Semi-Homemade and Target Dollar Spot

So as a quick update things are going well....we have just been crazy busy!  My new job is great, I really love it, I have a ton to learn and there are days I feel completely in over my head but it is a great adventure and is a challenge I am enjoying.

On to my little Semi-Homemade Projects and some finds in the Dollar Spot at Target....

First off, my MIL had been in the hospital but is home now and trying to recover.  So to do something nice for her I made some of these delicious chocolate chip cookie sandwiches, I had made them during the holidays and they were a huge hit so I figured it would be a great pick me up for her.  Not to mention they are super easy to make, especially since I use a few short cuts.  Here is a picture of the supplies I started with, actually I had already started so you see a few cookies already baked and cooling.

All I do is buy the Toll House Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies (follow the baking directions on the package).  I let them cool and then I use a butter knife and put a generous amount of Chocolate Frosting on one cookie and then put another cookie on top making a sandwich.  Below is the final product.

This is a great treat that takes less than 30 minutes start to finish!!

So this weekend I decided to do just a little Valentine's decorating in our house.  Since one of the mail accent colors in our house is red it is pretty easy to make V-Day stuff go with that.  While at Target yesterday I bought two small heart wreaths in hopes of adding some ribbion (that I had left over from Christmas projects) to connect them and make a little bigger statement on the front door.  Here is the picture of what I had to work with.

However, as I got started I realized that the little ribbon hanger at the top of the wreaths was long enough to use to attach them, perfect, this made it really quick and easy, I created a little door decor for $5.00 and 5 minutes of my time, here is the finished product.

Okay, two things, I tried to fix the orientation of the picture and blogger hates me and won't let me, the other thing is don't pay attention to the dirt all over my front door....I have already told my husband that we need to bust out the pressure washer but at least the little wreath is cute!!!

I also bought two little hand towels for the guest bathroom downstairs and hung those, they are cute and simple and for $2.50 well worth the money, don't you think?

My last project of yesterday was finding something to put the kid's hair accessories in, they were every where, it was insane.  So I had this little wine bucket sitting around that a supplier from my former job gave me in a gift bag during the holidays.  I really had no use for the little bucket as I have a ton of others but this one did have a unique shape that I thought would be perfect as a bucket holder for the kid's hair bows.  So I took the little bucket and some red spray paint I had left over from Avery's birthday party outside and I got to work.  Here is what it look like as I started.

Not the best picture as I had it on a plastic bag to start spray painting but you get the idea.

Here is the final product, filled with bows, as you can see we don't need anymore hair things in our house!

Then for a future project, towards the end of next month I also bought this, I know at The Dollar Spot if you don't buy it when you see it, it won't be there when you need it or want it.  So I will add a bow to this to make it hang on the front door but that will be in another post.

Is that the flux capacitor????

So, this morning I called the AC repair person....they came around noon. The guy was real nice and got straight to work, trying to find the problem. It wasn't long before he informed me that the same capacitor we had replaced 4 years ago had again gone bad, and of course this little tiny part ain't cheap, that is always the luck around here it seems. So after less than an hour of the guy working and nearly $500 later the AC is fixed and I have to say it feels nice and cool as I sit and type. However, this morning and well all night last night it was a blazin' hot in this house, it was all I could do this morning to pack up myself and Avery and get out of here to go to my Mom's house to get ready for work. I have to say I was blasting the AC in the car all the way over to my Mom's.

I had to laugh about the whole capacitor thing because every time I even hear that word (which isn't often) I think of Back to the Future and the flying/time machine better known as a delorian...those movies really were some of the very best of the 80's. I mean who doesn't know those movies? I know I get a little excited when I see the three part seris come on TV on a random weekend.

Hot!!!!

