Happy Halloween!

Our Weekend in Photos

Pre-Soccer Pose

15 powdered-sugar donuts later...at the dentist!?!

Hayride puppy-dog

Marshmallow-Mouth

SMORES!!!

Post-bonfire Hayride

Xylophone-duo

I clearly have an obsession with photographing my boys with food in their mouths...Happy Monday!

The Butterfly Parade

In my son's Kindergarten class, they have been studying the life cycle of Monarch butterflies since the first day of school.  The school orders the larvae(?), grows them, tags them with tiny little stickers as part of Monarch Watch ,a program that studies the migratory behavior of these beautiful creatures, and then sets them "free" by having the children walk through the town (dressed-up as butterflies) with the butterflies on their heads to give the butterflies a "Head Start" on their migratory journey. Here is a very ecstatic RJ:

RJ was so excited about this event that he slept with the black shirt and "cozy" black fleece pants rolled-up in his bed for the days preceding the release...it was the best $10.69 I've ever spent!

Style Me Pretty Feature

I just received a super-sweet message from Amy, one of my customers that purchased the "Fleur de Lis Bridal Bouquet Locket" to use in her wedding. Amy used the locket to hold a photo of her cherished Grandmother who passed away in 2009.  Amy told me that the locket was featured in "Style Me Pretty" magazine (ahhhhh!!!!).  Here is the picture from my shop:

And here are some amazingly artistic and  professional photos from the glowingly-gorgeous-Amy's wedding:

I'm so happy that the locket worked-out for Amy and I'm thrilled that Amy shared this feature with me!

Congratulations Amy and Brett!

Channeling My Inner-Mallrat

Here's some back-story:  We purchased our house from a family who had recently bought and gutted it.  The upstairs bedrooms were the parents' and children's and the downstairs bedroom (now my office) was intended to be used by a grandmother.  That being said, the master bedroom, as well as my office had key-operated locks on it (unlike the other doors which have locks that can be opened with pennies)....which would be fine, however, we don't have the keys for them. "What ifs" occasionally crossed my mind, but I liked the privacy so I always pushed my concerns aside and decided to deal with it at a later date, well, today is that date...

As part of my morning rush, I ran upstairs to get something out of my bedroom.  My door was closed, not highly unusual with a two-year-old who LOVES to slam doors, however, I know for a fact he was on the first floor all morning since waking-up.  I grabbed the doorknob and it was locked. " Holy s-expletive", what am I going to do?  I tried to remain calm but all I could think about was a cat (or four) stuck in there, deciding that since they couldn't get out, they were going to use my bedroom as a giant litterbox.  I ran downstairs and grabbed the thinnest "credit card" I could find...my Loehmann's Insider Card...it wouldn't budge.  And then, it happened, Jay (of Jay and Silent Bob fame) took over my psyche and I kicked the door "Wolvie Berserk" style:

So much for privacy.  Oh well,  it's a good excuse to get the handyman over for a few jobs we have on the "To-Do" list.  And the culprit couldn't be any cuter today, his school picture day.

Gah!

A Huge "Thank You" to my Customers!

Over the past few years, I have reconnected with a very good friend from high school, Merideth.

Here is a picture of us in high school at some "important" Washington, DC landmark

It has been so great reconnecting with her, she is now the responsible mother of 5 beautiful children, a long ways away from our days of hanging out with guys who were too old for us, wearing snakeskin pants and occassionally blowing-off school.  Through our conversations, we spoke about our internet shops, hers being  Carlykins Boutique (I love the name!), where she makes gorgeous high-quality and trendy accessories for girls of all ages.

Here is Merideth as gorgeous as ever!

Merideth recently started a blog and one of her posts was to guess Merideth's favorite animal to win one of her hair clips.  Well, I guessed, however I was wrong (why else would you wear snakeskin pants unless it was your favorite animal?)  Merideth decided to give me a prize anyway!  I was so excited and when she asked me what I wanted, I said I wanted something "fun and girly."  A few days later I opened up my mailbox and was greeted by a gorgeous purple flower clip which is beyond amazing!  From the moment I first put it on, I got millions of compliments (I get at least 5 compliments a day when I wear it).  Look how wonderful they look in the hair:

Don't I look so natural and demure in this pose?

The beautiful Francesca who "needed" this clip.

Family pic, that's right, I'm sporting a blue zebra clip

All these compliments and good feelings gave me a great idea..I knew my customers would LOVE these clips as much as I did and so I asked Merideth if she would sell me some so I could include them as "Thank Yous" in some of my orders.  Merideth was as excited about this idea as I was (and we both still are) so to make a long story short,

All Orders over $50 (not including shipping) in both my Etsy and Personal shops will receive one of these beautiful flower barrettes.

Here are a few of the beautiful clips you may receive (they will be randomly selected):



Happy Shopping and please head-over to Carlykins Boutique where she is donating a portion of all her sales to a really amazing cause, helping 3 orphans come to the US for Christmas.

A Day in the Life...

4:30 am - Laying in bed, thinking "I gotta pee, I gotta pee....roll back over and ignore it, hmmm, what should I dream about?"  "I really gotta go, no, no, no, ignore it...okay, I can't ignore it anymore, quickly go to the bathroom and come back to my warm and cozy bed."

