Oh..the weather outside is frightful...

Here is our Christmas House! We are bunkered down waiting to see how much snow we are to get tonight. Rumor has it about 20 inches. Which will be very nice seeing as we have not had a white Christmas where we are for years. Of course, the children are excited and after about an hour of getting them ready to go out in the snow..they lasted all of 15 minutes! Ha!

I am getting my posts ready to catch up! They include fabulous dinners, wonderful company, a few trees, decorations, and of course children! I am preparing to sit back and catch up on The Nester's Holiday House Tour and have some Bailey's whilst under the covers!

Have a great night,

EMB

What!? Where has the time gone?

I can't believe it has almost been a month since I last posted. I have continued to be c.RA.zy busy! I had hoped to follow up on my last post quickly but my camera has been on the fritz. Some pictures were lost and ultimately said camera died resulting in the new purchase. I still have yet to figure this new prize out so I will be posting soon.

I am however halfway decorated for Christmas. Yikes! Our house still has some projects going so I am finding it hard to draw the line between which ones to continue and which ones to decorate around. Last year we only had six days to decorate before Christmas because we moved. I am spending some time going through our decorations, organizing, tossing, and donating. It is amazing how much this stuff accumulates! I do have purging inspiration, though. Actually it is like a fire under my a*%! The fire is my new obsession called Hoarders on A&E. Holy Krikes! I can not believe how some of these people live! I ,of course, am now on a ranging decluttering streak.

I am not a hoarder..nor does my house look like ANYTHING on this show but I definitely feel the need to get rid of EVERYTHING that is somewhat questionable in my home. For example, I was a teacher. I also taught theatre arts. I have to some degree been taught to save everything.... in case you need it. I have saved all my teaching materials for almost ten years in case I go back to teaching. Now, everything is tucked neatly into boxes, et al. but it is alot of boxes in my basement that have a 50/50 chance of me using again.

Have any of you career women turned stay at home moms had this problem? Or is it just me?

For now, I will leave you with a picture of mantel last year. Thanks to The Nester's tutorial I will never look at garland the same way again. This year our mantel is under construction, I am sure I could pull this off again and hide everything. We shall see!

Have a great day!

EMB

Crazy Week

This week is an exciting week for me! First off...some Preppy bloggers are getting together Wednesday night to celebrate...THE LILLY PULITZER WAREHOUSE SALE! If you want to meet up, please contact Kappa Prep and she will forward you the details. I am so excited to meet everyone and to shop the sale!

Second, Twilight's New Moon comes out this weekend! I cannot decide if I should go at midnight on Thursday or a Friday Matinee. I will let you know.

Third, Project Runway's season finale this Thursday night. I am rooting for Carol Hannah. I think her dresses are great and I cannot wait to see her collection.


This week I will be baking for the children's school Christmas Bazaar bake sale. I will be trying some of Saucy's Sprinkles recipes like the mini candy cane hearts and Hopsy's cake balls as well as making chocolate covered pretzels! Again, I will let you know how it all turns out! We are new to this school and I am not sure of the workings of this event. I am the Home and School's Social Committee Chairperson but this event is not related. I am still figuring out where I want to be while helping out where help is needed.


And ..getting ready for Thanksgiving! I am so excited this year I found this platter at Home Goods

with some matching plates. I have always wanted turkey plates for Thanksgiving. My china is white with a silver edge and I wanted brown turkey plates so I could add in any color (or change colors) each year.

I also have a gorgeous tablecloth. If the day does not get too crazy I will take some pictures and post the tablescape. We are having everyone over and the holiday weekend is jam packed!


Lastly, we are finished installing our hardwood floors! My husband and I set out over a month ago to install hardwood floors in our foyer, dining room, mudroom, kitchen and family room. My husband was a big help =;) We chose Southern Yellow Pine in a 12" width. As of yesterday, the third coat of sealant was applied. I would like a darker look but we decided to wait until the spring to do any more coats. This is NOT our home...our home is in alittle disarray because of sealing the floor this weekend BUT this is exactly like our floors!

I will post before and after pics when our house gets itself together! (Hopefully by next week!)
Have a great day!

EMB

"Thanksgiving is a good thing. ThanksLIVING is even better."

-Great quote I recieved from a great friend!

Happy Halloween!

Our Pumpkin Toparies!

Our Little Wagon and the Gang!

Trick or Treat!

What I Have Been Up To......

It has been quite busy here. I am trying to finish up some projects that have taken way to long to start. Melissa at The Inspired Room is having a Procrastinator Party today so I decided to link up for the first time and join! Here is what I have been up to....



