My friends made me happy cry!

I was hosting an online Facebook party for this cool new lipstick and had included people from all times of my life…and the consultant was posting fun games for them to earn raffle entries. This one she did was so sweet and the responses made me happy cry. 🙂 I’m posting it so I can look back on it when I’m having a bad day. 

  

Memorial Day cookout at the pool!

Otherwise known as Day 3 of 3. 🙂

We had a super fun four hours at the pool for the Memorial Day Cookout! We were there as soon as they opened and it was GLORIOUSLY empty—and quiet—as we were the only ones there! (We were there so early because we know the pool gets CRAZY when they offer free food—everyone and their brother who never come to the pool all summer otherwise show up for the free burgers, chips, and pop 🙄 —and we wanted to be sure to get good seats.) The forecast had called for rain all day, so we were excited that the weather held out and was actually very nice. The sun even came out to warm things up just enough for me to take a quick dip in the pool and take some pics with the waterproof camera! It eventually clouded over but it never rained!

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We made her get out of the pool and dry off because her lips were blue and she was very visibly shivering—even though she didn’t want to. Yep, she’s definitely my daughter—that’s exactly how I used to be!

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After two towels and some snacks, she was ready to go again!

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Katie and her friend Ainsley (they will be moving later this summer). 🙁

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The huge crowd (which my pic doesn’t really even do justice)—which we will only see for the cookouts today, July 4th, and Labor Day.

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Halloween starts tonight!

Owen’s school Fall Festival was tonight and we wanted some one-on-one time with him so asked friends to watch Katie. They were going to a Trunk or Treat event so she was excited! She was Rapunzel—with Pascal on her shoulder!

And then we had Harry Potter—SO stinkin’ cute!

With his fresh scar:

Getting his new shoes tied. I bought these shoes on clearance about four years ago and they’re finally the right size…and worked well with his costume!

Couldn’t you just eat him up?


We kept bouncing back and forth between the games in the gym and the music in the cafeteria. He didn’t want to dance but loved playing with the hula hoops! He was very shy because he didn’t know many of the kids.

And you’ll notice he’s missing the glasses. Yeah. He decided about 15 minutes in that he didn’t want to wear them. Or carry his broom. Kids. :/

Back to games!

And then since it was crazy crowded and he was pretty much done, we suggested frozen yogurt—and he wanted to leave immediately. 🙂

Katie actually got home later than us! They said she qas very well-behaved and had a BLAST! And she came home with a TON of candy!

The vampire teeth were the favorite thing.

And, lastly, pics from Katie’s night. Her friend Ainsley is Tinkerbell.

Katie’s 3rd Birthday Party!

Daddy and Owen went to pick up the cupcake cake and the pizza before the party!

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We surprised the kids with a bounce house borrowed from friends!

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Owen testing out the Frozen stick-on earrings!

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Everyone had a good time and the bounce house was a success!! I’m losing my mind, though—I didn’t take a picture of the decorated table OR the food table! 🙂

Saturday Night Dinner

I finally remembered to take a picture of our group at dinner. Tonight we had my good friend Ruth (and her daughter Emily) who came down from Maryland, Frank and Beth (and their two girls) who have attended before, and a t-ball mom Kate (and her daughter) that I befriended recently (unfortunately, her husband had to stay home with their three boys because their behavior had been lacking).

Owen was at our table because we had extra seats and the kids table was filled with four girls. 🙂

Of course, it had started storming terribly at the exact moment Tom needed to be out grilling, but I had the foresight to have him put up our old umbrella so he didn’t get completely soaked. 🙂

We all had an amazing time with lots of laughs and can’t wait to do it again!!

Our inaugural Saturday Night Spaghetti!

Some background…

I love having friends over for dinner. I like making new friends. So when I read this article last year—
Friday Night Meatballs: How to Change Your Life With Pasta (if you have the time to read it, please do!)—it hit a nerve and I immediately knew it was something I wanted to attempt. I promised myself that I would schedule something after the holiday season had settled down. Well, then life happens, and I didn’t actually get to schedule it until the end of January, with the dinner to be mid-February.

I posted the following invitation on Facebook and hoped for some responses:

Spaghetti Dinner - Photograph by Carina Romano
Spaghetti Dinner – Photograph by Carina Romano
[Photograph: Carina Romano]

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Imagine my surprise when the RSVP slots were filled in less than 24 hours!! And lots more people LOVED the idea and promised future participation! 🙂

Unfortunately, the weather didn’t play nice and we had to postpone a week, but the original attendees were all still able to come! And everything went awesome! Six guests (plus kids) was just right. (This house is big, but for a dinner party, six guests is about the limit of dining space. I wish we had more room, or even a good place for another table!) Everyone got along and had a good time talking, the kids were all awesome (Owen had a new Lego buddy and Katie had a friend), and everyone stayed much later than I anticipated (they all left about 9:30). One couple said it was a great idea and they are thinking about starting something similar! Yay! During the event, I even stopped Tom and told him that I was very happy. He agreed it was a good night. 🙂 We both can’t wait to do it again!

Even though it wasn’t BUSY or lots of work, we were both kept busy visiting and prepping and whatnot, so I didn’t take pictures! The only one I took was of the kids’ table:

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And this one was snapped by a guest (everyone liked the aquarium but the girls loved it!):

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I hope all future dinners go as smoothly as this one did! 🙂

And then, even though it was WAY past the kids’ bedtimes, we let them stay up to watch one TV show to let them calm down. And this happened:

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