Hello!

Well, it's way past the end of summer and I had hoped I would get back to blogging once school started but better late than never I suppose! We had a wonderful, magical summer in Rhode Island and tons of visitors and parties at the new house. It is my dream house, walk outside and you are on the beach. Short walk to town, shopping and tons for the kids to do. Even though I live in Connecticut and we are close to the shore, I just feel at home in Rhode Island. I always have. I hope everyone had a wonderful summer as well.

E started her new school and L started there as well in preschool. The school has far exceeded my expectations. They have a live pianist at lunch! and they are served their meal by waitstaff! But more importantly, E is much more challenged academically. She is taking both Latin and French. The music, arts and theater program is absolutely amazing. They recently put on an energy-efficient addition and they are teaching the children about solar energy and there is just so much more she is exposed to. We, as a family, have always volunteered but now she is doing it with school as well. I could go on and on. I love how involved I get to be and the parents I have met are very sweet and it is like a family.

In other news....I am pregnant! Eight weeks along and everything is going great! After the ectopic pregnancy, we decided to just take things slow and whatever happens happens. Well it happened! We are so excited! We were planning a trip to Hawaii in the Spring but since I am due at the end of May (and I always deliver early) we moved our trip up and are going in November. The girls are very excited about being big sisters, especially L who will be 4 when the baby comes. E will be 10 and she is excited but she is more reserved about showing her feelings. She's more apprehensive as well. She's old enough to remember when L was born and she remembers the crying, etc. I regularly get together with a group of moms with children around L's age and three of them are pregnant, two just delivered in June/August and one more is trying now. So this baby already has lots of friends!

Halloween is just around the corner and I hope I can get a picture of the girls in their costumes up on here. E is going to be a "Devil Princess" and L will be a ballerina. I made E's costume but L had enough dress-up stuff that I didn't have to. We have another couple and their children over to our house on Halloween for dinner, then our town hosts a party on Main Street and tons of kids go. A lot of the houses on Main Street are having parties and the adults dress up and everyone gets into it. There is music and lights and it is just a lot of fun.

I have been trying to catch up on everyone's blogs, I seriously was unplugged (for the most part) this summer! I hope to be back in full swing with my blog, hopefully I still have some readers!

Happy to be back, hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful Fall season and have a Happy Halloween!

Summertime Rolls

We are in RI for the Summer and I am taking a break for a while from blogging. So much going on! Hopefully I still have a few readers left and I will try and check in every now and then but for the most part, I will be busy with the new house and kids and going to the beach!!!

Hope everyone has a beautiful rest of the summer and I wish you all sunny days and good times with family and friends!

By the way, in the picture is E with Mr.C on her first ferris wheel ride! They are in the back so you can't really see too well. But she did it!

Summer Shopping!

With everything that has gone on around here lately, my husband decided I needed a break and arranged (well his assistant arranged..lol) a trip with some girlfriends to NYC for spa treatments and shopping! He just told me this morning and I am leaving Sunday night for 3 days! I am so excited so I wanted to share! I am off to my neice's birthday party now but I will add the details later today or tomorrow morning!

House of emergncies lately

I try to keep this blog positive but I feel I owe it to my readers to explain my longer than usual absences and delay in posting comments. Please know that we are all mostly well at the moment due to so much love, prayer and support from family and friends.

Our E, who is nine recently had appendicitis. It was misdiagnosed 3 times by her pediatrician (yes we switched drs since) and it ended up rupturing causing very serious emergency surgery. By the time she had the cat scan at the emergency room, they said it had ruptured 4 days earlier and it was the most scary thing that has ever happened to us. At the hospital they would not even discuss the next day with me, they would only go hour by hour. It was needless to say horrifying and I still have not broken down yet, you mothers know that your instinct to be strong for them overpowers your need to just lose it and get hysterical. I try not to think of how close we came to...sorry I can't still say it.

However, she has recovered remarkably well and it amazes me every day how fast she has bounced back. Children are amazing. She will actually be going back to school in two weeks! We are so blessed and I thank God and her doctors for her remarkable recovery. As well as all the prayers from friends and family and members of our church.

Then I was hospitalized for an ectopic pregnancy. Another extremely scary thing to go through but it was caught early and removed and I am doing very well.

Then it was L's turn just this last Monday. She woke up on Monday night (well early Tuesday morning) at 1:30 a.m. crying. My husband picked her up and brought her to me and she was burning up! I sent him to the kitchen to get Tylenol and while he was, she vomited all over me. She had had a bit of diarrhea that afternoon but her energy level was fine and she was eating and drinking as normal so I didn't think to much of that. We gave her a few sips of water to see if she would keep that down and she did so we gave her the Tylenol. She proceeded to vomit again all the Tylenol. I took her temperature under her armpit and it went up to 106.1. I have never seen anyone with a temp that high so we were trying to decide if we should bring her to the ER. We brought her in the bath and sponged her and after a half hour her fever went down to 103.2. I brought her out of the bath and continued to sponge her until her fever went down a bit more and she fell asleep. She slept with us in our bed (well I didn't sleep I was too worried) and she fell asleep and finally her fever broke. She woke up the next day absolutely fine! No fever, she ate breakfast, drank and had her energy back. Amazing!

So at this point everyone is recovering so well and hopefully things will be back to normal soon. I know I should have posted about this earlier because I'm sure you all would have sent positive thoughts and prayers our way but honestly I just have not had a minute to do so.

We are so lucky and thankful that everyone is well and recovering so wonderfully and I will keep you posted a bit more now that things have seemed to calm down around here.

Please send positive thoughts an prayers our way that we all continue on the road to recovery and good health!

Mother's Day!

I know I have been a horrible blogger lately...just too much going on and have not found much time to myself lately. But I'm working on it! I plan to start this weekend. One of my favorite days of the year, Mother's Day. At our house we do "Mother's Day Weekend". Just like we do "Birthday Weekends" etc. We love holidays around here and make sure we make the most of them!

