family fun

the best gift i ever gave

Melissa 3 Comments

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This was a hard one for me: The BEST gift I ever gave. I love giving people gifts. I love figuring out what to get them, I love surprising them, the whole process is so fun to me. I just can't narrow it down – there have been so many memorable gifts. eBay has been a good friend to me as I've tracked down hard to find items and my siblings and I have banded together to pull off a few showstoppers for my mom (including borrowing her own van to pick up the couch we got her – and it was still a surprise!)

But one of my favorite gifts I ever gave, is also one of the favorite gifts I ever got. About 6 years ago, I got my beloved KitchenAid Mixer. If the house was on fire and I could save only one appliance, it would be this one. I was thrilled. My sister was so jealous – we both really love cooking and baking.

Well, the next year, my mom found an amazing deal on KitchenAid Mixers. So she sent out an emergency email – all of us banded together and bought her the mixer.  She had NO IDEA this was coming. I remember her saying something along the lines of "What on earth is in this huge box?" Then she ripped off the paper – and screamed:
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(By the way, this wins the prize for Best Gift Opening Shot. EVER!)

Truly pulling off a surprise – getting someone something they really want without them figuring it out ahead of time is super hard! I think we've only pulled it off a few times… with this mixer, with the couch for my mom. I think I've only surprised my husband once – I'm terrible about keeping presents secret. I just get so excited and I let things slip! So the element of surprise is certainly key in my mind to pulling off an amazing gift giving experience!

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peace among the craziness

Melissa 1 Comment

Its completely crazy here.

It probably is at your place too. Its the time of year, I know. It just happens.

On Sunday, we made a fire in the fireplace, made popcorn and hung out in the living room all evening, reading, playing card games and just having quiet time together as a family.

Yesterday, I made a cup of tea, curled up in the chair right next to the Christmas tree and read a chapter book with Gracie.

These little moments of peace are rare these days, but so important!

christmas in the city

Melissa 2 Comments

Saturday, we took the girls into Philadelphia for the evening.
 
We started out at one of my favorite places, Reading Terminal Market, and we could not resist stopping for cookies warm from the oven.
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Then we headed over to check out Philadelphia's Christmas Village
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And caught the famous light show in the Wanamaker Building
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Then came the highlight of the night: we headed over to the Arden Theatre Co for the opening night of The Borrowers. It was absolutely adorable. The Borrowers is the story of a little family who lived under the floorboards of a house. Our kids LOVED it. They were roaring with laughter, gasping with excitement and thought the whole thing was just wonderful. My favorite part? When at the end, Ellie whispering "Kiss, kiss, kiss!" to the characters during a romantic moment. Then when they kissed, she said "GROSS!" Hilarious. She can't fool me – she was so drawn into the story and rooting for the little love story to come true!
It is a fabulous, fabulous show. I've never been to the Arden Theatre before and we were so impressed. It is a gorgeous space and perfect for children just starting to experience theater! I highly recommend this show!!

And a special bonus? One of our friends was in the show! And he was terrific- our kids were so excited to see Mr. Boulware on stage!
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As we were driving out of the city, our girls said, "Can we do this every Christmas?"

I think we just might. What a great tradition this would be!!

disclosure: we received tickets to this show from the arden theatre. i was not compensated for this post. as always, all opinions are my own.

 

 

 


old friends

Melissa

This weekend we had some old friends from college come into town. It was such a delight. I can hardly describe.

We have so many friends like this. Who have moved away, gone to grad school or medical school and ended up all over the country. We try to stay in contact, but with so many it has become an annual holiday card and maybe the occasional Facebook message.

But we picked up these friends from the train station on Friday and watched our girls positively launch themselves into their arms. They've only seen them once or twice in the past few years, but they remember who they are and we've been talking about their visit. We spent the weekend chatting and laughing and remembering why we all liked each other so much to begin with. Our kids totally fell in love with them and cried when they left.

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It was heaven. There is nothing like old friends.

 

so long, ariel and hannah

Melissa 2 Comments

As you may have heard in the Twitterverse, there was a huge storm here in Philly about 10 days ago that knocked out power for hours – even days in some areas – around our house.

We weren't home, since I was out in Ohio helping get ready for my sister's wedding. My first worry was the fridge. We weren't going to be home for ten days and I had heard rumors that we weren't going to have any power for up to 6 days in our neighborhood. In this 95 degree heat, I was thinking we'd probably need to buy a new fridge if we didn't get power soon. YUCK! Luckily my hero, Megan, came over and cleaned out my fridge so we dodn't come home to a stinky house.

But I never even thought about the fish.
Who were in the tank.
Where the filter couldn't work to clean the water.
In 95 degree weather.
For TEN DAYS.

Lets just say that – after I almost threw up when I opened the lid – we decided to just throw out the entire fish tank.

Yes, it was that bad. 

So now we are pet-less. Ariel lived a long and full life – three years is a pretty good run for a $2 goldfish. Poor Hannah only lived here for about three months. And probably wishes she went home with some other family.

i can do this

Melissa 10 Comments

I have such a crazy week here. I’m just bracing for it!

  • LOTS of design work to finish by Friday. (Not that I’m complaining about that.)
  • Phone calls to make and emails to return.
  • I need to go to the store, but I’m not sure when I’ll manage to go…
  • Unexpected car repairs (AGAIN) so we’re trying to figure out transportation.
  • The house is a disaster (I’m not just saying that. ) and I have a mountain of laundry.
  • Ellie has half days Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. That helps. (SIGH)
  • We have lots of unusual extra things, like a birthday, parent/teacher conferences, a mortgage refinancing and doctors appointments.
  • We’re leaving for Ohio on Friday for a week.

Anyway, posting will be light this week!
As will sleep.
Starbucks gift cards are welcome, if you have one you want to share 🙂

 

In other news, Gracie, Colin and I were on TV this morning:

Gracie now thinks she is a TV star. She asked if I wanted her autograph. We’ve created a monster!!