Saying Goodbye to 2013

 It was a good year in so many ways. The Holiday season was filled with joy and happiness. We were fortunate enough to get some early snow to get the kids in that magical winter spirit.

 There were gingerbread houses to be made with plenty of sweet leftovers.

 There were beautiful Christmas trees and tree decorating parties.

 There were warm fires to sit by and hat cider with cinnamon sticks to drink, along with eggnog and Christmas cookies.

 There were delightful tables decorated in the spirit of winter.

 And many opportunities to check out friends ornament collections and hear the stories that went along with them.

 There was a lot of humor and some bittersweet reflection of those gone on to the great beyond.

There was so much expectation and everything worked to pretty great. Feeling blessed and wishing you a Very Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Saint Nick Day

 It has come to be a yearly tradition that on the feast of Saint Nicholas, I have a special childrens party. The perfect activity is usually some sort of cookie decorating. This year The children did little gingerbread trains. There was a ton of colorful candy and I was surprised to see  the children really decorated more than snacked.

 The kitchen was incredibly quiet. It was pretty serious business. I also had some little houses to decorate but the girls seemed to be more interested in those. I think they realized that you could use more candy by creating a little yard around the house than if you had a free standing train.

 Saint Nick usually puts little bags of treats into the shoes of the children left by the door but this year he cut a few corners. You can see the little treat bags in the box above. Then I posted a little free standing train cookie....it was the only one that wasn't picked clean of candy only a few hours later. I had hoped to post at least four little cars  in a row..wishful thinking.

 I thought this little angel ornament with googly eyes was cute and homemade.

 Here is a warm inviting fire to add the festive atmosphere of the season. I really enjoy stretching the holiday through the entire month of December. Such a wonderful time of family and memories.

Finally, here is a cute little snapshot of my youngest telling Santa what he wants. He climbed right up onto the sleigh and need to tell him face to face. So cute.

Getting Christmas-y!

I have just started dragging out the Christmas decor.  I have an assortment of items both vintage and antique that I hope to share with you later. This video shows some cute items but surprisingly, there were not many impressive holiday collections on youtube.
 Concerning, some of my favorite decorations, the blow mold plastic yard ornaments are always a great find. They are the definition of "kitsch". I would love to get my hands on some plastic choir boys or Frosty the Snowman style from the early sixties. Boxes of vintage tree ornaments are becoming really hard to find because so many people craft wreaths with them and sell online. (Guilty as charged). The bloke on this video has the right idea. It is always best to buy Christmas items from thrift boutiques or antique fairs, after the holidays. I am so excited to jump into this festive season. Hopefully, I will have time to add a few interesting  posts. Feeling optimistic!

Colorful, Festive Fall!

It has been a few weeks since I have blogged but life got in the way I guess. Here is a beautiful fall tree out my bedroom window. Below I have a box of yummy fall cupcakes.

Here we see a beautiful red burning bush. The colors of fall are so beautiful here in Massachusetts. 

Below, I hosted another Bridge luncheon for my lady friends. There is always a lot more talking than card playing. We talked a lot about our plans for Thanksgiving and what we will be cooking. Can't believe it is happening this week. Such a busy time of the year!

Thanksgiving week :)

Lisa's Wedding

 I just wanted to post a little bit about the cupcakes Kit and Chick made this weekend for our friend Lisa's wedding. Usually, we prefer to go with scratch to guarantee organic unless there is a special cake mix we want to try out.

 I really enjoy watching Cake Boss on t.v. and was not aware there was a line of mixes from the show.  I was excited to try the red velvet mix because I am always worried about the red velvet mix from scratch. I always get it wrong. It usually looks like "pink" velvet.

 The theme of the wedding was yellow sunflowers. We decided to just do an artistic homage to the flower in cup cake form, which means, they looked nothing like sunflowers but they were the right shade of buttery yellow.

 Here is one final batch ready for transport. Isn't that flower arrangement lovely as well.

 Lisa, the bride, had a perfect fall day and a beautiful outdoor wedding.  There were so many pretty little details. Big sunflowers strewn about and and white paper laterns in the trees.

 This was a sneak peak of the bride sneaking around front with her dad. Don't mind the walker and sangria table. Was the walker set up next to the complimentary booze table for safety reasons? Perhaps.

 Here is lovely Lisa awaiting her new husband to tastefully cut the cake and take a small, clean bite. No cake shoving silliness for those two.

 Here are a couple of my besties waiting on the sidelines to greet the new couple. Finally below we see an exchange of vows. My photography skills were lacking. The minister appears to have been replaced by a gas grill, hidden next to the groom. Anyway, the vows were cute and heartwarming. It was a lovely, enjoyable day all around. Most importantly.......Kit and Chick's cupcakes were a hit.

Happy Endings

What a beautiful ending to a beautiful summer. We really had a good time.  I feel like it went by too fast. 

I decided that a couple of lobsters was the perfect meal for the occasion. School was starting the next day and I was not ready to say goodbye to clam plates in exchange for crockpot yumminess just yet.  The leaves on the trees in my yard are still green so I figure if they aren't ready for fall, so neither am I.

I picked up some really junky, fun candy for the kids. The tattoo tongue gumballs were a hit.  I only allowed the children to indulge themselves with two.  The dye on those things was pretty toxic just on appearance alone. The kingsize dots on paper were as one would imagine, big on looks but little on flavor. The same could be said for the creamsickle pop.  The M-n-M candy bar was soo good. I put an extra aside for myself for later.

Here is my adorable little niece Violet. She is the sweetest little girl, not to mention a multi-tasker. Shopping with kids can be hard not to mention getting a little extra leg exercise on the push pedal stepmaster.  Actually, I am not sure what the contraption she is standing on is called. All I know is it is very hard to use and always seems to be left in my upstairs hall, when the lights are off. I am sure it is just a coincidence I trip over it at least once a week. Keeps a girl  on her toes.

