craft time

s and i were looking for something to do

 so we decided to do a little craft together.

we decided to make matryoshka pillows for her sisters' new room.

we got out all the cute fabrics we could find, including retro fabric from my gram &

cute shirts and fabrics that my crafty auntie sent me :)

we used interesting objects to decide the shape that we wanted our pillows to be. i used a paper bag and sketched out a shape, S used computer paper and a cd to decide hers.

we picked our fabrics and started tracing our patterns.

our inspiration piece was a cute pillow that a friend gave me for my bday ;)


we used canvas for the face and felt for the hair.

i also used a little doily that my gram gave me for a little decoration on the front of mine.

we traced.... we cut....

we sewed.... we stuffed....

and then we had some cute little doll pillows.

L liked the idea and wanted in on the action.

so she made her own....

now the dolls have a happy little home by the window.

i still need to figure out the mouths tho.....

stuff...

my cute niece. she's getting big. ugh. love her.

 these girls went with me to return a red box at walgreens. they asked if they could go look at something while i was at the machine.

when i finished, i went to the toy aisle to find them.

nope.

next went to the candy aisle.

nope.

i wondered where the heck they could be. then i saw them looking in detail at the bandage section. of course. their fav. thing to do is wrap legs, arms, etc. up in bandages.

this boy, enjoying an ice cream bar, after painting his arms and legs with nail polish and having a big diaper blowout. he looks pretty unfazed by it all.

just a spoon full of sugar...

the kids were in the most adorable play this summer.

it was a rendition of mary poppins.

they LOVEd it.

it was put on by such a great group of kids. we carpooled. it was every afternoon from 1:30 - 4:30 for 2 weeks. it was a win win for everyone.

they were so thrilled that their cousins and grandparents came to see them.

 S wasn't sure if she wanted to do it, but decided to join last minute. i think she was happy she did. she took learning the songs very seriously. we also did a lot of field research... by watching mary poppins  every day 3x a day.

it was so cute and i have to say i'm sad it's over. i hope they all love to do plays just like their dad did when he was little. it's so fun to see the performances.

one decade!

this girl is one decade old today!!

happy birthday to my sweet L!!!!

 L was so excited to have her birthday party this year. it was the first time she had invited a bunch of her friends to the house to just hang out. she was pumped, and i mean pumped!!


she must have thanked me 20x and this was before the party even started.

we had a great time with all of her little friends. 10 is a pretty cute age. i don't think a lot of them were used to getting attacked from behind, but luckily they thought it was funny when baby R used them as a mosh pit.

after decorating t-shirts and opening presents, we moved on to pizza & cupcakes. auntie brought over the cutest pony cupcakes and even matched L's request for purple and pink.

the big surprise for the evening.

a limo arrived to escort the girls to the sugar bowl.

the screaming is still ringing in my ears. they were pretty surprised and excited.

my sis and i got to ride along.

we were serenaded by several adele, one direction and cold play songs.

but they went crazy when eye of the tiger came on the radio.

funny stuff.

it was so fun to see L with all of her cute friends surrounding her and celebrating her life.

we love you so much L!!

you are sweet, thoughtful, artistic, talented at whatever you try, funny, respectful, creative and

AWESOME!!

indian summer

we thought it would be fun to have a little

indian summer themed cousin photo shoot

for father's day.

it was

HOT.

good thing auntie sarah saved the day

with ring pops.

this child is almost 12.

gulp.

i was 12 when i met paulie wally

gulp.

we have 1 set of 5 year old girl cousins,

1 set of 2 year old boy cousins,

and 1 set of baby (5 mon. & 2 mon.) girl cousins.

fun fun!

summer projects...

D & S & S & L room switch

we are trying to figure out a way to switch around the girls' rooms

on a budget.

these are some images that are swimming around in my head....

wish i had my gram's quilting talents....

 we are thinking something like this for S & L. their bunk beds are moving upstairs to get revamped and become D & S's "new" beds.

oh how i wish these restoration hardware bunks were in the budget. i don't know if i've ever seen more perfect beds.

POST EDIT:

my darling sis informed me that these beds look like they are from a run down mental psyche ward and did i really want my children feeling like they were institutionalized.
sweet. really sweet the way she sugar coats things.

what we've been up to...

ice cream

swimming

resort birthday parties (oh yeah)

vbs

meeting the biggest cat we've ever seen, mr. pibb

more ice cream

more swimming

that's all folks.

living the summer dream.

summer summer time

last day of school: hooray!!

crazy day, dress as a character day & wear your jammies to school day

AND....

free slurpies at 7eleven day!!!!

and the lazy days of summer are well on their way.

sleeping in. camps. movies. swimming.

here is what we've been up to thus far:

a little summer wedding in the makings.....

a quick camping trip.... in which daddy immediately listed the pop up on craigslist when we got home

homemade flax meal pancakes & organic blueberries. y.u.m. 

note the peonies in the back? trader joes.

made.my.month.

 nothing beats a summer dinner club. 


the theme: no theme.

just grilled steaks, green beans & sweet potatoes


 and a chocolate cake of course.

this may be my favorite sight ever.

pdubs entering the car with sandwiches & sodas from my

FAV place EVA.

took the chillens to some delicious old fashioned ice cream...

baby R chillin in a vintage rocket toy.

L organizing all of her precious horses....

R wearing daddy's chelsea hat...

 uh oh... how did these two get in here??? don't they look like a cute old couple???

awwwww......