Holidays 2010

Since I was raised Jewish and Anthony was raised Christian we celebrate holidays from both backgrounds. The Jewish holidays usually get jipped a bit because I am not religious but my parents came to our house a few days after Hanukkah ended (it was the first day that worked for everyone) and we opened presents and went out for a delicious dinner. Here is our Hanukkah:

"Its a bike!"

 Showing off her new clothes

 The girl loves curly ribbon

a few days later Daddy started putting the bike together and H felt strongly that he needed help (she boycotted her bath until it was finished)

A few days later my bestest friend (H's fairy godmother) came to give Hayden her present. We had been saving our favorite pieces of clothing from Haydens 1st year of life for Loryn to make a quilt out of. Well she did it and it is more amazing than I ever imagined. Hayden immediately threw herself on it and, to this day, squeals in excitement when I take it out. A-MAZING.

I can literally look at it and go over every piece and know when she wore it and a story to go with it. Pictures just don't do it justice.

Then it was Christmas time so we packed up and headed to Anthonys parents house. We always do Christmas there and its always awesome.

Here is our Christmas:

Christmas eve-post bath...right before Hayden pooped on the tree skirt.

Lots of coloring with her Aunts

Lots of Daddy cuddles

Apparently someone was left unattended with a marker..

 the adorable hair I refuse to cut..

Ukulele obsessed

Lots of reading with Gamma

..you know H is tired when..

reading with Aunt Beck

and Im sure you heard but we got a blizzard on the East Coast the day after Christmas...and since we were on the water the wind created some beautiful snow drifts.

Sorry for the crappy light quality of the pictures...I have to do some adjusting on the cam.

..and just for fun here is a comparison to last christmas:

(somehow hubby and I are both a little rounder this year...super.)

I hope you had a beautiful holiday and an amazing 2010!
Please have a wonderful and safe New Years and I hope to see you back here in 2011!!

21 of 25

10 favorite games

1- chase Hayden and make her laugh
2- Boulderdash
3- Scrabble
4- Words With Friends
5- Bubble-burst type games
6- Javanoid
7- Pictionary
8- Uno
9- all Mario games from Super Nintendo (and a few from wii)
10- dvd triva for The Office and/or Friends

20 of 25

10 favorite websites

popwrap.com (because its my brothers site and he rocks)
facebook.com (because I love me some stalking)
etsy.com (addictive and dangerous)
google.com (pretty generic but I use it daily)
cnn.com (gives me a little snippets of news without getting too depressed)
Photo School
Kraft Food and Family (for recipes that never fail)
......Ive run out of sites so its going to get pretty pathetic from here on out..
tdbank.com (since I always seem to be on there anyway checking my balances)
target.com (?)
amazon.com

Family Time

I'm writing this from my iPhone so I'm sorry if it looks weird.
I am in full on family-time mode and just want to enjoy this time of year so I'll be back in a little.
Enjoy the holidays and be safe!! Xoxo

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

Today is our 2 year wedding anniversary!

It seems so minuscule since we have been together for 8 years...I hate how those years get thrown by the wayside when you get married and you have to start counting all over again!

Anyway, in celebrating our wedding I wanted to share our (many) wedding pictures with you!!

I hope you enjoy looking at some of them while we are off to a super fancy pants dinner together!!

Cali & Anthonys White Wedding

Some Wedding Day Ridiculousness::

I woke up the day before to find that I spilled water all over my phone during the night so I spent the day getting a new phone, rushing to get a mani/pedi then rushing to rehearsal. On that new phone I had a conversation with our venue/planner about how the spot at the venue that we thought we were having the ceremony was not where we would be having it. Then there was a blizzard. It was beautiful but not totally conducive to getting our loved ones (and us) to our location. We got there with only 1 couple unable to attend though! Then the cake...haha you'll see for yourself but for some reason the baker thought that bright green was a nice compliment to my blue and white wedding. All I could do at all these things was laugh. We were getting married and thats all that mattered! Then we wound up not timing pictures very well and it took all of the cocktail hour and thensome so when we were finally done Ant went outside to smoke all the cigarettes that he would have had if we hadn't taken 3 hrs of pictures and missed all the food. We laughed through our entire first dance because we are just so not the couple to be cool with a room full of people staring at us while we dance all romantically.

