Are you tired too?

Such a fun weekend with family visitors, and so much to be thankful for. And I'm tired!
I hope you had fun too!

Print found here.

Black Out

During a recent freak snowstorm in our area that left us w/o power for FIVE LONG NIGHTS (poor pilgrims!), my husband was convinced we had an animal in our house. I told him it was a miniature pony. Naturally, he didn't believe me. But, when the power came back on, look what I found in our bedroom:

And guess who was hanging out in the kitchen?

InstaCharleston

Last weekend, to celebrate my husband's (big) birthday, we jetted off to Charleston for the weekend. We had grand plans while planning this trip, which involved Turkey or Prague. As if! On the way to the airport (and our flight which had already been cancelled) and sadly leaving Jake behind, all we could think was, "Thank goodness we're not going to Turkey!" As much as I would love to go, it would just be waayyy too stressful at this point in our lives, and I'm glad we kept it simple.

Charleston is great. I decided to be super-hip and use my husband's iPhone to take Instagram photos. Probably admitting how difficult it was for me to get them off his phone makes me a little less hip, but anyway, here are a few shots of our fun-filled weekend.

One cool filter Instagram has is to make the photo look like it was taken in 1977. I had Rich take a photo of me, and added this filter to see if I looked like my mom in 1977. I don't.

And, I love making this weird face in coffee shops. So wistful, like I'm thinking deep thoughts, right? I'm really drinking tea, and trying not to laugh. I don't think anyone else thinks it's as funny as I do. You can see what two different filters do...

We had lunch at Jestine's Kitchen, took a Civil War history tour, and a historic home tour, went for a sail, ate a lot, ate pralines, bought a Bozo the Clown blow-up punching bag thing for Jake, and went to a fancy brunch with my pretty cousin and her two beautiful daughters, who are absolutely great. I'd like my cousin and one of my best friends, Melinda to write a book together about how to raise lovely, smart, interesting children. The world needs this book. Their children are a breath of fresh air.

Of course, I was smitten with the houses in Charleston, and we immediately started envisioning what our lives would be like if we lived there. How cool would it be to actually live in your own house in a city, with a garden, and walk to yummy restaurants, and cool shops? Pretty nice, right? Here are some charmers I took photos of.

Actually, this one's mine...(don't I look good in front of it?)

I owe a HUGE thanks to my sister, and her daughter Avery for playing with Jake while we were away all weekend. He had a great time, and keeps telling me stories about all the things they did. So, now we're back. It's been a busy week, and up until this point at home, I can't say I've managed to do anything more than recharge my phone, and play with Jake. I have my priorities...the suitcase can wait!

I've never had so much fun in a box!

Today was a Jake and Mommy Day (my favorite), and we started Christmas shopping in attempt to avoid pre-Christmas angst which usually sets in the Monday after Thanksgiving. I can't stand the shopping pressure, and the endless to-do list on top of everything else I already have to do. I'm no grinch. I love Christmas, and really like to buy/make gifts for friends and family, BUT, you know how it gets... I try to avoid the last minute stress every year, and perhaps this year I will succeed. I'm convinced it's all about organization and condensing errands. Except, when I enter a store, I become overwhelmed, and having Jake along today, I realized that I'd be buying at least two of any gift I got. Which, is how we ended up with the most awesome toy ever...

This cool, recyclable, color-yourself toy house is beyond great. We got it at JC Penney, and it's on sale for $15.  It's fun to color, (Jake told me he was "decorating"...wonder where he got THAT from?) VERY large...big enough for both of us to cuddle up in and read books, and fight bad guys, which we did all afternoon. So, I recommend getting two. One for you, and one for whoever else you have to get a toy for under the age of 6. For $15, the fun factor can't be beat!

And, speaking of beating, it did withstand several whacks with the sword from this pirate costume which we also had to get today. It's adorable, and so is Jake, but as soon as we got home, he put his Spiderman costume back on, and morphed into a sword-carrying super hero. Ironically, he got the pirate costume for completing his "No Hitting" chart (which has only taken us about 2 months to complete the 10 days necessary to get a prize, and I think we cheated).

P.S. That's not me in the photo, and these aren't my children!