Shaz by the Sea

First off -- Happy (Belated) National Dog Day to my Zeta!! Even though you jumped on Caden and knocked him over yesterday, we still love you. Jim and I had a few special visitors this weekend - my cousin Jen, her husband Nick and their two kids, Patrick and Callie, as well as my Uncle/Godfather John (my Dad's brother and Jen's Dad). They were on their way to my cousin John's hockey game and came by our place beforehand.  We tried having all the kids do "touchdown" but Patrick was the only one who pulled it off. Good job Patrick! Patrick and Callie were "so excited" haha look at Cal. Love this pic. Then we all had a goldfish party.... Conor and Caden LOVED eating Callie's goldfish off the floor. Haha they were in heaven. Callie is wondering what is happening to all her goldfish. Here's a serious #tbt to my Uncle John (top, center) and my Dad (on the right) with their siblings at what I am assuming is their hou

I know I keep talking about it, but we love our new house. The space is wonderful, the newness is fantastic, our neighbors are friendly (and have 5 children!) and we love hosting -- so it's the perfect house for us. We are hoping to have our housewarming party sometime this fall. My sister suggested we do a "fall themed" party housewarming. So stay tuned. Here's Conor and Caden playing on the neighbor's swingset. We also had the boys on the trampoline and boy was that hilarious. The neighbor's have a Connor  too (with two "Ns") and he's 2 years old! I feel like they will all be good friends when they are in school together. Conor eating his breakfast on Saturday morning..on our old kitchen table. We just bought a new one at Jordan's Furniture over the weekend. Check it out below! And Caden eating his breakfast...I thought this picture was HILARIOUS. Look at their faces!! Haha Daddy bought a new lawnmower and

I had my first dinner party last night and wanted to make everyone something fresh and "in season" for dinner. Nothing fancy...in fact, the recipes were all quite simple.   Here are my guests! Shay loved the veggies, Caden loved the hummus, and Conor loved the crackers. Kyle and Jim loved the beer and wine.  ;)  My goal was to stick with the theme of "light & fresh" when it came to the spread. I figured it's summer and that's what you should do...right? Most of our items originated from either our garden or my mom's friends' garden, and then we picked up a few staples at Whole Foods and Wegmans.  Cranberry block cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, & grapes served with a variety of crackers.   Homemade spinach/kale/artichoke dip served with warmed naan bread.    Lemon & pine nut hummus served with sliced cucumbers and yellow bell peppers.  Caprese salad with slices of the world's freshest tomatoe

What a whirlwind life has been lately. We have done so much with the house these last few weeks -- from cleaning surfaces and rugs, installing blinds, laying out furniture to my Dad painting two whole bedrooms upstairs. The place is really coming together. Oh, and on top of all that, Jim and I are working full time and raising two happy little toddlers. It's been a breeze. ;) To recap, I went to see Zac Brown Band at FENWAY on Saturday night with my cousin Jessica . She is on air at 101.7 The Bull - Boston's new hit country station during the day. We went to the ZBB "eat and greet" where the whole band served us dinner during the open bar. I mean -- seriously???? So cool. Then we had the most amazing floor seats. I felt like we were steps in front of Zac. Oh, and I was able to see my friend Abby!! She was sitting in the section right next to us. We were A3, Row 15 and she was A4, Row 16...so funny! My phone died shortly into the concert, but here's a few fav