The Story Of Us

We started the year off with H's first birthday party.. and I am so happy to report it was a huge success.. everything went smoothly, all the kids especially my two boys had a blast.. the birthday boy was tear free! I was no sure about a theme at first.. one thing I knew was that I wanted.. needed it to be something simple and cute.. and what is cuter that a rubber ducky? We sent out evites.. thank God for evite.. it makes things so much easier. Favors: from Oriental Trading Cake: I went with delicious adorable cupcakes made by my oh so talented friend.. and a little smash cake for little H. from Walmart I got these little blue cardboard cupcake stands...cute and easy to assemble. Decor: Except for a few balloon near the cake table me did no extra decoration.. we were already in a nice restaurant and it just didn't seem worth the hassle.  Entertainment: Since we had a majority of older kids including D we needed to keep them entertained....

1. Signature of All Things - Elizabeth Gilbert - I started the year off by finishing what I had started the year before. the novel follows the fortunes of the extraordinary Whittaker family as led by the enterprising Henry Whittaker, a poor-born Englishman who makes a great fortune in the South American quinine trade, eventually becoming the richest man in Philadelphia. Born in 1800, Henry's brilliant daughter, Alma (who inherits both her father's money and his mind), ultimately becomes a botanist of considerable gifts herself. As Alma's research takes her deeper into the mysteries of evolution, she falls in love with a man named Ambrose Pike who makes incomparable paintings of orchids and who draws her in the exact opposite direction, into the realm of the spiritual, the divine, and the magical. It started with promise.. the middle was interesting and not all that I had expected but it was the end that was a let down.. which seemed to drag on a little longer than needed...

Here we are.. twenty fifteen! I am ready.. 2014 was a bit exhausting.. and I am tired. We started our year off with a bang.. when little  H  came into our world.              and his big brother celebrate a birthday too..  D turned four ! Most of the year was spent working on house projects. The  living room , our  command center  and  the pantry  and we started work on the basement and we planned to give our formal dinning room a new function. And it is so near completion.. I can hardly wait! There were no long trips or exotic travels this year :(  Instead the year was full of day trips to the  zoo ,  Philadelphia ,  apple picking  and the  Jersey Shore .  and a few weekend getaway's  Upstate New York ,  Great Wolf Lodge  and  Niagara Falls .. including a trip a Lion Safari . Get my post directly in you inbox with...

I hope you all had a wonderful love, family and food filled Holiday season.. and a great New Year. The last few days of our year were spent spending time with family. My mom has been visiting for the past few months and around Christmas my dad flew in and will be spending a little over a month with us. D had been counting down the days and is now ecstatic. We spent and still are doing weekly movie nights Home Alone was a huge hit in our house,  sipping hot coco and playing games, UNO, Dominos, Foosball We also spent those days wrapping things up.. M took over a week off work and we tied up all the loose ends on our home projects.. pictures and details will come soon. While it was exhausting towards the end seeing the projects come to a close have been also very exciting and rewarding. You can take a look at some of our other home projects here Other days were spent doing a few last minute tasks for Hasan's big birthday bash.. yup can you believe it, he is one! With us as...