Cherishing Sweet Life

If there is one thing in life

I truly cherish,

I'd have to say that it is my

family.

And especially each one of my

sweet CHILDREN.

I cherish the time we spend together.

The fun & playful times.

The special times.

The quiet times.

And I have found that

you can never dish out too many kisses.

Or give too many hugs.

And even better,

you can never get too many kisses.

Or get too many hugs.

Plenty of

hugs,

kisses

and

"I love you's"

are exchanged

everyday in our home.

With Eric

I always request

an

"Eric HUG"

daily.

Which are so sweet.

And never in short

supply.

Above Eric's bed is the quote,

"I Love You to the Moon and Back"

Which is true.

With Megan

I must hear these words,

"I love you mum mum"

countless times each day.

Along with dozens of

hugs and kisses which she shares

not only with me,

but with just about

everyone.

Katie-Kate

is my cuddle bug.

She and I cuddle together.

And kiss noses.

She leaves me love notes.

Which are

hanging from magnets

All over my fridge.

My favorite one reads,

"I wuv mom"!

Love notes are

left in lunches.

On beds.

Doors.

Sent as texts.

And stuck on bathroom

mirrors.

There certainly is an abundance

of love in our home.

And affection.

And for that, I am deeply

Grateful.

This past holiday weekend,

I learned of a childhood

friend's almost 10 year old boy

and pride and joy,

passing away in a tragic

boating accident.

{Read about this amazing family here: Harris Beach Bums}

This incident has

reminded me to

never take my loved

ones

for granted.

And the special

moments we share together.

I truly cherish the hugs.

The kisses.

The fun times.

The quiet times.

The love notes.

The "I love you's".

so much more now.

And most importantly,

I've been reminded

of how vital it is

to keep the one's you

love close around

you.

And when you

do, you will

forever

cherish

those sweet, tender moments

you share together~

Forever....and ever.

Sweet, Sweet Magic!

Disneyland is definitely the happiest place on Earth!!

Two years in a row, we enjoyed having Disneyland passes.

That is, until we decided to take a break.

Because we didn't want Disneyland to lose its magic.

Well, another two years have passed since we had them.

So we recently invested once again.

And are currently the proud owners of Disneyland's Deluxe Season Passes.

Now we can go anytime.

With very few blackout days.

Sweet.

We will be going a lot this summer!

Since yesterday was Little Miss Katie's 7th Birthday

we celebrated BIG at Disneyland.

We had a really good time!

Just look at these photos.

And see for yourself.

These are some seriously happy kids.

It was a very, very, very, FUN day!!!!

We ended our family birthday party

with the Disneyland Fireworks Spectacular.

And it was just that.

Quite a spectacular show!!

For some reason, as I stood there

with my family around me,

watching the fireworks,

and listening to the music they are synchronized to,

a lump filled my throat.

There's nothing that brings me greater joy in

life, than to see my children grinning from

ear to ear as they look on in amazement.

Having the time of their lives.

With those they love.

Disneyland creates amazingly wonderful memories.

For people of all ages.

Especially when you're celebrating your 7th birthday.

Katie's 7th was a truly Magical one.

She even declared it her "best birthday ever!"

It was.

Just that.

Cheers to a magical 7th year, Little Miss Katie-Kate!!

A Sweet Father's Day Tribute....

Children look up to their Fathers.

And children share cupcakes with their dad on Father's Day. 'Cause Dads DIG Cupcakes.

Yesterday was Father's Day. It's a special day for us. To show and express to our dads just how much we love and appreciate them.

I took this beautiful photo of Gary yesterday. Opening his Father's Day gift with Katie by his side. It's precious. I love the warm glow on their faces. Looking at this picture makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside. Happy.

I have a wonderful dad. He and I are similar in many ways. For one, he and I have very similar handwriting. It's kinda funny. He writes like an architect. Maybe that's because he used to be a draftsman and designed both commercial and government airplanes. I love my dad and appreciate all he has taught me in life.

The man I married, is an amazingly wonderful father. He loves his children.

And enjoys taking each of them on "daddy dates"~

Sometimes it's to the movies.

Sometimes it's hiking and looking for reptiles.

Sometimes they go out to eat together somewhere special.

Sometimes they go camping.

Sometimes they go get ice cream.

Sometimes they go shopping for fun stuff.

He also spends quality time with them at home~

Playing games.

Playing with our dog Buddy or taking him for a walk together.

Playing basketball.

Playing outside.

Making everyone laugh.

Watching movies together.

Listening to music together.

Or playing his guitar.

And teaching his children how to play an instrument.

Gary not only values his one on one time with his 3 pride and joys, he values family time. He has declared Fridays as "Friday Family Fun Night". That's when we eat take-out and do something fun. Usually the fun lasts the entire weekend as we always seem to find some exciting adventure for the family to enjoy together.