Finally I wanted to show you this miraculous little cactus flower. It just appeared out of nowhere. What a pleasant surprise. That green cactus is usually so drab compared to her colorful cohorts. Don't mind the styrofoam beads all over the floor. My sons were being crafty with styrofoam.  It made such a mess but it is not often the boys "get their craft on", so I just I didn't complain too much. I am going to be vacuuming it up just in time for the tinsel to be all over the place I am sure. Life is good! Happy End of Summer.....reluctantly.

Too Much Cake!

 There has been a lot of merry making and cake eating so far this summer. So many birthdays in July.  My son actually said," I am getting tired of going to parties". It is sort of true.  If only we could reschedule some of these anniversaries to February or March. Valentines and Saint Patrick's Day only have so much too offer, especially if you don't have a special some one to write love letters to and don't drink. Conversation hearts and corn beef are certainly, less desirable than Thanksgiving Dinner or Chocolate Easter Bunnies,

These two cakes are from Guarino's Bakery in Norwood MA. They are a staple at any of our holiday "get togethers". The cake on top is just a traditional cake with sugar icing,  perfect for kids parties.  However, the cake below is an Italian Rum Cake. It has vanilla and chocolate custard between rum laden cake and strawberries, then rolled in toasted almonds. A thin slice with a cup of tea is just the thing. My parents have been getting me this kind of cake since childhood. Sort of a weird choice for a little girl but maybe they thought the rum would do a hyperactive child with an anxiety disorder good.

 This little cutie, below, was smelling the sweet smelling roses in my parents yard. The whole air smelled fragrant and the bees were very busy working the flowers.  The kids actually discovered a big bee hive and thought it would be a good idea to poke it with a stick...."so the honey would come out".  Fortunately, an adult stopped them before anyone got to close.  A bee attack could really put a damper of the days events.

 You can see a bee in the center of this beautiful yellow lily. Sounds like a poem, There are also a ton of orange tiger lilies but I thought the huge yellow ones were exquisite.

 Here we see a organic chocolate mint cake a lovely friend brought.  My "adorable" teenage son personalized it with his finger even though it was intended for me. I have to say it tasted a little too good to be all natural but I took their word for it.

 These completely "all artificial coloring and flavoring" cupcakes were for my eighteen year old and his friends. I thought he would be so embarrassed.  Instead, they all fought to get the purple Cookie monster cup cake. Go figure.

 Having my birthday in July has always been kind of a bummer.  As a child I never had the class room birthday party with school friends.  My parents always threw a barbecue and the neighborhood kids would come over.  The neighborhood kids were my closest friends so in reality I have nothing to complain about.

 I love party favors, especially vintage crepe paper candy cups. This was a birthday for a teenage boy so I was pushing it to begin with by putting these little baskets on the table. The boys proceeded to dump the candy from the cups into their mouths in one mouthful. Of course.

Below, you can see I filled over a hundred water balloons  so the kids could cool off.  The past two weeks hung around the ninety degree mark so any relief was welcome. I figured the heat was nothing a couple kiddie pools filled with water balloons and a sprinkler couldn't fix. They had a blast...but there still managed to be crying.

 Finally, I am just posting this cute little pirate. You might even hear me groan AAARRRRGGGHHH, just like a pirate mommy. That is because it means I will end up pushing my little guy around in that little boat with no wheels for at least a half hour, it's a killer.  I always try to encourage him to dress up as a superhero instead. At least our Bat Mobile has wheels and actually runs on a battery. Oh well, they are only cute and little once.

A Lovely Summer Break

 We had a very nice little vacation in Marshfield this past week.  The weather was more cloudy than sunny but still warm enough to frolic at the beach. Cloudy, cool mornings with the children were spent coloring in coloring books, blowing bubbles, painting rocks and playing hide and seek.

 We did a lot of exploration at the tide pools and found crabs, starfish and plenty of periwinkles and giant clam shells. Below you can see a good size crab that caused quite a stir with my boys. It turned out to be dead which was relief because one of the boys stepped on it. Had it been alive it would have packed a powerful pinch. In the past, we have found lobsters in the tide pools, no such luck this year.

 We stayed in an a classic knotty pine cottage. It was owned by the same family for sixty years.  They had lots of really classic retro throwbacks in the kitchen.  The metal bread box was adorable not to mention some of the pans and Pyrex casserole dishes.

 These 1950's rooster motif plates and bowls were adorable. I could imagine there were hundreds of tuna sandwiches and bowls of ice cream served up on these festive chinaware.

 There was nothing tacky about this Old Salty Dog sitting on the fireplace greeting guests. They used to sell these sort of statues at the Marshfield gift shop along with inflatable beach toys and penny candy.

 The hydrangeas were in full bloom everywhere. I just love how the house accents were painted to match the seasonable flowers. So pretty.

 Here are some very nice ornaments my sons made from collected sea glass and interesting stones and jewelry wire. They came out really nice. Trash to treasure!

 I did a little bit of needle work and felt crafts as I tried to unwind in the evening.

 Here are the little cousins in the their adorable matching swim suits. They had so much fun jumping over the big waves.

 The week winded down with a beautiful sunset. I should have lifted the screen but forgot it was there when i saw the beautiful colored sky.

 I packed the suitcases......and yes, I am also a sucker for vintage luggage. Someday I hope to own a complete set in hot pink.

 I came home after an exhausting week of fun and relaxation to find this happening in my garden. (Pictured below) I panicked because it went without being watered. I was pretty happy to see it was still thriving on it's own. Not sure if it will be a cucumber, zucchini or pumpkin.  I love surprises.