The
day was pretty much like any other Sunday in our house. Henry & I played outside a bit while T.
was at work. Henry & I shared a
bunch of cuddles, smooches, and smiles.
Mixed
in with the happy times there were also some grouchy times and it wasn’t all
perfect (like when someone got up at 7am!) but that is why the day was PERFECT.
The day
symbolized our new life as a family and my new role as a mother. A role that I could have never truly imagined
just how much it would change my life. A
role that I will happily take through both the grouchy times and the happy
times. A role that I am honored to have.
It
was another reminder that THIS is my life now. And I love it.
EVERY
single day is special to me and I am so thankful to be Henry’s mommy.
I
have days that are frustrating as a mommy and days that are easy. But no matter what, nothing changes the fact
that this little boy is my son and I am his mother and he is THE BEST thing
that has come into our life.
Mother’s
Day, like every day to come, makes me appreciate how lucky I am to have this
special little man in my life.
Outside on Mother's Day
He is being ornery....see what he is doing with his hands!!
And to my own Mom. You know this and it goes without saying but
I will say it anyways….I love you and you are an amazing mother. I appreciate now more than ever all the
sacrifices you have made for me, especially early on and I will forever be
grateful for everything. Thank you for
being such a wonderful mother.
We love you so very much and I HOPE that I can be as wonderful a mommy to Henry as you have been, and still are, to Kristen and I.
You are beautiful, giving, caring, strong, extremely talented & artistic, so very kind, oh and one smart cookie! (I know where I get!!)
You never ask for anything; well except for us girls to be happy and for us to love and care for one another. And really, I don’t know what we could give you that would come close to repaying back all the laughs that have been shared, tears you’ve wiped away, booboo’s you’ve kissed, hugs you’ve given, lessons you’ve taught, and moments we’ve shared. But know this, you are loved SO much and not a day goes by where we don’t appreciate what any amazing mother you are.
Believe me when we say that in all of time and space, we could never find a mother more wonderful than you and feel so lucky to say you ARE our mummy ;-)
Love you BUNCHES and BUNCHES!
Jenn & Kristen
And your other kids…Terry, Henry, Sebastian, Belle & Charlie
Oh hello there, sorry for my brief absence….I will now be catching up on posts and reading blogs! As I mentioned, I had family in town for a nice long weekend and blogging was held to a minimum so I could spend time with the parental units!
So last year my mom, sister and I started a little mini-shopping weekend in early November to get all, or nearly all, of our shopping done for Christmas. We have the weekend, as well as, Monday and Tuesday to do all of our shopping. It was such a hit last year, we continued it this year but made it with the entire family! And for the record, I already have time off for next year as well. It is fun to have a couple days off during the week to get our shopping done.
Now when I say we have a long weekend of shopping I think I may need to clarify exactly what I mean by this as it may be slightly different than what you may think of for a long weekend of shopping. See, we don’t really shop for more than a few hours total during those 3-4 days but we do manage to get everything accomplished and buy for nearly everyone during those hours. We are some of the most efficient shoppers around and do not just casually walk around the stores to peruse. No! We have a mission, we get it done, and we save a lot of money while doing so.
See while we enjoy shopping together, we only enjoy OUR version of shopping. We do not enjoy crowds of people…nah we loathe them. We want to shop and get out. There is no just looking around for hours, if we cannot find something quickly then we move on to the next item and worry about that item another day. This kind of shopping works for us and is actually very fun. Actually, no other kind of shopping IS fun to us. This is just how we roll.
So exactly how do we shop? Well here are some of our rules for shopping.
1. Have a plan of attack. This may be the most important rule. We knew all the places before this trip that we wanted to shop and we knew what we wanted to get from all of those stores. We also knew what stores would be busier on certain days and at certain times….and avoided them during those specified “bad” times. We divided up the shopping so we were only really shopping a couple hours each day and we were shopping in certain areas of town and not running all around. Even our driving path is efficient, including very little or no backtracking. We also mix the shopping up with doing other stuff that is fun like eating….we need our strength. For instance: Sunday after a movie we hit The Andersons to do a little shopping and then had dinner. DONE. Monday after slowly getting around and making sure to have coffee & breakfast we did some shopping locally in BG, then went to an early dinner near Fallen Timbers, and went to Barnes and Noble. DONE. Tuesday we got up earlier (though not too early) and had our coffee then hit the Perrysburg area and shopped at Kohls, Best Buy, and Bed Bath & Beyond. We grabbed lunch and were home by 3:00. DONE. All 3 days we were not bothered by people, stores were not busy so we got through them quickly, and we got everything we wanted to get done efficiently and without getting annoyed. See, if you have a plan of attack you do not get annoyed with shopping!
