Growing Up

This little boy is officially registered for Kindergarten 2011-2012! It's a sad thought that he'll be in school a full day next year. He's the youngest and when the youngest goes to school, there are officially no more babies in the house. No more lazy mornings spent in pajamas, no more lunches out with his mama, no more random trips to Target to get him a toy "just because."

Nope, he'll be with the big kids. I'm going to enjoy every last minute of this school year while he's still home.

I'm going to miss that dimpled face of his when he's in school.

My baby is growing up.

Holiday House Tour

The house tour has come and gone and what a great day it was! The weather was perfect, the visitors were happy and we had a wonderful time! On Friday night we got to go around and do the tour with the other homeowners and also the artists that were featured. We had such a nice time and the homes were all beautiful.

My only wish is that I had a better camera or knew a photographer that worked for cookies and hugs because the pictures didn't come out as I had hoped. The morning of the tour went very fast and I was so nervous that I had trouble keeping the camera steady to take pictures. I managed to take quite a few though and I hope that you enjoy them! We are very blessed to have family and friends that helped out for the tour....watched the kids and dogs, baked for us and came from far away to go on the tour. Their support means everything to us and we couldn't have asked for a better day!

As you look through the pictures you can see the collages on our dining table. All the homes had art and/or music on display for the tour.

I also wanted to share with you a picture from last night. My daughter had her very first band concert, she plays the french horn and we are so, so proud of her. She looked beautiful last night and I'm amazed at how quickly she is learning to play.

And with that I am going to take a break until the new year. Being on the home tour was a blast but I am seriously behind on Christmas! I want to wish you and your families a beautiful holiday filled with laughter and warmth.

It means so much to me that you read my little blog and I'm excited to see what the new year brings!!

I'm linking up to Hooked on Houses! Head over for more holiday fun!!

Oh Christmas Tree

On Sunday we went for our Christmas tree, something we look forward to all year long. It was freezing so we didn't get many pictures and the ones we got came out a bit like this.....

I sometimes wonder if we'll ever get a family photo where all five of us look normal. I may need to do like that commercial where the mom switches heads on their holiday photo. Do you know what I'm talking about? It's a computer commercial. Anywho.....

My son was "helping" Daddy cut down the tree. Don't worry, we moved him out of the way before the saw was really in there. A tree falling on one of the kids would have put a bit of a damper on the day.

We finished the day off with dinner and then hot chocolate. Mmmmmm....

So what is it in your house, real or fake?

Pups and Parties

We got to spend an afternoon with this sweet girl over the weekend. As we were leaving the campground, we spotted her wandering along the street with a collar but no tags. After a half hour of knocking on doors and stopping people to find her owners, we took her back to our camper and made some calls.

Luckily for us, she was a racing greyhound and they are all tattooed inside their ears. A phone call to the local greyhound rescue with those numbers was all it took for them to identify her. Just a friendly reminder to make sure you tag your pets! Our dogs have two tags on their collars, one with our address and cell phone numbers and one from the vet.

We sure didn't mind spending some time with her, she was such a sweetie!

Emidio's birthday was a lot of fun! I managed to take some pictures before the kids all arrived. He said it was the most fun party ever. That just made my day!

Five

The past five years sure have flown by. It's hard to believe the baby of our family is no baby anymore. Emidio Nicholas was born five years ago today and it feels like just yesterday we were putting that tiny baby in the car and driving home from the hospital. You can tell just how thrilled he was with that whole process.


We named him after my grandfather (Papa) Emidio and they share a birthday. We're all positive that is no coincidence. My Papa passed away when I was 4 but I'm sure he's looking out for me and my family.

As is his grandfather, who his middle name is after. I'm sure those two are up there talking and trying not to laugh, watching us stumble over the difficulties of parenthood down here.

I miss those chubby cheeks.....

But then again, 5 year old freckled cheeks are still super kissable.....

A lot of people ask me about his name so here's a little bit of info:


syll. e-mi-dio, em-id-io ] The boy name Emidio has its origins in the Germanic language and it is used largely in Italian. Emidio's meaning is 'great, strong'.

Emidio is not widely used as a baby name for boys. It is not in the top 1000 names.


My family is Italian and I'm sure the name would sound neat spoken with a true Italian accent.


As my mom has always told me, it was also a ship, the S.S. Emidio.

Source

According to this site:

On 20 December 1941, 25 miles west of Cape Mendocino, the Imperial Japanese Navy's I-17 shells and then fires two torpedoes at the 6, 912-ton Socony-Vacuum oil company tanker EMIDIO returning empty from Seattle to San Francisco. A patrolling PBY "Catalina" flying boat of Patrol Squadron (VP) 44 spots the EMIDIO dead in the water with people going over the sides and getting into lifeboats.

