Our Beautiful Family

We stayed the night in Pittsburgh after the party last night. This morning we were getting ready and I realized we all coordinated...even though we didn't plan it that way. I just packed our clothes without thinking, and Jude had his stuff already set out..and we all matched. Imagine that!So of course we had to have Grandma take a picture for us...I love having nice family pictures of the four of us. You never know when you can get both girls to cooperate...so I am always thankful for the ones that they do.
I think this picture especially emphasizes which girl takes after which parent in looks.
But then...we all look alike. (except for that blonde hair)
:)

Random Halloween pics from Urso's

Here is the last of the Halloween pics from the Urso Halloween Bash. It was a lot of fun...as you will see in these pictures. Sarah got a hold of Jack's chain saw, and decided to attack Joe the Plumber...aka...Daddy
Mary just watched...I wish I had got video of this, b/c it was hilarious watching Sarah and her chain saw. Plus seeing Jude in Mary's wig was priceless too.

Pap, Grandma and the girls
Thanks for the FUN party Grandma and Pap!

Jude even dressed up as Joe the Plumber...on the back of his shirt it says. "A good FLUSH beats a Full House every time" and there are pictures of those hands in cards. He needed a cheap costume, and with the upcoming election I came up with this idea as a neutral political joke. (Since both sides seem to refer to Joe the Plumber)

When Mary did this, we told Jack he had a debt monkey on his back (you know...like the commercials) Mary absolutely loves her cousin Jack...you can tell from her smile...and I think he obviously loves her in return. Out of all the cousins...these two look the most alike...they got the Italian genes.

Here Sarah is trying to kick herself away from Uncle Jason...this is just payback from when Alex didn't want anything to do with Jude! Jason wanted a picture with Sarah...but she obviously wasn't cooperating

Boo and Bee...who are we??

I posted individual pictures of each of the grandkids in the last blog...but my girls. They need a post dedicated to them. Here is what they decided to be...
(this silly program posted backwards...but thats OK)Sarah checking out her bucket of treats...
Wow Grandma and Pap, you went all out...hat, gloves, cards, chapstick, candy and much much more!!
(note...as we were all visiting and the kids were playing, Sarah got into her bucket and ate all of her Reese's PB cups...a little more chocolate than I wanted her to have at that hour of night...but at least she has good taste.)

Mary got the same items as Sarah...each of the kids did...but she was especially thrilled to get this squishy ball that lights up when you bounce it or squeeze it hard. Oh...and the Hannah Montana chapstick was a hit too!

My little Blue from Blues Clues...posing for her grandma
I think she is cuter than the real Blue!!

My cute clown striking a pose for Grandma too
You gotta love the hair!!

The two clowns of the night...Robert and Mary...I think Mary has him beat for the cutest clown...what do you think??

Urso kids in costume

Here are the Urso grandkidsJason Jr., Jack, Sarah, Alexandra, Robert & Mary

Alexandra

Jack

Jason Jr.

Robert

Sarah and Pap

Sarah getting her hug and kiss from Pap when we arrived for the partyOne of Pap's girls...

This was the first night at Urso's for Sarah to eat in the kitchen with the "kids". She used to sit in her booster seat with the adults...right next to PAP. I think she missed eating with Pap!

Urso kids

Last night all of the Urso's gathered at Grandma and Pap's for the Annual Halloween Party. We start the night with dinner, then the kids get their costumes on, take pictures, play and of course get a goodie bag from Grandma and Pap. We had yummy ham barbecue sandwiches, corn, potato chips, salad, cookies and pumpkin rolls. Thank goodness the food wasn't as scary as the creatures visiting that night...those pictures are yet to come. Alex loves to be in front of the camera!

