Seriously

Can he get any cuter? No, he cannot.

Love these girls

This past weekend was our 9th annual girl's weekend. You can read about past girl's weekends here, here & here. :)
These girl's are such a treasure to me.

We became friends over 10 years ago at JBU. I am so thankful that these have become life long friendships. Even though we live all over the country (and out), we have committed to coming together every summer for a weekend. We drop our lives and catch up for a few days. It is a fun, carefree, refreshing time. Each year is different depending on what's going on in our lives and it seems at least one of us is always pregnant...usually more. I am not pregnant, by the way.

I hope the girls don't kill me for posting this picture of us in our jammies. So, it's not super flattering, but it was just such a fun night ...Jenny's sweet dad bought us 10 pints of blue bell ice cream. We sat around and ate ice cream and talked & caught up with each other.

We had 3 little helpers this time. Sawyer, Halle, & Jane got to know each other as well. Sawyer & Jane even have the same birthday. I'm sure they'll get married.

By the way, I LOVED driving 6 hours to Dallas by myself w/ Sawyer. He was perfect and I loved the solitude. I really just enjoy some time to be by myself and think. That in itself was a gift.

I can't sit still for one second.

I've always got to be working on one project or another. I do not understand the meaning of the word, "bored."

I have this space on top of our wardrobe that needed something.
Problem, meet solution:
I've had this cupcake holder sitting in the garage since Finley's 3rd birthday party. I love it. I got it on clearance at Target a few years ago for a few bucks. It looks fun and springy in the green, but you know I've gotta have a project, and it's just sittin' there.
Love me some spray paint. I used the brown as a primer coat...then the cheap ol' Wal-mart black for the final layer. I like the cheap Wal-mart paint b/c it's flat. I wanted it to look kind of like wrought iron so I needed it to be flat. Plus I think shiny spray paint just looks cheap.

I love the way it turned out.
Now what in the world do I put on it? I want some serious suggestions ladies. Seriously, comment right now.

Happiness Is:

Picking a skirt full of strawberries from my own back yard.
Having a sweet little helper named Finny Fan.

[Happiness is not: slugs eating as many strawberries as we did. Any tips?]

1st Piano Recital Ever.

Avery had his first piano recital last week. Pretty darn cute if you ask me. He looks so little and so big all at the same time up there on that stage.

He started taking lessons in February and has loved it. Over the Christmas break he started "writing" his own songs and playing them on the piano. We thought he might enjoy piano lessons.
He's enjoyed learning the notes. He likes to write his own sheet music. He's written probably 10 pages of his own "songs" and wanted to take them around to all the neighbors. Love that kid.
He played a song called "Party Cat." He didn't pick the most challenging song he knew. He picked the song that had a cool picture of a cat w/ a guitar. That's our Avery.

On the way there I asked him if he was nervous. He said "No, not at all." He was super excited to get to be on stage. He loves that kind of thing. He's always the one at events raising his hand frantically to go on stage.

No fear. Not real sure where he gets that from. I love that about him.

Evolution of a Lamp

I'm in the process of redoing our office. We desperately needed a lamp in there so I've been searching at yard sales & thrift stores for the right one.
This one caught my eye and I knew it had potential. Good lines. Love the square shade.
It's not bad, right? But not the look I was after and that orange wood gives me a headache.

First step was to prime....L.O.V.E. spray primer. I did a couple thin coats of spray primer to the base. Avery felt the need to be in the picture.
Then I painted it black with some paint I already had. Lookin' good. Then I dug through my ribbon stash and found this black & white polka dot ribbon and hot glued it on. Even better.
But, you know I can't leave well enough alone. I found this beautiful fringe at Hobby Lobby and of course used my 40% off coupon. Then I hot glued that from the inside of the shade.
Isn't that fringe so pretty and poufy?! love it.
I love how it turned out, plus getting this accomplished motivates me to get to the rest of the office. I'll show more pictures as I get more projects done in there. :)

Here's the breakdown:
lamp $5
spray primer $3
fringe $3
total: $11

Go check out some other lamp goodness at the Nesting Place. She's hosting a Lampapalooza today! :)

Memorial Day Weekend - Kansas Style

We had a great time Kansas. AJ's sisters and their husbands and kids came as well. We have so much fun when we're all together. AJ's parents are building a house in town so this was our last time at their current house. It was bitter sweet. There are so many memories at that house. We tried to make the most of the time there. It turned out to be so wonderful. The weather was perfect. Everyone was healthy and happy...albeit a little sad. We'll make more memories at the new house. But, change is hard.

AJ and I were able to take a gator ride around their land. It brought back so many memories. We talked about the first time I visited Kansas with him. We remembered walking through the wheat field holding hands and AJ's dad standing on the back porch taking pictures. I was trying to wrap my mind around wheat fields and combines and custom harvesting.


We all visited the new house that is being built. It was fun to walk through and try to envision the end result. It's gonna be a great house and will have more room for all of us and the of grandchildren when we come to visit. AJ's parents love to entertain so it will be a blessing to be in town to do that.
The cousins had a B.L.A.S.T. together. They played so hard all weekend. I hardly even saw them.
The whole fam.
It's impossible to get us all smiling at once. I sure do love this little family. :)
Tonya and Jill and I went running together one morning. It is breathtaking to run by a field of wheat as far as your eye can see. Kansas is where I learned first hand the definition of "amber waves of grain."
Love this picture.
Avery is such a great big brother to Sawyer. He is crazy about him and loves to make him smile.
I think this is so sweet. AJ's mom is such a great Grandma. She loves her grandsons so much.
Grandpa working with Avery on his shot. Priceless.
The boys' most favorite thing is to take a gator ride. They got lots of rides this weekend. One morning, AJ's dad took them to the pond to feed the fish. Fun times indeed.