The 4th

I have zip, zero, zilch pictures from yesterday. BUT, we had an amazing day. At 7:45, one of the two cutest faces came to the side of my bed and said, "It's morning time now, mama. We are goin' to da lake."

I love LOVE that both of the girls' are morning people, just like Jade & I. They are always so happy. I got up, made coffee, put a movie on for Ruby and made my pasta salad for Shawn & Trisa's.

We spent the day at the day at the lake with a Brad & Stacey and Shawn & Trisa + their three girls. It's so funny that our two families = 5 girls total!!!! It's a whole lotta girls, let me tell ya.

After swimming, catching fish and getting some sun, we heading to the Thursh house and had a cookout. I cannot tell you how amazing our girls get along. Their girls are a little older and LOVE to dote on our girls and our girls love the attention. So, while the girls frolic back and forth from the trampoline, playground and in the house, it gives us adults a chance to share lots of laughs. :)

The weekend + the haps

• You are getting this post bullet style.
• Reyna was invited to her very first friend from school birthday party this weekend. She had so much fun. It was pizza, cake, presents and bowling. This was Reyna's first time bowling (besides the Wii) and she rocked! I cannot tell you how many times she has asked me, "mama, when do we get to go bowling again"? I was very proud of her. Did I mention that her friend was a little boy? :) His name is Carter and sometimes she calls him Quarter. :)
• Instead of throwing Reyna a party at our house like we do every year, we have decided to change it up a little. We are heading over to Splash Universe with my parents, Bobby & Kaitlyn, Jades parents, Nathan & Lins. It is going to be a blast. We are staying the night and swimming both days. Of course, when I told Jade we would be right next door to Cabela's, he didn't have to think twice about the location of Reyna's party. lol. He was sold. The girls are so excited for a mini-getaway. PLUS, I will not have to stress about having to prepare my house for a party, which I do every year. I am excited that our families are heading over with us, as well. That will make the weekend complete, for sure!!! LOTS of pictures to come of our birthday girl.
• I have been searching high and low for a new foundation. Before the girls, I used Clinique. Then I had the girls and the choices I made for/on my face started slacking. I have noticed my skin has been changing a little bit. I was in Macy's a couple weeks ago and ended up at the MAC counter. I walked away with a mineral foundation/powder combo that I love! It makes my skin look and feel fabulous. I almost went with Bare Minerals, but am suuuuper happy with the product I chose.
• Over the weekend, a good friend of mine turned 30. Her sister and husband planned a surprise party for her @ one of our fave local places to eat, Daryls. It is where Jade & I had our wedding reception. Anyway, it was nice catching up with good friends over wine, food and good convo. Lauren (birthday girl) was shocked. It was fun to see the look on her face.
• Jade & I put the girls to bed tonight and a few minutes later, their door was opening. It was not Reyna who was coming out, but RUBY. Guess who learned to learned climb out of her crib??? Needless to say, her bed will be getting turned into a toddler bed tomorrow. Here we go.....
• I am having a hard time with balance. Why is it that I had an easier time with this when I was working??? This is something that I really need to work on because I am definitely finding balance with life right now.
• Speaking about balance, I did make a sushi date with some girls this Wednesday.

Top Ten Tuesday-The Camping Weekend Edition



1.I am going to be brutually honest, I am not cut out for tent camping. Last weekend, we went camping with two other (awesome btw) families and it was a lot of fun hanging out, but I could have lived without the tent part. I just kept watching the girls and how much fun they were having and that it what got me thru the weekend.

2.We did stay at a really nice state campground not too far from home right on a gorgeous lake. That was the good part. The girls had a blast building sandcastles, splashing in the water and playing with the 4 other kids that went too (3 girls, 1 boy).

3.Jade cooked the entire weekend and it was pretty darn nice not having to cook or clean all weekend.

4.I was so worried about Ruby not sleeping well. She slept like a champ. Me? Not so much.

5.This is going to sound so superficial, but I refused to read my Kindle all weekend because I didn't want to get my new pink leather case dirty for it. How awful is that? Please do not think less of me that I just actually admitted this.

