Few more Spring Break Photos

Spring Break Fun…

Last week was spring break!

Early in Emma’s Kindergarten year I decided that I wanted to take her spring break off. I thought that it was important to spend a week with just her and to just get away from all of our usual craziness. And believe me the beginning of 2010 has been particularly crazy in the Fleming/Park household so the week away was MUCH needed and could not have come at a better time!!!

Emma and I decided to spend our break in Savannah, GA. I was born in Savannah and have wonderful friends and family there so it was the logical place to visit. On Saturday we packed up the car and said good bye to Matt and Virginia for the week.

My mom had rented out the lower level of a historic row house in downtown Savannah for the month of March so we decided to join her for the final week of her rental. The house was across the street from Forsyth Park and Emma and I were able to start each day with a walk to a little café to get coffee and a bagel and we ate at the playground! This was a big change from the usual waking up at 5 a.m. to get to work.

My sister-in-law and niece also had spring break the same week and live in Savannah. We were able to spend time with them daily and the girls were able to take part in some special activities together. Bellow are two highlights:

Horse and Carriage Tour through Downtown Savannah- We had a private tour that came and picked the girls up from the house where we were staying. We decided to keep the girls in the dark and surprise them. When they walked outside and found the horse and carriage waiting they were so excited!ere even able to sit up front with the driver.

Tea- Savannah is the home of a number of tea rooms. We decided to take the girls to the Whimsical Tea Cup. Right when you walk in there is a dresser full of dress up clothes for the girls and books to keep the little ones occupied.

The girls had “Children’s Tea” complete with pink hot coco (warmed strawberry milk). The tea gave me some great ideas for Emma’s upcoming birthday party which will be a Fancy Nancy Tea Party. Here is a link detailing the various places to enjoy tea in Savannah. http://www.savannahmagazine.com/articles/tea-time-savannah-style

For me the highlights were family time, food and some special shopping that I will discuss in more detail in the coming months ;-)

Here are some of the great places where we ate though:

Forsyth park Café - Breakfast each morning

The Mansion - Sunday Brunch

Local 11 Ten - Half price bottles of wine on Monday Nights

Café Zeum - Jepson Center

WANG’s - Yummy Chinese food

Casa de Fleming- Yes, that would be my brother’s house. I think that I ended up eating there 4 nights.

I'm Back!!!

So It’s been a while…

Since last November there have been a number of changes in the Fleming-Park household...

CHRISTMAS…

I discovered that I am what Matt lovingly refers to as a “Christmaszilla.” I have to admit that I did go a little over the top with everything this Christmas… gifts, decorating and the need to host a PERFECT Christmas Eve dinner.

It ended up being a wonderful Christmas! Thanks to homegoods (my favorite store) the house was decorated beautifully and thanks to on-line shopping I was able to get all of the gifts for family and friends. How did people shop for Christmas before the internet… this is a huge mystery to me!

Matt’s mother and Brother Brian were in town for the holidays. They came over on Christmas Eve for dinner which ended up being the highlight of the season for me. It was so important to have both my family and Matt’s there to share in the holiday. As I looked around the table I was happy to know that this would be the first of many Christmas Eve dinners that we would all share as a family.

On Christmas Day after opening presents at home we went over to Matt’s Aunt’s house in Fairfax for a wonderful lunch and some more family time.

Home Purchasing…

Matt and I started looking at homes in January. We have an amazing realtor from PENFED and actually put an offer on the second house that we looked at.

The house is a 5 bedroom 2.5 bath in Annandale one street outside the beltway. It is a short sale so while the owners have accepted the offer we are still waiting to hear back from the bank… this process is going to take a while but we are in a great position with the house we are renting and not in a huge rush.

Emma…

I cannot believe it but in 8 days Emma will be 6! How did I become the mother of a six year old. Time has just flown by and Emma is turning into a young lady before my eyes!!! Last week she lost her first tooth. She was so brave and had Matt pull it out for her! Here she is with her new smile…

Emma has also kept me very busy this year! Between events at school, Daisy’s, ballet, soccer and play dates our plate is full! I feel like we are constantly running from one activity to the next but it is completely worth it to see her interacting and having fun with all of her friends. She even had her first sleepover last Saturday… It was just with her “cousin” Shay (really Matt’s Cousin) who is 7. But still a huge milestone for her. She felt like such a big girl!

For her birthday we are going to have 5 little girls from her school over for a “Fancy Nancy” Birthday party. Emma’s loves the Fancy Nancy books http://fancynancybooks.com/ and she is looking forward to a super FANCY tea party.

Nov 16 - Nov 21

Here is my planned menu for this week:

MONDAY, NOV 16
- Shrimp w/ ginger herb butter p.347
- Saffron Couscous w/ peas & chives p.228
- Sweet cream biscuits p.547

TUESDAY, NOV 17
- Grilled pizza w/ tomato, mozzarella & basil p.194
- Crunchy onion rings p.467
- Cinnamon swirl coffee cake p.541

WEDNESDAY, NOV 18
- Mexican style chicken sandwiches p.153
- Guacamole
- Buttermilk cornbread w/ montery jack cheese p.543

THURSDAY, NOV 19
- Farfalle w/ bitter greens & sausage p.207

FRIDAY, NOV 20
- Salmon w/ pistachio-basil butter p.312
- Rice
- Cabbage

SATURDAY, NOV 21
- Oatmeal-buttermilk pancakes p.495
- Warm back bean & veg wrap p.156
- Outrageous peanut butter cookies p.604

and a few more...

What you've been missing

HELLO!

Tonight I will be blogging!!! I am so sorry for my absence. Things have been crazy with starting a new job and Emma starting school. I can say however that I have continued cooking and tonight I will post some pictures to prove it!