Card Baby Shower

Our friends are having their fourth baby after taking an eight year break and getting rid of all their stuff, so I threw Christine a small shower to hopefully get them started as they prepare for this new little blessing. Christine opens gifts as her 12 year old daughter keeps a list for her.

The younger girls were totally into it...little mamas.

Trevor's Words

I CANNOT believe the change in Trevor's verbal skills since Christmas. He seems to add words and phrases by the hour. He comes out and says things like shower, sorry, unbuckle, Mona Vie and I didn't even know he could say them. He says complete sentences, two of his favorites being, 'I'll get it' and 'Watch this'. He and I are both much less frustrated now that he's communicating and I'm understanding. We still have to do the occasional "show me" when I just can decipher. So when he sees that I'm clearly just not getting it, he grabs my hand, leads me away and says, "show me."

He's also saying what's on his heart which melts us. Unsolicited, he tells us he loves us. When I'm putting him down for his nap, he says, "Yay with me." How could I deny him?! It's almost a daily tradition to snuggle together while he dozes off. Sometimes I catch a 'nooze' with him.

He also likes to go through an order of events, like "pee, 'nooze, moo-ie (movie)"? Or "pee and play and 'nack (snack)"? He loves to figure out what's going on next.

My First Nephew

On Feb. 24th at 12:19 am, my first nephew, Trey Timothy came into the world. He weighed 8 lb 5 oz and was 20 inches long. Tim and Elizabeth also have 2 girls. This is grandchild #11 on my side of the family.

Laurie's 30-10th

I had the privelage of hosting a dinner for my friend in honor of her 30-10th. Her husband invited several couples who are close to them for an intimate dinner party. We had a total of 15, including her aunt and uncle from the Cape. She was totally surprised!
The goal was elegant and intimate...no black, no headstones, no over-the-hill. Lots of pink, her favorite color.

Bobby started by giving the most heartfelt toast, including tears (but you didn't hear that from me!).

First course was shrimp cocktail, then a spinach salad, then the pasta course- tortellini alfredo, then the main dish- chicken marsala with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus and carrots.Finally came traditional birthday cake, complete with 40 candles and chocolate covered strawberries.

I couldn't have done it without my favorite sidekick, Colombo. He was an invaluable help and he and Bobby served everyone.

After the guests left, Bobby and Laurie hung out for a bit so she could open her cards and gifts. It was so much fun to plan and have her be so surprised. I treasure her friendship.

American Girl Tea Party

My Dad's wife, Christina, who the kids call Kiki, invited me and Maddy to an American Girl tea party at a local restaurant that closes its doors except to those who are part of the party. They served punch and tea and little finger foods. There were probably about 40 girls around Madison's age with their dolls.

We were the only ones wearing hats.

My Dad watched the boys while us girls sipped our tea with our pinkies in the the air.

Valentine's Day

Every Valentine's Day my sister Lisa and her husband, Shaun, host a murder mystery dinner. She goes way over the top to make it super romantic and elegant...real china, cloth napkins, special recipes...no detail overlooked. It's always very lovely. Over the 4 course meal, we play the murder mystery game to try to figure out the culprit. All of us receive our character ahead of time. This year Colombo was a rich business man and I was his wife.
Lisa was the 'bride-to-be' and Shaun was the drummer in the band.
My other sister Bethany was a French model and Chris was a guitarist in the band.
Shaun's brother Nathan was the gondalier and Larissa was the photographer.
Shaun's brother Micah was some sort of music technical guy and Sienna was the wedding singer.

Friends, Eric and Connie, were a film director and a great aunt to the bride.
It was a very nice evening full of much laughter. For me, about 80% of the fun of the game is showing up and seeing everyone's 'costumes'. This crew really gets into it. It's such a fun tradition and a great evening of pampering and fun.

Dining Room Mini-Makeover

I FINALLY put some color on the dining room walls! I failed to snap 'before' pictures, but I did take some 'in progress' pictures. Before the walls were just a very boring off-white which did nothing to bring out the crown moulding or wood floors with in-lays. Below you can see the original color and the tinted primer- a nice dusty rose.
Below is the primer on the walls and my little helper putting on the first coat of the color.

Half way through, I thought it was looking too red, and I was really going for more of a burgundy, so I bought a different color and got a coat on two walls to compare. The red is on the right, the 2nd try is on the left.The kids and everyone else polled voted for the red (which looks nothing like what is shown in the picture). So a gallon and a day wasted!

Below is closer to what the color actually is. Up against the wall is the old cornice that was on the bay window. I HATED it!!! I can't believe it was up for 6 months. Good bye moons and stars!