6.It was pretty darn nice stuffing our faces with smores around the campfire each night.

7. It was pretty warm, but it never rained. Cannot complain there!

8. One of the families we went with have 3 older girls. They are 7, 11 & 12. Reyna just adores them and they were super helpful with the girls all weekend.

9. I missed my Keurig. :)

10. We had a group of ladies camping a few sites down and everytime Roobs went by with her swimmies, they commented how she looked like the Coppertone baby. :)

I will leave you with a few pictures.



Skating

We have a family we like to do things with that have three girls. So, when we get together, there's a whole lotta girls! They invited us over so Reyna could ice skate, which was short lived b/c Reyna was tired, but we still had a great afternoon.

This was the first time EVER Ruby actually somewhat enjoyed the snow! She didn't play in it, but she walked around and "explored" for quite a while until she got ticked off that I wouldn't let her run around on the ice. Go ahead and call me mean, but she had already fallen once. The ice was really slippery. Imagine that! ha.



The only two men (Jade & Shawn :)) in the group went to pick up pizzas after we came back inside. As you can see, Shawn & Trisa's girls (two out of three in the pic) are the sweetest. Our girls just adore them and they adore Reyna & Ruby. I think we are going to plan a long weekend camping trip with them this summer.

Back to Reyna and ice skating. She had a sleepover @ Grandma and Grandpa's + she has had a cold. She was tired when we picked her up and I think that had a bearing on her not having a fun time skating. She fell one time and that was the end of that. She is a pretty decent skater and in the past when she has fallen, it has never phased her. She was being a drama queen today. I did give her a lot of credit though because she skated by herself w/out holding onto anything.

Sunday in snapshots

Reyna has learned all of her fingers have names ie:pointer,thumb...She has trouble holding her ring finger up solo, like many do. This morning over waffles, in a very exciting voice, she held up her middle finger and said, "mama, I can hold up my middle one." I think she forgot it was the ring one that was hard. And yes, I was cracking up....

Overall, today was a very laid back Sunday. Just the way I like em'.

The girls played, while I enjoyed my cup of coffee. Jade was up at the crack of dawn sitting in the woods. 5 am to be exact.

We ventured to good family friends to enjoy a yummy breakfast with Curt & Judy. Jade met us there.

I wish they still lived two doors down, so moments like this weren't so rare.

Ruby missed her morning nap and Reyna acted like various animals while we were at the Kerver's house for breakfast.

I remembered we were out of diapers & wipes, so we made a Target run.

Ruby zonked out 10 minutes before we got home, which threw her afternoon nap right out the window. Remember what I said about her morning one, right? Bedtime came rather early tonight.

The moment I walked in the door, on went the sweats & hoodie. I love being snug at home. Reyna takes after me, because the next thing I knew she was in her jammies, too.

I was in some sort of wonky mood this afternoon. It didn't occur to me until later in the day, but I think it had to do with not going to work tomorrow. For the past three years, I have gone to the same place every Monday. Not tomorrow. It will be different, but it will be okay.

End of the weekend, start of our week!

We had such an awesome weekend. Did I mention the weather was gorgeous??? I know I mentioned this in my previous post, but Jade & his dad entertained a client and his 9 year old son all weekend. I wasn't sure how it would all go b/c I had never met this guy and Jade mentioned if it was too windy to salmon fish, they were going to  take him golfing. Turns out, they didn't fish or golf at all on Saturday. Everyone (Jay & his son and a friend of Jades family from hs, Brad & Stacey were here camping and Jades sister) loaded into kayaks and headed down the river and into Lake Michigan Saturday, which I know I already mentioned. That night, we came back to Jades parents and grilled NY strips. They have a huge deck, so we all sat outside ate, drank and had a great time. The guys fished this morning and the girls & I hung out until they came back. I took the girls for a walk down to the lake (very close by) where we found a family of ducks. Reyna loved feeding them and Ruby enjoyed watching her feed them. I loved taking the girls for a walk w/out the feeling that something needed to be done at home. It has been so relaxing thus far. It's Sunday night and the only noises I hear are pug snoring and the clock. Jade is reading, which he has not done in a while and I am typing w/out feeling pressed for time. I love this feeling.