Our plans so far (or at least what I know of them!) will begin on Friday night when Mr.C and I will be going out for a date night. It has been a while since we have been to a movie for just the two of us so we are planning on dinner and a movie. I get to pick and I haven't decided yet what to see. In fact I don't even know what has come out recently! We will be going here to one of our favorite places for dinner. They always have the most fabulous salmon specials and I almost always get that. And I always get creme brulee for dessert. I am looking forward to dinner...if you can't tell!

On Saturday Mr.C will be dropping E and I off at this spa for some pampering in the morning. Then we will all be attending a birthday party at a local park for a friends two children. I am very excited because this friend I have not seen or talked to in 9 years! We had lost touch when we went our separate ways for college (we went to high school together) and she called me up out of the blue a couple weeks ago. It was so great because when we talked it was like no time had gone by at all and it turns out she now lives in the town next to us! I am so looking forward to seeing her again and meeting her family.

Sunday will be breakfast in bed (E has the whole menu planned out!) and then Mass and then....anything I want. Probably just staying home and spending time with Mr.C and my girls. That's really all I want to do. We have been quite busy lately and I am looking forward to relaxing at home all day.

Next weekend we will be heading to Rhode Island again to do more at the beach house. I already love it there. The designer I hired to help me with the house will be meeting us there again to do some more work. But to me it's not like work, I am having so much fun doing it! I will post some pictures soon. E's room is super cute. She wanted a "surfer girl" room. Now she will just have to learn how to surf this summer!

I hope all the moms have a lovely Mother's Day this weekend and I hope everyone has a lovely weekend as well!

Preppy Spring Swap goodies!!!!!

I was so excited to receive my swap package the other day! I had so much fun with the Preppy Spring Swap and I hope everyone else did as well! Here are the pictures!

The girls were so excited to open the box with me!


Me with my package, I was even more excited! Coincidentally, we were all wearing pink and green!


What we found when we opened the box, pink and green goodness!


A tote bage (I LOVE tote bags) embroidered in pink with my monogram held lots of treasures! The monogram was beautiful, Preppy Mama is very talented!


E and L were so excited to find a special package for each of them to open as well! I was so touched that she included them, she is so sweet.


Contents of E and L's packages. Everything was so personalized for them, both in their favorite colors. Their packages included (among other goodies) princess stuff for L (her favorite!) and for E, she received notecards with a stamp, because she loves sending cards to her friends and beautiful ribbons for her collection!


Contents of my package! Preppy Mama did a great job picking perfect items for me!


S - Sweet Smelling Soaps The picture came out to bright, but the soaps were beautifully engraved and smelled so wonderful!


P - Pretty Pad and Pen This was so pretty, and I am a list maker so I love having such a pretty pad and pen to make my endless lists on!


R - Ribbon Belt I love my new belt! So cute, I will wear it so much...I already have actually!


I - Ink In pink and green of course! One of my hobbies is stamping and making cards so I loved these!


N - New Kitchen Towels So perfect for Spring and I don't have monogrammed kitchen towels, Preppy Mama is very talented with monogramming. I think I will have to give it a shot someday. I would monogram everything in my house probably!


G - Goodies The whole family enjoyed these with me! Especially my fellow chocoholic in my house L who kept taking my M&Ms and trying to hide them!


Thanks again Preppy Mama, you did a wonderful job picking just the right things for me! I had SO much fun with the swap and I hope everyone else did as well!

Pictures coming soon...I promise!

I was almost done with my post with all the pictures of my swap package when all of sudden, blogger wouldn't upload the rest of my pictures!!! Argh. But the post is almost done and I will upload the rest of the pictures tomorrow, hopefully. I keep getting a message that says my upload is incomplete due to an internal error. I tried a bunch of different times but still not working. If there are still problems tomorrow, I'll just post what I have uploaded already because I am so excited to share with everyone my wonderful package!

I got my swap package!

Yesterday I received my wonderful package from my partner Preppy Mama. It was so fun! I will be posting pictures later today of all my beautiful gifts!

The other side...

In situations like this, you just don't know what to believe. I wanted to post a video that also explained things from the mothers side a bit.

Since I (in the past-but it never ends) have been involved with a bitter custody dispute, been harrassed by my ex's family, had them stand up in court and tell lies, I have seen how these things can happen. My ex's family are of a certain religion (some consider it a cult) and I try my best to be accepting of their faith. But my ex's mother actually told me "My religion tells me that I don't have to tell the truth in court because I do not hold the government, courts, police or anyone above my (God)" which she calls by a different name. But I don't want to offend anyone so I don't want to disclose that.

Thankfully, I had a smart judge and mediatior and they met with E and they knew her father's family lied and awarded me custody.

But what does it all matter when you see these children...they are the ones affected by all of this. Everytime E's dad doesn't show up for visitation, even though she doesn't want to go, she is still being let down. Every time he verbally/physically abused me in front of her, she gets so scared and withdrawn.

My heart goes out to any children who are in situations of any kind that involves abuse, neglect, custody battles, etc. As well as their family members that the children do have that truly love them, whomever that may be.

I am staying off youtube for the rest of the day. I don't close my eyes to these situations, they are all to real for me, however my heart can only take so much. I am going outside to play in the sun with my girls and hug them tighter than ever.

sorry if this makes you cry...

Turn volume up

I just had to post this, it moved me to tears. NO child deserves any abuse and I can't stand it. I volunteer in a women's and children's shelter in a nearby city and it is just so heartbreaking what some children have endured. It is one of those situations where I want to do more to help these children, but I don't know what else to do. My husband and I have always said after one more biological child, we would adopt or even have foster children. But there are just so many children who need help. How can we educate these parents so this can stop? It just breaks my heart.

Thanks Everyone!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes for my mom. She has always been so strong and healthy it took us all by such surpise when she had to have surgery. Then there were complications and she had to go back into the hospital. Nothing life-threatening but none the less it was scary.

