Our Favorite Mommy-to-bee!!!

If you aren't aware that my best friend (Chef Laura) is pregnant, then you probably haven't been reading this blog much! :)  In a few short weeks, Laura will be welcoming her first baby--a girl!  A best friend for my little Nora, and finally a niece in the same town as me! I am SO excited!

My family and I recently threw a baby shower for miss Laura and "baby bee". (Laura's maiden name was Berneking, and in high school I always called her "Laura Bee"; the nickname has stuck!)  I have been waiting for this baby shower for so long; an opportunity to celebrate my best friend and the fact that she will soon be a mommy!

Five years worth of bee gifts :)

I have been warning Laura for a while about the abundance of gifts that I have for her baby.  When I was pregnant with my first son (FIVE years ago!), whenever we went to garage sales I would pick up things for my baby, and also things for Laura's future babies.  Any time there was anything with bees on it, I would pick it up and stash it away for her baby! 



Since that time, we have moved three times.  The box of "Laura's baby stuff" has gotten bigger and bigger, and I have successfully hauled it through all three moves.  When she told me she was pregnant, the first thing I did was have Matt get up in the attic and get the box down!  I've been planning the baby shower ever since.

bees, bees everywhere!

So, on Saturday night, I began the process of taking down Halloween decorations in my house and replacing them with everything black and yellow, bees, and baby. (Just so happens we are all Hawkeye fans, too...so the black and yellow was a nice theme!)  When it was all ready, my aunts and my mom and I just walked around and looked at all the cuteness. So exciting for Laura!

We all dressed in black and yellow and white in honor of Laura Bee and her little bee.  It was a wonderful baby shower...not too big, not too small.  Just a nice, friendly showering of my best friend with gifts for her little bundle.








Can't WAIT to hold that little girl in December! Little Nora Jean is ready to meet her best friend! :)


Bumblebee diaper cake!

Challenge Accepted.

What a difference a week can make...

If you read last Tuesday's post, you know how extremely miserable I was after being cooped up in my house.  Not just cooped up, but at the same time unable to clean up the MESS that was piling up around me!  I sent out a sarcastic invitation for anyone willing to come over with rubber gloves and cleaning supplies...and, well, some of my favorite women in the world answered the call.

While I was in the hospital enjoying my newborn baby girl all weekend, my mom and aunts and mother-in-law were not only taking care of my two young boys at home, but they were cleaning EVERY inch of my house.  EVERY inch.

On Monday when we walked in the door with our new daughter for the first time, we walked into a fresh-smelling, spotless house.  They had worked so hard; I couldn't even believe it.  Every room was clean, they had finished sorting and putting away the baby's clothes, they had hung the pictures I hadn't gotten around to hanging.  And the details...a bowl of pink candy on the table, in honor of baby Nora.  And a pile of my favorite candy bars sitting on my nightstand in my room.

It was perfect.  This Tuesday was 1000% better than last Tuesday.  Thank you could never be enough for what they did for me.  But, thank you Mom! And Jean, Barb, and Debbie!  And anyone else who helped!  And for those of you who read the invitation to come clean and didn't respond...you're off the hook.

Surprise in a Blanket: Part 2

As promised, there is a part two to this post! If you didn't read the first part, go to Surprise in a Blanket.  To re-cap the story, I made one baby blanket with our baby girl's name on it, but since her name was a secret until she was born, I had to hide the name on the blanket while my aunt Jeannie sewed it up!
Fast forward about 4 weeks...the blankie was wrapped up tight with ribbon and waiting in my hospital bag.  I had told Jean that she could open it as soon as the baby arrived, and she was so excited to see the name!  Little did she know, she would be even more excited after she opened it and saw the surprise!

It just so happens that baby girl is named after my aunt Jean!  So, when Nora was born and we told my mom her name, she said "we have to get Jean in here now and show her that blanket!".  So that's what we did! Jean came running in the room, grabbed the baby, and unwrapped the blanket.  And Matt caught the perfect moment on camera...Jean was shocked!  She just kept saying, "you named her after me?? After me??"