So as most of you probably know it has been ungodly hot this summer, all over the country but especially here in Florida. It has been well into the 90's for days, weeks, probably several months. I have been thankful for AC all summer! Well, I spent the afternoon/early evening at my parents with the girls, Jolie and Avery had baths over there we ate dinner, etc. Rich was at a funeral for a friend/co-worker that passed away earlier this summer. I got home right at 8 and went straight upstairs to get Avery settled in to bed, Rich walked in as I was putting Avery down. I came out of Avery's room thinking to myself it is hot in here, I went over to the AC control, it was off, I turn it on, lower the temp and come downstairs to ask Rich when and why he turned the AC off. Rich informs me he just turned it off because it was set on 75 yet it was reading 80. We go back upstairs, mess with it, go outside and listen and realize the compressor isn't running, just the fan. We instantly realize, this is a problem. I of course call Dad, he loads up tools and the wet/dry vac and heads right over. He hooks the wet/dry vac to the little pole thing outside and sucks out a bunch of water, I think great it's fixed. Well, I was wrong....the compressor doesn't turn on. So needless to say on a Sunday night at 9 pm, there aren't many people ready to come over and fix it. So we load little Jolie up in the car and Rich takes her to my parent's house for the night and also picks up 2 extra fans, at this point we already have all the ceiling fans in the house on and our only fan in Avery's room, that sweet baby is sleeping through all of this. So as it stands now we have a call into the AC guy, we have fans running and Rich and I are watching Jersey Shore on DVR in the heat, well honestly with the fans it isn't that bad. Will update tomorrow. Mow I just have my fingers crossed that this doesn't cost a fortune to fix!

Recap since last Thursday....

Okay, so I got blogging lazy at the end of last week and over the weekend so I have a lot to catch up on.  On Thursday I decided to make it a work around the house day as it was pretty cold outside and I figured it best for Avery and I to stay indoors.  So I decided it was time to tackle one of the smallest but messiest places in my house.  I can't believe I am sharing this on the Internet but at least I know it is better!

The Laundry Room Re-Do

So I told you it was awful!  We don't really have a laundry room per say, it is more of a very tiny laundry closet in the hallway upstairs, in fact it is so strange that I had to take two crazy pictures to get the whole thing because there wasn't enough space for me to back up to take pictures otherwise.  So I don't think I need to say much we can all see it was a mess!!

And the after makes it look so much bigger and better, I am really happy with it, it is so much easier to do laundry now.  In fact I have done a ton since I cleaned it and I am loving it!

I often wonder if you all think I neglect my child to get little home projects done around my house so I took a picture of what my little one does while I do projects, she sleeps!  Most of the time I have her in one of her two bouncy seats or in her swing, sometimes she is just in her pack n play sleeping, it kind of just depends where we are or what is going on but I assure you I take care of her!

Friday, Avery and I went out for a while to my Mom's house to hang out with my Aunt who is in town and my Grandma, it was really fun.  We all had our i-pads and sat there playing and telling of all our favorite apps.  I forgot to take pictures :( but my Mom took some I just have to get a hold of her memory card so I promise to update with photos as soon as I get them from Mom.

Saturday afternoon Jolie went to my friend Christina's hair salon for a much needed haircut.  Her hair was too long and too wild so we trimmed it down, it is so cute!!  She had a blast with Miss Christina, thank goodness for lifelong friends that do my hair and my girls!!

On Saturday night we went to my parent's house for an amazing lobster dinner with my parents, Grandma, and my Aunt.  It was so much fun, of course the food was amazing but the company was even better.  We used my i-pad to view totally hilarious you tube videos so that was fun, I don't think we have ever laughed so hard all together, it was so much fun!!  Again I forgot pictures, I swear I am going to get better at that!!

On Sunday morning we just hung out as a family and I captured a few great pictures of my girls.  I just love them both so much, they are amazing!!

 Sunday afternoon we went over to my parent's house to play.  Santa had brought Jolie some snow to play with but we had yet to bust out that activity so I thought a quiet Sunday afternoon at Mimi and Poppy's house was the perfect opportunity.  And let me tell you that Jolie truly loved it....it was pretty cool and the best part is you can use it over and over again so there will be more snow days in her future.



We had such a great weekend....it was quiet but we just got time to hang out and enjoy each other and I have to say that this is the best part of life, just hanging with my family and laughing and smiling, I love it!

Avery's Nursery

I just realized that I recently posted pictures of Jolie's new Big Girl Room but that I never shared any pictures of Avery's completed Nursery.  I have to say that I really love both the girl's rooms, I think they are so cute and totally girlie...I have to say I gave up on my desire for pink rooms for fear of them being totally over the top but I really like them they way they are in fairly gender neutral wall colors with the very girlie accents and plenty of pink in the accents of course.  So here it is without further ado....Avery's Nursery.

