Weekend Review

Tommy and I started the weekend with a date night. We haven't had a date night in almost four months. We certainly needed it!! We headed to the martini bar for a cocktail and tappas. Then we went to an Irish Pub for some dinner!! We had such a great time. My parents watched the kids and they told us we weren't allowed back into the house until 10:00. That's hard for us. We are usually in bed around 9:30. When my parents do babysit we end up coming home around 8:00. We came home at 10:00. We tried. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Saturday we were so excited because baby O was coming for her first visit to our house. The kids could not contain themselves with the excitement. Baby O is so cute. She came and ate some carrots, played us a piano recital and was crowned princess by the in-house princess. I can't wait to watch Baby O and my little toots play dress up!!

We also headed to Stroudsburg for the Nascar festival. My little guy loves race cars. He was hoping to drive a car, but ya know he's just not old enough!!

On Sunday, we headed to breakfast at Mc'Donald's. We had movie day we watched "Avatar" and "The Ice Age." I was surprised how much I liked the movie. We also had an over abundance of strawberries. So I made us all strawberry drinks for snack time and strawberry shortcakes for dessert. I still have more strawberries but not enough to make anything.

Hope you all had a great weekend!!

Strawberry Season and Garage Update

Strawberry Season has begun. The strawberries are even popping up in our garden!! We don't get enough strawberries yet to do anything but pop them in your mouth and enjoy. Today I got the kids dressed and he hopped into the car and headed to Andover, NJ for some strawberries. I have to say that these strawberries might be the best strawberries I ever had. I must of ate 10 of them on the way home. Good thing they are healthy and full of anti-oxidants

The best strawberries EVER!!!!

Can you believe that I use to hate strawberries? What was I thinking?


The Little Guy picking some strawberries.



My Little Toots making sure that her brother is not picking more then her.


I really would like to have a bunch of bird houses in my yard.

My Little Guy and I'm sure that Tommy would like several of these in our yard.

I love heading to NJ for fruits and veggies during the summer. I am a Jersey girl!!

Some of the strawberries in the field.

I liked the sign. I am thinking of blowing it up and hanging it near my garden. LOL!!

The kiddies in front of the rules!! There is a lot of them!!!

Believe it or not my little guy spotted this. I want one of these to hang from my roof!! I'm sure the neighbors would love it!!

The Strawberry Fields

We stopped at the new Home Goods on the way home in Newton. Sit down for this I did not get one thing at Home Goods. I saw lots of things, but I am not buying anything else for the house until the North Wing is done.

While the kids were napping today, I did the insulation. I am almost done. I have some harder beams to stuff tomorrow.

This is the wall I did today. I still have to staple the bottom part after I run the wires tomorrow night!!

This is the wall I did yesterday. Not bad for a beginner.

See the empty beam. I have about four of them to do tomorrow.

I am slowly coming along. If I was a general contractor doing this for a customer I would tell them it would be done in two weeks. I am going to times that by three. If I get done earlier great!!



Love and Hugs,

Janine

Garage Update

You like my new look? Aren't I cute? Can you guess what I am about to do?

My job for today was to insulate the wall with the windows. I wanted to get as much done today because it's suppose to be hot the rest of the week. I was sweating. My brother Gav suggested that I wear a hooded sweat shirt so the fiberglass doesn't go down my shirt. So thankful for the great idea. I can only imagine what the neighbors thought. I finished most of the wall. I ran out of time. I needed to shower before the kids got up from their nap. I also came in and drank about 3 glasses of water. I hope I am not itching all night long!!

Re-Cap of Our Memorial Day Weekend

I have to say that we had a great Memorial Day Weekend. Tommy took the day off on Friday to get some time to himself. He had a great time golfing, fishing, going to the bookstore, and smoking cigars. The kids and I stayed home and spent half a day with my father. My Dad and I worked in the garage doing the electric wiring. I got my first experience with fiber glass. I was itching for two days. I was so tired from doing all that work that Tommy took us out for pizza.

On Saturday, we thought it would be a good idea to stick together since my little guy wanted to go watch his sister in dance class. We went to the Farmer's Market, Ballet, food shopping, and Lowe's. Let's just say we all had our melt downs on Saturday. I decided that I needed to go out by myself for an hour. It was around 2:30ish and I thought I would hit some yard sales. I stopped at a church that was having a flea market. I saw a couple of things that I liked but didn't want to spend that much. A man came up to me and said that I could fill up a brown bag for (sit down) $1.00. I was so excited. They were closing the flea market in a half hour. I proceeded to several other yard sales. I spent $4.50 for all my findings. I was so excited!!!

Sunday we left bright and early to head to the Bronx to go meet the Moore Family at the Bronx Zoo. After we found each other we had a great time seeing lots of animals and very interesting people. We had a great time at the zoo that we promised ourselves that we would do it again by buying a one year membership. We get to go to several zoos and aquariums in NYC. We can't wait. After a great day at the zoo we headed home to see Gared and Lauren. They had some shrimp and cold beers waiting for us. It was a nice evening spending time with my baby brother and his wife.

Today we had a nice breakfast. Since Tommy and I had someone here to watch the kids we headed to Home Depot to buy fiberglass for the garage. We decided to take the kids to the camper to spend time with my parents, Gared, and Lauren. Tommy and I really needed some time together without the constant interruption of the kiddies. Tommy fished a little bit while I looked through magazines. We walked to a place near the camper for a nice lunch. We came home and we all took a nap. We ended the very nice weekend with ice cream from our favorite ice cream stand. It was a great weekend even with the whining and crying!!

