Best.Christmas.Ever.

I am on my laptop at a hotel in Rhode Island. On Christmas morning I unwrapped one of my gifts from my husband. It was a small box and inside was a picture of a house. I looked at him and he was beeming like a little child who just picked flowers for his mother. I asked him "What is this?...did you buy me a house?...hahaha" (sarcasticly)

HE.SAID.YES.

I do not know how he kept this a secret from me!!!! He bought us a beach house in one of my favorite towns in Rhode Island. We have been vacationing in this town for the past few years and we rent a house there for two weeks. Every time we leave I actually cry in the car!

It has always been my dream to have a beach house. I tell him about how when we are old and grandparents I want to have a house on the ocean and ride my bicycle (with a basket) into town. That to me is my ideal life. Have a little garden, spend every evening walking on the beach. During both of my preganacies I actually craved going to the beach. I would drive to the shore, just to small the salt air and listen to the sounds and sit in the sand. There is no greater gift he could have ever bought me (us) than this.

So he had reservations made at this hotel for the day after Christmas and through the weekend so we could go see the house. We will be coming home Sunday. We have been to the house and it is PERFECT. It is as if he read my mind and built a house exactly as I would have wanted it. (He didn't build it-but if he had) There are so many things I can't wait to share about this and as you can tell I am more than excited!!!! The girls love the house and they think it is really neat to be here in the winter.

I am completely overcome with shock and joy and I almost don't know where to start! I have a whole new house to decorate!!!!! I get to be in Rhode Island for the whole summer and weekends and hey - whenever I want!!!!

Maybe some of you have a vacation house and I sound so very silly... but with everything I have been through in my life (and its been a lot) I would have never dreamed that I would actually have not only my beautiful home here in CT but now a beach house as well.

Oh and Christmas was good for everyone else here as well....hehehe.

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

More details to come!!!

Both of my ovens are going...

So I thought I would take a break and sit down. Which I haven't done in quite a while! I love the holidays and all the preparations. I am a true homemaker at heart, ever since I was little when people asked me "What do you want to be when you grow up?" I always said "a wife and mother".

Right now I am baking cookies that I will package up for my guests to take home, both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. These are the cookies that I have made (and am making now)

Chocolate Orange Drops
Buckeye Balls
Raspberry Bars
Sugar Cookies (the girls decorated them so cute)
Double Ginger Crackles
Toasted Almond Butter Thins
Orange-Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies
Almond Biscotti

I am packaging them in red and white boxes with red or white ribbon. I'll try to remember to get a picture before I give them away!

The other day we made (well...decorated) a gingerbread house together. It was a kit that I bought at Costco so it was super easy. The girls had a lot of fun decortating it. Here's how it came out:


Tomorrow night we are hosting my husbands family over for dinner and to exchange gifts. One of his brothers does Christmas day with my husbands side of the family as well but we don't go. His father and girlfriend do not go there on Christmas day either so having them all here Christmas Eve works out well.

This is what we will be having Chrismas Eve:

Hors d'oerves:
Smoked-salmon roulades
Prosciutto-and-Pear wraps
Brie en Brioche
Assorted cheeses with crackers

Dinner:
Beef Tenderloin with Horseradish Sauce
Gruyere-Parmesan Scalloped Potatoes
Chopped-Vegetable Salad with Mustard Vinaigrette

Dessert:
Cheesecake
Cannolies
Christmas cookies

All very easy dishes that I have made before so no surprises!

Christmas Day we are having my family over for dinner and this is the menu:

Hors d'oerves:
Melon-and-Prosciutto rolls
Crudites with dips
Assorted cheeses and crackers

Dinner:
Beef Bourguinonne
Golden-crusted Potatoes
Broccoli rabe with red currant vinaigrette
Citrus Salad (my sister is bringing)

Dessert:
Apple Pie
Something my mom is bringing (I think Chocolate Mousse Cake)
More Christmas cookies!

I have a lot done already so my time in the kitchen is minimized during the parties. All presents are wrapped and I think...we are all set. After these last batches of cookies come out and cool I will assemble the boxes and then relax!

I hope everyone has a lovely holiday!

I like it

I bought this a few weeks ago and I wanted to let everyone know what I thought after trying out some of the recipes and techniques.

I am very familiar with pureeing food, as I made my own baby food for both girls. Not that I have anything against jarred foods (I did use them occasionally when out or traveling) but I actually enjoyed making baby food. I spent Sunday afternoons every other week steaming, roasting and pureeing vegetables, fruits and meats for my girls. When they were older I fed them our meals and just used a grinder. I found this to be very simple.