My mom has always been a role model for me to be independent, strong, and healthy and it was the first time in my life that I had to care for her like this. It was really hard to see her not bustling around the house, cleaning, picking up her granchildren, etc. I know my parents are getting older but both of them have always led such healthy, busy lives that they seem much younger and look younger than they are. So it was just a hard time to see my mom so helpless and see her frustration at being helpless.

But I am happy to report that she is coming home and is doing better. She has a long recovery time for the surgery but with her good health and good will, I know she will do great.

SWAP NEWS:

I think everything is all straightened out and everyone should have their partners information. A couple mix-ups but everything should be corrected now. The list I posted on my blog is correct. I made one change on the list due to a new participant.

If you have an email with a different name than the one listed on my blog please email me as soon as possible and I will fix it. I think if that happened I caught it in time and sent you a new email, but I just want to make sure. If you have not received an email from me with your partners information, please also email me as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience and for participating in this fun swap!

Please bear with me...

I have had a tough weekend and I am trying really hard to get everyone's names exchanged. There were a few mix-ups but hopefully I straightened them out. If your email partner is different than the list that I previously posted on my blog, please email me so I can make sure which is correct.

Also this is my first time being involved in a swap, much less hosting one so I don't really know what I am doing...hahaha. But I think it will all work out fine and be a lot of fun!

I have to go back to the hospital to see my mom, please keep her in your prayers.
Thanks for all your help guiding me through the process of hosting a swap as well as well as the well wishes for my mom.

Sorry for the delay...

I have spent most of the weekend at the hospital with my mom. She has had some complications from her surgery and is having a tough time. I was able to get some of the emails out yesterday from my laptop that Mr.C brought to the hospital for me, but I still have a few more to send.

Thanks you for your patience and understanding. I hope to have the rest of the emails out today.
xoxo
Mrs.Charming

Partner List!

We had a drop out at the last minute so what I decided to do is put my moms name in. I will use my address and email for that partner and I will give the gift of goodies to my mom. She has been going through such a hard time that I think it will really brighten her day. She is still on bedrest from surgery so I'll do all the shopping for her!

Here is the partner list:

Jennifer S and Kate H

Jill E and Kelly S

Scarlet O and Maria M

Paige M and Maggi M

Kate B and Sarah S

Elizabeth P and Hillary P

Ali and Liz W


MMM and Lisagh K

Cara F and Meghan M

TCP and Magnolia Mama

Stacy D and Sherry W

Erin B and Jennifer D

Amy S and Anne W

Amy F and Gina F

Kimberly M and Cassie

Sara W and Impoverished Preppy

Gail S and Gabi R

ATC and Pearls&Grace

Kim in ATL and Penny R

Andie and Christian M

Lori D and Michelle H

Chelsea W and SLS

Joey Michelle and Mary K

KK and Kacey M

Kim E and Linda L

Okay hope everyone finds their name, if any problems, please email me at connecticutcharm@hotmail.com.

I have to go to my moms now, she is not doing to well from her surgery but later tonight or tomorrow I will get everyone their email out with partners information!

Swap Update

We have exactly 50 participants (that worked out well!) and I will post partners on March 29-30. Thank you to everyone who joined. I think I forgot to mention that after you recieve your package, it would be fun to post a picture on your blog of your gifts!

Remember to check back in a few days for the partner list. I will also be sending everyone an email with their partners information at that time as well.

Hope everyone's Spring is off to a great (warm) start! We are expecting snow...boo.

Thanks again for joining the fun!

Mrs.Charming

Last day to sign up!

Today is your last chance to sign up for the PREPPY SPRING SWAP! If you just found out about it, check out the link on the right. It has all the rules and information about it.

Most importantly, to be entered in the swap I need an email with you name, address, email, and blog address if you have one. This information will be sent to your partner only. When I list partners on my blog I will just list by first name (with last initial if necessary) or nickname with a link to their blog if they have one.

So far we have 46 participants! Hurry and sign up today if you want to join the fun!

Swap Updates

Just to answer some of the questions I have received:

You certainly can go by a nickname for privacy reasons, just let me know what you prefer I list when I post partners.

Also you don't have to have a blog to participate, when you receive your partners email, you can let them know a bit about yourself if you would like.

Feel free to post on your blog info about the swap and a link if you would like. Spread the word about our fun Preppy Spring Swap!

Remember to email me (connecticutcharm@hotmail.com) with your information to be entered in the swap. Commenting on the post that you want to join does not enroll you in the swap until I receive the email with the information listed in the rules.

Thanks so much to everyone who already signed up! We already have over 20 participants and there is still plenty of time to sign up! This will be lots of fun!

Happy Spring!!

Fun, Fun!

So many people already signed up for the swap! I am so excited! For any newcomers all info can be found on the link at the right. Please feel free to put info about the swap or link to my blog on your blog as well.

It is a dreary day here in Connecticut and I am stuck indoors anyways since I had another cortisone injection in my back. I just ate way too much for lunch...leftover St. Patrick's Day Dinner. I think it may be nap time...if only my L would nap. If she does though she is up until 11 pm and that does not work out well for Mr.C and I. We like to have our evenings together.

I just finished some online shopping for Easter for the girls. Yes ridiculous express shipping charges and all. I have not had my act together with Easter at all. I don't know when the Easter Bunny started bringing gifts and not just candy but it is probably because E is not a sweets fan and I used to get her books, little toys, etc. instead. L would be fine with all chocolate but I always feel like I have to make everything even for them. If E gets gifts then L gets gifts. Since L will get candy, E will get candy, even though she won't eat it. Do I drive myself crazy with this a bit??

This year my sister is having Easter at her house and I am SO glad. I am not up to it. I don't even know why I ended up hosting St.Patrick's Day dinner with my parents. But Mr.C did help out A LOT with that. But I am looking forward to a long Easter weekend where I don't have to care if the house is a mess, I don't have to cook the meal, I am bringing glazed carrots (easy recipe) and that's all. I really hope the weather brightens up a bit so it starts to feel like Easter time!