Despite the torpedo hit, Emidio did not sink. Several days later, in fact, she ran aground on a pile of rocks off Crescent City, Calif., an amazing 85 miles north of where she had been torpedoed. The 31 survivors of the stricken ship rowed their lifeboats for 16 hours and 20 miles through a driving rainstorm until they were picked up by a Coast Guard lightship a few miles off Humbolt Bay.

I think it's neat that his name has not only a strong family connection but a history to it as well.

Today we're having some of his little friends over for a birthday party. He's requested Spiderman and Wolverine for his party. Whatever the birthday boy wants, the birthday boy gets.....

Forever Young

May the good Lord be with you

Down every road you roam

And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home

And may you grow to be proud

Dignified and true

And do unto others

As you'd have done to you

Be courageous and be brave

And in my heart you'll always stay

Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young, Forever Young

May good fortune be with you

May your guiding light be strong

Build a stairway to heaven with a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain and in my heart you will remain

Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young Forever Young

And when you finally fly away I'll be hoping that I served you well

For all the wisdom of a lifetime

No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose I'm right behind you, win or lose

Forever Young, Forever Young Forever Young ,Forever Young Forever Young, Forever Young For, Forever Young, Forever Young

~Rod Stewart

And the lucky gal is...

Picture: Country Living

Thank you for the birthday wishes yesterday. I had a fun and food filled day and it was wonderful. My hubby took me junking for treasures, we relaxed with the kids and my parents made me a heart stopping meal of steak with sauteed mushrooms and onions, a side of linguine with alfredo sauce and sourdough bread. I'm not sure it gets much better than enjoying a meal like that with my family.

We topped all that off with ice cream cake. Have I mentioned we love to eat over here?

The winner of my surprise gift is Laura of White Spray Paint .

I'll be contacting you for your mailing address so I can send a package your way. :-)

There was no fooling you smart ladies, I was born in 1978, the same year Grease came out and all those great songs were on the radio. And now I'm off to change the playlist back. It was fun for a day but....back to normal.

A Birthday

Today is my birthday....

Photo: Country Living



Sometimes I think I'd like to stop counting them but instead I'll consider each one like another patch on the uniform of my life. I've earned each year. During each one I've laughed, I've cried, I've loved and been challenged. It's the challenges that make us strong and the laughter that keeps us anxious for the next chapter.




Photo: Country Living





And besides, how upset can I be about my age? Like I tell my husband....no matter how old I get, he'll always be older. I'm an awesome wife for reminding him of that, what can I say.








I also need to give a shoutout to my mom for bringing me into this world. It wasn't an easy pregnancy for her, not that she would ever complain about it. She is a special lady and my birthday is her day too. I'm so blessed to have her as my mom.



Totally random pic I love that has nothing to do with this post: Country Living
(Hey, it's my birthday...I can do whatever I want)





So how about that music, did you think you were in the wrong place? I promise it's just for the day! When I decided to do a birthday post, I looked up music from my birth year. Turns out, the music was great! I had so much fun looking up the songs and making a birthday playlist.










Can you guess what year I was born? And no cheating with Google! A certain movie came out the year I was born that should give it away easily!








Anyone who guesses will be entered to win a surprise gift from me. Make sure you leave your email address or are linked to a blog so I can contact you if you win. I'll be drawing a name tomorrow, June 4th at Noon, eastern time.










Thank you for coming by and sharing my day with me! Have a happy Thursday!




P.S. ~ Mom...if you're reading this, no guessing. That would be really unfair.

Doorknobs and Penguins

Thank you for all the birthday wishes for my daughter. I'm pretty sure she had a good birthday as she didn't stop smiling all day long. I have some pics of the birthday fun but first I wanted to show you a project I did when I disappeared from blogging.


You might remember we had a coat rack in our Everything Room. It was perfect for the space but very heavy and its hangers didn't line up with the studs. See where I'm going with this? Anyway, one day we were sitting in the other room and heard a huge crash. The coat rack had tumbled to the floor leaving gaping holes in my wallpaper. *sigh* Luckily the shelf itself wasn't broken (gotta love Pottery Barn quality, it can even take a 7 foot fall onto wood flooring!) so we moved it to our front foyer where it is happily attached to plaster and studs.


The first thing I did was cover the holes in the paper with a sign from Hobby Lobby. That's the one bad thing with wallpaper, if you change your mind or if something violently pulls out of the wall, you are left unable to easily patch things up. So covering it up was a necessity. But I still needed a place in this room to hang random things.

