Real Estate Adventure

It seems that real estate and design have made a huge comeback since our local real estate market crashed in 2008. HGTV and hit television shows, popular bloggers and Pinterest have helped the market rebuild and attract new investors. We love Chip & Jo and Tarek and Christina just as much as the next guy, and you can usually find HGTV playing on my television any day of the week (except when NCIS reruns are playing on USA) 😉

So when my husband decided to jump into the real estate profession I was excited for him! But he's not the typical realtor that has joined the market since it bounced back. Joe has years of real estate experience that will make him an excellent Realtor. In 2006 worked in the mortgage industry and was very successful. He helped first time home buyers make their dreams of buying a family home a reality, worked with investors to build their portfolio and was inspired by the all the different people he worked with. When the market started slowly coming back in 2010, Joe worked as a certified appraiser and learned the ins and outs of assessing a home's true market value. Both of these previous titles make him a well-rounded, more experienced realtor. Joe's always been inspired by the real estate market and he is now working one on one with buyers and sellers to help them achieve their goals.

Of course I like helping him and his clients find the best house for them and giving design ideas to make their house into a home, but he really does the important work, you know, the REAL part of the job 😉 His contacts from the mortgage lending industry help his clients find the best loan. He understands the importance of interest rates, different lender programs, added points and advocates for the best deal. His appraisal background ensures the list price is the right price and his buyers don't overpay. He's the total package!

Are you looking to sell your home? Joe can calculate the perfect list price to get you the most return on your investment and sell it quickly!

Wanting to purchase a new home? Joe can take your target price, ideal location and primary "must haves" to find you the perfect home at the best price with a strong lender.

Plus, he sure looks handsome in his suit. Don't you think?

Valentine Printables; "You Make My Heart Bounce"

Valentine's Day prep is going down this weekend! This is my first year with two little ones in preschool so we have 40 friends and four teachers to shower with love.

Their school does not allow for treats, sweets or candy so our Valentine's are non-food items - but they are still fun!

My VPK'er is five and is a typical boy. He doesn't appreciate the cute valentine ideas I find (boo!) but he liked the idea of using a bouncy ball for his friends.

We had fun assembling these! Feel free to use the free printable to make your own!

Here is what we used:
- Bouncy balls (we bought ours at Party City)
- Transparent party bags (ours are from Michaels)
- Colored card stock as the "sleeve" for the bag
- White card stock to print the image

Happy Valentine's Day!

Rudolph Applesauce Cups

Tomorrow is my preschooler's Christmas celebration at school and he chose to bring applesauce as his healthy snack. I like snack ideas that are easy to jazz up, don't take a lot of time and I can include my kids in the creative process.

I am sharing this idea with you because they were EASY to make (we made a class set in less than an hour) and my kids thought the project was fun.

If you are like me and running around with a million things to do - and not enough time to finish them all - then this project is a good one.

Supplies:
- Applesauce cups
- Pipe cleaners
- Red cotton puff balls
- Googly eyes
- Hot glue or glue dots
- Scissors or wire cutters

Instructions: 

1. I started by cutting my pipe cleaners in half and folding them into antlers before glueing them to the back of the applesauce cups 

2. Glue the googly eyes on 

3. Glue the Rudolph nose 

{This pipe cleaner was cut in half AND folded when photographed}

Good luck with your crafting!

Teacher Gift Idea for Halloween

Tonight I remembered that my preschooler's Halloween party was on Monday! And with a jam packed Sunday celebrating my husband's birthday, that didn't leave me much time to throw a teacher gift together in time for the party {I missed their birthdays so I felt I should step it up for Halloween}.

So what was I to do? I made a quick run to good ole' Target because they always help me out when I am in a pinch! I found a cute idea from Pink Peppermint Design and these glass jars from the Target Dollar Spot made this project easy. My original plan was to grab mason jars and plastic spiders to mix in with the Hershey's Kisses but these jars made this simple project even simpler. Win, win in my book! If your Target is out of these glasses, you could use my original idea ;)

After sitting at my kitchen table, this project only took me twenty minutes, from start to finish, for all four bottles. I created my own labels on PicMonkey because I only had access to a black & white printer. I would have preferred to have time to run to the craft store for cuter ribbon and use the color printer for the snazzier tags - but I was in a time crunch!

Since I couldn't use these adorable tags, I am sharing them with you, hoping you are more prepared for Halloween than I am! Clink on the link and you can download the PDF,

http://www.pinkpeppermintdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Bugs-and-Kisses-Full-Page.pdf


Wish I would have remembered to snap a picture for you before my kids signed their names - but at least you get to see their super cute preschool handwriting!

Happy Halloween!

My SuperHero turns FOUR

I am officially a mother to a four year old. Tonight at bedtime I took my time getting extra snuggles in. Nate moves so fast during the day he doesn't have time to stop and snuggle with his Momma very often, so our bedtime ritual is one of my favorite times of the day.

Tonight was more precious because tomorrow my baby boy will wake up a four year old. I think that means he is heading out of toddlerhood and into boyhood- and I don't like it. He is still the biggest Momma's Boy but he continues to spread his wings, find his footing and explore the world with the vision of a leader and entrepreneur. He often asks what chores he can add to his list to earn money for his piggy bank, he can count to 100 but still can't pronounce 13 or 30 the correct way, wears a superhero cape as often as he can or has me tie his baby blankets around his neck in similar fashion and loves to learn about science and nature.

