{Our very own Summer Fun list}

 

Last year I wrote out our own Summer Bucket list on our big chalkboard in our living room. 

Well, this year that chalkboard is in a different place and I just don't know if I'm going to use it or not. 

So until I find a cute place and have a clever idea for displaying our list it is just going to be right here on this little old blog. 

2012 Summer Bucket List

Family Chapter Book Reading

Build a fort (inside and outside)

Ride bikes

Sonic Happy Hour

Homemade pizza on the barbeque

Water fight

Go on a donut run

Run in the sprinklers

Take Daddy lunch

Play mini golf

Play badminton in the backyard

Go on a boat ride

Go to our neighborhood Farmer's Market

Camp in the backyard

Make smores

Family walks to the park

Slumber party

Watch fireworks

Go swimming

Go to the splashpad

Make homemade pie

Do a big bubble party

Go to the library

Get ice cream from the ice cream truck

Go to the lake

Go see a movie

Go to a baseball game

Have a picnic at the park with friends

Go to the carousel

Make homemade ice cream

Go to the amusement park

Visit Grandpa and Grandma 

One of the most fun parts of this is the actual brainstorming with the kids. The way their faces would light up as something would get suggested. Anticipation is a wonderful thing! 

This is what we did last year. Cute? Yes. Original? No.

My friend Leslie who is so good at combining teaching with fun stuff is doing a brilliant get chores done/pull a fun activity out of the envelope sort of thing. She is one of the best Mom's I know at being intentional with her kids.

My kids, well mostly my eight year old, has been bugging me to do a chore chart because he is dreaming of an allowance. So Leslie's method of tying the summer fun stuff into rewards for chores would probably work great. I just need to come up with more of a daily fun list rather than a list that has so many big fun activities. My son had said while we were brainstorming that we could do one of these everyday! Some of them, sure we could do everyday but others? Go to an amusement park? Make homemade pie? Not so much. So next up is more of a daily small activity list of fun stuff for the kids. Things like art projects or games, walks to the park. 

*To do today: 

Go to the Farmer's Market! Definitely

Go to the pool. Maybe

{Summer Fun}

Our summer started almost a month ago with an earlier than most dismissal from school.

My kids have already had an almost two week "summer camp" at Grandma and Grandpa/Cousins house. One week totally without Mom and Dad and five days with me there. They live about a five hour drive away from us. It was a first and not surprisingly it was my oldest (the eight year old) that struggled the most with missing us.

They had quite an activity schedule while they were there and my oldest kept Grandma accountable for all she mentioned they might do!

They went to the beach...numerous times.

Visited the zoo.

Went to the movie theater to see Madagascar 3.

Visited the Children's Museum.

Had a playdate with their cousin's friends.

Had a photo shoot and got to jump on a big trampoline for the first time as a reward.

Played for countless hours with their cousins.

Got to watch movies every night before they went to sleep.

While they were gone I got to sleep in. 

Take naps.

Work on embroidery projects while I watched whatever I wanted on t.v.

Go out to dinner twice.

Get together with friends to quilt.

Host a baby shower at my house with friends.

Basically do whatever I wanted to do whenever I wanted to do it! 

By the end of the week I was getting a little teary though and missing my little ones quite a bit. The week went by so quickly and I really didn't get all that much done. 

It was my very own summer break though...a bittersweet treat!

Summer Sale in the Shop!

 

Summer Sale in the shop! 

All buntings are discounted! 

Come on in and take a look!

 

{hello}

 

Why hello. Are you still there? 

I seem to be back in this little space after two entire months of nothingness. I wasn't totally gone. I still read blogs, perused Pinterest, posted to Instagram, read emails. 

I just wasn't feeling this space.

Do you know what I mean? I don't want to be here just to be here. I want it to have purpose, meaning, to be enjoyable and genuine. I don't have to blog. That's a pretty cool thing actually. The thought of just never coming back here. It's not a master in my life. 

But, my Mom and my Aunt seem to miss the updates and photos of the kids. And since I'm not a facebooker it is harder to share photos and life if I'm not here. 

So today I'm back. Feeling like being here after two months is hard. Do I share everything that has happened in the last few months? No, totally overwhelming and just too much. Do I jump in and do a random post like I never left? No to that too. 

So to ease my way back into the water I'm just going to share some cute phone pictures and a few little and big happenings around here. 

It is good to be back. 

