november pics

here are some pictures from tony's actual birthday and opening presents...the birthday party with john's side of the family and the rocket cake aunt sue made...bundled up at the reading christmas parade, and just messing around and being silly.

ugly mudder 2008

Here is a picture from the Ugly Mudder Trail Run on 2.17.2008

mike, sam, ben, katie & john

for more pictures, from the day, click here

back in business!!

contrary to popular belief...the d'angelo family is alive and doing well! what a busy rest of 2007 we had and so far 1.5 months into 2008 has been just as bad if not worse! granted, we are happily enjoying doing things we love, however life is going by us faster than a speeding bullet! first off, i'd like to say that i hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday season and that your new year is off to a fantastic start! we were able to see many of you over the holidays and since and it's been nice to reconnect with those that we hadn't seen in a while...and for those that we haven't caught up with yet...it's long overdue!

much of the delay in posting too came from the fact that our beloved pc was on the slow road to nowhere and we were in denial until more recently when it decided to go to sleep one day never to wake up again. we are thankful to know many "i-t savvy" friends and hopefully someone will be able to save our pictures (yes john, i know, i should have backed them up when you told me to) before we send it off to pc heaven!! but in the meantime our new laptop is up and running and making life (and blogging) easier already (in the first 3 hours it's been in the home).

i will be posting some pictures from the holidays and from more recent days and promise to keep you all much more updated on a semi-daily basis in the days, weeks and months to come.

here is the long (john) and short (christy and tony) of what's been going on.

john: has been doing extremely well with his weight loss and running. he's well over 50 pounds + lost now and just completed his first trail run yesterday. as you all know, john ran his first 5k (3 or so miles) in october and has been training ever since for this past sunday's 7.25 mile trail race. he finished in good time considering the conditions (ie: running through mud in the woods trying not to slip on ice and snow). his time was 1:40:47 (unofficial) and he ran with a few friends which made it all the more fun. tony d, aunt sue, and the lutz clan was there through the cold conditions cheering them on at the finish. work keeps john extremely busy and he started his 8th year with Berks Homes in January! we continue to feel blessed that he works for such a great stable company during these times when the housing market is just so unsure.

christy: not too much with boring old me. busy at work, which i still love!! i couldn't have created a more perfect job for me in my field. tony more so than anything and house stuff keeps me busy too. i'm not complaining...i love it all!

tony: crazy, crazy kid...all i need to say. talking, talking and more talking is all the he does. he has quite the imagination and is really into cars right now. give the tone-meister all the pillows from the sofa, he'll clean out his toy bin and "drive" everything around in his pillow-made car on the living room floor for hours. his newest thing is putting on his sunglasses (which we just recovered from under the car seat) and pretending he's invisible when he has them on. every day is a funny day with him!

hope you enjoy the picture i've posted from john's race and that you'll check back soon for the others that i have to download and post yet!

happy birthday peanut!

wow, where did the past 2 years go? and where did they take my baby? i can't believe that anthony is 2. i can still remember the smell and sounds of the hospital as we were waiting and waiting and waiting for him to make his arrival 6 days late and just 28.5 hours after my induction, and now here we are, my baby now a toddler. when i think back at how much he has changed in the past 6 months let alone 2 years, it seems impossible to imagine that it could really happen as quickly as it did. it's like someone had their finger on a fast forward button...now if i could just find the remote and hit rewind. oh well, not possible, which is ok too, because i am truly enjoying every minute of every new day with my "peanut" and the new and exciting things he does or says...and he says alot! happy birthday anthony...mama and daddy love you very much! xxx ooo

november 9, 2005

november 9, 2007

look out martha stewart!

ok, so i highly doubt i'd ever come close to giving martha a run for her money, but i don't think i did too bad! with anthony's birthday being on friday, i wanted to make him some type of snack to take to "school" with him for the big day. after discussing with miss michelle what might be best for all the ages of the kids, we decided i would bring rice krispie treats. ok, now i'm 30 years old, but i have never made these before in my life...at least not by myself, but i figured it was high time i tried, and i owed it to tony! i think they turned out fine with the time i had to do them. in a perfect world i would have had a little einstein's ra-ra-ra-ra-rocket (sung like they do on the show) cookie cutter made, but - oh, welcome to the reality of a working mother - no time, no time! i decided on making them into the shape of stars (think outerspace, rockets, etc.)...only thing is, i didn't have a star cookie cutter, so i made do with what is actually a daisy cutter...so it's now more like an asterisk with rounded edges instead of a pointy star...i wrapped them in blue saran wrap (for the sky) and then made labels with rocket's image on them and wrote the kids' names on the label. i guess it'll work - if not, i'm sure the 2, 3, 4, & 5 year olds at tony's sitter will be the first ones to tell me what they really think of them!

7 cans

we tried this recipe tonight for dinner because it was quick and easy. it turned out to be oh so delicious as well which was an added bonus!! it's what rachael ray calls a "stoup"...thicker than a soup, but not quite thick enough to be a stew.

to make 7 cans and see/taste for yourself you'll need (add up the # of cans you'll need and see how the recipe got it's name)...

1-2 lbs. ground meat, seasoned to taste

2 cans ranch style beans or cannellini white kidney beans

2 large cans of minestone soup
2 cans of italian seasoned stewed tomatoes (breaking up the chunks slightly)

1 large can of mexican seasoned diced tomatoes.

brown and season meat and then add all other ingredients. stir well and bring to a boil.

this makes a ton and i've been told it freezes beautifully. we have a batch for each of us for lunch tomorrow and a large batch in the freezer for later.

tony's birthday...we've got a mission!

as the little einstein's say..."we've got a mission"...now let the festivities begin!! anthony will turn 2 on friday, november 9th, and due to the size of the families when combined, we've split his party into two. party 1 occured yesterday 11/4 with my side of the family. his actual birthday is friday, so party 2 will be going out to dinner and opening his presents from mama and daddy that night. party 3 will take place on saturday when tony and i head to hershey to celebrate with cousins jack and sam at hershey park and chocolate world. and wrapping things up will be john's side of the family with party 4 on sunday, 11/11. pictures to come of the rest of the celebrations, but here's a look at this past sunday along with some pictures of tony after getting his big boy haircut on saturday morning. no more "baby bowl cut"...he now uses gel!