This week we transitioned from his toddler bed (his original baby crib) into a new big boy bed in our new superhero themed big boy room. Even though we had fun decorating together and he is SO excited to share his new room with everyone, I know that this is such a milestone for him. One of many that we will pass this year. We are looking forward to starting basketball and baseball, spending our final year together before starting VPK next school year and learning even more random thoughts.

Some of my favorite witty lessons this year have been:
- Learning that cows have two stomachs
- Learning that izards do not have feet - they have "spatula" (After Googling it myself I learned the answer it spatulea. Nate pronounces it like the cooking tool, spatula).
- Being told about the planets of the solar system ( and I did not think to teach them to him)
- Learning  that a tripod is different than a dipod because a tripod has three legs and a dipod only has two
- Rediscovering that cheetahs are the fastest animal on the planet - Nate will learn to run faster than a cheetah


My favorite things to do with Nate is to play with his hair, scratch his back and count our numbers at bedtime, watch his brain soak up information like a sponge and retain it well enough to tell his awesome stories to others (he gets so excited; his voice pitch changes and he walks on his toes) and see him be such a good big brother (I'm sure at some point this will change but for now he continues to be loving and patient).

To celebrate this big birthday, Nate chose a superhero themed party. He requested a bounce house with a slide and was able to make his invitation list this year by naming all of his friends. Nate doesn't like a lot of fuss and we were mostly outside so I kept the decor pretty simple; a cake table and superhero capes for all the guests.

SpiderMan and SuperWoman here to celebrate! 

Piñata time! 

A good shot at the capes made for each child; they were part of the goodie bags

Nate does not play for the camera like his sister does, so I'm grateful he was excited enough over his birthday to smile for a picture. 

Spoke too soon about taking good pictures to celebrate his birthday - but at least there's one of the three of us. 

Shabby Chic Second Birthday

Oh, but where has the time gone? Each birthday brings tears to my eyes because I can't believe the years are moving so fast. My baby is fading and in her place is a tenacious toddler who could rule the world with her signature look and a twirl.

It's not just me who loves her - everywhere we go she attracts attention with her mixture of sweet and spice. If I had to list the reasons she makes my heart swell, there wouldn't be enough ink or paper. She is such a contrast to her big brother in her affections - she greets with a hug and a kiss and tells me, "Me love you, Momma" several times throughout the day. She loves her snacks but is still a good sport about eating her healthy meals, too. I've learned not to bother with laundry too much since she insists on changing her dress at least a dozen times a day. She has a passion for princess tea parties and mothering her baby dolls and stuffed animals. Her favorite color is pink and she won't wear anything that's not a dress or doesn't have a tutu.

She is such a girly girl and brings a loving contrast to our family - we could never imagine our lives without her in it.

Happy 2nd birthday, P!

Since this is probably the last year P won't insist on her birthday party theme herself (I'm envisioning princesses, fairies, glitter and/or the latest Disney character), I had fun with putting together a simple chubby chic theme to match the horse farm. The color palette was peach, gold and teal and I incorporated burlap and lace to make the theme more cohesive. 

Momma's Girl 

Not only did these cupcakes taste delicious, the frosting colors matched perfectly and I loved the laced doily wraps. 

The birthday girl's cake 

I used a pallet to discuss some of the wall coverings from the venue that I couldn't take down. It helped add to the theme and made a great backdrop for cake pictures. 

The paper doilies were folded into cones to hold popcorn

I used mason jars to create my own fruit cups - perfect for the theme and great to look at. The wooden bin made the perfect storage area and helped with the placement of the cake and other decorations. 

The tablecloth on this table was peach with a lace overlay and I added fabric streamers to the front of the table for more dimension (not pictured but used burlap, peach, lace and teal ribbons to create)

I loved this wooden bin to put the popcorn snacks in - matched perfectly!

Birthday cake close up 

Lace table runner and simple flowers 

Our sweet girl! 

Our Ninja Turtle Turned THREE!

Three years ago I became a mom for the first time. Nate has turned me into a Mom, taught me to find patience I never thought I had, touched depths of my heart I never knew existed and still makes my eyes light up and tear up all at the same time, just by thinking of our journey and where we still have left to travel.

What better way to celebrate this milestone than with a ninja turtle birthday party? Nate is all BOY, rough and tumble, fighting bad guys and using ninja moves to conquer the world.

The highlights of the party were the turtle shells & masks and using silly string to slay ninjas. The kids had a blast and it was easy to create.

Here's how I made the turtle shells:
At Publix I bought the three pack sets of baking pans.
I used spray paint to color the shells. I used a deep green instead of brown because I thought it was a more pleasing color
Cut slits into the sides of the pan and slide ribbon through the slits to create a "belt" that can tie the shell on. I used wide brown ribbon which worked great and held up well.

Each kiddo wore a turtle shell and a face mask to fit in with the theme -- they loved dressing up!

The favorite game of the day was slaying the ninjas with silly string. This was another easy project! I Google searched ninjas and choose my favorite four silhouettes. I uploaded these to Office Max and had them printed poster size and then traced them on black cardboard paper. I used cardboard project paper because I thought this would be sturdier than regular cardstock and I would be able to make them larger, which would work better. I glued the cut outs to sticks and scattered them throughout the yard. Each child had their own bottle of silly string and their own ninja to battle. Everyone had a great time! 

These two activities were the highlight of the party! Even over the bounce house, delicious cupcakes and snow cones. If you're looking to make your ninja turtle party a success, I would recommend both of these projects!

Happy birthday to our spunky boy!