Girl Friday

I have not done a post in months talking about my weekend.  I am finally posting about my weekend, and it really will not be that exciting.

Tonight it is ladies night, I am meeting a friend for a girls only, let's catch up meal

plus I get to cross off a restaurant that has been on my "must try" list

The rest of my weekend will be all about my kids.  

Saturday, I am taking my 6 year old downtown for the Pumpkin Express

it's like the Polar Express but for Halloween

Then it is all about my oldest son.  He is a sophomore in high school and it's homecoming weekend, and he is not old enough to drive and the hubs is out of town (wow the stars aligned on that one)

First I will be running all over town getting him ready

then we are hosting the pre dance dinner

then it's off to the dance

and then there is the after party.

He is a little bit of wisdom I have learned....Always host the pre dance events.  As an adult I don't want to be involved in the after party shenanigans and be responsible for a pack of teenagers late night.


I will be picking him and his date up at the end of the night.  He is too young to drive, to young to uber it home (and that would be weird with the whole date thing)  so it will be me.

I feel like Morgan Freeman

and Sunday the weekend of my son continues as we go to a college fair. (eek)  Here is what I am discovering....
Being a sophomore is NOT to early to start looking, actually it is time to get on the ball

You have to have so much more then grades on your side, you need sports, you need clubs, you need to volunteer, you need a job, you need lots and lots of extra curricular activities

Getting into a college is MUCH MUCH more difficult then when I went.  Again, in addition to a high GPA you basically need to find a cure for cancer, plus wipe out world hunger.

oy vey!!

Scenes from our weekend

We had a very big weekend over here at chez beautiful,  Lottie had here very first trip to 6 Flags...

and loved every second of it


I now officially have a high schooler

and I am going to relish in the fact that at least for now I am the coolest mom because of this (and this is straight from the mouths of 14 year old boys)

I told my son how fortunate he is to have such a great group of friends, these will be his friends for life...

Monday I congratulated myself on a job well done with this

and I booked a little staycation here with one of my girlfriends

so glad it's summer!!

Girl Friday, Summer Edition

Summer will officially begin today at 10am when school is dismissed for the year.  After dismissal we have our annual school outing to 6 Flags...

I go once a year and today is that day.

After 6 Flags I am meeting up with the hubs for a post golf tournament that he is playing in happy hour...

If he get a hole in one today he will win a million dollars (fingers crossed)

Tomorrow morning my son will officially end his grade school career and become a high schooler

I know he is getting older because Saturday night he gets to choose the restaurant for our family dinner.  He did not choose Dave and Busters or worse Ci Ci's pizza, he choose one of my favorites in town...

Sunday is his big party, I think I am ready for the burger bar...

and I can't wait to see how excited the boys will be when this pulls up

Monday I plan on doing a whole lot of this

Have a beautiful weekend!!

This and That

I cannot believe the school year is over in less than 2 weeks!!  I for one am ready for the end of the morning rat race, the homework, and the after school activities.  I am ready to spend my days lounging poolside and my nights sipping cocktails on my deck!!

The end of the school year also means that us moms are really busy.  There is always so much to do with our kids before the school year ends, I have hardly anytime for anything else.

Monday night I did have a chance to make this healthy banana chocolate chip bread and it was amazing

my family gobbled the entire loaf for breakfast on Tuesday morning.

My oldest child is graduating 8th grade (yikes) so I have been busy planning a party for a bunch of 14 year old boys.  We have decided to do a burger bar

as a surprise for all the boys we also have a game truck coming

Today I am letting my daughter skip school so we can have a special day.  On her to do list..

and

I have my book club (wine club) tonight and we are discussing one of the many great books I have read recently

and finally my daughter was so busy on Mother's Day making me bath products.

Hand made gifts are the BEST, plus girl knows the way to my heart!!

Ramblings

Happy Tuesday!!  We had yet another snow day yesterday, so over this winter!!

I watched the Oscars Sunday night and I must admit I was a little underwhelmed with the gowns.  I had a few that I liked....

(and she is not even an actress)

but no one really blew me away.

I saw the Alexander McQueen beauty that Cate Blanchett wore in real life...

and it is an amazing work of art

I was so excited on Saturday to have 4 uninterrupted, all to myself hours with my son.  He is at the age where he is so busy with school, sports and friends that I feel like I never spend quality time with him anymore.  I told him from now on we have a date one Saturday every month. ( yep I am the nagging girlfriend)

I had a huge handful of vodka soaked gummy bears at our party Saturday night

which turned out to be a very bad idea come Sunday morning.

Tonight, for our big Mardi Gras dinner my son asked me to make lasagna.  Hands down, the best recipe comes from this cook book

I know, it is so embarrassing to even have this on my shelf.  The hubs gave this to me before we were even married, its a combo cookbook/retelling of story lines (trust me some were really stupid) but I only look at it for lasagna.


My son's school has "brother schools" all over the world so there are constantly exchange students coming and going throughout the year.  Some boys stay for the entire year and some stay for 2 weeks, anyway at the end of the month we will be hosting a boy from Ireland for 3 weeks.  My son is still in middle school so he cannot study abroad until high school, but I am going to force him to do that when he is old enough.  This will be great for him because he can get idea of what it will be like to live in someone else's home

The only thing that is making this winter bearable

We are one day closer to spring!!

Mardi Gras

My friends and I are throwing a Mardi Gras party in a couple weeks and we have been busy working on all the little details to make the night just right.

The first must have item on our list was hurricanes

of course!!

then we worked on the menu

jambayala 

that we are going to have already served in clear cups

with cute wooden spoons

so people can walk around, eat and hopefully not make a huge mess.

Also on the menu

mini cajun chicken cakes 

(this recipe is my aunt's and she won a $5,000 prize when she created this for a contest)

mini muffalettas

and a big king cake

We have already ordered hundreds of beads for everyone

and a few fancy ones for myself

and I found out what I can do with any leftover beads we have after the party...

make some art!!