My son was home for his Fall break this past weekend and I brought him back to school. Because he attends school in Indiana and we live in Ohio, I decided to stay over to avoid a 10 hour drive!  

When we got back to campus, he proudly walked me around to show me where all of his classes are. I even got to see the car he’s making in his Epics lab. It was so heartwarming to know he’s very happy here and seems to be in the right place. That’s all we can hope for for our kids, to be happy in their moments. 

We enjoyed a nice dinner and then I dropped him off at his dorm to do that studying he was supposed to do over break!  I’m not gonna lie, sitting in a hotel room by myself was kind of like heaven!  I miss my husband and my little one, but mindless time alone is a luxury. 

So today, I take my time getting ready and then head to Starbucks to get my coffee. Of course there’s a line that stretches a mile long. (How do these kids afford this every day?). I relax with my coffee and wander outside to see all these kids shuffling to and from classes, all while basking in the beautiful weather. I love to people watch and a college campus is a great place to do that. As I’m looking around at all the people, I make a huge observation, hardly any leggings on these girls!!!  

I know, why am I checking out what they are wearing?  I wasn’t really, but just happened to realize that the majority of girls are wearing jeans and pants, not leggings. I don’t know about you, but everywhere I go at home, practically every girl/woman is in leggings. And pretty much every one of those girls/women should NOT be in leggings. This is where I thought that’s all I’d see, on a college campus. I’m pleasantly surprised. 

I’m going to enjoy these last moments on this campus before I head back home. I can leave my baby boy this time knowing he’s ok. He’s happy, he’s healthy and he’s growing. I’ll only have a few tears this time because I always miss him, but this time, they’re tears of joy.  

Enjoy your day and find the beauty in the small things. 

Until next time. 

Did the Easter Bunny hop by your house?  He made a quick stop here and hid some eggs while he was here.  Unfortunately, it’s still a little too cold here to have an outdoor Easter egg hunt, but, he found some hard places to hide inside.  Our little one should have fun.

We hope your family has a Blessed holiday and enjoy time with your family and friends.

 

Happy Easter.

 

It’s Christmas Eve, 2015!  The weather says otherwise outside though, which I’m thoroughly enjoying.  I much prefer warmer temps than the bitter cold we are used to having here in Ohio.  It does make it hard to get into the Christmas spirit, but we are managing just fine.   Right now, we’re waiting on Jake to get home from his dad’s house so we can celebrate Christmas before we head out of town in the morning.  This is one of the pitfalls of divorce, splitting our time!

Ellie is patiently waiting, not really understanding that Santa is coming a little early so we can get on the road first thing in the morning.  It’s tough to maneuver Santa coming before she goes to bed, but, we’re going to try it.  We’ve been watching the “Santa radar” so she can see that he’s on his way. We have set out some goodies for Santa, because regardless of what time he gets here, he’ll still be hungry and thirsty!  And, as being a true Carter, Ellie insisted that Santa prefer beer and brownies!!  (Thanks for that Elle!)  I’ll let you know how it all turns out.  I’m sure once she sees her gifts, she really won’t care what time or how they got here!

We’ll be heading to visit family in the morning for the holidays.  I’m very excited and blessed that we’ll be able to spend time with our family.  The only ones missing will be Grace and Matt! 🙁  I’m finding as the older I get, the more I want to be around family, which I guess isn’t the worst thing!!

So, from all of us here at the Carter house, we want to wish you all a blessed Christmas.  Whether you’re with family or spending some time alone, we hope it’s magical.

 

With only a few days before Christmas, there is probably still lots to do on your list:  buy the gifts, wrap the gifts, bake the goodies, plan the meal and so on!  So much to do.  I’m sure you’d like a simple, easy and fun dessert to have available.  The kids love these and they are the easiest things to make.  I made some for my daughter’s class at school, they were a hit.  What’s fun about these is that you can change up the theme of them for each holiday, as I’m sure you’ll get asked to make these all the time!

Just four simple ingredients is all it takes and I’m sure you have most of it in your pantry already.  You can find the recipe here, Marshmallow Pops.  I found the sticks at Pat Catan’s, which is a craft supply store here.  It’s just like Michaels and Joanne Fabrics.  You may even be able to find them in the grocery store.  The sticks are sturdier that straws but if you can’t find these sticks, you could certainly use straws.  There are a ton of options in the paper straw world right now and those can be found pretty much everywhere.

