My Birthday...

I had a wonderful birthday today. Thank you to all of you who called, sent me a card, email or text they all made me feel extra special today.

Not much planned today, but that was fine with me. I stayed in bed till 10:00 a.m., can't tell you the last time that happened. I woke up at 9:30 a.m. but stayed in bed to relax and read. No rush to get up as Jason was handling the kids or should I say Brayden.

We hung out at home relaxing until we went out for an early dinner at 4 p.m. to P.F. Chang's. Love it!

J and I always get the same thing when we go, our favorites - Crab Wontons and Panfried Pork Dumplings as appetizer, Chang's Spicy Chicken, Beef and Shrimp LoMein and Pork Fried Rice. We always have enough for leftovers the next day. 

Me and my amazing kids

Brayden and Sarah both used chopsticks for their meal. This was Brayden's first time and he ate his entire meal with them. After his meal they were of course weapons or drum sticks.

Sarah was a pro at using them too.

Afterwards we headed to Cheesecake Factory a couple of doors down. Again this seems to have become a tradition for J and I, P.F. Chang's for dinner and Cheesecake Factory for dessert. We picked up some slices to go and headed home.

So good and so rich!

Ready for cards, cake and presents.

For gifts I got money, which I will put towards saving for the digital SLR camera that I would like to get. I also got a print from my family painted by my good friend Michele who is an artist. I can't wait to frame it and put it up in my living room.

A request for my birthday was to be able to go to the shore on Monday for the day. My amazing husband actually booked a hotel for the four of us tomorrow night so that we could go down tomorrow afternoon, spend the night and be at the shore first thing on Monday morning without all the traffic. I am so EXCITED! A short little getaway. Thank you honey, an unexpected last minute gift.

My guy and me. : )

As I head off to bed I am feeling so blessed. I have an amazing husband, kids, family, friends, church, life and above all else an amazing God. It isn't always a piece of cake each day, some hard, some easy, some sad, some happy, but the one thing that never changes is my God and who he is in my life.

Thank you Lord that you are the God who formed me in my mother's womb and have been and will be with me every step of the way, even today as I turn 42. You gave me life. You have rescued me and saved me. You are my constant. You are my foundation. You are my Lord and savior Jesus Christ. You have a purpose for me. I am amazed. You have given me this life to live and I pray that each day my life brings you glory.

Thankful and blessed at 42.
Love,
Amy

A bear and skunk...

We had some excitement around here yesterday that was a little out of the ordinary. As Brayden and I were driving down our street to head out for an errand we saw a black bear just around the corner from our house in someone's yard. It saw us, turned around and started running the opposite direction. I was actually on the phone with Jason, got off and called 911 to report it. We slowly followed behind and watched while the bear went all the way down our street, across the main road in our town, and to the other side. Sarah's school which is just up the street from us have actually seen a bear (probably the same one) on their property a couple of times this past year. They have a garage container that he tries to get into. I know they have called animal services to deal with it. It isn't every day that you see a black bear in your neighborhood. In fact, we have never seen one in the 12 years we have lived here.

Then last night Jason and Brayden had gone to a Yankee game and when they got home around 11:30 there was a skunk in our driveway. I guess it took its time moving out of the way because Jason said they had to sit in the car for about 10 minutes before he felt comfortable getting out so they could come in the house. Brayden was cute in telling me the story. He said, "Mom, we saw a stunk outside!" No, I didn't misspell it. He kept calling it a "stunk". We have had a baby bunny living under our shed for about a month now, so I was concerned for him. Brayden said "The stunk probably got him." Brayden's facial expressions are so cute, I wish you could see them. Wide eyed, serious and causal all at the same time. We don't see a skunk/stunk every day either, we sometimes smell him but don't see him.

It was an exciting day in our neighborhood. 

Father's Day...

We had a nice day celebrating Father's Day with a BBQ after Sunday morning service at my in-laws home. The Dads watched golf while the kids played in FaFa and Grandma's new pool.

We love our Daddy!

Jason, Don and John

T-Ball...

Brayden took an instructional T-ball class once a week this spring. It was an hour long class and Brayden loved every minute of it. He learned all about the bases and how to run them, hitting the ball and the beginning of how to play the outfield. It was a great started class for him.

A pep talk from Coach Tasha

Playing the outfield

Stepping up to the plate

Great form

Run, Run, Run

Certificate of Achievement

Last Day of School...

We now have an official 6th grader, middle schooler, junior higher, in our house. Not sure I am crazy about that because it means Sarah is growing up. I can even see the changes from first day of school to last.

September 2011

June 2012

Isn't she a beautiful girl? Jason and I are so proud of her. I can't brag on her enough. She had a great school year and we look forward to having her home with us for the next couple of months. I have the summer to adjust to this middle school season we are entering, then in September I have to adjust to taking Brayden to preschool. Ugh! Right now I will just try to enjoy every moment I can with them right where they are at.

Star Wars vs Barbie...

While we were visiting in Maryland Sophia and Brayden wanted to watch a movie, each of them had one picked out that they wanted to watch. I love this photo because it shows just how different boys and girls can be.

Brayden - Star Wars. He is in his Jedi stance and the look in his eyes means that he means business.
Sophia - Barbie. So pretty and posing beautifully for the picture with her movie.

Love these kids.

I think Barbie won in the end. A little less intense and a lot shorter movie. Sorry, B-bear.

Baby Caleb...

We got home on Saturday afternoon (May 26th) from Disney and hopped in the car on Sunday afternoon to head to Maryland to visit our new nephew Caleb James Reise. He was born on May 10th, 5 lbs 5 oz.

Caleb, the newest addition to the Reise family.

Proud Daddy and Mommy

Wide awake

Sarah and Brayden enjoyed holding him. Brayden just smiled big every time he got to hold him.

I got my turn to feed him. He was such a tiny little guy.

After eating breakfast the cousins had fun playing together and taking turns holding baby Caleb and feeding him.

Sammy 2 (almost 3), Sophia 5, Sarah 11 and Brayden 4

Sammy helping his Mommy (Susie) feed baby Caleb. It was fun to see how Sammy did with Caleb since he will be having a new baby brother in July. He was very gentle with him and loved kissing him.

Sophia and Brayden have fun washing the bottles

Sarah took more turns holding Caleb and even feeding him his bottle. I like this photo, Caleb is smiling at her. She is excited to be a mother's helper in these coming years.

Uncle Jason loving on Caleb.

We got out of the house for an hour to take the kids to the playground. It was hot, even at 5 p.m.

We had a fun visit, even if it was only for 36 hours. We are blessed to have another little boy in our family.

Christy, Sophia and Caleb are coming to New Jersey tomorrow for the week. We are excited to see them all and how much Caleb has grown.

Characters...

One last Disney post because you can't go to Disney and not have fun meeting all the characters.

Princess Aurora

Mater from Cars

Lighting McQueen from Cars

Clone Trooper from Star Wars

Storm Trooper from Star Wars

Green Army Man from Toy Story

Handy Manny

Jake from Jake and the Neverland Pirates

Princess Leia

The famous mouse - Mickey

Pluto

Minnie

Donald Duck

Goofy

Chip and Dale - Not sure who is who

Alice and the White Rabbit - Brayden didn't want much to do with Alice, she's a girl. :)

Pooh Bear

Eeyore

Tigger too!

Because Brayden was first in line for the Toy Story meet and greet Woody walked him through the building and stopped at different places to take his picture with him.

Buzz and Woody with the cousins