Tis the Season!

Tis the season for Christmas pictures! I have been crazy busy with them lately. Just this past weekend I had 4 separate photo shoots and this weekend I have another 4. Whoa! What happened to relaxing on my weekends? ha! Anyhoo, they are fun, and sick as it is, I actually enjoy them and all the crazy chaos that goes along with them. Because in the end you're making memories and you just might come out with a gem of a picture....

Happy Belated Birthday Maura!

Only one day late.....Happy 34th!!

Pumpkin Head

Oh my gosh, how could I have forgotten to post this picture. This was my favorite one of the whole night! I laughed so hard after I took it. Cadence did this all on her own with no prompting from me. I just told her I wanted to get a picture of her pumpkin. haaaaaaa!!!!

Insects

I present to you the ladybug and the butterfly. Cadence was really "Barbie Mariposa" but that's just a fancy name for a barbie with wings like a butterfly. :)

SNOW!!

We had snow here today in Pittsburgh! Not much, just .3" but it made my day. I can't help it, the stuff just makes me smile. And I know it's only October 29th and this means we could be in for a bad winter but I don't care. I love snow!!

Happy Birthday Auntie Mare!

Hope you go out drinking and have a good time.....I mean I hope that someone takes you to dinner....but just in case make sure you get a designated driver!....Nate...Trish....Stevie Pete....that is your job....

Love,
Alana

Another Big Ben Sighting!

I had another Big Ben sighting!! I saw him on Tuesday night at the BP across from Friday's on McKnight. He smiled at me on his walk into the store. I'm convinced he's stalking me. I'm also convinced that if he wasn't playing football that he would be a complete thug.

He was driving a black range rover this time. The grandma in front of the store was completely mesmerized by him. Her granddaughter couldn't have cared less, but she still said hi to him when he came back out. He gave her a cutesy wave and a "hey how are ya". Next time I see him I am soooo getting a picture with him. It will be fate and they say the third time is a charm! Here's the best i could do with my cell phone camera....

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!

I'll try to post a few pics from the party this weekend! It was good times!

Cleveland Children's Museum

"I'm sorry sir, we only take rubles."

This is why we take the stroller to the grocery store!!! See pic above for proof. I have to drag the cart behind me, with the stroller in front. Otherwise, Cole jumps out and tries to put everything in the cart.

"Do you think Mom will notice if I jump in?"

"You won't feel a thing." Cole playing doctor at the age of two. Oh boy am I in trouble. How cute is his patient?

Florida Bound

Hope all is well with everybody......give Uncle Pete a hug for me.....glad his surgery went well today....I hope that they didn't let him watch the Steeler's game.....they might have to keep him in the hospital longer if that's the case....which explains why I am still up.....

I leave tomorrow for Florida for the National Invitational Tournament f or Special Olympics Golf.....We have about 222 athletes this year so I will be heading to bed shortly.I will try to take some pictures this year or some video so that Trish won't yell at me....

Sorry that I won't be there for the munchkin's birthday....so Happy Birthday Ava....

Nighty Night...
Alana

Ears Pierced

I'm way behind on all the things I wanted to post seeing as this major event happened over a month ago......Cadence got her ears pierced!!! She had been begging Lish to go get them pierced so one afternoon Lish finally had the time to take her up to the mall. Cadence was so excited! Here's her before shot:

Ok, time to make the preparations.....

Now, on the count of three (look how intense Cadence looks)

Ta-dahhhh!! I told you she was excited! She didn't even flinch or shed a tear. She was too busy bubbling with excitement.

And now the "after" shot.... She was beaming from ear to ear. ha!

So after a quick stop at Chick-fil-a for a celebration milkshake, the girls took a ride on the train to continue celebrating.

And after the ride was all over, some other little girl was jealous of all of the attention being on Cadence so she decided to run to the middle of the train track and rearrange the decorations. Hey Aunt Trish, you want a rubber ducky?! ha!

Happy Birthday to me and Max

I would like to add that I (Alicia) also sometimes read this blog too. And by the way where is mine and Max's Happy birthday we are a part of the family too. I do recall it being a fairly big one for me also. You know I enjoy spending my 30th at work then meeting my husband at the emergency room with my baby with her tooth hanging out. That will be one to remember. We are now buying rubber mulch for around the play set. I would also like to add a few days later I spent my day in the ER with severe nausea and dehydration. But don't worry I am fine now. And I will remember no one cares enough to put me on the blog.

