Back to school....

Hello blogland!! So, both boys finally had their first day of school yesterday. They were a little hesitant to get up, as was I, but everyone made it on time. I still can't believe Christopher is in 2nd grade now and Anthony is in his last year of PreK. It went so fast!!

 

Christopher took the bus but I then met him up at school to make sure he could carry the 9 million supplies he had to bring. I watched him get off the bus and snapped a few pictures.

 

Then it was time to take Anthony. He was not really excited. Thankfully once we got there he felt more comfortable.  He saw all his friends and he went right in.

 

And I headed to Panera for breakfast with my friend...it was a good day!

Almost Wordless Wednesday….

My back to school shopping yesterday yielded this….

Little boy blazer….

Little boy hamming it up in front of the camera….

All for $1.97!!! Score!!!

Happy Hump Day…

Almost Wordless Wednesday…

Happy Hump Day! Does ‘Wordless Wednesday’ still exist?? LOL!



Hope you are having a ‘BEARY’ good summer!

Hello.....

Is anyone there?? As I say ‘hello’ I hear the echo coming back at me. I have been away for quite sometime now…..6 months to be exact! I am sure there is no one left out there to even be reading this…lol. But I want to be back. I miss blogging and communicating with my ‘friends’ online.

We have just had so much happening this year that I could not get a handle on organizing myself and making time to blog. I know we all have a life with families and kids and sports and playdates, etc., etc., but if this blog is something I enjoy, than I need to make it a priority.

I probably have a million things I can post since I have been away so long….but I wanted to start today with this small invite for all you to come back to visiting.  I want to focus on my Etsy shop again and I want to focus on ME!! Well, that is a whole other post with the things I want to accomplish in these up coming months.

So, I will be stopping by and catching up with you on your blogs this week. I hope everyone had a great summer. We have another 2 weeks before school so I am trying to enjoy these last few nice days before the mayhem begins again!



Have a great day….

Almost Wordless Wednesday….

Happy Hump Day! I hope you are all having a good week. I should be blogging to tell you all about the last few days which include a mini vacation that almost wasn’t and my near death food poisoning that landed me in the hospital, but I am keeping it simple today…ha, ha! 

Well, this week marked Christopher’s 100th day of school. Until your kids actually get into elementary school, you have no idea that this ‘event’ even exists….lol! Last year in Kindergarten it was more of a big to-do, but this year his 1st grade class kept is simple. They had to do a project with 100 of something. There aren’t any real guidelines, so I went on Pinterest and found some great ideas. Last year we did a birthday cake make out of styrofoam and added 100 candles. And Christopher wanted to do that again. I had to talk him out of it. Since he loves Mario, we went with that as our theme. 

Here is what WE did…..lol!

Thank goodness for my Silhouette machine because there was no way I was cutting out 100 coins!!
 
Have a great day!

Presents….

Happy President’s Day!! Hopefully most of you are off from work and school and are able to enjoy an extended weekend. This upcoming week would normally be the kids’ winter recess but here in the northeast that has been cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy. We missed a good number of days when that happened and therefore they have to take them back somewhere. So, we are only off today and then back to school tomorrow!!

Last week or the week before I had mentioned that I had made some baby gifts and I just wanted to share them with you. The first was for a baby shower. The girl that does my hair, well, I have known her for years, and she it having her first baby girl. I had chipped in with my sisters and my mom and we got her some stuff of her registry. But I wanted to make her something extra. 

Here is what I decided….

A name wall plaque bow holder for the nursery. It matches the colors and theme of the room…..



And you can never go wrong with a tutu and a headband….lol!!


These are so easy to make and they truly look adorable on all little girls!
 
Now, the next items were for a friend who had a little girl a few months back. This is her third child, but her first girl. So I knew I needed to make something ‘girly’ here too.

I did a letter bow holder. I didn’t know what the room looked like so I tried to keep it simple.


And of course, a tutu and a headband!


The best part is that my friend is a great photographer. She took Valentine’s Day photos of her daughter Charlize wearing the tutu and she sent them to me.

How adorable is this little girl???