So I would start this by saying if you have never done this, its really not all that hard. It does take some effort and time to make the purees but once you have them frozen it becomes very convenient and worth the effort and time.

The recipes in this book are super easy and very smart. I would have never thought of some of the combinations so I am loving this. I make chicken nuggets and keep them frozen because well, we eat them a lot. Now I use the recipe in this book and I have added the broccoli, spinach and sweet potato puree (at different times). We seriously cannot taste the difference. One thing though I bake my chicken nuggets, her recipe is frying them.

We have also added cauliflower to scrambled eggs, beets to pancakes (makes them pink), spinach to eggs (makes "green eggs"), cauliflower to mashed potatoes, spinach to pizza, I could go on.

Let's just say I have found this book to be really very good and useful. I tell my children what veggies or fruits I have "hidden" but not until after they tried the food and have loved everything I have made so far.

I kind of feel like I am back making baby foods again, which again, I like, not everyone does. But even if you don't make the purees ahead of time she has tips for making some when you are cooking as well.

I definitely reccomend this book for any mom who may have a picky eater. E has never been, she prefers veggies and fruits to sweets. But L is the opposite. I NEED to get more fruits and veggies into her.

I am aware of the controversy around this book but I don't pay attention to that stuff. I use my own judgement and if something interests me, I will try it. I think its a great idea to make food that your children already love, healthier. Not that I will stop making other things because I like them to try new things as well.

So all in all I have found this to be very useful. I also use the book 365 Foods Kids Love to Eat and have for a long time.

Hope this was helpful if anyone was wondering about this book.

Busy days

It seems like I have not had more than 5 minutes to sit down in the past week! We hosted a Holiday Open House last weekend for friends, neighbors and Mr.C's business acquaintances. It was cocktails, hors d'ouerves and desserts and we had it catered. Which works out well because I am able to relax and enjoy myself. I felt like a guest at my own party! I didn't have to worry about getting anyone's drinks or taking things out of the oven and they even cleaned up afterwards. Perfect. It is an annual party and lots of fun. I put the girls to bed early and they slept through the whole night. With all the parties and gatherings this time of year, this is the one that is adults-only. I think everyone enjoys that and especially my friends who are stay-at-home moms! I had contemplated including children this year and all of them vehemently said NO WAY. Not that we don't all love and adore our children but it is really nice to look forward to a special night where we can all dress up and have adult conversations (until after the fourth appletini when we all get pretty loud!)

This is what I wore for the party:




I kept my jewelry simple, diamond stud earrings and tennis bracelet. I was so comfortable in this dress, and it is such a pretty color. I bought it specifically for the party but it will definitely work in the spring as well.

Other things going on in the Charming household lately...

L went on the potty for TWO straight days. Then back to diapers. Oh well. She is super excited for Christmas. Asks every night if Santa is coming.

I have bought E's class gift for her teacher. I am the class mom, which I love and try to do every year. So far I have been 3 out of 4 (k, 1st, 3rd)! I have also planned the party for Friday and shopped for the craft items as well as food.

I have menu planned and am 3/4 of the way done food shopping for Christmas Eve (in-laws) and Christmas Day (my family). I usually do Easter and my sister does Christmas Day but for some reason we switched this year. Yes, it was my idea, and No, I have no idea why. We decided this in the summer. It was probably on our monthly night out, after several glasses of wine. I am doing dinners both nights. I will post later my menus.

Today E is home with a cold and Mr.C has had this week (and the next two weeks) off and we are going to make a gingerbread house. We are not vacationing this year until February (except for weekend to Vermont before New Year's) so I am looking forward to lots of leisurely days with the family.

They got me

I have been very good about ignoring these daily emails until today. I will be back online tonight, ordering some darling Spring clothes for the girls.

While I was blogging...

L managaged to cover her entire face with Aquaphor (the skin cream) Mr.C was "watching" her so I could go into the office and blog. He thought she was "just playing in the bathroom" HELLO!! 2 year olds can NOT just "play in the bathroom" He is usually very good about this but somehow it just seemed normal to him for her to be in the bathroom, by herself and QUIET. I just finished wiping the last of it out of her eyelashes. She gets into EVERYTHING.

Playing Santa

I promised I would post about what Mr.C and I were up to all day Monday and hopefully I can get it done while E is having her piano lesson right now.