Thanks again for everyone who signed up for the swap! And there is still plenty of time to sign up if you haven't yet. It will be so fun to get a cheery Spring, preppy, pink and green package in the mail!

PREPPY SPRING SWAP!

I decided to go ahead and host the Preppy Spring Swap.
I have never participated in a swap, much less hosted one so I'll try keep it pretty simple.

RULES:

Sign up by: March 26
I'll post partners on: March 29-30
Send out items by: April 18

Budget: $20 (not including shipping)

To sign up: email me at connecticutcharm@hotmail.com with your name, mailing address and blog address.

I will list randomly selected partners on my blog by first name (or nickname) with links to their blogs so you can check out your partners blog for inspiration! I will send you an email with your partners email and home address on the day I post them.

Theme: Preppy Spring with a color theme of pink and green.

Details: You will send your partner 6 items (somewhat preppy, springy) in the colors pink and green. Items can be homemade, secondhand, candy, thrift store find, whatever.

Each item must represent 1 letter in the word SPRING.
Example (but not limited to):
S - stickers
P - pencils
R - really pretty picture
I - interesting Spring recipe
N - notecards
G - green ribbon

Use your imagination and creativity to make things fit. I think this will be fun! I think I covered everything. If not and anyone has any questions, leave a comment or email me at connecticutcharm@hotmail.com.

Happy Spring and have fun!!

Preppy Spring Swap?

I have been toying with the idea of doing a Blogger Swap to celebrate the beginning of Spring. I have never participated in a swap so it is all new to me. But I have seen others and it seems like a lot of fun.

PREPPY SPRING SWAP

Some ideas: Each item has to start with the letters S P R I N G, all items must be pink and green, with a somewhat preppy style. Homemade or thrift-store finds (or at least Marshalls!) works out great too. I was thinking of a budget of $20 not including shipping.

For example:
S - Sweet smelling soaps
P - Pink candle
R - Ribbons
I - Interesting Spring recipe
N - Notecards
G - Goodies (pink/green M&Ms for example)
You can use your creativity to make things fit (P for pink and G for green is in there so that's handy too)

Does anyone else think this may be fun?

In the next couple of days if I receive comments that some of you may be interested, I will post the rules, dates, and how it will all work.

I am SO looking forward to Spring and I thought this will really get everyone excited too.

Let me know what you think!

Castle Cake

This was my inspiration for the Castle Cake
So now you will all see what it was SUPPOSSED to look like...hahaha. I did my best though. Cake decorating has not come easy to me but I try! The girls also helped me make it putting on the candy and frosting, etc. but I can't blame the lopsidedness on them... I don't exactly know how that happened. One thing is I didn't use the baking pans specified in the recipe, I used a large sheet cake pan and cut it, which made it difficult to frost because you know how hard it is to frost cut cake. Crumbs everywhere! I just kept filling in more and more frosting...I think thats why the kids loved it so much too-all the frosting!

Some pictures

My completely lopsided castle cake for the girls princess party...but they loved it and when asked what her favorite part of her birthday was, L replies "My castle cake!" Not the gifts, food, decoration, guests, it was the cake, so the time (and frustration) that went along with making it was so worth it. When I was little my mom used to make creative cakes she would see in Good Housekeeping or just make them up and I remember every one of them, the catepillar, treasure chest, ice skating rinc, etc. I don't remember gifts I recieved or even who was there...but I remember the effort my mom put into the cake and it means so much to do it for my kids now.


For E's class party this is her Valentine's Mailbox. Have to brag, it was the envy of all her friends, but I love crafting with her so we got really into it. The cups are filled with Valentine's candy that she gave out to her classmates. I stayed up until 2:30 am curling all those damn ribbons. But they looked cute and I am officially "coolest mom in the class." Especially after scoring bunches of tickets to the Hannah Montanna movie and bringing all E's friends. It was a blast though. Even Mr.C went. Mr.C and I go back and forth about the whole "role model" thing but E has never been interested in anything like this, she has always been such a bookworm, so we figure its ok to indulge her a bit. It's just fun, and she's so serious that she needs a bit of fun like that.


Maryland/DC trip. I think there is a picture in there of the backs of Mr.C, E, L, Mr.C's twin brother and his fiancee. You can even tell from the back how completely different they are for twins. The don't even look like brothers. His brother looks a good 7-8 years older than Mr.C (which is funny because his fiance is 38!!!) He's 31.
Oh - and notice Mr.C carrying my pink and green bag for me! It got to heavy with my back and all and he is such a good sport, doesn't bother him a bit to carry purses. Sigh...love him so much.

Random Bits

After trying unsuccessfully to put up several pictures today on my blog - I GIVE UP! I finally have some time to do this and of course...not working. I will try again later this afternoon and will just have to spend my free time now browsing others blogs.

Some updates:
My mom is doing really well, she had surgery and has a bit of a long recovery time but we are all helping her out and she's just going nuts stuck home, so we try and make sure someone visits everyday.

I had a procedure done for my back that unfortunately was unsuccessful. It is a cortisone injection that we are going to try again. Sometimes it takes 3 injections to get relief.

Mr.C had his wisdom teeth out on Friday and is doing really well. He drove me nuts as a patient because he can not sit or lay in bed all day, he wasn't supposed to talk and he was on his phone, working from home, etc. He is one of those people who if you tell him he can't do something, he will prove you wrong to the extreme! But he is doing better everyday.

Girls are doing very well. E is having her CMTs at school and she is such a perfectionist that she has been obsessing about it a bit. L has completely backtracked with potty training. Cries and throws a tantrum when I try to put underpants on her. She was doing so well for a while...I'm not too concerned though, I know she'll get it eventually!

I hired someone to help me with decorating the beach house. I just had so much going on and I really want everything ready for the summer, so I thought I could use some help. I'm still very, very involved but its been really helpful to have someone else to do this with me.

