Ten Years Ago…

I called my father from Cambridge, England. As soon as I heard his hello, I knew something was wrong. He spoke as if he was looking as a ghost. He didn’t recognize my voice. Turns out he was waiting for the Fire Chief of Cary, NC to call him back with more information. My family was at the time share in Hilton Head. Everyone was off grocery shopping except my dad when he first got the news. I was actually the second person in my family to know (even though I was across the ocean). Our house was on fire. That was all I heard from my dad for about 12 hours. Devastated to be aboard and not with my family, I struggled to make the most out of my short time there.

 

I learned a lot from that experience. Most importantly, I learned that memories go a lot further than all material things. Not a soul was hurt in the fire, and therefore we considered ourselves lucky!

 

The adjustment in the months to come was interesting. I found myself digging through my closet and then my dirty clothes looking for ‘that’ shirt. Well, I would have to stop and think, was it a shirt that was ‘pre-fire’ or ‘post-fire’.

 

I remembered this 10 year anniversary because of something that happened to me just last week. I was walking down my long hallway in my current house. I kinda did a little skip step and threw my hand up in the air to slap an attic string (you know how they all have the little plastic bell on them, and it you hit it hard enough it clanks on the ceiling). Then I was like, what am I doing, there is no attic string. I thought back, the only house I have lived in that had a hallway attic was my house on Madison Ave. It freaked me out, that after 10 years this behavior emerged. 

 

Here are pictures of the aftermath of the house fire on July 1, 2001…

 

This is the room where the fire started. In this picture you can see the bones of a leather sofa. Also, interesting is these walls were magenta pink…not anymore.

This was my favorite part about the whole fire. This is the wireless phone sitting on top of the microwave. It truly looked like a piece of art.

This is the TV room, it had the good ole wood paneling walls, which I am sure helped fuel the fire. Look at that sofa!

The fire stayed mainly downstairs, but upstairs had smoke and water damage. This is a view of my room.

I was the only one present during this heart wrenching step in the process.

But remember all those things are material. I remember the good days I had there.

Wordless Wednesday: Beauty of Summer

MSP Summer Camp

We are sending Brady to two camps this summer. Karl and I both have fond memories of our summers and the camps we attended so when Brady’s Montessori school offered camps over the summer we jumped on the opportunity.

 

Recently, she attended sewing camp. She completed two very awesome projects. A gold metallic pillow that she has now given to her baby doll and a bracelet which has a button and button hole.

 

It Feels Good To Give Again

Last Friday, we dropped off all the donations Brady had collected for her birthday. She was very excited to bring these items to the Ronald McDonald House. This is her second birthday collecting for this charity. Both years I have described several local charities in need of support and both years her heart has gone out to the families of sick children. She asked me during her birthday party, if her and all of her friends could go drop the items of right then.

 

 

After getting everything inside, we asked for a tour. The RMH has been in a 26 bedroom house for 10 months now. Last year they were in a 9 bedroom house. The waiting list is gone and more families are being helped in a time of need. First we got to see the pantry where all the food donations are stored. Also the large collection of pop tops that help pay the electricity bills.

Brady loved every step of the tour, even one of the empty bedrooms (with donated temperpedic mattress). She was so excited when she spotted the bathroom.

This impromptu hug on the way out melted my heart.

 

Thanks to all of our friends who helped Brady out in collecting for the RMH!

Fun Core Workout…

Yep, I just put those two words together…that is because this morning I went paddle boarding!!!! For those that haven’t heard of this new popular sport. You stand on a 12 foot board (similar to a surf board but bigger) and you use a paddle to push yourself along.

 

I had a blast, of course I was nervous at first, and wobbly, but had my confidence in like 10 minutes and enjoyed the rest of the time.

 

 

I went with my good friend, Kristen, on base. It was only $4 an hour…can’t beat that. I will tell you going with Kristen made me nervous because she is a super athlete (went to college on soccer scholarship). She also runs like 5 miles a day. I figured I would be seriously struggling while she would just get it. I was surprised, there were two falls and I was the dry one. I guess my years of ballet have finally paid off in a sport.

 

If you ever have the chance to paddle board, DO IT!

Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover

When I lived in Virginia Beach, there was so much to do with toddlers in the area, I felt like I couldn’t never fit it all in. Thus, I never took advantage of the activities sponsored on the military base. That isn’t the case here in Pensacola. This city is seriously lacking in activities during the day for toddlers. So anytime the base offers something I am there, for example the free bimonthly movies on the lawn.

