Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

A full day to celebrate Mother's! They love us, take care of us, protect us, nurture us, help us, encourage us. Today I am celebrating with my beautiful family, celebrating and enjoying the joys of being a young Mom to 3 beautiful children. But I am also celebrating my gorgeous Momma, who poured her heart and soul into my brother and I; my mother in-law, who raised my sweet hubby to be the amazing man, and husband, and father he is; my beautiful friends, who taught me so much about being a mother myself; and the countless other mother's who have impacted and enriched my life through the years, shaping the woman I have become. The world is better because of mom's. Today is the day to celebrate them, each and every one you know, for the amazing love they pour into our lives. 

Me and my beautiful Mommy, circa 1990

My beautiful family (minus Ben, who was sleeping) this morning presenting me with my special surprises and breakfast. 

Happy Mother's Day!

High Five for Friday!

Happy Friday! It's that time again! Linking up for the weekly High Five for Friday hosted by Lauren @ From my Grey Desk.

So... this week has been lovely. Here are my high 5's!

1. 

Today is the Mother's Day Tea hosted at my oldest son's preschool. The kids host all the mother's to tea and treats they've made, complete with cards and songs and lots of snuggles. I loved it last year... and Cole was so proud of himself to get to take me on a date. He picked out his own shirt this morning and told me to "be a little fancy" for our special day. :) Can't disappoint my 5 year old stud! I freshly polished my nails and have my outfit all picked out. Love this boy!

mother's day tea last year

growing up too fast!

2.

I finally have the kid's rooms coming together. When we moved into this house the kid's rooms needed a lot of work. I hated the way they had been decorated (or not decorated) before. So, lots of painting, and moulding, and shopping... and we're almost finished! Here are the before's and after's:

Cole's Room

Before:

After:

Katie's Room:

Before:

After:

A little girly?? I think yes! She loves it. 

3.

Thanks to my sweet hubby getting me a Starbuck's gift card, Katie and I enjoyed a sweet morning together on Monday. See post below. Love this chick!

4.

Ben slept for over 6 hours strait through last night. Speaking as a mother of 3, that is (at least for my kids) amazing at the 3 month mark! 

5. 

Made super yummy brownies with the kiddos this week! Yes, I restrained myself and only taste tested one of them (that post-baby weight isn't going to lose itself, you know!) But my kids love to help bake... so it was fun to have them help (read: lick off batter and frosting from spoons.) 

Look at that chocolate face! :)

Hope you all have a great weekend! 

Coffee with Katie

What's the best way to have a good morning chat with my beautiful 3 year old??

A little bit of Starbucks. She couldn't be more adorable if she tried. :) Sometimes I have to remind myself to take a time out, leave the dishes, leave the unmade beds, and stop to enjoy this beautiful daughter the Lord has given me. Love on her. Listen to her. Laugh with her. Delight in the journey of raising a precious baby girl.

She's growing into a little lady. She loves pink. She dances and sings around the house. She steals my shoes. She loves shopping. She's sassy and shy and sweet. She really does think her Daddy is a hero, but she thinks her Cole is, too. Every time she talks about the family and her place in it she says "I'm their girl." As the only daughter, our middle child, that is her claim to fame. I am the princess, gentlemen. Take notice. And they do. And she loves every second of it.

This is my girl.

A cookie recipe and the start of bedroom remodel

Bedroom remodel has begun! We ordered the headboard and mattress a few days ago, and decided to go with the King. 

 

We went sheet shopping (any one else super particular about sheets?? ugh.) on Sunday afternoon and got 2 super soft sets. Then I ordered our bedding from Pottery Barn. On our current queen we have the Pottery Barn Cole Stripe bedding, which I have absolutely loved. I have loved it so much that I almost stayed with our queen because I wanted to keep the bedding (it has been discontinued.) Anyhow, it will go on the guest bed once we finish the basement guest room. On the up side, it was dupioni silk and dry clean only...which wasn't always convenient with kids.

So, we set out to find a new set. Since bedding is one area Jeff and I don't usually have the same taste, it is usually a long battle. But, we surprisingly agreed, and decided to go with the same porcelain blue, taupe, and white colors that our old duvet had. The duvet and standard pillow cases we picked are a solid taupe. They are the Velvet Linen duvet and shams from Pottery Barn. Super soft velvet on top, linen on the back side. (Below)

The quilt and euro shams will be the Pottery Barn Essential Quilt in porcelain blue. (Below.)