When Fall rolls around, you can find Gary coaching our kids soccer teams. And he is one of the best AYSO Coaches.

His teams always go to the finals. And Gary's players love having him as their coach.

Gary works hard everyday and sacrifices so much for our family. He truly takes incredible care of us and wants the best for his family. The one thing he desires the most for us is for everyone to be happy. And believe me. We are. Life is good. And totally sweet.

One Sweet Trip...Part I

I've been wanting to write a synopsis of my trip since we returned home. 2 weeks ago!! But, between having severe jet lag and being totally overwhelmed by the entire experience--I really don't know where to begin. Or how to begin for that matter. I truly am speechless. That's how amazing it was. Everything we saw. Everything we did. Every authentic meal we shared, was a gift. I'm certain this will be the first of many blog entries about our journey.

This, for instance, is Ephesus~

It's a very ancient city in Turkey dating back as far as 600 BC. But, we'll get back to this place a little later. I could write an entire book on this, "the oldest city everrrr..." {Sorry couldn't help myself here. It's an inside joke between my husband and me}.

We always left the ports we were visiting late at night and sailed the sea while we were sound asleep. It was quite nice, we were rocked to sleep. Nightly. Like little babies. Fortunately, the seas were perfectly smooth the entire trip~despite the fact we traveled through two bad storms. One, when we left Athens and the other in Kusadasi, Turkey. My prayers were answered! It was smooth sailing the entire trip in every way.

This trip was such a dream and so exciting that I think I must have felt the same level of excitement a small child does on Christmas Eve. Every day we'd wake-up bright and early. In fact, as soon as my eyes popped open, I jumped out of bed and hurried over to our big sliding window which opened up to our balcony. I'd pull back the curtains to unveil places I'd only seen on TV or read about in history books! Each time, I was super surprised by the beauty and grandeur of it all. And couldn't wait to get out and explore the city that awaited us. It was a thrill ride like no other.

Back to those storms I mentioned earlier. Simply because this storm is one of the funnier more exciting stories. Gary and I got stuck right in the middle of a massive rain storm in Kusadasi, Turkey~and it was everything from hilarious to terrifying. Let's just say that it was pouring rain. Buckets. And buckets of rain. In fact, one of the Turks we passed in an alley said that this was the most rain they've had in 30 years! Weren't we lucky?!?!

See for yourself. Nice, huh?? Real nice.

Before I go on, I should explain to you a bit about Kusadasi. So you can visualize it. It's a port town filled with open air stores in little alleys. Also, please note on this particular day that Gary and I were dressed in the only clothes we had at the time!!! Let me repeat that....THE ONLY CLOTHES and SHOES we HAD at the time!!!! And now we were completely drenched. From head to toe. And our shoes were soggy. My one and only pair of shoes!!!! So from this you can figure out that our luggage didn't make it to Athens when we flew in the day prior. It was still stuck back in the U.S.! Funny, huh? ALL my new clothes, shoes and necessities of life were still sitting somewhere in the Philadelphia International Airport! However, they finally made it and arrived while we were in Santorini. Three whole days into our trip. It's a long, long story. Maybe I'll bore you with it later. But the most important part of the story is that our stuff did make it and I was over-joyed when it all finally arrived. I even stood on the balcony of our room while I watched the water taxi deliver our lost bags to the ship....it was quite a happy moment for me! I went as far as to yell down to them from my room, 5 floors up....cheering and clapping loudly!

Look!

Here they are!!!!

YAY!!!!!

It was a long journey from the U.S. to Santorini. Poor Bags.

Or maybe it was more like poor me?

Anyhow, back to that aweful storm in Kusadasi. After touring Ephesus we attended a carpet demonstration with our group {'cause if you didn't know, Turkey is well known for their carpet weaving~and they are gorgeous}. Afterwards we told our National Geographic tour guide that we wanted something authentic to eat for dinner! Afterall, we were starving. We'd walked all over and worked up a huge appetite.

Gary and I love tasty Mediterranean food and wanted to make sure that we found a good restaurant where we'd get the sweetest meal! I thought it was so nice. Instead of the tour guide just telling us the name of a restaurant and how to get there, this kind Turk personally led us through a maze of streets to an amazing little Mediterranean joint. Almost immediately after we sat down, our server brought us a huge brick oven cooked pita bread. Along with some amazing humus, feta cheese, and grape leaves wrapped around something very yummy. Not sure what it was, but it was truly incredible!!