She also photographed the tutu alone in case I wanted to add it to my etsy shop.

Thanks Desiree!

Have a great day everyone….

Happy Birthday….

.....to ME!!! Yes, I am another year older today. I am officially in my ‘late thirties’…..lol! But it is okay…37 doesn’t feel so bad. 

I had planned to take the kids to school and then use a giftcard I had to go and get a pedicure. Then maybe hit Marshall’s and do some shopping. But the planned changed. Christopher woke up at 6am throwing up. So, I have been cleaning and changing sheets. Obviously he stayed home from school. That means I had to keep Anthony home too because I didn’t want to take Christopher out to drive Anthony. 

So, the day will be spent at home, relaxing with my boys. I guess this is what motherhood is all about….nothing ever goes as planned. But I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

Have a great day…..

Happy Monday….

Hello blogland! Happy Monday. Hope you are all recovering from the Superbowl parties that I am sure most if you had attended. We kept it pretty low key here because my husband was away. I honestly only like to watch for the commercials (that is the marketing exec in me….lol) and the halftime show. The kids really could have cared less. I was able to flip from Nickelodeon to see Beyonce perform. And I thought she did great!! But other than that, I really wasn’t into it…lol!

What I was into was the new Sally Hansen nail strips that I bought at Target!! I decided to give myself a pedicure and try them out. I have used them before and  I love them. It takes a few times to actually get the process down. But once you do, they really can last for a few weeks. And in the winter most of us are not getting pedicures as much.

I was going bold this time…..

If you haven’t tried them, you should!

In other news, I have been extremely busy crafting. Which is a good thing. I told myself in the new year I wanted to get back to blogging and crafting. Well, I am on a roll with at least one of them…lol! I had a few baby shower/presents to make. I will post them this week. And I just got a big order from my Etsy shop that will keep me busy for the next few days!

Hope you all have a great week!

Almost Wordless Wednesday….

Happy Hump Day! We were at the drive thru at McDonald’s over the weekend and this is what I saw in the car ahead of me…..


I didn’t know that dogs were driving these day….lol!

Have a great day….

Almost Wordless Wednesday….

Happy Hump Day! I had to post this picture today because I just can’t take how cute my little Anthony looks in his new Tae Kwon Do uniform!!

Christopher has been taking Tae Kwon Do since the summer and her really likes it. He actually just took another test and has moved up to an orange belt. Well, Anthony has been asking to go too. But it is expensive and I am not sure he is really ready. So, they had a special for Christmas where you got 2 months of classes and the uniform for $50. SCORE! Yesterday was his first official class and he loved it.  Now, we will see how he does for the next 2 months if I end up signing him up or not….lol!

Have a great day……

New No nonsense...

This post brought to you by No nonsense. All opinions are 100% mine.

I am on a roll people, two posts in two days!! YES! In all honesty, I was so excited to write this post, that I wanted to share it as soon as possible. With the New Year comes resolutions. And although we may not always keep them, I believe most of us make them. One of mine (as it always is…lol) is to focus more on me. I am always so busy worrying about everyone else that I sometimes lose sight of the things that make me happy. And looking good makes me feel good, which makes me happy!

If I could go out and buy a whole new wardrobe every January, I would. But that is not practical. Adding a few new staple pieces and some fun items is reasonable though. I love accessories and make-up and how they can change your look. For the winter, tights and scarves can do that too.

I received 2 items from the new No nonsense. One was a pair of blue denim leggings...

 

And the other was a pair of pear tights….

I knew I was going to put those new leggings on right away! Oh, and were they comfortable!! They were just the perfect weight, not too heavy. Leggings are a staple in my wardrobe because I feel like you can make them totally casual or a bit dressy depending on that you pair them with. I opted for casual the day I first tried them.

Now, the tights were definitely a fun ‘accessory.’ And I consider them like an accessory because they can instantly change the look of your outfit just as a piece of jewelry or a handbag. If you are in a more serious mood, you would probably wear black tights with your little black dress. But if you were in a funky, fun mood, then you could go with green.

I haven’t worn this yet, but I am planning on it as soon as Chris and I have our next date night!

