Thursday, August 30, 2012

The World is a Puzzle...


Last weekend we celebrated the marriage of my baby sister!!

Michael and her were married July 17, 2012 in a private ceremony in the Virgin Islands.

She had a beautiful wedding followed by a beautiful reception!

She asked me to help her with planning her reception. Let me tell ya, planning with this little one just might give you a headache...do all brides ask so many questions? Ha. Just kidding Brandy. It was fun!

She decided to go with the Rustic Chic Wedding Look which goes PERFECT with the reception hall. The reception was held at Morello's in Harrisburg. 

Brandy wanted this reception to be very small and more of a party with a little decor. I must say it turned out perfect. I became obsessed with the decor. She came up with some great ideas that she wanted to add to the decor such as the Puzzle.
 
Instead of a guest book, she had each guest sign a puzzle piece which would later on be put together as one big puzzle that can be framed.
 
How neat is this idea?
 
 
I loved all the other decor as well. It was just so perfect.
She found this old vintage suitcase at a garage sale and used it for as the card holder at the present table.
 Turned out A-dorable!
 
 
 
And of course, who doesn't love flowers?!
 
The flowers were gorgeous.
 
Even more gorgeous in person.
 
 
The favors for the wedding were koozies. If you know where I am from, there is one thing that goes on A LOT in Harrisburg and that is beer drinking. So, it was a fabulous favor.
 
"To have and to hold and to keep your drink cold"
 
 
 
And last but not least, she had Julie from Dream Baskets create a Sweet Table for the guest.
It too...was..so darling!
 
 
Who else would we expect to be attacking the sweet table?!
 
 
The reception was such a BLAST! Abosultely nothing with wrong. Even my speech!!
 
I really thought I could talk her out of making me give a speech, but that did not work, so I literally wrote this speech two hours prior to the reception. I was so very nervous.
 
I made it sappy/corny/sad/and tried to be funny.
 
I hope people liked it!
 
 
I think the kids had more of a better time that anyone else!
 
Drew was all about the Spin-a-roni on the dance floor and I love it.
I love Hip-Hop, so I love that he hip-hop dances.
 
 
I do not have a whole lot of pictures from my camera because she hired the sweetest photographer ever from:
She was so amazing and the most polite person ever.
I can't wait to see the pictures!!
 
Until then, I at least got a cute little picture of my family!
 
 
What a fabulous night!! She danced her booty off until 12:30 a.m.
She got exactly what she wanted...a simple, cute reception and a party all night long!
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!
 
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Brista Barrington
1 Comments

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

One Purple Star Child & One Trouble Child


We are getting used to this whole Kindergarten-School Schedule thing.
 
Monday.. the third day was probably the WORST day by far! My husband said I needed to stop posting on Facebook my sorrows. Haha. So I dealt with the pain myself.
 
It was that much harder because he cried too! I was so concerned he wouldn't make it to the classroom for some reason so  I turned into "that" mother and texted one of our friends who is a teacher at the school and thank goodness he replied and told me he seen him and he was doing just fine!! I apologized and told him not to hate me too much for bothering him. Ha.
 
Now, things are much much much better!
I am thinking he just had a bad case of the Mondays!
 
He even got his FIRST Purple Star today!!
His classroom does the whole Green Light, Yellow Light, Red Light disobedience thing.
A Purple Star means you were exceptionally GREAT!!
 
He wanted that Purple Star sooooo bad!!
 
This makes me one happy Mama!

 
 
And the other child...well, he has been keeping me busy while Drew is at school. You can tell he is just so lost and bored without his big brother during the day.
 
I think "pick up" may be his new favorite thing since I let him out of his seat into the front seat with me.
 
Our base was literally bumping in the grade school parking lot yesterday. But he was having a blast.
 
I have watched this video a gizzillion times and laugh just as hard each time.
 
I am thinking of sending this video in to Ellen and make him her new dance partner! :)
 
The lyrics seriously fit this child perfectly..."I'm trouble!"

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Brista Barrington
4 Comments

Friday, August 17, 2012

Bad Day...


I am starting to feel like Carrie Bradshaw...writing about my feelings. Ha.

Wish I had her style to go along with my obsession with writing lately.

I am having a bad day today. Drew's 1st Day of Kindergarten was Wednesday. Only 1/2 the class went. The other 1/2 went yesterday. I got to walk him in Wednesday all the way to the classroom.
Today...different story...

Parents are not allowed past a certain Stop Sign in the Lobby.
The drop off today was so much harder for me for some reason. Maybe because the Stop Sign forbidding me to go any further. I had to just simply watch him walk from a distance to the gym that the kids meet in before the bell rings. The gym that he has not practiced ONCE to go to. Luckily, my sister in law met me this morning so my niece Ashley could walk in with him. You think that would make me feel better, but I cried more this morning than I did Wednesday.