This delicious appetizer was followed by a huge platter full of chicken, pork, steak, and lamb kabobs. The food was off-the-hook! And they treated us like gold. But while Gary and I were sitting outside dining, dark, ominous clouds rolled in. The restaurant workers began working furiously to put all the tables, chairs--anything that was outside away where it wouldn't get wet. I looked at Gary and said, "Uhhhh, I think they know something we don't. Maybe we should move inside." Good thing we followed their lead because it started to rain.

By the time we paid for our meal and left, it was pouring. Thankfully I had on a raincoat. But Gary only had on a short sleeved shirt. And we had NO umbrella. We ran through the alleys in the direction of the port where our ship was docked. All the storekeepers were putting their merchandise away. Most of them laughed at us and told us they thought we were crazy. Maybe we were. But we had to get back and there was only one way to do it. We dashed around in the pouring rain.

I felt like we were in a James Bond movie. Gary was Bond, James Bond and I was his bond girl. The rain didn't bother us. It was exciting. Fun. I even bought Gary an umbrella at one of the stores we ran past. And it seemed to help. For a little while. That is until the lightening and thunder came. Lightening was striking all around us. It was so close the lightening and thunder came simultaneously. It was so powerful the ground shook!

We continued on as we wanted to get back to the ship and get out of the rain. But the closer we got, the harder it rained and the more furious the storm became. At one point Gary and I joked about his umbrella and how it probably wasn't smart to have it up in this particular storm. About two minutes after we laughed about his umbrella being a lightening rod, a HUGE lightening bolt struck the water right in front of us! Close to where our ship was docked. It absolutely freaked us out! It was so loud! And it set off all the alarms in the area. The only funny thing about this moment in time was Gary's reaction. He was still holding his umbrella when that bolt of lightening shot out in front of us!! He screamed and immediately threw it to the ground. It made me laugh and I practically started crying it was so hilarious! We both were laughing at ourselves. It finally hit us. Maybe that Turk back in the alley was right. Maybe we were crazy trying to navigate a storm that intense. Later we found out from one of Gary's CA co-workers that there was even a water spout over our ship!!

This is the view we had when the bolt of lightening struck the water. And where we planted ourselves right under the eaves of a big building~while we waited for this horrific storm to pass. We stood there soaking wet. No coat. No umbrella could keep us dry. When we felt it was pretty safe, we darted over to the port where we managed to find a few high end stores still open. We stopped in. Hoping to find some dry clothes to wear once we got back on the ship. I bought a nice linen dress. A sexy pair of red sandals. And Gary found a handsome shirt and nice pair of shoes {he packed more extra clothes in his carry on than I did--he's the seasoned traveler. I only packed enough for two days. And none of it was evening dress code worthy. The ship we were on had a dress code for the evening. It was "country club casual-no jeans". Jeans were all I had with me at the time. And now they were wet and clinging to my body}.

Once we made our purchases we hopped aboard the ship. Went straight to our room where we took a very warm, welcome shower. Dressed up and headed to the Casino where Gary used his mad Craps playing skills and won us some good money. I'm his lucky charm. When he's with me....he always wins. If I'm gone, he loses. It's that simple. So I can never leave the table during play.

We lucked out that night and ended up with a "hot" craps table. We left while we were up and headed to bed. It was a great way to end a day filled with some seriously amazing tours {Ephesus--that is a blog entry in and of itself}. Great food. And a lot of excitement!!! And this was only the first full day of our trip. It was a day we'll never forget. I can't wait to tell you about Ephesus~"...it's like, the oldest city...everrrrrr!" {insert me laughing here~so sorry! I couldn't resist}

Until then, take a look at this decadent treat~Chocolate covered Turkish Delight! We found it sitting on our bed waiting for us when we returned to our room. Soaking wet. We tore into that sucker fast and dug right in. It was really good. Now that I'm home, I miss it and want more. I need to have some shipped to me! Stat!

This was just one of the many great gifts we were given by CA on our Compass Club Odyssey. Sweet, huh?!? Jealous? I would be! 'Cause this was one dreamy trip....to be continued....That is the blog entries. Not the trip, itself. I wish. I wish I could go back.....

The SWEETEST Brownie Recipe Ever.....

Brownies. We all love them. Or, well. At least I do. They're gooey, chocolatey goodness~period.

Really, need I say more?

I absolutely adore all holidays. I was raised that way. My wonderful mom had a way of making every holiday a special occasion. Somehow I've seemed to carry on that tradition with my family. Food. Decorations. It's always a party at our house. I will find a reason to celebrate. Just about anything!

Enter St. Patty's Day 2010. Since my amazing husband's grandmother came here from Ireland, we make absolutely certain that when St. Patrick's Day rolls around every year that we go all out. Everything is green. And dinner is always your standard Irish fare. You know--Corned beef, carrots, cabbage and mashed potatoes {instead of boiled potatoes~they go over better at our house}. Then comes dessert. My favorite. This past year I came across a recipe I just had to try for Mint Brownies.

