Weekend Fun: Mother-Daughter Date

I don't often get the opportunity to spend the day with just one of my girls. A few hours here and there maybe, but an entire day? No. Rarely happens.

But yesterday was an exception. Emma was off to Girl Scout camp for the day, and so Harper and I decided to have a Mommy/Daughter date day. We had a day of fun planned.

It started with breakfast and some girl chat at Starbucks. Harper had her favorite, the morning bun (a yummy, flaky roll covered in cinnamon sugar ~ although it looks like a hamburger in this picture).

We went back home where I played manicurist for an hour. Oh, be patient. You'll get a gander at my handiwork in the last picture in this post. We ventured out again. This time, we hit the movies. We saw Brave, but much of the time Harper's face was buried in my chest. It was scarier than I thought it was going to be. Big scary bears. But we did get a good laugh at these little guys running around bottomless!

Why is it necessary for a movie theater to have arcade games? Really? Isn't the movie entertainment enough?? Nothing but concentration on that face.

We ended our afternoon with some frozen yogurt. I love these places that are popping up all over where you can make your own...from serving it to the toppings. She loaded her cup with a little yogurt and lots of sprinkles and gummi bears. 

And how about those nails??? Special days call for special nails. :)

Hope you had a great weekend too!

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A Mother's Day Special: You Know You're a Mom of Girls When...

I can remember being a little girl and envisioning my "dream" family. You did that too, right? Doesn't every little girl dream of her perfect family at one point?

My perfect family consisted of me, a husband, and 2 little girls. The girls were 2 years apart and had long, soft, perfectly brushed blonde hair (a girl can dream, right?). At the time, I had a huge crush on a boy who was a lifeguard at our local swim club. In my eyes he was dreamy: tall, blonde, perfectly tanned skin, and his dad drove a Jeep Wrangler. So cool!

I had always pictured my perfect family in a Jeep Wrangler, top down, the beautiful blonde hair of my children blowing in the wind.

I didn't marry the lifeguard, but I did get my husband, two beautiful daughters (one of whom has blonde hair) and the Jeep Wrangler. So things didn't pan out too badly after all. Little did I know back then that those little girls would come with a ton of idiosyncrasies and "stuff". Things. Mostly tiny things. That end up on the floor.

Today, I am teaming up with my friend and fellow blogger Jessica from Found The Marbles on a special Mother's Day post. Jessica is the mother of 2 young boys. We are both mothers, but the similarities pretty much end there. Jessica's experiences are polar opposites of mine. It's true when people say, "Boys are so different from girls". To prove it to you, Jessica and are are sharing our respective motherhood experiences. We've also polled fellow bloggers for their insights as well. Be sure to visit Jessica to read all about being the mom of boys.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A MOM OF GIRLS WHEN... (according to moi!)
- you're in search of a hair tie, and you merely need to look on the floor to find one.
- your makeup case looks as if it's been ravaged by a pack of bears.
- you can NEVER find a hairbrush because they are hiding under the girls' beds.
- your laundry basket looks like a sea of pink.
- despite how often or how well you wash your little girl's hair, there's always glitter in it.
- the employees of Claire's, Bath & Body Works, and the beauty supply store know you by name.
- the answer to the question, "What should we do today?" involves shopping, manicures, or pedicures.
- my missing jewelry can be found in the jewelry boxes of my daughters.
- my missing shoes (mostly heels) can be found in their closets.
- you can name every Disney princess and her prince and the best location to find her at Disney World.
- you thought you'd never play with My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake or Hello Kitty since you were a girl.
- when the bottom of your foot is aching because you've stepped on yet another plastic ring.
- you wouldn't trade all the pink, glitter, or sparkles for ANYTHING in the world!

Below are insights shared by fellow bloggers. Please be sure to check them out at their own sites!


- when everything you own is either pink or covered in glitter, stars, or sparklies! From Debra at The Harried Mom.


- when you give birthday request lists of: skirts, tights, shirts, and Barbies and find yourself living vicariously through your girls and their fancy frilly clothes and things.
- And when your preschooler starts talking about going to the ball and getting married to the cutest boy in class...all at age 3. From Hilary at A Fancy Girl Must.

- when she takes longer to get ready than you do. From Desiree at Writing to Sanity.


- when you are sitting down to a tea party with teddy bears and donning a fuzzy pink boa. From Beth at Life in the BAT Cave.


- when...you cannot locate any of your shoes or purses, because they are all stashed in the dress up bin! From Kimberly at (sort of a) Rock Star Mom.


