Recent happenings

We've been keeping busy around these parts!  Amongst Cameron's birthday & party, both Grammy & Papa flew in to visit from Chicago.  Sadly, Grammy flies home today!  Cam's Minion party ended up being a hit though & everyone had a great time!

This was the easiest theme I've decorated in the seven parties we've hosted for Cam.  

I downloaded random printables I found online & posted them throughout the house.  I love Despicable Me, so it was fun putting everything together.

I labeled all the food with cute names inspired by the movie.  No party would be complete without an adult bevvie, yummy Minion Margaritas!  My mom said, "Oh you made a lemonade for the kids??"  Uh, nope, this "lemonade" would have knocked their socks right off!  If you're looking for a super quick margarita to whip together, this is it.  Just know that it's very strong so you either want to add less tequila or top off each cup with club soda like we did.

We picked up powdered Munchkins from Dunkin Donuts & labeled them "Shrunken Moons."  Super easy & a huge hit with the kids.

 

I was especially proud of my Cookie Robot!!  I just used a toilet paper roll wrapped in white paper that I colored silver with a Sharpie.  I used four small black paperclips for the legs.  Easy peasy!  As always, all of my appetizers & entrees were made the day before & put in throw away pans for a stress free, easy clean-up party.

The hugest hit of all was this alarmingly large water slide we rented.  When the guys delivered it the night before, I was shocked at how tall it was!

 

 

Reese wouldn't go down the slide when she saw it in the morning, but I thought maybe when all of her friends were going down, she'd join them.  She actually ended up going down three times, all of which I missed since I was off doing something else.



 Reese's face in the picture above kills me!  She's such a cautious little thing!

 

Her third time down the slide was not a charm!  She went with Mike & apparently she was not a fan as you can see from the picture above.  She pretty much looks possessed & ready to spit fire!



At the end of the evening, the adults had to get in on the action too.  It was soooo much fun, I could've stayed on for hours, but the lightning forced us off.

 

Since the party was on Sunday, we had to have TVs set up for the random NFL fans!

Other than the party going on, we've been settling in to a new normal since Mike accepted a new job a few weeks ago.  He was with his previous company for a little over ten years, so this was a big decision.  He's still in training now, but once he's ready to work on his own, he'll be traveling up to 70% of the time which immediately makes my stomach knot.  Luckily travel does not include weekends though.

 


My job has always been more flexible & I work earlier hours, so I normally have the evening shift & Mike takes care of the kids & gets them to school in the morning.  When he's traveling, I'll have both shifts so I'm really going to have to be organized & on top of things so I don't lose my mind!  The biggest challenge is that Cam has baseball games or practice multiple evenings & they run pretty late, so those will be especially long days.

I'm just going to take it one day at a time & try not to worry too far ahead!  What doesn't kill us only makes us stronger, right?!

 

That's what I'm telling myself anyway!

Anyway, I'm just thankful that my SEVEN year old had an amazing time at his party!

 One party down & one to go!  We're already getting ready for Reese's party in November, but this one will be a lot easier. We're doing a combined party with Sammy since they're besties & only one day apart in age.  Chuck E Cheese's will be hosting this one; much less work!!

Happy 7th birthday, Cameron!

My little big guy is 7 years old today!  Happy birthday to my first born baby, Cameron.  To me, you will always be my little boy!

It doesn't feel like 7 years ago that I held you in the crook of my neck..

Or that Daddy held your smushy, squishy little face in the palm of his hand.  These pictures were taken two days after you were born.  At the time, we were freaked out, exhausted & felt clueless as to what to do with this teeny little creature that had entered our lives in a big hurry (you were delivered in 4 short hours!)  I'll never forget the night that you cried non-stop, despite anything & everything that we did to calm you.  I hadn't slept in what felt like days & Daddy looked at me & said in an exasperated, desperate voice, "What should we do?!?!"  And I answered honestly, in an equally exasperated voice, "I don't know?!?!"  And we both looked at each each other & laughed hysterically (come to think of it, maybe I cried hysterically!)  Somehow we got through those long days & nights & we wouldn't trade them for the world!  You changed our lives forever & we would never want that other life back (even if it was more simple & sleep filled!)  Nowadays, we'll ask, "What did we do on Saturdays before kids??"  And I truly don't know.  Probably a lot of sleeping, TV watching & bar hopping!