Our friends with the baby girl who I wrote about earlier are doing wonderful. She came home and we attended a party for her over the weekend. She is a miracle and so beautiful. She has a feeding tube that they taught her parents how to give it to her but other than that she is great! She had open heart surgery that was successful and she is doing so well. Can you imagine as a mother being told your baby has a 40% chance of survival and then to be able to bring her home and have everything work out so well? I am just so happy for them.

We will be going to Italy at the end of August for Mr.C's twin brothers wedding. Their dad has a villa in Tuscany so we will be staying there. I am so excited. We decided to stay for two weeks because we are bringing the girls and we want to do all the touristy things with them. The wedding festivities are going to be a weeklong event so it is going to be quite a good time I am sure!

Will try and post some pictures later of our recent trips and events. Hopefully I will have better luck!

I'm still here...

We have been away for most of the month it seems. We went skiing in Vermont and we went on a last minute trip to Washington D.C. and Maryland. My mother had to go into the hospital and have surgery so I have been taking care of her lately and will be for quite a while. So I may not post again for a bit but I will try. Just letting everyone know I am still around and thanks for all the Happy Birthday comments!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday! We had the girls party yesterday with family and friends and we kind of added my bday on to that. "Happy Birthday dear E... and L.... (and oh yea you too)" But Mr.C has something planned for next weekend so thats when we will really celebrate it. Girls party went well, I will post pictures soon. Mr.C took most pictures and I haven't even looked at them yet. We went straight from hosting that party starting at 3 to having friends over to watch the game. We are Giants fans...so YAY!!!

I can NOT believe I am 32. WOW.

E's Birthday Party!

We had a super time at E's 9th birthday American Girl Spa Party. We had invited only a few girls (6) but one couldn't make it and another girl (her best friend!) got really sick that day so she had to cancel as well. But it actually worked out so well because we were able to take our time and relax.

When the girls arrived, we served them smoothies in a "fancy" glass, which they all got a big kick out of. I put on relaxing instrumental music and lit candles to set the mood.

First we did the craft which was making (decorating) flip flops and after they were made the girls changed into bathrobes and flip flops. They just put the robes over their clothes. (I got the bathrobes from Lillian Vernan Kids).

We then served healthy snacks (turkey wraps, veggie roll-ups, veggies and dip, pita chips, fruit salad.

After that we started the "Beauty Buffet". I had stations set up throughout the pool house for mani-pedis, facials, and doll hair do's. The biggest hit was the mani-pedis during which they got a foot massage and the second biggest hit was after they applied their oatmeal-yogurt mask they got to lay down with cucumbers on their eyes. For some reason they thought that was just the greatest!

After they were all pampered we took pictures with them and their dolls (who had their hair done)!

We then served cupcakes and ice cream as well as more fruit salad. Then E opened her gifts. We had a bit of extra time so we hung out listening to Hannah Montana and we played charades.

Everyone really had such a great time, especially E. Even though this party was a bit labor intensive for a kids party, it was so worth it. It was actually even the least I had ever spent on a birthday party because almost everything came in the package from American Girl (which I bought on clearance)! I had my manicurist come to do the girls nails but she did it at a very reasonable rate and I ended up cancelling the hairstylist because E didn't want to have her (and her guests) hair done, just the dolls. So my mom was doll hair stylist for the day!

It was just so much fun and Mr.C was such a good sport, he even helped with the facials, made the smoothies and took pictures.

This weekend coming up we are having the combination E&L party with family and some friends. I was planning on a tea party but everyone is hinting that a tea party on Superbowl Sunday just isn't so great. I might just scrap the tea sandwiches and do snacks and still have tea and then cupcakes.

Plus most people will be going to a big superbowl party with tons of food so snacks in the afternoon would be enough. I still want to have tea-related snacks though. I was thinking scones, cookies, chocolate dipped strawberries. I want something savory too not just sweet. Should I just do cheese and crackers? Any suggestions?

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We also went to a big Christmas Tree bonfire where we took some neat pictures. I'll post some soon.

How I Met My Husband...

At a bar!!!

But of course I'll go into detail. E had just turned 2 and I had just really gotten back on my feet, finding a place to live and starting to connect with friends again. I went into the office on Wednesdays and Saturdays, but the rest of the week I worked from home for a publishing company. Since my mom was watching E for me on Wednesdays, she offered to take her Tuesday evenings and keep her overnight, to kind of give me a break. That way I could start seeing friends for dinner or whatever. I had NO interest in dating or men at this time at all.

One Tuesday night a co-worker called me up last minute to go with her to a local "dive" bar because she said they had the best hamburgers. I wasn't doing anything else so I agreed.

So we go to this place and it was not that much fun. We eat dinner and get hit on by a bunch of old men. At one point, this one older gentleman was talking to me and he kindof wouldn't leave me alone when this group of young guys walk through the door. They all looked like very clean-cut preppy ivy league kids except for one. He had long curly hair piled high on his head in a ponytail and a t-shirt and jeans. The other guys had polos and short hair, etc.

They ended up standing right next to where I was and I made eye contact with one of the guys in the group and gave him a face like "ugh, this guy won't leave me alone" So he asked me if I wanted to come play darts with them. The old guy said "oh you know these guys?" so I was off the hook.

So my friend and I went over with the group and started talking to them. Turns out they all went to elementary and high school together stayed friends through different colleges and were all good friends for a long time. The curly haired guy had a twin brother who was with them but they looked nothing alike at ALL. Made eye contact with the curly haired guy because at this point, not only was he the most beautiful man I had ever seen, he was so shy and sweet.

I sauntered over to the jukebox...is this all cheesy enough for you guys?...and he followed me over. We picked out songs together. Bob Marley, Neil Young and can't remember the other one. Ok it was Van Halen's Ice Cream Man but I didn't want to admit it.

We talked for a long while and he asked for my number...telling me he had never asked for a girls number in a bar before. I totally believed him...he was nervous. I gave him my CARD, it had my number on it since I mostly worked from home. I felt Oh So Important. And he called me the next day.