Mr.C (besides his day job) is also a commercial real estate investor/developer. This is kind of a family business, brothers, fil and others are always involved. Anyway so Mr.C is friendly with a lot of tradesmen that he uses regularly for his projects. On Sunday night, he recieved a phone call from the owner of a construction company that is currently working on a project for Mr.C. He was telling him about one of his employees whose wife had become ill and had to be hospitalized. They have 3 school-age children. They have not done anything for Christmas and can't really afford to because of hospital/drs copays etc. He called Mr.C because he wanted to help out the family somehow and he knows how we adopt a family every year so he was asking for some ideas of what he could do. This is what we did:

Monday morning while no one was home, guy at work, wife at hosp, kids at school, we sent our cleaning service to the house. (I used my time slot) We also had the husband's sister in on this as well. Otherwise I don't know how we would've been able to get in the house! Mr.C and I went shopping. We bought an artificial tree and decorations. We bought toys and clothes for the kids and a few things for the husband and wife. We went food shopping. Then we went to the house where we were met by the owner (the guys boss) and the husband's sister. We set up the tree, decorated and wrapped all the gifts. Filled the fridge/freezer with food. It took pretty much all day and we were exhausted!

I can only imagine when the guy came home with the kids and the kids calling up mom at the hospital to tell her all about it!

This is what I love about the holidays. This was completely last minute and it worked out so well. The guy has no idea who did this or even that his boss was in on it (well actually it was his idea!)

I am sharing this because the happiness that this brought me as well as the family we had already helped means so much to me. Also I wanted to share the holiday spirit. Because to me the holiday season is about love and selfless giving. I am not going to get all preachy but you know what I mean. The true meaning of Christmas.

I know that when I hear of a random act of kindness it always inspires me. When I heard of someone paying the toll of the person in the car behind them, I started paying for the person behind me at the drive-thru. And I do it every time I go. Now it may not be too often, I don't like McDonalds or fast food, but we do end up there... And I think maybe they are then inspired to do something nice.

Just in time...lesson is over (only 30 minutes). Happy Holidays.

White Hot Chocolate

I received this recipe for White Hot Chocolate in a Christmas card from a dear friend last week and I just made it. I am enjoying it right now as I catch up on reading some blogs. Very sweet but very delicious. Here is the recipe:

1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup heavy cream
4 cups half and half
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
vanilla whipped topping
candy cane for garnish
(serves 2-4)

In medium saucepan over medium heat, combine white chocolate chips and heavy cream.

Stir continuously until white chocolate chips have completely melted.

Stir in half & half and vanilla extract.

Stir occassionally until heated through.

Pour into mugs and top with a dollop of vanilla whipped topping.

Garnish with a candy cane.

For a kick: Add desired amount of white chocolate liqueur.

Enjoy!

Over the weekend...

We attended the Baptism to which I was fretting about what to wear earlier in the week. Thank you for the suggestions! I decided that since the brunch was to be held at a somewhat formal establishment I would wear a dress instead of my usual Sunday Mass skirt and sweater ensemble. We had a lovely time and the baby boy looked darling in his little white suit (with bow tie!) the food was fantastic, as was the service. This was for a family member on my husbands side so we saw a lot of family that we do not often see so that was nice as well. We took a car (meaning with driver) because that is "what you do" in my husbands family for any sort of occasion. So of course the girls loved that. Usually when we do that it is for date nights and such.

This is what I wore:




The dress is tweed and it has the perfect autumn colors in it. The bag I wasn't too crazy about with the outfit but it matched well enough and it's big enough to carry all the Church essentials (books, toys, snack, drink, ALL for L). E is old enough to listen and participate at Mass, so I don't have to worry about her. BTW the dress did not look as short on me as on the model...if only my legs were that long... So it was completely appropriate for church in case anyone wondered.

Mr.C wore a suit, boring, so I won't post it.

The girls looked adorable and they had a very nice time as well, they played with their cousins and were the most well-behaved of the bunch. I am pretty tough regarding manners and behavior. I do not let my children run around like houligans, even though we were in a private room. Most of the cousins on that side have nannies (thats another post) so some of the parents were somewhat oblivious to the kids running around like that. Not acceptable in my book. Oh well. Speaking of nannies, we watched The Nanny Diaries over the weekend - I liked it, it was cute. Mr.C fell asleep. again. He always does when we watch a movie!

