Around our house...

Our house is FAR from picture ready, but here are few shots!

 

This is the colonial house project that Alex's class made, he's very proud of it:

I think he did a great job!  When I asked where the door was, he said there's a secret passage under the gold rocks.  There's also a gold mine that you can "get gold to pay for your house taxes, but if you have already paid your taxes, you're home free to spend the money on fun cool stuff"!  His creative imagination never ceases to amaze me.

 

Alex's room is (being) decorated in camo and UT orange accents.  Thanks to Pinterest, I covered his old cork board to match his new decor: 

I also used some old bottle caps for push pins (glued thumb tacks to them).  Alex loved it!  When he and Bigs go out for man breakfast, Alex gets a "classic soda" (any soda in a glass bottle), so he loved that I used the bottle caps.

 

We moved this little table into his room to give him a nightstand.  I used the leftover fabric from the cork board to cover the lamp and add a little skirt to the table.  Alex loves being able to read in bed with his lamp and have a spot to put his glasses when he takes them off.  

 

This is my craft area: 

This is the loft area on our second floor.  I'm afraid it's going to be a work in progress for a long time!I'm so ready to get back to scrapping, the big work space with lots of light have really inspired me....now only to find my scissors/cutters and tape runners.  Ha!

 

I'm so thankful to have such a warm, love-filled home, even though it's not picture perfect!

 

Color Belt Testing...

It's been a while since I've posted Alex's karate pictures and I'm sure I've missed a few belts, but last night he moved up to red belt recommended: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a great night, next belt will be red belt decided and he'll start his black belt training!

 

Pre-Halloween...

Please note that I am not too thrilled with Alex's Halloween costume choice this year, no more cute costumes for him, it's all about being "cool". 

 

Alex's school had their annual Halloween night out at the Pizza Ranch.  Alex was thrilled to "hang out" with some of his friends. 

 I didn't realize that 4th graders needed to have "cool" scary costumes, but that's what makes em happy. He had a blast and that's what matters!

 

Crochet....

There's just something about fall/winter that makes me want to play with yarn.  Especially since Krista visited and taught me how to make bath scrubbies (will have to post pictures later!).  I decided to make a few smaller dishclothes for the kitchen and toss the sponges (aka germ holders). 

 

I love them so far and am waiting for JoAnns to put their cotton yarns on sale again to make more.

Birthday...

I had a surprise visitor for my 40th birthday:

My bestie, Krista from Virginia. 

Andy and Alex got me some really wonderful gifts:

 

(necklace says "y'all" with a freshwater pearl!)

 

 

And there was Costco cake:

Turning 40 wasn't all that bad!

From my Phone....

Here are some summer fun pictures from my phone.

At the mall, avoiding the heat:

Getting tomato cages from the Fleet Farm:

 Working in the garden:

 Vacation in Florida - ate Chick-Fil-A 4 times (yes, FOUR times!):

While on vacation in Florida, went to Hobby Lobby, the same day that Alex & PawPaw got breakfast from Dunkin Donuts, we had 2nd Chick-Fil-A for lunch, swam in PawPaw & MawMaw's pool, had dinner at Carraba's, and Jen & the boys got there (it was  GOOD day):

Gulf World in Panama City with Pokie, Gracie and Bubba:

 Green beans from our garden:

And there's been so many other fun summer days and hope to have a few more before school starts on the 4th!

It's a Date...

One Saturday when Alex was at his father's, Andy & I took a lil road trip to Red Wing, MN.

Yes, people really say, "Uffda" up here in their everyday speech (along with "nummy" instead of "yummy", but that's a whole different post for another day!).

 The World's Largest Boot:

(Just so you get how big that boot is, Andy's a good 6'6"!)

There are painted boots around town:

These boat houses are attached to metal rods that they slide up and down on (Andy found it very interesting and told me to take a picture of it to show my dad who might also find it interesting!):

We stopped at the old Pottery Depot that now filled with (ridiculously priced) antique shops:

It was a fun date day and I think that we only said once or twice how we wished Bubs was with us, which is a new record (it's usually like twelve or thirty times!).

We're back...

We are back from vacation and BUSIER than ever with summer school for Alex and VBS for both of us at night!  For now, here's a couple pictures from vacation:

More to come, but for now, still doing laundry and uploading photos!

Happy 4th of July...

We had a fun 4th of July!  Max and Becki joined us for grillin and fireworks.

I saw on Pinterest this idea to cut a hole in the bottom of a cup to hold a sparkler:

Alex loved it, it was like being a pirate while not getting any sparks on his hands!

We are thankful to our Free Country and all of those who make that possible.  God Bless America!

Summer Day...

We had a horrible hot streak (well, for MN), so Alex kept himself busy inside. 

There was a war in the kitchen, complete with props:

 I got some paints out for him to decorate his shield:

He opened a YuGiO shop in the kitchen:

 I had to spend $1.50 to join the YuGiO club, then another $.50 for my cards:

 Getting my cards:

 Placing a reorder:

(Just when I was about to put the cash register and VTech computer in the garage sale pile!)

I just love the imaginative things Alex thinks up!