My karate kid...

Alex had belt testing at Taekwondo. He did great!



Accepting his new belt:

The parents were invited out on the floor to put the new belts on their children:

He was SO excited to get his orange belt:

Alex helped his dad put on his new belt:

Just to give you an idea of all the students who tested:

Their instructor, Mr. Raberge is a 4th degree black belt:

We are SO proud of Alex, the orange belt Taekwondo master!

Gym-tastic Party...

Alex's girlfriend, Lauren T., had her birthday party at a local gym.


Alex standing next to the birthday girl (in pink):


He's getting so good at balancing:




Having fun:


The rope swing:

We finished the party off with yummy cake:

Right now, this morning...

We are enjoying a quiet start to our day because this is what we did yesterday afternoon:

We raked up all of these from the yard so I can mow today.

Alex relaxing, waiting for me to start the burn pile:

He was such a big helper collecting all the sticks!

He is now watching "good cartoons" - Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles while wearing his ATA headband and using his numchucks!!

I {heart} Chobani yogurt! Leah has gotten it for us when we go to the beach and I was so excited to see it at our grocery, BUT they never have but one or two. I love to put some granola and fresh fruit with mine:

(fyi: On a Today Show segment, they featured Chobani...don't know if that's a good or bad thing for me - maybe it will become more popular and our grocery will carry more of it, but then more people will want it and I still won't be able to get more than two or three containers at a time. Oh my trivial yogurt drama!)

She has been enjoying so much fresh air and being outside that she's plum tuckered out:

What a life she leads!

Hope your Saturday is filled with love, sunshine and happiness too!

A VERY....

Happy Mother's Day here in our little world!

After church, we came home to change clothes, get Daisy and some picnic supplies!
Had to snap a few pics before we got changed:

didn't get the "perfect" picture, but I love them because it's us!!

We stopped along the way to take a picture with Flat Emma for our friend in VA:

Alex LOVES KFC, so we grabbed some on our way to the park:

It was a beautiful day:

We played a little frisbee:

Then played at the playground:

(Alex wasn't happy that he didn't find any dinosaur bones, he was working hard to find some!)

I enjoyed the swing, the beautiful sun and my sweet son that God blessed me with:

I hope that you had a beautiful day!

Pieces of Sunshine...

Love looking at the treasures that Alex brings home in his backpack:

(this is the first time he's dated a paper - they're getting them ready for 2nd grade!)

Green plants are growing and blooming all around the yard:

(please ignore all the sticks, the wind is howling and with a yard full of trees, there's lots of debris)

Made a wreath to welcome visitors to our front door:


(made these fabric leaves after seeing some on Etsy for a whopping $22...mine cost $3.49 to make!)

Banners are HUGE in scrapbooking world right now, so I tried my hand:

Working on my paper book wreath:

Finally applied a vinyl saying to a wall (bought it at the HL in December!):

Can you tell I'm having spring nesting? These little bits of decor bring lots of happiness!

Speaking of happiness:

Been adding a little honey to my coffee and LOVE it! I'm off to fix another cup, have a great day!

He and She...

The fabulously talented Stephanie Howell's blog is one of my favorites to read and some of my favorite posts of hers is when she lists "she.." and tells what her sweet girls are doing "right now". So here goes my "he/she post":

He:

loves all things "Ancient Japan", including sushi. We made Philadelphia rolls at home (using smoked salmon instead of raw) and he devoured them! His favorite part was cutting them and using his chopsticks to pick them up.

is reading better every day. Right now we're reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid. We went to see the movie yesterday and he LOVED it! The first thing he asked this morning when he woke up was, "Mom, when can I shop at the book fair?" He LOVES books, makes me happy!

is practicing very hard to earn his next color belt in Taekwondo - testing is May 26!
asked for a bird feeder:

It sits right outside the window from the table so we get to "have breakfast with the birds"! As I'm typing we had a squirrel climb up there, causing great excitement inside the house! :)

favorite song right now is Train's Soul Sister. He loves music, singing and dancing!

lost two teeth: one Saturday night (in a wrestling match with a friend - it was already loose, so it was pretty exciting!) and one on Sunday. Visits from the tooth fairy two nights in a row made him happy!

She:

got spayed last week and has bounced back to her normal self.

has been enjoying the warm weather, getting to hang outside lots more.

still sleeps under Alex's jr. loft bed every night.

LOVES her boy more every day!


That's what's going on right now around here, thanks for stopping by!

He's my sunshine...

When I saw Dawn's layout, I knew I had to make a pocket full layout for my "sonshine"!
I used a pocket from an old pair of Alex's jeans and "son" was also from his jeans - these were my fave jeans of his, so I'm glad to repurpose them! The pictures were from the piece of paper proof sheet that I cut up - I'm all about free pictures any way I can get them!


Oh, and isn't that photo strip with Alex's name on it adorable? My bff Krista (I would link up her blog, but since she hasn't updated it in over a year, I won't...sorry, her kids are so stinkin cute too, shame you cannot see them because she doesn't update her blog - lol, had to give you a hard time Fluffy, sorry! Love you!) anyhow, she got that photo strip at the Scrapbook Convention forever ago and I've been hoarding it waiting for just the right layout!

I'm linking this up to Janna Wilson's 52 Weeks: Stress Free Scrapbooking.
Thank you for stopping by!

Everyday layout...

I completed another layout for Janna Wilson's 52 Weeks: Stress Free Scrapbooking. I adore this picture of Haley so I when I saw these MMI papers, I knew they'd be perfect:

Thanks for taking a peak!

Sweet Cards...

for my Sweet boy's 7th birthday celebration!

The invites:



The thank you cards:

It's Monday and we're ready for another full week: karate, homework, Sparks and more!

Our Sparks program is wrapping up and Alex & I are VERY excited for this week's fellowship - Alex is saying his last verses, finishing his book and earning his last jewel! It's such an accomplishment for him to have said all of the verses and complete this book, he is so proud of himself because he understands what a huge deal it is! I'm bursting with pride for him!!

Have a great day!