The Craziness Continues...

I thought last week was my crazy busy week, but apparently it's going to last through the end of the school year. :)

There's just so much going on right now with end-of-the-year parties and award ceremonies, coordinating teacher's gifts, thank you gifts, finding childcare for Parker for multiple dates because of so many things going on... ugh...is it summer yet?!?

Sadly, I am not full of creativity for the blog this week, but I do want to post some random pictures for the family members who read this. And I promise once summer hits, I'll be better about posting more interesting things... maybe. :)

Payton is already in full "summer brain" mode. He keeps forgetting to do things. Loses his train of thought. Daydreams all the time. And loves to irritate his little brother. Fortunately, the little guy can take it and loves to dish it right back at him!

For example...

And speaking of the little guy. Apparently he got a hold of my phone this week and accidentally pressed the button where you can flip the camera to take a self portrait. This is what I found on my phone when I opened up my photo album:

 What a nut!

On a completely different topic...

I had a bunch of fabric leftover from recovering my kitchen chairs (guess I didn't calculate the yardage properly - no surprise to those who know me. Yes Mom, I know you're giggling right now).

Fortunately for me, my crafty little neighbor who is a wiz at sewing whipped me up two throw pillows and a table runner!

Thanks Kristen - you're the best!!!

Yesterday Parker and I went to lunch with my good friends Jen & Cheryl for Jen's birthday. Lucky for me, Jen's favorite place to eat lunch is Nordstrom's Cafe. Lucky for Parker, you have to take an escalator to get there. He loves the "magic stairs!"

The excitement is almost palpable!

Okay, that's all I got for today. But I promise I've got some good recipes, DIY home improvement projects and summer kid activities to post in the next couple weeks. So stay with me folks and hopefully I'll post something other than pictures of my kids. LOL! :)

Memorial Day Weekending

It's almost 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening.
The house is silent except little scratches here and there from Mocha.
Everyone else crashed out early, so I just spent the past hour or so editing and uploading all of the pictures I took over the weekend.
It's a long, and sometimes tedious, process to go through the hundreds of pictures I take over the course of a few days. But at the same time, I find myself pausing on random photos, smiling - sometimes even laughing - when I see something that maybe I didn't notice when I originally took the picture. Sometimes it's an expression on someone's face; sometimes it's a moment that I had forgotten I had captured; sometimes it's just a sweet embrace between two family members that just makes me so happy for phone cameras... for without them, I would have only a fraction of the pictures that I do.
And although I would give anything for a big ol professional Nikon, my iphone has captured some pretty amazing pics this weekend. Tell me whatcha think...

...........................................................................

As I shared in my last post, I hosted a baby shower at our house on Saturday, so Brian took the boys to his parents' for the day. It was a huge help to have the house empty all morning to prep for the shower, but even nicer to have a quiet house all afternoon so I could rest after being on my feet for 8 hours straight. :) 

The boys were SO excited to go spend the day with Grandma & Grandpa. Here's a picture Brian snapped on his phone as they were leaving for their "Guys Day Out."

 

There was no shortage of fun that day, that's for sure!

They went to Payton's favorite breakfast spot when they arrived and then hit Walmart for a little toy shopping.

How precious is this picture? Good job Brian capturing such a sweet hug.

Then Grandpa to the boys out for some miniature golf.

Apparently that didn't tire them out enough, so Brian then took them swimming!

After that, Parker got his blanket and pacifier and climbed up in Grandma's lap for some snuggles...

and then...

CRASHED.

He slept like this for over 2 hours! My poor Mom-in-law, her arm must have been killing her. They ended up having to wake him up because it was getting past dinner time and Brian needed to head back to Tampa. Nothing like napping in Grandma's arms. The best place in the house!

On Sunday after church we headed out to one of our favorite local beaches with some friends of ours.

We were waiting in line to get into the beach and Brian had his window rolled down with his foot sticking out the window. I looked back and Parker is doing the same exact thing. Mini-Brian!

Parker had a great time playing with his friend Nathaniel and of course, big brother.

