Mother's Day Weekend

This past weekend I was on my own because of the school Carnival being Friday night I wasn't able to join Tommy and his parents for a trip to visit Beth in Charleston.

Friday: School Carnival. It was a great turnout and the kids seemed to have an awesome time. It was HOT outside and so the Firemen decided to spray from the truck which was a HUGE hit! 

Saturday: I slept in! I enjoyed my coffee and breakfast in peace and quiet at home. Then I ran to the mall to make some returns before meeting my best friend, Ansley, at Chastain Park for a walk and lunch at Zoe's Kitchen. It was just what I needed! After my walk, I ran a few more errands to Target and Home Depot. I bought new curtain rods for the dining room and flowers for the yard. Soon I will show the updates I'm making to the dining room! I came home and made the dessert for our tennis semi-finals. I decided I would try the Watermelon Cupcakes from the blog Mix and Match Mama. After the cupcakes were out of the oven, I headed to my parents for dinner with my family (minus the Willi's). After dinner, I rushed back to monogram a few items for my friend Sarah that she needed for some graduation gifts for her sister-in-law! Phew what a busy day!!!!

Sunday MOTHER'S DAY!: I woke up early to get ready for brunch with my family. We went to my mom's favorite, J Chrisophers. It was delicious as usual! Then I went back to my parents to hang out for a bit before running home to change for my tennis match. I played with Katie Booher and we kicked butt winning 6-1, 6-1 fairly quickly so we got to enjoy watching the rest of the matches from the shade. It was again HOT outside! Our team won enough lines to carry us through to City Finals next weekend. Hoping to come away with another win and City Champ plate! The cupcakes were a huge hit! They were all gone from the tennis match. Sunday night Tommy and Cooper made their way home from Charleston and we enjoyed dinner and just hanging out for a low-key end to the weekend. 

(My little sister, Claire, nana, mom and me)

We missed having Bonnie, Brett, and Collier around for Mother's Day/ Brett's birthday but I know they so enjoyed getting to celebrate their nephew's first birthday, Bonnie's first Mother's Day, and Brett's birthday with his family up in Ohio! 

(Bonnie sent this of him all dressed up for Mother's Day)

I put these images up on Instagram yesterday as a way of celebrating my mom and Bonnie. I am so thankful for the unconditional love and support my mom has given me my whole life. I know I have given her a hard time in the past but she is my best friend now. I can't imagine not living close by and being able to grab a quick lunch or go for a walk by the river when I'm off school. She is such an inspiration to me having raised four kids while across an ocean from her family. I don't know how she does it all!

And to my sister, Bonnie, I have been amazed watching you transform into such a wonderful mother over the past two months. Collier is just perfect and you have really got everything under control. I am amazed and hope my first two months look as easy as you've made it seem! I am so thankful for your friendship and how much of a role model you are to me. I can't imagine living farther from you. We are so lucky to have you right around the corner. Thankful for the random texts I get each day and being able to rely on you always for a good laugh or support. I hope you had the best First Mother's Day! Love you so much!

Have another busy week ahead at both school and outside of school. Looking forward to Supper Club tonight! 

Have a fabulous week! 

Show and Tell Tuesday

So I'm Linking up with Andrea for Show and Tell Tuesday: How you picked your kids names. Well since I don't have any kids I thought I would share how my nephew got his name!

My nephew, Collier James Willi, was born on March 14, 2015. He is my first nephew and is my older sister's son.

Here is a picture with me the day he was born.

Collier comes from the first street my sister and brother-in-law lived on when they first got married. It's a street in Atlanta. 

James is my brother's name and my maternal grandfather's (Bompa) name as well. 

(this was the only picture I could find of him digitally)

I love how they came up with his name. He will think it's pretty neat how they got his name when he is older as well. I have loved having this little guy around for the past 5 weeks. I can't wait to start my own family so that Collier has cousins. Love that my sister only lives about 2 miles from me so I get to see Collier very often. He is just the cutest! 

(my sister and Collier during his newborn session)

Next Show and Tell is May 5th- Show us your favorite party you've hosted

Friday Favorites: Spring Break 2015

Linking up with Andrea and Erika today for Friday Favorites! 

The joys of working in the education world is that you get SPRING BREAK! This year due to Tommy not getting much vacation with his new job and a new nephew I was in Atlanta the whole time. I started off my week with a bang. 

Monday: Went to the dentist which was painful fine then went to my mom's house to hang out with my sister, Collier and my grandma. We were there for one of my sister's friends to meet Collier then headed to our favorite place, Oak Street Cafe, for lunch. It's nice having my sister on maternity leave because she can join for these lunches for the time being too. I came home from lunch and did some things around the house before leaving for Roswell again to meet up with Tommy's family at Moxie Burger for dinner before his sister left town to head back to Charleston. 

Tuesday: I woke up early, ran to Starbucks to grab coffee for Bonnie and myself, then headed to hang out with Bonnie and Collier for the morning. I took Cooper with me to meet Collier for the first time. He was keeping guard and was very sweet with Collier. He gave him a nice big kiss on his ear. Cooper and Henley (Bonnie's Dog) always love playing together too. They love each other so much!