Our DJ sucked but that's my fault for booking him without meeting first..oops!I also didn't break my shoes in and they started hurting so badly that I felt like I was going to throw up so I had to switch into slippers I had brought and wasn't able to switch back in the heels so I look like a short troll instead of a leggy, tall bride lol. OH! and the next day, Anthony's grandma slipped on ice while walking up her front stairs and broke her arm in a whole mess of places.

BUT we got married, we had a great time and even though I would have changed a lot of things about the day I would not have changed my decision to marry the silliest, cutest, hardest working guy I know.

I don't know a better father & I am so glad he is who I am going to spend the rest of my life with!

Three of my favorite pics

 

leave a comment with your wedding day ridiculousness to make me feel better about mine!

Non-essential essentials

These are the types of things other moms want to know. What could you not live without? What was your saving grace? What kept you sane?

These are my top 3 non-essential essentials!

 Pack N Play

I barely used it when she was a newborn, other than for changing her diapers, but as she has gotten older it has been SO helpful! I actually keep it in my car now because there have been so many times where it happened to be (most likely because I was too lazy to bring it back in the house from a previous excursion) in my car while visiting family or friends and she needed an unexpected nap or we decided to spend the night..thank goodness for this little nugget!

Day & Night Handheld Color Monitor\

 I credit this beautiful little machine for getting H to sleep through the night! Ok..maybe thats taking it a little far but I have never been big on CIO so when it was time to get our girl to get to sleep without needing to be rocked I felt confident that she was ok because I could see and hear her & know that she was ok and often pretending to cry while look at the door to try to get us back in there to play. I still use it and often just watch her playing in her crib..its sometimes better than cable!

2-In-1 Precious Planet Projection Mobile

This thing is A-MAZING!

When she was an itty-bitty she loved watching the canopy twirl while pictures were projected onto it. As she got bigger we took off the canopy and she still uses the projector every night...and every morning. She will wake up, stand up and press the buttons and watch the projection. I swear this thing keeps her busy for- ever!!

SO those are my life savers..a few other favorite little nuggets that I adore?

Homedics® SoundSpa Sound Machine- $19.99

Ella's Kitchen Organic Baby Food

Yes, I give this to by toddler. When she is teething and will barely eat I give her these and she downs them. That way I know she is getting some fruit, veggies and nutrients! Genius!

Munchkin BPA Free 2Pk Mighty Grip Straw Cup

It would be horrifying if I added up how much money I spent on all of the cups I've bought trying to find one that worked. They all either leaked, sucked or Hayden didn't like them..until this one! We have so many of these its insane and they never let me down! I prefered a straw cup since we all use straws so it wouldn't be too much of a transition eventually (or so I tell myself) and this cup is literally THE.BEST.EVER.

BooginHead PaciGrip
gasp all you want but I was making a lot of trips into Haydens room at night to help find her paci until I found these. They fit on any type of paci, have a short leash and are practically impossible for the little ones to rip off.

HALO SleepSack Wearable Blanket in Fleece

Old Navy Pajamas

Love love love their pjs!....and I want these for her.. BAD!

Ok..so all you experienced mamas out there, share the wisdom with all the new mamas out there! What are your non-essential essentials?

DeCaro Family 2010 Holiday Card!

Following Alysha's lead I am sharing our holiday card with you! 

Yes, I am one of those people who doesn't do a specific holiday but a holiday season card. Not only because I send them to people of varying faiths but because I like to encorporate thanksgiving and new years in our well wishes!

We took that picture this summer and I loved it so much that I didn't show it to anyone-I purposely didn't post it here or on facebook knowing that I wanted it to be our card!

I made these at vistaprint.com and could not be happier. 

They are on premium 100lb matte card stock (if you dont know what that means dont feel bad because neither do I..all I know is that they are nice and thick-great quality!) and included the envelopes! I ordered 50 cards and it cost me..drum roll........

$25.98!

Yes..VISTA PRINT ROCKS!

share your holiday card! 

...and like our card says "Wishing you a beautiful holiday season and a new year filled with happiness, laughter and love."

19 of 25

10 things that you could not live without

(assuming this is supposed to be mostly frivolous crap)

1- My family
2- My friends
3- A car/license
4- Laughter
5- Music
6- TV
7- Computer/Internet
8- the ability to speak
9- the ability to see
10- Money

that was weird and random...i dont like this one.

18 of 25

10 most important people in your life

geeze..lets try to do this without offending anyone.