Parker did not want to come out of the water, so he wasn't thrilled when I took this picture. :)

My Dad sent us a "Memorial Day Care Package" with his famous "Paca-Corn" in it. So we made sure to bring it with us to the beach! {Thanks Dad!}

It was a beautiful evening and we stayed long after the crowds of people packed up and headed out, only to leave us with an empty beach and a spectacular show in the sky!

Stunning night sky.

Monday morning, I was treated to a pancake breakfast made by the boys.

 They were delicious!

Then we rallied the troops and headed up to our local pool with some friends to wear out the kiddos. It worked like a charm because Parker took a marathon nap and we ended up having to wake him up to go to our Memorial Day block party. Poor kid was so tired.

But nothing turns a cranky kid into a smiling one like giving him a special cupcake!

After the block party, we went to our neighbor's house for some swimming and sparklers.

It was a great way to end a fun-filled weekend.

Of course, even though we did do all of the traditional Memorial Day things like attend parties, eat hot dogs, and hang with family and friends, we also want to once again be reminded of the real meaning behind this holiday.

There are so many people who spend this day grieving over a lost loved one who gave their life for our country. The sacrifices that have been made are truly awe-inspiring if you stop to think about it.

So, thank you to all of our Veterans and current military service men and women.

Without you, our lives would look very different today.

We salute you.

We thank you.

We honor you.

Baby Shower

It's been a super fun and busy weekend around our house and I have a gazillion pictures to edit and sort through. So, I think I'll just start with the easiest ones, which are pictures of the baby shower I hosted on Saturday.

I don't have a lot of photos of the actual shower because I was in full hostess mode, thus, not snapping pictures. Fortunately, the mom-to-be brought her very nice camera and took lots of great photos during the shower, so I'll get those eventually. But for now, I can share some of the cute details that really made the shower personal and fun for my friend Claudia.

I created this frame wreath for the front door to greet guests when they arrived:

 The color scheme for the shower was a light, almost denim blue and gray. Most of the decorations had a damask print on them, so I got a yard of matching blue damask fabric to use as a table runner in the kitchen area. Then I added a few tea candles and some small white flower arrangements.

The party package that I ordered was custom designed to say things like "Claudia's shower" and "Baby Nicholas" so most items had a nice personal touch to them.

Such as the cupcake toppers:

Good ol Publix color-matched the frosting to the decoration sample I brought in to the bakery.

Gotta love Publix!

 

The water bottle labels were also personalized:

I did a big display in the archway between the living room and playroom, so that it would be right next to the chair where the Mom-To-Be would be sitting to open her gifts.

The banner said, "Baby Nicholas."

 The framed art said, "N is for Nicholas."

A friend of mine has her own cookie business called "All the Buzz Cookies" and she created these adorable onesie cookies with the letter "N" on each one. SO precious!

I had lots of yummy food (sorry, I didn't get a "before" picture of the food, so a lot of it was eaten at this point):

 And plenty of drink options as well:

But most importantly, the party was full of love for our dear friend Claudia.
All the ladies had a great time and we got to truly shower her with attention and affection!

My friend Torrey, Claudia (Mom-to-be), and me.

 And since Brian had taken the boys to visit his parents for the day, I had the afternoon to relax and recover from a long day of prepping, hostessing and cleaning up.
So, I sat on the couch, watched movies and read my new book.
It was the perfect ending to a wonderful day!

Hope you all had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend too.
More pictures to come on our other weekending adventures. Stay tuned!

Making It Through

I'm making it through the week! It's been an interesting juggling act at times, but we've managed to fit in a lot of fun along with preparations for Payton's big biography presentation tomorrow and the baby shower I am hosting on Sunday.

Here's a quick glimpse at what's been going on...

I've been wrangling two wild and crazy boys on my own a lot lately. Brian is traveling for work and something about him being out of town makes them extra rowdy! I think it's because they don't get their "Daddy wrestle time" in the evenings.

