A Recap on the Bat Mitzvah

A little over 2 years ago, I shared all the planning that was going in to getting ready for Annie's Bat Mitzvah. It was such a beautiful day!

So many friends and family came to help us celebrate Annie's great accomplishment.

When we first started out on this journey, we really didn't know Megan, the girl with whom Annie shared her Bat Mitzvah, and her family. Now, I can't imagine my life without them.

Here's some of the things we did:

For the service we wrote our own program. It had some information about the girls and specifics to their service, a lot of information about our synagogue and some great ideas about things our visitors could do while they were in Memphis. If you would like a copy for your Bar or Bat Mitzvah, email me!

We also made busy bags and coloring programs for the service. This was a HUGE part of having a really great day! The kids who came to the service all had a way to engage with the songs that are a regular part of the service, but the coloring pages were pictures of what was happening in the same order that things were actually going on!

For the luncheon following the service, we invited family to Central BBQ. We had posters of each girl for family to sign and paper and crayons on the tables to keep the kiddos occupied. Flowers acted as center-pieces for a few of the tables and the whole experience was warm and special.

For the party, we headed to the pool! A inflatable projector screen made it possible to share pictures of the girls and we grilled burgers and hot dogs! We had custom cups printed as a party favor, and really got to enjoy a big birthday celebration!

If you are interested in the weekly to-do lists for the last couple of months of planning, I am working on a DIY workbook! If you are interested in being one of the first to know about it, please let me know, by emailing me here.

Here's a few pictures of the great day!

It was a great day, beautifully photographed by our dear friend, Hiedi Walter. If you would like to have her photograph your family, please email her here.

Sometimes normal is just normal

I've noticed a lot of friends on Facebook and in day-to-day life ponder if their child's behavior is normal. (Maybe because sometimes our threenager's behavior is so awful we want to believe it must be a possession, complete with a need for a Linda Blair level exorcism?!) We all want to make sure we're doing the right thing, but also that our kid is, as the docs might say, WNL (within normal limits). Even after 5 kids, I still struggle with making sure everyone is ok, doing the right thing, and within normal limits. 

The same is true for marriage and relationships. But things are also a little different. Children grow, they change. In some ways, so does your marriage. Who you and your significant other were when you set out on this journey has, most certainly, for better or worse, changed. 

For example, when my husband and I met 15 years ago, I was 19 and he was 25. Both of us had not graduated from college, we had no children, all of our parents were still alive, etc. etc. over the course of our relationship, we have both grown and aged as people separate of our relationship and within our relationship, but so has the relationship. We have friends we've made as a couple, friends we had before our relationship, whom we now share and experiences we share that have changed our relationship, for good and for not so good. 

Ultimately, what I'm getting at is that after 5 kids and 15 years of marriage, what I know to be normal is a bit wild and crazy, but it seems to be normal for everyone. Teenagers will talk back, test boundaries, speak more for themselves, slam doors, help with more chores, develop their independence, smell bad, among other things. Smaller people will need to be reminded of boundaries, safety and appropriate coloring surfaces, convinced that it's ok to go to bed first, not watch EVERY SINGLE CARTOON EVERY MADE IN INE SITTING, and that sometimes we have to keep our shoes on. Marriages will be stressful, wonderful, easy, hard, emotional journeys. 

All of this is what makes life worth living. It's a great beautiful world and though my husband and children sometimes (often) help me have more stress in my life than I would alone, they make each day richer. 

So, if you're life feels like your constantly being pulled and you feel like it's a struggle. Please, hang in and hold on. You're not alone. We all feel it. Let your wall down and ask for help, or go to bed with a book and a sink of dishes. It may not seem like it right now, but you're worth the extra 5 minutes. 

I promise, you're doing great and I'm proud of you. 

A mural in downtown Memphis, with the right message. 

First night of Hanukkah

For Hanukkah this year, I really wanted to make sure that the kids had some great memories, since last year's Hanukkah was less than wonderful. This year, for night #1, we invited over a few friends to share the evening with us and then made a yummy dinner of latkes, burgers and salad. Geoff made an amazing dessert challah! His dessert challah had a cream cheese and cinnamon filling that was folded into it. My oh my, it was amazing!

While, I truly enjoyed having over our friends, even better was watching my kids get excited when they opened gifts. Of course, best of show went to Lissy Jane! She got her baby doll tonite and it was absolutely adorable how cute she was about opening her gift! First off, she now understands opening presents, which is so fun. But, what's even better, she really loves babies!

 These latkes were so yummy. We definitely have some tweaking to do on the recipe. But, it was so good. Everyone really enjoyed how tasty those latkes were, especially since some of them had never had latkes before.

 This is me and my friend Keller Anne. This was her first Hanukkah dinner to attend. She really seemed to enjoy learning from my kiddos, even though Jonas totally scammed her out of gelt while playing dreidel.

 How can anyone not like the vision of lit menorahs!??? They are definitely a beautiful sight and one that I always enjoy remembering from years past. It's hard to think back on past Hanukkahs and not miss my mom. Especially since she died during Hanukkah last year. I hope that she is enjoying watching all of us this year. OR maybe she's here with us. Either way, I so wish she could be here to share these moments with us.
 

