a visit back to our roots...

While we were out of town, the girls and I had a chance to go back to Connecticut where we used to live and visit some friends!  Trips down memory lane can often be fun - this was no exception!  We were able to show the girls our old house - doesn't look the same at all, when we lived there it was white, had a fence and a garage and no front porch, but they got the general idea!  The fun thing was that we planted a dogwood tree when Big S was born and it was still there!  Little S was only 6 weeks old when we left CT for sunny California and of course Little G wasn't even born yet!  They got a kick out of seeing it nonetheless!!

Of course, no visit back to CT is complete without a stop at ShadyGlen!!  We were there several times a week when I was pregnant with both Big S and Little S!!  They make all 30+ flavors of ice cream on site and their cheese burgers are to die for!  The rest of the food is great too, but nothing beats the 50s uniforms and paper hats the employees STILL wear!!!

Of course the best part of the trip was visiting with our old neighbor Chris and her family!  Our backyards used to overlap and we spent many after work hours chatting at the fence!  She doesn't live in the same town anymore either, but for some reason her house looked pretty much the same!  It was great to finally meet their daughter A - she is almost a year old and this was our first chance - darn those gas and airline prices!!  The girls had a blast playing with her and their Akita Tomo!  Chris and I finally had a chance to catch up face to face after not seeing each other for 2 years!  It was a wonderful 2 days!!

wedding fun....

So, last night we attended the beautiful wedding of Jamie and Nick (the bride is hubby's cousin).  My first 4th of July wedding and I must give serious props to the bride!  

I have never seen anything like it!   The theme was everywhere, but done with such class!  The bride had a red sash (as you can see above) and red trip on her veil and the maid of honor was in red and the bridesmaids wore blue (the corresponding men matched the women).  The ceremony was lovely - everything you would want - sweet, simple, meaningful...  My girls got to pass out the programs beforehand - made by the bride in the theme of course with patriotic paper and ribbon!!  We threw red and white rose petals after the ceremony - the girls passed those out too!

 

The flower girls stole the show in red, white and blue tutus -adorable!!!

Look at this amazing cake!  There was also a cupcake cake of red and blue cupcakes with white stars on them!!

The reception was amazing!  They had a live 12 piece band that was fabulous and a dj that took over when they were on break!  They had pails full of red, white and blue flip flops for everyone to change into for dancing - how thoughtful!!  There were tvs everywhere playing pictures that the photographers had taken throughout the evening (they were more like paparazzi and there was a videographer and his crew too!).  The lighting was amazing and they had the "Nick and Jamie" logo in lights on the dance floor.  They had a photobooth (which was broken unfortunately) where you were supposed to get those pictures in a strip taken and then put them in their guestbook - super cool idea!  Instead of place cars, they had those old-fashioned red, whit and blue swirled lollipops with your table assignment on it!  The tables were decorated really nicely and they had one separate kids' table with crayons and pads for the kids to draw with and then each kid had a flag colored bag on the back of their chair FILLED with fun stuff!  They thought of everything!  In lieu of favors, they gave out these "support our troops" bracelets and had made a donation in honor of their guests to an organization that 'supports our troops' - a really nice idea! 

 

Only Jamie could pull off these glasses!  They had pictures after the ceremony at a friend's gorgeous backyard!!  I can hardly wait to see the pictures!

have to put a little shout-out to my favorite great uncle (hubby's actually) Uncle Gene!! I love this man!  If I weren't married, I'd be his trophy wife in a second ;)  Sadly he was widowed a few years ago.

The girls and I played nail salon all day - I did 40 toenails and 40 fingernails!  Everyone's was different - everyone chose their own pattern!  What fun - the bride actually noticed and was thrilled!!  Can you guess who's is who's??

The bride and groom at the rehearsal dinner :)  Wishing you a lifetime of happiness!!!!!!!!

HAPPY 4th OF JULY!!

Here's to hot dogs and hamburgers on the grill, apple pie, cold beer and fireworks!! I hope that everyone is enjoying a beautiful 4th of July! We are attending Jamie and Nick's wedding this afternoon/tonight. The girls are excited to go to their second wedding!! The weather has been swealtering here on Long Island but frequent dips in the pool have kept everyone cool! We are looking forward to our visit with Chris, Pat and Avery next week!! Off for another dip in the pool! Happy 4th everyone!!

eco-friendly dishpan hands

So, it's hot and cloudy today - not my favorite combination!  The dishwasher died last week and I have ONE MORE DAY of doing dishes by hand!  It's not that I mind doing dishes that way, it's just that a family of 5 generate a lot of dishes!  Hubby has suggested paper plates etc (I think HE doesn't want to do any dishes!!) but I have been feeling very green lately (eco-friendly green not queasy green!) so I just can't make myself use paper plates - some how water conservation isn't as high on my list - it gets recycled fairly easily!!  

