A little bit of Charleston

Hi ya'll!  I live in truly one of the most beautiful cities in America (so I think!!).  There is so much history and beauty here that I want to share a little of that with you!

 First up, the Angel Oak.  This is on John's Island which is right down the road from us.  I drove by it a thousand times last year and never thought about going.  One Sunday as we were all out cruising around, I suggested it and off we went.

Oh my stars!!!  It is amazing!!!  I don't know why we never stopped, but we have been twice now in a month.  It is truly magnificent!  Here are some facts about this incredible live oak tree.

It is estimated to be between 300 and 400 years old.

It is 65 feet tall.

The circumference is 25 1/2 feet.

It provides 17,000 square feet of shade!

The length of the longest limb is 89 feet with a circumference of 11 1//4 feet.

It is named after the previous owners, Justin and Martha Angel.

Many of the limbs are held up with poles in the ground and there is an intricate pulley system holding branches up also.

We just enjoy how peaceful it is and Jemma loves to play around it.  Her imaginations soars!

I will leave you with some pictures of this amazing place!

Enjoy your weekend!  I am off to visit my BFF in Michigan!  See you next week!

 Happy Memorial Day!

Mark this down...

My darling daughter has been fighting us when going to bed recently.  I mean, we must be awful parents to  not let her stay up until 11:00.  Right?!?  She is exhausted, but fights it like a she cat!

Tonight we were outside before bedtime and she was on a nature walk with her navigation guide and walking stick.  She informed us that she needed to go north down the rocky path east.  I told her it was time to come in and get ready for bed.  Let the negotiations begin!!!!  I swear, she should be a lawyer!  She had to go north because her navigation guide said so blah, blah, blah...  I told her she could have ten more minutes outside and no stories or go in, snuggle up and have stories.  She picked nature trekking.  So we took off north.

We walked the cul-de-sac a few times and the ten minutes was up.  She proceeded to throw a super fit and started running from me!!!  Of course, a neighbor is out and watching it all.  She can never do this in the privacy of our own home...oh wait!  Yes she does!!!  I took the dog in the house, went back out and brought her in.  She is of course yelling that I am hurting her.  I am trying to walk her in by the arm, and it is hard to pick her up with my hurt wrist so I am lifting, dragging, lifting and dragging.  She is like a dog scooting her bum across the yard yelling, "Don't spank me!!!"  Great.  DHS should show up at any time!

I finally scoop her up like a sack of potatoes in my good arm and in the house we go wailing and flailing.  I sit down, put her over my knee, and give her two decent whacks.  She sits up and screams.  At the top of her lungs.  Over and over and over and over.  Then she screams some more.  The BHW is staring at us like we have lost our minds.  I just sit there rocking.  When she gets herself together, we give her some water and clean up her face and snot.  She sits on my lap facing me and just stares right at me and says, "When I am a mommy, I am going to let my kids stay up until 80 40 (this is Jemma time by the way), no, no, no... I am going to let them stay up until MIDNIGHT!"

"I am going to let them play out in the front and go in the road if they want to.  I will watch them.  And they can stay up until midnight.  I am serious, Mama."

"I know you are serious, Jemma.  When you have babies, you can do whatever you want."

"I will because I am going to have two, no three babies and they can stay up until midnight."

"All right darling.  Now I am your mommy and it is time to go to bed."

"Ok, but it will be different when I have babies."

This is brilliant!!!  I had to write this down, and I look forward to the day she has a four year old!!!!!!  Wooo hoooo!!!  You know what they say about paybacks!!!!

Seriously, can you believe this stuff comes from a face this sweet?!?

I love this little girl so much that I can't even begin to tell you.  She is my heart.  Sass and all...

Our Sweet Star!

This was a big weekend for our darling Jemma!  Her end of the year preschool program was on Friday where she sang her little heart out and Saturday was the big ballet and tap recital!!!  Oh my stars!   Could the child be any cuter?!?  I think not!!!  I am biased though... a bit!

She had a big part waving streamers in her school program and was so proud of herself!

One of the BEST parts of this weekend were that Nana (aka the BHW's mom!) came down!  It was the first time that a grandparent has been to a recital or program.  It is so nice to live close to family again.  Jemma was so excited to have her there and we are so grateful that she could come be a part of this special time!

Saturday night was the BIG RECITAL!!!!!  Jemma got to wear makeup and my heart almost stopped when I saw these eyelashes!  My sweet baby!

She first had her ballet routine.  It was so sweet seeing how excited all the little girls were backstage.  She went on and did her number perfectly!  

Well, she doesn't look exactly excited here, but she really was!

Next was the big tap number.  She was awesome!  This was her favorite costume.  I think she just wanted the recital to be over so she could take the costumes home and play with them!  

Notice that nobody is really doing the same thing... it is a four year old class!  They rocked it!

Please meet Jemma's boyfriend, Carter.  He is a precious boy who lives down the street.  His mom is the one I hosted the party for!  Jemma and Carter are buddies and he wanted to come see her dance.  He even brought her flowers!  How cute is that?!?

I included this family shot for you as I hope you all notice my lovely splint on my arm!  If you recall my lovely Mother's Day with falling on my ankle in a graceful spin while flashing a group of tourist story, this has nothing to do with that!  On Wednesday, Jemma and I were at the pool and she wanted me to throw her in.  So I did the sideways, one - two - three - and swing!  Well, on the third time, I heard my wrist snap and pop as I threw her in.  I was hurting.  It kept hurting and I couldn't roll my hand left to right.  I laid in bed that night and told the BHW that I was going to the doctor.  His reply, "You must REALLY be hurting!"  I don't go to the doctor.  I went and it was a bad sprain.  I have to wear the splint for a week or so and then just stretch it out.  Hey, at least no one saw my panties with this injury!