Simple Solution Sunday: Tervis Addiction!

I am not sure if you are aware of how addicted I am to Tervis tumblers...but suffice it to say that the feelings i have for my collection of Tervis tumblers is a bit, well, ridiculous.

Here's a picture of a few of them from when we went to the beach.

While I love all of the cups and their colorful lids and straws that coordinate with my Tervis tumblers, they make quite a cluster in the drawer. Personally, I like things to be neater and tidier than that.  I've also been trying to find ways to improve the overall functionality of my kitchen.

Meet; the hanging basket! This was done with the new Command clips, found at my local target for 3.49 a pack. The basket also came from target, it was $14.99, which was a little more than I was planning to spend, but once it gets spray painted black to match the rest of the kitchen, it will look great. I am really pleased with how it turned out.

Be sure to check out your target, to see how you can solve some of your clutter problems in a cheap and easy way!
 

Getting Ready for Hanukkah

It is my understanding that many people do not know much about Hanukkah and that they are quite curious how it is celebrated in someone's home. These are some of the questions I get and the answers I give. If you want to know more, I'll include some links to help you out.

1. Do your kids get Christmas presents?
Nope. We do not usually celebrate Christmas. If we go to Geoff's mom or dad's for Christmas, then they will get Christmas presents then. But at our house, we don't usually do Christmas.
2. Do you guys decorate/put up a Christmas tree?
I love to decorate! However, we usually do a winter decoration of some kind, but not for Christmas specifically. We have done a Christmas tree before and I own a LOT of ornaments and twinkle lights. I happen to really love the smell of Christmas trees and really like the look, but they do not go up for the Christmas holiday. If we have them it is for fun only. But, target certainly gets in the holiday spirit for us! Giving us a whole 10 feet of an aisle...check it out:

3. Do your kids get 8 BIG presents?
No way! I do not have enough money for 8 BIG presents and it is 100% not what the holiday of Hanukkah is about. Hanukkah is more about being thankful for what you have and celebrating those things. In fact, Purim, a spring holiday that goes with the story of Ester, was the original gift giving holiday of the Jewish faith. Here's a picture of our buffet with all the presents I had finished wrapping after Thanksgiving.

By Saturday, I had this:

4. What exactly is that light/candle thing for?
The light/candle thing, is called a menorah. It represents the oil lamp from the synangogue that was destroyed by the Greeks. The Macabees, Jewish Soldiers, fought to defend it. In each synanagogue there is a lamp above the Torah scrolls and it represents the eternal light. In the synanagogue destroyed by the Greeks, the people could only find enough unspilled oil to last 1 day/night. When they put it in the lamp, it lasted for 8 days/nights. So we celebrate that with a menorah that has 8 lights. We have a special one, called a Shamesh, that sits up taller than the other 8. It is the leader. 
5. How do you guys do presents?
Geoff and I get the kids presents and they do usually end up with 8 things to open, but some nights are definitely bigger than others. Which is TOTALLY fine with me.

6. Why don't you celebrate Christmas; Jesus was Jewish?
7. Do you decorate?
I love to decorate! Since I do a lot of sewing, which you can purchase at www.etsy.com/shop/SewSoStyle I love to make things for our house too! Like my dish towel? I'm working on making a bunting banner and a table cloth for the house; once those are done, I'll share them too!

8. Why the potato things?
The holiday is the celebration of oil. We make potato pancakes that get fried, in oil. For some, the whole holiday is about the celebration of oil and they only eat fried foods for their first nite dinner. (We are not that way.) Some others do donuts. We'll make latkes and have dinner and a few friends over. I'll share that in another post.

I hope that I have answered some of your questions :)

Happy Hannukkah!

The ongoing Kitchen project...

Kitchens are a difficult thing to handle. Especially, when trying to make them feel like home and comforting and all of those other good words.

You all know what happens during a party right? Everyone ends up in the kitchen.

Well, my kitchen was dark. And dense. and cramped. Even if you wanted to be in the kitchen, it was too tight and too small for that to happen.

When we bought our house in 2006, this is what our kitchen was like. It had wood cabinets, laminate floors, awful counter tops, brown electric stove and a dishwasher and fridge that were both black.

To try and make the kitchen feel a little brighter, I painted the cabinet facing white, the doors orange, and the soffets yellow. The hardware was black Sadly enough, this matched the floor perfectly.

Now, we have taken down half a wall and built a half wall, replaced the linoleum floor with tile, repainted the walls and taken down the cabinets to have open shelving. On the backside of the kitchen wall, we have a built in buffet, with a cookbook nook under it. The buffet shown has pictures under plexiglass, allowing us to personalize and change our buffet look to match the season.Here's a shot of the cookbook nook before it got painted.

 

As the kitchen continues to change, I will be sure to share pictures how it looks. This is one of the hard parts about being a homeowner...there's so much you want to do and only so much you can afford.