He left a message because I was not home and asked me to call him but he did not leave his number. I was upset because he seemed so nice and I thought I'd never talk to him again. But he called back later and asked me out.

The day after our first dinner date, he came to the park where I was with E. He played with E in the sandbox and we have been a family ever since.

The funny thing is...I came from this hippie family and I always prefered the conservative, preppy look. He came from the ultimate East Coast Preppy Power Family and he was such a hippie!

He is the nicest person I have ever met. He donates blood every 120 days or whatever it is you can do. He remembers everyone and everyone remembers him. We go to church or the library and he'll run into his 2nd grade teacher or an old friends parent and he always remembers them and their names and all. He has never been in a fight. Ever. He had only one girlfriend before me and was with her for years. He has no idea how gorgeous he is. All his friends always asked me questions when I was dating him like why did I like him, etc., because they know what an exceptional person he is and were protective of him.

He thinks I have the best family (well they really are) but their ideals are similar to his. He helps anyone in need and when we go for a walk, he brings a bag to pick up garbage on the street. He is on the board to many organizations that do so much good and make a difference in our world. He can talk to the CEO of a national corporation the same way he can talk to a homeless man on the street. He never loans money, he always gives it.

His family had difficulties with him dating me because I did not fit into their "idea" of who he should be with. They were not accepting that I had a child and that I was not married when I had her. He stood up for me and fought for us when we felt the whole world was against us. My parents accepted him but they were uncomfortable with how his family treated me.

We dated for three years, lived together for most of that time. I found out I was pregnant in July 2004 with L and we got married by ourselves at a park by a Justice of the Peace in November 2004. After L was born in February 2005, we got married in our church in August 2005 and we asked our family to be there.

I fall more in love with him everyday. He inspires me so much.

So thats our story. Some of it...of course there is much more but thats all I can do for now!

I'd love to hear how others met their husbands/boyfriends. Mr.C and I used to joke around and say we met at church or a coffee shop because whenever people asked where we met, we thought it sounded so cheesy..."at a bar." But thats where it happened!

thank you

After my last post I felt like maybe people don't want to hear that kind of stuff (regarding my ex) but the responses and comments I got made me feel really good and have made it easy to share my story. I see a therapist and probably always will because she has been amazing and has helped me so much learn about myself and how to deal with having an abusive past. Plus I still have to deal with the guy on a regular basis. I won custody but (I believe) the courts are a bit biased when it comes to fathers because there are so many who are not involved in their children's lives. So if a dad shows up and says he wants to be part of the child's life, they allow visitation. I even know of a woman who's ex-husband hit her children and he still gets supervised visitation. My ex has never physically hurt E but I think its because she's not with him long enough on their visits.

It KILLS me sometimes to have to let her go with him but most times he just brings her to his sisters house and I know she is safe there. He still threatens me occasionally and is verbally abusive but each and every time, I call the police. It's a really hard situation that we try and make the best of. These are the cards we have been dealt, as they say. He really doesn't have too much of a relationship with E, he is basically incapable of love and he also suffers from mental illness. All I can do is what I think is best for E. She also goes to a therapist and if there is ever a sign that she is being affected in a negative way by him, it's back to court I go.

To the anonymous commenter who feels they may be in a similar situation, I hope that you find the courage to do what is best for you.

It can be so hard for some people to understand because I am a smart, capable person who did not grow up with abuse, yet I became involved with this person and stayed for three years. When you are in it, you don't realize what the reality of the situation is, if that makes any sense. It becomes normal, plus I believed I loved him and most of the time I believed it was my fault (if I even felt that there was anything wrong with it). He was very paranoid and jealous and I was alientated from all my friends and family. At the time my parents were living in another state and the situation was created in which (I felt) there there was nowhere for me to go, although I didn't want to leave him because I thought I loved him. I don't know if (as hard as this is to admit) I would have ever left him if I didn't become pregnant and have E. It wasn't until I was responsible for someone else that I realized that this was a horrible situation and I would not let her endure that.

I have worked really hard to be able to deal with the situation the best I can. I am not perfect and have learned that the best way for me to deal is to realize that he is a very troubled person who needs help and I try and surround him and everyone around me with love. I do not have the time to be angry or bitter. There is no point to live in fear or anger. I forgive him and I just make sure that E is not hurt. Because she does go to therapy and we have an honest relationship, she is aware (as much as an 8 year old can be) that her father is very troubled. She tells me everything and having been through that relationship, I think I would know if something was going on even if she didn't tell me.

She has also learned how to deal with this in her own way. She acts very different when he is around her, she basically protects herself from being hurt by him. When he doesn't show up for visitation, she understands that he is irresponsible and thats just the way it is. It's better that she knows this now, instead of living her life hoping that one day he will learn how to love and always being let down. Although she believes (and I do too) that he does love her the best he knows how.

Everything happens for a reason and everything that happens shapes you into who you are. I think that E will find a way to use what she has learned to help other people someday. It will make her a strong women who can deal with a variety of life's situations and different kinds of people.

Plus she has an excellent father in Mr.C. She doesn't remember him not being in her life since I met him when she was so young. He changed her diapers, got up with her at night, has been to every pediatrician appointment. He has an extra special relationship with her because he knows what she has to deal with and he more than makes up for it. He is there for EVERYTHING. If she has something at school, he will come home from work to be there, sometimes being the only dad there! He has been to every conference, takes her to piano, dance lessons, CCD, sports she's involved with, volunteers at her school, knows all her friends and teachers well. He helps her with homework every night. He taught her to ride a bike, to go fishing, takes her to baseball games, plays princess with her, they read the same books and talk about them, they go to the library together, movies, hiking, just anything you can imagine a great father doing and more. Everyone is so amazed at how close they are and it is the greatest feeling in the world.