Isn't this the coolest? It's in my Mother in law's yard. A little heart shaped tree root. Just sharing the love.

Waaay back in April we celebrated my biggest little turning eight. EIGHT? Wow, to me that seems pretty big. And he is so special. He still loves to snuggle, is still totally preoccupied with all things Star Wars and Lego and loves to talk about the Bible with us at night. By the way, I think this photo is hilarious. We took him to this mini golf/go cart/video arcade type of place for his birthday and it was expensive! I got Greg looking at the receipt with a classic oh my word expression on his face. Oh well, we love our kids.

He is so totally eight.

 

My babykins turned three. We don't give him parties. We just get him giant, monster sized bears. 

 

We had a one day, emptying out the garage, yard sale extravaganza. Really, I was trying to purge myself of the hoarding that was once called Farm Chicks. I started that day with twenty four chairs on my front lawn and ended it with only two. I did have other stuff too. I'm not just a chair hoarder. 

 

I scored the coolest orange velvet wingback chair on craigslist for a measly twenty.

Enough said about that. We like it.

We are loving Spring and our neighbors lilacs. Even though my flower beds are pretty full I still get itchy every Spring to plant more. 

 

New wishlist item? Hammock swings. 

We had so much fun swinging in these at our friend Laura's house. 

Oh boy, and with that blogger is refusing to upload photos at more than a snail's pace. 

So we will have to continue this at another time. 

So do you have any plans for this holiday weekend? I'm going to try and sweet talk my honey into some window boxes. 

Have a great three day weekend friends. 

{last week}

 

Okay, so I know it's now this week and not last week anymore but this is what I've got.

I kept meaning to blog last week but I just wasn't feeling it, you know?

I've been buying ferns lately. After a few years of no houseplants I'm back into houseplants. I started with two little ferns and then bought this big one. I'm loving that they last longer than fresh flowers and that I get a bit of the outdoors indoors. Quite the concept I know. 

I've also finally accepted the fact that I will never learn to crochet and bought a vintage totally granny but totally awesome afghan for my living room.

We had one unexpectedly sick boy last week. While I know that most sickness is not expected, this one really came out of the blue. I sent him to Awana and he was just fine. He got delivered back to me having thrown up twice. At Awana. In front of everyone. Then he had a fever all night. Poor boy. I keep running into people that say, "Oh, I heard about that." Meaning the kids are talking. 

We've been doing a lot of this. It always makes me giggle when I see dogs sitting in seats. They look so human don't they?

We've been doing some embroidery again. Although, both of us have a bad habit of starting a project and not finishing it. Mine is intended for my etsy shop if it ever sees the light of day again.

I bought a Smash journal. In Safeway of all places. These things are everywhere these days. I'm using it to record my thoughts and Scripture verses or quotes all on the subject of trust. It's my word of the year and I'm trying not to forget that it is a big issue God wants to deal with in me. Maybe it will always be my issue but nevertheless I want to be changed by God in this area. Plus, it's a really fun way to get some creative energy out in a simple and fast way. 

I got way too sidetracked by watching documentaries about Mt. Everest and rereading Into Thin Air. I think I've worked it out of me though.....until next year when I get the random urge to obsess over it again. 

Oh my, how could I leave this until almost last! For more than a week now I've been a Mom that is ALL DONE WITH DIAPERS! Do you like how I shouted that at you? It was totally unplanned. Because that is how we do things around here. We were talking with friends who have a son a few days older than ours and found out he is totally potty trained. Well, the next day we ran out of diapers. It was either run to Costco or go for it. He is doing so great and is hilarious. The first night he told me he wanted wine because he was big you see. We don't even drink that much wine around here but in his little mind he knows you have to be big to drink it. Well, we've been singing the your so big praises around here like crazy. He now wants coffee because he is big. Oh, and he can use scissors and drink soda too. You know, because he is big now. It never ends. But, oh happy day...we are out of diapers!

So that's about a wrap of our last week, just in case you missed all the random little ins and outs of my life. All courtesy of my phone because my big girl camera hadn't been wanting to snap a photo since Seabrook. I still need to look into that one. 

Have a happy Monday friends...I hope yours is warmer than mine...it's snowing here!

{Seabrook, Year Three}

 Last weekend I took off for a little getaway. A girls weekend at the most magical and idyllic place I know. It's funny and purely coincidental but I have been to the same place the same weekend in March for the last three years! 

