The Clean Plate Club

Most of you know that funny little song you sing to your kids after they have finished their meal, the Clean Plate Club song, right?! I had it sung to me quite a few times back in my day, loving every minute of it. And now, Kenzie just eats it up (pardon the pun.)

Well, here I am, 30 years later, in a supper club called The Clean Plate Club! Ty and I hosted the very first dinner party at our home on Saturday. We all had the best time meeting and getting to know each other. Seven out of the eight couples came and the evening turned out to be so nice that we got to eat outside on the deck, which was perfect!

We served shrimp on the grill for an appetizer, pork tenderloin, wild rice, asparagus and a spinach salad for the main course and of course, I made a cake for dessert. I piped pink, orange and yellow lines and dots around the border and placed fresh daisies on top...what fun and so, so yummy too! After eating and hanging out for a while, the guys (all at the same time) headed into the garage for some Foosball and ping pong. Later, everyone left with their adorable, personalized wine bottle that Tovi and Melissa Ervin were sweet enough to have done! Thanks CPC for kicking off the festivites at our house...can't wait until next month!

Livi's Almost 5!

Livi Heffron, AKA Livi Lu, will be the big 5 on Saturday! As an early birthday treat yesterday, Tovi, me and all of our kiddos went to the mall. The kids had Chick-Fil-A (of course!) and Tovi and I had our favorite...Japanese! After lunch, we headed to the store Claire's (a young girl's paradise) and Liv got her ears pierced. She did fantastic...a couple of tears and that was it! We all ate ice cream to celebrate. We are so proud of her, and oh my, how she certainly looks like an almost 5-year-old kindergartner! Way to go Livi Lu!

Our niece, Mary, came for a visit this week. She stayed with the Heffrons mostly, but spent one night with us. She and Kenzie had so much fun playing at the pool and our house. She's a great eater too (-: We had fun with you Mary...thanks for being so sweet to our girls! And Happy Birthday, Janie! We can't believe you are the big 10 today. Have so much fun on your special day, and we hope to see you soon! Love you!

What's new in Tyli Belle's world? Well, this morning, she rolled all the way over for the first time! She was lying on her back and the next thing I knew, she was on her belly. I love the days when these kind of "firsts" take place...they make my heart skip lots of beats! And being 5 months old now, she is loving her exer-saucer! She grabs the loud, little gadgets and loves to spin the one with the tiny balls! Mostly, she is just one HAPPY, sweet-as-can-be baby who smiles all the time. And her huge smile will light up your life any day...it is truly priceless!

What a Treat!

I believe this cute little package is good enough to eat, how about you? Yes, it's a cake! And it's my very first creation working with fondant. I am taking another cake class this month, called Fondant and Tiered Cakes. My instructor put it perfectly, fondant is adult playdoh, but edible! I am loving this class and am excited to create more fondant beauties. The first picture is shown without curlicues and the bow in the next picture has them...which do you like better? While I'm taking a break from beads at the moment, my creative juices are still flowing with cake decorating! I am lucky to have an artistic eye and be talented in more than one area. If you ever need a cake...I'm your girl!

Memories!

My Dad and Melissa came through town on their way back to Tallahassee, FL last Tuesday. We were all at Echo Farms for the kids swim meet when it was cancelled because of thunder. It was a shame, because no storm ever came. So Dad and Melissa came to our house to hang out for a little while. And the fun began!
Dad started pulling out his old tricks from when Tovi and I were little. He pretended to take his thumb off, he made his nose click really loud, and the coolest one...he pulled money out from behind his and Kenzies' ears! Now, when you're little, these things are out of this world! And let me tell you, Kenzie absolutely ate every minute of it up! And like Dad said, she is the perfect age to believe!

Kenzie will always remember this fun night with her Daddy Daddy. And I guarantee the next time we're all together, she will find alot more coins behind Daddy Daddy's ears. Thanks, Dad, for being a funny, silly, not-your-ordinary Daddy! We love you!

Beach, Surf and Smiles!