I had been collecting doorknobs and decided to use them in place of the coat rack.....


This was an easy project. My hubby drilled large holes into the woodwork and then we used wooden dowels to put one side into the wall and the other into the doorknob. We found Gorilla Glue worked great for this, it bubbles and expands as it dries making for a strong bond.




You can see at the base of the doorknob, how the glue started to come out a bit. You can easily touch this up with paint if you need to. I'm lazy so I left it.

I'm linking this up to Make Your Monday over at Twice Remembered ! There are lots of great projects to be seen over there!

And....

This is where the penguins come in. I know you were sitting there wondering from my weird post title if I had my coffee today. (Drinking it as we speak, errr..type)

My girls got all dressed up for Ella's birthday. They rarely wear dresses so it was fun to get some pictures....

And off to Texas Roadhouse we went. It's Ella's favorite restaurant and she got to sit on the saddle while they announced her birthday and Yeehawwwwwed. There was a 14 year old girl sitting at the table behind us and it was her birthday too. She looked so embarrassed, I about died for her as her cheeks turned all kinds of red.

I always let them request a special cake. This year she wanted penguin cupcakes. I have a fun cupcake book and she picked these cuties out. They weren't too hard and I had a good time making them. Don't ask me how much sugar I consumed while dipping and frosting and cutting up candy. Seriously, don't ask.

A few sparkle candles and a good time was had by all....

8 Years, How Did That Happen?!

This beautiful girl is 8 years old today. Last year I wrote this post about her. I was going to just repost it but thought I would link instead and write a new post for my sweet baby girl.

Let me tell you a little something about Ella. She is one of the kindest souls I know, so sensitive to how other people feel. If I'm having a rough day or feeling down, she is the one who will come give me a hug. She can just tell what you need.

If you want a patient friend, Ella is your girl. She has such a knack for teaching, I know she will make an amazing mama some day. There is no shortness or impatience in her voice, she'll show me how to work her DS without getting annoyed as I die 10 times playing Mario Bros.

Ella has inherited my love of decorating. She is always fixing things in her room and loves to fill her bed with comfy pillows and her favorite stuffed animals. If I go into an antique or thrift store, she's right behind me, excited to see what we will discover. She is the one who will notice my latest project and stop to tell me how much she loves it. I've started asking her to help me pick things out, the girl is a natural I tell you. HGTV, watch out!

She is funny and smart, understanding and gentle. She loves her family, her friends, and her dogs. Her laughter is loud and contagious and she will always have a smile for you.

Happy 8th Birthday to our Ella Rose! We love you tons and tons......

There must be an angel with a smile on her face,When she thought up

that I should be with you.

~James Blunt

A Rough Weekend

We lost a very special four legged family member on Friday, our sweet Yorkie Casey was called to the rainbow bridge. It's been difficult. Casey was my parent's dog but he was mine too. He lived to be almost 15, just about half my life. When I was in high school, I really wanted a dog. My mom and I drove out to a breeder that had a litter of both Yorkies and Maltese. I fell in love with tiny Casey and the breeder said she would hold him so that my mom could bring my dad back to meet him. I had to work that night and my parents took the drive back out.

When I came home from work there stood my mom in the kitchen holding my little baby puppy. I didn't think I could be more thrilled....until my dad walked into the room with a Maltese puppy. You see, my dad fell in love with another dog....but my mom had promised me the Yorkie. So they came home with two. We named them Josh and Casey and they were like brothers, they were buddies.

They ran around the house like crazy as puppies, playing and wrestling. Casey could fit behind the couch but Josh couldn't so there would be a lot of teasing as Casey stuck his head out just a bit from the couch and Josh would go nuts of course. They were fun and we loved them. Like any dog lover knows, they were part of the family.

Josh passed on a year and a half ago and now Casey has gone to join him. The kids are heartbroken. I know going to my parent's house for the first time will be difficult on them. Like my mom said, even at just 3 pounds, that pup had such a presence in the house. He will be terribly missed.

We've gone through periods of sadness this weekend, along with pangs of guilt as well. There are people suffering in Haiti and here we are crying over a dog. But I'm going to not let the guilt take over. He was special to us, to our family, he was our "Casey Doodle," our "Noodle" and our family.

Rainbow bridge picture source: http://ottawadogblog.ca/tag/remembering/

Bedtime

I've decided to start off 2010 with a confession. Here it goes...deep breath. My confession is that my 4 year old son doesn't sleep in his bed. And that's not the worst part. The real confession is that he often doesn't fall asleep until 10 or 11 PM. We've been super horrible parents and have slacked off in the bedtime department. He's the 3rd child and the "baby" so you know how that goes.

