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Posted on April 9, 2010 - by Estate Manager

G.G. visits Hearthstone House

Hearthstone House was honored to have special visitors this past week from Ohio. The girls Great Grandma, or G.G. as we affectionately call her, drove down with Papa Johnny and Grandma Nancy. We had a wonderful time and enjoyed an action packed weekend of celebrating Easter and Meebs’ Birthday.

While G.G. was here, she kindly helped me work in the garden, stain the patio set and taught me her secret spaghetti sauce recipe. We worked hard, laughed hard and slept hard while she was visiting. And the memories we shared are visible all over Hearthstone House. I am so glad that my Grandma came to stay and was able to see my home and family in our environment, and experience a day in the life of The Estate Manager. Love you G.G.!

Posted on April 9, 2010 - by Estate Manager

Meebs & Markers and Me & God

Isaiah 43:1-5

Fear not for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior;… Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, … Do not be afraid, for I am with you.

There are certainly days where I feel like I am drowning in my life as a mom. Bobbing around with no direction just trying to hold on for dear life as my kids steer the ship. But, like most moms I tend to look at my faults and short comings and not at the progress that I am making as a child of God, wife and mother. I am too hard on myself and don’t see the life I have as a blessing. That each spilt cup of milk I clean up, every poo-pie diaper I change, every lunch I pack, every nose I wipe, is all challenging me as a person and shaping my very character. I can honestly say that a year ago or even two years ago, I really thought I can’t handle this. It is too much! But every so often I will have a day or a moment that catches me off guard. I see myself being patient, responding in love, holding my tongue, or praying instead of crying, complaining or yelling.

Meebs gave me two great lessons this past week. Repeatedly when things were chaotic, she began to chant Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! And God used her to bring my focus to Him instead of the anxiety of the situation. And also this week I caught myself laughing instead of yelling, as she pretended that markers were make-up. Now that’s real progress.

When I am afraid, anxious, or overwhelmed, I will remember that I am loved, precious and not alone. I won’t be swept way, consumed, burned or drowned. God is with me.

Posted on March 15, 2010 - by Estate Manager

Breakfast at Tiffany’s Girl’s Night

Once a month I try to get together with some friends and have a girl’s night. We usually catch a movie, go shopping, have a pedicure or get dinner together. But I was craving a little something different and my birthday was creeping up so I decided to have a girl’s night at Hearthstone House. All last month TCM (Turner Classic Movies) was having their 31 days of Oscar, movie festival. Every year I download the schedule and set my DVR to record movies that I haven’t seen or classics that must be watched. One classic that I always try to watch is Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Audry Hepburn.

It seemed like the perfect way to get the girls together and to celebrate an otherwise less significant birthday. I wanted to make the night special and the details had to be just right. I first got out some inspiration. A little blue box that Slade had given me long ago. So simple, so classic and so all together romantic. Ahhh, the Tiffany & Co., blue box. You know when you see that box that something shiny and sparkly is about to happen and the little girl inside of you is about squeal! And I wanted the girls to feel that way the whole night.

To create that feeling through food, I chose to have pastries instead of cake, champagne cocktails, assorted cheeses and crackers, chocolate covered strawberries and Cracker Jacks. The girls brought some hot appetizers and some dips to complete the spread and we ate and drank ourselves into food comas. For decorations and party favors I followed the colors Tiffany blue, white and silver. At around eleven o’ clock we put our PJ’s on and watched the classic in its entirety. We had a lot of fun catching up and spoiling ourselves for the evening.

Thanks Ginny and Kim! I love you both dearly and was so honored to have you over. I will always remember my 32nd birthday and celebrating it with you!

Posted on February 16, 2010 - by Estate Manager

Winter Days Inside

The past month or so Hearthstone House has been mostly confined to inside play. Snow has come and gone twice and the temperatures are too cold for playing outside. We have been able to put all the Christmas toys to good use. The Bird is really into playing with her Barbies, Quadrilla set and Legos. Meebs is into anything Elmo, her tea set, coloring and puzzles. But I simply love to watch them imagine and play on their own. They take ordinary objects, create and make believe and end up entertaining themselves and me for hours. For instance, the Bird loves to cup stack with left over sample cups I have from my job. She builds colossal pyramids and waits for Meebs or Tiki to knock them down and then rebuilds. Scraps of construction paper and sticker rhinestones become rings and bracelets. Meebs also pretends to to be Super Mia with a dish cloth cape. The living room drapes are now a “stage”, they are the stage curtains for their plays. Even while watching TV their little minds are going. One of my favorite things we have been doing is recording the Olympics at night and then replaying it for the girls to watch. The girls have been bobsledding in a laundry basket, speed skating with wax paper skates, hooded sweat shirts and sunglasses and pairs skating with each other. Also the Weather Channel is a big hit around here, the girls pretend to be meteorologists and predict upcoming weather patterns. Here are some images and videos of them in their element. What do your children imagine when they play?