This is what you see when you walk in the door.  Her crib is there to the left and then you see her swing, a rocking chair, of course her TV for when she is bigger.

This is a picture of Avery's crib and the artwork and her name that I made for her before she was ever born.  I really love the way it looks.  I have to say after taking these pictures and then looking at them it is really difficult to capture rooms in pictures, hopefully everyone realizes it looks better in person.

This is the shelve that sits by her crib to the left of the dresser, I also made it and have it decorated with little things that people have given her as gifts.and then of course the necessary diaper items as this sits right next to her changing table.

More Completed Projects.....

So again today I was very productive around the house.  I was able to clean off the tops of my kitchen cabinets, I wiped down and/or washed everything and then reorganized, I got rid of a few random things that I just didn't think we needed any more and I rearranged everything so that it looks different.  Once again I was so excited to get started I forgot to take a before picture but here is the after.

After I got that done I thought I would finish the one thing that I didn't complete on my pre-baby to do list, I know she is almost 4 weeks old already but hey better late than never, right?  Here are the before and afters on that....

Don't get me wrong there is still a ton of stuff out there but at least it is a little neater...this is the only place we have in our house to keep outdoor toys so it will always just be kind of crazy out there but at least it is some what organized.

I also got to clean up Jolie's room for her today.  It looks a thousand times better than it did, she had taken most of the toys in her baskets out so it was just messy.  And since I never did finished room pictures on any of the house, I swear I will do that while I am on maternity leave, here are two pictures of her room, one of either side of the main part of the room.

This is a picture of her room from the doorway looking at her bed, I know it is a big bed, it is a queen because that is the size bed we already owned (it was my bed before I met Rich and then when we got our king sized bed for our master bedroom it went to the guest room, then the guest room became Jolie's room and we just used that bed).  This is the fabulous cute little girl's bedding that I found last spring at Marshall's for $30, I love it and looks so great with her yellow walls.  On the wall to the left of her bed is an art show hanging where she can change out and put her school work in, we change it about once a month and it is due for a change as it still has Christmas art in it, that will have to wait for another day.  As you can see on her bed is her favorite Christmas gift from Santa her Lady Bug Pillow Pet, she loves that thing!

This is a picture taken from the corner of the room by the closet doors.  As you can see she has a great desk and hutch, a corner piece and a long dresser.  There is also her favorite thing in her room, her TV, she loves to watch movies and gets so excited when we let her watch movies in there.  The good news is her room is clean as I sit here and type this, the bad news is she is on her way home from school with Rich and so it is possible in less than an hour it will be destroyed...ha ha!!

Recent Projects...

So since I am home with Avery and the weather has really limited the amount of things I can do, like leave my house because it has been so cold and windy and Avery can't do that we have been make wise use of our time at home and have completed several projects that I never seem to have time for as a working Mom.  So here is what I have completed so far...

I took this mess of coupons that was just sitting on the corner of the kitchen counter, I got rid of the expired and organized them all to fit in the two red envelopes ($1 each from the Dollar Spot at Target) you see in the left of the picture.  This was a great way to free up space on my kitchen counter and now I feel so much more prepared for the grocery store.  In fact this weekend I saved us $20 at the BJ's Wholesale Club and between ads, in store deals, and coupons I saved us over $45.00 at the grocery store and bought meats plus a weeks worth of groceries all for around $90, not bad for a family of four, well really three Avery doesn't use much in the way of groceries...ha ha!

On to the next project, I forgot to take before pictures on these so you will have to take my word for it that the two areas below had exploded with kid's stuff and toys and was driving me insane!

This is the toy area in my living room, prior to this picture I had two small wicker baskets there to hold toys and it was over flowing and was always looking super crazy so I went on a mission in my own house to figure out a better arrangement, that is when I looked in Jolie's closet and found the two rubber bins you see above, they have handles, they fit in the space, they hold a ton of toys, and other then the color I love them.  Although I did this project last week and the color isn't bothering me as much anymore.  So again another project done for free!!