4:35 am - "Okay, I went but I can't fall back to sleep."  "Oooh, I have that Sister Wives that I DVRd last night (don't judge!), I could go downstairs and make a hot pot of coffee and enjoy my show with time to spare before the little ones get up."

4:40 am - Downstairs, check the coffee pot to see if it by chance it is all set-up and all it needs is the flick of a switch to "BREW".  No, of course not, but it is already cleaned-out...bonus.

4:42 am - Coffee pot is on, turn on the TV, start "Sister Wives"

4:44 am - Hear a door open upstairs and RJ's feet thumping down the hall.  "Nooo, I must run an interception."  Run upstairs "Hi honey, it's not time to wake-up yet, lets go the bathroom and go back to bed."  I sit on the bathroom stool while RJ empties his bladder (he definitely got my bladder-holding gene).  Sleepy-handsome-man is looking at me and smiling so lovingly - it's too early in the morning for him to tell me everything I've done wrong (don't worry, it'll come).  I smile back lovingly, suppressing the strong impulse to tell him to focus on where he is peeing, trying to avoid looking to see where the stream is landing (I can deal with this during daylight).  I scoop him up and carry him back to bed, telling him to "have one more good dream and then you can come downstairs"...Sister Wives is so close, I can taste it....then I hear, "Mooom", no, ignore it, I'm obviously hallucinating, Charlie could not possibly be up at this hour.  I tuck RJ in and walk back towards to the stairs..."Mommy."

4:47 am - Open Charlie's door, I'm greeted by the biggest smile and the sweetest "Hi Mommy."  I reply "Hi Charlie, it's still night-night time, can I get you some juice?"  "Go downstairs" he replies.  "No Charlie, it's still night time, I'm going to get you some juice." Run downstairs...

4:49 am - Run upstairs, bringing up a cup of uber-diluted juice.  "Eat bread" I hear.  "You want to eat bread?" I reply.  "Yes."  Okay, I run downstairs and grab a piece of bread, a highly unusual move but at the point I'm desperate.

4:51 am - Hand Charlie the piece of bread, "Want butter" he states.  "You want peanut butter?" I reply.  "Yes."  "No, we can't eat peanut butter in bed, I'll get you some peanut butter in the morning." "Okay Mommy."  I turn on his music and go back downstairs and watch some Sister Wives, enjoying my steaming hot coffee.

5:00 am - "Mooom, need nuni"  It's Charlie, he wants more pacifiers - we are in the process of weaning him from them by snipping the tips more and more each day. Today should be the last day.  I grab the last nub from my purse and run it upstairs to him.  "Thank you, Mommy." "Goodnight, I love you, Charlie."

5:15 am - Charlie is still stirring so I hit "Pause" again and run upstairs and bring him down.  I tell him that he can watch a "Mommy-show" with me.  He wants "More Bread."  I make him a piece of bread with peanut butter and set him up at the kitchen table.  He tells me he wants to "Snuggle."  I assure him that we can snuggle as soon as he finished his sandwich.

5:25 am - Immerse myself, once again, in Sister Wives and hot coffee...Quiet....

5:30 am - I hear "Hi Mommy."  Charlie walks over to me with a huge smile, carrying all his cars and juice and this is what I see:

Charlie, wearing his sandwich, in his "Bug Out" pajamas...and I think I just might ;)

5:35 am - Charlie is all cleaned-up and sitting with me, begging to let the cats up (they sleep in the basement, in order to preserve the sleep of the two-legged creatures in this house.)  I beg him not to let them up, I can't imagine having to take care of anything else at this hour.  He is persistent and I figure that they may help entertain him and I will be able to finish watching my show.

5:45 am - The cats are up, Charlie is playing and I'm watching my show, on my fourth refill of coffee.

5:53 am - I hear RJ get up, I quickly change the channel, meet him at the steps and I tell him how proud I am that he was able to go back to sleep, that he looks very refreshed.  He walks into the kitchen, looks at the clock and says "5:53, that's pretty late."  I chuckle " Hahaha, not really."

6:00 am - Decide to blog about my stair-running morning and wonder why "Sister Wives" is never as good as I think it's going to be....

Go RU!

My husband has been a Rutgers Football season ticket-holder since, he was in college...basically since the dawn of time.  Yesterday, we spent an awesome day watching Rutgers dominate Pittsburgh. 

Here's RJ enjoying  a delicious "Red and Black" cookie

Here is the crowd enjoying RJ enjoying the cookie

My handsomes in front of the statue Rob is compelled to touch whenever we leave the stadium

HAPPY SUNDAY!



A Case of Genetics

I was speaking with my friend Jamie earlier today and she commented on how much RJ and Charlie look alike.  I hear this A LOT, I mean,  A LOT A LOT!  I decided to look through my pictures of RJ when he was too and compare their photos.  Here is what I found:

Yes, they do look very similar, and yes, I do have an obsession with little men with long hair and bow ties :)

Here are some recent photos of a random "matching" day and a Pre-Halloween pre-party:

Have a great day!

Love,

Big Bird, Mario and King Boo