School Spirit Day!

Once a month at AJ's school they have a school spirit day and have to wear these not-so-flattering-on-girls t-shirts. Well I found a way to make her look cute & girly in hers!



But I mean, come on, with a face like this and curls like that, how could she not look girly cute?

Class Trip to the Art Barn!

Today AJ had a class trip to the Art Barn. It was a cute little farm out in Canton and all the kids had such a great time! Farmer Sue was great - she had the kids help feed & brush the animals, took us on a tractor ride and had us paint pics of pigs! AJ loved running like crazy all over the farm with all her buddy's from school!








Here is a pic of AJ's painted pig-

10 Year Anniversary of 911

Today was the 10th Anniversary of 9/11. It was super hard being away in GA and away from my whole family for the first time, but I was happy they posted lots of pics from the memorial and I got to hear from them about the day. I was so happy to hear that so many family members got to go into NYC for the memorial to honor my cousin this year. We love you, we miss you and we miss your smiling face more and more with each passing year - WE WILL NEVER FORGET! I also go the nicest flowers from some neighbors that really brightened up my day!





Today also happened to be AJ's first day of CCD, so heres a pic of the kids looking cute for Church & Sunday School!

15 Bean Soup

For our first weekend of football we needed a good, slow cooked soup and this recipe for 15 bean soup is turned out awesome!



1 package of 15 bean soup (throw out the seasoning packet)
2 smoked ham hocks
1 large onion chopped up
10 -15 baby carrots chopped up
4-5 celery stalks chopped up
3 bay leaves
1 tsp dried thyme
1 big box of chicken stock
2 cups water
1 can diced tomatoes
2 TBS EVOO
diced ham steak

Heat your evoo in bottom of big pot and cook onions, celery & carrots over medium heat till softened. Add ham hocks and continue to cook for about 5 minutes. Add beans, tomatoes, chicken stock, water, thyme & bay leaves - make sure all the beans are covered or add more water. Simmer on stove for about 5 hours or until all the beans are soft. Remove ham hocks and take off whatever meat you can get from them and add that and your diced ham steak back to the pot and ENJOY! This is a keeper on our house for sure - even the kids LOVED it!

1st Day of Gym

I love AJ's school for so many reasons - one of them being all the specials they have. Once a week they get taken out of class and brought to another teacher for gym, music, religion, library & science. This is on top of all the other learning, arts & crafts, cooking projects & all time she gets to spend on both the indoor & outdoor playgrounds that goes on her amazing main teachers. Today was her first day of gym and she was super psyched to wear her new kicks that we got in NJ and boy did she look super cute in her purple & pink pumas that she fought me to get!

Tiny Dancer

AJ was so super excited for ballet to start up again - thinking there may be some tap in her near future too! Alex, Dylan & I got there a little early to watch from the window and when she saw us she was so excited! She was happy to show us all her new steps the rest of the afternoon and we enjoyed watching!

Pre K

Today was AJ's first day of Pre K! Can't believe my baby girl has only 1 more year left of preschool and then it's off to Elementary School! She was super excited to go and came home so happy!






Last week before we left for our trip to NJ she had her meet and great and was so happy to see some old & new friends and just get back to school!