After a visit to the ice cream store, we headed home for a few surprises for Jemma.  All ballerinas need flowers.  We gave these to her right after her performance!

We also gave her a trinket box with a ballerina on it and some Angelina Ballerina books!

Nana gave her a neat set of ballerinas that have magnetic costumes.  She has played with it every day!

Sunday we relaxed with Nana and took her to see the Angel Oak.  It is a beautiful tree that is about 400 years old.  I will have to do a post on it and give you a taste of Charleston!

We just enjoyed Nana being here.  She is a remarkable lady.  Can you believe she is almost 70?  Isn't she gorgeous!  She was a school teacher for 31 years and retired a few years ago.  She stays active with Curves, Red Hat Society, Retired Teacher's group, and her church.  It is funny when we all go out because everyone thinks I am her daughter!  I don't mind at all!  She is my other Mom!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend too!

Ice Cream Baby Shower!

My sweet friend who lives down the street is due at the end of May with her second child, a baby girl.  I wanted to host a little something for her and since I had heard that a shower for the second baby was called a sprinkle, that it would be fitting to have an "ice cream with sprinkles" theme!  I whipped my house into shape and had it all decorated and looking lovely!  It was so much fun and she got so many cute things!  It was an honor to have this for her and I know she enjoyed the day!  Here are a few pictures from the shower.  I got so many ideas from blogs, so thank you to all you talented ladies!

This was the foyer table as the guests walked in the door.  The baby booties were the party favors and made out of styrofoam cups!  Thanks to Traci at Beneath My Heart!

I bought the rosettes made at Walmart, but needed a few extra to go so I used the brown and pink ribbon.  Aren't these sweet?!?

These super cute labels, tents, and the invitations were all made by Jennifer at Nounces.   She is incredibly talented and so easy to work with!  She created what I needed, emailed me the digital file, I emailed it to Kinkos, and bam!  I have all kinds of cuteness to ooh and aah over!!

The ice cream bar

I used my grandmother's china as I thought it was soft and sweet looking to go with a girly baby shower!

This punch was fantastic!!  I got the recipe from Cha Cha at Sit, Relax, and Read.  So yummy and summery!

I served deli rolls from Costco and a spinach artichoke dip.  Delicious!  If you ever need a quick and easy appetizer, you can't beat, these deli rolls.  You just put them out an hour before the party, cover them in cling wrap, and you are good to go.   Try them... you will love them!

I hosted the party for Elizabeth on the left and this is our other neighbor, Meri, on the right.  Meri's shower is next weekend.  I love baby showers!

Don't you adore this bathing suit?!?  

Simple vases with carnations on the mantle.  I wanted to get all real flowers, but since it was the day before Mother's Day, I didn't want to pay the jacked up prices.  I found the vases at Walmart for $1 each and bought stems of carnations for $3 each.  I cut them and put them in the vases and nobody knew they weren't real.  I saw a couple of people go feel them and had several ask me about them!  The large vase on the foyer table was $3 with a $3 stem of peonies.  I thought these were so pretty, I went back and bought a set to put in Jemma's room!    Six arrangements for $20.  Can't beat that!!!

It was a lovely day and I am so glad that I got to share this time with Elizabeth.  We can't wait to meet this new baby girl!

Mother's Day

My alarm clock went off and I hit the snooze.  A few minutes later, Jemma crept into our room, went to Tom and started "whispering" that they had to go make muffins!  I put whispering in quotes because I don't know if a four year old truly whispers or not!  She is getting better at it!  She was so sweet.  She kept shushing Tom and making him tip toe!  I heard banging and clanging go on downstairs and then she came back up to wake me with a sweet kiss and "Happy Mother's Day, Mommy!"

We went down and enjoyed the yummy muffins and all my goodies.  At school, they had made a patterned flower garden, a coffee filter dyed flower, and a book all about Mom.  It had questions like "what does mom do while you are at school?"  Jemma's answer - cleans!!  We will all laugh about that one day!  My house is neat, but I hate cleaning!!  It was the sweetest book!  She also got to decorate a cake at Publix.  Under the purple heart is all kinds of sprinkles and icing squiggles!  Precious!  The best is she signs all her cards now and even wrote, "I love you"!

(Sorry for the terrifying/ no makeup/ crazy hair look!  Just keeping it real!)

We went to church and then headed to Middleton Place Plantation for their lunch.

Notice my snazzy heels.  I love them.  They are very comfortable until you fall in them!  I was coming down the steps at the restaurant and I don't know if I turned wrong or if the heel went, but down I went tail over tin cans (as my mother in law would say, but substitute the tail for a less blog appropriate A word!)  I am pretty sure I did a fabulous spin with leg in the air and all.  Did I mention that I was within arms length of a group of people touring?  Brilliant!  Not only did I give them the privilege of seeing my fall on my katookas, but I am pretty sure with the leg in the air spin, they got a pretty good shot of my panties.  Nice...

Tom keeps asking if I am all right.  They keep asking me if I am o.k. and that I should walk on it.  I am wanting to cry, but put on the brave face of "Oh!  I am o.k.!"  They kept talking to me.  Take note people... I know you are trying to be nice, but I am embarrassed beyond belief.  I want everyone to ignore me and pretend they had never seen anything.  If you ever witness anyone fall, check on them, and then move on!!

 A wave of nausea hit and I had to sit.  The gentleman just looked at my husband and said, "Shock.  It will pass in a minute."  Thanks.  That helped.  I hobbled (pretty gracefully, I might add) back to the car and spent the rest of the day like this...

So there you have my unforgettable Mother's Day!  It was the best one yet!

See my new couch!  I will be posting my living room next week!