game tonight with friends. We are staying the night with them tonight before heading home tomorrow.

I FaceTime-d with Allison last night because Geno was at her house. Poor guy was so confused and didn't know where my voice was coming from but cute as ever.

Shirt

Geno received this shirt as a gift when we went to visit our friends in Philadelphia last weekend. He is ready for Christmas! We are on our way to my Mom's house to start celebrating Christmas!

Christmas Card 2011!

I am linking up with Faith's Christmas Card Carousel today to show our card to all of my family and friends in the blog world.

There is no doubt about it, I LOVE Christmas Cards!  I love going to my mailbox and seeing what cards came.  I also love creating our Christmas Card every year, and sending them out.

I have used Shutterfly for the past couple years.  I love their cards.  There were so many to chose from.  I save the cards we receive every year.  They are packed away with the Christmas decorations.  It is fun to look through them when we get the holiday things out.

Morrow Family Christmas Card 2011

I wanted to take our Christmas card pictures while we were out cutting down our tree.  I dressed Geno in his cute Christmas tree hoodie.  The people at the tree farm told me that pets weren't allowed to be there.  Sad :(.  So, he sat in the car while we quickly cut down our tree.  The shot of me on the left is while I was sawing.  The one of just Dean is him carrying the tree back to the wagon to go get it bundled.  I took the shot of Geno on our back deck.  I couldn't leave him out.

I have started to frame our cards.  I have the card from 2010 in a frame as well as this year.  I think it is fun to display them in a pretty Christmas frame.  I got the frame from Kohl's for 50% off.

Take a look back:

Christmas Card 2010

Christmas Card 2009

From our family to yours-- 

Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Christmas Tree

I love our tree this year. I will do a post on some of my favorite ornaments soon!

iPhone

This is my first post from my new iPhone!!! Dean and I got each other the new iPhone 4s for Christmas this year. Yes we are a little early but we are loving our new phones!

Hopefully having blogger at my fingertips I can post a lot more.

November

Happy November everyone!

Dean and I went with Dean's sister, Allison, her husband, Barry and our friend Bowser to the Penn State football game on October 29th.  The forecast was calling for snow and temp in the lower 30s.  I went out to WalMart the night before for leggings and snow boots.  THANK GOODNESS I picked those up.  They were life savers.  I wore the leggings under my jeans and tucked my jeans into my boots.  We all stayed pretty warm, thankfully.  It snowed on the drive there, all during our tailgate and for most of the game.  The game was so much fun.  It was a close game but we ended up getting the victory!

Me and Dean bundled up at Beaver Stadium

 Me and Allison tailgating

Geno stayed with his cousins Andrew and Aiden while we were at the game.  They had a lot of fun outside in the snow and cuddling inside.

Since the ground was still pretty warm it was soooooo muddy.  Our shoes were covered in mud.  I brought a ton of garbage bags so as we got into the van, we took off our boots and put them in the bags so that we wouldn't get mud in Amanda and Mike's van.

We had a great Halloween as well.  Dean and I went to see our nephews go trick-or-treating.  Andrew was Thomas the Tank Engine and Aiden was a monkey.  They were so cute.  We handed out candy at their house as they went around the neighborhood with Amanda.  We haven't had many trick-or-treaters at our house in the years past, I really wanted to hand out candy so it was perfect.

I am soooo looking forward to Thanksgiving and then Christmas!!

ErinCondren.com

No doubt about it, I L.O.V.E. my new life planner from ErinCondren.com.

I love that it is personalized and so pretty.  It has monthy tabs with the whole month on one page as well as being broken into weeks.  I was lucky enough to have a coupon code in order to buy it -- since it costs $50 normally.  I follow a blog that is doing a giveaway for a $50 Erin Condren gift card.  So if you want to try and win it, visit her page here.  I also love the return address labels on her site and plan on getting some soon!

Happy Planning :)

http://www.hautemommyblog.com

Geno gets a haircut!

