Summer Baubles...

In preparation for our vacation, I finished up some jewelry!

This is my fave and I wear it ALL the time:


I've had this pendant and needed a necklace:

Love to pair it with grey t-shirts!

Super fun green (I sometimes wear it with the pearl one for extra POP!):

A little dressier of grey pearls:

A splash of turquoise and natural beige beads:

Love the toggle clasp - thankfully with short hair, you get to see the pretty clasps!

Citrus fizzy:

There's no clasp, just a long string that you feed through to big pendant.

Not sure if I love this one, I keep reminding myself that it's citrus colors, NoT Fam(u) colors (but if so, I might need to give it to Pokie so she can represent her alma mater!).

Blue splashed with lilac:

A dangly bracelet that I'll finish up in the car ride tomorrow:

Not sure if I'll be able to update the ole blog while we're gone, but will have TONS of pictures when we get back! :)

If you think of it, please remember us in your prayers as we travel. We're looking forward to seeing all of our family and very blessed to get to see everyone from TN, GA and FL!!

What a bargain...

I was in the dollar section at Target today (it will always be the dollar section to me even though they have $2.50 items, which is so not right, but we won't get into that today!) and I came across a beach mat for $2.50. I was super excited about it, but became ecstatic about it when I was reading my Better Homes and Gardens magazine last night and came across their "fresh find" for $12:

Mine is cuter and way cheaper! Very excited about my bargain, but even more excited that I will be at the beach in a few weeks to actually use it!!!

Today's Bits of Sunshine...

Yes, still raining! My grass is out of control!

My lil bit of sunshine (other than my SONshine!) here today is my kitchen window sill:

Ring dish from my sweet Haley...she sent it to me for Mother's Day and wrote in a beautiful card why she thought of me when she bought it and lots of other kind words. Oh I LOVE that girl, she is so thoughtful!!!
My vase of orange daisies with some fabric leaves that I made adds some brightness.
A pack of daisy seeds that I need to plant, but I'll save the package, it's so cheerful, I think it needs to be repurposed!
Hope you have sunshine in your home today too!

Meet Teddy...

The 1st graders all brought home Teddy Sunflower seeds that they planted. Alex was very proud of it and told me how to care for it. We were SO excited to see it sprout:

The second one sprout:

Here they are today:

We're going to move them to a big pot, as soon as it stops raining!

Today's Bits of Sunshine....

With all the rain we're getting, we're not seeing any sun, so I'm finding some inside my house!

My "grandma's fork":

This isn't my Grandma Chapin's fork, but one just like hers. I cannot mix anything up without using it; even if it's dirty, I wash it so I can use it. It's THE best! It reminds me of making beer bread with my Grandma or dump cake or this super yummy cherry/whip cream/pineapple concoction that I need to try to recreate.
My sister has one too and she actually accused me of taking hers with me when I left her house last time. She couldn't find it and thought I took hers! That's how much we love our Grandma Chapin forks!!
What do you have around your house that makes you happy and remember someone?

Three reasons we're loving summer break...

1. I have plenty of time to make pancakes for breakfast that Alex and I get to sit and eat together since we're not getting ready for school:


2. Having our friend Max over for a few days since his summer program hasn't started yet:

3. (No picture for this one) Matinee movies during the week! Alex, Max and I went to see Marmaduke and they had so much fun, lots of belly laughs from both of them!

Those are just today's three, there are LOTS more!

Teacher's Gifts...

After 2 years at OLE - kindergarten & 1st grade - Alex will be going to a new school for 2nd grade. We are both excited about this new chapter in his life, but will miss Mrs. Bree, her 4 awesome assistants, a sweet speech therapist and a confidence-boosting occupational therapist. I knew that their end-of-the-year gifts needed to be extra special and luckily I remembered that Mrs. Kathy loved my cane bead bracelet and mentioned that she wished Mrs. Bree had been there because she would love it too.
So I set out to make 7 bracelets:

They loved them, especially since it would always remind them of Alex!

J Crew Inspired...

The flower tees seem to be everywhere, but they are spendy ( a MN term for 'spensive!). This one from J Crew is $29.95:

*photo courtesy of jcrew.com

So while strolling through The WalMarts, I saw these tees that graduated in shades, I knew it would be perfect for making my own:


I bought two (I think they were $5 each or maybe on clearance for $3 - either way they were a steal!), cut one up in heart shapes, hand sewed the hearts on to make a "corsage" and threw it on over a denim skirt for my $10 (or less) J Crew knock-off!

Thanks for stoppin by!

The images in these pictures appear larger....

Because these marshmallows are EXTRA GIANT:


We cannot wait to have a bonfire to make s'mores with them, but for now Alex tried them out and they were yummy!!

Summer Fun....

It's truly summer when we have a bonfire at the Remiger's (our neighbors at our old house). The boys told ghost stories, got pushed on the swings, played, ran around and of course ate s'mores!

Ryan has grown SO much, he talks up a storm:

And is still just as cute as ever!!

Jack is becoming more adventurous:

Alex had fun being with his friends and loved knowing that even though we don't live there anymore he still gets to play with his friends!

He always catches his marshmallows on fire:

Burned marshmallows and all, he loves his s'mores:

And I think he's sweeter than all the s'mores in the world!