Again, no before picture but when I tell you the above corner in my house was out of control that would be an understatement, this is right next to the sliding glass door in the back and had become a dumping ground for Jolie's large toys that were in the living room, there was a turtle art station, a princess ride on car, and a shopping cart there prior to my redo.  The basket in the corner was one of the ones that were used in the living room for Jolie's toys prior to the reorganization you saw above and now it holds all of Jolie's shoes that had been piled up by my front door previously and then I took one of the chairs from the kitchen table that always seemed to be in the way anyways and made a little finish getting ready station for Jolie, she sits in the chair in the morning to get her shoes and socks put on, it is perfect and I love it!  And yet again a FREE project, just a little moving around of things I already have!

Now on to the good stuff, here are the pictures before and after of my kitchen cabinets that I cleaned out yesterday...I am so glad that I tackled that project.  I did all the cabinets and drawers (well I have one drawer left to do) and then today I am going to clean up and redecorate the tops of my cabinets, I will again do a before and after.  I hope to make it super nice up there as well.

This might have been the easiest cabinet, it was just a little moving around and putting the things we use most easiest to get to and then on the bottom right I made room for all the sippy cups.  And a few of the rarely used glassware sets found a new home in the corner part of the next cabinet as we don't pull them out often.

This is the before on top and after on bottom of the cabinet above the stove.  I decided after reading a few stories about how you should not put any sort of plastic in this cabinet to go ahead and move that to another home and replaced it with some occasionally used glass cookware and then the seasonal salt and pepper shakers.

This is the cabinet I use to hold measuring cups and some frequently used bake/serving ware and some acrylic wine glasses that we use rather regularly when it is just us at home.  Doesn't it look so much better??  It is amazing how much space you find when you reorganize because I really didn't get rid of much I just made better use of the space I have, I thought I would have to get rid of a ton of stuff to have this happen, I am loving it!!

This is where I keep all my dishes and plastic plates and bowls for the kids to use, I can't believe how much better this looks, I couldn't be happier with the results!!

Now these are the bottom cabinets that open with the door but then go around the corner so it is very hard to see but trust me when I tell you this pots and pans cabinet looks AMAZING in comparison!

 This is the cabinet on the left of my stove that is the dumping ground for extra stuff like small appliances, bake ware, cookie cutters, extra parts to my kitchen aid mixer, extra lunch boxes, everything just end up in there but WOW this makes it look like it all belongs, I am really excited to not have stuff falling out when we open up the doors.

And last but I think my favorite....I forgot to take a before picture which is somewhat disappointing because it was so crazy and it is so great now but this is my Tupperware cabinet and it is so super organized, LOVE it!!!



So as you can see I am making GREAT use of my time at home and getting a lot of things done that don't normally fit into my busy working mother schedule.

Weekend Recap

So this weekend was pretty quiet in The Perillo House....Saturday we hung out I did a little cleaning, that chore seems to never end, I feel like there is never a time when everything in my house is clean, I try though! Anyways, I have become such a clean freak, it is scary. Well, Saturday night several of our friends stopped by to see the kids and hang out, we ordered pizza and watched football, there was no drinking involved and it was pretty quiet other than the noises from our kids and our friend's son and Rich and I considered it a really fun party, so funny how things change as your family grows.  But it was a great time and our amazing friends brought the kids some really great gifts.  One friend brought Avery a Redskins outfit back from their recent trip to Maryland so that was pretty cool as we have a hard time finding Redskins attire here and most the time have to order it online, so that was amazing and then our other friends brought Jolie and Avery, Thing 1 and Thing 2 outfits, they are so CUTE!!!

On Sunday morning bright and early we had a photographer come to the house for professional photos of Avery for her birth announcements we also got some super cute photos of both the girls together as well as a great family photo.  It was really nice and I can't wait to get the CD from her so I can start making prints and also get the birth announcements out.  Avery has had some difficulty sleeping at night as of recent so that has made for some really long nights, the funny part is she sleeps perfectly during the day, I think we have a little day/night confusion so we are currently working on that, hopefully we correct that quickly!!  Although I will say last night was a thousand times better, I got her asleep about 9:30 after a little fussing and she slept til about 1:30 when she was stirring a little, I got up, changed her diaper she did about a half of a feeding and then went back to sleep and slept until she woke up about 4:20 at which time she ate a full feeding and then was up til about 4:30 and then slept again til almost 8 when she feed again, I have to say that felt amazing in comparison to how things have been going.  In other news I am on to yet another bladder infection and a second round of antibiotics, will be going to OB again this week to figure it all out.  With Avery's lack of sleep and my not feeling well I missed my dear friend's baby shower but I will see her this week sometime to pass off her gift and finish planning our other friend's shower.that is in just a couple of weeks.  Sorry dear friend Lora that I missed your fay but I was a hot mess on Saturday until later in the day when the medicine started to kick in, thank goodness for pain relievers.

