Thanksgiving weekend

Last weekend we took a trip up to New Hampshire to relax. It gave me a lot of time to think and reflect on what I have to be thankful for.

I am thankful for my daughter. She is truly amazing. I look at her each day and cannot believe that she is really mine. The love and pure joy that comes from her smile leaves me speechless.

I am thankful for my son. I am thankful for every moment I was able to share with him, and all the lessons he taught me in his short life. Because of him, I am a better friend, a better mother, a better person.

I am thankful for my husband. He has been there with me through these last 8 years, which hasn't always been easy, but with him I know we can make it through anything. He gives me strength and courage to go on, I couldn't imagine life without him.

I am thankful for my friends and family. I know I have so many wonderful people who surround me with love and happiness. I don't know what I did right to deserve all those who have touched my life, but I am very thankful for every one.

I am thankful for my health, my home, my animals, and all the small things I have in my life. When I take the time to reflect on all the positive things I have in my life, it makes all the negative not seem so overwhelming. I think I need to take more time to remind myself of the wonders in my life and spend less time worrying about the things I don't have.


Here are a few pictures from our New Hampshire get-away.

Turkey Dessert

I saw this cake a while ago and wanted to try it out, so here is my version of a turkey cake!



Here is another fall themed cake I did last week for a 90th birthday:

Holiday Shopping

I thought I would post this in hopes that some of you may take advantage of this easy way to shop and donate to CHERUBS at the same time! The best part is the donation doesn't cost you anything! If you are planning on doing some Christmas shopping online anyway, please consider doing this!

Donate to CHERUBS for free just by shopping in over 700 stores through goodshop.com!

If you shop on-line, please consider shopping through Goodsearch.com for CHERUBS.

Just go to http://www.goodshop.com/?charityid=856932

You can shop on Amazon, Target, Sears, Wal-Mart, ToysRUs, and over 700 other stores just like you normally would, but the stores will donate a percentage of your shopping total to CHERUBS. It does not cost you a penny. If you're going to shop on-line for the holidays, why not give to a great cause at the same time! :)

Bowl-A-Thon

I've been meaning to post a quick update on how the bowl-a-thon went! This is what I posted on the New England CHERUBS Blog:

The Bowl-A-Thon fundraising event was a huge success! We had over 50 people in attendance, including 6 CHERUBS families and 3 beautiful cherubs themselves! We succeeded in beating our fundraising goal, but best of all were able to have fun and spread some CDH Awareness to the local bowlers. The staff were very interested in what we were raising money for, and asked us to come back next year to make it an annual event

A big thank you to all who participated and to all those who sponsored the event!

Makayla Update

We brought Makayla up to see her pediatritian today for her 9 month check up. She weighed in at 20 lbs even, and 29 inches long! She is right on target coming in on the 75th percentile in height and 50th percentile for weight. Everything is progressing on target and she was given the ok to start fazing out the baby food and move on to table food! It's so scary, I feel like she is growing sooo fast!

Here's a couple of pictures from our Christmas card photo shoot :)

Gabriel's Birthday

Happy Birthday my little angel. I miss you sooo much it hurts to breath, I still can't believe you would be 2 years old today. Instead of celebrating with cake and presents, I have to visit your stone and pray that you hear me. It is still so hard to go there, and I wish I went more often. I just can't even begin to describe the emotions that eat at my heart when I think about forever without you. My little baby angel, I would give up anything just to have one more day with you.

Baby why'd you leave me
Why'd you have to go?
I was counting on forever, now I'll never know
I can't even breathe
It's like I'm looking from a distance
Standing in the background
Everybody's saying, he's not coming home now
This can't be happening to me
This is just a dream
-Carrie Underwood

Gabe's birthday cake

Today I am working on getting ready for the bowl-a-thon tomorrow. I just finished the cake and wanted to share it.

Here it is: