A Time for Reflection

As we approach the anniversary of 9/11, it's hard to believe 10 years have passed. It still makes me sad (to tears) to think back on that day.



I love our NJ Governor Chris Christie. I am in general bored by politics and politicians but whenever Governor Christie speaks, there is something about him that always makes me stop and listen. I do love his no nonsense, cut to the chase approach.  I truly agree with him on almost all issues and he just has a way of articulating that I wish I had.   I just saw this clip on his thoughts of 9/11 and I couldn't agree more. Our weekend is jam packed with the busiest sports schedule I think I have ever seen, but I will most certainly be taking some time out to remember and pray for the families and the survivors of 9/11. xo, Brie

Sleepover Complete

and I live to tell!!  Must have been all those candles you lit for me.  I thank you :) We have a very tired yet happy girl.   GO JETS xo, Brie

Pinktastic

The pink girls heading out for our day on the town!  No easy task getting a picture this am where I was not blinking.  This is the best of the worst - remind me to throw the eyeshadow in the trash - I had no idea it looked glitterific.  We were not heading to a rave. yuck. 

The show was cute and put on at our local community theatre.   I don't believe you will be catching this show on Broadway anytime soon, but Ms. C loved it.  They sang about 25 songs about being and loving pink and that was A OK with her.    It was a sold out show packed, packed, packed with little girls all dressed up in their pink best - really adorable and I loved the girl power camaraderie  that was happening in there. 

We had lunch afterwards at our favorite local lunch/ice cream place (along with the rest of the theatre goers, but we walked there fast so we got a seat).

Refusing to pose for a picture while eating her rainbow sprinkles ice cream

another refusal for a pose - but I do think it's safe to say she enjoyed our girl time :)  I did!!!  In her words.... girls rule, boys drool ;)   xo, Brie

Pinkalicious

Tomorrow Ms.C and I are going to see Pinkalicious the musical.  Just us.  A mom and daughter date.  We will dress in pink, go see the show, and have a fantastic fattening lunch afterwards at our favorite place.  I'm dreaming of delicious paninis, ice cream, and girl time.  I can't wait :) xo, Brie

Shrek Forever After

We just took the kids to see the final installment in the Shrek movies. The kids really liked it and I have to admit, I did too! They made us fork over and extra $3 something per person to see it in 3d and it just isn't that impressive. I would skip that feature and just see the regular screen version.

I also managed to woof down a rather large TUB of popcorn with extra delicious butter so I'm pretty sure that means I have had enough calories for an entire week in a 90 minute sitting. Darn you movie theatre popcorn, why must you be so delicious?

My favorite new character to the Shrek family is definitely the evil Rumpelstiltskin! I could totally get behind having a set of "angry hair" I think I'd wear every day! xo, Brie

Back to the 80's play

Kay had her 2nd play performance with her middle school - her are a couple of zombi-ish shots I took last night. I will take a good one of her heading out tonight b/c it is so dark in the auditorium!

Kay is sporting the fluorescent pink leopard


The curse of being the tall girl? Straight to the back row with you for any and all pictures. I know this rule of thumb all too well

BEST part of having a cast member in the play? The beautiful fresh flowers :) xo, Brie

Ding Dong... Snail Mail

A snail arrived shortly after my post yesterday!!



Ms. C and her horse Chocolate Chip seem very pleased with the new digs! Now I need to work on pictures and accessories

What a long way from these....

A TREMENDOUS thank you to my mom and dad for all their help with this project!! xoxoox

Painting Ceramic Glass Draw Pulls

Ms. C's room is FINALLY almost done and the only thing now that is completely holding me up is the quilt I purchased for the bed. I think it is going to look so cute!! I made the same mistake I always make and chose a quilt from Pottery Barn and bought it off ebay with free shipping for a total savings of $40. Only problem is, the free shipping means it will arrive on the back of a snail - I ordered it on 6/8 and today is the 20th. The seller assures me it is on the way and provided a tracking number etc so I'm not going to get too uppity over it just yet.

We got her a really cute new bed frame from Ikea and it's white. The dresser that was already in the room is a natural wood color and I suppose I could paint it (and still may in the future) but thought I could spruce it a bit and make it blend a little better with some cute painted white drawer pulls. Off to Home Depot (or Homo Depot as our 4 year old calls it very innocently and I can never not laugh when she says it) we go, picked up 10 white ceramic pulls for a dollar something a piece.

Now for the painting - which I am the first to admit I am not very good at .....

First up you need a special kind of paint called "Glossies" put out by a company called Liquitex. They don't come in a ton of colors but all the basics are represented and you can bake glass or ceramic things in the oven to heat set the paint so it won't rub off! It's very cool AND half price at Michaels this week if you are interested for 2.99 a bottle.