For someone who loves surprises, this one was one of the best I have experienced.  And the fact that Jean was the one who had sewed the blanket made it even more perfect.  We knew that she would be excited, but I didn't know it would be like this!  While we plan to just call her Nora, I know one person who will always be referring to her as Nora Jean.  And that's alright with me.

Junk in the Trunk: Part 2

Another set of pictures of our ridiculous car-load-fulls of garage sale bargains! The past three weeks have been insane garage saling...my aunt was here from Boston, and she and her son LOVE to garage sale, but there aren't really garage sales in their area, only church rummage sales.  So, yes, another two people to add to our caravan! Plus, my other aunt is on her summer break from her in-home daycare, so she has been out with us on the lookout for new toys for the kids!  Here's a peek at what our cars look like after a full day of bargain hunting...no joke!

Trunk #1:  This day they actually went without me...only because I had been having a lot of contractions and needed to lay down at home.  But no worries, they called me about the bargains and they picked up some cute stuff for my baby girl, as always!

Trunk #2: This was the day we all went out together...I think there were about 12 of us!  Needless to say, with that many people scoping out the bargains for our houses, kids, daycares, etc., we fill up cars pretty quickly! And this one is a Suburban!  That's a LOT of stuff!

"Trunk" #3:  I ran out of room in the "trunk" of our van pretty quickly this day.  So here's a picture of my son Sam, in the midst of all of the bargains piling up in the front of the van.  He is wearing his Batman outfit (from a garage sale) and playing with a broken piece of cardboard tube, his "sword". We are quite the frugal family! Haha....





Stay tuned for more junk in the trunk updates.......as you read this post, we will be out at the sales filling up our cars.  And this time we will be joined by Laura, who just found out she's having a baby girl...I have a feeling you will see a lot of pink in the next round of pictures!

Luckier Than Most

On Saturdays we look for the good in people.  Well, this Saturday there’s only one thing I could tell you about, and that is how lucky I am to have the people that I have in my life.

Yesterday I took a turn for the worse (yet again) in my pregnancy.  I had severe pain in my legs and my back was killing me, so I made an appointment with the chiropractor. I dropped my boys off at my grandma’s house, where everyone had congregated after a day of garage saling (my aunts, cousin, and all the kids).  I went to the appointment, came back and laid down for a bit.  Unfortunately, I only started to feel worse.

A few hours later, the contractions had gotten closer together, and then all of the sudden I spiked a fever of nearly 103 degrees. We called the doctor’s answering service, and when my doctor called me back, he said I had to go to the hospital to get checked out.  I was not a happy camper.  This would be my third trip to the hospital this pregnancy, and the thought of going again and getting sent home again just made me cry.

And so, the whirlwind of my helpers had begun yet again.  My aunt Jeannie, “aunt Barb”, aunt Kathy (who’s visiting from Boston…lucky her!) and Grandma Shirl took care of my kids all afternoon, and then when it was time to head to the hospital, my cousin Elyse was there within minutes to meet me, Matt, and Kathy.  They hooked me up to the monitors, checked me for the usual complications, and yet again everything came back negative.  And of course my temperature was back to completely normal by the time we got there.  Only the leg pain remained, and they had not a single suggestion for that.

So, around 10:30 last night, we headed home.  My dad had come to relieve everyone else, taking my kids to his house (where my mom also happens to be sick…what a mess!).  Matt headed straight to bed, because he works at 1:30 am on Saturdays.  My aunt Kathy stayed with me, helped me get to bed, and then my aunt Jeannie came for the overnight shift to make sure I was ok during the night.  She was there when I woke up, made me some toast (and even cut it the way I like it…maybe she can teach Matt a thing or two!), and when she headed off to church this morning, Elyse was there to replace her.  Elyse stayed all morning with me, helped me get up and get ready, and drove me over to my grandma’s house so that I could be with my boys.  And yet another day today of everyone helping us…as I write this, at 9:30 tonight, they are all just now getting back from taking Sam for a good walk down by the river, and I will now be heading home to get the boys to sleep.

How many people can say they are this lucky?  To have a literal army of helpers, family members, who love them and are willing to show up at a moment’s notice to take care of your every need.  I hope that I never take for granted what I have in my life.