- when you have played yea party enough times that when your daughter sees someone adding cream to his/her coffee, she yells, "Cream! Sugar!" to let the person know what to do next. From Beck at Crafty Garden Mama.


- when  you are late to work because your toddler decides that 2 ponytails is "too baby" and she wants one "humongous puff" because she's a "big girl." From Brandi at Mama Knows It All.  lol!


- your biggest battles are over clothing styles (or, as a mom, your TOTAL lack thereof). From Stephanie at Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Mom.


- when glitter falls out of your shoes (as you are taking them off to teach a yoga class). From Trish at Yoke. 


- when your clothes, make up, jewelry, sunglasses, perfume, socks and anything else you think is personal comes up missing but found in HER room. SIGH! From Uneeka at Power Mommy Nation.


- when you clean out the dryer link tray and it is full of sparkles! From Toni at Tickles and Time Outs.


-  when you can't tell if you're washing clean or dirty laundry anymore (because of frequent outfit changes). From Cindy at Whatever Works.


-  your shopping cart is full of all kinds of feminine products, special hair tonics, deodorant, makeup, and bras! (and none of it is mine!) From Alison at Kitchen Table. 


- when you find yourself saying, even to your 2-year-old, "Sorry! Sorry! We just have to get these knots out of your hair!" From Alissa at Fun Finds for Families.


- when you've gone out with little headbands or whatever in your hair after your daughter has done your hair.
- when you've walked out of the house with a princess sticker on your butt. From Melissa at Girly Mama.

Are you a mom of girls? What would you add to this list?

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New Jersey Women's Expo - November 5th & 6th

Gather your gal pals for the ultimate lifestyle weekend. It's all about you!

Meridian Health presents the New Jersey Women's Expo on November 5 and 6 at Brookdale Community College in Lincroft.

There will be fashion shows presented by Premium Outlets (Jackson, Jersey Shore, and Liberty Village). Yours truly will be modeling (woo hoo!), and my daughters will be sharing the cat walk with me. :)

There will also be health and wellness screenings, Zumba, yoga, and fitness demos, psychic readings, cooking demos, and more! It is not to be missed!!

For all the deets, see Meridian Health's Web site for more information.

Hope to see you there!

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From Long to Short: Harper's Haircut

Everyone loves the feeling of a new haircut. On a whim, Harper decided that she wanted "new hair". She had her inspiration and took her with her to the salon.

Before:

The first snip...

The blowout...

A fresh, new haircut with the inspiration behind the cut...

Enjoying a special treat after her haircut...

Sassy girl...

Don't you just love a new haircut?

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Emma on the Piano

Emma is taking piano lessons this summer for the very first time. She's one of those people who has that enviable quality of just "picking something up". She just gets it. She can read music. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no musical talent whatsoever. None. I'm so proud of her.

Today she came home and played "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" for us on Harper's keyboard { yes, an argument ensued but I opted to edit it out ;-) }. And she played without using her sheet music. Yay for Emma!

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Their First Concert: Miranda Cosgrove

Do you remember your first concert? I remember mine clearly. I was in eighth grade, and my bestie, Sue, and I went to see Rick Springfield. Sue and I still talk about it to this day, and yes, just in case you are wondering, we still ADORE Rick Springfield. Dr. Noah Drake. Are you kidding me? Don't even go there.

Last weekend, I took the girls to their very first concert: Miranda Cosgrove, or better know as Carly from the smash Nickelodeon series iCarly. Cosgrove was joined by Cody Simpson and Greyson Chance. I had no idea who these two guys were, but I knew that they must've been special by the sheer fact that teenage girls were buying the concert gear in droves. As it turned out, I, surprisingly, enjoyed their music. Yes, I am admitting that the music of the 'tween set has struck a cord with me.

When we arrived at the concert, this was the line to enter. Oh. My. God. Seriously? I had to wait in this line for 25 minutes in near 100 degree temps. My thoughts, "This concert BETTER be worth this wait".

Here's Cody Simpson on stage

Here's Greyson Chance (just in case it wasn't obvious ;) )...

Waiting, ever so patiently, for Miranda to take the stage. I think Harper asked me at least 30 times when she'd be on. We had to settle for a taped interview before we got the real deal.

What's a concert without overpriced t-shirts?

Miranda is finally on the stage!