   

I am excited to get it all here and put it together. Then the dresser refinishing project begins!


In other news... my hubby's aunt makes the BEST, really, the best, shortbread cookies. I have loved them for years, asked for the recipe countless times, and finally I got my hands on it. So... I'm sharing it with you. Try them, leave me a message and let me know what you thought. My favorite way to eat them is to make heart shaped cut outs and dip one side of the heart in melted chocolate. Sooo delish! :)

English Shortbread Cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1# butter, softened to room temperature

• 1/2 cup rice flour

• 1 cup confectioner’s sugar

• 3 1/2 cups flour

Blend butter with rice flour & confectioner’s sugar until light & fluffy. Gradually add in flour. Shape into 2 discs, wrap in waxed paper & refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Roll out on heavily floured surface (I use a sheet of waxed paper on top of the dough so that the rolling pin doesn’t stick to the dough. Roll out to approximately 1/4 inch thickness, cut out with desired shapes. Bake @ 350 for 10 – 12 minutes, until golden brown. Let cookies sit on cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to totally cool – they are too soft at first & will fall apart.

OPTIONS

• Sometimes I put 2 cookies together with raspberry jam between them for a pretty sandwich cookie (if you do this, let them sit out over night so the jam has a chance to harden or else they slide all over the place

• I have also dipped them in melted milk chocolate & also frosted them with a confectioner’s sugar glaze

• My last “experiment” was to gently sprinkle them with colored sanding sugar & gently pushed the sugar into the cookies – very pretty presentation.

  
  

  
  

  
  

High Five For Friday!

Wow! Ok, well... a Monday post turned into a Friday post, but it's been a busy week so you'll have to bare with me :)

Linking up with Lauren again @ From my Grey Desk for her weekly high five for Friday!

Here's this week's highlights!

1.

We had the most relaxing, awesome family weekend. Like, for real. Those weekends where by the end you just feel recharged and in tune with each other afterwards. That was our weekend. Saturday we "slept in (read: 8am with 3 kids) and had a yummy family breakfast before headed to the grocery store. The forecast for the day was only mid-50s and some rain, but once we got back from the grocery store and it was still dry Jeff suggested we make a trip out to an awesome local farm to go strawberry picking with the kids. So... we did! We fed the kiddos lunch, invited our lovely new neighbors to join us on our picking adventure, and then set out to the farm. I'm definitely not a farm girl, but there is just something about being out there with my kids, watching them play around in the mud and dirt, eat ripe, red strawberries right off the plant, and come home filthy and red-stained and happy, that makes me not care about the mess. When we got home we ate a quick dinner and threw the little angels in the tub. While they were swimming in our massive master bath tub (no, really... it could easily fit 3 adults) I was playing with Ben and came across old 'I Love Lucy' reruns! SCORE! I am just a complete sucker for old shows and movies. Lucy is one of my favorites. I love that my kids have never seen it, because when they got out of the tub and we put them into their snuggly, warm pjs it was too cute to watch them watch it. I especially love that they don't understand why the show has no color! It was humor that is so straightforward they could understand it, and we were all too happy to get a break from the usual kid friendly options of Disney and Dora. We took the kids downstairs to cuddle under a big blanket and watch Lucy while we whipped up some ice cream sundaes with fresh cut strawberries. Just sitting there all together with our ice cream, snuggled up under our big blanket while the rain started, I couldn't help but feel so blessed. I love our family days, and I love that I married a man who is as in love with that family time as I am. 

2.

So... after picking 2 huge baskets of berries, I set to making my annual jars of jam. Last year we made 12 jars and gave away 4. It didn't last much into the fall with the way our kids eat it, so this year I decided to make a few more. 2 hours later, we now have 17 jars of jam. Here's hoping that will last a while. Everyone in this house loves jam, and having fresh, homemade, strawberry jam was a definite highlight.

3. 