The Party House

When we first called the realtor and came to walk through our house, it was in foreclosure.  Every wall was covered in beer (and other) stains, there was not a single interior door left in the house, and every room was painted a ridiculously bright color.  As we guessed, and was later confirmed, it had been quite the party house for Ambrose students (only a few blocks away).  Long story short, by the time we moved in nearly a year later, there was no evidence left of the "party house" days.  However...

A very special wedding reception at our house.

...as we brought more and more of our family members to see our new home for the first time, the consensus was:  "every event will now be held at Sara and Matt's house!".  This scared Matt a little bit (our family is big, and very close...I'm sure he was picturing our door hanging open with random family members walking in and out at all hours of the day).  But for me, it was exciting...I love being the hostess, and the truth is we didn't get to host too many things at our first house because we lived the farthest away from everyone.

And so, very quickly, our house returned to its "party house" status.  Definitely not the same kind of parties (I can count on one hand the number of times we have even had alcoholic beverages in our house at all), but still parties...and some great ones, if you ask me!  Not only have we had birthdays and family get-togethers...we have hosted three baby showers, a cook-off, two Super Bowl parties, a Mafia-themed New Year's Eve party, and even a wedding reception!  Every single one of the parties has been a blast, and I look forward to so many more!

Blue and Brown Owl-Themed Baby Shower!

Our Mafia/Casino New Year's Eve Party!

So why post about this today?  Because today is a special day.  My grandma Shirl, one of the best people in the whole entire world, is 80 years old today.  And you guessed it...we are hosting the party at our house.  My mom and my aunts will be invading the house to clean and decorate, and Laura (or Chef Laura, as you all know her) will be here to set things up and help us look fancier than we actually are!  And to make it even better, it's technically a surprise party!  I mean, she knows that we (the family) are having dinner at my house, but she doesn't know that a lot of special people are coming to celebrate her 80 years.  I'm so excited!  I know it will be yet another great time with our favorite people, our family and our friends, and my grandma deserves a celebration more than anyone we all know!  (And for those of you who don't know, I can't write this post without mentioning that it is also my mom's birthday, too! Such a special day for our family!)

Happy birthday to my mom and happy 80th to my grandma Shirl!

Surprise in a Blanket.

All tied-up and ready for baby girl to arrive :)

As many of you know, my aunt Jeannie and I have a baby blanket business called “Just Duckie” (www.justduckieblankies.blogspot.com) (If you missed Friday’s post about the blankies, go back and look at it!)  We have been making blankies together for about 3 years now. When we started, I had just become a mommy to my son, Sam.  Three years later, I’m almost due with my third baby!  Throughout our time working on the blankies, I think that our products have gotten cuter and cuter each time.  My main job is design—I pick out the fabrics, I match up the blankies with the burp cloths, I find the embroidery and applique images online, and I put the final baskets/bags together.  But Jean is the key…she’s the one who can actually sew!  And she has an amazing embroidery machine (our second one since we started Just Duckie) that makes the most adorable things for our babies!

Anyhow, long story short…I’ve obviously been busy making blankies lately, since my baby girl is due in August and all I had were blue and green boy blankies in my closet.  But, the best thing about our blankies is that they are personalized (with names, birthdates, etc.).  And since I’m not skilled at the embroidery machine, I have to rely on Jean for that part.  But here’s the catch…my husband and I are keeping the baby’s name a secret!  So we hatched a plan…

Jean taught me the basics of the new machine, and then left me in the room with the door shut while I typed in the baby’s name and let the machine do the work.  We crossed our fingers that the thread wouldn’t break while the machine was working, because threading is my downfall, and then she would see the name!  Luckily, no thread breakage.  I was so happy that it worked!  And, although we have known our baby girl’s name for about 8 years now (no joke!), we just recently decided on her middle name, so as I looked at the blanket, it was like her name was now officially her name.  And since I’m now 7 months pregnant and very emotional, I almost cried when I saw it!

Fabric hiding the name! No peeking!