Oh. My. Gosh. Hello?!?!?

They.

Were {Are}.

The.

Perfect.

Brownie.

I will no longer make brownies from a box again. You shouldn't either. Pinky promise?

These come out beyond amazing. They don't have that hard edge and gooey, almost under-cooked center.

Instead, they are perfectly moist. In fact, they cook evenly from the edges all the way to the center. And that's what makes them so SWEET!

I love them. And as I sit here blogging about them, my stomach is growling loudly. Very. Very. Loudly!!

Maybe. Just maybe. If time permits, I'll indulge and bake up a batch of these today.

You should too.

You'll be glad you did. And if you make them for your friends, family, and neighbors~they will not only thank you, they'll be begging you for this recipe. So be sure to include it!

Are you ready?

Here it is. The recipe for my all time favorite brownie. However, before I go on, I can't take all the credit for this truly great recipe. I need to thank one of my favorite cooking blogs, Our Best Bites for this. If you've never visited Our Best Bites website, do yourself a favor STOP whatever it is you're doing right now and click on the link--it's here on Everything Sweet for a reason. Because it's full of truly good recipes which are not only easy, but very tasty and super family friendly. Gotta love that. It's a sweet website.

And this is truly the sweetest brownie recipe....ever.....

Mint Brownies

Recipe by Our Best Bites

Brownies: 4 squares unsweetened baking chocolate (4oz)

1 C butter (2 sticks)

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 C flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Frosting: 2 C powdered sugar

4 T butter, softened

1 1/2 tsp peppermint extract

1-2 Tbs milk

green food coloring

Chocolate Glaze:

6 oz (about 1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips ,you could also use dark

6 Tbs real butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil making sure the foil extends over the edges by at least one inch. Lightly spray with non-stick spray and set aside. Chop both unsweetened chocolate and two sticks of butter into chunks and place together in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until just melted and smooth. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally. With an electric mixer or stand mixer beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla for 2 minutes. While egg mixture is beating, measure out flour and combine with baking powder. While mixer is running, slowly add melted chocolate and beat to combine. Turn beater speed to low and add in flour by spoonfuls. Mix just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20-30 minutes or until a knife poked in center comes out clean. Cool completely on a metal rack. When brownies have cooled to room temperature, prepare frosting. Combine all frosting ingredients, starting with 1 1/2 tablespoon of milk, and beat until light and fluffy. Add more milk by teaspoonful as needed. Spread frosting evenly over brownies and then place brownies in fridge to chill. While brownies are chilling prepare chocolate glaze. Place chocolate chips and 6 tablespoons butter in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until just melted and smooth. Set aside to cool for about 15 minutes and then carefully spread on top of the frosting layer. Return pan to fridge to cool. When chocolate has hardened, use edges of foil to remove entire brownie from pan. Cut into squares and serve.

**Note: I just love the brownie recipe itself. The mint layer of frosting is so refreshing. But not required. I was thinking of just making the brownies and frosting them with my famous peanut butter-chocolate buttercream. So. Very. Yummy.**

Now. Please. Whatever you do. Make these brownies today. It'll be the perfect way to start out your week.

The Trip of a Lifetime~A Sweet Adventure is in Store...

Oh. My. Gosh!!!!!!

I can't believe that in just two short days this is where I'll be.

In Ancient Civilization.

Touring.

Taking in all the sites.

And being completely overwhelmed by how amazing it truly is.

I've only read about these places in history books back when I was a school girl.

This is the cruise ship that'll be chartering us from port to port. It's the Luxury 6~Star Regency Seven Seas. I've never been on a cruise before. This is not only going to be a first for both my husband and me~but a new experience in traveling altogether! I'm praying for smooth sailing. Literally!

Fortunately, everyone I've talked to who aren't cruise virgins, like myself, absolutely rave about them! I'm hoping I come home doing the same thing! Gushing about how luxurious cruises are the only way to travel. I'll get back to you on that in two weeks.

This is going to be a truly interesting and exciting Odyssey where we'll cross five seas--The Aegean, Adriatic, Mediterranean, and the Sea of Crete. All the while, we'll be visiting four countries. It's going to be an incredible adventure! One that I know we'll never forget!

We'll be visiting Athens, Turkey, Santorini, Croatia and Venice, Italy.

I've dreamt of going to Italy my entire life~now that dream will become a reality in no time at all! Who said dreams don't come true?

Until then~I still need to pack. And tie up all the loose ends at home before I embark on this journey of a lifetime. I'm excited~and can't wait to share all of our enthralling experiences with each of you!