Before:

An awful laundry closet. We had to turn the dryer sideways to open the door!!! And this was across from the pantry *which is under construction =;)* so this area was impossible to manuever.









After: A spacious mudroom. I still need to craft a bench cushion and add more baskets but overall I am very happy!

We had the washer and dryer relocated in the house so I could repurpose this room as a mudroom. It took a weekend to construct and another weekend to caulk and paint overall not too long. With fve kids and tons of coats, etc..we needed the space!

Here is a sneak peek at what I am currently working on:

More to come!

More Seasonal Fun

The little girls and I went on their class trip today. The weather started out abit wet but soon the sun came out. We had a great time. The farm we visited is very charming. They have a little tour of the farm as well as some educational lessons for the kids. The girls learned about growing fruits and vegetables and then got to each pick their own apple and pumpkin. I got to see a friend and fellow blogger Clear Pink. I had a great time catching up with her. We wrapped up our trip with a visit to the farm store where we proceeded to stock up on candy corn, candy pumpkins and apple cider. We were also lucky enough to snap up some of the last apple cider doughnuts! Have a great weekend!

Number Five Turns Two

We celebrated Baby S's two year old birthday. I can't believe how fast my youngest is growing.

It seemed like yesterday she entered the world like this:



And this weekend:


Happy Birthday Baby Girl!!

Getting in the Halloween Mood

Check out this cute movie maker from Oriental Trading!

http://www.monstermashup.com/dbda47

My kids had a blast!

It Is Fall.

That is all.

First Day of School: Round Three

Enough said.

First Day of School: Round Two

The little girls started preschool today. Sweet K. is in the pre-K 4 and Scooter is in the 3's. Everything went well. Except that Scooter is adjusting and is alittle anxious today. Which means she spent the whole half hour we were in the food store (picking out treats for her class), screaming for God knows what reason. I don't like to be the parent to bring screaming children anywhere but I honestly did not see this coming. I have a list of things to do and I'm sorry if I "ruined" any other shoppers of their "quiet" grocery store trip, but I have to get these things done. C'est la vie!

First Day of School: Round One

We have just sent the older children off for the first day! It is bittersweet. I love the summers with them yet I love the break that comes with back to school. They needed their routine back and the mental stimulation school brings. I will (do) miss them. Now I am getting ready for the little girls to go for their first day of preschool. Then it is off to bring treats to all of the teachers to kick off a great school year!

BTW, I did send in a cute teacher survey created by Henley on the Horn. We tweaked it a little but I love the idea and hope to get information from the teachers. It is very helpful for teacher gift giving.

Have a great day!

Summer Recap or The Posts That Were Meant To Be....

I am a horrible blogger. It is true that I check in everyday to visit everyone else but I am terrible at writing. It seems that once I get my daily bit of sanity from all your blogs...time runs out...I am back on call.... five children beckon. So I am taking some time to catch you all up through a picture recap. I hope you all had a wonderful summer and an easy transition for back to school!

Trip to the Aquarium

The County FairA Pink Flamingo Birthday PartyPatriotic HolidaysField Trip to Princeton Children's LibrarySistersCupcake Sale for Charity (Go Cancer Sucks!)VacationSpending Time with the Cousins

Yes, we had a very busy summer. We are settling into our house yet we are still under a bit of construction. (New floors and countertops get installed in a few weeks). I am documenting our journey and hope to post all of the before and afters. School starts for us in two weeks. The older two and the middle two all start the same day! Little one stays home for yet another year!

Now, I have to go...the little ones are playing {sledding} on the mulch we just had delivered....did I say we had two weeks until school ?

Happy Memorial Day! Thank you to all who protect and serve our country! Have a safe and great day!

An "Almost" End of an Era.....

Today, as we were busy cleaning around the house, I came across our changing table. We purchased this table from Pottery Barn Kids more than 8 years ago. I remember the day we purchased our little man's nursery set and how excited I was on delivery day. Time really has gone by so quickly. Our oldest has just turned 8 and our youngest is 18 months. We have used this table for all of our children, more so than the cribs. Because the children are so close in age, we have had more than one crib set up at any given time! But the baby has been sharing a room since we have moved and we have not had room for the table.

Today, I moved our table into the garage to convert into a gardening station. I can not believe it will never hold another baby. And this is bitter sweet. We are potty training our fourth and I can see the end of diapers in the near future. Believe me, I am more than ready not to change another diaper yet it is a another reminder that that they are growing up. And soon we will be a house without babies, which will be different for us.

I know, I know..an 18 month old is technically still a "baby". But with four older siblings, she is growing in leaps and bounds. When your "baby" tells you "no" to some kisses so that she can run with the others, it really sinks in how fast time slips by.