Then it was time to sew the embroidered piece to the other side of the blanket.  Now, this is something I am capable of, but it turns out much better when Jean does it.  So, I grabbed a scrap of fabric from the drawer and pinned it all around where her name is on the blanket, and got it all ready for Jean to sew.  She came in, sewed it up (without peeking!), and gave it to me.  Hence the name of today’s post:  “surprise in a blanket”.  Needless to say, this blanket now has to be hidden extremely well.  The entire family was searching for it in my things last night, and they are dying to know her name!

My due date is 7 weeks away, and the excitement is building all around. I am so glad to have a blanket with her name on it, all ready to go to the hospital with me when the time comes.  And I’m even more excited for everyone to finally see the blanket and what name appears on it!  I plan to let aunt Jeannie do the honors and open the blanket on the day that baby girl decides to arrive.  After all, she is my partner in “Just Duckie” crime, and she chose not to peek when she easily could have!

So…this post will actually have two parts.  We don’t know when the second part will be, but when baby girl comes and aunt Jeannie opens the blankie, I will be there with my camera in hand…and then I will share the happy moment with you on the blog!  Hooray for secrets, I love them!

Girls' Night Out!

Our night at the spa :)

On Saturdays we look for the good in people.  And to be honest, I can't think of much better people than the ladies I spent the evening with tonight.  Ever since my mom and I got our couples massage for Mother's Day, we've been planning to go to "Girls Night Out" at Two Rivers Massage in Moline.  And tonight we finally made it happen!  The six of us headed across the river for a much-needed break...a chance to put our feet up and get pampered.  This is not the norm for any of us, so it really is a treat! 
We were able to bring in our own snacks and drinks, and we had the whole spa to ourselves.  Big comfy couches, hot packs for our achy shoulders, and the works for our feet...salt soaks, foot and leg massages, and parrafin wax (Except for me...no parrafin wax for third-trimester mamas...this was a total let-down for me, but I understand the rules.  I'm sure they don't want to deliver a baby in the spa!)
For two hours, we just got to enjoy ourselves and enjoy the company of each other.  The three "young'uns" (me, my "sister" Elyse, and my best friend Laura) and the three "young at hearts" (my mom, my aunt Jeannie, and our "aunt Barb").  It was such a great time...no running around, no screaming kids, no work or responsibilities for any of us.  And even though it would be nice to do that all the time (of course!), it truly is even more special when you only get to do it once in a great while.
So if you've had a hard week (those of you who are my Facebook friends know that my week included my son's allergic reaction, a bee sting, a foot gashed open, and a child vomiting all over my car)...then try to take some time to relax.  Maybe you can't get to the spa today, or tomorrow, or maybe the spa isn't even your thing...just find what relaxes you, and take the time to do it.  Remember that if you take care of yourself first, it becomes a lot easier to take care of those around you (which we all have to do in our daily lives!).

I wish you all the kind of happiness that I had tonight in a room filled with my family and friends, getting my feet rubbed and eating snacks.  And to top it off...we stopped at Cafe Fresh for my all-time favorite drink: frozen hot chocolate!

Great night.  Off to bed...remember to look for the good in people this week!  Sometimes it might seem hard, but it is there!  Just keep looking!

Community Spotlight: Just Duckie Blankies

If you are having a baby, or if you know someone who is, READ THIS POST!  Just Duckie Blankies is a personalized baby-blanket (and more) business that my aunt and I started about three years ago.  With aunt Jeannie's embroidery machine, the possibilities are endless!  Many of you have ordered from us, either for yourself or for your friends and family, and for that we are so grateful!  But for those of you who have never seen our stuff, I'm giving you a sneak peek today...

 This is the ADORABLE basket that Jean made me for my baby shower last month.  She saved all of her new tricks to surprise me...like making the super-cute and super-soft toy block in here! (see next two pictures...)

Here is a close-up of the toy block.  It has different fabrics and animals on every side. So cute!

...and a special surprise! One side says Baby Meehan! It's always even more special when the presents are personalized :)

Here's a close-up of the other items that matched the block....our go-to baby gifts, blankies and burp cloths! This basket was, in my opinion, cuter than anything you can buy at the store!