So I concentrate on our blessings and teach my children to as well. I will post a bit later how I met Mr.C. Thanks again for making me feel comfortable sharing.

not pregnant...for now

Well, definately not pregnant, as I got my period today (sorry for too much information). I am very irregular and everytime I think I might be pregnant, Mr.C just knows I am getting my period. Oh well. We didn't try or anything anyway but my other pregnancies were both unplanned.

In fact with E I didn't know until I was almost 5 months pregnant. Now you may wonder how on earth can that be??? Well I was very young, never had a regular period, in a very poor relationship I was taking the pill and it just never occurred to me. I went to the doctor one day because I had horrible heartburn and kept getting sick. (duh) The nurse asked if I could be pregnant and she had me take a test. Came back positive and I almost fainted. Went to an ob/gyn and she confirmed how far along I was(18 weeks).

Then with L, I was trying on dresses in a dressing room and nothing fit in my size, especially the bust. I went home, took a test and it was positive. Went to the Dr. and I was 9 weeks already. Actually it was hard to tell my family because my sister, who is 1-1/2 years older than me, had been trying for over a year with miscarriages and many heartbreaks but she had just gotten pregnant a couple months before me. Our girls are four months apart, her daughter was born premature. So I suppose I am pretty fertile, especially since I was on the pill both times. I don't take it anymore because...well obviously it doesn't seem to work for me.

Even though I had unplanned pregnancies, both times I was so absolutely thrilled. Even though the first time I was in a bad relationship, I was still over the moon, he however was not, I endured much abuse, he even kicked me in the stomach because he was so mad I got pregnant. He kicked us out when E was 3 months old. He had told me to leave many, many times before but he was so emotionally, physically, sexually, verbally abusive and manipulative so I felt trapped and I always stayed. UNTIL I had my E. He told me to leave that day when she was 3 months old, I looked at her innocent face and all of a sudden, it just hit me - I had the courage and the strength, and I left and never looked back. He kept trying to get me back but there was NO way I would ever let my daughter be subjected to the type of life we would have had if we stayed with him.

If you have ever seen the movie Waitress with Keri Russell, that moment when she looks at her baby, thats exactly how it was with me. My E saved me, she is my angel, because surely things would have ended tragically if I stayed with him.

I met Mr.C when E was 2 years old and it was love at first sight. He instantly loved E and has raised her as if she was his own. They have such a special bond and treats all of us as if we are his princesses. I have never met a man with a heart as pure and good as my husband. I am so truly blessed with my girls and husband.

Well I hope you didn't mind me getting so personal and emotional today but thats how I get this time of the month!

random bits...and a maybe baby?

I wanted to try and update my blog a bit, we have been pretty busy - ok I have to stop saying that in every post...everyone is busy! I realized I never put up a picture of our Christmas outfits. The girls dresses were family heirloom dresses, LOVED E's, very old fashioned, not as crazy about L's but they looked good together. E's had a very small houndstooth pattern of navy and dark green so the green matched L's dress which unfortunatly was not velvet, which I really prefer for girls winter party dresses not that icky fake velour or whatever that stuff is...but anyway they did look cute. Sorry I had to crop their adorable faces off.


This was my dress:

Mr.C wore a suit with a dark green tie so we all coordinated...as usual!

My burn has been healing, slowly, but I still wrap it up most days so I don't bump it in to anything, its still a bit tender.

Over the weekend we took the girls to the this aquarium and had a great time.

I also took E out for a girls day, we got manicures at a new place (they don't have a website up yet, but they have a cute package for kids. We went to lunch and did some shopping. She received quite a few gift cards for Christmas and enjoyed going on a spending spree! Today she is at a friends house for a playdate and Mr.C has left for business for a couple days. So it is just L and me! Went out to brunch with her while the cleaning service was here. I was so proud of how well behaved she was. She has such great manners for her age.

The maybe baby title is because yesterday, all day - I had this overwhelming feeling that I wanted to have another baby! I don't know where it came from but it wasn't a fleeting thought because I still feel that way today. I was talking to Mr.C about it all day yesterday and he's like SURE! He's love to have a bunch of kids. We of course will be talking about it more when he returns. I wanted to wait until L was a bit older but...I don't know maybe if I got pregnant now I would have the baby when she would be starting preschool. So it might work out. I feel so giddy about it!

Other news...we have enrolled E in a new school for next year. It is something we have been thinking about doing for a while and when we found out L was accepted into the preschool so it just made sense to have them together. It is a co-ed private day school that runs pre-K to 12th grade. I am so excited about it. Now we don't have to worry about another school until college! E has been in the public school system and I have to say I do like it but it is just not challenging her. And I have heard from other parents that the middle school is really not up to par. She is most excited that she will be learning French and Latin and she will also take private piano lessons from one of the music teachers there. She does not like her current piano teacher (and I have to say...I have grown impatient with her attitude as well). This new school has an excellent theater, arts and music program and academically they are just above and beyond. Plus E's best friend switched to this school at the beginning of 3rd grade and her parents really love it, as well as their daughters.

So this year has started out with many changes and we are so excited to see what may come in the next few months. Maybe a new baby!!!

E's birthday party is this weekend and it is an American Girl Spa party that will be so much fun. All her friends are coming and I am turning the pool house into a "fancy" spa for the day! We have a manicurist and hairstylist coming (I explained to her that she will also be doing the dolls hair!) and we will be serving spa cuisine. I got a party kit from American Girl and it had some great stuff in it. It was an exceptional value at $45 (regularly $105 which is still a good value considering what came in the kit).

The following weekend we are having a combined party for E and L with family and we are having a Pink Princess Tea Party. On Superbowl Sunday. I did not realize this when I sent the invites but it is in the early afternoon so everyone will be home in time for their superbowl parties. Friends of ours are staying after the girls party to watch the game with us and celebrate my birthday since mine is Feb.4th. Mr.C is taking care of the food (and cake) for that since I will be making tea sandwiches all morning!

I'll be sure to update on the status of my baby fever! I've never felt it so strongly! I could already be pregnant...I think I might take a test. One thing though...I JUST got back to my regular weight (103 - I'm only 5'2) since having L (who is turning 3!) Yes I know it took me a while but it took me only 6 months to get back after E (but I was only 22 - its easier then)!

