What Defines A Family!?

fam·i·ly [ fámməlee ]
noun (plural fam·i·lies)
Definition:

1. group of relatives: a group of people who are closely related by birth, marriage, or adoption
2. people living together: a group of people living together and functioning as a single household, usually consisting of parents and their children

None of the above really defines it for us. To understand what defines our family (Mario and Traci)..see the pics below. I truly believe that we are extremely fortunate to have such a blended non traditional family consisting of marriage, friendly divorce, re-marriage, step daughters, step sons, step moms, step dads, in-laws, cousins, friends, friends dating our cousins, girlfriends, girlfriends children, boyfriends, nephews and grandchildren all coming together on the same day in the same house having SUCH a great time. For once, I can say I enjoy the holidays and that there is no where I would rather be than with these people in the following pictures!


The crew











Fathers.... Dick, where are you?














Mothers
















There you are Dick!













Bethany and Traci...

A Day In Life Of A Turkey At Our House.....

Our Backyard...
10:00am















Our table top...
1:00pm













Tony's stomach...
1:10pm

I BAKED!

I BAKED!!! Typically I just call Baker's Square...because really life is all about convenience these days. So today it struck me that I forgot to call Baker's Square....uh oh....it forced me to actually bake something. I did not however make the crust...those are good ole pre-made crusts. Do not adjust the color on your monitor...I most likely under cooked the pumpkin and over cooked the pecan. Hopefully the cranberry cake turned out good. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Things that make you go hmmmmm....

Things I understand.... handbags, like this awesome new Dooney and Bourke "Hayden Panettiere" inspired bag. Although she the actress does nothing for me, this bag totally does (minus the big HP)...








Things I do not understand.... video games. Here is my husband disrupting my living room with this new "Rock Band" crap. He got this lovely piece of electronic equipment on Tuesday. I happened to call him that day from work to ask him a question about something that I am SURE was important...but got the machine. When he called me back he actually said "Sorry, we were in the middle of a set".. I have nothing further to say...

Oh accept yes that is still Halloween paraphernalia in the back ground. I refuse to bring it upstairs into the attic until I am ready to bring down my holiday stuff..... which will be in a week or so :)

A little over 6 months along...

Ok fine....so here it is....the belly! Just got done having dinner with my friend Lisa (The Hobson Bunch) at PF Changs, so it is nice and big for this shot :)

A side note- Congrats to Lisa on her promotion.. She is now performing autopsies. That is right just like the sh*t straight out of CSI (I am sure there is a technical term)! Takes a special person to do this line of work and I LOVE hearing stories about it. Thanks for a fun dinner Lisa...sorry I talked your ear off!

The Only Thing I Hate About Fall Is...

The only thing about fall that I dislike is raking and bagging leaves. Every year Mario and I rake and rake and rake...then we argue about how we are raking....then we bag and bag and bag....and then we argue about bagging. Then we get into a full blown fight and typically end it with tackling each other in one of the 25 large leaf piles we have created. So we raked and bagged leaves on Sunday before the lovely Vikings game...only 12 bags. Monday morning our entire yard was filled with leaves again... wind...UGH!

So yesterday I called Lawn Ketchers since I see their vehicles out all around our neighborhood to get an estimate of how much it would cost to have them come out and assist with round 2 since I am DONE. I gave him my address and the lot size and he quotes me $80-$100 if he has to bag and dispose of the leaves. I asked him how much longer his company would be doing this because I noticed that my large oak tree had not shed nearly half of its leaves yet. He told me that it would probably only be until the end of the week because he would be getting his plows ready for snow removal. I told him that I had to talk it over with my husband and that I would call him back. SOOOOO, here is the kicker... I get home today around 12:30 and magically my yard is free of all leaves... was I so lucky that the wind blew in my favor this time?? Uh, nope...would you believe that Mr. Lawn Ketcher took it upon himself to make my decision for me and remove my leaves without my consent and then proceeds to leave a message on my machine about payment..."a fair price"... WTF!?!?! What do I do? What would you do? I am irritated....

Plug for The Sanctuary!

Ok, I have an obsession.... massages! I just LOVE The Sanctuary in Eden Prairie! On Tuesday night my friend Tricia and I went and had massages. I had the pregnancy massage... Why does it seem like sometimes when you are working, an hour lasts forever but an hour long massage goes by so fast? Why can't I have as much money as Britney Spears... apparently she makes $750,000 a month and doesn't save a penny of it (smart gal). I wonder how much of that money is spent on Spa services? Probably not nearly as much as she spends on those horrible extensions. I know that if I made $750,000 a month I would have a live-in masseuse...you know, kinda like a live-in nanny. Awww, just the thought makes me all teary eyed! I wonder what the PowerBall is up to?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TONI!!!

Happy Birthday to our girlie Toni! We celebrated last night at ....you guessed it, Mainstreet!! Who in the world is the guy in the red jacket that decided to grace us with his presence in our photo?? Haha!
Toni... so cute! I love this pic....
Ok, so Wuollete's Bakery rocks! I told them that our girl Toni has long dark hair, loves her Prada heels, a glass of white wine (or 4) and her ciggies... they do such an awesome job! Happy Birthday Toni!!!!

Dinner with the Zitzmann's!!!

Did you know that they have better Kid friendly desserts on the TGIF menu than adult desserts?? Below is the Worms In Dirt... it was WAY better than our cheesecake!!

We had dinner with the Zitty's a week or so ago! It was so nice getting to catch up with them and of course for me to see my MAIN MAN CODY!! Love that boy in the orange!
Ty and Di.....

Little Ty man turned ONE on Sunday! I just love the name Ty... maybe I will steal it in case we have a boy... Ty Morelli ... haha :) Look at the precious little monster below!!