Posted on January 1, 2010 - by Estate Manager

Christmas Wrap Up

Hearthstone House celebrated Christmas this year in both traditional and new ways this year. We of course made sugar cookies, partook in kids crafts, took our trip to the mall to see Santa and drove all over Atlanta looking at Christmas lights. Christmas Eve we went to church and then had dinner at Tasty China a fancy Chinese restaurant and celebrated together, very much like Ralphie’s family in a Christmas Story. Christmas morning we opened presents from Santa and made a simple breakfast. Here are some images from the week.

Posted on December 12, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Gingerbread House Play Date

Fridays are usually the days that we schedule outings or play dates with friends. The Bird, Meebs and I were invited to our friend Kim’s house yesterday to play with Lydia and Thomas and work on gingerbread houses for the girls. Kim provided us with Wilton Gingerbread Kits and added some store bought candy to decorate with. The whole process took about 4 hours, with drying time for the structures and then the fun part, decorating. Both girls enjoyed embellishing their cottages and sampling the materials as well. Here are some snapshots of the girls and their creations. Thanks Kim!

Posted on December 11, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Bird Sings in Choir

This week has been a furry of activity for The Bird with preparations for Christmas performances for church choir. She sang on Wednesday night to a packed house of parents, grandparents and siblings. She did really well and was not stage freight, I think it was because her buddy Chase was there. Mom and Dad were so proud of her and look forward to more performances in the future.

Posted on November 11, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Macy’s Pink Pig

Hearthstone House was invited to the sneak peak party for the Macy’s Pink Pig ride at Lenox Square Mall last week. The Pink Pig is an Atlanta tradition at Christmas time and started in 1953 at Rich’s Department Store. Many folks around here have stories of riding the famed Pink Pig as children and now are continuing the tradition by taking their children or grand children. The ride is housed in a huge tent on top of the Macy’s parking deck and is decorated for the holidays in a most unusual way, everything inside is pink and celebrates the life of Priscilla the Pig. The event was adorable and had a lot cute activities for the children as we waited in line to ride the Pig. There was a pink carpet area where you could take photos, face painting, a coloring station, balloon animals, hula-hooping, and a DJ playing music for the kids. Once inside we rode the pig and then were treated to pink snacks and food. It was a big hit with the girls and we are looking forward to it again. Here are some highlights.

Posted on November 2, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Videos of Meebs

Our little Meebs is growing into her personality and it is really fun to watch. This past week we were able to capture some moments of her on video. She is just starting to make friends of her own at the library and is also coloring with real enthusiasm.

At the library – for a pre Halloween Party

Coloring (going bonkers) at CPK

Posted on October 18, 2009 - by Estate Manager

Fall Decorating on the Cheap

This week at Hearthstone House we have been very busy in preparations for fall. We made or reused items around the house and spent $5.00 total on supplies. I bought a wheat bundle and some small ornamental pumpkins from the grocery store. I wanted to decorate for both Halloween and Thanksgiving with out breaking the bank. So I went through closets, cabinets and the basement looking for items and supplies that had a fall feel to them. One easy project that I came up with was making pumpkin lanterns out of strips orange construction paper, metal brads and green ribbon. The Bird and I simply cut long strips of paper then punched a hole on each end of the strips and secured them with the metal brads or fasteners to create a sphere. Then we added the ribbon to create a stem, that also acts as a loop to hang the pumpkin from. We are hanging ours from a thin gauge floral wire, gently secured to our drapery rod in our family room windows.

Another project we worked on was decorating our mantel. I removed some white vases and candlesticks and made room for a fall vignette of a wheat bundle, small pumpkins, a decorative tray and Publix collectible salt and pepper shakers from my mother-in-law. The finishing touch is a K & Company glittered letter banner, I bought last year on clearance for 50 cents.

Before

After

Our front entry table was the next spot that we took on, usually I have two frames with family photos and a small candlestick lamp. I replaced the photos and found a large round woven tray from my kitchen and used it as the anchor for this this vignette. Then by The Bird’s suggestion I moved the candlesticks from the living room, added an orange art glass bowl from the upstairs bathroom and placed an animated Halloween stuffed animal from the girls room. The result is cute and not creepy.

Entry Table

Finally we spent some time in the kitchen creating charming monsters out of Rice Krispies Treats, Fruit Flavored Twizzlers, M&M’s, and Trail Mix. We added our food coloring before mixing the Rice Krispies and marshmallow mixture together, then made clumps with our hands, and finally created the faces with the candy.