2. Online shop as much as possible. This is HUGE in our house. We love the online shopping, especially this time of year when there are so many sweet deals that usually include free shipping. Hello Amazon. My mom and dad found some great online sales on items this year. It is crazy what my mom has managed to save on items that K & I wanted from certain stores. I am talking, like saving way more than was spent! I mean, the stores were practically paying my parents to shop with them ;) Suh-weeeet. And this past weekend they managed to save even more on Christmas gifts via online shopping. Plus, online shopping allows us to sit at home in our sweats eating cookies and watching TV, thus avoiding going out in public or interacting with people all-together. The best way to shop if you ask me!
3. Coupons, Discounts, & Sales – OH MY! It is rare that we buy something without some sort of discount….even just 10% off or free shipping. Chances are if it is not on sale, we will wait till it is. All the places we shopped, both in the stores or online, had huge sales. Saving money is cool! At Kohl’s mom and I both managed to save 40% on our total orders. HOLLA! It is so fun seeing that you saved XX amount and only had to spend XX. Granted, I am sure they bump up prices anyway so they have more room to discount…but whatever. I was going to buy the item no matter what, so it is nice to think I got a big deal on it! So we make sure we know what the sales are and have all our coupons in hand. And if you think to buy something last minute while you are out and there is no coupon, do like I did and take your parents phone and check sales on the internet to see where the best deal is!
4. No dilly-dallying. Now I am not saying we run into a store and don’t look around a bit, but we keep the browsing to a minimum. We pretty much know what we want to get people for Christmas, so there is no need to just look at everything in the store. We are not shopping for ourselves, we are getting stuff for others and we have a list and a budget and shop with that in mind. And don't really shop if we don't know what people want. We do skim items and see if anything catches our eyes but if not then we move on….and quickly. We got through Kohl’s, Best Buy and Bed Bath & Beyond in just under 2 hours and had a bunch of bags and bought everything we wanted. Quick shopping = Good shopping.
So that is how we shop. It may not be for everyone, but it works for us! And it is not that we don’t enjoy shopping, it is we just don’t browse much as we already know what we want or like. Get in, get out, and save....that is our motto!
How do you shop? Are you like us? Do you like to spend all day shopping? Somewhere in the middle? Do you have your Christmas shopping done?!?!
I love to get my done early....preferably before Thanksgiving.
So for the past month I have wanted to pass this link along to everyone but I had to patiently wait until we gave my mom her birthday gift before I could do so….didn’t want to give away any spoilers to her!
Now thanks to our dear friend and fellow blogger Kylee over at TwoPretzels, I was given the link to this lovely ladies shop on Etsy. (Thanks again Ky!!) Her name is Christen (bio below) and her shop is bddesigns. You MUST check it out HERE. She does “precious metal art jewelry, uniquely customized for you”.
My sister and I found this necklace for our mom and it is awesome! We added our names, one to each circle, and then on the circles had it engraved with what was already suggested for this necklace…Our Mother, Our Friend. This necklace turned out beautifully! Yeah, I know….wish I had a picture of it too. In my excitement to give this to my mom I totally forgot to take a picture of the necklace. Boo. But I will see her again in a few weeks and as she is only allowed to take the necklace off when she showers and sleeps (mandated by the contract she signed before opening said necklace), I will take a picture when I see her again! :)
The pictures on her website do not do the necklace justice. It is sterling silver and each circle is maybe the size of a quarter and very shiny and lightweight. It is simple in the sense that it is a classic piece of jewelry that our mom can wear with anything and would look good when she is dressed up or dressed down just running errands, but it is also a little modern with the engraving and the double circles.