Jack, Robert and Sarah in the chair...enjoying their supper. You can't get anything past Jack...I was clear across in another room and he spotted me taking his picture. :)

Sarah...trying to ignore Uncle Jim...he was teasing Uncle Jason (who she usually wants nothing to do with) but this time she got mad at Uncle Jim for teasing him, and kept saying, "You're not nice" and "That's not nice!"

sGrandma and Robert...He has grown up so much...can't believe he is already 13...going on 14 in the spring. He's as tall as me.
I think he was being reminded to call his grandmother once in a while. :)

Boo to YOU!!!

A picture of the girls in their Boo clothes. Sarah's shirt says, "Happy Boo to you!" and Mary's says "Just say BOO!" They wore these outfits down to Urso's for the big party.

Sarah posing in front of the fireplace

Mary posing...her stockings say "boo" all over them too. Appropriate since her nickname is Boo.

I love her smile in this one...so had to include it too. Her big brown eyes are shining through like her smile.
(Thanks Grandma for helping get them to pose and smile so pretty)

Gobs of gobs

We recently spent the morning at Joyce Griffith's house baking gobs. Well... we assisted a little. We were also quality control...sampling to make sure everything was OK
We were baking gobs to sell at the Church's Annual Election Day Bazaar. Come to Creekside Tuesday if you would like to buy and sample a yummy gob!After Jude took Mary to school, we were finishing up the last batch...Sarah wanted to help...and Joyce is great about working with the girls.Sarah did a great job squeezing out the icing for MeeMaw (Joyce)
Some got "extra" icing.

Some of the finished products...many more were already taken to the freezer...we wanted them to be remain extra fresh for Tuesday. :)

And Sarah's favorite part...cleaning up...the spatula that is.

I think her face says it all!

Snow and Roses??

What is wrong with this picture???

I wish I had put the date stamp on it.This would be snow hitting my windshield...last night...yes we are still in the month of October...and let me tell you, I almost had to pullover because of the whiteout...It wasn't sticking to the road, but boy was it coming down hard. I saw some places...not ours...that even had an inch or so of that white stuff on the ground. One house over towards Marion Center even had a snow man built. How crazy is that?? I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it for myself.

And even crazier than that is my roses...yes this was taken the same day as the snow picture was taken. I have a rose bush on the side of our house, anyhow it hasn't done too much blooming all year...that is until the last 2 weeks. I have had on average 2-3 roses each day with numerous buds following. It makes no sense to me...we have had FREEZING temps, and plenty of frosts, but yet the roses are just coming to life. I don't understand it, but won't complain because I love seeing new roses each time I get in and out of my vehicle. God sure provides us with beautiful scenery...first the beautiful leaves of fall, and then when you think things will get "dreary" you get roses. Who would have guessed??
We sure have an awesome GOD!!

Call me Betty Crocker

Joyce recently picked up a peck of apples for me from a local orchard. These are Golden Delicious apples, and let me tell you...they are mighty delicious. I think Mary eats 2-3 of them each day. Well, I wanted to try something I had never done before...make an apple pieI started with this bag of apples, some sugar, flour and other ingredients...and wah-la

I finished with this apple pie. Not only did it look decent, but it tasted good as well. I shared it with Nancy, Moose, Ed and Joyce yesterday after we made gobs and had lunch together. Moose couldn't believe that it was my first apple pie. He wants me to practice more, and let him test each of them. :) I'll be making a few more pies for next Tuesday...to sell at our election day bazaar. So now I have accomplished making a peach pie (about a month ago) and an apple pie. Never thought I would be able to say "I made that pie".
I guess there is still a little hope for me...and my lack of cooking/baking abilities

Happy Halloween

We got this banner on our most recent trip to Disney...if you don't already know...we are Disney-aholics! You will understand even more shortly!

Pumpkin #1...Mickey Mouse

Mickey lit up on the porch

Pumpkin #2...Minnie Mouse

Minnie Mouse lit up on our porch..(this one came out a bit blurry..sorry about that)

Pizza, Ret and Blue

This past Monday evening we were up at my Grandma's house for dinner and visiting. My Dad and Aunt Renee and Uncle Tony were all in town and leaving Tuesday. We enjoyed pork chops, green beans, potatoes and other odds and ends...compliments of Uncle Tony.Well...we enjoyed those things...but Mary and Sarah opted to eat some leftover pizza from Laska's. Sarah wouldn't share her crust with PawPaw, but she did agree to get a picture.

