Favorite Photos and Memories…

To say I’ve been a slacker this year would be an understatement!! I just couldn’t seem to get myself organized and stay on track and I really felt like I was always playing catch up. But with that said, 2018 was really a great year for us and I wanted to share some fun memories with you.

So let’s start with Savannah…

As soon as we moved to Georgia, I couldn’t wait to get a chance to go visit Savannah.. So after the holidays wrapped up and the big kids were back at college, we packed it up and made our way there for an awesome extended weekend.

Tybee Island

And it so didn’t disappoint. Savannah really is a magical place and I can’t wait to go back. There was nothing I didn’t love about it.  Especially the amazing spanish moss trees.

Sean turns “21”

The one who made me a mom!!

My Numero Uno

We so loved having him home right before his actual 21st birthday. His loving heart and awesome wit are so enjoyed by all.  He ended up celebrating his exact birthday with his friends back at college and that’s all I would really like to know about that. 😉

Easter

We colored eggs, made lasagna and waited for KK to make it home, so we could all enjoy the day and it’s gorgeous Georgian weather.

Brody’s 4th Birthday

Special Little Brody

This years theme was a Paw Patrol Pool Party. It also was the first time Brody had a party with friends of his own to invite and he had a ball from beginning to end. There honestly is nothing better than this beautiful little boys smile.

Orange Beach, Alabama

It was so great to be by the ocean for a whole week. Beautiful white sand beaches, yummy seafood and some of the best chocolate stuffed beignets that a girl could ever ask for.

KK’s Birthday

Favorite Girlie in the World

Beauty inside and out

Someone really cute decided his sister needed a unicorn cake, so I got right on it.

This beautiful girlie is a true delight in our lives and we so love getting time together to celebrate her!!

Summer Fun

4th of July

Sunflower Success

Dawnie’s 50th Birthday Party

My Birthday

And barbecuing in the rain.

Back To School

Brody

Yes.. she sends me a first day of school photo.. even though she is away at college.

and I love it.

School Visits

Roll Tide

I just love him.

Destin, Florida

To say I loved it here would be a true understatement!! We are already booked to go back and I can’t wait!!  One of my dreams is to have a cute condo right on the beach and I think Destin just might be the spot.

Halloween

Its me… Mario

Halloween is Brody’s favorite holiday. In his opinion, Home Depot is the best place for decorations and he makes sure that we visit often so he can check it all out..

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday where we stick to the same traditions every year. We cook and cook and cook while we watch the Macy’s Day Parade… Try to take holiday pictures… Eat and eat and eat… And then finish the night off watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”

And I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

Getting ready for Christmas with some Elf fun

This was the first year an Elf came to visit us and I really was not sure how well it was going to work out. Thankfully my cutie of a Colombian husband totally embraced it and did a wonderful job. Brody just loved having Tide visit and can’t wait to see him come back next year.

Hubby’s Birthday

Here’s to the best Husband,Father and Friend.

Christmas

1st Christmas Sweater Christmas Eve

Christmas really is the best and this year did not disappoint. Christmas Eve is the bigger night for us which is followed up with a calm, present enjoying, relaxing Christmas Day.

Road Trip to New York

It’s so great to get back to N.Y. and visit with friends and family. This year we stayed a bit longer and got to see and spend more time with everyone, which was so great.

Start to a New Year

Which I plan to enjoy everyday of and keep on…

Just Rolling With It  😉

xoxo

Jill ♥

Aruba

There is nothing I love more than a family vacation to the Caribbean.  So… when our very generous, wonderful friends offered us one of their time shares in Aruba, we jumped at the chance and made our schedules work for some much-needed time together and fun in the sun.

Yay Us!!

Aruba really is beautiful..

Its full of gorgeous beaches, wonderful shops, fun activities, perfect temperature pools, delicious restaurants, friendly people and a constant relaxing breeze…

And we did our best to try to enjoy it all.

Friends for over 10 years.

It wouldn’t be a vacation without Brody asleep on a lounge chair.

My Babies.

Favorite girlie in the world.

Fun.

Not Fun 😉

Go-Cart Racing

A visit from a local.

My People.

♥

Mexican Dinner.

Becs poor toe will never be the same.

Night life with a three-year old..

BEST DINING EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE!!!

Beach Dining..

♥♥♥♥♥

Aruba Souvenir

Thank you Braunstein’s for your generosity and friendship.