To the Baptism, E wore this:








And L wore this:





Yesterday Mr.C and I did something really great and it was a completely last minute thing. It took us all day and we are so excited about it. It's kind of a long story so I am going to have to post about it later or tomorrow. It involves us being "Santa and Mrs. Claus" for a family who really needed some Christmas magic this year.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.

She's my girl!

It's a Friday evening in December and we are home with no company coming over and the girls are tucked into bed. Mr.C rented The Nanny Diaries and we are about to settle in and watch it. I wanted to post what L said during prayers tonight before I forgot.

We all say together the usual prayers and then we individually say thanks or whatever we would like.

E: (age 8) Thank you God for a wonderful day and my family and I pray for a good, fun weekend and lots more snow. Amen.

L: (age 2) Thank you God for shopping. Amen.

Christmas Cards are in the mail!

Just mailed our Christmas cards and realized I forgot to post pictures of the cards we made! I did take some pictures though during the process.

Here are some of the cards we made:


Here are my favorites:



Here are E's favorites:



And even Mr.C made some this year! His contribution:


This is the stamp for the back (and whoever made that cards signed their name under it):



This is what my craft table looked like when we were all trying to work on WAY to small of a space:



And here is what happened when we tried to keep L feeling like she was involved by giving her some markers and cards and letting her create in another room:

(Picture removed)

I think the cards are cute and E and I love crafting together. We make cards for close friends and family (about 30 cards) and we also use a local printing company for the many other cards. It was a lot of fun making them and I hope everyone who receives them likes them as well! BTW the markers that L drew on herself with were "silly scents" so she smelled of an odd combination of chocolate, licorice and lime. Came right off though!

What to wear?

We are attending a Baptism this Sunday and I do not think I have ever attended one in the fall/winter. Very odd I know but it seems like there are so many winter babies in our family so Baptisms always end up in the spring or even summer. I almost always wear a lightweight wool or tweed skirt suit in a soft shade to them in spring or linen in summer. But I have no idea what to wear this weekend.

It is very early (10 a.m.) and it will be very chilly. I am thinking a tweed skirt in a brown autumn shade with a sweater and of course under a good coat. That is usually what I wear to Mass anyway on Sundays. The brunch afterwards will be at a very elegant place and I am just not sure that will be dressy enough though. I just can't make up my mind on what to wear. Since the brunch will probably run past 1 p.m. I suppose I can go with a wool suit...? What color? Any suggestions?

Theater Night

On Wednesday, Mr.C and I had a really wonderful time at the Palace Theater where we saw Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. Earlier in the day I got my mani-pedi as well as my hair and makeup at this place it was very nice to have some "me" time before our date. We had dinner at one of our favorite places, which is really close to the theater as well. This is what I wore:






First time wearing that dress (Ralph Lauren) and I loved it.



For jewelry Mr.C surprised me with this gorgeous necklace and earings:

I LOVE LOVE LOVE them.

Whenever we go to the theater we take a town car or limo and I can't help but feeling a bit like a princess. There is just something so magical about it for me. Of course I love when we go into NYC to the theater even more, especially this time of year, but this theater is also really nice because it is so close and we do not have to stay the night. Not that I mind staying in the city but with little ones at home I don't want to do it that often. I do however want to see a show very often!

The Name Game

Oops! I forgot I got tagged! This looked fun so I wanted to get to it.


10. Witness Protection Name: (Mothers and Fathers middle names)
Marie Joseph.

9. Nascar Name: (first name of your Mothers Father, and first of Fathers Father)
Howard Anthony

8. Star Wars Name: (first three letters of your last name, first two letters of your first name)
Faiam

7. Detective Name: (Favorite color and favorite animal)
Pink Bunny

6. Soap Opera Name: (Middle name, city where you were born)
Elizabeth Greenwich

5. Superhero Name: (Second favorite color, fav drink and add "The" to the beginning)
The Green Tea (not too superhero-ish)