How do I know he got to the gym?

Is he going to be completely confused once he got in there since we didn't practice?

How do they gather all the classrooms?

What if he forgot where his classroom was and gets lost?

I really have not stopped crying since I left. I knew this would be hard, but did not know it would be this hard.

For those of you who think I am crazy: My children have NEVER been to any kind of daycare. I am not used to leaving them all day long without being able to check on them all day. We have been blessed to have our children stay with my Mother in Law and Father in Law since they were born. Only recently we found an in home sitter once a week. And she only has my kids.... And I text her all day as well.

I am that Mother than hears a siren and immediately calls Justin's parents or my sitter. Yep, I'm crazy.

I really do hope this gets easier. I know it will. It's just tough for me right now going ALL day long without talking to him or checking in on him. It's just something I am going to have to get used to.

His lunch box finally came in the mail yesterday. He was insistent on a Cardinal Lunch Box this year.

I left him a sweet note in it. I plan on doing this each day I pack his lunch.
It's kind of my way to make sure he is thinking of me and I'm kinda there with him for lunch.



Here's to a better next week!!!

And a glass of wine tonight....


Brista Barrington
1 Comments

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Drew's 1st Day of Kindergarten!


The day I have been dreading for months...

The day I have been so nervous and sick about...

The day I have wanted to not even think about...

DREW'S 1ST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

Mommy may have been a nervous wreck, but Drew was far away from that. He was so so so excited to go. This was the easiest day EVER to wake him up.
He has been counting down the days until Kindergarten...


I couldn't sleep last night. I woke up sick to my stomach. My husband would say one word and I would "shh" him out of the room because I would start crying.
I'm not even sure why I got myself so upset. Drew was excited, so I should be as well.

However, Mommy brain goes off and I think:
 
 
What if there is a bad storm and I can't get to him?
What if he breaks his arm or gets sick and I am not by my phone?
How am I going to make it ALL day without calling in to check on him?
 
 
The list goes on and on...
 
 
Then I thought to myself...I remember when I was in Kindergarten. I knew what I was doing. I need to have a little bit more trust in him that he too knows what he is doing.
None of that stopped me from crying, but, hey, he is growing up and it is both happy and sad at the same time.

This morning was a breeze getting this child up. He had his breakfast ate, dressed, and ready to go in probably 15 minutes.



I had been doing the chalkboard thing for awhile and planned on putting the whole "Drew's 1st Day of Kindergarten" on it, but then I seen a friend add a picture the other day and she did something similar to this and wrote, "When I grow up I want to be..."
I plan on trying to remember to do this each year...





Can you tell he is excited?!?!





Here he is at his new school!!! :(((
(PS- I despise the whole "no flip flop" rule at school. I do not like the tennis shoes with shorts look. Drives me bonkers!)




He wanted nothing to do with us walking in. He wanted to walk in all by himself.
Maybe this is when I lost it?!
Mr. Independent.




And...I had to get just one more picture of us...




Once we got into the classroom he remembered exactly where his seat was from orientation. He sat there so eager and excited.

His teacher started a little activity and told us parents we had 15 minutes and we needed to get outta there!

So, we got to have a few extra minutes, that I was not expecting, to see him do his first little project which was just simply to write his name, date, and draw a picture of himself on the first day of school.




It was time to leave...


He was embarrassed because I literally was in face trying to get a kiss and a hug. How does he know already to be embarrassed by this?!
Honey, those kisses and hugs will never stop! :)

After crying like a baby before we even walked into the classroom, watching him do his project and listening to the teacher, it really really was time to go.

As we walked out, Justin was talking to another teacher (imagine that, Justin talking), the Pledge of Allegiance came over the intercom and I turned around to peek back in just one more time and he was standing right smack dab next to the teacher with his little hand on his heart.


That's when I knew he really was going to be okay!

Here's to a wonderful year Drew!!




Your Mommy Loves You A Million Times!

Brista Barrington
0 Comments

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Meet the Riden's...


I am supposed to be using this blog to highlight important moments in my life to look back on and I totally forgot to talk about my sisters Wedding!!
Bad Sister Award Goes to Me!

My sister got married at the Virgin Islands July 17, 2012!!

It was a beautiful wedding. I'm obsessed with her wedding dress. I was not there for the wedding because they wanted it to be private with just them and their kids. So, BOO.

I woke up waiting all day for the text they got married so I could spill the secret. I was acting like a little child holding in this big secret!

FINALLY--I received this picture with a message:

WE'RE MARRIED!

It gave me goosebumps!!




Here are a few more pictures from their beautiful wedding day...


Chandler walked his Mommy down the aisle and gave her away...


The Kiss...

Meet the Riden's...Now a Family of 5!!