Sorry Max only picture on my computer I have of you, the rest is on ofoto.

Congrats Trish!

I do believe that as I type that Trish is partaking in a few alcoholic beverages.....very responsibly though..... she is staying over at Maggies place.....Don't callher early tomorrow morning....

For those of you who don't know....how that is I am not sure, Trish had her last day at the Center of Emergency Medicine today......she has the week off and then off to work doing pretty much the same thing with more money and lots of fun with Pediatrics......SHe is the biggest kid I know besides myself.....

Yay!....Go Trish....Go Trish......! No worries though basically the only people reading this is Trish....me and Janet Lenz.......so Wooohoooo and YIPPEE!

I think on that note....I will go have a cold beverage myself......

Happy Birthday Ron!

Happy Birthday to the old man of the grandkids......man are you getting up there.....don't worry I still don't respect my elders after all these years.....Since you didn't answer your phone

a. you are working
b. you are out getting trashed...
c. you are asleep and didn't hear the phone...Lame excuse by the way no matter what your age
d. you didn't recognize the number and ignored it...
e. you recognized the number and ignored it.....
f. who the hell knows or cares......

Hope it is a good one......

Ooka Chacka, Ooka Chacka

Sit back, relax, and turn your head to the side to view this one. Cadence is busy with her drill sergeant antics of yelling at everyone to exercise if they are a boy or a girl. When all of a sudden in the background she hears the tune that starts "ooka chacka, ooka chacka" and can't help but stop and dance. Totally cracks me up! Sorry for the sideways view and poor quality but I took the video with my cellphone. Enjoy!

Success!!

Yea!!! My camera didn't crash and all went well at my friend's wedding. It was truly one of the best weddings I've ever been to. Small, intimate, beautiful, and completely stress free. That's definitely the way I want to do it. Anyway, here are a few of my pics...

A New Family Member

Two weeks ago, Lish and Gary added yet another member to their already growing family. His name is Luke and he's a German short hair or in other words a hunting dog. Hmmmm, I wonder if this new addition was for the kids or Gary? Sounds fishy to me. :) Regardless of his purpose, he's cute as a button! Too bad they can't stay small and cute.

Happy Belated 35th Birthday Trish!

I hope that everybody called you or took you to dinner....etc.....Somehow we had some nice storms here the last two evenings and I couldn't get on my computer at home and somehow we are now blocked at work.So HAPPY BIRTHDAY......besides I called you twice and nobody reads Alana's and Trish's Blog aka The Family Fudge....because if they did then one of their lazy #$%es would have put something on here yesterday......

Wish me luck!

I'm headed to Seven Springs this weekend to photograph my first official wedding.....solo!! Please pray that all of my equipment works and doesn't fail me. My good friend Gina is getting married and asked me to photograph it. It is a super small wedding. Only 24 guests in attendance so I'm not too nervous. And hopefully all the pics will turn out as nice as this one did that I took of them at a wedding in June.

Buttons

I did some dog sitting at the end of June for my friend Karen. Her dog Buttons is the sweetest little thing. She's getting up there in age so watching her was a breeze. All she did was sleep!! Anyway, one of the days I was dog sitting I was also babysitting Cadence and Ava. They thought Buttons was the greatest thing. Took her out for walks in the backyard, read her stories and even tucked her into her bed. It was so cute. You're welcome Lish! (Now they want their own dog more than ever). Anyway, as you can see from the pictures below Buttons' smile left quite an impression on the two of them. :)

Vroom, vroom!

Speaking of Alex....don't know how many of you have heard but Alex bought himself a new little toy. Yikes!! Makes me nervous (yes, i'm old), but I am happy to see that he bought it in the proper colors for showing off his Steelers Pride.

Aruba, Jamaica, ewww I wanna take her...

....down to Kokomooooo. We'll get there fast and then we'll take it slow. Ok, ok, I'll stop. I can't help myself though. Every time I hear someone say the word Aruba, I have to break out into that song. It's like it some kind of law or something. Anyway, the reason I mention Aruba is that Alex is headed there this weekend!!! I'm soooo jealous. Lauren and her family have invited him down to vacation with them for the week. How awesome is that?! So just think that while you go about your day next week, Alex will be looking at this....