Today is going to be a productive day, I swear to it!  This morning my Mom is already at my house watching Avery so I can take Jolie to school and then hit the grocery store, so that is done for the week.  My Mom is currently at the Club Store getting diapers for me and a few things for herself and when she gets back we are busting into the kitchen cabinet re-organization.  So I am totally excited for this, I am just plan tired of my Tupperware cabinet exploding on me every time I open it!  So I am off to the cabinet project, pictures to come in another post later this week.

My week...

Okay, I started off the week good and on track, blogging everyday, cleaning everyday and in my opinion being the ideal stay-at-home mom and housewife.  I took a little break from all that yesterday...after not sleeping on Tuesday night I didn't do all the things I had been doing but my amazing husband took care of Baby Avery from 9 pm until she woke up for her 2 am feeding, he even feed her and then brought her into our bedroom at 3 am, already asleep and then she slept until her 6 am feeding so obviously I got a ton of sleep and feel ready to go today.  Unfortunately, it is cold and rainy today so Avery and I will be staying indoors and getting things done around the house, which is perfectly okay considering there is always stuff to be done around here and today is no different.  Jolie has pulled tons of toys out in her room so I will be cleaning up that mess today, I might even take a few pictures of her room after I finish since I still haven't posted completed house pictures and I am dying to share all of that anyways and that will make for a great post this week.  Originally my Mom was going to come over today to help reorganize our kitchen cabinets but we decided to postpone that til next week since she still had Christmas decorations at her house to put away and she was dying to complete that project which I can't blame her as the last few days of our tree being up made me feel as though our house was getting smaller by the minute and the walls were truly closing in on me and I couldn't take it!!  So on to the week and some pictures to go with it, the pictures are truly random so bare with me.

Okay, Avery and I went on our first successful shopping trip on Tuesday, it was just a little trip to Target but it was really fun.  We needed to exchange a baby monitor we got as a gift because one of the receivers didn't work so we did that, of course we bought a more expensive one, isn't that always how it goes??  But I like the new one, it even lights up with the sounds so that you can turn the volume down and see the noise, love that!  Then I bought a shower gift for a friend, it was on sale so I loved that as well, I am teaching Avery young about not paying full price!!  Here is a picture of Avery ready to go shopping, I love it!  By the way we got the car seat cover in the picture as a gift and I have to say it is amazing!!  It takes the place of a blanket and is also waterproof for rainy Florida days, I didn't have this with Jolie but I have to say I absolutely love it!!!

In the most exciting news from our little shopping spree we found some great sales for Mommy...here are two pictures of what we found.

I got this amazing little brown dress with burgundy neck detail for $9.98, I thought that was a great deal, I might even wear it to the baby shower I am hosting for a friend in a few weeks, it is super cute and the price made it even better.  With the neck detail a necklace isn't needed so I am thinking I will pair it with a large earrings and a chunky braclet. 

I also found these amazing flats, the pair on the left is black and the pair on the right are like a silver/gray color.  The best part is they were only $4.98 per pair, two pairs of shoes for less then $10.00 is AWESOME.  I actually wore the grayish pair to lunch with friends yesterday.

My other Tuesday project....

I used things that I had on hand to make a nice surprise for Rich and Jolie and I have to say they were both very happy with it.  I took the frozen sugar cooking dough that I bought from Jolie's school fundraiser and cooked those according to the directions.  I then let them cool and put vanilla frosting (store bought) that I had in the pantry and then sprinkled the top with heart shaped sprinkles that I had leftover from making Valentine's cookies last year with Jolie.

And Ta-Da here is the final product....only 10 cookies fit on the plate so I got to sample a few before Rich and Jolie got home..ha ha.  Good thing breastfeeding burns calories, I think on Tuesday it burned all my cookie calories....

