Kudos to the wonderful couple!

39th years of marriage is not an easy feat! and you two make a wonderful couple :)
Enjoy your day! Love your granddaughter and her parents!

Grandma's day + Praline-Apple Bread

We celebrated Grandma's birthday by going to Barraco's (Italian restaurant). We have ordered a lot from there, but it was always to go. This was the first time that we ate in their restaurant. I don't know how common it is, but their menu was different from their delivery/pick up area and so were the prices. A hamburger that we normally order costs 4 dollars, but at the restaurant was 8 dollars? Well, they did come with "normal" french fries, but you can order those for about 2 dollars and the portion is a lot bigger and they are their specialty fries (Italian fries, I think they are called - has olive oil, pepper flakes, and cheese). So, even though the price was different, they still have some good things. Mike's steak with vegetables and mashed potatoes were excellent. He said it was the best steak in awhile. I had the barbecue chicken and it was good although messy :). Ann said that the lobster ravioli was yummy. The salad that Tiffany ordered seemed equally delicious. Grandma and Grandpa ordered the burgers that we know are good. The biggest thing for me was the layout of the restaurant. It was noisy and hard to talk and our table seemed to be in the path from the kitchen to the rest of the tables, so I felt people on top of me quite often. But, for a especial occasion like this is a nice place (just try to ask for a table in the sides -not the middle front). For more often, their delivery/ pick up side is just perfect.
After the restaurant, we went to our house and have some desserts. They brought a chocolate cake, and we had sugar lime cookies, brownies, and a Praline-apple bread. I think everyone was quite full since they were able to eat the cake, but we had lots of leftover. Not that those will go to waste :) Here are some pictures!



The praline- Apple Bread that I made came in my Southern Living Magazine and it was not sweet. It was moist and the toasted pecans added a different taste to it. The glaze is what gave the sweetness to it (butter and brown sugar). It was really easy to make. I forgot to take a picture before I started killing it ;) If you are interested in it, let me know and I will send you the recipe!

Happy Birthday to my Grandma!!!

Enjoy your day to the fullest and we love you Grandma! (We love the first picture so much we put it again!)

Proud Papa, Teeth, Party and Pumpkin patch.

I was waiting for Mike to come and show us the culmination of a long road... what is in the white envelope?


His Bachelor's Degree! It is finally here, so it is official. Congratulations to my daddy!


Also, while trying to doddle with Arianna, I came with this drawing that simplifies how I was feeling due to pain in two teeth. Apparently they worked to close to the nerve, and even though the nerves were fine they needed to go since they would not heal after they worked around them. Too much sensitivity equal to too much pain, so no choice but to have root canals. Well, after our pockets hurt more than anything I can say that I feel a lot better, but I still have some more stuff to go through in this area :( oh well...


Into nicer things, we went to Ann's house on Saturday to celebrate Grandma and Grandpa's birthdays. Ann made some really good pizzas and a Caprese (spelling?) salad. All homemade and that was her gift to her parents. Everyone ate a lot. After eating Arianna was playing with Grandpa and the drums. She loved them so I guess we can say a lot of noise is in our cards for our future.

Ann and Mom are getting ready to have some cake. The cake was their gift from Dave and Tiffany. It was all chocolate, with a layer of strawberry marmalade, and white frosting with sprinkles.


You go Grandma!


Happy Birthday Grandpa!


Arianna rocked to different tunes and she even sang most of the happy birthday song!

On Sunday (today) we went to a pumpkin patch at Palos Hills - The Farm. It was a great day and there were a lot of people taking advantage of that, but we still had a lot of fun. The good thing about this place is that they charged 4.50 per person (for the farm house - animals) and it was free for kids under 2 or you can go straight to the hay ride that takes you to the pumpkin field and not pay anything except for a pumpkin if you buy so it is nice. We paid for the farm and they had a lot of animals, and many of them you can pet: ducks, chicks, hens, bunnies (oh,rabbits- sorry Ari), horses, cows, goats, pigs, sheep... I may be forgetting one or two things. Arianna loved all of them.




After the farm, we went to the line for the hay ride. I was waiting on line while Mike and Arianna were playing nearby. Check the following pictures so you can see how much fun Ari was having!



I loved the colors of this tree!


Pumpkin patch, Arianna picked the pumpkin. After we walked for awhile, she settle for this one!

This was our ride back to the entrance were you paid your pumpkin and you can also buy some food and eat in their nearby tables or you can go home :)


Waiting for Mike. He went for the car so we would not have to walk all the way in the back. How nice of him :)


Nice picture of their bridge to cross Southwest Highway.


I captured this cool picture of geese flying by.


Arianna was playing with her big pumpkin and two little ones + a small gourd that Grandma and Grandpa bought for her. Thank you!


Here is our nice pumpkin. It was a long line to pay for it, but Arianna is having a blast with them and she is going to do some art on it later.