stinkin' cute!

Show Us Where You Live Friday: Kitchen Edition

Kelly started a "Show Us Where You Live Friday" blog. I am thrilled about it! I love seeing other peoples homes for interior design inspiration and decorating ideas (I am a "model home junkie"). There is one big show-stopper.... I do not have a single decorative bone in my body... I am talking zero, zilch, big goose-egg LACK of creativity. There are many styles that I like and sometimes try... The end result is an incomplete, mishmash of design ideas that is unsettling at times. If I ever have extra money to throw away, I will hire an interior designer to do my house top to bottom. My favorite styles are neoclassical, art deco, French country, Mediterranean, the list goes on... We currently live in a "tract" home that backs up to a golf course. I love the great view, but I dream of building a bright, open and airy custom home one day on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It will be the complete opposite to the rich, warm colours that adorn my home in the beautiful, cold Northeast.

View of the Kitchen from the staircase...

View of the Kitchen from the powder & laundry room area looking across to the great room.

View of the Kitchen from the Great Room...

Kitchen Closet/Pantry....
Fish decor to appease my husband's taste... (I like these towel hooks too... they even match my Kitchen and Denby tableware colours!)


Denby Fire / Chilli casual tableware ... I love the warm colours and retro design.

Mikasa China... used approx. 4x per year...



The deck dining area that we will soon be enjoying...
I'm looking forward to the warmth of summer, outdoor dining and my husband grilling!


Thank you to Kelly for a great idea! Click here to go back to the Kitchen Tour.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

-Susan

Photo to Sketch of Sophia created by my friend! Thank you, Anne!

Sophia - 2 years, 1 week old

Happy Easter! Happy Resurrection Day!

"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."John 1:29 KJV

I am late posting Easter pictures of the girls. I hope everyone had a great Easter. Enjoy the beautiful Spring weather!

Little Miss Sunshine is potty trained!!!

Sophia– the one who marches to her own beat, at her own pace…

This week, we started to potty train Sophia. It was my Mom's idea and it made sense since Sophia is now 27 months old (Sydney was potty trained around this age).

Early this week, Sophia and Sydney were spending the day at GrandMom's. My Mom decided to start potty training Sophia. She sat Sophia on the "throne" and she ended up in a screaming/crying fit. The conversation then went like this [Grandmom] "don't you want to be a big girl?".... [Sophia] "I don't want to be a big girl". After this experience and knowing Sophia's stubborn attitude, my Mom (who potty trained 8 of her own children including me) told me that the they best way to train Sophia would be to "Wing It"... which meant do away with the diapers completely and let her go. Within one day (after a couple early-on accidents on the floor), Sophia was using the potty!! By day 3 she was totally potty trained - #1 and #2! As of today, she does not need any assistance (or should I say... she does not want our help... that's our little miss independent).

Sophia likes to keep us on our toes and prove that she is still the one in control... AFTER she anxiously tells us that she has to "GO", she sloooowly slides on her belly, like a snake, across the floor to the bathroom ... taking her good old time (sometimes, she even starts to move backwards or turns around), while Bob & I are panicking and thinking she may not make it in time.... but she always does.

Here's a few cute pictures taken during lunch today...

miss "bashful", don't take my picture...

miss "i will not let you get a good pic"...

miss "maybe I do like getting my picture taken, but I like to play hard to get"...

BTW, I know that this is my first post in months.... work has been crazy, busy for me since the beginning of the year. It has kept me from blogging and when I do have some free time to blog... I'm too stressed about work to relax (and I need to be relaxed to blog). I was lucky to have some time over the Holiday's to blog, but it was back to the daily grind right after the new year. Not happy about this at all... more to come.... hopefully soon?

Older Cousins Rock!

During winter break, my three nieces, who live in Maryland, came over for a few days to hang out with their little cousins (and favorite Aunt & Uncle >>grin<< ). It was great to have guest in our house who JUMP at the chance to change Sophia's diapers. I didn't change a diaper for a full 2+ days!

Velia came over for one night to babysit the girls so Bob and I could go out to dinner & the movies! [We saw Slumdog Millionaire which was an awesome movie... best one that I've seen in a long time]. Velia came up another night from Maryland with her boyfriend to visit Grandmom and then came by for dinner. After dinner at Our Place Restaurant & Bar, we came back to the house and listened to them sing karaoke. Craig played his guitar and sang which was cool.

[I plan to post a video of the karaoke when I'm back from Florida next week. I haven't had time to download and edit video.]

Morgan (my sister Mary Beth's daughter) and Rose (my sister Esther's daughter) singing Karaoke. Rose is singing while holding Sydney! (I can barely hold Sydney anymore!)

Sophia the constructor...

school-time in PJ's

teachers - Rose & Morgan, students - Sydney & Sophia

Rose and Sydney

Out to dinner with my niece Velia (my sister Linda's daughter) and her boyfriend, Craig

N2O Candidate

NO, I'm not talking about Sydney. She is a dream dental patient....

ready to go and SMILING

she evens likes to floss or to be flossed....

and she treasured her new toothbrush all day

...then there's Sophia.... a trial run GONE BAD.

One day she will be begging for N2O just like her Mom, who is a big wuss. Here's to Dr. Sansone's best & worst patient of the day :-)