And another basket...she's just too good to me! I love this summer-themed one.  Especially since all of my babies are summer babies (August, end of May, and this one's due in August too), so the bright colors and summer-fabrics are so perfect.

One last picture, I promise! This is a close-up of the burp cloths from the summer basket..because you can't see them all in the basket, and they are just too cute to pass up! 

....so there's your sneak peek at Just Duckie Blankies! If you are now glued to your screen, waiting for more adorable pictures, please visit our website at www.justduckieblankies.blogspot.com.  I've also added a link to the site on the right-hand column of the blog, so you can have easy access to the blankies blog whenever you feel the need to look!   Just click on the picture under "Just Duckie Blankies" and you will be there!  We would love to hear from you about ordering gifts for baby showers, newborn gifts for the hospital visit, birthday presents (we also make toddler size blankies!), or even gifts for pets!

Junk in the Trunk: Part 1

Garage sale season has been in full-swing for a couple months now, as you all know from reading this blog! :) Just thought you might be wondering...what does their car look like after a day full of sale-hopping and bargain-hunting? Well, that's our new series:  Junk in the Trunk.  Today I share with you our dirtiest secret...our trunks on garage-sale day!


Trunk #1:  Our friend Babs (Barb) shared this one after she and my mom got some good buys!

Trunk #2: Laura and I's first adventure in searching for baby items together! Thank goodness for my new van...the trunk space is endless and deep!

Trunk #3: My van, yet again...it has become a garage-saling vehicle for sure!  This was our latest endeavor, last week...when I should have been on bed-rest.  Shh...don't tell!









"Trunk" #4:  Not exactly the trunk...but when I'm out garage-saling by myself with my two boys, it's much easier to just throw the stuff in the front seat!

"Trunk" #5: Yet again, not a trunk...but it was too hot out this day to get my camera and bring it outside. I just threw all the stuff on our porch and then took a picture in the air-conditioning!  This was a good haul!









Hope you enjoyed the first installment of "junk in the trunk".  As you could guess, there will be LOTS more to come! Happy Bargain Thursday!

PS...one of the days last week, my mom and my aunt Jeannie and Barb filled up not only their trunk, but their entire car. Unfortunately I wasn't there to catch it on camera!


Why We Love Kohl's

I realize that Bargain Thursdays have become mostly about garage sales...not a surprise!  However, when the garage-sale season is over and the weather gets cold, you can find all of us crazy bargain-hunters at one place:  Kohl's!
If you don't shop at Kohl's...let me be the first to tell you that you should!  As someone who doesn't do a lot of retail shopping, I really hate going to the mall.  It's so expensive, and let's face it...a lot of the employees are just flat-out rude.  The coupons always have exceptions, and if you try to do a return at some of those places, it's literally like pulling teeth.  No thank you!
This is not the case at Kohl's.  Not only do they have great sale prices, but you can also use your coupons on top of the sale price!  Now that's more like it!  If you have a Kohl's card (which I don't...but I have plenty of connections!), you receive 15-30% off coupons in the mail frequently. And on top of all of that, the best part--Kohl's cash!  Basically, if you go and spend money in their store, they give you money back to come and spend some more!  And lots of it!  Whenever they offer Kohl's cash, you can find all of us running to the store...it's such a good deal, we can't miss out.
And to me, one of the greatest thing about Kohl's is their return policy.  They never give you any trouble, there are no deadlines, and sometimes we have even taken in our receipt and told them that we didn't realize that Kohl's cash started the next day, and they've given it to us anyway!  That's what I call Customer Service!

My last trip to Kohl's was last week, with my best friend Laura.  We spent a ridiculous amount of time looking around the baby section...since we are both having babies before the year ends! Plus, I had a gift card from my baby shower, which makes shopping even more fun!  Laura had a coupon, and when we got up to the register, it turns out the coupon didn't start until the next day.  But, the cashier said not to worry, she would give her the discount anyway!  (Plus, Laura had debated getting an item that was on sale for $25...when the girl scanned it, turns out it was on clearance for only $8!)  We had such a great time that night, and I guarantee we wouldn't have gotten as much stuff at any other store around here for those prices.

