Happy St. Patrick's Day

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind always be at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
and rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

First Beach Day!

The temperature this week reached 80 degrees and that means a trip to the beach! We went after dinner, so it was a bit cooler, but still was fun. The boys could throw rocks in the lake for hours. It was nice to be back on the beach and I'm looking forward to more beach days in the near future!

Happy Valentine's Day

I feel so blessed to have these three goofballs in my life.

Winter Sky

I took this picture the other day after our big snow storm. We have the prettiest sunsets here.

Twins

The other day Chris came out wearing a gray shirt with white sleeves and jeans. Completely normal, right? Well, I noticed that I had dressed AJ in the exact same outfit! I couldn't resist, I needed a picture of the the twinkies!

Birthday Fun

The week of Tommy is over! He had a fun birthday week of celebrations. It all started on his actual birthday where we went out for dinner and enjoyed his baseball cake. Then Friday, he was able to celebrate his birthday at school with Angry Bird cupcakes we made. Saturday we were off to Chuckie Cheese to meet up with cousins and celebrate once again. We ended it all on Sunday with a few friends joining us at Dairy Queen. It was fun, but tiring! Lots and lots of baking last week for me so I'm glad that's behind us! Looking forward to a quiet, birthday free weekend this weekend!

Opening presents

Angry Bird cupcakes

DQ celebration!

Movie Night!

The kids have been watching movies on Saturday nights before bed. They love it. We get them all set up on their little couch with blankets, jammies, and of course snacks! Here is a cute picture of them snuggling together.

Tommy Turns Five!

Wow, I can't believe it, Tommy is five today! That's one whole hand! He is so excited to be five, and as he told me today when I warned him not to do something because he might get hurt, he said, "Mommy, don't worry, five years old don't cry!" We will see about that one! Tommy is all boy all the time. I can't keep a pair of pants or socks for more than a week with him. He is sliding and running all the time...thus the holes in his clothes! Tommy, we have so much fun watching you grow and love you so much. Happy birthday, Tommy!

White Sox FanFest

We were very fortunate and received tickets from one of our friends that works at a Chicago radio station to the White Sox FanFest! Tommy was beyond excited. The FanFest was at a hotel in downtown Chicago, close to Millennium Park. So before we headed in the fest, we checked out the park with the boys. They both loved the bean! Once we got to the fest, the boys LOVED the kid game section. It was great because it wasn't too crowded so they could play games as long as they wanted and they won prizes too! Tommy won a White Sox jersey, AJ won a Frank Thomas bobble head, and I won us ticket vouchers for a game this summer by just spinning a wheel! We were so excited! After the fun and games we got in line to get an autograph from Paul Konerko, Tommy's favorite baseball player. He was so excited. This was serious business and we kind of lucked into getting the autograph by just checking out the area. They limit how many autographs the players do in a night, so we weren't sure if it was going to work out. We went down to scope out his room and they just announced that you would need wrist bands for Konerko, so we got in line for those, got them, and then got in line again for the autograph. Konerko signed a picture we blew up of Tommy on Halloween dressed up as Konerko. It was a pretty fast transaction as his line was very long, but Tommy was ecstatic that he met Paul Konerko. When we got in the car after we left the fest, Tommy said "This has been the best day of my life." It made it all worth it! Here are some pictures of our fun day in the city!

Tommy, Chris, and AJ at the bean

The bean

AJ and me

Family photo at the bean

Fast pitch game at the fest

AJ joining in on the action

The one and only Paul Konerko

Tommy's big moment

So proud!

Pinterest Snowmen

Are you pinning yet? I am! It took me awhile to get into Pinterest as I fully didn't understand it nor did I want to "pin" things that I knew I could never have. Kind of depressing to just look at pictures of things you can never have. So I decided to really only pin things that I can do or find interesting. I pin a lot of recipes, one that I will be trying out later this week! I also like to pin crafts that I can do with the kids. Remember my post about the hand print Christmas trees? Found that idea on pinterest. I also found these cute banana snowmen on pinterest. Easy and fun for the kids. All you need are some bamboo sticks, small chocolate chips, pieces of apples and carrots, pretzel sticks, and bananas. I got all the material ready and cut before Tommy dove into making his snowman. He enjoyed making it (and eating the extra pieces of chocolate)! It was a fun easy way to make a healthy dessert for them! So if you are not on pinterest yet, check it out! It's fun, but be careful it can become addicting! Here are some pictures of our snowmen:

The prepared ingredients

Tommy creating his snowman. Chocolate chips for
the buttons and eyes, pretzels for the arms, apple for the hat,
carrot piece for the nose, and banana slices for the body!

Yummy!

Snow Fun

So we didn't get the 15 inches of snow they were saying...maybe 2 inches? But still enough to have some fun outside. We built a snowman, made snowballs and I even ran them around the yard while they were in the sled...that's quite a workout! They loved it. I know this is bad of me, but I would love just a little bit more snow. We were outside playing and you can still see grass! One big snowstorm on a weekend would be nice...and then it can go away until next year!

AJ was very concerned about the snowman's hat

Snowballs!

Snow Angels!

Happy New Year

Another year has come to an end. They just seem to keep flying by so quickly! Here is a year in review for the Cullen Family.

Chris is still working hard for Whirlpool and enjoying his job and the new endeavors it brings him. He has also been hard at work earning his MBA from Indiana University. This has required him to wake early in the morning and work some weekends to complete course work on top of his regular job and family life. Sometimes I don't know how he does it, but he does and manages his time amazingly. I'm so proud of his efforts to support our family. Chris also spent time coaching Tommy's soccer league this past fall. Tommy and Chris both enjoyed this, it was a great bonding time for them.

Tommy still attends preschool 3 times a week. He has become so interested in learning how to read and solve math problems. I know this kid is ready for kindergarten next year. As for me, I'm not sure, but I have to accept that my job is to also let him grow and learn on his own. I know he will do great. He has enjoyed playing soccer this year too and is something he will keep doing along with adding baseball this spring. His love for sports grows everyday!

AJ turned two this year! He is talking more and more everyday too. We have noticed him talking in complete sentences lately. He is an active little guy and loves to play with brother Tommy. They have become such good friends, which warms my heart.

I continue to stay at home with the boys and feel blessed that I am able to do so. We have so much fun on a daily basis. Now, don't get me wrong, we have our moments too. But it is so neat to watch them grow into the little gentlemen they are becoming.

As a family we again took a vacation to Disney World this past spring. We had a wonderful time and created memories I will forever cherish.

All and all 2011 was a great year for us and I cannot wait to see what 2012 has in store. Here is our year in review:

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December