 

Therefore I was excited to read about a children’s summer reading program they are doing once a week. I will say though, it is being held at the base library, and I judged a book by its cover. I thought to myself, what kind of kid section would there be. Boy, was I pleasantly surprised. The books are fresh and well bound. The section is glassed off so you don’t have to keep reminding the kids to whisper. AND there are SUPER cool books to sit on.

 

The sailors read to the kids. I love to see my kids trust these sailors who fight for our freedom.

 

This was my favorite moment. This book the sailor would read the book facing him and then flip it around to show everyone the pictures. Reese caught onto this very quickly. So she would show everyone her book too. Now when she reads her books in the van, she turns the book around to show me the pictures. Fun!

Each week they also plan a craft for the kids. The first week they decorated the backs of shirts. The front has the logo of the program on it. Therefore, each week we come we can wear them and show our pride in reading!

Thanks Pensacola MWR for having this summer event!

Nothing better than Cheap and Fresh ;)

For Brady’s birthday party, we wanted to have berries (one of Brady’s longstanding favorite foods). But as you know, berries can be expensive for a large party even when in season, that is unless you pick them yourself.

 

We went to Alabama to a blueberry farm. I choose a day that was thunder storming.  Yep, you read that right. It is either 95 degrees in the sun or 80 degrees during a storm in June in FL. The thunder was in the distance so I was not worried about our safety. The funny thing is the girls feelings about the experience mirror last year exactly! Brady didn’t want to leave and Reese was rolling around in the field with boredom.

 

The farm also sells fresh eggs among other things.

This is how the experience started off. Brady, an eager beaver, right at my feet and well slow poke Reese barely in eye shot wondering why we aren’t at the grocery store.

Brady spent the entire time picking and when I wanted to go in because the store was coming near she was upset. I had to promise a return trip just to appease her.

Here is a picture of the three buckets.

Then on to a treat: homemade cinnamon pecan ice cream. We got all those blueberries, pickles, tomatoes, ice cream and a thing of blackberries for only $15! you can’t beat that.  Brady loved the homemade pickles.

And of course, we sampled the fruits of our labor (pun intended)!

 

I love blueberry picking because to me it is a labor of love. My grandmother until the day she died picked blueberries every season. She would always pick extras for me and freeze them. I LOVED eating them straight from the freezer. Have you ever eaten fresh picked blueberries frozen…one of my comfort foods! So you know, I placed a few bags of the ones we picked in the freezer. Every time I eat some, I think about all the good memories I have of my grandmother. On that note, I am signing off so that I can go get a bowl of frozen blueberries.

Dr. Seuss Birthday Party: Super Cute Idea

This post is for all my mommies out there with little ones. We recently attended the birthday party of Sydney, one of Brady’s best friends. Sydney’s mom, Jennifer, did an amazing job planning this Dr. Seuss party and I wanted to let you see all the details. This would be a great party for either gender, or for those moms out there with boy/girl twins (not that I have anyone in mind ).

 

The invitation which I don’t have a picture of featured an adorable rhyme (very Dr. Seuss like) highlighting Sydney's first four years and then telling us about the party.

 

Upon entering you saw this on the door:

There were riddles all over the house set up at stations. I didn’t get a picture of all the riddles, but they were super clever. The stations included decorating your own notebook (the first page had a message from the birthday girl), making Cat in the Hat party hats out of paper, making edible hats out of ritz crackers, icing and gummy red lifesavers, and making Fox on Sox Socks with fabric paint.

Cutest party hats ever!

Jennifer also spared no detail when it came to the food. Horton PB&J sandwiches, ham sandwiches with green eggs, Yertle Turtles and list the list of adorableness goes on…

One super fun activity was the Green Egg Hunt. Kids were instructed to find 5 green eggs with goodies inside (hint she spray painted her Easter eggs to have enough green eggs). Once they found the green ones, they were to look for one red with white polka dot egg with their name on it. Inside the red egg were the hint for the next activity in the party.

Here is what was behind that door with number 4…A CANDY BUFFET! The riddle at this table was extra sweet because it told the kids to ask their mommies for the candy (and not be a brat about it). I really do wish the poems would have been readable in the pictures.

There was also a book for the kids to sign as a keepsake for the birthday girl.

Here are other details of the party. The goody bags were labeled so as the kids completed each station they could drop that craft into the goody bag to take home at the end of the party. SO MUCH FUN!

Awesome party huh?