Mother's Day Rocked!

Ok, so Mother's Day is the one day I don't feel guilty for sleeping in late, not doing the dishes, having the kids make breakfast, etc...

I woke up around 8:30ish (sweet!) and read for a little while. The house was nice and quiet. My husband spent the night on the couch because he was up late watching soccer and I have become a bit of a snorer (allergies!). Around 9:30, I hear little footsteps downstairs and clanging in the kitchen. I know soon I will be eating. Not sure what, not sure how it will be cooked, but it will be some semblance of food - at least I hope so!

The next thing I know, breakfast is being served on a tray. On my menu is bacon, (no Weight Watchers today!), scrambled eggs with cheese melted on top, toast, sliced mangoes and OJ. It was set-off with a beautiful red rose. My oldest daughter made it for me and it was delicious.

However, breakfast also came with PRESENTS!! My husband got me a spa gift certificate - one of my favorite gifts to receive. Since I am currently on WW, I decided I would use it when I got to a certain goal. Hopefully sooner than later.

Next came my youngest daughter's gifts. She made a beautiful necklace in Junior Girl Scouts (I am the leader so this one wasn't a surprise to me.)

This was something I pinned on Pinterest (go to my page if you want the directions - under Great for Girl Scouts). This look great and will be something I will definitely wear a lot. We are going to make them to sell as a fundraiser and will do holiday graphics as well.

She also made for me a poem entitled "When I'm Old With You Mom".  Here's how it reads:

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We can go to Disney World and we can walk through the streets and pop into stores. We won't ride on any roller coasters, but that's okay.

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We'll relax by the pool and lay in the warmth of the big, hot sun and won't swim. But that's alright.

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We can travel around the world, bundle up in layers of clothes or lay on the beach, either temperature, I will be fine.

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We can bake our favorite cookies for Christmas, the Iced Italians. I won't drench them in icing or cover them with green and red sprinkles, if you say so.

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We can drive to Gainesville to visit our family: Hannah, Morgan, Harrison, Hudson, and Presley, even if the drive takes a million years.

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We can shop at Publix and I'll be your buddy so you won't get lonely (or forget the list)!

When I'm old with you mom . . .
We can drive our crazy carpool to school and blast the radio to block them out, my ears may burst but, that's ok.

Happy Mother's Day.

My sweet girl brought tears to my eyes!! So sweet and touching (but not better than when she was 3 and thought I was 22 years old and weighed 88 pounds!).

My oldest daughter is so clever, and also addicted to Pinterest like her mom! She Pinned something similar as the above, but made it her own. Her dad bought her the canvas and she did all the rest. I am really impressed with her freehand painting! Now the tough decision is where to hang it!!

Normally, we all hang out in the pool but Sunday was overcast and kind of icky. That makes it the prefect day for movie watching. We watched Joyful Noise (kind of cute) and the original Footloose (great music!).

I had a nice phone conversation with my mom while the family made dinner. For dinner, we had steaks (my husband is a master barbecuer), grilled asparagus, baked potatoes and a side of Bernaise (remember, no Weight Watchers today!). It was finished off with a wonderful wine we brought back from France. I was washing my hands getting ready for dinner when I heard all this yelling and "Bad Dog!" "Bad Dog!!" I go around the corner and see my beautiful, but extremely guilty Black Lab licking her chops. She had made off with one of the steaks!!! BAD DOG! Because one daughter is a vegetarian, we only had 2 steaks originally, so we were down to one for three people. Luckily, everything else was so filling, we didn't starve and finished it all off with cannolis.

All-in-all, it was a great day. I felt loved and appreciated, and I didn't have to do any dishes!! The rest of the house still needed attention, but that's for another post!

It's The Final Countdown . . .

Ok, so I was doing what I do best, driving carpool this morning, when the kids were talking about the number of days of school left - 22!! What?!?! But I still have so much more to do before they invade!! Time to make my mac-daddy, "get your butt in gear" To Do list! So here goes -

1. Find a seamstress to make pillows and curtains/roman shades for family room. (Some day - Take sewing class so don't have to pay someone!! I probably could sew a basic pillow but not sure how to do cording and don't want to waste expensive fabric).

Isn't it a great fabric? Waverly Santa Maria Adobe.

2. Paint family room. I can do this myself. I am having a very large cabinet from Pottery Barn delivered in the next couple of weeks (it's been back-ordered) and I want to have the room painted before then.

Love, love, love this! Getting it in black instead!

3.  I spent 3.5 hours yesterday with my favorite carpenter - turned contractor - going over things to do in my house. I always paint or stain whatever he does (to save on cost) so once I get his estimates, time to get staining/painting! We want to have a pediment we bought at a Paris flea market hung (super heavy!),
a coffered ceiling added to our dining room, storage built for DVDs, stained crown moulding hung and a few other miscellaneous jobs.

You can't really tell in the photo above but my pediment is the brown one laying on top of the green trunk. It was an incredible shop! I loved the 15-foot high moldings but promised my husband I wouldn't try to get them home!!

