Happy Valentine's Day!!!

The Piraino house is full of love today! We started the morning with some heart shaped pancakes made by Ava and Mommy.

I wanted to get a picture of Ava smiling with the pancakes, but I guess she was too hungry to pose.

My Valentine present came right after breakfast - very sweet!!

Ava and Sam opening presents - Ava got some Disney princesses and Dora books - (she may have been more excited about the balloon attached to my flowers) and Sam got some teething rings (cannot get enough of those right now!) Don't you love how James cut me out of the picture - I was ready for my close-up!!

Our heart shaped lunch - Ava's favorite (Chef Boyardee pizza) or as we call it here - Granny pizza. I think Ava liked it!

Our little project of the day was Valentines cards for the grandparents. I owe a sincere apology to any grandparents reading because your cards are obviously going to be a little late - SORRY!!!

Bacon and Tomato Cups

I belong to a local group called MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers). We meet a couple times a month and have great speakers and discussions about life with little ones. At each meeting a different group is responsible for bringing breakfast type foods. At our last meeting a fellow mom brought bacon and tomato cups. Now I am not a fan of bacon, so I was a little leery, but they are soooo good! I wanted to share the recipe.

Ingredients:
1 10-count can biscuits
1 pound bacon, crisp-fried, crumbled
2 small or 1 large tomato, seeded, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
6 ounces Swiss cheese, shredded
1/2-1 cup mayonnaise, enough to bind the ingredients
2 teaspoons basil

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Spray mini-muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray. Separate biscuits; cut into quarters. Spread out in prepared muffin cups. Combine remaining ingredients in bowl, add enough mayonnaise to bind them together, and fill muffin cups. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, spoon mixture which has overflowed back into the cups. Return to oven and bake about 5 more minutes. Cool in pan 5-10 minutes before removing.

On a side note, Ava has Mother's Day Out on Thursday so Sam and I spent the day together. He is such a happy little boy!!

The Honeymoon is Over!

We moved Ava to her big girl bed about a month ago. The day that we decided to make the move, I psyched myself out all day. I anticipated that she would get out of the bed and have horrible fits. I was wrong - for a whole month she didn't move from the bed until I came to get her. I couldn't have been happier and even though I knew different, I told myself that she would do that forever!! Well.... she has definitely figured out now that she can get out of the bed and my earlier fears have now come true. The first day it happened, I had no clue. I was in my room doing laundry thinking both kids were peacefully napping, then I heard screams coming from Sam's room. That is unusual - so I went to check it out. And what did I find- Ava standing on the edge of the crib throwing random items from the room into the bed. After my initial shock, I escorted her back to her room and the battle began. It has since gotten a little better, but I now understand what parents call "travelers in the night!"

Ava in her big bed - she is only allowed a paci in bed!

The Big 59!!!

My dad celebrated his 59th birthday yesterday. We all got together at my house on Friday to celebrate though. We had spaghetti (yum!!) and all the fixings. It is so great that we can get together often and share these occasions. And no one is happier about this than Ava!! She LOVES to see everyone. My kids have the opposite reaction to everything. When people come over, Ava will go to anyone and loves it. She will not have anything to do with me. Sam, on the other hand, wants only me. He will take one look at anyone else and scream his head off -definitely a Mommy's boy!!

Playing Dress Up

I hope that Sam does not hate me one day for this and I vow now to destroy all evidence, but the thing that makes Ava the happiest right now is playing dress up. Except she doesn't want to dress herself, she wants everyone else to wear her princess play clothes. So yesterday we had another fun-filled day of dressing Sam and our dog, Elle. She is very particular too, she will adjust and readjust until it is exactly how she wants it.

Another cute thing that Ava is doing right now is labeling EVERY object she sees as Daddy, Mommy and baby. She labels everything - the grapes on her plate, her toes, crayons, her shoes - Everything!!! Thank goodness the Daddy is always bigger than the Mommy or we might have a problem!!

Napa Countdown

James and I are leaving for Napa in 3 weeks and 3 days. Instead of the normal Christmas presents (he happens to be the hardest person to buy gifts for in the world) we decided to take a trip. Now when it came time to plan the trip, I had LOTS of ideas!! Vegas - no, New Orleans - no, New York City - no!!! James didn't like any of my choices so I said he could pick which is fine with me, but I knew it was going to be a beach somewhere (probably Belize). Then he came home one night and said Napa Valley - What????!! He is definitely not a Napa Valley person, but I am not complaining and only wish I had thought of it first. Now I am very excited, but I have two issues. The first, of course, is the kids. It remains to be seen if I can even leave them for 5 days. I was away from Ava for one night when I had Sam and that is it! And I obviously have not spent any time away from Sam. It is hard right now to imagine being away from them for that long. And issue number 2 - clothes. Oh my goodness - I have not been shopping for so long and I usually don't wear anything other than Mommy clothes. I am definitely in need of a new wardrobe - Napa Style!!

The place we are staying in Napa - James' choice (if it were me we would be staying at the local Holiday Inn)

http://www.meadowood.com/

Super Bowl 2009 - Babies, Babies and more Babies!

We had a Super Bowl party here last night and had so much fun. We are so fortunate to have such great friends and family. James has built himself a man cave behind our house with a projector and a big movie screen so he was dying to have people over and watch it out there. The men all stayed out in that building and all the women were inside watching the game with the kiddos. We had most of the food though. Speaking of, we had sooo much food and most of it is in the refrigerator right now calling my name!! I knew that most of our friends had babies or young kids, but it was really funny to get them all together. There were babies everywhere!! It was definitely a bipartisan crowd - there were equal number of Arizona and Steeler fans. And I am so glad that it turned out to be such a good game - I actually did get to sit down for the last couple minutes when it got really good!!

Luke and Ashley are checking each other out!

Carla and Lucas

The wing man!! - my dad

Bad Mommy - I gave Ava a cupcake and then sent her to bed

Ashley and Ava - and crazy Rob with the rabbit ears

The man cave!!

On a side note, I got a haircut this weekend and I really like the new style. It is shorter in the back and a little longer in the front and layered. James said it looks like a chili bowl - is that a compliment? I don't think so!!!