1- Hayden

2- Anthony

3- Dad

4- Dad Tom

5- Brother- Jarett

6- Grandma- Meme

7- Grandpa- Papi

8- Aunt- Susie

9- Best Friend- Loryn

10 - Mother in Law- Debbie

....crap I ran out of numbers...oh well..the people who know they're important know. 

So much time, and so little to do! Strike that, reverse it.

Why is there never time for it all?

I work part time (and love it) but then come home to a disaster of a house, laundry that needs to be taken to the laundro-mat (which is awful in itself), floors that need to be swept a few times a day, toys that need picking up and clothes that need putting away (also a few times a day,) errands that need to be run, Lists that need to be written, food that needs to be bought, dinner and lunches that need to be made, a baby that deserves my time and attention, a husband that needs a wife, a blog that needs updating, school work that needs to be done, a dishwasher that needs to be loaded/unloaded, dishes that need to be put away, bills that need to be paid and so on and so on and so on.

I don't know how I get done what I do get done but I also don't know how I am supposed to get it all done when it needs to be.

I have been completely neglecting the blog because sometimes I forget or sometimes whats in my brain isn't even worth writing about...if there is anything in there at all.

Recently I was busy because I was lucky enough to do an engagement shoot for my friend and her amazing fiance.

If you want to see the pictures click HERE to be redirected to Rambling Photographys Facebook page! While you're over there hit that "like" button!

The shoot (my first!) was so much fun. It was freezing and windy but I had a bunch of great locations I wanted to shoot at so we suffered through the wind blown hair, freezing fingers and running noses and got some great shots! 

I was insanely nervous to see what the soon-to-be bride and groom thought of the pics. I edited them and sent them over-and they loved them...but I was not convinced of their awesomeness until she put them on her fb page and people who I don't even know loved them. THAT solidified it. 

I'M THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHER IN THE WORLD!

ok..not really..not even close..but it definitely gives me hope that people will want to hire me to shoot the little moments in their life that deserve capturing!

Here is a teaser

...now you know you want to so go to Rambling Photography on FB and check out the rest!

17 of 25

5 favorite actors, 5 favorite actresses

1-Diane Keaton
2- Anne Hathaway
3- Sandra Bullock
4- Mandy Moore
5- Rachel McAdams

1- Christopher Meloni
2- Robert Deniro
3- Johnny Depp
4- Stanley Tucci
5- Alec Baldwin (yup, he called his daughter a pig and I can't help but still find him hysterical)

I love money!

Something happened today that hasn't happened in a long time.

I had extra money!

Sure I could've paid extra on some bills or bought groceries but I decided it was time to buy me a little somethin somethin.

I never buy myself stuff that I do not need whatsoever but decided to go for it.

I recently ran out of my mineral veil make-up from Bare Minerals so I bought 2 of them! I also bought extra powder foundation for when I run out (since I prob wont have extra money then) and then I splurged and got TWO rockin nail polishes!

They are Sephora by O.P.I and they are fabulous!

I like dark colors on my toes and I rarely paint my nails because I am a biter and my nails are horrific (it really is an addiction) but I am going to give myself a full mani and pedi tonight! 

Toes  

(much lighter than my usual but its such an interesting color)

Nails
(best color EVER)

AWESOME!

So even if it is a little something go splurge! Its important to do something that is purely for you and you only every now and then.

Treat yourself to a fabulous new nail polish, moisturizer or make-up item...its those little things that make us mamas happy!

AND YOU DESERVE IT!

16 of 25

Put your music player on shuffle, list the first 10 songs that come up

 (please keep in mind my ipod is updated about once a year)

1- Reel Big Fish- Beer
2- Don McLean- American Pie
3- Hawthrone Heights- Niki FM
4- Luzer- In The End
5- Reel Big Fish- Brown Eyed Girl
6- Juice Newton- Angel of the Morning
7- Dane Cook- Kool-aid Man
8- Mighty Mighty Bosstones- The Impression That I get
9- Biggie- Big Poppa
10- Good Charlotte- The Little Things

15 of 25

10 places you want to visit before you die

1- Santorini, Greece

2- Australia

3- Italy

4- Yellowstone National Park

5- Yosemite National Park

6- Tangier, Morocco

7- Alaska

8- Africa

9- Canada (Niagara Falls)

10- Hawaii