So as you can see Tuesday was a really busy yet productive day.  Yesterday was also a busy day but I don't have pictures and cool things to show for it but at least I got a lot done.  But I returned my rental breast pump to the hospital to so not to get charged this morning for the rental for the month of January.  Thanks to my good friend Jen I have a Medla Freestyle pump to use and I have to say that I love it as I can actually do other things while pumping unlike the rental one where it is not hands free.  I then went to the Vital Statistics office to get Avery's Birth Certificate, which I have to say that the Vital Statistics office is a creepy place, first off it is in the hood and then there are crazies in there that can't figure out how to fill out the simple form or how to take a number and then go to the counter when the number is called, it might be one of the craziest things I have every experienced, I somewhat remember this from when I had to do the same for Jolie but I think it is even worse now, I was glad to get in and out of there quickly!  Then the best part of my day yesterday was meeting up with two of my dear friends for a little "girl's lunch".  I had seen Jen last week when she came by the house but I hadn't seen Kristi since right before I had Avery when we had a HUGE party at her house for work, which I have to say was my last major work event (merely 4 days before Avery's arrival) but it was awesome!  Our lunch was full of laughing, talking, and a little sparkling wine (that might have been the best part!).  It was awesome, I hope that we can find a way to have these little lunches more often!

Today as I mentioned I will be cleaning around the house...that means...dishes, laundry, making beds, straightening up the downstairs, washing breast pump parts and sterilizing baby items.  Just another normal day in my time as a stay-at-home mom and housewife, I have to say doing chores is so much easier when I haven't worked a full day and then still have to do the chores!  I will also be making a nice dinner for the family tonight when they get home tonight so I have that defrosting.  I feel so productive already this morning as I have successfully feed everyone breakfast, packed lunched for Jolie and Rich, and pumped a delicious breakfast for Avery...ha ha!  I have pulled meat out of the freezer and begun defrosting for dinner and the kitchen is already in order for the day.  After a little rest for Mommy and a short Avery nap (she is taking that now, I had to stop writing this post a while ago to feed her and that makes her tired) it will be on to the upstairs to clean Jolie's room, start laundry, straighten up my Master Bedroom and possibly vacuuming the upstairs (that will depend on Avery's sleep cycle for the day).  Well I am off to clean, well rest first then clean...will post all about it tomorrow.

The Most Memorable Moments of 2010

Wow what a year it has been...I truly can't believe it is all ready over. As a reflection on the last year I thought it would be a good idea to reflect on some of the most joyous and then some of the most sorrowful moments of the year as we draw to an end of 2010 and welcome in another year that will soon be unfolding.

1. Rich and I ushered in the New Year together quietly at home and made wishes for the year ahead and had the hopes of a year full of all joy and no sorrow. We made resolutions for the year ahead and looked on to the year.

2. We spent Superbowl Sunday celebrating my Dad's 59th Birthday, it was a great time! Little did anyone realize this was going to be the last time our entire family got together, just 6 short days later my Dad's mother passed away peacefully in her sleep. So in the wee hours of the morning on February 13th my family gathered around my Grandmother in the ER of St. Joesph's Hospital and said our final goodbyes. Truly one of the most sorrowful times of not only 2010 but of my life. I have spent most of the rest of the year reflecting on all that she meant to me and my family. I miss her greatly but realize she is still watching over me and a major part of my life.

3. Rich and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary on February 10th with a great night out to Roy's in Tampa. It was hard to believe then that we were already married 3 years and now we are only about 6 weeks away from being married 4 years. I am not sure that there is such a thing as a perfect marriage but Rich and I have strived to find our way in our marriage and it is really working for us, it isn't always perfect but we truly love each other.

4. On April 7th I turned the BIG 3-0 in a quite celebration with my family and a night out with some friends the night before. It is so hard to believe that I am really 30 years old, no longer in my 20's and coming into my own as a woman, as a wife and as a mother.

Rich and I out at Roy's.

Did I mention my friends and I went to "Drag Queen Bingo"?  It was so much fun!!