So, that's why we love Kohl's.  We always have a good time, and the savings can't be beat! It's my favorite go-to place for birthdays, Christmas, baby gifts, etc.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you definitely should!

Cheap is the new Beautiful.

Don’t take this title the wrong way…I’m talking about bargain prices for party decorations! J  My mom and my aunts recently threw me a baby shower (we are having our first baby girl in August…we have a 3 ½ year old boy and a 2 year old boy…this will be a new experience for us!), and the party turned out so beautiful.  We had so many compliments about how nice the decorations looked, and how well everything matched. And we are not ashamed to admit, many of the items that were being complimented came from garage sales or clearance racks!

This is a picture of my fire-place, all decked out in pink!  Although every one of the blankets you see is a gift handmade by my aunt Jeannie (the best blankets in the world! www.justduckieblankies.blogspot.com), basically the rest of the items you see are super bargains.  The clothes hanging on the clothesline (so cute!) are all from a garage sale, purchased by my mom, as well as all of the pretty baskets holding the gifts.  All of the little toys, bottles, etc. are from the Dollar General, my aunt Jeannie’s favorite store (and one of my favorites, too!)

They decorated the rest of the room with some of baby girl’s clothes from her bedroom…all three  of these items are garage-sale finds, and the outfit in the middle even had the tags on it when I found it!  I was so proud!  Can’t wait to see my baby girl in all of these adorable buys!

And last, but certainly not least, the dessert table!  Look how beautiful it turned out…and yet, we didn’t pay a caterer or buy expensive treats (my mom made the cupcakes and the cookies, my aunt made the mints, and I bought that lemon cheesecake ball at the Farmer’s Market…and everything was delicious!).  I think the candy jars make the table complete—and yes, they are all from garage sales!  I’ve been picking up every size and shape of these jars for the past couple years (prices usually ranging from 50 cents to $3), and now I have quite the assortment! They have come in handy for many parties, and when we used them for my cousin’s wedding last year, it was gorgeous.  Our newest find was a big white platter, similar to the one holding the mints in this picture, which we paid $3 for, and we are sure to use it many more times in the future!

I’ll keep this post short and sweet, no pun intended.  Just wanted to remind you all (and myself) that it really is possible to have a beautiful party without breaking the bank.  I had some wonderful helpers for this party, and I’ve had them for parties in the past as well, and every time we have a party, no matter what the theme or reason, we have people telling us we should go into the party-planning business.  Imagine that, showing up to decorate parties with garage-sale items!  Now there’s something to blog about!  In the meantime…if you know anyone who is throwing a party in the near future and wants a planner, you know where to find us! (seriously, we’d like to give it a try!)  Hooray for bargains!

Mi casa es su casa

As always on Tuesdays, we are looking for “the good” in our home.  However, it’s not always our own home that makes us feel special, or loved, or “at home”.  We all have places, whether near or far, that hold a special place in our heart—places we have made memories, places we have grown up or grown together, places we love.  Today I’m sharing a few of my “homes” with you…

1.My parents’ house(s)…Of course I have an attachment to the house (duplex) that I grew up in.  We moved there when I was three, and my parents didn’t leave there until I was almost done with college.  Nearly all of my childhood memories were made there…birthday parties, Christmas mornings, my first pet (a Pekingese named Squirty), and just the day-to-day life of me, my mom, and my dad.  Wonderful times—I was lucky to have such a good childhood.  And now they have a new house…one that I thought I would never live in with them, but never say never!  After my husband and I sold our first house, we ended up moving in with my parents for about a year until we found our new home.  And so, we now have a lot of memories at my parent’s “new” house, too!  Especially because our son spent much of his first two years there…he went from the cradle to the crib there, he first climbed stairs there, he started talking there, he started sleeping in his “own” room there…SO many memories of our precious first born!  And in fact, we even brought our second-born son home to their house from the hospital!