My friend Laura headed over to the coast with me as well as my entire family, dog included. They were going to get a visit in with cousins and grandparents while us girls got a break.

We stopped at the most scenic overlook that we usually just speed past. It was time for a driver change. Right as we were pulling in two fighter jets zoomed right over us. It was so cool. And loud. 

 

 The view from the other direction.

This photo makes me laugh. It was windy. My son totally has the same hair style as my sixth grade boyfriend. You do remember that style don't you?

Don't you love this photo? I do. I think I need to print it and I think my Dad needs to paint this. Yep.

This little coastal community is filled with cute houses. We laughed as we were driving in, that's cute, oh, that's really cute! We realized that EVERYTHING is dreamy and cute and it's a little redundant to keep saying it. Oh well, it WAS cute!

There is inspiration everywhere her. The colors on the houses, the Adirondack chairs, the birdhouses, the globe lights strung everywhere. Really, every time I come here I wish I never had to leave. 

All of the houses here are privately owned with about half being rentals. Most are decorated beautifully. You can visit the website and check out the interiors. 

 We never did sit out here. The weather was pretty cold and windy, typical March in these parts. Plus, the weekend went so fast. You have to spend at least three nights to feel like you are able to do everything.

The beach here is majestic. I don't live near the ocean so every time I visit I am newly awed by the vastness and power of it. This site does not disappoint.

Saturday and Sunday were clamming days. The beach was just filled with tiny specks, all people looking to get lucky and have razor clams for dinner. 

I packed all sorts of crafty projects to get done while I was away. I barely touched them. Why does that always happen? It's like when I fly. I usually prepare a big bag full of distractions only to never open it. We ate the best meals while we were there. A couple of girls were assigned to each meal and had full responsibility for the making and cleaning up of it. Such a great idea, once your meal was done you were free with no guilt at watching someone else serve you! Most of the girls had food allergies as well so all our meals were gluten free and had dairy free options. Everything was just fantastic. A good lesson for a girl who eats anything and everything. 

Our drive home was not so great. The mountain pass we have to cross shut down as we were on it. Every big rig in the state seemed to be right there putting on their chains. My poor dog. He was so scared. He sat on my friend Laura's lap for a couple of hours. And as you can see, a lap dog he is not. This provided for lots of giggling.

It took us almost twice as long to get home as it normally does. We made it though. 

So I'll continue along with the paid advertisement for Seabrook here. No, just kidding. I should be though. 

So if you are ever in the Pacific Northwest and want some stellar lodging you now know where to go!

{Mini Wooden Spool Photo Holders}

 

{Inspired by Ashley at Under the Sycamore}

I am going away this weekend for a little girl's retreat. There is no agenda. No responsibilities and nowhere to be at a certain time. Did I say there are no kids? There are no kids.

I am looking forward to good girl chill out time, walks on the beach, swimming, riding bicycles. All of this weather permitting...this is the Washington Coast in March after all.

My sister is the planner extraordinaire behind this weekend. One of her fun ideas was for all of us to bring a small gift representing a bit of who we are. 

Well of course I am only now getting around to this a few days before we leave. Not wanting to go out and spend a bundle, I thought about what I had around the house. 

Last year I ordered this big lot of wooden spools off of ebay I think. I was busy with my etsy shop and one of the popular items were my mini buntings on wooden spools. 

 

I was running low on spools and so pleased with this great deal I had gotten. Well, when they arrived they were teeny tiny. Not suitable for my purposes. So they sat. I sold a few at Farm Chicks but had plenty of leftover just waiting around to fulfill their purpose in some grand craftiness.

 So I was inspired by something the incredibly creative Ashley over at Under the Sycamore had once done. She created photo holders with spools but cut into the side of the spools so the photo would be sitting on the table. My thought was to cut into the top of the spool and wrap something cute around it. First I thought my mini buntings would be cute. Then I thought embroidery thread in rainbow colors. A friend suggested scrapbook paper. The possibilities are really endless. I wanted to stamp quotes onto them as well but they are just so tiny. So a word it was. I am missing some of my alphabet stamps so I was a bit limited as to what I could stamp.

They are teeny tiny. The photos I tried in them are wallet sized which I just like for the cuteness factor.

I'm going to package up three little spools for each girl and include some pretty photos from the Coast that I took while visiting last year. 

I think they would hold a larger photo or card on their own but two is always better than one now isn't it?