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!

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!