Some green lines that are a little shaky and wavy ;)



Followed by some more wavy and shaky hot pink lines ... a preppy wavy shaky plaid!!


Into a cold oven and then set at 325 for 45 to set.

The finished product!! It looks really cute if you squint your eyes :D I'm happy with the results. Sprucing up complete.

Not sure why the top drawer is askew like that... I'm certain drawer number 2 is over stuffed :(

The final room reveal will take place when my budding artist is finished some wall art for her room

and if that darn snail ever arrives with the quilt! xo, Brie

The Hangover

After much begging and pleading, I got to see this last night. It is hilarious - provided you like low brow humor like I do! Put it on your to do list. xo, Brie

Vampires are having the best week EVER!

Keely and I went to see Twilight last night after our show. Holy smokes did I love it! I haven't even read the books, but now of course I will. Add this movie to your to do list!



Edward is Cedric from Harry Potter- so handsome... funny I never noticed that before! - the makeup was a touch distracting to me but all in all two thumbs up! xo, Brie

This is how you do Halloween

Kay was invited to a "Spooky" sleepover birthday party this weekend. I could not believe what a great job they did decorating their basement for the party! Hope the party mom didn't think I was cuckoo for having a camera on me :) but this was a photo opp if there ever was one!

THIS is how to do Halloween!

For once, it was not hard to get Ms. C out of the party. She has ZERO interest in staying for this one :D Happy Monday! xo, Brie

Hayrides, Pumpkins, and Fall in NJ

A fun filled Sunday here in New Jersey! We went to our local farm and did the hayride and pumpkin picking. So much fun but pumpkins are outrageously expensive. We paid 26 dollars for a nice sized one but most averaged 40-45 dollars! For something you are going to carve and toss in a week? No thanks!

Here are some pics

First off... New England eat your heart out. We have great foliage here in NJ too. I swear to God this was taken at our gas station. There are trees like this everywhere. Beauties I tell you ;)

All aboard the hay wagon

KB girls rule!!

The KB boys search for the perfect pumpkin (these are the freebies that come with the hayride) the kids totally LOVE this part but they are really too small to carve.

The search is over! Operation "find perfect pumpkins" is complete! Happy Sunday! xo, Brie

Happy Birthday Liam!

Another successful party at the Funplex - seriously THE greatest place to have a party. You arrive with your camera and they take care of everything. The boys LOVED it! Below are some hilights :) xo, Brie

The birthday boy ready to party wearing his dad's least favorite shirt

Celebrating with the boys

My girls :)the ticket grabbing machine - a definite hilight for him

The ball drop in foam frenzy

Blowing out the candles. He thanked us 100 times for the party so I know he had a great time! Happy Birthday, I ♥ you!

Trip to the Zoo

Where has this week gone? I love the long weekend followed by the short week! This past weekend we took the kids to spend the day at the Bronx Zoo. It was the perfect day and a great activity for all the kids - they loved it! I couldn't help but think Monkey would have totally loved this outing!!! He will be staying with us for a short vay cay in the near future so stay tuned for that! Below are some highlights from our trip! xo, Brie

group shot with the zebras

boys with the giraffes... Liam keeps putting the bunny ears behind his own head?!?

an indifferent bug - this one keeps cracking me up!

kay has a thing for piggies

posing with a monitor lizard

This gorilla was sleeping and so cute... when she woke up she came right over the glass and was nose to nose with Ms. C. Someone stepped in the way so no pic :( It took a lot of willpower in me to not yell - MOVE IT!

The boys take a try at the tiger toy

awesome twisty slide within the tree. Ms C came down it within moments of going up - I suspect she may have cut the line!!!

popping out of the prairie dog holes... see the "dogs" up behind them on the hill



Liam on the bug carousel. I love this pic, it is so him! Still giving himself those bunny ears though... we'll have to talk ;)

Ebay Monday

Hope you are all enjoying your Memorial Day weekend! We have had a busy one and I have been trying to keep up with pictures I will hopefully post later this week. Today we are working in the yard, we have gotten so much done and in an attempt to further procrastinate I have decided to take a break with some Ebay Monday fun :)




Did you collect these? I did! I was really quite taken with them, but it wasn't just me... all my friends had little photo albums where we'd save all our favorite smellies safe and sound under the peel back plastic sheet. We'd trade them and beam with pride as others perused our books like they were baby pictures of our kids!




This seller has the most awesome site and collection I think I've ever seen! I think I am jealous :)


http://stores.ebay.com/bubbledogs-collectibles_TREND-Sniff-Stickers_W0QQcolZ4QQdirZ1QQfsubZ2QQftidZ2QQtZkm

Check out their full collection here! The "bone" one still cracks me up.... who the heck wants to smell bone?? It smelled like a car tree air freshener! xo, Brie

http://www.bubbledog.com/sns/trend.html