I replaced it by purchasing some fabric and fringe and attacking it with a staple gun and hot glue. The end result:The room is NOT complete, but done for now. Down the road, we'll scrape the popcorn from the ceiling, install a chandelier, and replace the sconces.

Sleepover Fun

Nathanael has made fast friends with his buddy Sean. C4 and Sean's older brother are on the same hockey team, so often after a Saturday or Sunday game, we swap kids around. One afternoon the kids played out in the snow and made snow balls. They flavored them with syrup and decorated with food coloring.

Another night, we did a sleepover. It was the first time Nathanael had a friend stay over. This is how I found them when I went to bed.

Good Morning, TJ!!!

Passionate About God

Today at C4's hockey game, Madison was MIA. They often play in the game room or cafe instead of sitting through the hour long cold game. So after, I said, "Where were you the whole time?" She told me she'd tell me later, but that it was good.

So now as I type, Maddy's standing next to me so I can dictate what she told me after the game.

Maddy's words:
"Today at the game, these 2 girls were sitting at a table making birthday cards. When they were putting their stuff away, I asked them if they knew anything about God and they said they didn't know. So I told them about them about Jesus and heaven and the devil and they understood the difference. So I wrote a piece of paper telling them like a prayer so they could pray it. I told them they should pray this prayer and obey God through your life. And they understood it. Then I wrote on the bottom that you should tell others about Jesus. After the game was over, um, they came and thanked me like for telling them about God. And they said they would spread it around their house. And I felt like I left a footprint and now they can follow it."

That's my girl!!! 7 years old! And this is not the first time she's done this. She's very deep and sincere and is happy to encourage others in their faith.

About 9 months ago, she rode together with another girl her age. She asked her if she knew Jesus. This little girl did not. Madison was explaining to me later, "Mom, did you know that Shannon doesn't know Jesus. I felt like I needed to tell her because if I didn't, maybe no one would. I know that in the end it's her choice if she wants to choose salvation, but I can encourage her. I just want everyone to get what I get."

Then just last week, at the rink again, she was with Nathanael and his buddy, Sean. There was another little boy hanging around and Madison was trying to keep Nathanael and Sean away from this boy who wasn't being very nice and using some words that we don't use. Nathanael was a bit irritated by Maddy's sisterly love so she told him, "Nathanael, when you're a Christian, you have to be careful about who you hang out with. They can start to lead you on a path away from God. And Sean is new to this whole Jesus thing, so I don't want him being tempted to make wrong choices. Once you're on the path away from God, it's really, really hard."

"People brought babies to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. When the disciples saw it, they shooed them off. Jesus called them back. "Let these children alone. Don't get between them and me. These children are the kingdom's pride and joy. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Luke 15-17

Girls Day Out

Just me and my Maddy-Girl got an afternoon together. We went and got a manicure together and then we went to Justice and picked out a couple shirts. It's so special to share these times together. She's totally into the whole 'girly' thing and with no distractions, we're able to talk about some really deep things together. I hope she always shares with me.

Early Valentine's Day

Colombo and I celebrated an early Valentine's Day by going to dinner and to see "Jersey Boys." We really liked it! It was a little slow to start, but once the story line developed a little, it was so good. The writing was genius. It's the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and the story is told by singing one hit after another with a little, albeit authentic Jersey, dialogue in between. The house rocked. We were by far the youngest I saw. The crowd was all baby-boomers and they LOVED the music. It was almost 1/2 show, 1/2 concert. It was great date night!

Big Ice

C4's team got to play a game at the big stadium before a local AHL game. The boys were 'big stuff' going down the locker rooms, playing on the big ice, getting dinner in the sky box, and watching the AHL game. They played really well, but ended up losing.

Sent to the 'sin bin'

Dedicated Fans

Bathroom Makeover

I finally got to redo our powder room downstairs. I really wanted to tackle it sooner, but thought it might be wise to just get through the holidays. Before, it looked like Monet got sick in there. Exhibit A:

These 'projects' I get myself into are mostly my responsibility, although Colombo will help when something really requires a man or power tool. So here I am stripping the awful wallpaper:I also stripped the popcorn from the ceiling...simple, but messy:

Here it is- stripped and ready to go. Don't worry, that light fixture has lived its last days. It's a beauty!

Picking colors is always a challenge for me. My MIL helped me choose one from the color family I liked, but would work well off the foyer color. My sister refers to it as pukey green, but I don't care. And I now have a nice, smooth white ceiling:

Add a new light fixture, new hardware, a few pictures and this is the end result:We still have to replace the awful faucet, but other than that, I can check it off the list. It's hard to get a good feel from the pictures, but we like it. Madison thinks it's so warm and cozy to see the little feet when you walk in. Thankfully it's a small room and didn't take long. I had fun with it. On to the dining room.