Next weekend is the wedding reception!!! This "Fake" Maid of Honor is so excited!! I am helping her with the reception and I get seriously a million calls and texts a day from this bride.

Can we say Bridezilla?!

Anywho--I hope my punishment for this post is not having to make a speech. I mean afterall, I am the "Fake" Maid of Honor, so I shouldn't really have to give a speech...right?!

Warn me now if this is the case, because I need to google the BEST Maid of Honor speeches...

YAY for next Friday!!



Brista Barrington
1 Comments

Sunday, August 12, 2012

New, New, New!


I finally decided to get a new blog look!!!

 Before, I was not really too worried about what my blog looked like. It was just for myself to highlight my family's favorite stories so I could look back and read about the highlights of our year, however, I checked my blog stats and realized my website has been viewed 7000 times!!!!
Mostly because of my WWE Wrestling Party being featured on Tip Junkie, so I decided to revamp my style.

I was not into paying someone a fortune to design, so I simply googled "pre-made blog designs" and found this one. And it was perfect because it was very similar to what I had designed as my Posh Parties Logo.


Now it doesn't look so bad when someone visits!! :)

(I am still working on my pages, so bare with me.)

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Another thing new in my life is I have become an:
 "It Works" Distributor.

I was very "iffy" about becoming a Distributor. I don't want to become that annoying salesperson that feels up your Facebook news feed with posts (ahem..Mother).

However, once I tried this product I was hooked. I read about it for months before I even actually tried it and when I did.... Wow! I was amazed by how it really works!!

I am very passionate about this product.

If you want any information or have any questions about It Works Wraps, please contact me!

Click on this link below to head to my personal It Works Web page:


****Also, if you contact me I will send you my own personal picture of my before and after! I lost 3 inches in just 2 wraps!

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Last, but certainly not least...NEW SCHOOL SUPPLIES!!

Drew and I had a Mommy and Drew day out yesterday. Just the two of us. I had to squeeze in some extra time with this little man before heads off to school in just THREE days!

We had a wonderful day together!



I am going to be balling like a baby on Wednesday.
 That's a promise!

Brista Barrington
2 Comments

Thursday, August 2, 2012

YOU CAN'T SEE ME!


I have to admit when Drew started this whole obsession with wrestling, I was not very amused.

Wrestling? Really, Drew?

However, he gets it from his Daddy. Justin and his friends were big wrestling guys when they were little. In fact, Justin's mother still has all of Justin's old wrestling figurines and ring. Drew plays with them every single time he goes to his Ba and Pawee's house.
Last year we surprised Drew with a trip to Monday Night Raw. Never in my life I had ever seen him SO HAPPY! This is when I decided all this wrestling madness was okay. Whatever makes him light up the way he did that night is just fine and dandy with me!

I thought it would be a great idea to get him tickets to Monday Night Raw again this year for his birthday. Little did I know this would also please the husband so much. Apparently I bought tickets not to just any Monday Night Raw, but the 1000th Episode of Monday Night Raw!
We had a great night! This child was cracking me up! He was yelling at the wrestlers, dancing, screaming, holding up his sign, cheering! I think I sat there and stared at him the pretty much the whole time.

Before we left home he was so excited to make a sign to hold up! Of course, Mommy wanted to make it look somewhat decent, however, Drew was set on making his own, so I let him draw on the back.

Drew started out in his black John Cena gear with like 6 wristbands total on his arms. I swear, this child had 4 wardrobe changes throughout the night.

Oufit #1
John Cena Purple


Outfit #2
Rey Mysterio


Outfit #3
The Cobra Guy


Outfit #4
John Cena Green



Hey, whatever makes him happy. He was having a blast. I mean look at him cheering here. It's like Justin and I weren't even there.



(You can see his little stick people wrestlers on his sign here! Hehe!)

And did I mention how excited my husband was? Yes, I did. He was like a little kid when DX came out. Apparently DX was the one who created the "Suck It" that we all used to do when we were little. This "suck it" consist of crossing your arms over your...well ya know what I mean!

Drew caught on to this little madness they did. Normally, this would be a "No, No!", BUT, I was the cool Mom who let him do it for the night.



If you have never been to a wrestling match, they really are a blast! Such great energy. The crowd is so loud and wild. They are some dedicated fans. I would much rather go to a WWE match than a baseball, football, soccer, or basketball game.

PLUS--Who doesn't want to see THE ROCK with his shirt off?

When he yells "Do you smeellll what the Rock is cooking?!", it just gives you goosebumps!!

Until next Monday Night Raw......



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I also would like to add that Drew had some major separation anxiety from his brother. We weren't even to St. Louis and he was asking to call him because he missed him. It was so sweet.

Wonder where he gets that from?!?!


Brista Barrington
1 Comments