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!  

Happy Mother's Day

Here is a picture of the beautiful roses that Jemma and the BHW got me for Mother's Day!  This holiday is a wonderful day for me now that I have Jemma and she is so excited for it to be Mother's Day, but it is also a sad time for me because I don't have my mom with me anymore.  She passed away right before Mother's Day and it is always hard on me, but sometimes it is even harder because I have a daughter now and I have so many questions for her.

My mom was a vibrant, fun, beautiful woman with the clearest blue eyes you have ever seen.  I remember her dressing up for fancy parties and I just thought she looked like an angel.  One dress in particular was a aqua blue sheath with a flowing poncho style top that almost looked like butterfly wings.  She probably wore that when I was three or four, but I will never forget it.  She loved to shop and loved to dress up.

My mom was smart.  Her IQ was over 180 and as a teacher now, I see so many things that she did that was completely in the gifted range.  When she would get on her new "crazes", I would get to learn along too.  We explored ancient Egypt together, the Civil War, the Bible, other religions... so many things that she taught me.  She loved to read and gave that special gift to me.  I read every night before bed just like she did.

She loved old movies.  We would watch them all the time.  We loved Gone with the Wind.  It was our all time favorite!  With her, I learned to love dancing, big band music, and the true art of romance.  Thank you Tyrone Powell, Dana Andrews, Fred Astaire, Clark Gable... oh the list goes on!

She loved me.  She did.  As I got older, it was difficult.  My mom suffered from depression and from alcoholism.  She tried her best, but she just did not have control over it.  We went through a spell where we didn't see each other or speak to each other, but I loved her and she loved me.  We worked it out.  I didn't agree with her lifestyle or her choices, but I loved her.

When I was in college, we grew very close.  I talked to her everyday... multiple times.   I lived an hour and a half away, but tried to see her when I could and she would come to see me.  The day I graduated from high school, she was so proud of me , but the day I got married, she was glowing.  She loved me and she loved that I loved someone.

About 2 years after I got married, she got very sick.  The years of abusing her body had taken its toll.  Her husband had troubles of his own and was not there.  I took care of her.  I didn't mind, but it was hard being newly married, new job, graduate school and caring for someone who lived  a half hour away.  She got sicker and sicker.  I knew I needed help and had to put her in a nursing home.  The day she went, she was in her right mind and it was the absolute worst day of my life.  She was only 53.  I sat in the car after leaving her and cried for an hour.  I felt guilt like you will never know, but I didn't know what else to do.  She needed the care that I couldn't give her.  She did well there for a while and became great friends with the staff.  I would go see her every day or other day and we had the best talks.  We talked about everything.  She even apologized to me for the poor choices she had made as she knew it had taken her from me through the years and was going to take her away from me very soon.  Those words meant so much to me.  She knew I loved her and had done my best and I knew that she loved me and had done her best.

As spring came in 1997, all the flowers bloomed and grew, but my mom began to fade.  As she slipped into a coma state, I sat by her side and talked to her.  I think she hung on for as long as she could because she didn't want to leave me.  I didn't want her to leave, but I told her one night, "Let it go Mom and be at peace.  I have someone who will always take care of me.  I am o.k. and I love you so much."  I received a call the next morning that she had passed.  Even in her last moments, she was thinking of me and worried about me because she loved me.

For years, I would think, "I need to call mom and tell her that."  I don't do that anymore, but there isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her.  She would have loved to hear about our adventures in Europe.  She would have rejoiced the day Jemma was born and spoiled her rotten.   I wish she were her to see Jemma.  As much as she loved me, I think she would love this baby even more.  She is Jemma's guardian angel and Jemma will tell you that.  The other day we were talking and she asked me if I was excited to go to heaven and see Judy.  I told her that I was because I miss her.  Jemma said I can't WAIT to go and meet my grandma!  I hope it is many many years from now, but I can't wait for her to meet her either.  There will be a love between those two like none other!  We love her and she loves us.

I wish each of you a Happy Mother's Day.  May you have a day filled with happiness and most of all... love!

Baby Shower on Saturday

Here is a sneak peek at some of the goodies at the Ice Cream themed baby shower I am doing on Saturday!  I have gotten so many ideas from blogs!  I am excited, but now have to go clean house!  More pictures to come!

Sassy me!

I came across a blog called Fabulous Fashions 4 Sensible Style and met Liesl.  Let me tell you...she is adorable!!!  Always happy and always delightful to read.  I can decorate a house, but can't really dress myself, and she shows how to put super cute (and VERY reasonable!) outfits together.  I forget most times that I am 38 and that I have gained a lot of weight and probably shouldn't wear these cute trendy clothes, but I can't help myself!  I did see this outfit though and thought I could swing it.  I bought the dress from Target for $15!  They only had the one left in black.  I wanted a fun summer color, but I snatched the last one and it isn't even my size.  It is actually a bit too big, but the way it is shaped is hard to tell.  Let me just say that it is super comfy and I got lots of compliments on how cute I looked!

I am thinking about growing out my bangs.  Not sure about that one.  I'll keep plugging along for a while, but I see bangs in the future!  It is just so darn humid here that they just end up curling across my forehead which isn't an attract look!

Check out our very own blogging star, Liesl, and fall in love with her sweet personality and rocking outfits!

Silly Girl

We were very excited that Jemma was asked to model for a local children's clothing store a few weeks ago.   She wore a beautiful white dress and was asked to stand in a box (for better lack of a word!) and wave to people and show the dress off.  Little did they know the diva they had invited!  Oh yes, she waved.  She twirled.  She danced.  She sang...loudly!  She did this for a good thirty minutes.  She was awesome!  I have a few pictures to share, but also wanted to just write down for memories sake her quip tonight!

She was manipulating bedtime as she is so good at it.  I am lured onto the stairs to lay down for "another 5 minutes" after she tells me she won't be nice to me if I don't.  The kind and caring mom sucker that I am, I start up the stairs.  She takes my hand in hers and leads me up telling me, "If you will never yell at me, or put me in time out, or bite me (please refer to our last day in Germany post if you don't understand this part!), then I will be nice to you."  I guess it makes perfect sense if you think about it!  Wouldn't everyone in the world get along better if we followed this simple philosophy?

Have a great Sunday!

Watch out American Idol!  Here we come!!!

 
I just want to say to everyone how touched I am by the blog that is now on my sidebar about a little boy named Jedidiah.  He is battling a rare form of cancer and being so incredibly brave.  His story is amazing and his parents are so strong.  It truly makes me appreciate my baby girl and I am so grateful that she is healthy and happy.  I am praying for Jed and his family and pray that God continues to lift them through their trials.