Friday, December 31, 2010

Happy New Year!

I'm enjoying my New Year's Eve with my two favorite guys :)

Wishing everyone a healthy & happy 2011!!!!!

Basement Project

Pete is still working his butt off in the basement. The end is in sight!!! In the last week he has put the hardwood floor done, installed the ceiling grid, bought the doors and last night his friend Ryan came over to help him finish up all the outlets and lighting. Thanks so much to Ryan!! We're hoping to be down in the basement in two weeks!!!
The walls are painted, hardwood section of the flooring is in and the electrical work is done!

The ceiling grid and recess lighting is up!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Operation Paci

Bye bye Paci!!!

Operation Paci began on Sunday. I don't want to pull a George Bush and say mission accomplished to early, but he is doing great! On Sunday night I cut the paci's so that he could still hold them because that is what he likes to do! He put one in his mouth, said "uh oh"! I said it was broke and he started to cry, he was devastated. I felt like such a horrible mom. He was upset for about a half hour. When it was time for bed, he went down holding a couple and did fine sleeping. The next night he realized they were still broke but didn't get upset and went to bed again with them. The last two nights, he hasn't even asked for them and he hasn't seen one in days! The whole process was much easier then I thought it would be!!!


Helping Nonni at her office :)

Looked who stopped by!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

True Crime Books


My two favorite book genres are Biographies & True Crime. I asked for the book One Promise Kept for Christmas and will hopefully finish that book during Peter's nap today.
Here are 5 true crime books that I would recommend in no particular order.

1. Finding Amy by: Deputy Chief Joseph K. Loughin & Kate Clark Flora
...... a must read if you're from the state of Maine!

2. Bitter Blood by: Jerry Bledsoe
...... a bitter divorce and a crazy ex wife.

3. Finding Laci by: Sharon Rocha
.......part biography, part true crime, heartbreaking.

4. Almost Paradise: The East Hampton Murder of Ted Ammon by: Kieren Crowley
.......another divorce story (so many true crime involve divorce!)

5. And Never Let Her Go by: Ann Rule
.... I have read almost all of Ann Rule's books. If you love true crime, she is a must read!

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Book Reviews

I love books, it's no secret! Since I was little, I read before bedtime. Now a days it is usually the only time I get a chance to read. BC (before children) I use to read a book a week. When I was nannying down in Cambridge I would read 2 - 3 books a week. The library is one of my closest friends, haha!! Since I read books so quickly I request them through the library and it saves me a lot of money. I use to have three big bookcases full of books but with a growing family, gave many away and am now down to only one. When I was pregnant with Peter, every week I bought a new book for him so that he would have his own little library. I continue to add to it for him and for "baby dos".

While reading another blog, I noticed that she did book reviews on the books she read. Why didn't I think of that!!! I loved the idea and will start doing it here. Stay tuned for my first one this week!!!

Monday, December 27, 2010

There is a storm outside....

but the roads aren't bad inside!

Menu Plan Monday


I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!My sister-in-law told me yesterday that she enjoys my menu posts! I was very happy to hear I had yet another person who reads my blog and apologized again for not having very exciting meals right now with my pregnancy! This week I am on vacation (WOO HOO) so not sure how the week will really go. I am suppose to get together one night with some girlfriends for dinner and I think we will have friends over one night so here is what I have planned so far.
Monday: Hash from our Christmas Eve boiled dinner.
Tuesday: Stuffed Shells & garlic bread
Wednesday: not sure yet, thinking we might have friends over.
Thursday: Pasta e Fagoli
Friday: New Year's Eve.... not sure yet, maybe dinner out?

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Christmas Day!

Buna woke up at 6:30 on Christmas morning with a very wet diaper and PJ's. So he opened his presents with no pajama's on! It was so fun watching him and seeing his reaction to his presents. It makes Christmas so fun, can't believe we'll have two of them next year!
Here he is reading one of his new books!

Opening his Cabela's adventure truck & trailer....he loves it!

After we opened gifts and had our cinnamon rolls that we have cooked every Christmas for breakfast since we have lived here, we headed over to the Wescott's. We do Christmas with my family the week before, it's so nice to not run around on Christmas Day!!! Joe's parents came over and we all opened presents and enjoyed the morning together. I got a new printer and a book I wanted, Pete got stuff to go with his new smoker and Buna got spoiled with lots of gifts! We then took him home to take a nap and Pete and I got to relax for a while.