I used dark chocolate, it’s healthier you know!!!  (That was my justification to eating several).   I purchased the jumbo marshmallows to use, since they are bigger and more impressive!  And you can use any sprinkle you have.  I did find that the colored sugar sprinkles didn’t show up on the chocolate as well as the “jimmies” did.  But, use what makes you happy.

I hope you get the chance to whip these up for the holidays, but if not, find some time after the rush is over and sit back and enjoy a “guilt-free” snack.

Happy Holidays and please don’t blame me after you’ve eaten a few too many  🙂

Till next time.

 

 

All right, we’ve all had those moments where we just don’t want to pay attention to the kids anymore!!  You’ve told them a million times to stop doing something and they just keep doing it!  I have to say that my patience level is very low for things like this.  (I really am trying to get better, but my old age is not allowing it!!!).

Today is one of those days, I have a million things on my agenda, with new deadlines thrown my way!  And, oh yeah, it’s Christmas time. With all the craziness that this time of year brings, I really do try to find the spirit of the season and remember that no matter how crazy I feel, I truly am blessed. I also have my sweet little Ellie to put it all in perspective for me.

Another day of preschool brings another day of “knowledge” learned.  Today was the rolling of the eyes with the whip of the wrist!  But along with these not really so new lessons, comes the comments of “Don’t worry, Mom, I’m o.k.”.  I just had to giggle and pray that I wouldn’t be making a trip to the emergency room, as that is not on my agenda today.  So, like most caring parents, I just sat and watched her climb the “mountain” and took pictures!  The best was the smirk I got after she thought I wasn’t paying attention.  And just so you all know, I was watching her and making sure she wouldn’t get hurt!

Being a mom is stressful and demanding and enjoyable and a true blessing, but there are those moments when we want to turn it off! That doesn’t make us bad moms, it makes us human.  I’m going to go enjoy the rest of my crazy day and I hope you all do the same.

 

This year I just couldn’t decide on a specific “theme” for my holiday decorations so I just went with what I had and added little bits of nature to the mix.  When all was done, I realized that I’ve created a “Rustic” look to my home.  This is something that I wouldn’t normally do, but I have to tell you, I just love it.

It was a lot of fun to decorate my “new” living room.  If you’ll remember, I recently repainted and got new furniture, so it was fun to have new pieces to work around.  Here is an overall view of the living room.  As you can see, red was the main color added this year.  I really thought I wanted to add silver, but the red just really pops in here; adds life.

 

 

The fireplace was probably my biggest challenge since we added the TV above it.  I usually have a large mirror and more space, but I think it turned out o.k.  John wasn’t too keen with me putting a wreath over the TV!!  Haha.

A lot of the pieces that I’ve used are from Target, they honestly have the cutest decorations right now.  I don’t know about you, but I can spend hours strolling through Target.  I always walk out with way more than I went in for (much to John’s dismay!). Our Target store has just redesigned their store to make it more user friendly.  So, if you are a little “design-challenged”, they have rooms set up to help you see how you can put things together.  I love it.  And no, this is not a plug for Target, I just happen to spend a lot of time there.  (On second hand, maybe they should pay me!) wink-wink!!

Another place that I absolutely love and get a lot of decorative items from is Decor Steals.  You’ll see their pieces scattered throughout my home.  They offer a lot of vintage, industrial pieces that I happen to appreciate.  You can sign up for their email to get the daily steal of the day.   It’s an addiction that I’m trying to reign in.

I also used a lot of the scented pine cones, that not only add that natural touch, but add the scent of the season.  Nothing like walking into a room that takes you back to those fond memories.  We get a live tree each year and I ask the attendant to cut off the bottom branches for me.  I use throughout the house to add that natural touch.  You’re already paying for the tree, so don’t waste any part of it; bring it all home.

Now that I have the house decorated, we can sit back and enjoy the season.  I would love to see your decorations, so please feel free to share.  Did you go rustic, elegant, whimsical?  Either way, I hope you enjoy your season as well.

 

 

From our family to yours, Happy Holidays.