A Field of Beauty

On the way to my parents house you pass through miles and miles of farm land. Corn fields, nut tree fields and the most spectacular sunflower fields. These golden fields look as it they stretch for miles and are truly one of natures beauty's. On the way home last week it just so happens I had my camera with me so I pulled over to the side of the road and the kids and I walked down to the fields to get a closer look, and of course to take some photos. Carson was not really into the photo shoot mode but I was able to take a few worth sharing. Now to find the perfect scrap paper to best suit these photos!

A special gift for a friend

My kids have been visiting with my parents for the last week and it has been so quiet, I loved it! My house has been clean for a week too, that is a record. However, Tuesday was the day I went to pick them up. My parents living 2 1/2 hours away I had quite the drive today, listening to music, rocking out. LoL So anyways, pull into the town near them and remembered my mom was wanting a couple of those stepping stone kits. We usually make them every year with the kids feet prints in them but missed the last year. So I called her and asked if she wanted me to run by Michaels since I was in the area and pick a couple up. So I get the kits and am browsing each isle of the craft store of course, relishing the last shopping event by myself for awhile and I come across this book, I saw it and knew I had to get it. You see my friend April (Funky Vintage Kitchen) makes the cutest aprons and sells them on Etsy, craft fairs etc... I hope she does not already have this book and if she does not I hope she loves it...this book has the cutest ever aprons in it! I love coming across items that immmediately make me think of someone I know and knowing it would put a smile on there face. Don't you just love giving or receiving a gift for no apparent reason because someone was thinking of you...I know I do!

Bye Bye Baby

Well it is official...I now have both my children in elementary school!! Today was the last day of the school year and school will resume August 19th. Whatever happened to the good ole days of starting the school year AFTER labor day! So, Carson will be entering 1st grade and my baby girl will be a big kindergartner!! I just had to share this picture of Ella, today was her last day of preschool and they celebrated by having a luau party, she came dressed in her little grass skirt, lei, flower in her hair and even her cute little coconut bra, which she got a total kick out of, isn't she the cutest? It was a sad day to say goodbye to teachers and staff at the preschool. Between both kids this was our 4th year in a row at the school. When Carson started there Ella was not even a year old, in fact if I recall correctly she was still in an infant carrier and I would have to carry her in to drop him off, so they have seen her grow from a small infant to what she is today. I was not gonna cry today...however I make no promises on the day she starts kinder!

New projects coming....

One of the reasons I am so excited about summer vacation is I will have the time to finish some projects and get my darn Etsy store up and running! I have many items ready to list and more ideas in my head!! Lots of new product just sitting in my space ready to be used and created. I have also been picking up lots of vintage jewelry to revamp into hair accessories and perhaps some rings. My friend April (Funky Vintage Kitchen, see link at right) makes these really cute button rings and when I was over there last week to buy some it got my creative juices flowing when I came home to a a package in the mail of a vintage necklace and earring set I had purchased on ebay. I thought how cute to turn the clip on earrings into a cocktail type ring or matching hair pin. And of course I do not want to do the same thing as she is, she is doing the cute lucite roses and button rings/hair pins/earrings, you should check hers out, and the cutest dang aprons you ever did see. So, with the idea in my head I ran with it and have been buying online left and right for the last several days. The majority of my purchases have been vintage enamel pins, the bright metal chunky floral ones, and beaded clip on earrings, but mostly the enamel items. I cannot wait to turn these into hair pins/clips or even rings! So stay tuned for some fun stuff coming up, as well as some new mini albums, maybe even page layouts for sale.

Moving on up!