5.  Just 9 days after turning 30 Rich and I were excited and nervous to find out that we were pregnant with our second child!  I had dreamed of my family of two and always wanted a second daughter so they could grow up together and be best friends as adults, it was a dream come true.  Although I know Rich secretly wanted a son, I mean what man doesn't, we were thrilled to learn that we were indeed having a second daughter the first week in August.  We were excited to know that we would be having an amazing Christmas season as we were due on Christmas Day and would be scheduling a repeat C-Section just a week or so before the holiday.  Most of our year focused on being pregnant and getting ready to be a family of 4.  We started this blog to remember our journey and we started with the moving around of our house in preparation.

6.  On Mother's Day we celebrated Jolie's 3rd Birthday with family and joyfully announced to our families the upcoming arrival of our newest addition.  A week later Jolie had a huge, wonderful, Tea Party Birthday Party with family and friends to ring in being 3.  She truly enjoyed her day and was thrilled to know she would soon be a big sister.

7.  At the end of May Rich and I were lucky enough to have me win a short cruise from work.  So my parents watched Jolie and we set sail from Miami for a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas, it was truly a great time and like the mini-honeymoon Rich and I hadn't gotten a chance to take yet.

8.  In early July we had a memorable and wonderful summer, family vacation to visit my parents in North Carolina.  It was a great time full of awesome adventures for Jolie...we went blueberry picking, we went to the gem mine, Rich and Jolie walked all the way up to the top of Mt. Mitchell (being pregnant and it being hot I waited at the store), see fireworks, go fishing.  We also got the chance to see my childhood best friend and her family for a day while we were there, I got a chance to meet her youngest daughter and my husband and her husband finally got a chance to meet as well, it was amazing to see her as I hadn't seen her since Jolie was very small.

9.  In August the preparations to clean out and rearrange our house took over in full swing.  We had the entire house painted by a professional...it looks great, I really love it.  We moved Jolie into what use to be our office/guest room and in the process we loose what was our office, so I took a whole desk/room full of office stuff and put it all into a tall bookcase in the hallway upstairs and three canvas bins that sit on the underneath shelf of my China Cabinet, that was a major under taking!!  We cleaned out every closet in our house and totally reorganized.  We then proceeded to do more home improvement projects the rest of the year until Avery's arrival.  We cleaned out the garage and rearranged things and made our home into a cute little home for our family of four.

10.  We celebrated Rich's 32nd Birthday in September with a quiet little family party.  Jolie and I got Rich a round of golf and an overnight stay at Bay Hill Golf Club over in Orlando for his Birthday so him and his friend Scott headed over there in early October to take part in that and had a GREAT time!  Rich said it was easily one of his most favorite gifts ever, success!!  Rich is probably the most difficult person to purchase gifts for as he is a man of little wants or really even needs and isn't much into "cluttery" things so most often the best gifts for him are things that he can do.


11.  We had amazing fall holidays, starting with a GREAT Halloween with Jolie dressed up like the cutest Lady Bug you have ever seen.  That was a fun day at my Mom's house for a little party and pumpkin painting and carving.  We then had a fabulous Thanksgiving dinner together as a family, it was truly memorable to all be together, even my Aunt from Chicago was in town.  I enjoyed my last family gathering with a family of three and while being pregnant but I can honestly say I was ready to pop and have Avery and just have our completed family.

12.  On December 17th bright and early in the morning Rich and University Community Hospital Women's Center and at 7:50 am via repeat c-section welcomed an 8lb, 5oz baby girl we named Avery Marie Perillo.  She is beautiful and amazing and since this just happened and I have already written a huge post about her, I will just leave the link here.

13.  We then celebrated what felt like the most magical Christmas ever.  It was complete and wonderful and the only thing that would have made it better was having my Grandmother here along with us.  Once again since I just wrote a massive post on this I will just add the link here.

And here we are...the dawn of a new year.  I am so excited to see what 2011 holds for me and my family, while I could sit here and make resolutions for the new year and talk about all the things that I am going to do and the things that I am going to give up, I think I will refrain from that this year.  I think this year instead I will make just one commitment to myself and that is that in 2011 I promise to put my family first, I will thinking of them before making commitments for work or with friends and remember what is the most important and that is my family and spending time with them.  I want to use 2011 to make the turn to simple, I want to make my life simple, so here is to a year full of the simple, important things and making memories with my family!!