I have yet to water my lawn this year - you know with all the storms and flooding here and stuff - so I dragged the hoses out today.  ONE of the 3 works - the other 2 are full of holes and going in the trash - and TWO of 4 sprinkler heads works!  We thought about in ground this year but $$$$$$ and with all the rain...  now I get to go to Lowes and spend $$ on new hoses and sprinkers.  What a pain.  I wish these clouds were rain clouds and would do the work for me.

Today is hubby's bday (happy bday!!!).  Big S is at girl scout day camp and little S and little G are in VBS in the morning and my hair in the afternoons!  Maybe I could get them to run around the yard with the hose and water everything!!  Trying to clean and catch up with laundry sounds ever seem to be in the cards but it does get me some alone time since everyone runs away when I suggest helping me!  I'll take what I can get these days!!

life on the road

So, life on the road is always interesting!!!  The 3 crazy girls and I spent almost 2 weeks on the road - did over 1700 miles and I don't want to think about how much $$$ was spent on gas!  We did have a really good time!  We drove to my sister's place in Williamsburg and spent 3 fun, incredibly hot and sometimes crazy days with her and little man J!  Did I mention that it hit 101 while we were there? 

 I thought we were going to melt!  We did a fast and furious tour of colonial Williamsburg - apparently they didn't have air conditioning yet!  

Poor little man J had a baseball game in that heat!  They were real troopers playing 2 hours in that heat - anything for the sport!  We did manage to catch 'Kung Foo Panda' - great flick if you haven't seen it yet!  The highlight was probably the impromptu dance party the night that we got there!!  Words could not describe the sights, nor cameras accurately capture the fun (although I did try).  

We headed to my parents' place next, but not before stopping to show the girls where hubby and I went to college - they were actually old enough to think it was kinda cool - I think the last time they saw it they were in diapers!!  My parents' place was a much different pace - as you could imagine!  Big fun when mom and I took the girls to Dixie Caverns - they've never seen anything like it before.  The responses were a mix between cool and scary!  I think it was the only time during the trip that we weren't sweating!  

We celebrate my Dad's bday and father's day early since sis and little man J came out for the weekend.  We did the trip home in one day - ugh!  Luckily we had beautiful weather most of the time and the girls were really good - it just makes for a really long day - I walked in the house and straight to the couch - didn't even eat dinner I was so tired!  Now back to the chaos of our house for a while!!

tick tock....

This is what the situation looked like last night!!  Things are beginning to look up though!!  I am still doing last minute laundry, the kids have their 'activity bags' ready, the munchy bags are ready, but drinks aren't yet!  NO CLOTHES have been packed and I am busy filling my ipod with cds from a neighbor that I need to return before I leave!  I think that I am leaving between 2 and 3pm tomorrow...votes on whether or not that happens?  Went to AAA, have the route mapped with hotel options for tomorrow night... hubby can sleep in peace when we are gone!  I can hardly wait to hang with my sister and her son (ok, really with her when the kids all go to bed!)  I can play auntie friday when they are all rested, but thursday night is sister time!!!  A bottle of wine and not nearly enough sleep I imagine!!  I can hardly wait!  Went to the library to get books on colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown for the kids to read on the way - bets on this happening either??  The washer and dryer are both beeping at me - off to finish the loads so I can start packing!!!

baby girls #2 bday

Today is my baby girl #2's 8th birthday!  It's hard to believe that she's so old already!  Really that I am so old already!  We had her birthday party saturday at Build-a-Bear - the kids all had a blast and then she wanted a cookie cake - so I didn't even have to bake a cake!!  Thank you little one!  Of course we have 4 more summer bdays in the house, so I may be baking yet!  

Yesterday I did yard work ALL day!  The plan was to spread the 9 yards of mulch that are sitting on my driveway, BUT after all the hedges/bush trimming, weed pulling (we have been taken over by thistle!) and digging up grass for a new bed - as well as putting in the veggies in the garden and planting about 5 more plants.... NO MULCH WAS PUT DOWN!  And to top it all off, I could hardly move!  Hubby gave me some back and body excedrin to take - didn't touch the back or body aches!  My hands are killing me - sore, swollen and lots of little thistle cuts!  And I still have 9 yards of mulch to spread!  Trying to avoid it today my blogging and using little S's bday as an excuse, but I'm going to be gone for a week and a half and I know that hubby probably won't get to it, so I have 2 days to get it done OR ELSE!!!!  Of course I have to do laundry and pack too!  It's just me and the girls road-tripping again!  We always have a blast on the road as long as no one violates anyone else's personal space in the car!  Must get to library to check out books-on-cd and movies for the road!  Then off to blockbuster to get some new ones to keep us occupied!!  Wish me luck!!