A Suprise visit, Sort of...

Growing up, i didnt see my Grandpa too much- my family lived in Oregon and he lived in the Midwest. Once We moved to Georgia, things changed ;) He drives down to Florida every winter, and makes a little stop to see us. Last year was his first time here, but this year was his FIRST stop at our new house. We never really know when he'll come due to weather and roads. Last sunday,i got a call that he was 250 miles away- He stayed the night, was able to meet some of our neighbors and friends and we ate a yummy dinner together. We cant wait to see him again and treasure EVERY moment with him. I LOVE that the girls are able to see their great - grandpa.. and WISH they could see their other grandparents more often ( yes.. that's a guilt trip. You need to plan anther trip out, Mom and Dad!!)
Dinner with Great Grandpa - doesnt he look FANTASTIC for 80?!

Mini Me with her Great- Grandpa

Hurry up and come back, Great Grandpa!! XOXO

Absolute Beauty

Its on drives like these, i'm amazed i live in such a beautiful place! For those of you that dont know this about me, i've ALWAYS wanted to live in the south and raise a family here.

I would watch fried green tomatoes, and Driving miss Daisy and thought everything about the south was so beautiful. I loved the people, the scenery, everything about it, BUT....i'd never been. We took a HUGE leap of faith and moved to the south, SIGHT UNSEEN!!

People, its EVERYTHING i thought it would be! Look at this picture... as we drove through these trees, i got all giddy inside.Its sights like these that made me yearn to live here. There are small buildings on the sides of the road that once served a purpose... think of all the memories !! There are fruit and vegetable stands everywhere. I feel like there are so many stories and history to everything around here.

I'm happy that my girls are being raised here in the south and that we were given the opportunity to move here. IF you EVER get the chance to visit the south, DO it! ( IF for any reason alone, the food itself is to.die.for)

If you dont.. just pop in Driving Miss Daisy and watch the beauty of the south and the scenery it has to offer!

Something i stumbled upon

Since we've moved here, there has been A TON of talk about the gypsies. i guess growing up i thought of the women as these beautiful jeweled women, but had NO CLUE the lifestyles.

i have talked with many people about this community and lemme tell you, i am SO intrigued by these people, i could spend HOURS reading about them. Maybe its due to the unknown that makes it so intriguing. I'd planned on driving out to their community with a friend and we still havent got around to it.

On our way to my best friends party, we drove thru 2 areas where they live. AS we were driving, we literally drove by these and i thought, "gosh, these houses are monters.." and then it clicked.. it was their houses. So, as we drove back, i made sure i took pictures for ya'll to see, because they are enormous!

I wanted to explain the windows on the one below to you. They live in mobile homes and eventually build these mansions, but DO NOT live in them for a year after they are built. The cover the windows, as seen below and believe that it takes a year for the "evil spirits" to leave the house. i have been told that after they move in, there are still people that live in the mobile home out back and that mulitple families dwell in these houses. (you can see mobile homes in the background of this picture)
Also included in EVERY front yard are statues of Mary- supposably they are a branch off the catholic church-
If you see a gypsie girl, you WILL know.They eat out on the weekends- the girls are dressed literally like pageant queens. Their hair is over the top, and literally look as though they are on their way to a pageant. They drive NICE cars, cadillacs, Mercedes, etc.
The girls start wearing makeup and have coach purses starting at a young age, around
9 or 10.


There is WAY more facts- look it up, it will intrigue you
I told you all of this is intriguing.. there is SO much more on the internet.. that's my little lesson to you for the day-
i thought you would enjoy these pictures as much as i did, and it save you a trip to the south to see them.

Weekend of Fun & Celebration!!

This last week, my BEST friend from Birth turned the big 3-0. All of her friends got together and planned a lil suprise party for her- and suprise it was.. Even better, we showed up! ;) I had to make sure it was all decorated, after all what's a party with lousy decor? These chocolate covered marshmallows have become my trademark.. had to make them for the party.. threw some things together and made a dessert table.
I had a stack of scrapbook paper so based the colors around that paper-

The table set up- BEFORE all the food

I found this cool idea in blog land- ribbon tied in a knot in all colors..

made it almost look like a corset top - HUGE HIT

The girls at the party- including mini me holding the wine glass we gave her- in pink said "30" and had glitter all over it

She was SO happy -- probably to have a get together, NOT to be 30.. she's still in shock over that one

My fave part of this picture? Lil muffin in the bottom left corner.. look at her face!

The party hat was a hit... DOLLA TREE where else?

CHEERS TO ANOTHER 30 years!!

I have some more pictures from this trip on our way home that i KNOW will intrigue you.. little clue..GYPSIES!