4. Fly Girl Name: (First two letters of first name, First two letters of Last name)
Amfa

3.Gangsta Name: Favorite ice cream flavor, favorite cookie)
Vanilla Butter

2. Rock Star Name: (Current pet name, last address street name)
Fishy (really) Sycamore

1. Stripper Name: (favorite perfume, fave candy)
Chanel Jelly Bean

I love physical therapy

I have started physical therapy for my lower back...I have had a lot of pain since the end of October. This is from a previous injury going back quite a few years and somehow I seemed to have reinjured. I had/have two herniated discs and sciatica. I am 31 and lately have felt like I am 75!
But I try not to focus on the negative so I don't really complain about it. The only reason I am posting about it now is because... well... my physical therapist is SO HOT! He is probably 25 and thinks I am an old lady but I don't mind. It makes going much more enjoyable!
Today Mr.Charming worked from home so he took me and he thinks it is so funny that I am crushing like a little schoolgirl. Afterward in car I was giggling the whole ride. Then I made him stop at the Gap to pick up some new workout clothes because...any excuse to shop right? And a cute PT is a reason to shop. I love that I can joke about this with Mr.C. In fact he's been calling my cell from the home phone all afternoon saying he's "Jake" and he needs me to come in tonight for some "extra" exercises. Yes I know we are both silly/dorky. But a housewife has to have her little crushes! I love when a repairman shows up and he is a cutie. Mr.C is by far the most handsome/hottie/cutie I have ever laid eyes on so he has no worries about this at all. He actually thinks its really cute. And by the way, can you believe his name is Jake...its just about the dreamiest name, remember 16 Candles?

Later I will get to posting about our evening at the theater last night. SO wonderful. I love the dress that I wore. First time wearing it and it is just one of those perfect LBDs.

Cute Idea

Just remembered I wanted to post this cute idea. Friends of ours got married over the summer so this is their "First" Christmas together. Well first Christmas as a married couple...anyway my friend was telling me that they went to get their tree last weekend on Saturday and they were telling the guy helping them at the tree farm they just got married, first tree, etc., so he cut off about a 1 inch round from the bottom of the tree for them to save. He said to dry it out and seal it to save it as a memento. Maybe this is a very popular tradition and I sound silly thinking it's so great but I had never heard of it. So when we went on Sunday we had the guy cut off a piece for us as well. It is drying out and I am going to carve the year in it and do it every year. I might even make a hole in it and use them as ornaments? Maybe have E do a handprint on one side and L do hers on the other? Not sure. Yes I can handcarve wood, one of my dad's hobbies was woodworking. I even have tools. Is this a popular tradition? If not isn't it the cutest idea?

Update: Its way to small for handprints but E suggested they paint their names on each side, so I think that is what we will do. Of course L can't do that yet but I'll have her just paint something on it.

Busy days

We have been very busy here at the Charming household lately! Friday night Mr.F and I went to his company's holiday dinner at Le Chateau - lots of fabulous food, people and dresses! I wore this



I love the holidays (have I mentioned that a million times yet?) and we try to go to a lot of the local holiday events. Our town has a Holiday Festival every year with several craft fairs as well as horse-drawn carriage rides and visits with Santa. The Town Green is decorated and the Boy Scouts sell wreaths there. In the evening they have carolers and light the tree. So that is what we did on Saturday. At one of the craft fairs a newspaper photographer took pictures of the girls and I and E is soo excited to be in the paper. She has been in the papers a few times but each time she gets as excited as the last!
This is what the girls wore on Saturday:
E wore this



L wore this:

And I wore this:




On Sunday we went to get our Christmas Tree. We go to a place called Stew Leonards because it is so easy, everyone is so helpful and we always get a perfect tree. We used to go to the "cut-your-own" tree farm but with the two girls at this age this is so much easier. Plus they have Santa there and they got to sit on his sleigh and tell him what they want and we got the picture. So we now have about 4 different pictures with different Santas!
Here is L picking out our perfect tree


And Mr.F putting it on the car


We spent the rest of Sunday decorating the tree. Along with all our treasured ornaments, I also do a color theme for the tree. For example, silver and gold, jewel-toned colors, red and green plaid, etc. This year I was doing red and white, but I still need some extra white decorations. Mr.F said "I thought you were going to finally do a pink and green tree like in the girls playroom." I just always thought that would be to girly for him but he said go for it. SO now I am trying to decide if I will do it. I would just need to get more pink since I have green already. The tree is decorated with the red and some white but I haven't made it to the store yet...maybe I'll decide then.

On Monday E had a half day of school and we had our conference Monday night. It went really well and I could've listened to the teacher talk about how great E is for about 3 extra hours...lol. She just loves school and does very well.

So now I guess I'm caught up with my blog and I'll be spending some time reading everyone else's!

Tomorrow night Mr.F and I are going to the theater to see A Christmas Carol. I'm having a pampering day tomorrow so I am really looking forward to that.

Oh and Mr.F thinks his name on my blog should be Mr.Charming which is a good idea so I think I will refer to him as Mr.C from now on.