4. Restain upstairs, outside porch.

5. Have curtain/valance made for office. (Again, wish I could really sew!)

PKauffman Breeze Tapestry

6. Buy replacement wine fridge.

7. Organize kitchen cupboards. I have started but not finished yet. Will post all the photos once done. The cabinets I have done so far do look really great!

8. Have pillows made for outside porch. Using Sun 'n Shade fabric so extra thick material.

Waverly Sun 'n Shade Magic Carpet

So that's just part of my list but the items I wanted to prioritize. Once the kids are home, we will tackle closets and desks but that's for another post!

The Kids are Coming, The Kids are Coming - Are You Ready?

Before we know it, our little ones will be out of school and running around - wanting us to feed them, play with them, drive them, entertain them!! Kids! Truth being said, as a stay-at-home mom with an on-line business, I love having them home but it's a lot more work for me when they are out of school. Granted, it's great being able to swim in the pool at night and not worry about getting homework done or staying up late to watch a movie. Sleeping-in in the mornings is nothing but fantastic! We have some fun family traditions, and not-so fun rules, that we use to make summer a little easier on everyone -

1. Buy "special" individual cups for each member of the family. This is something I try to do year-round but it's really not that bad during school since the kids aren't home. During summer, my girls will go through 4-6 glasses a day. I finally said enough. On the first day of summer break, they each get a monogrammed cup to use. It's their cup for the day, and everyday. I am not to see anymore cups used, laying around, or they have to hand wash them!!

2. Something else we do is lazy week. The first week the girls are home, they get to watch as much TV as they want (but we still monitor what they watch - no MTV in our house!!), sleep as much as they want, play on the computer or Wii/Playstation as much as they want. I know it sounds nuts, we call it our Week of Debauchery. We have done this for several years and it works well in our house. By the end of the week, they are not interested in TV or the computer, they want to see friends, swim, ride bikes and they get it out of their system. They have worked super hard in school and deserve some down time so we give it to them. The one rule is that they still need to do their regular chores for the day or they don't get debauchery the next day (not sure I used the word right but that's what we say!!). "Don't make me take your debauchery away!"

Not my real kids but they look like this, except still in jammies!

 3. Plan fun outings. We live in the Tampa Bay area so we have so many great things to choose. This summer, we are so excited because we are taking a trip to the MOSI museum. They are having this awesome mummy exhibit and so it's a must see. We usually plan a fun lunch out and maybe even take some friends. This can be expensive so we also plan less expensive outings. One year, a group of us rode the city trolley to a handmade chocolate shop. We called ahead and they allowed our group of kids to take a tour of their kitchens. The kids loved seeing how the chocolate is made and everyone got to pick out a couple of pieces.  We also plan a special kind of "happy hour". We gather on the beach around 4-5ish, you could pick a park if you are not close to a beach, and let the kids play. Then it's not so hot, the parents visit and relax, the kids get to be with their friends, and we all watch a beautiful sunset. We usually plan for Friday nights and this is a great way for the kids to get exercise and then get tired out! If your lucky, your kids will be asked to spend the night at a friend's afterwards and mommy and daddy get a night out!

4. Something else my girls are into these days are cooking. Just like when I was a kid, over summer they are going to cook a meal a week (hopefully they expand their menus a little more than I did because I was obsessed with the Bisquick Impossible Pies - I still love them!!). The girls can find the own recipes, plan the meal, write the grocery shopping list, and actually shop for their items with their own cart. This is a great way to learn to plan a well-balanced meal, see how much things really cost, and just familiarize themselves with a kitchen. The rule in our house is, whoever cooks doesn't have to do the dishes so my husband and I will clean up that night. The girls love to sit on the couch and watch us work!

My kids would never cook with that many veggies though!

5.  Another great summertime activity we do is watch "old" movies. Now let me just let you know, my youngest daughter, came to me over Christmas break a couple of years ago and said she wanted to watch an old-school movie. I get excited thinking maybe "It's a Wonderful Life" or the original "Miracle on 34th Street". I ask what movie so I can get it for her and she replies, "the original High School Musical!" Egads! My husband and I are now trying to correct that. Every summer, we rent movies that every person should see but beware, we were caught off guard by some of the language because we are used to seeing them on TBS. We have watched Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Gremlins, 3 Stooges (my husband's choice), Mr. Mom, Benny and Joon, Edward Scissorhands, The Princess Bride, ET, Karate Kid (both girls like the original better), and so on. While most of these aren't considered classics (LOL!), they are just fun movies! We are currently watching the Rocky series. We are waiting for Rocky IV to arrive. After watching the first Rocky, my youngest replies, "all that and he still loses?" My oldest is now 14 so I have some movies lined up for her - Breakfast Club, The Outsiders, Pretty in Pink and Say Anything. We will also watch Grease and the old and new Footloose. Now if I can just get them to read some of the classics!