Minn-ee- sO-Ta 2

*With Great-Grandpa at church*
*AFter church there was a little cake social- i see the table next to us looking at lil muffin and dying laughing. She was taking her paci, dipping it in frosting and then sucking on it. Puts a whole new meaning to "HAVING YOUR CAKE AND EATING IT TOO"

*Our Nanny Katie from Oregon who we havent seen since we moved lives in Minnesota now so she met us at Mall of America. We didnt tell mini me she was coming so she was SUPER suprised and as you can see ran up and hugged her *

*Before we said goodbye to nanny Katie*

*UH, ... ok i promised mini me i would ride with her. I HATE things that spin. i get sick. REAL SICK. At the beginning of the ride, they say raise your hand if you want the ride to stop. The ride stopped.. halfway thru. PEOPLE, that ride was a freakin ETERNITY.i felt like i had morning sickness all over again and felt sick for the rest of the day after that ride!*

*Hilarious. My Drama queen. This is an exhibit to advertise the shark exhibit at the Mall of America- skipped out on that one*

*Could my cousin be ANY craftier? this is Pipe and she made it.. BRILLIANT! i'm so making one and thought i'd share the idea with you. Walking thru her house gave me so many ideas!*

*Another brills idea by the cousin. Our family has a golf tournament every year and these were pictures from it. The little golf balls had each persons name on them and were used in the table setting. The spoons you see were stamped and had golf sayings on them. *

*3 Generations *

*family picture with my parents and sister- look at lil muffins face- too hilarious.. she did this for about 90% of the pictures that night *

THe next morning, we drove to Iowa to the aunt and Uncles Lake house-

Minnesota Summer trip 1

A few days after Mini me got home from jersey, we flew to Minnesota- - - seriously i thought vacationing was so much fun. UNTIL that's all we did this summer. Im burnt out and LOVE being at home ;) We had a family reunion and the last time we had one was 5 years ago.

*Best seat on the plane.. my own.. and HE had the kids, LOL. I'd had only 2 hrs of sleep so was able to catch up. When we got to Mn, we waited for my aunt to get there for 45 min. I finally called my grandpa and there was miscommunication - she thought we were coming in the FOLLOWING day. We rented a car, and headed to Mall of America, where our close friends from Oregon, who now live there met us last minute. Havent seen them in YEARS and had a fabulous time with them!!*

*Pool and Yaht club- played at the pool all day= it was a calm before the storm *

* This picture was before she was almost KNOCKED OUT with one of those huge mallots! I was sitting eating during the reunion and one of the kids was taking the mallot and SWINGING IT in the air around and around- it was literally 4 inches away from her head and i SCREAMED bloody murder at the kid to STOP swinging.. i scared the ever living poo out of the kid, but better than having little muffin knocked out with head injuries! *

*All of the cousins- minus 3 due to being pregnant, out of town, or underage. I have NEVER had so much fun.. arent we all a good looking bunch? We had SO much fun just laughing and catching up. We shut the place down! *

*My West Coastie Cousins- The one on the far left and far right are brothers.Seriously i could spend EVERY day with these boys, they are a trip, i love them! *

*We went to a place called Stella's- its a fish house by day and fun bar at night- it had cute sayings all over the walls. I thought this one was humerous and TRUE! *

*Another cousin- she wants to be a mortician.. takes a special person to want to do that job. *

*The Husband and Cousin *

*One last picture before we all parted our seperate ways- Cheers to such a good time and SO MANY LAUGHS!*

Jersey in a Weekend!

Since mini me was a baby, we've said to the husbands brother and wife that she could come for a few weeks during the summer. Now that we live in Ga, they are only a drive away-- a LONG drive, but being 12 hrs isnt TOO bad.. until you start driving.. seriously, i wish i'd had some tylenol PM or something to knock me out.. i was BORED.OUT.OF.MY.MIND!! We left on Friday and literally turned around and came home Sunday-- SUPER short, but we were able to spend some time with them and dropped the mini me off for 2 wks to have fun-

*Recognize this little monument on the left? I'd have to say i got a little excited when i saw it in person, even if it was far away!! *

*The day after we got there, we spent the day at their neighborhood pool- half of the time was spent on the tennis courts. she would run on the courts and catch the fly balls, and dance all over the place it was adorable. Here she is taking a break and a picture with her cousin. We'll call him Sweet one. He is the BEST kid EVER, like every mothers DREAM!*

*playing a little tennis with her Uncle *

*that night we went to dinner- i got this RARE sweet picture of the girls WITHOUT the paci*

*a cute shot of the cousins- This is highschool cousin. It scares me to think that MY daughter is going to be this age. Constant cell phone texting ( who am i to say anything, i'm guilty of that, IPOD in the ear) i cant lie, i'm NOT looking forward to this age. She just LOVES her highschool cousin and looks up to her so much*

*Lil Muffin hugging sweet one goodbye before driving BACK to Georgia*

* "Mom, i'm really going to miss you guys" was what she said before she left- not gonna lie.. i got choked up as we drove away!! She just loves her little sister and this picture just shows it all!!*

*We literally stopped only 2 times on the way home- i promised lil muffin a treat when we stopped.. she got a chocolate covered donut with sprinkles, ate all of that off and then handed me the bread part of the donut. HA! Why i didnt buy her munchkins, i dont know- live and learn. Her tongue sticking out is funny to me.. really funny *