Love you all…

xoxo

Jill ♥

And Our Forever…

Here’s to our first Christmas tree in our new home.

We ♥ Christmas

Santa came…

And our stockings were filled. Christmas was so fun and followed up with a quick and first ever 12 hour road trip to New York for the New Year.

It was such a last-minute event and we didn’t get to see everyone we would have loved to see, but the smiles on my kiddies faces made the long trip so worth it.

You just have to love stolen iPhone photos.

2016 was a pretty good year for us…

And I want to wish everyone nothing but the best for 2017.

xoxo

Jill ♥

I just love organization…

I love our new home, but the lack of a mudroom was driving me crazy. Tripping over shoes at the door and constantly looking for lost items is not my idea of a good time. The garage was quickly becoming a big dumping ground and something had to be done about it. So I stepped up my Pinterest game and discovered so many wonderful ideas that I am now able to share with you the final product that was just finished recently.

Here is what you will need:

• Ikea Billy Bookcases
• white screws and nails
• hooks of your choosing
• shims
• crown molding
• baskets or fun boxes
• wood letters

Here is what you will need to do:

Build the bookcases according to the directions that come with them. Adjust the shelves and then shim up the bottom to make them even and flush. Screw each bookshelf into the wall.

Screw in the hooks at a height that works best for you….

And then finish off the top with crown molding to give the cubbies a more finished look.

The baskets are from Target and fit perfectly in the top slots. The letters were just a fun touch that I thought finished the cubbies off. I did find pictures of cubbies with chalkboard name tags that I thought were a great idea as well.

I can’t even tell you how useful these cubbies have turned out to be. Definitely one of my most favorite projects so far.

Hope you like it.

xoxo

Jill ♥

A great experience for all.

( Photo credz to Ms. Kailey Delgado )

It is sometimes very difficult to plan a family outing that works for both teenagers and a two-year old.  The baby gets tired, the teenagers get attitudety, ( yes that’s a word ) a momma gets cranky and the day gets cut into an early trip home. 😉

So, I just wanted to share our day at the Georgia aquarium because with all that has been going on lately it was so great to get out and enjoy a day that everyone loved.

Please lets take better care of our oceans.

The baby got his map and we were ready to go.

How cute is he…

He didn’t feel the need to touch. 😉

You can actually swim with the whale sharks.  Can you say Christmas present!!!

I love these guys♥

Super fun penguin exhibit.

The day ended with a fantastic dolphin show, which we all loved and a great family photo to take home to remember.

Love my peeps and their beautiful smiles…

xoxo

Jill ♥

Good-bye 266…

I loved your welcoming charm…

And your pretty window views…

No matter what season it was..

But most of all I loved what a wonderful home you have been to my family for the last 15 years.

Thanks for the memories.

We will miss you…

xoxo

Jill ♥

Family 💜….

A little while back, I was going through my calendar and realized that my big guy who is away at college would not be home for Easter or his Birthday. There was no way this Momma was going to let him be without his family to celebrate two very special days in all of our lives.

Sooooo, we took the show on the road and booked a hotel suite that was just walking distance from his university and brought the celebration to him.

The suite was great with a full size kitchen and plenty of room to hang out and enjoy each other.  I picked up some fun decorations, so the kiddies would feel right at home.

This long hallway came in very handy with the baby and was a great way to tire him out, so we all could get some sleep.

The Easter bunny found us….

And the baby was happy to wake his parents up at 6 a.m. to let us know.

Thanks Easter bunny 🐰

Daddy got on his ” Open ” duties, while we waited for the older two to rise.

First came KK ….

And then eventually the big guy.  We sat around and chatted until it was time to take the baby  out for some much-needed fresh air and a good run around campus.

He just loved this tiger statue and couldn’t stop roaring at it.

Just too cute!!!

We then cleaned ourselves up and headed out to an early Easter dinner.

Which was followed by birthday celebrations back at the hotel . 🎉

My big guy invited some friends over and we all sang Happy Birthday and celebrated the fantastic person he is.

This is hands down my most favorite pic from the weekend.

My three blessings, smiling and celebrating together!!!

xoxo

Jill 💜

🎉 Happy Birthday Barefoot Contessa 🎉

My love affair with the Barefoot Contessa started about 10 years ago, when I first saw a show of hers on the Food Network.  I just loved how she made meals that I thought were so complicated, simple and had showed me how fun it can be to cook for my family and friends without all the fuss and stress. I honestly have not missed an episode since and make sure to DVR them all.