You transformed me & your daddy from a couple to a family.  Now we call ourselves "Team Pernecky!"  Cameron, you've grown into a sweet, sensitive & loving little seven year old.  You are such a sweet boy & care so much about people's feelings.  Other than your sister, you're always kind to those that you meet & you make fast friends.

Even though you love, love, love pushing Reese's buttons, I know you care about your baby sister too!  When Reese gets hurt, you're always quick to run over & make sure she's okay... you're not fooling us, kid!  If you think you've let someone down, it hurts you to the core.  You always play the song, "You Are My Sunshine" on our Amazon Echo because you know it means lots to me since I sang it to you each night as a baby.  You love math & even did your homework by yourself, without prompting the other night.

You still adore video games & your most recent passion is playing Madden football on the Xbox.  You're an active kid & love to take walks, challenge me to a race or play tag in the yard.  You always tell me that you can walk farther than me if we were in a contest.  Stinky little, Bubba (that's your nickname!)  Needless to say, you're very competitive.  With that being said, we're still working on the whole "sore loser" thing since you tend to cry when you don't win.  You're an emotional kid & we're working on you controlling your emotions & realizing there are better ways to handle situations than crying.  Easy for your mom to say though since I tend to be an emotional basket case at times!

At 6:54pm on Wednesday, September 24, 2008, my life became much more interesting & full "because there had never been anyone like you, ever in the world."  We love you more than you will ever know, Cameron Michael!  

Get your groove on!

It's the fourth week of school & we're finally getting into a new groove & a new normal.  It hasn't always been easy, but we're trucking along over here.  I must say, the days are long since I leave the house at 6:30 in the morning & get home after 5:30 in the evening.  Of course from there comes all the good stuff of homework, dinner, baths, making lunches, wading through school paperwork....  you know the drill!

It's September which means we're in the countdown to Cam's 7th birthday on the 24th!  Cam's chosen a Minion party this year, so I'm trying to get things in order to prevent last minute scrambling & chaos.



Speaking of September, my husband is in hog heaven since the NFL season is officially here.  You would have thought it was Christmas!  I've wanted a Bears flag since we've owned a home & we finally got one!  I officially feel like a home-owning adult at the ripe young age of 36!

I've gotten into the mindset of, "if you can't beat em, join em!"  I used to protest 50% of our already short weekend being compromised, but I've learned to embrace it & now we make an event of Sunday game days with food & friends.  It's just an excuse to eat something yummy & catch up with good peeps!  I must say though, by the end of the season, I'm so ready for it to be over!

We were in desperate need of new bedding so Reese & I headed to IKEA on my Wednesday off last week.  Since we got there just as it opened, the place was basically empty & we got in & out in a flash!

I knew I needed a comforter/duvet cover so I could easily wash them since our last king comforter was way too bulky to fit into our washer & had to go to a laundromat instead (which grossly enough, never happened).  We use our comforter as a blanket at night & I tend to get hot so I picked up a comforter that's really light & cool.  Fresh new bedding for under $70?  Score!

Amidst the madness of the recent weeks, we've squeezed in some fun too!  Reese has had some time to frolick in the rain!  She watches a lot of Peppa Pig & if you've had the pleasure of watching the show, you know that those damn pigs love to splash in their English muddy puddles!

I use the gorgeously beautiful cutting board my woodworking neighbor crafted for me on a nearly daily basis, but I was finally able to use it as a serving platter.  This is a cutting board I will treasure forever!  Half of the wood is from American trees & the other half African trees & one side is flat for cutting, the other has a slight curve for serving.  Love, love, love!