2. My grandma Shirl’s house…As I have mentioned already on the blog, my grandma’s house is usually the meeting place for the whole family.  And not just at holidays or special events—we are there every week!  Most Saturdays we are seated around her kitchen table, sometimes just 5 or 6 of us, sometimes 10 or 15, or more!  It has always been this way, I don’t remember a time that we didn’t have Sabbath lunches at her house.  In a way, all of us cousins grew up in that house.  Many of us have even lived there at one point or another…for me, it was in college, after my grandpa died.  Those few months gave me a lot of new memories of her house—just the two of us living there, reading books at night and eating breakfast together.  I even woke up in that house on my wedding day!

3.My aunt Jeannie’s house…Yet another place that I actually did live!  When our house burned down when I was in 5^th grade, my parents and I moved in with my aunt Jean, my uncle Steve, and my cousin Elyse.  Our time living there was an emotional roller-coaster, after having lost nearly everything we owned (including our pets), but at the same time enjoying the bond between family, and realizing how lucky we were to have them in our lives.  Jean had always been like a second mom, and Elyse like my sister, but after living together, the connections were only stronger.  We brought home our new pet, my dog Molly, to their house—what a special time for a little girl!  Now that we are all grown up, Elyse and I send our boys there to Jean’s daycare, where they play with the toys that we grew up with and they are learning to love each other as we do.  It’s a special place!

4. My in-laws’ (old) house…No offense to their new house, but I have a special place in my heart for the house that my husband grew up in.  Since we started dating when we were 16, and they only recently moved out of that house, we obviously spent a lot of time there!  I met all of his family in that house, we spent many nights watching movies or playing games with our friends there in high school, and it was in that kitchen where Matt announced to a whole group of people that he had asked me to marry him.  When they decided to move about 2 years ago, I think I might have been just as sad as Matt!  We fell in love there, and I guess I just thought they would always live there…but hey, we are starting to love the new house, too!  Our boys go there a lot, and their dede (grandma) has made them a wonderful playroom in her basement.  New house, new memories to be made!

5. Spain…I know this isn’t a home, but I did live there for 6 months in college, and I felt such a connection to that place, to the people.  In fact there is a home where I feel at home there…it’s a 2^nd story flat on the busiest street in Seville, called Menendez-Pelayo.  There I met my house mother, Maravilla, and her wonderful family—most importantly her son, my life-long friend Álvaro.  Without him, and my other friend Chelsea, my experience in Spain would never have been so good.  I fell in love with the country, the lifestyle, the music, the food (ha!), all of it!  No matter how long it takes me to get back there, I will always have a tugging to return.  Anything related to Spain makes me miss it—watching a movie, hearing a song, even seeing something “Spanish-looking” or eating Spanish food (by the way, if you want Spanish food, I know the place for you!  I will be posting about it soon…keep an eye out!).

I think 5 “home away from homes” is more than anyone could ever ask for in life!  I consider myself beyond lucky to have grown up in a family, and a circle of friends, where there were so many welcoming homes, so many loving people who shared their four walls with me.  I am forever grateful to all of them, and I hope that my children have as much luck to find so many “homes” in their lives, too.  As long as their favorite home is mine!

Do you have any “home away from homes”?  Why are they special to you?

Little Surprises Make A Big Difference

Today was my fourth day of bed-rest.  Let me tell you, four days is enough.  I don’t know how women do this for weeks, even months!  I am bored, I am tired of sitting on the couch and having other people do things for me, and mostly I am sad that I cannot pick up my kids or run around and get them what they need like I always do.

I have a lot of help, and I appreciate each and every one of my family and friends who have been here for me this week.  We are having baby girl’s baby shower at my house, so today everyone was coming to help me get ready.  It was a busy day, lots of things to get done and lots of people running around.  I had a lot of extra hands helping me clean my house, decorate for the party, and take care of my two boys.  But I have to admit, with no offense to everyone else, that my favorite bit of the day came this afternoon…my mom, aunt, and friend came to the door yelling “meals on wheels”, as they brought in a plate of food that my grandma had made for lunch.  Everything looked delicious, but then I saw the foil-covered second plate…

…my favorite thing in the whole wide world, my grandma’s apple pie.  Sometimes little surprises from the ones we love can really make a difference.  That piece of pie just melted in my mouth, and it made me feel so much better.  It really did.

