Ella's 4th Birthday (PSA Essentials Cupcake Style)

It's official, I am the mother of a big kid.  No more toddler talk for Ella, though we have known for a while now that she is quite grown up.  Sunday afternoon she gathered her favorite girls for an afternoon at the ballet school.  All the girls came in their princess/dance attire and I may have even been caught donning one of Ella's tutus...

Miss Jess (our dear ballet teacher) led the girls in an hour long dance class where they danced themselves silly!

I had a blast doing all of the decor and favors, shocker I know, and put the colors pink and purple to work!

I had each of the girls places set with their favors...a tiara and a wand, of course!  I tied them together with a simple pink bow and labeled them with a key chain stamped with crowns and pointe shoes from the PSA Peel & Stick Cupcake set.  It is the ultimate in girlyness, with leotards, purses, cupcakes and butterflies, oh my!

Cupcake Peel & Stick

It was tu tu cute (pardon the pun, I just had to!) and Ella had such a great time with all of her buddies!  She is such a big girl now and I am so proud to be her Mommy!  Happy 4th Birthday Ella Bell Ballerina!

Holiday Cards With PSA Stamps!

It's hard to believe that the time of year is already upon us to start thinking about sending out Holiday Cards!  Now that we have children, it seems more important than ever to do them.  It really is a great way to let people see your children growing (for the sector of the population that doesn't check Facebook hourly) and what all you have filled the past year with.  We have already started compiling the pictures for our Christmas Card and there are quite a few, so this year I think we are going to use this clever card from Tiny Prints.

I LOVE this card!  It has many options (and we know I love options!)  It is also great because, instead of being tossed onto a pile of other cards, folks can hang it on their tree as an ornament-adorable!  The option for multiple photos also really appeals to me so that I can tell our friends and family a story through the pictures of what all has happened in our lives over the past 12 months.  A few of these pics will definitely be making our card...

So many to choose from and so many stories to tell!!  Another way to really top off the personalized Holiday Card is with a PSA Holiday Stamp.  They have some adorable choices this year and there is something for everyone's liking...

PSA Holiday Stamps

The best part about these is that are compatible with the entire Peel & Stick line.  All you have to do is have your family name and address on the outer ring and then you can simply order the next season's (or whatever the occasion may be) Peel & Stick set, remove the Holiday center and VOILA you have a year round stamper, ready for Valentine's Day cards (and yes, we have been known to do a Valentine's Day family card, lol!)  The Gammon's will be using the Snowfamily this year, just in case you were wondering...

Little Miss Monogram Goes To Paris

Paris is my kind of place!  On my first trip to Europe, it was the perfect place to start!  In addition to my dearest friend Libby, we were accompanied by our beautiful mothers on the vacation of a life time.  The four of us toured the city for 5 days and boy did we cover some ground!

Cynny and Libby have been to Paris on a few other occasions and with their guidance we did that city the right way!  We toured the Louvre, the Pompidou, the l'Orangerie and (my favorite) the d'Orsey.  I never knew that I enjoyed art as much as I did once I saw it all up close and in person.  The Impressionists really hit a home run with me, but it was thrilling to see all the different era's of art in such amazing surroundings.

We also visited all of the required sites (like the proper American tourists that we are.)  We stopped by the Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dam and the Eiffel Tower.  We also made it to the top of Paris and went to Sacre Coeur, which grabbed my heart for the beautiful setting and amazing stain glass.

Now, to the good stuff.  Literally, the good stuff, like Foies Gras, Escargot and French wine in plethora!

The eating was phenomenal!  I have never enjoyed so many consecutive meals.  We went to so many different places ranging from the local dive to the most she-she of establishments.  Strange thing was, the small, local places were our favorites! They just had the intimate feeling that all of us had in our minds when we conjured up what a Parisian meal meant to us.

Between the sight seeing and the eating, we even managed a touch of shopping!  While perusing the streets, we came across some famous monograms

I love finding a good monogram anywhere!  It's just a reminder of how a few simple letters can make such a mark!

All in all, it must be said, that this one truly goes down in the books as one of the greatest trips ever.  Making memories for a life time with friends of a life time!  C'est la vie!