All of us with Gram & Papa Wescott


Jenny, 24 weeks and I'm at 30 weeks!

After his nap, we went over to see Pam's side of the family, the Berniers. They live in our neighborhood so it took us all of one minute to drive from our house to theirs! Pam's brother Randy, who lives in NC and we haven't seen in over two years was there with his wife and son Seth. There were three boys under the age of 5 running all around. It was a great visit!


Peter with his 2nd cousins Adam & Seth, both 4...


Using the easel that his Aunt Jenny & Uncle Craig got him. This will be the last photo of him that you see a paci in his mouth. Today we say goodbye to them... wish us luck! We had a wonderful and enjoyable Christmas!! Hope you all had the same:)

Friday, December 24, 2010

Santa Peter

Peter doing his Santa impersonation in the bath tonight!

Merry Christmas from the Wescott's

Thursday, December 23, 2010

Cupcake Heaven

Today I had a cupcake decorating party for the daycare kids. It was a big hit! As you can see from the photos, Peter did more eating then decorating!! He really enjoyed himself!

Loving this treat!



This is his new "cheese" face, whenever he now sees me taking a picture......he makes this face!

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

First Snow


On Monday afternoon, we got our first snow of the year. Since Buna was so young last year, this was really his first experience with it. He wasn't all that impressed!

coming back from sledding with Daddy.

Deciding he's had enough of the snow!

Chipotle Grill

...... has arrived in Portland!!! It takes us a few years to get anything that most of the world already has. The first time I went was in Denver, CO visiting my friend Jill. It was SO GOOD!! Usually you can't use fresh and fast food in the same sentence, but that is how you would describe this place! The closest one for a few years has been in Portsmouth, NH and I would go eat there whenever I was down there!

Check out the menu and go enjoy!! Their website.....

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Sunday Christmas

On Sunday we headed to Dad & Jan's to celebrate Christmas. They are down on Cape Cod on Christmas so we celebrate before hand. We had a great time and enjoyed the tradition of getting KFC for our dinner, something we have done for twenty years!
Opening one of his bobcat toys from Mame & Papa.

In front of the tree :)

Monday, December 20, 2010

Saturday Christmas

A couple of years ago my Mom decided that we would celebrate Christmas the Saturday before so that we could all be at our own homes on Christmas morning. It has worked out great! We do a nice italian dinner. This year we added a yankee swap for the adults to the mix. The kids all got a lot of great stuff and a good time was had by all!
29 weeks pregnant

Sisters :)

baby Jack's first Christmas gift from Aunt Laura!


Gwen & Peter hugging :)

Nonni & Poppi with the kids!

Menu Plan Monday

For some reason,I am having trouble uploading photos to my blog! Ugh! It will say it uploaded but then there is no photo in the post.... so annoyed. We did a lot this weekend that I want to show!! Can't believe this week is Christmas! Our celebrating has already started, hopefully I will be able to get photos up tonight!

Monday: Chicken Pot Pie & salad
Tuesday: Tacos
Wednesday: Spiral Ham, green beans & mashed potatoes
Thursday: leftover ham = hash!
Friday: Christmas Eve!!!

Monday, December 13, 2010

Menu Plan Monday

Pete asked for more meat this week, I haven't done a great job of putting it on the menu since I can't eat it, but need to remember that the Pete's enjoy it!!
Monday: Dinner at Papa & Mame's
Tuesday: Pork Chops, mashed potatoes & green beans
Thursday: Steak, rice & salad
Friday: Take out!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

I'm Ready For Some Football!


I'm ready for the Patriot's game today!!!

Thanks for my jersey Aunt Joanne!!

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Daddy Got a Duck


Last Saturday, while we were enjoying breakfast with Santa, Pete was duck hunting. When he came through the door with a duck, Buna started quacking! He wasn't afraid to touch it all all! Also, check out his shirt, I bought it at Carter's, I thought it was so cute!
When I went to a Lia Sophia jewerly party on Sunday night, the boys enjoyed some duck breasts for dinner! Glad that Pete will expose our boys to stuff like that!

Monday, December 6, 2010

Laura's Parties Go National!

My sister Laura has always had a knack for creating a good party! A while back she decided she wanted to start a small party planning business, Live Laugh, Celebrate! She'll be planning Buna's 2nd party (a barnyard theme) since I will have a newborn. Last month she started a blog to showcase photos of her parties. Make sure you check it out!