This is Ret...one of Tony and Renee's dogs. The others name is Scarlett. I wish I had taken a picture of her, because Scarlett is the one that liked to play with Mary...Ret preferred to sleep. Either way, they are both cute, and believe it or not, Sarah wasn't too scared of them. I think because they are so small and quiet, they were OK for her.

Sarah was still in her Halloween costume...Blue's Clues. She was being quite the "ham" for the camera. Her sister on the other hand was so busy playing, I couldn't catch her still long enough to get a picture. I'll make up for the lack of Mary pics in other posts. They usually balance out. I have to take advantage of it when Sarah cooperates for photos.

My name is...

Mary and Sarah and Clayton were playing with these books and sketch boards. Mary wanted to demonstrate how she can write her name...it is a bit hard to see, but she is holding the board with her name, written entirely by herself.

Sarah had to have a picture with her name too. She got a little help from PawPaw in writing her name.

Bee & PawPaw

I am going to back track a little...I got some pictures from Aunt Rita that I wanted to post from our evening together last week."If you don't smile...I might just tickle you!" (PawPaw)

"NO you won't" (Sarah) "Don't tempt me!" (PawPaw)

I guess PawPaw won :)

For those that don't know...Sarah gave my Dad his name. Mary always called him Grandpa Roger, or whatever, but this past summer after seeing my Dad two months in a row, and then again this trip...she started calling him PawPaw, so PawPaw he is.

Busy week for Urso's

I am too tired to post any pictures tonight...that involves too much work for this tired gal. I figured I'd write something quick.
It has and continues to be a very busy week. Monday we went trick or treating, then to Grandma's for supper and visiting (the last night my Dad and aunt and uncle were in town). Tuesday night I had bowling..Nancy kept the girls for me. Tonight we went trick or treating again...some of my family expects the girls, and I get in trouble if we don't bring them by. Oh, we baked gobs this morning at Joyce's, Mary had school, errands in town and THEN trick or treating. Tomorrow is the BIG HALLOWEEN BASH at the Urso's...YIPEEEEEE!!!! (And I am babysitting two little boys tomorrow morning. ) And Friday is more Halloween stuff...this time in at Trinity UMC in Indiana. So...that is why I am getting off and going to bed. Maybe I'll get the pictures of our carved pumpkins uploaded tomorrow...maybe

Sabo's & Mary's

Lisa and Alex came over to Grandma's house on Sunday to open their gifts. We were invited up. They got a lot of very nice gifts. The best gift of all was MARY...before and after the opening of the gifts, she was their entertainment. She was feeding Alex...you might notice the feast of food in his lap. That was compliments of Mary. For not seeing the Sabo's (Lisa & Alex) very much, Mary sure did "warm" up to them. They were her buddies for the day.

This is a pretty special picture. These were the 3 Mary's that were at Grandma's on Sunday. Seated is Mary Louise Lippert (nickname for the day was Mother Mary); then my Mary Elizabeth Urso (nickname for the day was Little Mary); and then my Aunt Janet's sister Mary Elizabeth Isenberg (nickname for the day was Sister Mary). And the joke is they all fit their name so well...each one of them likes to talk. :)

I guess you can say we had 3 generations of Mary's in our presence

One big happy family

My cousin Lisa Lippert got married on Saturday to Alex Sabo. Because we were all dressed up, we decided it would be nice to take some family pictures. Here is what we got. These were taken at Rustic Lodge, where her reception was held.

Mary Elizabeth...almost 4 years old, Jude, Sarah Elaine...2 years old and Emily UrsoI love this picture...it was a candid picture...we were all focused on something...and that something sure wasn't the camera. :)

Mary, Jude, Sarah, Emily and PawPaw Roger