Today, Stacey and I headed downtown Ludington for a little shopping. I found Ruby some adorable bows for her hair at a cute childrens boutique and a Melissa & Doug placemat with special crayons to draw on it for Reyna. Of course, I have a caramel apple from Kilwins that is just calling my name right now. When we got to Kilwins, I noticed they had a Keurig! They had it set out for anyone to buy a cup and they had the kcup holder with all different kcups. I was cracking up b/c Jade told me I couldn't bring my Keurig and I was only allowed one Kilwins trip this week! :) I told Stacey I was going to start coming to Kilwins everyday for my cup of joe! hahah. :) We ended up shopping excursion at the local fruit and veggie market. It was nice sneaking away for a little while.

 Tomorrow, we are heading to Pentwater to go up in the Little Sable Point Lighthouse. We will probably get lunch, relax on the beach and maybe head to the Bitchin' Kitchen (an awesome culinary store) if I am lucky. :)

-Just a few explanations on the pictures that I posted.  Uncle Brad with the girls. Brad is Jades best friend, but he also works with Jade. He has an amazing fiance, Stacey, whom Jade has known since he was in diapers. Brad and Stacey are amazing with the girls. When Ruby saw Stacey on Saturday morning, she was so excited. Brad & Stacey do not want kids, but I always tell her she would make one amazing mama. Brad is Ruby's Godfather. Reyna just adores him.

-We had delicious NY strip steaks Saturday. I wanted to take a picture of them, but the picture didn't turn out all that well.

-Jade brought up a hackey sack ball and they were playing hackey sack before dinner. I am not that coordinated, so I stayed on the deck and took pictures. :)

-Can you see the family of ducks in the picture? They blend in with the water, but there were about 7 of them. She is excited to go back in the morning and feed them again.

Just call us a pair of Martha's

After a much needed sushi and wine dinner date with a few of my lovlies (this stay at home mom stuff is hard work sometimes), Em & I trekked back to the house to start one of my summer projects. LeeAnn posted a link quite a while for no sew roman shades and I immediately knew I wanted to try and make some for the girls' room.  We also used The Little Green Notebook's instructions.  I am glad that Emilie came over to help since she has a few high tech tools to cut fabric. Okay, and it was nice to have some company gettin' our craft on. Em & I completed one of the three on Friday night. Last night, I made the second and tomorrow, she is going to help me measure, cut and construct the third. I would definitely recommend this project. It was pretty simple and I was pretty happy with the end result. I can see a few minor flaws, but they were also made with love.

If you are interested in making roman shades, these are a few things I learned and would definitely do differently next time.

I would not worry about the hem tape. Frugal home ideas used hem tape to attach her ribbon. We used it on the first pair and I ditched it on the second. Fabric glue works just fine.

Next, I would definitely get thicker fabric next time around. I never thought about this, but my fabric was a little thin.

Frugal home ideas also counted every 6th slat and kept it in place. Em & I did this the first time and the second pair, I took every slat off, set aside the ones I wanted and measured every six inches, attached them back in place on the two strings and then glued them. Does that make sense? It was easier just to run my scissors over every string, remove them all and then put them back in place.

The only two strings that will be left are the ones pictured here.  I was hesitant in removing the other strings that kept the blinds in place, but that is what the fabric glue is for. All you will need to keep is the two main strings on each side that you string each slat into .

I will definitely remember this idea in the future for any other window that might need a little facelift.

Top Ten Tuesday-Girls weekend edition

Since most of my girlies already elaborated on our awesome weekend, I thought I would do my top ten reasons why our girls weekend rocked.