Yesterday, another blog called Celebrations At Home, based in Virginia, featured one of Laura's parties! I hope she gets a lot of recognition from it! Congrats Laura!!

Menu Plan Monday

Another Busy week! We didn't get a chance to make one of our meals last week, so I am putting it on the menu from this week.
Monday: Dinner at Nonni & Poppi's
Tuesday: Beef Parmesan
Wednesday: Lasagna
Thursday: Orange Chicken
Friday: Pizza

Sunday, December 5, 2010

A Fun Saturday!

For the last 10 years the Westbrook/Warren Church on Main St. in Westbrook has held the Festival of Trees, it runs on donations. This is the 1st year I have ever gone. It is great for kids! They had a breakfast with Santa, 45 decorated trees and a huge train display. Buna loved it. I was shocked how easy it was to get him to sit with Santa, three weeks ago in Florida he screamed when he saw Santa. We looked at all the trees and of course he LOVED the trains. It runs for a week and I think I am going to try to go back with him. I love this time of year!

Looking at all the trees.
For the last 4 years we have gone with Pete's cousin Kyle and his wife Sara to cut down a Christmas tree. Some years other people join us, this year was small. We had Lindsay, Kurt's girlfriend with us. It was getting cold and we were lucky to find a tree pretty quickly! Love the tradition we started with Kyle & Sara!




Our family :)



I thought I could cut it down... It sawed for about 1 minute, then Kyle helped!



This year's crew.

Saturday, December 4, 2010

What a Find!!!


27 weeks pregnant.....
So no one told me about this until now??? This is my second pregnancy!! My friend Kelly came over last night with Fre Wine, an alcohol removed wine popular for pregnant women. It was red wine, and it tasted a lot like grape juice, but being able to pour it out of a bottle and into a wine glass made it so enjoyable!! I am going to try the white wine next. Thanks for the discovery Kelly!! It made my night!

Kelly & I enjoying our wine, while Pete & Brandon drink their beer!!

Buna being silly for our guests :)

Monday, November 29, 2010

Menu Plan Monday


For those of you who follow my blog and check out my menu plan, I'm sorry it's so boring lately but with my food aversions with this pregnancy, I am very limited to what I can eat.
Monday: Fetticine Alfredo & garlic bread
Tuesday: BLT's
Wednesday: Potato Soup (a crockpot favorite of mine!)
Thursday: Beef Parmesan (aka meatloaf), green beans, mashed potatoes
Friday: take out :)

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Basement Project


Wow, a week ago today Pete started the basement! He has worked hard all day every day this week (except for turkey day)! I didn't realize how much he would get done! He has done a lot of it by himself, which impresses me even more. He did get help with the wiring and heating, and we are thankful for that! I can't wait to more the daycare down there!

all the heating & wiring is installed also!

The entryway where there will be a bench for kids to sit and remove their shoes.

Looking into the room, love how Pete made the half wall.. After work this week, he'll mud the walls so that we can paint it next. After we paint the walls, all we'll have to install is the flooring, trimwork & the ceiling. We are going to have hardwood pop & lock on half the floor and carpet on the rest.
all sheetrocked....to the left will be shelves & storage!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble, Gobble!!

We started off Thanksgiving morning like we always do... cooking our own turkey. Even though we alternate famililes each year, we cook our own turkey every year so that we can make sandwiches, soup & other dishes. About 3 years ago I tried brining our turkey and it turned out so good, we've done it ever since. After we got the turkey in the oven, Pete made us a great breakfast to eat while we enjoyed the Macy's Day Parade. Peter loved seeing all the big balloons!

Watching Daddy get the turkey out of the brine bucket....

This year it was it my Mom's turn so we went there for dinner. Nicole was there along with Michael's side of the family. Five kids under the age of 4, so lots of fun! Dinner was yummy, thanks to my food aversions I couldn't eat the turkey but there were lots of sides to choose from and they were all good! They fried the turkey and it was a hit. We had a great day.

The Lesperance & Wescott families
Gwen & Peter holding hands & having fun :)

We left my Mom's and swung by the Wescott house where Pam was hosting members of her side of the family. We enjoyed some pie and Peter got to play with his 2nd cousins, Adam & Emma. It was a great Thanksgiving!!


The oldest & youngest Bernier cousins. Peter 30, Emma 6 months



The Wescott clan