Excuse the quality of some of these photos, although most were taken with my Pentax, a few were taken with my BlackBerry which notoriously takes bad photos. :(

Have you taken your children to a concert yet? It was great fun. They are asking when we will go to another one. Hmmm. Selena Gomez is in town later this month...

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The Loves of my Life

I've been ever so patiently and anxiously waiting for Emma's and Harper's school pictures to arrive. It's one of the highlights of the school year. Although Emma has had hers since before Thanksgiving, Harper just received hers this week.

We love to lay the pictures out and compare them from one year to the next. It's amazing how much Emma has grown up since her first picture at age 3. Emma is maturing. She doesn't even look like she's 8. Excuse me! Has anyone seen my third grader? The girl in this picture looks like she's 12.

And Harper. My baby. Not much of a baby anymore. My once pudgy-cheeked little dumpling will be 5 in 2 months. She's already talking about Kindergarten, and I'm wishing she were still crawling around like a crab.

They may be growing up, but they'll always be my babies.

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Good for the soul

I just returned from a week long vacation with my sisters, our respective children, and some close female friends, who are practically sisters to me. There is nothing like a week with the girls to nourish your soul. It was a week filled with girl-talk, soul searching, eating, bucket list-making, confessing, sharing, bonding, and more eating.

We've been doing this for 4 years now. We head to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware every August for a week. It's like a miniature family reunion of sorts. Two of my 3 sisters fly in from Florida and Arizona for the week. A close family friend also comes from Florida. The rest of us travel from Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

My sisters and I grew up going to Rehoboth Beach each summer. I have fond memories of our trips there with our parents. It was always at the end of August, and it was always the entire family. And it was always tons of fun. We stopped going in the mid-80's when my parents separated. In 2007, my niece decided to surprise the family with a trip to Rehoboth. Imagine our joy and surprise. After all those years, we were reviving our Rehoboth trips.

In the summer of 2007, a mere month before our trip, my mother passed away. We were heart broken but knew that a family vacation would do us good. However, the fact that my mother wasn't present hung over us like a big, dark cloud. In July 2008, my father passed away 3 weeks prior to our trip. It seemed as if our trips were doomed. Finally, last summer the curse was broken.

The vacations have evolved. We've been in 3 different houses in 4 years. We've experienced some attrition. There has been divorce, separation, break ups, and new relationships. The little kids have grown physically. The adults have grown emotionally. But one thing has remained constant: the vacation itself. We wouldn't miss it for anything.

This year everyone gathered in New Jersey on the Friday prior to our departure. On Saturday, we met at my house and drove to Cape May, New Jersey to catch a ferry to Delaware.

Everyone gathered so that I could take a picture. Don't you love the feeling of a full vacation in front of you? It's obvious how excited everyone was to kick off the week.

What's a ferry ride without a little clowing around?

The weather was fabulous. We enjoyed plenty of time on the beach, but not in the water. The riptides were fierce. We learned quickly on our first day that we were risking our lives going in any deeper than our knees.

There was plenty of digging, burying, and posing...

To stay cool, we tried a water park for a day.

The weather was amazing...until Hurricane Earl came to town. Cloudy, misty morning. So I took pictures, and we went shopping.

Looking for washed up treasures...

Keeping a watchful eye on Earl...

By later that afternoon, Earl had moved up the eastern seaboard. The sun occasionally peeked through the clouds, and we enjoyed one final evening in Rehoboth Beach. As is tradition, we devoured our last dinner at Grotto Pizza.

And now the countdown begins for next year's week in Rehoboth!

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Making new friends

Are you part of a "mom clique"? You know, an impenetrable group of moms who are as thick as thieves. They know everything about each other and each other's families. They have dinner together, go on shopping excursions to quaint, all-American towns, and watch each other's kids. Perhaps you know one of those moms. Or maybe you're one of them.

I am not one of those moms. I do, however, know plenty of them.

When I moved to New Jersey in 2001, I knew my husband and his family. That's it. Once Emma was born in Spring 2002, we enrolled in Mommy & Me classes so that she could be around other babies and so that I could meet other moms. Fat chance. Actually, I did meet two moms. We spent some time together outside of our classes. Took the kids for walks on the local boardwalks, had play dates at our houses, local parks, and the beach. But beyond that, the friendships never expanded.

The years passed, and it really wasn't until this year that I actually started to make quality friends, women with whom I connected on a level other than constantly chatting about our kids. They were moms of Harper's preschool classmates. Some I had met in Mommy & Me classes at our local recreation center. Others were new acquaintances. We soon became Facebook friends and were continually commenting on pictures and statuses.