Spring Fun Day

Alex's school has a Spring Fun Day with tons of fun things: carnival games, dance off, crafts, bounce houses, field games, face painting, color hair spray, tattoos and more!
I was in charge of a bounce house, so I didn't get pictures of Alex doing anything except for tug-of-war which was right by the bouncies!
It was boys against girls:


They won!!!!

Alex had on a Twins shirt and shorts, so he went with a Twins theme: decorated his dog tag with Twins and got it painted on his face. He also got his hair "painted" with stripes:

To end the day, there was a fifth grade talent show in the gym. I had such a fun day at Spring Fun Day, so thankful that I was able to be there to see how ecstatic Alex was about the whole day. When we went to get his things from his classroom, Ms. Kathy told him that he did SO great the whole day, very patient waiting in line and good behavior sitting still for the talent show! I'm so proud of him!!

Water Play Afternoon...

Every day Alex gets off the bus, he asks if I have a surprise for him - some days I do, some days I don't.
It was a HOT Friday and I had a fun surprise for him...I set up all our water toys in the backyard! He ran to the neighbor next door and invited her over:

Our pool sprung a leak, but we had fun on the slip n slide:


I didn't get any more pictures of the festivities because the two boys from across the street came over and it was water mania, not camera friendly! Plus I had a hundred or so water balloons to fill/tie for them! They chased each other around the whole yard with water gun, water balloons, water sprayers...oh the fun!

Alex gets 1 item when we go to the Dollar Tree, well last visit he chose a paper tiki bar (he was WAY disappointed that it was only 12 inches tall, he thought he was going to be able to stand in it and serve drinks!), a paper totem pole and fun plastic drinking glasses (yes, I know that's more than one item!). He loved that I brought the tiki bar outside and pinned up his totem pole. He served his guests orange soda from the fun glasses...such a good little host!

After the boys went home, Alex and Elaine played with Moon Sand until her mom called her home.

All the while, she just watched the crazy action, laying in the sun:


I love that Alex has neighbor friends to play with, makes me thankful and happy!
We were all pooped after our fun water play afternoon...Daisy and I might have gone to bed right after we put Alex to bed and closed up the house!

Halloween in May...

I just finished a Halloween project that I've been working on!

A table runner made of posies/yoyos:

I made the edges pointy to mimic the spider webs in one of the fabrics. Now I cannot wait to put it out this Halloween!

Thanks for taking a peak! :)

How does your garden grow...

Mine is getting there! Up here you have to wait until the middle of May to plant summer plants - insane, I know!
Here's the pot on our front porch (is fully shaded):


Little herb pot (already using my basil, SO yummy!):



Got a Topsy Turvey Tomato planter (Daddy, Leah and Paw all gave it huge thumbs up!):


*fyi randomness: Alex is obsessed with anything he sees on commercials, thinks we NEED everything he sees on them, so he was seriously excited to see Topsy Turvey and the Water Globes (mine aren't the real thing, they're the plastic $2 from the Fleet Farm) that I bought! He's so silly!

Look at what is growing in my yard:


(4 days later)

They smell SO good! The neighbor behind us has tons of them, in all different colors, SO pretty!

Now, I have to get 12 (yes, TWELVE) window boxes planted.

Speaking of growing, he is the fastest growing thing around our house:

He grows taller and sweeter every day!! Love him to pieces! :)

Sad day, happy ending...

After 10 years, my awesome Nissan Maxima bit the dust. :(
It was 11 years old and had served Alex and I well, taking us from SC to VA to OK to MN ( it didn't like the winters here, cannot blame it! ).
When I found out I was going to have to get a new car, I called my sister and asked her if she were to get rid of "the bus" (her 10 year old Yukon XL), would she be sad. She said "yes", she gets it. Don't get me wrong, I was excited to get a newer car, maybe an automatic with leather. But I would miss the prune juice splatters on the ceiling from when Alex was going through the stage, around 18 months old, when he flicked the straw in his sippies and juice left in the tip went flying. I would miss the red crayon stain in the backseat where a crayon left out on the seat melted while we played with friends at a cool park in Edmond, OK and when Alex got in, he smeared it. I would miss the sunroof shield that was cracked from when Alex climbed out of the sunroof to show off for his girlfriends here in MN. Ah, the memories!
So, rest in peace white car...I miss your sunroof, your cool spoiler and your Bose stereo system, although I do not miss your broken ghetto key or shifting gears, but you were a good car and left big shoes to fill. Hopefully this car can do it:

A 2006 Dodge Charger. Automatic (!), grey leather interior (!), a fold-down arm rest in the backseat with cupholders for Alex and since I do like a fast car, it's a Hemi (with micro-chips, cold air intake, or somethin-somethin doo-doo like that!).

It's pretty, but it will look even better once I get an orange T for the back window!!

Paper Book Wreath...

Remember this wreath:


I finished it:

It took two paperback novels because I made my swirls way too tight, but oh well, live and learn. I got the idea from Living with Lindsay - Creating a Beautiful Home, One Glue Gun Burn at a Time. And boy howdy, did I get a major glue gun burn while making this wreath, yeeeooow!

Thanks for taking a peak!