So they wrestle each other instead:

And then I end up either breaking it up, or someone gets hurt. Either way, it usually doesn't end well. Add to that, the fact that Parker has been a real handful this week doing everything from dumping a completely full glass of dirty paint water on the kitchen table (while looking right at me), to sliding down his play slide into the full baby pool while completely clothed. Let's just say it's been a true test of my patience this week.

This one is also trying my patience...

As much as I love this little bugger, I do not love that she is continuing to pee in one area of the playroom. Every day I have to wash the towels that are covering the spot she pees on so that she doesn't think it's her litterbox. Ugh.

Moving on...

Payton's Neil Armstrong costume is all done and he has his 2 1/2 minute speech almost completely memorized! I am so proud of him! Since parents weren't invited to come hear the speeches, I think I'll have him do it at home first so I can record it. It's really good!

And since we're on the topic of Payton, I will document that he had his "Advancement Ceremony" last night at Cub Scouts. He moved from Tiger to Bear. It was a great ceremony and I am so proud of my little Scout!

(Those are bear paws that the Den Master painted on each one of their faces.)

The baby shower preparations are coming along as well.

I finished the welcome sign/wreath today for the front door:

 

Wrapped up all the door prizes:

 And laid out all of the platters for the buffet:

Now I just have to get the food, flowers, cupcakes, party favors and a hundred other things and I'll be ready for Saturday! 

On that note... I'm off to bed.

Hope everyone is having a great week. It's almost Friday!!! :)

Just A Warning...

So, this is just a "head's up" that the blog will be very light this week.

Payton has a big biography project due on Wednesday where he not only has to dress up like Neil Armstrong, he has to recite a 2-3 minute speech about him and he cannot read it straight from a paper.

I already have anxiety thinking about making an astronaut costume and helping him somewhat memorize his speech. Ugh... is it summer yet?!?

I am also hosting a baby shower this Saturday, so this week I need to finalize a gazillion details and finish the shopping, clean the house, prep the food, plan the games, and... well... you get the point.

And let's not forget that I'll also be busy doing bunny stuff, and taking care of the kids, and managing the household, and oh, did I mention Brian will be out of town for a couple days too??

So, please forgive me this week if you rarely see anything on the blog. Promise I'll catch up soon!

In case I don't get back on here for the rest of the week, here's a very quick recap of the past few days...

Payton's school had an art show last week.

The school's art department set it up, and they did a great job!

There were students playing stringed instruments on stage, a huge buffet of nibbles in the back of the room and a zillion parents and kids running around proudly pointing out their black plastic-framed piece of art that was available to purchase for a mere $25!

It's a school fundraiser, so I had to buy it... right?

There was LOTS of bunny holding going on this weekend.

And LOTS of laundry.

 Mocha is slowly getting used to lots of people who like to hold her.

But she is also "marking" her new home.

I've washed more blankets & towels in the last week than I have in a month.

Fortunately, she seems to have stopped.

It's almost like she needed to "mark" her spot and now she's done.

Thank God.

She sleeps a lot too. I think the kids wear her out.

I know how she feels.

I also undertook a little home improvement project this weekend.

I decided to move forward with re-covering the kitchen chairs.

They were in DESPERATE need of new fabric.

And nothing pushes a much-procrastinated project to the forefront than hosting a party!

This baby shower has really got me moving on some updates to the house.

Disgusting old cushions:

Pretty new fabric:

One minor injury later
(P.S. a screwdriver to the forearm really hurts!)

But it was worth it in the end.
I love how they turned out.

Too bad no one is allowed to sit on them until after the shower. :)

Brian was out of town all weekend, so I was left to entertain the kiddos by myself.
Thank GOD for our neighbors who provided endless hours of swimming in their pool!

And when Daddy returned on Sunday, Parker would not let him out of his sight!
He missed his Daddy. So did I!

And then we spent more time at the community pool.
These kids are going to turn into fish this summer!

Nothing like a headbutt to say "welcome home."

Okay, that's all for now!
I'm off to make an astronaut costume.
Wish me luck!