The No nonsense tights and leggings make it so easy to add a pop of color to every outfit. No nonsense is ensuring that all women can experience “style made easy”. Finding stylish tights and leggings has never been easier with No nonsense products being sold in food and drug stores as well as mass retail stores. Their prices are so affordable that you can buy numerous pairs at a fraction of the cost of other brands. Ultimately, getting you more looks for less! And that will also help with your New Years resolution of saving money…lol!!

Now, if you check out their website, you will see the beautiful face of Jill Martin. You know her, she is the Emmy Award winning TV personality and co-author of the NY Times best selling style guide “I Have Nothing to Wear.” You may also have seen her as the correspondent for Access Hollywood. Well, she is partnering with No nonsense and has a bunch videos on their website with awesome style tips and tricks.

I encourage all of you to ‘like’ No nonsense on Facebook(http://www.facebook.com/nonons…) and follow them on Twitter (https://twitter.com/benononsen…) to keep up with all of their new products. You will glad that you did!

Have a great day….

 

 

 

Welcome 2013!!

Happy New Year everyone! It is good to actually be back and writing here on my blog. The last 2 months have been like a tornado for us. The holidays are a busy time for everyone, but this year it was BEYOND ridiculous! All I can say is that I am so glad it is over! And one of my goals for this year is to focus more on the things that I enjoy, like sewing and blogging. So, we shall see if I actually follow through and continue to post….lol! 

I will give you a short synopsis of the last 2 weeks of Christmas and New Years…..

Christmas Eve morning…at the doctor. Both kids were sick but Christopher was worse with a fever, sore throat,coughing.
The doctor said it was viral and it would work its way out of his system. But that should give you some idea of how Christmas went….lol! 

We went to my sister’s Christmas Eve for dinner and presents. The kids were all excited to be with their cousins. They played and ran around and a good time was had by all.


But by 10:30pm I knew Christopher was going down hill. He looked like crap. So, we left and he fell asleep on the car ride home.

Christmas morning the kids ran downstairs to see if Santa had come. And of course he did……

They got everything they asked for and more!! So much so that I don’t even know where to start with putting all of this stuff away…lol! Christopher was dying for and Xbox 360 and he was so excited when he opened it!





After opening presents and playing, I could tell that Christopher was still not getting any better. In fact, he looked worse. We were supposed to go to Chris’s aunts house to spend Christmas with his side. But with the way that Christopher feeling, I thought it would be best if I stayed home with him. So, that is what we did. Him and I stayed in our pj’s all day and just relaxed. Chris and Anthony got dressed and headed out to see his family. Needless to say, there are no photo’s of the rest of the day…lol!! 

Ok, now the rest of the week we were all looking like this….



Christopher got a little better, but we all got worse!! All four of us were sick the entire week. It was horrible. I can’t ever remember a time when we all got sick together. All week we laid around, hoping to feel better. 

That brought us to NYE. We had plans to go out with friends, but that quickly got canceled. At this point, Anthony was the worst and I did not want to take him out. I told Chris he could go with Christopher, but he didn’t want to leave us so we all stayed home.  We put our pj’s on early and watched tv. 

Anthony passed out around 10:30 but we kept him downstairs with us….



Christopher was struggling to stay awake, but he made it…..



That brings us to today. Christopher went back to school and Chris went back to work. But Anthony is still not well. We have an appointment to go back to the doctor and hopefully get some meds for him. 

I hope that this is not an indication for what this winter has in store for us! 

That pretty much sums it up! I hope you had a great holiday season with your friends and family. I will be by to catch up with all my bloggy buddies this week. 

Have a great day…

Buried….

It’s me. Yes, I am still here. Buried.



Ok, well, I am not literally buried under boxes, but it feels like that. The Holiday season is a very busy time for all of us. I am usually fine with the normal hustle and bustle. But I think I may have taken on too much this year…lol!
Between being class mom for both of my kids, teaching religion classes, volunteering to run the school holiday party through the PTA and doing my annual cookie exchange with my girlfriends, I am totally over overwhelmed and exhausted. There is truly not enough hours in the day. Someone please remind me next year to not volunteer so much!  Oh, and I still have a ton of  shopping to do and let’s not even talk about wrapping!! 

