eye opening . . .

we are in for some stormy weather tonight.  i really dislike thunderstorms that take place while i'm sleeping.  living in the south keeps you on your toes with the threat of tornados.  not to mention us girls are on our own tonight, have been since monday. . .   we are going through some changes in our household.  jon's new career path will require regular travel and quite a bit at first.  we're adjusting to our new norm & boy, is it 'eye opening' to say the least.  i can't imagine doing it all on my own on a regular basis.  single parents are amazing and deserve a medal.  we normally share our role as parents & taking on all of it for days at a time is an adjustment, but will soon become our new norm.  we are so proud of daddy & his new job . . .   can't wait to see where this new journey takes us.  

there wasn't much going on this past weekend & that's okay, trust me.  ;-)  sunday i made a fabulous caprese salad & boy was it yummy.  drizzled with an amazing aged balsamic vinegar - yum!   

Isabella & i had a spa day in her room.  complete with soaking our hands & everything.  she really enjoys getting her toes done especially.  although her toes look red in this photo, they're not.  i'm against red nails on a 4yr old.  it's actually a very bright pink (reminds me of the beach) & we only did her toes with it.  now if we only had some sand to walk in. . .  

 

i was feeling a little sassy after a morning at the salon getting my hair cut & colored.  it's amazing how that can make you feel 10 times better.  these are all iphone pictures, so sorry for the poor quality of some of them. . .  

one of my favorite smells is mint & this hand soap is so refreshing.  thought i would share . . . love, love, love it !

 enjoy the rest of your week !!

quick trip to the island

we took a quick trip to hilton head island this past weekend.  had a fantastic time with some dear friends who live in sea pines plantation.  the carters are such wonderful hosts & we always have a great time.  we hit the road at 5:30 am, so jon could make a 12:00 tee time with the boys.  the girls had lunch at harbour town, shopped & enjoyed some time in the red rocking chairs.  friday night the carters arranged a nice dinner party with yummy food & fabulous conversation.   

isabella kept wanting to sit next to this little old man, who i'm sure enjoyed her company.

saturday morning we went to lawton stables, also in sea pines.  they may just be the most beautiful stables i've ever seen.  they're nearly brand new & just amazing.  there is a great photo of the stables on the blog back two summers ago.  http://isabellasfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html

this little guy is 'dixie' & he was as cute as can be, but boy, was he stubborn.  isabella rode him & everytime we came back around by his stable he stopped & refused to take aother step forward.  the cute girls leading him said it was his lunch time & they continued to drag him along.  

saturday night we all had cocktails at harbour town yacht club.  isabella had a blast visiting with everyone & met a little friend.  they sat in front of the fire & chatted - so cute!  we're already looking forward to the next visit. 

i'm still here !

it's been forever since i posted.  life has simply gotten in the way.  we've been doing a little of this & a little of that.  wintertime tends to keep us closer to home, inside & doing lots of projects.  i try to get all the things done in the winter that I never want to do, or have time to do in the summer months.  we've been slowly renovating our kitchen.  lot's of home projects this winter, with the new floor, windows, & doors and we had some trees removed & pruned last week.  

in the middle of all this, we celebrated daddy's birthday - took him out for a yummy dinner at ipolito's, lot's of homemade cooking, cocktails here & there, crazy sock day at Bella's school & trips to chick-fil-a for lunch & some playtime.  

 the simple everyday is just as fun. . .  

enjoying some down time 

until next year!!  hope you are too! 

we've been enjoying lot's of time at home this week together doing a little of this & a little of that.  love being at home, especially this time of year.  we've done a lot of baking, cooking & projects since last friday & have enjoyed every minute of it.  isabella got a huge (bigger than her) savannah dollhouse from santa & we've been enjoying playing with her new barbies in it.  in the middle of all of the festivities, the 'pella' guys came & installed all new windows & doors in our house & boy does it feel nice & cozy in here!  

here is a bit of our projects from this afternoon.  bella loves to bake & i'm so thankful for that!  loving our family time.  happy holidays! 

merry christmas - from the nittos

~ oh christmas tree ~

our tree this year . . .   

 

~christmas happenings~

two weekends ago we went to the annual tree lighting in our town.  they've been doing it for a long time & this year was their largest turnout.  it was a super chilly night, but still loads of fun.  the local school choirs sang christmas songs & santa showed up, with live reindeer pulling his sleigh.  we had hoped to let isabella sit on santa's lap, but it was such a big crowd, we couldn't even get near enough to see him.  she did get to see santa a couple days later for a private 15 min photo shoot, so she was able to bend his ear then.   

NDA Birthday shindig

i've been so preoccupied getting ready for the holidays, that i haven't had a whole lot of time to bring our happenings up to date.  we recently celebrated our angel's 4th birthday!  we started the day with a slow morning, watching olivia in bed.  i took the day off to spend the afternoon with her.  i dropped by her school just after their lunch, to be the 'mystery reader' & bring in cupcakes.  i took her home early so us girls could get our nails done.  she chose lilac with sparkles, of course!  happy birthday sweet girl!! 

do you think she had a good birthday??

she couldn't hide it if she tried. . .   

(don't pay any attention to the fact that our kitchen furniture is still in our dinning room, since our floor is still not finished)