After I left Bonnie's I came home and took a quick nap with Cooper before getting right into the thick of my endorsement classwork. I am getting my leadership endorsement this year and am almost done! My portfolio is due at the end of April and I will be DONE! It was a beautiful afternoon so I sat on the porch and worked while Cooper played in the back yard. I ended my night at my weekly tennis clinic. Oh how much I love having tennis back into my routine. I have been playing with the same team now for two years and I love it. The team is made up of a bunch of my sister's friends from college and then Ansley and myself. 

Wednesday: I went to Catch Air (this indoor play place) with my friends Lindsey and Catherine. Lindsey has two boys, Woody and Gaines, and Catherine has a daughter, Gracelyn. The kids had a great time going from place to place. Around 11 there was a dance party with Mickey Mouse which was too funny. 

After playtime, we headed across the street to El Azteca for lunch and my friends Sarah joined us. It was great getting to catch up with the girls and hear about everything going on with them. The little are getting so big. It's been so much fun seeing them grow and seeing their families expand. Excited for one day joining them for play dates with my own kid. 

Wednesday night, I hosted dinner for my college friends. We try to every few weeks have dinner at one of our houses and drink a lot of wine. Life has been so hectic lately with so many bachelorette parties and weddings it hasn't happened in awhile. Since it was my spring break I figured this was the best time for me to cook a nice dinner. I made a Skinny Taste cookbook recipe for pasta with Italian sausage, kale and red peppers. It was a big hit and everyone got seconds! Enjoyed a girls night of wine and catching up. Excited to spend the weekend together for our friend's wedding as well!

Thursday: I took my time getting up and went for a morning walk with my across the street neighbor. They just moved in three months ago and had a baby the week after moving in so we haven't really gotten to know them well yet so what better way than to go for a walk with the baby and the dog. After my walk, I showered and met Tommy at BarTaco in Buckhead for lunch. I've been wanting to try this place out. The house margarita was so refreshing and the guacamole was delicious! Such a neat atmosphere inside too. After lunch I popped in at my sisters to get my Collier fill for the day and to see both my mom and Bonnie. The rest of the day consisted of grocery shopping, cleaning the house and filing our taxes (nothing quite like waiting until the last minute). This week I've gotten hooked on "Parenthood" on Netflix too.  Enjoyed my somewhat relaxing day of spring break. 

Friday: I met my mom at Goldbranch park for a walk with the dogs and for them to go swimming. It was quite eventful! We got rained on, walked with thunder and we came across two copperheads going across our walking path. Anything but relaxing! Brought the dogs back to my moms house so we could go to lunch. 

 This is my dog, Cooper, and my sisters dog, Henley, after getting soaked on our walk. 

Mom and I went to Chicken Salad Chick for lunch and then I drove Henley back to my sister's and came home for the afternoon. Just got back from grabbing a drink with one of my best friends, Kristen, and her husband, Fred, who are visiting from France for the weddings we have coming up. They are going to stay with us tonight and we are all gonna go to the wedding together tomorrow. We are finishing cleaning up the house for a cookout at our house tonight with a few couples for the Braves game. I will blog about the wedding and the rest of our weekend later. 

This Spring Break was definitely a favorite of mine because I got to spend a lot of quality time with family and friends!

Easter Weekend Recap

We had a very busy weekend (I was not very good at picture documenting this weekend unfortunately) this weekend that started with me finally being able to officially announce my promotion! Friday afternoon, my principal announced the placements for next year and everyone found out I'm the new Adminstrative Assistant. I realize that sounds like I'm a secretary but in a school it's different. I'll be overseeing all the RTI, response to intervention, program and running those meetings, discipline and our k-9 kids program. I'll be a part of Administration and it'll be a great opportunity for me. I'm so excited to be in the same school next year but doing something different. It'll definitely be a huge change not being in the classroom but I was ready for a change. I can always go back in the classroom. These opportunities don't present themselves everyday! 

Friday night, we had a cookout at Tommy's parents house because his sister Beth came in town for the weekend.  It was great to see her and her cute puppy, Cody. We had a delicious dinner with great company. 

Saturday morning Tommy headed out golfing early with his high school buddies and I got ready for my hectic day. I started my day off with a nice luncheon shower for my friend, Caroline, at the Swan Coach House. She and I met through our sorority in college and now she is marrying one of Tommy's oldest friends, Drew. They are wonderful friends who we are so excited to see getting married after dating for seven years! Their wedding is August 8, 2015. 

From the shower, I drove to McDonough for my tennis match. The traffic was awful and it took me over an hour to get there. I won thankfully in three sets. I wasn't about to drive all that way, make it to a third set and not win! From Mcdonough I headed back and straight to my in-laws for Easter dinner with Tommy's family. 

We had Tommy's parents, sister, cousin and Aunt for dinner. I made spinach dip for an appetizer and potato salad for dinner. The menu was: ham, potato salad, bread rolls, spring salad, deviled eggs and Lemon cake for dessert. It was all delicious! 

Here's the only picture I took that day of the adorable cake Aunt Marsha made. 