Today my son Carson had his "promotion" ceremony at school. He is moving up next year from Kindergarten to the BIG 1st Grade! Why is it the schools do this I am not really sure. I can see when they promote from grade school to middle school or middle school to high school but why kinder to first grade? They had a small little ceremony, my parents even drove up for the event and stayed the night last night which was nice. My Mom and Ella and I hit Starbucks this morning and had a nice time sitting outside drinking my lifeline, took Ella to dance class so grandma got to see her dance as well. Matt rode into town with my dad, a little one on one man time. At the ceremony the kids recited a cute little poem, and of course Carson was thrilled to perform, it is what he loves to do! We need to get that kid into drama or something, dance, some kind of performing arts. Then each child got to come up and receive a certificate and take a photo with the teacher and then afterwards they had a little gathering in the classrooom and each child was given a gift (a book) and each parent was given a picture (the picture above and cap and gown was only for the picture, not the ceremony). If you follow my blog you know our daughter will be entering Kindergarten in the fall so we get to this all over again! 2 years apart the kids are (to the month) but only one year apart in school (we waited till Carson was older) I think it will be great to have them so close in school in the future. Plus we will have just done the homework so when it rolls around for Ella, we might actually know how to do it! LOL Before I know it he really will be wearing a true cap and gown and we will be watching him cross the stage at his high school graduation. Until then however I am going to enjoy each and every one of these little milestones and take lots of video!

A rare family photo

For someone who takes thousands of pictures a year and whose hobby is scrapping them, I am terrible at getting professional pictures taken. Just ask my husband who has many times reminded me of the lack of family photo in our home. In fact our youngest child is almost 5 years old and we have never had a family picture taken professionally, bad mommy, bad mommy! So, yesterday we were at a wedding of a good friend Debbie and I thought "hey", lets get a family shot! We took several and of course the best of us, were under a tree with a nice little shadow covering most of our faces, perfect! Aware of this fact we moved into the sun and as luck would have it, either one of our eyes were closed or the kids had some quirky look on there faces, sure...we actually are dressed nice, are all together and it just was not meant to be. It would seem I need to find the time to make an appointment that suits our schedule, gather us all up for the grand event, and spend a small fortune on a family photo. I am aware more than ever that I should get this done sooner than later. Before I know it the kids will be heading off to college (well, not really) but you never know what life will throw you. It is proably best to have that precious memory taken while you still can, and while they are still little so you can reflect back on how stinking cute they were and how young we actually looked 20 years from now when the kids have moved away and I have nothing left of my babies but a few photos and an occasional phone call! So this is what we ended up with. Not quite gallery quality, but it will have to do until the next one.

An end to the T-ball Season

Our T-ball season is over, oh thank you Jesus! Yesterday was our last game and hopefully my last game coaching the little ones. This was my second year coaching (last year my girlfriend and I Stacey co-coached together). This year I did it solo and it was not really that bad, however it would have been so much better had my own two kids not have been on the team! They cannot seperate the mommy role verses the coach role and I as the coach cannot be dealing with there little tantrums and issues, I have 13 other kids to deal with who are NOT giving me attitude! We did have fun, it was a great bunch of kids, but I am glad it is over and we can move onto the next thing this summer. Yesterday right after the game we had our little team party at the school, the parents did an awesome job serving us a "brunch, I handed out the trophies, the kids played and I even got a great coach gift (a $100 gift card to Applebee's). Between all the gift certificates Matt gets teaching DARE and this one, we now have quite an assortment of great places to go for "date nights" now we just need to set aside the time to do so! Here is the team for the last time all together, I am standing inbetween both my little ones.

Ella graduates from Pre-school

I can hardly believe my baby girl is going to be five years old here in a few months, and going to kindergarten. This week she graduated from preschool in a little ceremony they had for the kids. This is the 4th year in a row we have been at the preschool, Carson our son went for 3 years and then Ella went this last year. Sad, but I will sure be glad to not have to make those payments anymore. The difference from Ella and Carson at this age is night and day. Her, being a girl gave her an advantage and also being the younger child of the two. Carson we waited and started him in Kindergarten a bit later (he turned 6 in Oct, just a month or so after school started) and he still struggled this year. Ella will be turning 5 in October a month or so after school starts and she is so far ahead of where he was at, at age 6. So here is to crossing our fingers she does not struggle like he did, I am sure she will be fine. The school we have them has the 2nd highest ratings in the county and is called an "alternative program", in which parent particpation is required and you are scheduled to work in the classroom so many days per child you have in the program. I will have two in the program next year so I will be there a lot, so I also decided to be the kindgarten room mom since I will be there anyways. A BIG bonus is that kindergarten is all day too! yippee! Mommy time, no kids! So here are pictures of my baby girl the day of her graduation, such a big kid now!