6. Another family summer tradition is Christmas in July. We try to shoot for July 25 but it doesn't always work. We turn the A/C down cold, light a fire, put on a Christmas movie and bake Christmas cookies. This is not about gift giving, just creating some family fun time. The girls love it and it's a great way to spend a day.

There are so many great opportunities over the summer. This is when kids get to be kids and so do parents! Now I am off to grab my calendar so I can figure out when my sister is taking my kids for a week (another great week!) and then I get her girls (an even better week!) but that's for another post!

P.S. Those of you who know me also know I have another blog associated with my on-line store, Too Chic Gifts, called "Days of Our Too Chic Lives?". Now I just wrote the above blog for the Too Chic blog but I liked it so much, plus it took a long time to write, I thought I would share it here too - so enjoy, twice!

Hippity, Hoppitty, Easter is Over . . .

Love the clean, fresh look of these shelves!

Ok, C-A-N-N-O-T believe it is already April. Seriously, where has the time gone??

So here's a quick recap of our Easter celebrations. Normally, we head to Gainesville to spend Easter with the family. However this year, we were still experiencing jet lag and opted to stay home for some rest and relaxation! We went to Good Friday services and then came home and my girls had a meltdown. Complaining about everything, tears, we can't do anything right, you name it! My husband, fed up with the whining, sent them both to bed and we did our own "wining" - popped a bottle of wine and watched 50/50 (which was incredibly fantastic and gave me a little crush on Joseph Gordon Levitt - yes, the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun! I know, weird!!). After some truly needed sleep, everyone woke up in a better mood and we had a great, relaxing weekend - an Easter miracle! My oldest daughter is currently going through Confirmation and trying to earn "points" and raise money for the Mission Trip she is going on in June. She spent Saturday volunteering at the church and getting caught up on homework. Youngest daughter worked on her Earth Day project and I spent the day cooking (after attending Weight Watchers - I maintained which was my goal after being in Paris/Belgium/Amsterdam for 10 days!).  Once everything was done, we dyed our eggs.

This was oldest daughter's creation - it's simple beautiful and a labor of love!

Our menu for the weekend was absolutely delish -

Lunch Saturday - Paula Deen's Lady and Sons Grilled Cheese and Asparagus sandwiches. Everyone loved them (again another Easter miracle!!)

Dinner - Pesto Chicken Salad - We have made this as a sandwich before but tonight, we just served on a bed of lettuce with other salad veggies.

Easter Day - Opening our Easter baskets!

Youngest daughter - Olivia.

Oldest daughter - Caitlin.

Heading off to Easter Church Services.

Time to look for eggs.

Brunch is served.

The girls set a beautiful table.

Brunch - Lemon, Strawberry Ricotta Muffins  - Not sweet at all. My husband like them, I thought ok and neither daughter liked them. They have a very dense quality to them. Not sure if I will make again.

             - Eggs Benedict Casserole - fantastic! You have to make it the night before and it's worth it. This was a hit with all the meat-eaters in the family.

            - Fresh Cut Fruit - thank you Publix!

            - Mimosas! I had one with OJ but the next one (or two) were with Cranberry juice. I love those!

Easter Day was the best! We played Kinect on Playstation. It actually brought tears, we were laughing so hard. Then we headed outside for some reading and relaxing. Later, my husband and I poured some wine and planned our next vacation (nothing decided on yet!). 

Time to eat again  -

Dinner - Beef Tenderloin with Blue Cheese Sauce (I know right, what about WW??)

            - Gruyere Potatoes

            - Roasted Broccoli

            - Carrot Cake - this was THE BEST CARROT CAKE EVER!! It's a sheet cake, then you pour a glaze on top, and then cream cheese icing! Moist, delicious and not nearly big enough!!

We had a great, relaxing weekend. Just what the Doctor ordered! Since March was a blur and I am too lazy to take down our Easter decorations we really didn't get to enjoy our Easter decorations, we decided to keep them up until after my daughter's confirmation on April 22. It still is the month of Easter, right??

I think he was a gift from my mom (is this right, mom?) and I like that he is super shiny and looks like chocolate!.

My mantle - I just kept it as it normally is and added the bunny I found at Tuesday Morning and took a glass jar with a metal handle (found at a local boutique) and filled with shiny eggs from the $2.50 section of Target. In fact, I liked the eggs so much, I went back and bought 4 more sets of them but then never had time to find a home for them!

This is my Pottery Barn coffee table. For the love of God, I rotated this picture in iPhoto but can't get that version to load here. Not sure why so just tilt your laptops! Please ignore the Christmas snow still in the table and the tacky chargers in the background!

My favorite little chalkboard. It had the menu on it but it was splattered with water so I just wiped it clean!

I hope all of you had a happy holiday weekend. While we missed being with our family, especially the cousins, we had a great weekend and even better downtime! We will get to see the family this weekend when we all participate in Gaineville's Relay for Life - celebrating my sister Becky's, and daughter Caitlin's, cancer survivorship, but that is for another post!

PS - I was trying to share all the recipes with you but the Pinterest server went down. If you want them, go to my Pinterest page once it is back up and running.