On Friday night, we enjoyed our first outing, happy hour at a local outdoor hot spot. It was so much fun to catch up outside of the playground. I hadn't seen two of the women since preschool ended a month ago, and it was great to see them.

l. to r. back row: Kristy, Colleen, and Nancy

front row: Cathy and me

It was a fun night out with new friends. We are already scheming our next Moms Night Out!!

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Picasso Tweetup at the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Last Friday, I was lucky to be surrounded by beautiful art and fabulous women in a fantastic city on an idyllic spring evening.

Where was I? I was at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, of course. I joined several other Philadelphia area mom bloggers for an evening of art, conversation, cocktails, and a spectacular view of the city. The PMA has a fantastic program, Art After 5, which offers a chance to stroll the galleries while enjoying cocktails, appetizers, and music in the Great Stair Hall.

The evening began by exploring the exhibit which not only included the works of Pablo Picasso but other artists who defined the Cubist movement, such as Salvador Dali, Joan Miro, and Marc Chagall.

Here were some of my faves:

Bather, Design for a Monument, Pablo Picasso (1928)

Three Musicians, Pablo Picasso (1921)

To be blessed with such talent and creativity is awe-inspiring. I was completely overwhelmed by the magnitude of the exhibit. I've never really considered myself to be an admirer of the works of the Cubist painters or sculptors, but after having seen this exhibit, I certainly changed my mind. I have to say that I was drawn to the clean lines and deliberateness of the art.

After taking in the exhibit, we retreated to the terrace to bask in the setting sun and the Philadelphia skyline. I caught up with Tina and Bobbie, both of whom I had met a few weeks prior at a MomSpace event. I met the fabulous Erica and Kelly, with both of whom I've tweeted for months. So happy to finally meet them as well as several other Philly area bloggers. Here's a group shot, courtesy of Erica.

For more information about the Philadelphia Museum of Art, visit their Web site.

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Movin' on up

It's unbelievable to me that I have a second grader and a preschooler. It seems as if Emma just had her first day of preschool. Now it's Harper's turn.

Emma's first day of school was uneventful. It's old hat to her by now. The bus thing doesn't faze her. After all, she's one of the big kids now.

My second grader ready for her first day!

My preschooler...not so ready for her first day. Underneath this forced smile were tears just waiting to break through. After 3 days, I'm happy to report that our drop-offs are getting easier.I miss my babies!! :(

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My Well Deserved Day Off

Earlier this week I had a day off. A day off for a stay-at-home mom means a day away from the house, kids, husband, pets, laundry, cooking, cleaning...need I continue? My day off was an overnight trip to Manhattan with my niece, my sister and her best friend.

It started with an hour train ride into the city where I would be meeting up with my group at the hotel. The solitude was wonderful. An hour's worth of quiet to read my book. In hour's worth of no interruptions to comprehend what I was reading. An occasional glance out the window at the Jersey scenery.

We stayed at the W Hotel, Times Square. It was luxury at it's finest. Our room was on the 42nd floor. Here was the view:

I never get to see the city from a tourist's perspective. Each time we go, it's either for dinner with friends, a show, a concert or a sporting event. Not this time! My sister's best friend had never been to NYC before, so we just HAD to show her the sights!

Times Square...

The famous Naked Cowboy...

Ground Zero...the void in the skyline is a daily reminder to all.

A memorial wall dedicated to those who perished from the NYFD...so sad.
Rockefeller Center...CBS Studios...

We enjoyed a relaxing and laid back time in the big city. There were a few places on our agenda but otherwise, we decided to wing it.

After walking for hours, we devoured a delicious seafood dinner at the Famous Oyster Bar Restaurant. We were famished. I swear seafood never tasted so good. After dinner we continued to explore until we just couldn't walk anymore.

The following morning, we enjoyed drinks from Starbucks and headed to the Brooklyn Diner for breakfast. I don't like eggs, and I don't eat pancakes or french toast (I don't like maple syrup). I opted for the raisin bran pineapple muffin. It was delicious. For $3.50 I got 2 bran muffins and a corn muffin. Tasty! Not bad for the price. But I must add that I paid $2.95 for a banana. Yes, ONE banana!! My fellow diners had eggs and raved about them.

What every day off should be: TONS OF FUN!!

Thanks, ladies for a fabulous time in the Big Apple! From left, my niece Colette, my sister Brenda, her best friend Mary Ann, and I.

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