We had a really fun weekend! Kenzie was in Vacation Bible School last week and loved it! On Friday, we had a picnic in the big room and watched the older kids sing songs. She brought home a bag full of wonderful art work that we had fun looking at together. Her favorite thing she made was the crazy headband! She can't wait to go back to VBS next summer!

On Saturday morning, I had a Mixed Doubles tennis match. Sean and I lost 7-6, 7-6, but what a super fun match it was! Ty took the girls to a friend's birthday party at Scooters. Kenzie had a lot of fun riding her red scooter and eating blue cupcakes! Ty, the girls and I then went to Wrightsville Beach for the afternoon. We visited with sweet Mary and then walked down the beach to watch a surfing tournament. We ate a yummy lunch, saw some great surfers and listened to Kenzie say she wanted to go back to Mary's house about 125 times. Nevertheless, we had a really nice family day at beautiful Wrightsville Beach!

On Sunday, we spent another half day at Wrightsville Beach. Our friends, the Stevens, invited us to hang out with them at the Surf Club...so nice! Ty caught lots of fun waves, I caught a few rays, Kenzie had fun playing with friends in the sand and Tyli Belle took it all in. What a fun-filled weekend...perfect weather, tennis, beach, birthday party, hanging out with my family and friends and lots of surfing = happy Ty!

Kenzie and Jack having a ball!

Chance Made Us Sisters, Love Made Us Friends

What a fun photo shoot we had this morning! Out of about 8 pictures I took of Kenz and Tyli together, this is the one I loved the most. It's been really neat lately seeing how much these two love each other. Whenever they are in the same room, Tyli watches Kenzie's every move, smiling from ear to ear. And there are no words to describe how Kenzie feels. This morning, the first thing she said to her sister was, "Hey baby girl...you got prettier in the night. I love you so!" I will cherish these moments and know that they will forever be best friends, just as my sister and I are. I love you so Tov! I'll end with a saying that's on a magnet Tovi gave me a few years ago...'Chance Made Us Sisters, Love Made Us Friends.' Here's to sisters...Cheers!

Good Ole Holden Beach

We have returned from our vacation at Holden Beach, NC. And what a great time we had! Our home for the week was on the canal off the Intracoastal Waterway and was just a short walk to the beach. The cousins loved to swim, crab, fish and kayak in the canal each day. And how nice and convenient that the Heffron's boat was right there anytime we wanted to hop on for a cruise. We had also borrowed a wave runner that pulled the big tube...what a hit!


Besides going to the beach everyday, which is a treat in itself, we ate great foods, had fun drinks (Pina Colodas with whip cream, yummy) played games, did a puzzle, read, watched fireworks from our deck, went to the local water slide (-:, and had outdoor showers each afternoon (my favorite.) Oh yeah, and we did some talking and laughing too! My Mom's friend, George, hung with us most of the week. He lives in Charleston, SC and was the sailing instructor at the College of Charleston for many years. He's a great guy and makes Mom so happy!

Well, I wasn't going to mention our last evenings' events, but I can't resist. So all 12 of us hop on the boat to go for an early dinner at the Provision Company, a local restaurant on the water where you order your meal at the counter, grab a cold beer from the cooler, and sit outside to enjoy the view and some live music...perfect right?

During our visit; however, a drunk man came stumbling down to where we were tying off the boat, yelling/slurring at us because he did not want it anywhere near his boat. Ty and Chris got splattered upon from another drunk guy puking over the deck. Tyli had an enormous explosion all over me while we danced to the music of a Hawaiian man singing 'Browned Eyed Girl.' That same mad, drunk guy from earlier started taking pictures of our boat, just to try and scare us (BOO!) and the topper...As we were pulling out to leave, the U.S. Coast Guard decided to escort us the entire way back to our canal turn off, leaving us with a hefty fine for having too much weight on the boat...I knew I shouldn't have eaten that last crab cake!

All in all, we had a great week filled with lots of special memories. Thank you so much Mom, for a fabulous vacation at good ole Holden Beach! We love you and can't wait until next year!