QOP

Just wanted to show you guys some proof as to why I am the Queen Of Procrastination. I took this picture on July 11th. Yes, that is a snow shovel and rock salt still on my deck next to my grill and summer pruning tools. I did finally take them both back into the basement but only because I was having company over on the 12th. :)

Happy Anniversary Max and Christa Joy!

Oh where have the years gone.....Congratulations!

Mary, Mary, quite contrary...

...how does your garden grow? Ok, so if any of you know me you know that I am not a fan of gardening. Too much maintenance with the watering, pruning, weed control, and don't even get me started on the bugs. To give you an idea of my expertise check out this picture of a weed that was growing in my front yard. Actually, I think it's pretty impressive. No maintenance and the thing is already 4 feet tall!

Anyhoo, so now onto the gardening part. No... it isn't Mary being the gardener. It's actually Nathan. He's a big fan of peppers and such so he planted a little garden in the back yard. I'm not sure if anything has come up yet, but I'll let you know once they do. I can't wait! Although I don't like the work of a garden, I most certainly appreciate what it offers. Yummy fresh veggies!
Finally, in case you guys were wondering who my favorite person is this week.....it's Steve!! I had some friends over this weekend and just so it looked extra special, Steve did some mulching for me. I so wish I had a before picture to show you guys what it looked like, but I'm sure most of you probably remember, loads of dead grass, tons of weeds, etc. I can't even begin to tell you how excited I am! I can't stop looking at it! Even when I'm in the house I can't resist the urge to take a peek out my window at it. It just looks so good! Whenever we have more time, we are going to take out the old stumps and roots and eventually mulch up the side of the house and in the front yard. Next summer.....flowers! Yep, I said it. I may even take the plunge. It just looks so good! Have I mentioned that? Hmm, now I wonder if Steve will be available for watering and such....

Happy Wedding Anniversary to Uncle Pete & Aunt Joyce

I don't have Trish's expertise in photography nor do I have your wedding photo from the Family DVD to remind you back that FAR, but I just wanted to wish you guys a Happy Wedding Anniversary today......hope it's a great one......Celebrate it in style.....by the way if I am 37 years young think how many years you have been married......OH MY!

Love ya,

Alana-Marie

Live Action Birthday!

Don't judge the singing....these aren't the American Idol tryouts after all.

Stevie Pete's Birthday

I offered to be the designated driver, but I live too far away.....and I don't have enough cash on me right now.....so don't do anything crazy.....although last I heard he was just getting out of bed at 5:30 this evening and he was going to do his math homework....sounds lame to me for a 23 year old......somebody help that kid out PLEASE!....Happy Birthday Steve....

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

So, I was driving home from work on Monday and I was annoyed by the zit on my cheek soooooo, I pulled my visor down to take a look at it. Well, at the exact same time a small spider had apparently come down from the ceiling and was just about to land on my cheek. I of course screamed and freaked out and flung it off me……or so I thought. I didn’t know where it went, all I know is I wanted it dead. I was what some might call "freaking out". Keep in mind I’m still trying to drive through all of this panicking. I’m looking all over my clothes and still trying to keep myself on the road. I adjust my seat belt and bam! there he is again. I freak and fling again. This time he landed on the floor but I don’t see him. I pull my pant legs up as high as possible so he can’t crawl up them and I drive the rest of the way to Lish’s house completely freaked on where this thing is. People driving by probably thought I had a crazy twitch or something the way I kept moving my body around. Thankfully I made it to Lish's safe and sound. But just when I thought my trauma was over....... I leave Lish’s house and I’m on 79 talking to my friend Jacquie when I see the little bastard again near my window. I scream, tell her I have to put the phone down and then kill the son of a B. I reach in my purse for a piece of paper and finally success.....I smashed him and thankfully didn't smash myself into another car. I got back on the phone and Jacquie wanted to know what happened. She thought I was avoiding some kind of car crash. She about peed her pants when she found out all of that commotion was over a spider. I'm telling you though, it was VERY traumatic and in my defense I was avoiding a car crash....my own! Anyway, just thought you would all like to know that I still hate all bugs....especially while driving. :)

Flooded Creek

A few weeks ago, June 16th to be exact, we had so much rain that the creek in the backyard overflowed its banks and I mean overflowed. Whoa! Check out some of these pics....




and a little video too...