And so today, as you go about your day, try to remember that sometimes the smallest surprises are the best, and sometimes people could really use that surprise, in a small or even a big way in their lives.  And if you are in need of a little pick-me-up, I hope that you get it soon!

PS…the best part is, she sent two pieces of pie, so I am going to sleep with a smile on my face, knowing that the other one is waiting in my kitchen. And yes, I will be eating it for breakfast.

the BEST apple pie on earth. hands down.

What was one of the best “little surprises” that you ever got?  Why was it so important to you?

The Raley Girls.

Because today is Mother’s Day, I am obviously dedicating this post to my mom, Patti.  But I would also like to acknowledge some other very important women in my life, all whom have loved me and cared for me throughout my entire life.  Let’s call them “the Raley girls”…

The Raley girls (AKA my grandma, my mom, and my four aunts)
with my cousin Elyse on her wedding day

My Grandma Shirl:  Where to begin?  She is my namesake (we both have the middle name Hope), she has always been one of my favorite people in the whole world, and she has been a shining example in our family of what it means to be a mother, a grandmother, a great-grandmother, a friend, and most importantly, a Godly woman.  She is the closest thing that I know to a saint…always taking care of us, all three generations of our family, and always with a positive attitude about it.  I could go on for days, but let’s just leave it at this:  I have the best grandma in the entire world.

Joan: As the oldest of the Raley daughters, Joan has always been a loving presence in my life.  Some of my fondest memories as a child are running up and down the hallways of the Quad City airport (where you can no longer run, it’s so sad!), waiting for our Aunt Joanie to arrive, all the way from California!  She was always so happy to see us, and we were always so sad to see her go back!

Becky: My aunt Becky loved to take my cousin Elyse and I out shopping when we were little girls, because she never had a daughter of her own (she has two boys).  We loved going with Aunt Becky!  And we still do! She’s always good for a laugh, and she has the sweetest, sweetest heart.

Jean:  My aunt Jeannie is the closest thing I have to a “second mom”.  Nearly all of my childhood memories include Jeannie, and I would not be the person I am today without her in my life.  She is such a positive influence on all of the children in our family, and there is not another daycare in the world where I would rather have my children while I’m at work.  I cannot imagine my life without my aunt Jeannie in it!

“Patti” (AKA my mom!):  The reason I said that Jean was almost like a second mom to me is because I really didn’t need a second mom!  I had the best mom (and still do).  My childhood was filled with happy days—reading stacks of my favorite books(Chicken Soup with Rice, Come to the Doctor Harry, Over in the Meadow…), watching our favorite movies (the Sound of Music, Pollyanna, the Swiss Family Robinson…), and going to our favorite places (Wild Cat Den, Scott County Park…).  My mom didn’t work until I went to school, and I am so thankful for all of those days with her—and all of the days since then, too!  She has helped me become the woman I am today, the mother I am today, the friend I am today, the wife I am today…she is always here for me, always loves me, and every day when I see her loving on my children, I am reminded of how truly lucky I am to have her as my mom. My boys are so lucky to have her as a grandma!  And the very best part about my mom?  She’s all mine! (I’m an only child!)

Kathy: If you read last Friday’s post, you already know that my aunt Kathy and I are “soulmates”.  When I was only 12 years old, I flew across the country by myself to spend a week with her, and then it became tradition.  Soon my cousin Elyse joined me, and those were some of the best times of our young lives.  Kathy was always the “cool, fun aunt” because she didn’t have kids of her own (yet) and she let us do whatever we wanted!  She is still the cool, fun aunt, and we love heading to the airport to wait for her and her son Bruno to arrive for a visit!

And there you have it…my grandma Shirl raised five beautiful, loving daughters, and I am lucky enough to call one of them my mother.  I thank God for putting me in a family with such strong women to look up to, and I pray that my daughter will learn as much from them as I did.

Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers, grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and anyone else who has the incredibly hard, yet incredibly satisfying, job of raising children in this life!

*And a special Happy Mother's Day to my mother-in-law, Debbie.  Thank you for raising the wonderful, wonderful man that I am lucky enough to call my husband.  He is loving, fun, respectful, and all of the things that his mama taught him!  My children are so lucky to have "Dede" in their lives....we all are!