Finally got back to a healthy diet and gym routine this week. Let me tell you, with each baby it gets harder and harder to get back into shape. I'm determined. With Cole it only took 4 months to get back to pre-pregnancy weight, and by 7 months post-partum I had lost an additional 30 pounds. With Katie it took about 6 months to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. So, lots of work ahead, but it felt soooo good to get a good sweat going and wake up feeling muscles I had forgotten about. Back to the gym today. Hot weather is definitely motivating!!

4.

Got a super cute new nail polish this week. I've been loving bright, summery looking polishes lately and this was no exception. Essie's Poppy Razzi Collection in Camera. The entire collection is great for summer. 

5.

I discovered this week that MTV2 shows reruns of Saved by the Bell and Boy Meets World! As a child of the 90s... this made me really happy! LOL. Yes, it's definitely the little things :)

Hope you all had a great week and enjoy a beautiful weekend!!!

High Five For Friday

High Five For Friday

Alright... we made it, HELLLOOOO  Friday! Friday has always been my favorite day of the week, by far. Seems only right that we give it a nod every time it comes around. Lauren @ From My Grey Desk had a brilliant idea to end each week with your top 5 favorite things from the last week, and I happen to agree that it's a lovely way to think back and be thankful for wonderful weekly blessings.

So.. here is my High Five For Friday!

1. My baby boy turned 3 months on Wednesday. Not only is he a great sleeper, and overall super happy baby, but he just LOVES to smile and coo. We have little chit chats now about life, and judging by his expression... he is thoroughly enjoying himself. I mean, just look at this face.

2. We discovered Sweet Frog froyo! I have a serious love for ice cream, and this place rocks! If you've seen them popping up everywhere (and I have) there's good reason. Give it a try, you won't be sorry.

3. My girly girl, Katie Reese. Just check out my little sass walking around in Mama's heels. Enough said. 

4. My boy is reading. Cole's preschool teacher gave us books a few weeks back and he just took off. We practice each night before bed and he amazes me! Today while dropping him off at school she told me that she has a special surprise for him to do at the preschool graduation. Just so proud of my little man. 

5. Finally decided on a new bed for the master bedroom remodel. Have I mentioned I love decorating?? Still debating between the queen and the king. King would be great for family snuggle time, but then again... do we really need that much room?? I don't know. But I love this bed.

Hope you all have a spectacular weekend!!! 

Enjoy.

hello you classy blog you

So, epic first post, here we go!

Well... we're finally settled into our new abode. Yes, we actually moved in over a month ago on St. Patty's day... swapping green beer and crowded bars for boxes and heavy lifting. But, with the plethora of visitors we've had and a quick out of town trip there has been VERY little(no, actually z.e.r.o) time to actually settle in and make this place feel like home. That is exactly what my hermit self has done the last week. SETTLE. Yup. Starting to feel a little bit like a hermit, but after what feels like a billion years of being out of room or packed into boxes and completely out of routine... we are getting into a "normal" schedule. Yeah, air quotes because with Cole, Katie, and just turned 3 month old Ben we are still redefining our "normal." :)

Took this picture on a beautiful spring day last week... my azalea's are in full bloom. A beautiful, bright, pink-- my favorite! So many projects in the works for both the outside and inside. We did get our garden in a few weeks ago. The kids were all too excited to accompany Jeff to the store to pick out what was getting planted. Such adorable little helpers. We've already had a few sprouts, and here's hoping our recent (and random) cold fronts aren't doing the rest of them in! My little gardener's would be so disappointed. 

Up next on the agenda is making some flower beds and getting my annuals planted. Then we tackle redecorating the master bedroom. Totally going to try my hand at resurfacing and distress painting our dressers. I like to really pretend I'm a DIY kinda chick... but I've never tackled a project this big before. Have you tried this??? If you're DIY savvy and have done this before leave me a comment. I'd love to hear how you did it!!

Lastly, made a super yum snack for the kids today. After nap time munchies set in and I realized that our house is out of anything I would deem decent for snack food ( read: we have only Easter candy left! haha!) I set off to find a simple recipe for banana muffins. I came across an adorable blog called Mommy Hates Cooking . (Too cute, right??) Follwed the recipe and voila! Delicious, super easy, chocolate chip banana muffins! The only change I made was substituting honey for the sugar. Turned out amazing, kids (and hubby) gobbled them up! A success in my book.

Alright... high five for first post, loves!!