not so sure this counts as a holiday weekend!

Aaaahhhh...Memorial Day weekend! The kick-off of the wonderful summer season. Both of my girls had their last day of school this past week so we are ripe and ready for some summer time fun!

(Side note...Addie had "Awards Day" at school on Friday and a proud Momma must brag! She got the "Top Phonics Student" award, "A & B Honor Roll" award, and the "Gratefulness" character award!)

I'm not so sure that this weekend is going to go down in the books as one of our best holiday weekends.

First off, the family was one man down - and the most favorite man at that! Lee is spending his Memorial Day weekend traveling to Boston. (Insert my Boston accent..which even at best would be completely unrecognizable! For some reason, all of my accents, no matter their supposed origination, end up sounding like Forrest Gump! I digress...)

So while I was riding solo, wouldn't you know that things go wrong! Pretty soon after Lee left, the washing machine spun for its last time. It has served us well for the past 10 years, but I believe the end has come. After a few phone calls, the conclusion was for me to leave it alone until Lee came back. Inevitably, I have begun to see unwanted piles of clothes around my house! My approach to laundry is to stay on top of things! I hate to see mounds of our dirty clothes and have never had a "laundry day." I know that works for many, but around here, every day is "laundry day!"

In addition to the demise of my washer, my sweet boy and I have been feeling under the weather. I'm really doing ok, but my Sam has not felt well at all.
can you see his leaky nose?
He did cheer up at bath time which he has grown to love! When he was first home, bath time wasn't exactly his favorite time of day!


Now take a look at what has occupied a little of my time this holiday weekend...


Can you even tell what it is?!? It's what some call a garage! If looking at this makes you nervous, then you're in good company! I start twitching every time I open the garage doors!

We've been collecting "treasures" since last summer to have another garage sale as a fundraiser for Sam! Well the time has come and we are planning on having the sale next weekend. I have been (along with my dear friend Samantha!) pricing and rearranging things for a good chunk of the weekend.

Now don't worry, there was some fun to be had this Memorial Day weekend! As an exercise in humility, I am going to show you what occupied my girls for several hours. It's really quite embarrassing, but take a look at our redneck pool(s)...


After all, I am from south Georgia!! :)

On Saturday morning, the girls were sneaking around asking for random objects and made me promise not to come in their playroom. A little while later, they ran up to me and presented me with some very beautiful cards!!

When I asked them what the occasion was, they said, "Because we love you and you're the best Mommy we've ever had!" I adore those munchkins!

And I'll leave you with a picture of how I found my Ellee this afternoon...


With her, you just don't ask questions! :)

Now we're off to watch "Gnomeo and Juliet" as we count down the hours until my hubby comes home. He makes everything better!!

things we love...and things we don't

Here are some things we love:

Addie loved her first season of soccer that ended today! She played so well and made an amazing goalie! Here's Addie with her sweet friend Maggie.

Don't be fooled, it's not just little boys that love playing in the dirt and digging for worms! Ellee loves finding worms and making a "home" for them. She even names all of them and is convinced she can tell them apart!

When I noticed her sad face (that you can see in the picture), I asked her what was wrong. "Lillian Grace broke!!" she said with a quiver in her voice. When I looked down and saw a severed worm, I had to stifle a laugh!
Sam loves to eat! And he's quite messy doing it...
I love what a huge help this little doll is to me!

Picking strawberries is one of my most favorite family traditions! We've been doing it every year for quite some time now. Our plan is to continue that tradition later on this week! Here's a glimpse of what it looked like last year...


Here are some things we don't love:

The smile may be deceiving because Ellee did not like playing soccer. She was very excited for the season's end today! She proudly showed off her trophy while telling people, "I never, ever, ever have to play soccer again!"
Sam absolutely hates riding in his car seat! Did I mention that he H.A.T.E.S. it? But he's still so unbelievably precious - tears and all!!

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Wishing you a week full of things you love!!

feast your eyes on some cuteness!

Here's our first attempt at going private! I'm hoping you'll email me or leave a comment and let me know if you had any trouble getting on the blog.

Honestly, it's late and I'm a pooped Momma, so this will practically be a "wordless post." I'll just share pictures of my precious kiddos that I've had to keep hidden until now. Enjoy!




More to come!

a not so extreme room make-over

For the past few weeks I've been scurrying around quietly attempting to pull together a surprise room make-over for my girls! Since we've moved into our new home, their room has gotten the shaft as we pulled together the more "public" rooms that our friends would see when they came over and then we focused on Sam's room when we got the news that he was coming home sooner than expected.

I promised (pinky promised actually - and that's a big deal around here!) Addie and Ellee that when things settled down a bit, I would get to work for them. As it became clear that things would never settle down, I decided it was time to get busy! I finally completed this little project this morning!

My blank slate was actually lime green and pale pink! Back in the fall, the girls spotted some lime green minky dot comforters at Bed, Bath & Beyond and they fell in love with them. Because they were on clearance, I fell in love, too! And honestly, the comforters are crazy soft and I wouldn't mind having something like that on my bed! The pale pink was on their walls from when we first moved in.

Because I mostly worked late at night and really random times in attempts to keep this all a secret, I didn't take any "before" or "during" pictures, so the final project will have to do.

waiting...

OPEN!



An old lesson from my 10th grade history class ran through my head as I worked on the room - "Necessity is the mother of invention." The truth is that I could have easily gone to the Pottery Barn Kids website or the Land of Nod website and ordered my happy little self into debt. Because that's not really what we're going for, I had to get creative.

I used a lot of hot pink spray paint to give new life to some old things like picture frames, vases and dresser knobs...

I took some pointers from good ole' Martha Stewart and made tissue paper balls from tissue paper I had on hand. (Laugh away dear family - my obsession with keeping tissue paper pays off!)

Behind the girls' beds, I made "make-shift" headboards with their initials on them. I simply covered two pieces of different size wood with fabric and hot glued them together. I then took wooden letters from Hobby Lobby, painted them and glue those suckers right in the middle. Finish it off with a ribbon and you're done! (Now don't look too closely - you'll see just how homemade-ish they look!)


In the outdoor section of Hobby Lobby, I found these flowers that I thought would look cute on the wall. I waited until their outdoor stuff was on sale and bought all of these for less than $4.00.


I found hot pink curtains and hot pink bedskirts on clearance at Target, added a few other things, and the room was complete! I was pleased with the way it all turned out, but most importantly, the girls seemed just delighted!!


I really do treasure doing things like this for my family! Although using the "add to cart" button would be easier, I find this so much more rewarding!