Monday, December 24, 2007

Santa Conwey

Santa Claus

Okay my husband is truly a good sport, and a great Santa!





Santa came to our house last night. He was on the roof top (we were a bit worried that Santa may fall off the roof and traumatize the kids by having the ambulance show up, but all was well and Santa was safe.) We are so glad so now he can make his long journey tonight.
Merry Christmas!


Sunday, December 9, 2007

Cutting Down the Christmas Trees!

Christmas Trees
Well we were kind of late this year getting our tree.
It is so hard to find a day to do it.
So yesterday we decided to go in between basketball games (and painting the dining room that my very very nice sister ended up doing almost the whole thing...thanks Rach) We decide to go get our trees.
Conwey likes to go and cut our trees down at a tree farm.
So after the craziness of getting everyone ready in grubby clothes and getting them in the car, we were off to find our trees.

Looking for the perfect tree
Hunter cutting with a large saw
Hard work pulling it up the hill

Jackson and Jessie

Crazy Sienna
Hunter pulling the trees through the line to pay for them





Once we get there and it ends up to be a beautiful day out. We find two trees we think will do. Hunter cuts one down and Conwey, Jackson, and Coop cut the other one down.
(Last year we found a tree we liked, then as we were dragging it out we found the perfect tree we had to have. So since we already cut one down we had to take them both.
We ended up loving having two trees so now it's a tradition.)
Anyway they give you hot cider, hot peanuts, and Conwey loves to go cut them down so all in all it was a good day.
( I think if I had it my way we would get it delivered to our doorstep....) Sienna was running around like a crazy girl...she wasn't sure what we were doing.
She sure had fun though.
Now on to the decorating.....

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

First Snow Fall of the Season

Sienna's First Snow!


It snowed today for the first time. It was so beautiful.
Sienna hadn't ever seen snow before (that she can remember)


Eating the snow
Dancing in the snow

She kept saying Wow....and eating it. Dancing in it.
I am sure the boys will have their sleds out as soon as they get home from school.
Hopefully we won't have a snow day tomorrow already!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2007

I realized I haven't even written about Thanksgiving yet.
Things start getting so crazy with Christmas around the corner and all the kids activities.


Cooper

Rachel getting hugs from Jackson and Sienna

Rachel, Jimmy, and Sienna
Cooper and cousin Eddie
Sienna enjoying some pumpkin pie!


We had a great Thanksgiving this year. The weather was amazing. 70 degree's.
We ate at Conwey's sister's house this year and decided to eat a little later than usual, it was really nice to have the whole day. Conwey took the boys to play football like he always does. Nicolas spent the night so he went with the guys too.
They had a blast. I went to my spin class at the gym which was so great to get a good work out in before a big meal. Then we had the rest of the day to do our cooking. Conwey made his mashed potatoes. I made some blueberry pies.
We headed down to McLean to Kasi's. It was a big group this year about 45 people.
Then right after we eat Jackson (of course) comes in and tells us that Hunter threw the basketball at his head. He is looking a bit pale and lays down on the floor. This is a usual occurrence in my house so I'm not too worried. Until he comes over to me and says he feels like he is going to throw up. I can tell he isn't kidding and try to aim him towards the garage. Well he throws up right as Conwey's dad is walking into the mudroom. I felt so bad....poor Ed. He is such a good grandpa though, he takes it in stride.
Then Jackson proceeds to throw up every half hour. We are then worried about a concussion.
So of course we end up in the ER once again with him. Conwey is sweet and takes him over while I take the other kids home to bed.
Luckily (after three hours there) no concussion. What am I going to do with Jackson?!?
All and all it was a great day....

A few things I am thankful for big and small:

Conwey
My Kids
Family
Friends
The Church
My Home
Our Safe Neighborhood
Great Schools
Our Health
Trader Joes
Good Salads
Morning Star Meatless Meat Products (my kids even like some of them!)
Diet Coke (what would I do with out it!)
Tivo (seriously how did we live with out it?)
Going to The Ritz in Naples, Florida with only Conwey
The Beach- The Sun
The Pool
My Classes at the Gym 
Girls Night Out
Dates with Conwey
White Christmas Lights
Music
Living In Ashburn
Sienna's Laugh
Hunter's Computer Skills
Living so close to Washington D.C. and all the
visitor's we get because of it.

I could really go on and on. I am grateful for so many things.
I feel very blessed in my life.

Now on to Christmas....
Stay Tuned.






Sunday, November 18, 2007

Football

Hunter Casillas #51
Well Hunter just finished up his football season. We had his Championship game yesterday. It was very exciting. They played at the High School, had the band playing, the announcer calling the plays...Hunter's team didn't loose a single game all season. They were really good.
The game yesterday came to a sad end, when the other team won. 12 to 6. Hunter's team just wasn't playing like they normally do.
Oh well we have many more years...now we are on to basketball...these boys.... their sports are never ending.






Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Remembering Mom~ November 15th 2004~

Maureen Milligan Hardie





This is such a old picture. That is Cooper when he was little. (My sister Holly behind us)



Well it's been three years since my mom passed away.
I always have a hard time every Nov. 15th.
Not a day goes by I don't think about her.
I miss her so much. I wish I could pick up the phone and hear her laugh. I wish she could know Sienna.
I know she watches over us though and I am thankful for that. I know she is in a better place.
I have vivid dreams about her a lot. I wake up and can still feel her hugging me. I am thankful for those dreams.

A few of mom's favorite things.....

Her Family
Music
Singing with her brothers
Benny and June
The perfume Calix
Fresh fruit and vegetables
Her cats
Her job as a nurse
Going on drives in the Caynon
Picking flowers with Rach
The Sun (like mother, like daughter)
Cooking for her kids (She was always such a healthy cook)
Bryan Adams





Yummy Pumpkin Spread



Okay I made this pumpkin spread this weekend and put it on Pumpkin Bread. It was really good. I have to credit Rachel's friend Lindsey for the recipe though. I thought I would post it for any of you that may want to try it. So here it is.

1- 16 oz. Tub of Cool Whip (Thawed)
1 package vanilla instant pudding
1 can of pumpkin (15 oz)
1/2 to 1 Teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

Mix everything but the cool whip. Fold in Cool Whip. Chill. Serve on Pumpkin bread, pancakes, crepe's...



My kids loved it. It almost tastes like Pumpkin Pie. 
Mmmmm......
Enjoy!

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Pumpkin Carving








We usually seem to wait until Halloween night to carve pumpkins just due to crazy schedules.
This year I made a point to do it the night before.
We made ginger cookies with Halloween cookie cutters and the kids decorated them with frosting and red hots. I have to say they were yummy.
Then we carved pumpkins. The boys got all the seeds out and cleaned so we could make roasted pumpkin seeds. We love them.
For some reason I couldn't get a good after picture of them in the dark.

Sienna loved to play in the mess she was covered by the end
It's so nice now that the kids can get all the guts

Halloween.....











What to choose?





Halloween....the sugar rush.
My neighborhood goes crazy for Halloween.
The amount of candy my kids have....Cooper got over 300 peices in 1 hour.
I remember getting one little candy per house. Now they get handfuls and full size bars.

It is a fun holiday though. The kids have so much fun and it makes me remember when I was little
and all the fun I had with my brother. We would sit and wait looking out the window for it to get dark and then
bolt out of the house with our pillow cases..by the way my kids are on to the whole pillowcase thing.

Their buckets just don't hold enough. They figured out that pillow cases hold a heck of a lot more and I didn't even tell them about it.

Grandpa Ed and Sienna
Cooper, Jackson, Henry and Nicolas (cousins)... getting ready to go out trick or treating
Trick or Treating for the first time
Rach and Sienna
Grandma Jill and Sienna going to the next house
Conwey and Sienna
Cooper (the werewolf ) and Nicolas
Sienna and Grandma Jill


They had their class parties...I went in to help out. Sienna came too. She was in heaven in Cooper's class.
I have mixed emotions on the class parties. They are suppose to dress up but they always want to wear masks for Trick or Treating..so that means we have to think of something else for school but they can't wear make-up. So Tuesday night I said to the boys lets go look in the Halloween tub and see what you guys can be for school tomorrow. Now Cooper was a Vampire for about 4 years in a row because he wanted to be. So I was sure I was safe on that costume. I picked up some Vampire teeth for Jackson.
Well of course we can't find the dang costume anywhere. We have the shirt and that's it.
Poor Jackson..he found some black baseball pants he wore for the pants and we couldn't find
the cape anywhere so he went without it. But he had his teeth!!!

At least it was only for an hour right...
Coop brought all his stuff and then decided he didn't want to put it on.(Along with a couple of his friends..I guess they are too cool or something...)

Sienna playing Bingo in Cooper's class
She plopped herself right down in the middle!
Coop and Sienna


Sienna had so much fun going from house to house. I think she liked looking at all the decorations more than the actual candy.
My sister Rachel and her husband Jimmy came to our house, Conwey's parents, and Amy brought the cousins Nicolas and Henry.
It was a fun and crazy night.

My poor child Hunter though, he went trick or treating with some friends...when they walked in they looked very upset and said we just got mugged....I thought they were kidding until I went and talked to them and could tell they were really upset.
Apparently some dumb High School kids had tried to take their candy. They tackeled Hunter's friend Matt. I was proud that they didn't get a hold of their candy though. What do these big kids think....it is frustrating that they feel they have the right to do that.
I am betting that next year they will stay on our porch and scare they trick or treaters instead of going themselves.
It's too bad.

But all and all it was a lot of fun. I can't believe it's over and we are into November. I don't want to even begin to think about
Christmas...Ugggggg.