Geno has looked pretty rough for the last week or so.  I decided that it was time to call the groomer.  Geno's hair grows quickly so he needs to go to the groomer about every 10-12 weeks (which isn't pleasant on the wallet).  The fur gets so long around his feet and it just looks yucky. 

Here is the little fur-ball on our way to the groomer...

and here he is after...

He is such a stud. 

Whenever he gets a haircut, he looks like a completely different dog.

Trick or Treat

New Curtains

Sorry for the lack of updates (all 3 of you that read this- ha). 

I just got back from Mom's house this morning. Geno and I went down Tuesday morning and hung out with Mom, Mary, Chelsea Lou and Charlie Cat.  They didn't have school Tuesday and Wednesday.  We made curtains for my kitchen.  I just hung them up (all.by.myself!!) and I am loving the way they look!  We have lived here for two years and these are the first curtains to go up- ha.  

Next up is curtains for the living room! :)

Family Stickers

www.familystickers.com

I ordered these stickers for my car yesterday.  Dean is a golfer, me with a purse and Geno wearing a shirt!  How cute are they?!?!  The website has a lot of ways to customize your stickers.  There are sooo many choices!   I can't wait to get them in the mail and put them on my car!

Praying Mantis

This morning I went to check on my flowers. I noticed that something has been munching on the pansies! Then I saw something move and saw this beautiful praying mantis!

Kylee & Mason

Kylee and Mason are a couple of kiddos that belong to my friends Jenny and Aaron. They all live in Hawaii and I got to visit them back in February. I can't wait to go back with Dean. Jenny and I went to college together and became good friends as we student taught side by side.

Jenny and Me at Turtle Bay

Mason (11 months) & Kylee (2 1/2)

I wanted to make a couple of outfits for Mason and Kylee and here is what I came up with. 

Here is a picture that Jenny sent me of Kylee "twirling" in her new dress!

Wedding Cake!

Dean and I celebrated one year of marriage on June 26, 2011! We went to dinner and a play to celebrate.

We forgot to thaw and eat the top layer of our cake on our actual anniversary!

We ate it last night (July 4th) and it was yummmmmy!



I put our topper back on for the full effect.

I smashed it all over Dean and he was not too happy with me.
So, naturally, I made him smile for a picture. ;)

One year ago today we came back from our honeymoon in the Bahamas.

Diaper Cake

I made this diaper cake this morning.
We are having a small baby shower for a friend who is having her second little girl.
It is the best cake I have made so far.

To make this cake I used:
-71 Pampers diapers (size 3)
-1 box of Huggies Sensitive wipes (inside the bottom layer)
- 4 Gerber onesies
- 2 Soothie pacifiers
- 1 rattle toy
- 1 teething ring
- 1 set of toy car keys
- 1 hair bow (the purple bow on the middle layer)
- 1 plush toy to use as the topper
- Grosgrain ribbon and thinner ribbon
- Pizza pan (used as the base)

If you want a diaper cake made for someone let me know and we can talk prices!

Name Shirts

I made these shirts for my favorite little nephews. They looked adorable in them! I need to get a picture of them wearing them!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Geno!

His birthday was yesterday (4.26.11).

He got that little raccoon toy for his birthday and  he LOVES it!

We love this little dude!

Eggs!

Dying Easter eggs with Miss Mary!

What I'm Reading

I'm about 1/4 of the way through Water for Elephants. Dean already read it and said it was really good. The movie comes out tomorrow and we want to go see it next week sometime. I need to finish the book first!

Geno goes to the Groomer

Geno was looking very raggedy for the past week or so.  

I knew it was time to call the groomer.  

This is his "before" shot...

Here is the handsome prince in his "after" shot!

He seriously looks like he has lost 10 lbs.

