Top Ten Favorite Things...Week of 8/18

Top Row
1. My new lego Ralph figure courtesy of Chris...complete with his "Choo-Choo-Choos You" valentine
2. Starting to look like a kitchen...and we can finally easily open our drawers
3. Took my new table saw out for it's first test drive....I didn't die, so I guess I set it up right
4. No Explanation Needed
5. Thanks to Jon for discovering a really good new pizza place, within walking distance!  This could be dangerous

Bottom Row
6. Setting up my grandfather's old Encylopedias in the bedroom....Jon swears he's going to make the boys use them for their homework instead of Google
7. Loving the sudden outpouring of Brotherly love from Blake to Grayson
8. 3 Drafts down....now let's get some FOOTBALL started
9. Conquering the Doylestown Kid's Castle
10. My beautiful new Lotus Charm bracelet from my sister-in-law Karen..I could use all the energy I can get

Top Ten Favorite Things....Week of 8/10

Top Row
1. Bringing the boys to Allentown and introducing them to DCI for the first time
2. The Tile shop Montgomeryville is open!!
3. The kickass new trees and bushes that the landscaper installed
4. My new kitchen towel bar...don't let it deceive you, this thing was a real bitch to put in
5. Tried out a new bathroom cleaner based on some recommendations...loving how it cleans and the smell

Bottom Row
6. Celebrating my dad's birthday at Chuck-E-Cheese...this ride didn't give out any tickets, but kept all three kids entertained for at least 10 minutes
7. My little GOB growing up way to fast....standing up and now starting to cruise the living room
8. Filling up my Photo Carousel from Pottery Barn
9. Making it through the weekend watching the boys by myself, and actually having a fun time doing it!
10. Our new couch from IKEA, which is already a really expensive dog bed

Top Ten Favorite Things - June/July Roundup

Welcome back Suckers Avid Readers

(sorry...have been watching a lot of "The League" lately getting ready for Football Season).  

After a brief summer hiatus, I'm back!  I've added a few posts on some of my faves including Blake's Bday, some crafty time, and yummy food....but here's what you've all come to see - my latest top ten list.  So please enjoy some of the highlights from the last two months and stay tuned for next week for an all new list

Top Row
1. Grown Up night out at Morton's for our 5th Anniversary
2. My nieces in their adorable Frozen Nightgowns
3. Finally getting to take a fancy Family picture
4. These shortbread cookies from Wegmans - OMG they are the Bomb Diggity!!!  Go get some right now!!
5. My little GOB crawling and sitting up by himself...watch out ladies he's on the move

Bottom Row
6. Getting to cook in my new kitchen with the Blake monster...we've got pizza and pancakes down
7. Spending a lot of time outside this summer with the boys; pretty proud of my sidewalk chalk monsters
8. Visiting the National Aquarium with the boys - Blake's love of fish will never die
9. Some late night fun on Long Beach Island - easily the most relaxing moment of the last year was sitting on the beach right before sunset watching Blake play
10. Getting to make small, steady improvements to the new house - like this awesome soon to be light fixture that I found at Home Goods

Happy 3rd Birthday Blake!!

Looking back on the last year, it seems almost impossible how much has happened to my little monster (oh yeah...we're REALLLLY into monsters now).

You learned to talk, go to the potty, sleep in a big boy bed, and started to do things "all by yourself"

You became a big brother, moved into a new house, and started at a new school

Through all of the ups and downs, and tantrums, and muddy footprints tracked through the house.....I never get tired of being your mom and watching you grow every day!  It's worth every tough step through the day to feel your good night hugs and kisses and hear you say "Goodnight Mommy"

I love you more then you will ever know and I can't wait to see what big changes year 3 has to bring!!

Happy Happy Birthday to my Big Boy Blake

Blake's "Bug Food" Party

I asked Blake many many times over the months leading up to his birthday what kind of party he wanted, and almost every time he said a "BugFood" Party (which to Blake means a party that has bugs and lots of food he can snack on) so that's what we rolled with.  He spent about 98.9% of the time in the blow up pool, so I'm not sure how much Bug or Food he took in, but here's some of my favorite things I put together for his 3rd birthday.

It took me a while to come up with the invite, but one day while reading GOB's squishy "Hungry Hungry Caterpillar" book, the light-bulb switched on - could there be a more perfect image for a BugFood party?  Blake looooves the HHC, but I didn't want to do such a specific party theme, so I thought just going with it on the invite would be a great idea.

I knew that I wanted to do the classic Oreo Dirt cupcakes for dessert, and I saw this really cute pic on Pinterest where someone used plastic terra cotta pots to hold them.  I couldn't find any plastic ones, so I just used mini real terra cotta pots and took the cupcakes out before I gave them to the kids.  M&Ms became my crawling bugs, and I made a special Red and Green HHC one just for the birthday boy.

The favors were really easy this year as me and my mom lucked into finding these butterfly nets and bug-catchers early in the summer in the Target $1 bins (gotta love it!)  Then I used plastic sandwich bags, clothespins, and M&Ms to make butterflies, and let the kids take any of the bugs they found that day home with them.

I set up two little activity stations for the tiny ones - a dig for bug station where we just buried a lot of plastic bugs in the sand table, and a "Make your own wings Station".  I just cut up a bunch of paper plates and put out different shapes, paint, and markers that they could use to decorate.  The wings came out so cute I may have to use that idea again when I eventually force host a dream "Harry Potter" birthday party for one of the boys.

Some Red and Green decorations rounded out the theme and Voila! - a relatively stress free set up that made for one awesome birthday party!!  Just hope I will be singing the same tune come GOB's first bday bash in October...

Early Summer Recipe Round Up

I am absolutely LOVING my new kitchen!!! The splurge to get the updated layout was completely worth it for me, and makes putting together big meals so much more manageable!  Been collecting pics of some of the best meals I've cooked since we've been in the new house so here's a round-up of what's been cooking:

Crab Cake Sliders

Father's Day Dinner: Asian BBQ Ribs, Stuffed Potato Skins, Soy Broccoli w/Chili Peppers

Lemon Ziti and Balsamic Asparagus

Three Pepper Linguini w Burrata Cheese

Fried Egg Open Face BLTs (These are now one of my staples)

Greek Pizza

Cheese Fry Topped Burgers

A Tree Grows in Pottstown

One of the hardest things to leave behind when we left Pottstown was our the apple tree in our backyard. We had planted it a few years ago as a memorial to something very dear we had lost, so it held a great amount of sentimental value to us.

We had discussed possibly digging it up and attempting to move it with us, but we didn't want to take the risk that it could die during transport. We also toyed with the idea of taking a sapling and trying to grow a new tree from it, but I have no skills with plants and no idea where to begin doing something like that. Then I decided just to take the really easy route to take a piece of it with us and just press a few of the flowers and frame them.

GOB Foot Photobomb!!

The tree was in full bloom so I was able to snip two beautiful buds. I had no idea how to actually press these and have them keep, so I found a few tips via google, and the process was actually extremely simple. I just laid the flowers out within the pages of a heavy book (nerd alert - decided to use a book of Monet's Water Lilies paintings so I wouldn't forget where they were). The tips I read said to place two pieces of computer paper on either side, and then to change the paper each week. I did this for 3 weeks, and by the end I had two very well pressed flowers.

I grabbed two of my favorite Ikea Ribba frames, and some leftover hand-made paper I had from these large pressed flower prints my mom let me have, and voila....two wonderful remembrances of our little apple tree!