After handing out for awhile, we stopped by the Maxey's house on our way home to say hi to the twins who were in town from Florida. They were Tommy's best men in our wedding. It was great to see them and their parents for a little bit. It was a long day filled with family and friends. 

Easter Sunday, we got up early and went to the early service with my sister, Brett and Collier. Collier did great at his first church service! The sermon from our new pastor was great. I really like him and look forward to the sermons to come. 

After church we stopped by mynsister's on the way home to give Collier his Easter gift. Shocking, I only took pictures of Collier that day! 

Here is collier pre-peeing on me in his cute easter outfit my sister bought him. 

Here is the one she took to show his bum. 

My gift to him was the duck hat and duck socks. I just couldn't resist! 

We then went to my parents for Easter lunch with my whole family. The twins came home from UGa for the weekend and my Aunt Margot joined as well. I again made spinach dip to start with. Our menu at my parents was: coronation chicken salad, cheese rolls, rice with chopped bell peppers, spring salad, and deviled eggs. I made a brownie trifle for dessert and nana made a carrot cake. Again it was all delicious! 

We had a great day celebrating our Lord with my family. I always love when we can get everyone together. 

We had a fantastically busy weekend (per usual) and I'm excited to have a relaxing week of spring break. Day one has been a success! Went to the dentist followed by lunch with my mom, Nana, Bonnie and Collier at our favorite place Oak Street Cafe in Roswell. I am going to be well rested and my house will be clean by the end of this week. 

Happy easter and happy spring! 

Random other note is I finally embroidered something for myself. I bought this runner at Tuesday Morning because it matched my dining room perfectly!

Collier James Willi

Collier James Willi

7 lbs 3 oz

20 inches long

2:33pm on March 14, 2015

This sweet boy made me an Aunt yesterday and my parents became grandparents. He is absolutely perfect! I am so proud of my sister and what she went through to bring this beautiful gift into the world. I am so happy he decided to make his debut when I was actually in town. He knew I would have been devastated if I were away on one of my trips so he came between my two trips. Poor Tommy was away this weekend so he will only get to meet his nephew today. My family is over the moon so in love with this precious boy. Congratulations to Bonnie and Brett! I am so happy for you two and I can't wait to see what God has in store for your family now that Collier has joined it. (Collier is the name of the street they first lived on when they got married and James is my brother and my Bompa's name-my mother's father. Very special!)

 Aunt Lisa

 Aunt Claire

 Uncle James

Nana and her first Great-Grandchild

those cheeks!

Can't handle the cuteness! 

I gave this quilt to my sister yesterday. My mother-in-law is a fantastic quilter and I really wanted to give Collier a baby quilt. I picked out the pattern and the fabrics for my mother-in-law to make. It turned out just as I had hoped!

 Sweet Collier, I wish you a lifetime of love and laughs. We love you SO much and you have only been around a day. I can't wait to watch you grow into a wonderful man. You are one lucky fella to have my sister as your mommy. 

Much love,

Aunt Lisa

Bonnie's Book Baby Shower

I can't believe how close we are to meeting my nephew! Just 5 short weeks until his due date. I am SO excited to meet him (still can't get my sister to crack to tell me his name!) Bonnie's college girlfriends threw her a shower this weekend and it was adorable! I know there will be picture overload but I just loved all the decorations. In lieu of a card, each guest was asked to bring their favorite childhood book and we each put a sticker in the inside cover that said "This book belongs to baby Willi...With Love," It was such a great idea and a great way to get his book collection started! She didn't get any repeats which was even better. I was "ooing" and "ahhing" over books I used to love reading when I was younger and can't wait to read them to him. I didn't pick my favorite baby book to give her but stumbled across a book that had tons of bible stories for children and I couldn't resist. We played a game where we listened to a clip from a song and had to guess the title (all of them had the word "baby" in them) and artist. The winner got an iTunes giftcard. I am terrible at knowing song names and/or artists so I clearly did NOT win that game. The next game was pictures of main characters from childhood stories that we had to guess. Cute games for the shower. Bonnie got some awesome gifts! All the hostesses went in on getting her the car seat and car seat base. She got some handmade outfits by my mom's friend, Heather. She got her play mat and diaper genie too. Baby Willi your parents are all set and ready for your arrival now!

So here are the pictures!

 The food table. Each dish had a book to match. This is a teachers dream shower!

 Those cookies looked like buttons to go with "Corduroy" 

 Cute banner on book pages

 "The Velveteen Rabbit" is sentimental because in our sorority every year we would read from it during our Pref round during rush. Bonnie's sorority sister are the ones who threw the shower. Love this! 

 Wreath on the front door

 Bonnie's friends, Caitlin and Courtney, that flew in for the weekend from Houston. She met them during her stint living in DC. It was great to see them both. I hadn't seen them since Bonnie's wedding. Courtney is also expecting a little boy in June! 

 The glowing Mommy! 

 Bonnie and all her hostesses

 4 generations! My nana, my mom, the three sisters, and baby boy! We are SO excited about having a little boy around. 

Baby Willi was showered with so much love at the shower! Bonnie had friends travel from Chicago, New Orleans, Greenville, and Houston. What a special day for her! 

Now I'm really ready for his arrival!