The lady we take him to always does such a great job and at a great price!  I have called other businesses asking for prices and since his is a shih tzu (normally they have the long hair but we keep him short) the price starts at $45!  He has to get cut every 8 weeks or so and that is just absurd.  She charges only $20, but we give her at least $25.  She does a great job with him!  She does her grooming business out of her home and her two daughters love Geno.  The girls were playing with him when I picked him up last night. 

Grandpa Sylvester

Raymond Francis Sylvester, Sr.

June 4, 1928- March 12, 2011

My grandpa passed away yesterday afternoon at his home of a heart attack.  This news is still very surreal to me.  Grandpa lead a long wonderful life and definitely will be missed by many.  

Dean and I will be heading down to Georgia most likely at the end of the week for his memorial services.  I am so grateful that Grandma and Grandpa were able to attend my wedding last summer.  These photos will be cherished.

Please pray for Grandma that she will be strong throughout this difficult time.  She will be turning 80 on Friday, March 18th.  

Bat Dog

The weather was so nice last week! We woke up today to 7.5 inches of snow. Hopefully spring will be here soon so we can roll the windows down and feel the wind in our hair again.

Happy Valentine's Day

Hawaii Trip

I had so so sooo much fun on my trip to Hawaii to visit Jenny and her family.  Before I left, Jenny and I went over what we did during the week that I was there.  Here is the break-down with some pics!

Thursday:  Jenny picked me up from the airport. (I was supposed to arrive Wednesday night but the weather on the East coast forced me to change my plans)  We took the scenic route back to her place showing me the beautiful island of Oahu.  We had a yummy dinner at the Kahuku Grill.  I had coconut shrimp.

Friday:  We Dropped Kylee off at preschool and went to the beach with baby Mason and Jen's sister Erin.  Erin brought Musubis for breakfast.  I was terrified of these.  They are made of rice, spam, and egg wrapped in nori. Not my favorite but I tried it.  We picked up Kylee from preschool, grabbed some McDonalds and went to Jenny's mom's house to have a picnic.  We spent the afternoon at home while the kiddos napped.  When Aaron got home Jenny and I did some shopping (Target, Walgreens & Safeway).

Saturday: We walked down to the park to watch Jenny's nephews play basketball.  Her one nephew's coach is the Shave Ice guy from Hawaii Five-O.  We then went to the beach until lunchtime.  Jenny and I went to the Polynesian Cultural Center while Aaron stayed home with napping babies.  It was a really cool place.  We met back up with Aaron and the little ones for the luau and then Jenny and I went to the night show.

Sunday:  We went to the swap meet which is like a big outdoor market.  I bought some gifts for people then we went to the Dole Plantation.  I guess this makes me dumb, but I didn't know that pineapples grew in the ground (I thought trees).  Oh well.  We had yummy pineapple ice cream!  We came home just in time for the superbowl and Aaron made us delicious chicken tacos for dinner.

Monday:  Rainy dayyy!  We played with Jen's nephew Avery for a little while.  We had a lazy afternoon.  I went to Jenny's Zumba class in the evening.  So much fun!  She is a great instructor.  After Zumba we showered quickly and went over to Jenny's parent's house for some cake and ice cream!

Tuesday:  I went to the beach in the morning by myself.  It was so nice and quiet.  It was easy to just relax and enjoy my surroundings.  I walked back to their house around lunchtime.  We went to Pearl Harbor in the afternoon.  What an amazing place with so much history.  On our way back we picked up some yummy chinese food for dinner.

Wednesday:  My last day.  Sad.  I was going to go to the beach in the morning while Jenny taught preschool but I got realllllllly burnt on Tuesday so I didn't go.  I helped Jenny with preschool in the morning and then we headed off to the airport.  I left Honolulu at 2:30pm (7:30pm/est) and didn't get to Baltimore until 9:15am/est. It was a lonnng night of traveling with 2 layovers (in Seattle and Detroit).

I had such an amazing trip with the Jensens.  They were such wonderful hosts!  I cannot thank them enough for their hospitality and their willingness to show me around Hawaii!  I can't wait to go back and bring Dean!