So, one day my husband came home and told me how he heard from some people at work that Ina Garten was going to be at a Barnes & Noble close to my house selling her new cookbook and signing autographs. I quickly got a babysitter, threw dinner on the table and hightailed it over to the book store. There was already a long line when I arrived, but I didn’t care because I wanted to take the time to think of something really witty and fun to say to her, so she would just love me and we would become forever friends. 😉

What ended up happening was that when I reached her table and saw her, I became totally star struck and yelled something about how much I loved her and then my husband took a picture of me with this big goony goo smile. I was then moved along and the next person took my spot. 😳

Oh well….

Hopefully I’ll have better luck next time.

 Still Just Rolling With It  

xoxo

Jill 💜

“There are two kinds of people in this world. The givers and the takers. The takers sometimes eat better, but the givers always sleep better”

Danny Thomas

It was a Saturday night and I had to be around 8 or 9 years old. My father, brother and I were watching T.V. and I was performing my duties as the remote control. 😉  As I turned the little knob to see what was on each channel, my dads face lit up when he saw Danny Thomas. He was a big fan of his, so he told me to leave it on this channel to see what the show was about.  We all sat back to watch what was a program about St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the children who they were helping fight cancer.  I sat back in awe of this amazing hospital and all that they do for their patients. They turn no one away and medical expenses are never an issue for the families. They then showed a story about a little boy who was just so cute with this beautiful spirit that just shined in his eyes. He had a very rare cancer and was in for the fight of his life. He proudly held up a picture he drew of warriors trying to beat up his cancer and talked about how he just couldn’t wait to get home to play with his friends again.  Danny Thomas then came on to say how with only a few dollars a month we could help support the hospital and families that were in need.  It all seemed so simple in my young eyes, so I turned to look at my dad and with tears in his eyes he said “Go get me the phone.”   My father gave each month for the remainder of his life.  My husband and I have been donating monthly for the past 21 years.   This year we decided to also give a special end of year donation in honor of my dad.

I recently added a link on my blog that makes it so simple to make a one time donation in honor of someone or sign up to make that monthly donation that is so needed to help St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Whatever you feel comfortable with would be Awesome!!

xoxo

Jill ♥

My Guy’s Birthday

Every year I ask my husband what he wants to do for his birthday and every year he will say

” A nice dinner with you and the kids”.

So with this year being extra special I didn’t ask what he would want, I just went ahead and booked what I knew he would love and most likely needed. A quiet relaxing long weekend in Montauk at Gurney’s.

We don’t get away much without the kiddies, so when Friday came we packed ourselves up and got on the road.

The car ride  was so peaceful and quiet, that before we knew it we were there and had this waiting to greet us when we entered our room.

And this terrace and lounge waiting for us to take a nap on. 😉

When I booked our stay I never would have believed that it would be 60 degrees in December, but it was and we planned on enjoying every moment of it. We ordered up room service and stared at our beautiful view for the rest of the day.

The next morning we woke to this beautiful view, which just kept getting better and better.

So, we quickly headed outside to take it all in.

And it so didn’t disappoint.

Just Beautiful! ♥

A nice hot cup of coffee was needed next, which was followed by a nice long walk on the beach.

We walked and talked, found pretty shells, took shadow selfies, and looked out into the ocean.

There is something about the beach that is so calming, especially when there isn’t anyone there.  My husband just loves the peace of it and was definitely enjoying himself.

And so was I, but it was time to head back and get ready for our couples massage. I will not be showing you any pics from that, but we loved it and were feeling great and now ready for a nice hardy lunch and cocktails back on our lounge.

This burger was sooooo worth every calorie and the nap that followed under the December sunshine was unbelievable.

Feeling rested and ready to go after our exhausting afternoon 😉  We headed off to do a little ice skating with Santa.

Gurney’s set up a faux ice skating rink on top of the roof which had an amazing view and was actually a lot of fun to skate on. Having Santa skating around to take pictures with just made it ten times better in my book.

We did try to clean ourselves up for a nice dinner, but failed miserably at our timer photo. After a ton of editing this is the best I got. Oh well, we still got to enjoy an amazing dinner at Scarpetta Beach, but were more than happy to be back in our room right after dinner.

This weekend really was meant for us to enjoy some quiet time together and celebrate the wonderful person he is.

I truly was blessed the day this man came into my life!!!

Happy Birthday My Love…

xoxo

Jill ♥