For now, I will look to the future and hold on to the past. And relish in every moment that they are young.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone! Tomorrow starts my little ones spring break and we are headed to Hilton Head to visit with family.

With three boxes of dye, 36 eggs and some embellishments, we are done our eggs. We have strayed from our usual tradition of dyeing our eggs the night before Easter to dyeing the eggs the weekend before Easter. Since we would be away I decided to make the change and now we can bring our eggs with us so the Easter Bunny can hide them. I also wanted to make this change because I am a little tired of taking my children to church Easter Sunday dressed in their Easter best only to have their hands and arms dyed purplish brown from the night before festivities.

This year has also marked a change for us as the older children's eggs actually looked like Easter eggs. For the last several years, my minis have taken great joy in sticking all of their eggs in every color on the table resulting in said purplish-brown eggs. Now they are very interested in keeping their eggs one color, etc. We finally have bright Easter eggs.

My fourth little one is still grasping the egg concept. She dyed the eggs well for being two and half years old. As soon as she retrieved the egg from the cup, however, she saw it fit to peel the shell off of ever single one of her eggs. She was addicted. Then as I was cleaning up she started to carry around this little Easter tin as a suitcase. Too cute. Fast forward to bedtime when she requests me to remove her Easter eggs from the tin. I opened the tin to remove two very brown de-shelled eggs. Oh..she is a bugger. Thank goodness she asked! I certainly did not want to find this little treasure after we returned from our trip. Yikes!

Lilly Pulitzer Basket Giveaway!

My friend, Cancer Sucks, is hosting her first giveaway! Please visit her, here, and enter for a chance to win a super cute new Lilly Pulitzer basket. She introduced me to the blogging world and I am forever grateful to her. My daily reads help keep me sane with five little ones in the house. I have met wonderful and inspiring women in the blog world. Thank you Cancer Sucks..you are wonderful and amazing! Please go visit her before March 13 and enter! Good Luck!

Homemade Electrolyte Solution

We have been hit by the stomache bug. All of the children have had the usual symptoms. And it worries me when I can't get them to drink..ANYTHING. They do not drink Pedialyte or gatorade, etc. So some years ago I stumbled upon this homemade recipe for an electrolyte solution that I have used. It tastes like salty water but not too salty. I give them this alittle at a time and it seems to really help with the stomache bug symptoms.

5 cups of water boiled
8 level tsp sugar
1 level tsp salt

Stir together until sugar/salt is dissolved. Wait until cooled to serve.

It is really simple and I think there are other ways to make this.... I am just relaying what my family uses in hopes to help anyone else that may be in the same situation.

In like a lion....

I am so ready for spring as I watch snow falling outside. We are expected to get more snow today. I hope this is winter's last hooray. I am so ready for spring.

First Valentine's Day Party

It seems like the time has gone by so fast..but to her ....it must have crept by. She is so excited to have her own school Valentine's Day party. Now she has a bag full of Valentine's wishes and treats and she feels like she is one of the "big kids" now.

First Born

Another tag from facebook:

Here you go mommies - a different kind of survey for a change - it's all about your first born! Just copy and paste it in a new note-change answers to yours.This will be fun for all the pregnant ladies to read!Let's see how much you remember!

1. WAS YOUR FIRST PREGNANCY PLANNED? No.

2. WERE YOU MARRIED AT THE TIME? Yes.

3. WHAT WERE YOUR REACTIONS? I was very excited and nervous.

4. IF TRYING-FOR HOW LONG? N/A

5. HOW OLD WERE YOU? 29

6. HOW DID YOU FIND OUT YOU WERE PREGNANT? Home Pregnancy test...I think six of
them!

7. WHO DID YOU TELL FIRST? My Husband!

8. DID YOU WANT TO FIND OUT THE SEX? I did..he didn't.. so we compromised and found out
every other.

9. DUE DATE? April 1, 2001

10. DID YOU HAVE MORNING SICKNESS? No.

11. WHAT DID YOU CRAVE? Pizza with hot sauce and peanut butter and jelly sandwich with
chocolate milk.

12. WHO/WHAT IRRITATED YOU THE MOST? My extreme exhaustion.

13. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CHILD'S SEX? Boy.

