{happy valentine's day!}

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you like the new festive look to the blog. I only had to take 300 pictures to get one semi-decent one for the new blog header. Here are some of the outtakes:








Ever the good brother, Gerard decided to teach Morgan how to make goofy faces. As if she wasn't a pro at this already.






And in case you wanted to see her tonsils:


I always make something to go with Gerard's valentines. This year we made little Hershey bar wrappers:

{holy sh*t}

Five miles from my parents' apartment and less than 8 from where I grew up....
Plane Crashes in Clarence

{hockey pictures}

I almost forgot to post Gerard's hockey pictures! Forgive me for blurring out the team name, but you know how I feel about giving away identifying information!

{move over sliced bread}

Want to know what's better than sliced bread? Read on....

1. I've been meaning to blog about this one for a while. It's life changing. Phenomenal. The best thing ever. My life hasn't been the same since Debbie introduced me to Urban Decay Eyeshadow Primer.

FAAAABULOUS!!!!



2. iTunes. Yes, I know. I've been slow getting on the iPod boat. But now that I'm on, a tsunami couldn't knock me off. So far the only songs on my iPod are songs from albums that I already own, but I've been perusing the iTunes store carefully calculating and contemplating what I should buy. (Who would have thought that 99 cents would be such a big deal!) Well, today Gerard gave me an iTunes gift card as an early Valentine's day present and I'm going to town! Actually I only bought one song, but I'm still excited: Jason Mraz "I'm Yours".

Any suggestions for my next purchase?



3. Can you say SMOOOOTH? I can now, thanks to this new Lubriderm lotion.

SMOOOOTH!



4. One word. Facebook. I only wish I had more time to really use it. It's been cool reconnecting with old friends. It's been not-so-cool connecting with people I didn't like 15 years ago.



5. As I've mentioned before, Morgan is our little artist. She LOVES to color. She'll use crayons, markers, pencils, pens. She'll color on coloring books, plain paper, loose-leaf paper, tables, walls, doors, blinds, floors, dolls. You get the picture, I'm sure. I hate to stifle her creativity, so I can't say loud enough "THANK GOODNESS FOR MR. CLEAN MAGIC ERASERS!" They are real life savers.

{random things}

First of all, I'd like to say CONGRATULATIONS to Laura and Derek on the birth of their daughter, Grace. She's beautiful! I can't wait to meet her in person. We all wish you well. I'm sure Christian and Noah will make great big brothers!

I also thought I'd share some stuff from our neck of the woods...

Morgan has developed such a cute personality. Or should I say personalities.... She always keeps us guessing and laughing...

She is much more of an "artist" than Gerard ever was. She loves to color and do any kind of craft. It's very cute, until she colors on the walls, tables, blinds, counters, her hands... You get the picture.

Morgan the scholar:



Morgan the cheeseball playdough artist:



Morgan the goofy Sabres fan:




Morgan the wrestler:



And of course, Morgan the sweetie. (At bedtime with Gerard reading to her):

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I thought I'd share what I made for Valentine's Day. My friend and neighbor made these for Christmas, using red and green m&m's, and they are just cute, delicious, and very easy to make. I used Valentine's m&m's:

To make, place round pretzels on a cookie sheet. Unwrap and place a Hershey kiss (the striped "Hugs" work best) in the center of each pretzel. Bake at 275 degrees for about 3 minutes, until the Hershey kiss melts but doesn't lose it's shape. Remove from the oven and place an m&m on each kiss. Let cool. I placed the whole cookie sheet in the fridge for about 20 minutes and they pop right off the cookie sheet. So easy!!! The hardest part is unwrapping all the kisses!

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Also, last weekend our friends came over for skating and dinner. Nathan and Nicholas had never skated before, but they did great! Nick preferred just to wear his boots after a while, but I think he still had fun. Gerard was thrilled to have some friends over to skate with him. Thanks Michele and Scott!

* * * * * * * * * *

And finally, I thought I'd share my new haircut. I wasn't happy with my last hairdresser and have been half-heartedly looking for a new girl since AUGUST, so this hair cut was WAY overdue. She even straightened it for me. What do you think?

{scrapbooking again, finally!}

After quite a long hiatus, I've started scrapbooking again. I'm almost finished with Gerard's 2007 album. (Yes, I wrote that right...2007...) I've got much more catching up to do for Morgan's first album. Baby steps, right? Anyway, here are some recent layouts...

{Superbowl Champs}

All I can say is thank goodness the Steelers won. I don't think I would have been able to handle Gerard if they had lost!

And, once again, Obama is correct. He said that "the Steelers are going to eke it out in a close one." If you missed the interview with Matt Lauer, you can see it here:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

And here is the video of Gerard's first hockey game, as promised. He is number 20.