Silliness

We had beautiful weather to start last week and since then it has all gone down hill. Arabella's friend, Ronald spent some time at our house on Monday afternoon and the kids had a blast. They enjoyed lunch outside in Arabella's playhouse, played with bubbles and all of the outside toys. They even got creative and used the garden to dig in and build castles. It was nice to enjoy a little bit of warmth and sunshine even if it didn't last. I just hope we get out of this wet and cold and dreary pattern that we are in now...but I guess April showers bring May flowers, right??

Splendid Saturday

Yesterday, we attended the Annual Easter Brunch hosted by our friends, Cynthia & Wendy. It was a morning/afternoon, full of food, food and more food and lots of fun and laughter! The kids had a great time playing in the park and with the hula hoops. Arabella even took off dribbling a soccer ball, it was so natural, I wish I had it on film! I wonder if that is in her future for the Fall??
I brought a yummy 5 layer Greek dip that I found on Pintrest. Super easy - spread hummus in a layer and then cover with chopped red pepper, cucumber, kalamata olives and feta cheese and then sprinkle with oregano! I served it with fresh cut up pita and it was so good!
Arabella had fun with GiGi, Allyson, Emily and Christopher! It was so cute to see them all trying out different tricks with the hula hoops!

In addition to the yummy food, June brought some of her famous "adult" jello eggs!
And these are a few of my fav girls - June, me, Cynthia & Laura! We had so much fun!
Arabella and I decided to take a nap when we got home...it was so nice! And as soon as she woke up, we colored Easter eggs! She was so excited and loved to see the eggs turn colors and even make a few fun colors herself. She was so focused and concentrated, it was adorable and we had so much fun!

Brynn's CandyLand Birthday

On Monday morning, Arabella went to her friend Brynn's birthday party. (Yes, I said Monday morning...) The theme was Candy Land and all the kids were asked to dress up in a costume or fun candy colors! The kids played games, danced to candy themed songs and enjoyed yummy cupcakes! At the end there was a pinata that they went to town on with hockey sticks! Arabella had fun and was glad to share in Brynn's special day!


Arabella is sitting next to Jack, her prince!
Candy land jump!

Painting Play Date

Last week, we had one of Arabella's friends from school come over for a play date. Ronald and his dad, Bram, joined us for a fun morning of crafts, painting and movies. Arabella loved having Ronald come and spend time at our house. They had so much fun and loved painting the best. We can't wait to do it again!

Hot Hudson Housewives Christmas Party

On Friday night, Jay and I attended one more Christmas party! It was the 2nd Annual Hot Hudson Housewives Christmas Party and Carrie and Kris' house. We had more food than you could imagine and some delicious desserts! We also enjoyed wine and other Christmas cheer - tequila rose to be exact! If we don't have tequila rose at a HHH party then it just isn't a party! We ate, dances, drank and laughed till our cheeks hurt and before we knew it, it was after 1 AM!!!

A group shot of the HHH - after about 5 tries!

I made the snow man cake - it was so yummy!

Christmas Social Butterflies

Last weekend, we had 3 parties to attend! It is nice to be busy, but we were really busy! Friday morning we started out with our great playgroup - Arabella had fun making a really pretty Christmas ornament and doing the sit-n-spin (I remember having one and loving it when I was a kid)!

Then it was off to Laura and Allyson's for lunch before heading to Tamara and William's for a Secret Santa and Christmas Tea Party! The tea party was beautiful! And it was a nice relaxing afternoon despite a house full of kids - I guess having three, yes three, nannies on the premises to watch and keep the kids in occupied in the playroom helped with the relaxation!



The tea party was a true high tea but we added champagne. There were scones, jam, clotted cream, tea sandwiches and petit fours - delicious!

I love this beautiful chocolate centerpiece!

After our tea, it was time to exchange Secret Santa gifts which was a blast - I got an awesome cross body purse and I love it! The kids had fun hamming it up for the camera right before we left! It was great! Thanks Tamara for hosting a beautiful afternoon tea and for having your nannies decorate cupcakes and keep the kids occupied!


On Saturday, we got to celebrate with Ryan and Tanya at Ryan's 2nd Birthday party! It was a great afternoon filled with fun and food! All the kids loved the animator and the bounce houses - it wore them all out! Once again, Arabella was wiped out and had a great sleep!



Arabella helped Jay put up some Christmas lights outside. They did a great job and it makes the walk so pretty at night!


Our final party was on Sunday evening, at our house! We had some of Jay's CAT co-worker's and their families over for cocktails, appetizers and dessert. It was so delicious and we had a great time! All the kids had fun running around and playing dodge ball in the basement...not too sure how that worked since I stayed upstairs and enjoyed my wine with the other wives!
One of my new favorite wines - Cupcake Malbec - just perfect!
The raspberry trifle I made for dessert!
Arabella sneaking a piece of salami from the antipasto platter!
The beautiful table! It was another successful party! Our weekend was busy but full of Christmas cheer - we wouldn't have had it any other way!

2nd Annual Cookie Exchange

Last year, Arabella and I hosted a cookie exchange party and we did it again this year. It was so much fun and we loved every minute of it. We did a few things differently this year - we included lunch and the kids decorated sugar cookies that Arabella and I made the day before! It was so nice to have a house full of kids and friends for a great afternoon! Arabella loved rolling out the cookie dough and then cutting out the shapes. She was so disappointed when there wasn't any dough left for her to cut out. I guess that means we will be making more sugar cookies soon!



I love when my dining room table is full of yummy treats! There were a ton of different cookies, this is only the beginning. Everyone loved making up boxes to take home filled with all the different treats.

The kids had a blast decorating the sugar cookies. It was a mess, but so worth it!



We even got to Skype with our favorite Jersey Girl! Christa and I had planned it out in advance and we surprised everyone...she would have been here if she could, but Skyping is the next best thing!

It was the perfect day spent with great friends and Christmas cheer! We can't wait to do it again next year!

Girl's Weekend

Last weekend I joined 9 of my friends for a Girl's Weekend in Burlington, Vermont! My friend, Ayse coordinated the whole weekend and it was so much fun. We had a great time shopping, eating, drinking wine and staying up too late...I guess a suite with a fire place will do that to you! My friend Laura picked my up Friday morning and we headed to Plattsburgh, New York - after crossing the Border, we hit Target first. It is hard to believe, but we spent about 3 hours there...it was wonderful to be able to shop without any interruptions and to take our time. We had full carts by the time we reached the registers! After Target, we stopped at Panera Bread to keep our shopping stamina up and then headed for the ferry that would take us from Plattsburgh to Burlington via Lake Champlain.




After the ferry ride, we went straight to Burlington to meet the rest of the girls for a pedicure party and then dinner. It was so much fun and dinner was great.

Sadly, I forgot to take out my camera to take pics almost all weekend! We slept in and then had a day full of shopping on Saturday. As you can see from this picture, we all did some damage (I am happy to say that I came in under budget!)
We relaxed in front of the fire with a few glasses of wine on Saturday night...we didn't have energy for anything else since we used it all up on shopping!

On Sunday, we slept in again and then packed up everything for the trip back home. We hit a few more stores on the way back to the ferry. We had no issues at all at the Border...I think it was one of the easiest crossings ever, in a car full of shopping bags, the agent didn't even ask us how much we spent...and we were both (way) over our $400 allowable limits!

Laura's car packed to the gills!
I didn't just shop for me, I picked up a few things that Arabella needed - socks, hats and mitts - and a few Christmas gifts too! In case you wanted to see my haul, it is below - Jay you might not want to look any further...
Books I scored at Once Upon A Child - they were 50 cents or a $1...seriously, too good to pass up when Arabella loves to read!
Two of my favorite scores - shearling lined Ralph Lauren driving shoes for $30 and a fun winter hat that I can't wait to wear...now if it would only get cold!
Most of the haul...it includes Christmas presents - a few staples from Target are missing from the pictures - overall I did a great job shopping and staying under budget! Now I just need to clean out some space in my closet!