Most nights he just falls asleep on the couch. Other nights he's wide awake and coming to bed with us wayyyyyy later than he should. On those days I drop him off at preschool the next day and get in my car just hoping and praying that he doesn't act up out of sheer exhaustion. I know he should be in bed at a reasonable hour, I really do, but we've been lazy.

That's all about to change. We've decided it's time to Supernanny him. This week we're going to attempt to undo the bad bedtime habits we've allowed him to get away with and enforce a bedtime routine. And enforce him sleeping in his own room, in his own bed. For his sake and for ours because that boy does not stay still all.night.long. He moves and kicks and takes all the blankets. Yup, it's definitely time for him to sleep on his own.

Wish us luck! If you have any advice, I'm all ears!! I have a feeling this week the entire house will be lacking in sleep. We're all going to look like this....

Project Supernanny Day 1, here we go....

Might need an intervention...

This is really, really fun. If I knew I could love digital photos this much, I wouldn't have been so mean to my digital camera. I say nasty things about it because I was convinced I could never love digital as much as my "real" camera. And then along comes Picnik....

I owe my fake camera an apology.

Now who is going to come over and pry me off this chair? I have company coming for New Years Eve and I think they may be expecting a clean house...and something to eat....and possibly a drink or two.

What are your plans for New Years? Do you go out or stay in? Do you make resolutions? I heard a guy on the radio today say the only resolutions he could stick to would be to eat more and to be lazier. Sounds good to me! ;)

This is too much fun

I finally went for it and signed up for a Picnik account. Wow, what fun! I could be here all day long....but I can't. It was about an hour ago that I started trying to pull myself away from this seat.

My sweet friend Rue nominated me for the Homies 2009. If you'd be so kind as to throw a vote my way, here is the link..

http://homies.apartmenttherapy.com/2009/blog/fromhousetocozyhome.blogspot.com

She's on there too!

http://homies.apartmenttherapy.com/2009/blog/ruespeanutbutterandjellylife.blogspot.com

The Ugly Truth

Having an almost 8 and 9 year old in the house, the real ugly truth for us is whether or not to believe in Santa. The other day my 9 year old asked me if the Tooth Fairy was real....she asked this in the middle of Sears Hardware. I just wanted some sandpaper! But there we were, in the middle of a store, having this important conversation.

She went on to tell me that a friend of hers at school asked HER mom about the Tooth Fairy and she not only told her the truth, she showed her all of her teeth. First off....gross. Do you save the teeth? We toss them here, it skeeves me out beyond belief. I have only one that was saved, my daughter's chipped tooth since it was "special." And don't even get me started on hair. I saved their first clippings but it wasn't my idea, trust me.

Okay, anyway....there I am in the middle of Sears between a rock and a hard place. If I say, "OF COURSE there is a Tooth Fairy" well then, I've called her friend's mom a liar! If I tell her the truth, I go home and cry over how big my babies have gotten. So I did what I thought was best and told her that yes, her friend was right.....we put the money under their pillow and take their tooth. This is the part where she gets very quiet. I can see her moving this around in her already very intelligent 9 year old brain.

Guess what comes next?? You betcha! The Santa/Easter Bunny conversation. It went something like this.....

Hailey: But the Easter Bunny and Santa are real? I think those have to be real!

Ella: Duh Hailey, of course they are real. Where would all that stuff come from?

(turns to me) You would NEVER lie to us, right Mommy??

Me: Of course not sweetie, Santa brings you all the presents! Santa is definitely real and if you don't believe, he won't bring you gifts!

And then there's the kicker....

Hailey: Yeah, Santa has to be real. It's not like Mommy and Daddy could give us all those presents, where would they get all that money?!?!

So I'm either a liar or I'm poor. *sigh* Thanks kids.

How old were your kids when they stopped believing? We want to keep the spirit alive for as long as we possibly can. And I told the girls that their younger brother is only 4 and we want him to believe in the Tooth Fairy so they have to keep this conversation hush hush.

I wonder if they will listen. I didn't. When I found out about Santa, I couldn't wait to ruin it for all my friends. Yup, I was that kid. I'm a lot nicer now I swear!

Sebastian Photo Shoot

I wanted to put a picture of this guy on my sidebar and realized I didn't have a good photo on my computer. What a perfect excuse for a photo shoot. This is our Sebastian.....

He's a 5 year old Sheltie, isn't he pretty?

We've had him since he was only 12 weeks old and so small.

Sebastian has some anxiety issues....

Which means his face often looks like this...

But as long as he has a cozy corner to sleep in....

And his kids to give him hugs.....

He is perfectly content.