It takes about 4 weeks to get the jewelry back from her, however, because she lives in Monclova she got it to me in 3 weeks because I said I could meet her and pick it up! Which I truly appreciated her doing. She also answered my barrage of questions and requests quickly and was so kind about all my custimizations. I will order from her again.
FYI - if you want something for Christmas she stops taking orders the beginning of November due to the volume of orders she receives and the turnaround time she needs to get stuff to people for the holidays.
Bio
Hi, my name is Christen Largent. Thanks for stopping by my shop. My work is an accumulation of years of study, experimentation, inspiration and the JOY of working with metal! All of my work is created using traditional metalsmithing techniques, commonly called fabrication. These are the same techniques that metalsmiths have been passing down from generation to generation for hundreds of years. It is a legacy of metalwork and I am very proud to be part of that history. I hope you enjoy viewing what I enjoyed creating! I add new pieces each week, so stop back often!
Yep, today is a very special day for a very special lady! You guessed it……today is my Mama’s Birthday!! (I will wait for you to complete your thunderous cheers and applause!)
For those who haven’t met my mom then I am sorry, because she is pretty darn great. Just imagine me….but even more awesome. I know, how is that possible?! But it is. Mind=BLOWN!
Here are a few things you should know about our mom.
She is hilarious and has an awesome laugh which, luckily for those around her, she uses frequently!
She is not only beautiful on the outside but also on the inside - figuratively speaking of course as I am sure her guts and stuff aren’t all that beautiful; but her spirit and personality are quite the lookers!
She is a truly inspiring individual. If you know anything about her, you probably know this.
She is selfless. She will do whatever it takes to help others, especially her family, and doesn’t ask for anything in return while often times looking past her own wants.
She is creative. Mom is an amazing artist, even use to sew our Halloween costumes, and always has such uniquely creative ideas. I love this about her and I love that she has allowed K & I to express ourselves creatively as well.
Seriously, she is just the best.
Mom, we love you for those reasons and sooooooooo many more.
Happy Birthday and we love you BUNCHES! Xoxo
Terry, Jenn, Kristen, Sebastian, Belle & Charlie (this list is going to be so long once we start having kids….geesh!)
I will return to my regular blogging later this week, however at the moment I have been spending the past few days shopping and hanging out with my sister and mom!
This weekend I realized that our new(ish) printer/copier was also a scanner. I also came to the realization that I could now scan all of those pictures I had just found from when I was younger and save them onto our computer so we could have copies to keep forever. I then realized that since these pictures were on our computer, I could now post embarrassing pictures of myself and family members on my blog for the whole inter-world to view! I mean seriously, what a lot of realizing I did this weekend.
So here is the first blog inspired by pictures. I have a feeling over the coming months you will be seeing more blogs posted that allow me to incorporate classic pictures of myself from back in the day. You are welcome. ~~~~~~
As I was going through pictures this past weekend I found a series of Halloween pictures from when K. and I were younger. I noticed a common theme to these pictures; all our costumes were homemade by our mom. Now I have ALWAYS remembered my Halloween costumes because of the fact that they were homemade and totally unique. I mean seriously, how could we forget wearing these costumes?!
Answer, we couldn't because they are awesome. (I think I had one of those inflatable swimming rings around my waist to give my pumpkin more volume and my sister was the cutest bunny EVER!)
I have always loved that my mom has been able to make things from scratch for us. Whether it was a Halloween costume, blanket, hat, dress, a pound puppy, outfits for our toys….she has always had this creativeness and talent for making homemade things for us. As for the costume, I am sure it would have been a lot easier for her to just go to the store and get some cheap looking Halloween costume that everyone else had, but what is the fun in that. No MY mom would spend the time (after working all day, making dinner, and cleaning,) to make us our very own, special Halloween costumes. Yes, my mom is a special kind of amazing.
This is something that you can bet I will try do for our kids someday. Ok, mom will have to help me…but I am sure between my mom, sister and myself we will have the cutest dressed kids at Halloween EVER. Well maybe not cuter than me, but pretty darn close.
Here are a few of my favorites. There are a few more on my facebook page that I uploaded this last weekend!