14. DID YOU WISH YOU HAD THE OPPOSITE SEX OF WHAT YOU WERE GETTING? No.

15. HOW MANY POUNDS DID YOU GAIN THROUGHOUT THE PREGNANCY? 32 lbs.

16. DID YOU HAVE A BABY SHOWER? Yes.

17. WAS IT A SURPRISE OR DID YOU KNOW? It was a surprise.

18. DID YOU HAVE ANY COMPLICATIONS DURING YOUR PREGNANCY? None, other then
delivering six weeks early.

19. WHERE DID YOU GIVE BIRTH? PA

20. HOW MANY HOURS WERE YOU IN LABOR? 40 hrs give or take. My water broke at three
in the morning early Friday and I did not give birth untill after 8pm on Saturday. I did
not go into labor naturally and being six weeks early, they had to induce me. (Twice
two 12 hr bouts of pitocin)

21. WHO DROVE YOU TO THE HOSPITAL? My husband.

22. WHO WATCHED YOU GIVE BIRTH? My husband and the hospital crew.

23. WAS IT NATURAL OR C-SECTION? natural

24. DID YOU TAKE MEDICINE TO EASE THE PAIN? Yes,after laboring for a day, they first
gave me nubain then as I got closer to Saturday night.. an epidural.

25. HOW MUCH DID YOUR CHILD WEIGH? 6lbs, 1oz

26. WHEN WAS YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY BORN? February 24, 2001

27. HOW OLD IS YOUR FIRST BORN TODAY? 8 (in a few weeks)

28. WHAT WOULD YOU GO BACK AND CHANGE? I would have definitely forgone some of the
pain medication (nubain).

50 Things

I wrote this on facebook so I am copying this for all of you: 50 Things about me.

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Yes. My Aunt.
2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED? Last night. Another aunt of mine was just
diagnosed with cancer.
3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? No.
4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Turkey.
5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? Yes.
6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes.
7. DO YOU USE SARCASM? Yes.
8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.
9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Yes.
10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Reeses Peanut
12. DO YOU HAVE ANY PETS? Yes. Violet(dog), Miley(cat), Zach & Cody (2 parakeets)
11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? No.
13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM? Anything with Peanut
14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE? Hair.
15. RED OR PINK? Pink.
16. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?
I take on too many projects at once.
17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? No one.
18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO COMPLETE THIS LIST? Everyone.
19. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? blue jeans, black boots
21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? Minis playing in the living room.
22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Green.
23. FAVORITE SMELL? Christmas trees.
24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO? My children.
25. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I love her!(my cousin)
26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH? My son's baseball games.
27. HAIR COLOR? Blonde.
28. EYE COLOR? Green.
29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? No. I have perfect vision.
30. FAVORITE FOOD? Homemade anything.
31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Both.
32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? The Other Boleyn Girl.
33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Green.
34. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer.
35. HUGS OR KISSES? Hugs.
36. FAVORITE DESSERT? Reeses' peanut butter cup.
37. MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? ?
38.LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? ?
39. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW? The Twilight Series... I just finished second in series.
40. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? Something from my husband's work.
41. WHAT DID YOU WATCH ON TV LAST NIGHT? I did not watch t.v. last night.
42. FAVORITE SOUND(S)? My children.
43. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Neither.
44. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME? France.
45. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I'm creative.
46. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Phila, PA
47. WHOSE ANSWERS ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GETTING BACK? Everyone
48. HOW DID YOU MEET YOUR SPOUSE/SIGNIFICANT OTHER? We met at my cousin's wedding while I was in college and then again at a family Christmas party.
49. IS THE CUP HALF FULL OR HALF EMPTY? Half full.
50. IF YOU COULD SIT DOWN TO DINNER WITH FIVE PEOPLE WHO WOULD YOU CHOOSE? Barack Obama, Eckhart Toile, Martha Stewart,Josh Groban and my husband.

Insanely Cute!

I am in love, again. This is one of Vera Bradley's new prints. It is called Hope Garden. I think this print is soooooooooo cute. I love every bag in this print. I fear for our bank account!

Overwhelmed

Yes. That is me. Overwhelmed. I am still surrounded by boxes from the move. When we knew our settlement date was several days before Christmas, I decided to divide up our move. I knew getting in and getting ready for the holidays in a short period of time would be greatly inhibited if I had to deal with things like Easter decorations or out of season clothing. So I rented a moving pod to store all the "non-essentials" and I was free to move only the furniture, the holiday decorations, and our daily necessities. The pod arrived a few days ago and I feel like the boxes are never ending. Do we really have this much stuff. Before I moved I tried to purge and I did make several large trips to donate to charity. I am in the process of compiling another large trip , thanks to the new prospective I have in our new home. If it doesn't fit where we want to be in this new place, if we do not love it, or if we have not worn it in a year....it goes! Well, except for the all the girls clothes ...and maybe that box of toys that... AGH! Wish me luck!!