1.We had an awesome place to stay. Jane was nice enough to share her families lake home with us. It was the perfect place to scrap, relax, eat, sleep and chit chat about anything and everything.
2.Yes, it is more interesting to watch the "Nic & LeeAnn comedy hour" as opposed to a new release dvd.
3.I discovered who likes to wear underwear at all times and who does not. :) Nuff said. Girlfriends never spill. :)
4."Don't judge me." :)
5.Apparently Jess and I are the tidy ones of the group and that is why we had a rake propped up outside of our bedroom door Saturday morning. ((Okay, I will admit...I was late getting to the lake because I was at home cleaning my house.)) I am seriously weird!
6.I remembered how much I truly loved having a mini. Just imagine, 7 crazy ladies piled in, singing at the top of our lungs and just having a good ol' time. Oh yeah, and watching Jane bust a move in the front seat. :) "It's Ladies Night."....
7.I started Ruby's scrap book. Didn't get much done, but I still started it. :)
8.Jello shots.
9.All the delicious food we made.. Props to Jessica's delicious cupcakes! :)
10.Overall, just spending the weekend with my favorite ladies. Not sure what I would do without this crazy bunch. Love ya, ladies!

New look.

The fab, Michelle, gave me a blog makeover! Isn't it fun? My banner came all the way from Minnesota. :)

Thank you, Michelle. I love it!

I was taking an afternoon siesta, but my cell phone woke me up.

I was bummed.

I had Reyna at the doctor this morning. She has been coughing and I wanted to make sure she didn't have an infection or it wasn't in her lungs. Sure enough, she sounded clear. Whew!

I am having a little allergy/sinus problems myself. I don't have a headache, but my eyes hurt. I just brewed a cup of coffee and took some tylenol hoping that does the trick.

Two nights ago, I made some yummy pasta and thought I would share. Now, I cannot give you an exact recipe, b/c I don't truly have one. It's one of those, "a pinch of this and a handful of that" kind of recipes. Heck, I don't even know what it is called. Emilie made it a while back and I swiped it from her.

I guess I'll call it Pasta, Emilie style. :)

-Boil pasta. I usually use linguine, but angel hair or thin spaghetti works just as well.
-In the meantime, chop fresh thyme and parsley. Here's a secret, I don't chop, I cut! Scissors are the best.
-When pasta is done, drain and put into a bowl that is big enough to toss the pasta.
-Have EVOO ready to coat your pasta.
-Take a couple of handfuls of mozzerella cheese and toss into noodles, toss around while adding a little EVOO.
-While mixing, toss in your herbs.

Whaalaa. You have a great pasta that is sauce free. Reyna loves it. I usually cook chicken to put on top. For that, I just cooked it on the stove in some EVOO with Mrs. Dash or whatever is on hand. I usually steam a veggie for the side.

That's all for now.

A few pic's and bullets to share

• These pictures were taken a couple of weeks ago. My family has lived three doors down from the Christoffersen clan for seventeen years. When they moved to J-town, friendships started. Many holidays, we have spent with them, as their family is out of state, as well. Curt & Judy have done so much for our family I cannot even begin to list everything. A little over a year ago, Curt found out Pfizer was closing their Ann Arbor plant, but he had the opportunity to transfer to another state. Judy stayed here so their son could finish his senior year at the same school and Curt moved to Connecticut (in their new house) and began working. Judy joined Curt several weeks ago. Their house (here) is now empty. We went swimming down there last weekend. Jade & I went into the house just to take a peek around (we thought maybe they would jump out:)) While we were swimming, it felt so odd to be there w/out them. I was hoping that they would walk out of their sliding glass door and let us know they were back from vacation or something. I wish that were the case. They are going to be greatly missed!
• Okay, on to my next bullet because I have that huge lump in my throat from bullet #1. We took Reyna to the doc last Friday. She is 19 lbs 12 oz. I don't think the nurse ever said out loud how long she was. Reyna was hysterical they were measuring her. We were trying to get it done and over with as fast as possible. I thought for sure she would be at least 20 lbs. What a little peanut.
• We have accomplished so much this weekend. We are a few steps closer to listing our house.
• I have been having either a) bad allergy problems or b) a minor cold. I am leaning towards allergies.
• So looking forward to the Kenny concert this Saturday. It's going to be a blast.
• Well, those weeds in my garden are not pulling themselves. That is my last "to do" list item for the evening.

More later....