A full shot of my famous pumpkin costume! It is my all time favorite, so much so I wore it a couple times!!
Here I am as a masked cheerleader. Please notice the duct taped "J" on my shirt. That. Is. AWESOME!!! (I think I have a mullet.....oops)
This is me in my mom's wedding dress. Favorite part about trick or treating in Ohio. That you get to wear layers and layers of clothes under your costume. I don't think the orange sweatshirt takes away from the sheer white wedding dress AT ALL.
Me as an angel. I think I am an angel.
Kristen as Princess Jasmine. It is nearly perfect, but K. opted for the short blonde cut over the long black hair :)
K. as catwomen. No, she does not like to play for the camera at all!!
Do you have a favorite Halloween costume from when you were a child? Or a favorite Halloween story from your childhood?(wow, large enough font Jenn?!)
My favorite thing about Halloween from when I was a child is of course the homemade costumes and also when we got to carve our pumpkins! Newspaper on the table and a big 'ol mess. Perfection!
*I had this scheduled to post, but I am glad to see on other blogs there is a Halloween costume theme! I LOVE it because I adore Halloween!!!
Today is the birthday of one of the most beautiful, marvelous, inspiring, funny, fantastic, genuine, compassionate, people in the entire WORLD!
(no, no, no not me…but easy mistake as I am the spawn of said person)
Happy Birthday to the world’s greatest MOM!!! Mom, there are never enough words to describe how wonderful you are and how much you mean to us and to SO many people. We feel so very lucky that you are our mother, because I don’t think there is anyone better!!! Thank you for all the love, support, laughter and kindness that you have given to us. You are truly the most amazing person I know!
Love Always,
Terry, Jenn, Kristen, Sebastian & Belle xoxoxo
We can’t wait to see you in a couple weeks to celebrate!
So my mom told me about this trick that she heard of for helping/preventing/reducing leg cramps when you sleep. So if any of you suffer from this or know someone who does, listen up!
Apparently all you do is put an unwrapped bar of soap under the fitted sheet at the foot of your bed near where your calves are… and.... there you go, no more or at least fewer leg cramps.
How does it work – I don’t know. But apparently, it really does.
It has worked for my mom for the past month or so and my mom was skeptical and kind of laughed it off when it was suggested. But later she gave it a try as medicine had not been working and she remembered when her SIL(who is a Physician’s Assistant) mentioned it worked. It was a "Well what the heck, nothing else seems to be working" kind of thing. Even my mom’s Dr. had heard of this and said that it has worked for some patients.
Google it. Short Article here. Even Snopesdoesn’t have a definitive answer on this.
Seriously, no clue on how or why this works, but IF it does help even a little bit and for whatever strange reasons, that is HUGE for people who suffer from leg cramps at night.
I always think it is fun, these old wives tales that work.
Any old wives tales you would like to share with the blogging world that you KNOW works?
To the most beautiful, caring, amazing, strong, funny, and kindhearted person I know. There are not enough I Love You's to truly express how much you are loved, and there are not enough Thank You's to makeup for all you have done. You bring so much joy to those around you and a person should be lucky to know you, let alone to be your daughter!!
We love you SO much! xoxoxo
Jenn, Kristen, & Terry
(Belle & Sebastian also send their love and thank you for all the treats you bring them!)
And to all my friends who are mother's, Happy Mother's Day to you!
So this weekend was the final "event" in my mom's big 50th birthday celebration month!!
This weekend we went back home for an Open House with our family and friends. It was fantastic! Nothing is better then hanging out with your family & friends, laughing, reminiscing and eating some kick ass cake! We also headed out to Amish country and got some great Amish goodies!!
Here are just a couple pics:
This is my BEAUTIFUL mom at her party standing next to her cake. (Her cake said 50 and Fabulous...because she is!) Also our scrapbook that we made for her.
This is my totally adorable "niece". She is my cousins daughter and just the cutest / smartest kid ever!! Meet Macey Jo
Hey Iris - here are some more vanity plates we saw on our trip home. (Side note....I guess the bad economy is not stopping the sales of vanity plates....I swear everyone is getting a vanity plate these days.)