With Cam back to school, Reese & I have our girly Wednesdays together & things have been very smooth & productive.  A lot less fighting without Cam to push buttons!  We normally do "quiet time" for at least an hour so she has time to herself & I have time to myself.  We abandoned it over the summer, so when we went back to it a few weeks ago, she saw it as a punishment.  For whatever reason, that flipped like a switch & now she asks for it.  She takes her tablet into her room, watches a movie or just relaxes or plays with her toys.  Last week she even ended up falling asleep.  I get a lot done in that uninterrupted hour & sometimes even steal 15 minutes to relax.

There are many weeks where Mike will choose a weeknight to meet up with the guys for whatever reason.  I adore those nights since I put the kids & dogs to bed, pour myself a glass of wine & relax with my treasured trashy TV shows like the Real Housewives of O.C.  However, Mike's last guys night did not fare well for me.  Not five minutes after he left, I was in the bathroom taking out my contacts when I heard a very loud buzzing sound that could only come from a VERY large bug.  Without thinking, I bolted from the bathroom sans contacts, slamming the doors behind me, sealing the bottom with Mike's pants so the bug couldn't get into my room.  Without the contacts, I couldn't see a thing.  Unfortunately my glasses sat next to the bathroom sink with the dreaded, unknown bug.  If you know me, you'll know that I'm irrationally TERRIFIED of bugs so there was no way I was going back in there.  But how was I to watch my trashy shows without my glasses?!?  It was 7:40pm & the world was my oyster for two blissful hours.  Dang.  Mike refused to come home & Cam was too scared to get my glasses.  Yes, I got my six year-old out of bed & begged him to get them.  Low, oh so low.  Well, time for the big guns.  I grabbed my winter, hooded jacket from college & zipped it tightly so only my eyes were barely exposed, ran into the bathroom, closed the door behind me, grabbed my glasses & sealed the door back up.  I begged Mike to kill the bug when he got home & not lie about it like he's done in the past.  He said it was a "small" flying beetle but I'm not buying it.  That thing was probably the size of a small child.  Ha.

But, after my bug scare, I was finally able to catch up with my "programs" while my kitties snuggled next to me!  So, that's what's been happening around these parts! 

All about Mike

I am ashamed to say that in the hoopla of the first day of school & documenting Cameron & Reese's stats, I totally forgot about my darling husband, Mike.  It took my dear friend, Lesli to remind me of it so I'm remedying the situation with a post about Mike.  Thank you, Lesli!!

With today being Mike's first day of 8/25/15, this is a very BIG day in the Pernecky house!!!

Back to school!

It's back to school today & there was a lot of excitement last night & this morning.  I knew it was a good sign when I picked Cam up from his last day of summer camp on Friday & he told me that he wished it was Monday!

On top of Cameron starting a new school year, I found out Friday that Reese was also moving up to a new class today.  Too much to handle in just one day, but I did very well this morning & no tears were shed by anyone!

Me & Lo Lo getting in on the action!

Saturday we had a fun photo shoot with my talented friend, Jill, just as we did last year.  The pictures turned out awesome & I'm thankful since I love updating our framed family photos each year.

 

 

 

Tay Tay & Reese

It's funny because Taylor has always called Reese, "Baby" Reese & we're starting to wonder when that will stop!  Mind you, they're only 6 months apart, so it's pretty funny!
 

Cameron, Avery, Reese & Brooks

 

 Last Thursday we had the opportunity to check out Cam's school & meet his first grade teacher, Mrs. Marzullo.  She seems super organized & on top of things which is right up my alley.  They're using an app/website called Class Dojo to track behavior/points to redeem for good behavior.  I love being able to see how he's doing in class & this is so much more with the times since I can check in remotely.

It's crazy to see just how much Cameron's grown in one short year; 2.5" & 9.2#!!

 Despite the crazy, busy evenings, the start of the school year brings so much excitement!  Looking forward to a great, new year!