Love and Hugs,

Janine

Memorial Day Weekend

The peonies I picked yesterday.

Good Morning!! It looks like it's going to be a good weekend!! I am so excited for this weekend. We have a lot of fun things going on.

Yesterday, I decorated our dining room table for Memorial Day. I love to bring out our patriotic decorations for Memorial Day and Labor Day. I don't believe I should wait for 4th of July to bring out the decorations. I hope you enjoy the photos.

Mr. Patriotic offering a plate to anyone who wants some cake.

Basket full of patriotic cheer.

Mrs. and Mr. Uncle Sam. I looked so hard for red, white, and blue candy. This is what I came up with. York Peppermint Patty Pieces and Twizzler Bites.

Here is the whole table setting. Plus the cake I made the other day.

I made this snack yesterday for the kids. It's hummus with carrots. I didn't have curly parsley for the carrot stems so I used cilantro leaves. I thought it was a cute idea.


I am SO EXCITED for today. This morning at 8:30, my dad aka Pops will be coming over to start the renovation to our garage. I have decided that the garage will be called the North Wing. Not to worry I cleaned out the garage. I am just waiting until Tommy and I take out the ladders before I take after pictures. Come back tomorrow to see the progress of the North Wing.

First Dentist Check Up and The Artist

The kids had their first dentist check up today. We drove into NJ to go to where Tommy goes to the dentist. Plus we don't want the kids to have local teeth. LOL!!

I got the kids all excited to go to the dentist by telling them they will get a new toothbrush. They were so excited for a new toothbrush. On the way to the dentist we made a few stops. We stopped at the Christmas Tree Shop and Michael's. I got the kids to go to Michael's because they thought they were going to see Uncle Michael. The whole time my little guy was saying Uncle Michael. Too cute.

We got to the dentist office and the kids immediately went to the toys. I was so excited thinking that this was going to be a walk in the park!! Then the dentist called us in and it was a female. SCORE!!! I was so happy!! I knew that a female could get my little guy to do things a male couldn't. Well they walked in and freaked out when they saw the room. No one wanted to go on the chair. Everyone thought it would be a good idea for me to get on the chair. All of the sudden I thought it was a scheme that Tom made up to get me to the dentist. (I HATE THE DENTIST) I hesitantly went on the chair and got a little ride up and down. I started to feel a little sick. Aiden told the dentist that she was not allowed to wear her blue gloves, the face mask, and no glasses. (I was shocked about the glasses.)
It took my little man 15 minutes to warm up to the idea of him opening up his mouth. But he did and he was a champ. He did it all standing up. He was such a rock star!! He did not cry he was so proud of his white teeth. She said that he has perfect teeth!! She said he does a great job brushing his teeth. It's all team work!!!

Now for my little toots turn.

She sat on Tommy's lap for a long time. Then she stood by me for a few minutes. It took 30 minutes and 5 of us trying to get her to open her mouth. My little guy was one of the 5 trying to convince her to open her mouth. We finally got her to open her mouth with bribery. I told her we would take her to the Zoo on Sunday and we would see her favorite little boy cousin and his parents. We also gave her a pink toothbrush and raspberry toothpaste to brush her teeth. Then she let the dentist check her teeth. Her teeth are also in perfect condition. We just need to get them both fluoride.

Yesterday, the kids and I went to Wal-Mart. I have been letting them walk around stores lately. The little guy asked if we could look at the bikes. I said sure as long as he didn't ask for one. He didn't!! We continued to look at other toys. Little Toots was stopping and looking at the toys. I said come along so we can go home and play outside. She said "Mommy I need to look at these toys because I am an artist." I said "what?" She said "I need to take my time and look at things because I am an artist and that's what an artist does." We left the toy area and we walked through the store. We approached the produce aisle and she started with the whole artist thing again:

Me: Please don't touch the fruit and veggies

Her: I am an artist and I need to see how it feels.

Me: An artist doesn't need to know what it feels like they need to know what it looks like.

Her: I am an artist and this is what I need to do.

I was getting a little frustrated and I was trying not to laugh. It took me all day and telling Tommy the whole conversation before I realized where she got that from. Olivia the cartoon. I was then thankful that she was only touching and looking at things and not doing what Olivia did on the show which was painting the walls, herself, and everything in site.

Love and Hugs,

Janine

Bright Spot of My Day

I've come to notice that whenever Tommy travels the kids sort of rebel. They rebel by acting out!! Which makes my life very frustrating!!

The past two days have been hard, but today there were a couple of bright spots to my day, that I thought I would share with you!!

The kids playing in their seal sprinkler which we got at Wal-Mart for $3.00. It was in the clearance section about a month ago. In the one picture My Little Toots is kissing the seal. My peonies are starting to bloom. I can't wait to pick them!! I'll probably pick one tomorrow morning.

One of my favorite magazines BHG and my new favorite magazine Romantic Homes. I love this magazine. I will be looking through this magazine a lot. It has so many ideas!!

We got a new fan that is helping me keep cool as I fold my never ending pile on laundry. Dinner is in the fridge ready to be cooked on the bbq. I love the smell of the marinade I put on the kebobs. If it's good, I'll share my recipe!! I finally finished my trunk. I was going to use it as a storage chest for the kid's toys, but I don't think it's safe enough for them to use. So it's in my room. I have to find a way to spruce it up.

The best part of my day will be when Tommy walks through the door!!!


I hope you are keeping cool!!