The fact is that it will all get done. It always does. I just wish I had a few little elves to help me….lol. We did manage to get our Christmas pictures done this past weekend. Now I just need to find the time to make and mail the cards. We met with a professional photographer this year instead of going to Target.  It was so much BETTER!! The price was about the same and there was no waiting and I didn't feel rushed.  

So, I will leave you with a few shots. I hope to get by and check on all my bloggy buddies real soon. Hope you are all doing great!




Happy Hump Day!

Happy Belated Turkey Day, Happy Black Friday

Hello bloggy buddies!! Just wanted to check in and say hello. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and families. Ours was great, filled with lots of yummy food (that I cooked…lol) and lots of laughs.


Are you all out braving the crowds today on Black Friday?? I wanted to go out last night, but by the time my company left and I cleaned up, I was way too tired. And I wasn’t in the mood to deal with this…….


I may head out now for a bit and see what happens. Wish me luck!!

I will be back around next week, hoping to catch up on my blog reading.

Have a great weekend!

Guilt….

Happy Hump Day everyone!! Hope this post finds you all well. Things are slowly starting to get back to normal here after Hurricane Sandy. The clean-up is underway. The kids finally went back to school today after being off for 11 days. I think we all were grateful for a little normalcy!! 

I know that not everyone understands the magnitude of the devastation here because you are in other parts of the country. And I guess it was like us when we would watch Hurricane Katrina or other disasters that had taken place outside our little niche of the world. But in all my 36 years of life, I have never experienced seeing such loss so close to home. It is mind boggling. But, just like we got through 9/11, we will recover and rebuild and come back stronger than ever!! 

The awesome thing is seeing so many people rally together to help. There are shelters and warming centers for those who still have no power. The food and clothing drives are everywhere. And although we cannot take away the loss that so many have suffered, we can help. The kids and I brought a bunch of coats, hats, scarves and blankets down to a local organization the other day. We donated to the Red Cross. And as soon as the gas situation gets better (there is NO gas here, people are waiting hours and even fighting over it) I plan to go out and buy some more things to donate.  And I know I am doing what I can to help, but there is a “survivor’s guilt” that kind of takes over. Why were we okay?  How come we were fortunate and others weren’t? I am guessing it is pretty normal to feel those emotions after a tragedy. And after talking with others, they seem to feel the same way. 

This is what it looks like just a mile up the road…..



To see the National Guard walking up and down the streets and them calling on megaphones is just eerie…..


So, I will look at my kids faces today and everyday and really thank God that we are all okay!


If you would like to help, know you can always contact the Red Cross to donate! 

Have a great day…..

The Aftermath and Happy Halloween…

Hello blogland!! Hope you are all well and safe today in the wake of Sandy. I don’t even know what to say about the whole situation. It is just devastating. In all my life I have never seen such a storm to hit here in NY. Living on Long Island has it’s advantages for sure, but when it comes to storms, living on an island is not ideal. We were very fortunate and blessed to come through this storm virtually unharmed. We prepared as we were told to and our house survived with just a few scratches. We did lose power Monday night but we do have a generator so we okay.

Those that were not as lucky as us, well, we can only hope and pray that their lives return to normal as quickly as possible. And although there was so much damage to property, the loss of life was minimal, thank God.

So, needless to say, the kids have been off since Monday. I am not sure when the schools will open again. But they are excited to be off today since it is Halloween. Now, I am just not sure what to do as far as Trick or Treating???  I am thinking that most people will not be in the mood to celebrate. I guess we will play it by ear. We did have 2 parties we had attended last Friday so we were able to get dressed up and at least wear our costumes then.

We decided to be the Wizard of Oz……


How cute are they??


And yes, I did make my Dorothy costume, right down to the red glitter shoes….lol!

See, now you know why I haven’t been blogging lately!

Have a safe and Happy Halloween….

Almost Wordless Wednesday….

More Fall fun….







Happy Hump Day….