AND the other thing is my next baby will probably be my last that I would have naturally...we always said we would adopt after 3 biological children (if we wanted more than 3). So I want to really enjoy the pregnancy (I loved being pregnant).

RI house

Finally some pictures of our new house. Mr.C wanted me to use pictures that he had taken a while back because most of mine were of the outside and property...the view is gorgeous. But he doesn't want that in my blog because of safety reasons.

The house is very new and decorating it will be so different than my home in CT which is very old (antique we call it). We transformed a barn on our property last year into a pool house and everything was new but we kept the style very much like the main house - classic, traditional (not stuffy though) Ralph Lauren meets Pottery Barn meets Ethan Allen, New England style. Although I didn't use Pottery Barn or Ethan Allen...we have some wonderful specialty furniture shops in our area...plus tons of antique shops. Just trying to best describe the style I guess.

BUT the RI house will be very different. I want to use local craftsmen and furniture shops and make it very Rhode Island - beachy but elegant. E wants a "sufer girl" room and I do believe PBK has bedding, accessories in that fashion. There are 5 bedrooms besides the master and I can't wait to do one room in a nautical theme for visiting children. It will be gender-neutral but with blues, boats, etc. stuff that I never got to do having only girls.

Oh and Mr.C is meeting with a landscape designer recommended by the property management company and I told him I want hydrangeas everywhere! That is my idea of a beach house...gorgeous blue hydrangeas and beach grass.

 

Birthday Season

We have had a couple of very busy weeks and it is not about to slow down! On my husbands side we celebrated two birthdays since New Year's, and two of our friends celebrated birthdays as well. Coming up at the end of January is E's and L's is the beginning of February. A sister-in-law is two days before L and a neice AND a nephew are the day before L's. We were suppossed to go to Vermont before New Years but did not since we ended up in Rhode Island after Christmas. I rescheduled our skiing trip for the end of February. I think we will need a mini vacation then more anyway.

Friends of ours gave birth to a beautiful baby girl last week, but she needs a lot of special prayers as she is having some difficulties. She is at a children's hospital in New York City so she is receiving the best of care. Please say a little prayer for her.

Yesterday was a snow day and I thought I was going to go a bit nuts stuck inside all day, but we kept busy. We baked muffins and cornbread, made chili in the crockpot, E used her new sewing machine, and we played in the snow.

On a lighter note...

How cute are critter pants?

OUCH

Sorry its a bad picture, its not easy to take a picture of your own hand - plus its my new camera. But this is what happened to me last night while cooking dinner. Severe second degree burn on the side of my RIGHT hand. It seems we have been to the ER more this year than ever in my life! I have never burned myself this bad before and never realized how HORRIBLE the pain is. I can't imagine people who have suffered burns far worse.

Here's the irony...before taking my Christmas decorations down last weekend, I took this picture of the top of an armoire in the office.



Ten seconds later that red candle in the center lit the (fake) poinsetta leaves on fire. I yelled "FIRE!" Mr.C ran in and panicked and started blowing on it, I yelled at him "NO that makes it worse!" then he grabbed it and ran into the bathroom to put it in the sink...meanwhile flaming leaves dropped onto the floor and started an area rug on fire...by then I had grabbed the girls, the phone and ran outside. Called the Fire Department. By the time they came, Mr.C had grabbed a fire extinguisher and had everything out. It was SCARY.



So after being so thankful and of course I still am that no one was hurt then...its kind of like those movies (that I didn't watch) about how you can't cheat death...but in my case its not death but a burn. Weird. Anyhow I'm not even sure how I am able to type, my hand is still all wrapped up, but the percocet they gave me for the pain has certainly helped. Probably why I am rambling...

Privacy

I had to go back through my blog and take out any personally identifying pictures today. I tend to view the world in a very optimistic way, always finding the positive. However I am very aware that there is the potential for bad things to happen and that they do happen.

I received a phone call and it could be totally unrelated to my blogging and probably is, but it really freaked me out. It was a creepy guy saying creepy things, acting as if he knew me. Yes, we have caller ID, but I almost always answer the phone even when it says "unavailable". Just habit.

So my husband and I were talking and he asked me to take out any pictures and also not write about where we WILL be going but its ok to write about where we HAVE gone. He also said I could use personal pictures as long as they aren't identifiable. So all the pictures I took in Rhode Island I am trying to crop so that I can post them! Mr.C said he wasn't to keen on me posting them at all since we aren't living there full time and he was worried about someone breaking in. But there is a security system and he hired a property management company to look after it so I convinced him it was ok! I just can't say what town it is in either. So I will post the (edited) pictures soon!

Back to happy thoughts....

We all have been having a wonderful holiday season. Christmas was crazy busy and everything turned out well regarding the meals and parties. The girls have been enjoying time off with dad, who is back to work on Monday...boo.

E's favorite Christmas gift was the American Girl doll. Her bday is coming up and she had been planning a Harry Potter party...but now she changed her mind and will be having an American Girl party. YAY! I'm much more excited about that. Not that I don't like Harry Potter but I couldn't get into the books. E and Mr.C loved them though.

L's favorite gift was everything! She loves playing with her toys and dress up. She is the type of child who will sit and play for quite a while with her dollhouses and things like that. Her bday is also coming up and we are having a pink princess tea party.

Mr.C's favorite gift was a radio control plane from Santa. He told me and the girls a few weeks before Christmas that when he was a kid, he asked Santa for one every year but never got one. So this year Santa remembered and he was pretty excited about it!

We had a lovely, low-key New Years Eve. We had two other families over, who have kids around our girls age. We played board games and had a potluck dinner. We have been doing that the past couple years, we just switch houses. Everyone stayed over here since we have the room. The kids had fun having a sleepover. Then on New Year's Day we had brunch. It was a great, calm, relaxing way to start the new year.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's as well!