Easter festivities

After brunch at "Beepa" and "Meema's" we headed over to Ommy and Poppy's for the second half of our Easter celebration.

Liddy was very excited to see their big backyard again and Adam was happy to spend some quiet time (in a more comfortable outfit) playing with trains.

The quiet lasted about two hours and then we were joined by the rest of the family (all but Uncle Shawn who is on the road with the Blue Jays) and it was the perfect afternoon of cousins, egg hunts, chit chat, and sunshine!

It was great seeing all of the "Gribble" cousins together, and wouldn't you know it, all of the boys showed up in blue, with adorable Isabella rounding out the crew in her pink dress!

I'm not sure what was harder...getting all of the cousins to smile for a photo....

Or getting the original Gribble family to cooperate...

Either way, it was great to see everyone back together again. 

Easter morning

What a beautiful day this Easter was! The sun was shining and the temperatures were nice and warm. It was, what I consider, the perfect day to celebrate Easter.


We started the day off by attending 9:00 mass. Adam was such a trooper (as was Andy!) and was better behaved than some of the adults! I was so impressed, and aside from him being a bit of a distraction for Grandpa (or BeePa as he is calling him) who so graciously took on the role of "Adam watcher," we all got to enjoy mass and celebrate.
After church we headed home and were so happy to find out that the Easter Bunny had in fact made a visit to Adam. He left a basket with some chocolate, a few books, a bunny and Adam's newest obsession, bubbles! Adam loved tearing into his goodies and especially loved playing with the Easter eggs with Uncle Mark.

We had a decadent Easter brunch, I made my friend Cindy's, now famous, Creme' Brulee French Toast and to lighten the load, a fresh fruit salad. Who needs Easter candy when you can dig into french bread soaked in brown sugar and butter?! :)
It was a fantastic Easter morning spent with family---what could be better?

Stay tuned for parts 2 and 3...(is it a surprise that we would do it up big for a holiday?!) ;)

Happy Birthday Olivia!

It's hard to believe a year has gone by since our sweet little Olivia joined our family, but alas, time continues to fly and we celebrated her first birthday (which was Sunday) on Saturday! Kathleen and Lee put on a great party with awesome bbq and adorable flower cupcakes for dessert.

Olivia was all dressed up for her party and looked beautiful. Happy birthday to a wonderful niece and a perfect playmate to cousin Adam!

XOXOXO

(PS: See Kathleen's blog for more pictures and details here)


Marley's Birthday Party

Saturday evening we headed to the My Gym in our neighborhood to celebrate Marley's 2nd birthday. Marley is the daughter of Neil and Fiona, who are part of our Doggie Happy Hour crew.

It was a fun party and it was great to see how much more comfortable and adventurous Adam was with all of the activities since Lillian's party in February (see here.) He was still a big fan of the ball pit, but also found joy in playing basketball, climbing over the little bridge, popping bubbles and climbing up the ladder to get to the slide to get to the ball pit--what a big boy!!!

It was a great celebration for an adorable little girl and a perfect excuse to see some of our old DHH crew and the next generation of doggie happy hour participants! :) Happy birthday Miss Marley! (sweet girl in the pink tutu)

Veal Osso Bucco

I recently purchased a Groupon for my local butcher and I knew the minute I bought it what meat I was going to purchase...veal shanks. I've never cooked with veal but was looking forward to giving it a try and knew I wanted to try my hand at making osso bucco. And not just because it's fun to say!


So I got a recipe recommendation from an old co-worker who is a big time "foodie" and the perfect person to swap recipes with. He lead me to this recipe which is slightly different than a traditional osso bucco in that it wasn't tomato based. In fact, it would probably be best to describe this as garlic based! Which was perfectly fine with me!


1 Tbsp olive oil 4 center-cut slices veal shank (2 pounds or more)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
3 or 4 cloves garlic, lightly mashed and peeled
4 anchovy fillets
1 cup dry white wine, chicken or beef stock, or water
2 teaspoons butter

Heat the oil in a large skiller (we used our dutch oven) and then brown the veal on all sides. Takes about five minutes. Then add in the garlic and anchovy filets and cook until the garlic browns and the anchovies dissolve. (Side note: don't be scared by the anchovies, they are so good and just add a great salty and nutty flavor to the dish, the way these get cooked up you'd never know that's what was in here. Of course for those that DO love anchovies, like me, you can use the leftover anchovies to make a quick anchovie paste to put on crackers for an appetizer-yum!) Then add in the liquid of choice (I used wine, of course) and let it all bubble for about a minute.

Lower the heat, cover and let simmer for about 90 minutes, or until the veal is nice and tender. Turn the veal every 30 minutes or so. Once the meat is tender, take it out, crank up the heat, add in the butter and let the sauce thicken.


The recipe then calls for a Gremolata as a topping. It is amazing and I'll be using this as a topping for lots of dishes in the future. You simply take about a tablespoon of lemon zest, two tablespoons of chopped parsley, and about a teaspoon of chopped garlic. Since you aren't cooking this, be sure you only use as much garlic as you are willing to eat raw.

It was really a great meal and one I'd easily entertain with. There wasn't a whole lot of hands on time, which was great, and smell of garlic and lemon wafting throughout the kitchen was far better than any Yankee Candle I could have had burning on the counter! :)

Conquering my resolutions

This just might be the first year I've really stuck to my resolutions and perhaps actually writing them down had something to do with it. I've always been a big fan of "to do" lists as I love the feeling of crossing items off of them. Of course the key to resolutions isn't necessarily getting to the finish line, but rather forcing a change in behavior that will allow you to cross some resolutions off of your list, but hopefully leaving you with new habits, hobbies, and perhaps even a shift in attitude.

One of the resolutions I did make at the beginning of the year (remember these?) was to run two races this year, preferably one in the spring and another in the fall. I had my sights set on the Wolf Trap Race for the Arts 5K which I proudly raced in this past Saturday and while I didn't beat any records, I did hit a lot of personal goals I had set for myself, which at the end of the day is really all that matters.

Andy and Adam were my running buddies and they were the perfect cheerleaders to keep me running the whole time. I'm looking forward to picking out another race, and who knows, I just might end up doing more than two this year. Besides, I still have to find "Peaches" and crush her! (long story, but trust me, I will find her and will beat the gold spandex off her someday!) ;)

Cherry Blossoms

On Sunday, despite the rather cold temperatures and early morning snow, we bundled up and headed downtown to see the cherry blossoms. I always love to see the beautiful trees and am always amazed at how perfectly they frame the monuments. It also helped that the chilly temperatures kept the crowds away-bonus!