The Sea, once it casts its spell...

Pawley's Island 2010

(Ryan 8, Cannon 4, and Parker 8 months)

There is a quote by Jacques Cousteau that says, “The Sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.”  These words ring true for our family.  We truly love the beach.  We can sit and watch the waves for hours on end.  For the past six summers, we have gone to the beach.  We've been to Dauphin Island, Alabama, Pawley's Island, South Carolina (four years), and Destin, Florida.  It is the thing we most look forward to all year!  We are total beach bums, getting on the beach at around 1 p.m. staying until about 7 p.m. and maybe going back out around 10 p.m. for a crab hunt or two! 

Every year, we have a tradition of taking the family beach picture.  I am so glad we do this, because it has grown into such a fun tradition.  We end up using the picture at Christmas as our holiday card saying something like "Warm Wishes this Holiday Season".  It is really cool to see how the family has grown every year.  I have been pregnant in two!  In addition, we take the big family picture (my husband, his mom and stepdad, and brothers and wive and fiance).  We always have a lot of fun coordinating the color of clothing for the picture.

Our times together have been so special and memorable from watching Ryan's first glimpse of the ocean in Alabama, Paul's mishap with chasing the dog, Baby Cannon crawling in the sand, Kim's sand dollar find, the boys riding girly waves and MONSTER waves, Jason's dolphin butt, Timothy in the River Rat, Kim's 50th birthday celebration, to Bocce ball matches in the late evening.  These times have made us laugh, cry, but most of all allowed us to grow closer as a family. We are so appreciative of Paul and Kim (Jaron's stepdad and mom) for making it possible for us to spend this treasured time together. 


Here are the past five summers of family beach pictures.

Dauphin Island, Alabama 2005

(Ryan 3 & Cannon in the tummy!)

Pawley's Island, South Carolina 2006

(Cannon 10 months & Ryan 4)

Pawley's Island, South Carolina 2007

(Cannon 1 & Ryan 5)

Pawley's Island, South Carolina 2008

(Cannon 2 & Ryan 6)

Destin, FL 2009

(Ryan 7, Cannon 3 & Parker in the tummy)

Pawley's Island, the whole crew, 2008

Waves, Sandcastles, and Family!

We just spent a week at Pawley's Island, South Carolina.  It is our favorite place to go!  This was our fourth trip to Pawleys and it has been great every time.  My husband's mother and stepfather graciously allow us to stay with them in a beach house they rent...how awesome is that!  Thanks, Manna & Paul-Paul!!  Our boys LOVE the beach! 

Manna & Parker (his first beach trip)

Riding the waves are the boys favorite things to do.  When they need a rest from that, we love to make sandcastles.  We do the traditional sandcastles from molds, but of course we have to step it up a notch and get creative.  I let the boys pick what they want me to make and with their help, we do it.  In year's past, we've made a lifesize crocodile & a giant snake.  This year, it was all about Toy Story.  The boy's wanted me to make "Squeezey" one of the aliens and "Sheriff Woody". 

Squeezey

Ryan & Cannon with Sheriff Woody

Lillian & the Octopus she made from Toy Story 3

The sand creations are easy to make.  Just get a toy or picture that you want to create and draw the outline in the sand.  Then just start building it up to the height that you want it.  Spoons and butter knives make the best sand building tools.  Remember the tide and build it far enough back on the beach that it doesn't get washed away mid project...and don't forget to warn the kiddos that the creation won't be there long before the tide, rain, wind, etc. gets it.  We had a couple of tears from the boys on our first creation because they didn't realize the tide would wash it away!

Splashing waves w/Mommy!

                                                                The boys and their Dad

I will post our family picture later, it is awesome!

The 4th

Don't you just love the 4th of July?  The fireworks, the food, the fellowship.  Last year we had friends over and this was our Independence Day decor.  I've been so busy with summer school, working on Parker's nursery, and getting ready for our beach vacation that I haven't even decorated for the 4th yet.  Maybe I'll do that tonight, baby willing! 

I use the coke crate all the time on our bar when entertaining.  I have a green one that I use most often.  I put small mason jars in the slots to hold silverware, napkins, etc. 

All that was missing was the apple pie!  I got this "American's Creed" picture at Goodwill for $1.  I use it year round in the boys sports/American flag themed room. 

Sorry this picture didn't turn out better.  This was our entry way.  I used old military photos of my husband and my grandparents.  My grandfather brought back four little cloth napkins that say U.S. Army on them that I used here as well.  I topped it off with the "Home of the Brave" sign I borrowed from my son's room. 

Ok, it's official...I have the 4th of July decorating fever.

A Cookie Sheet Transformed

My friend Lillian is a crafty girl!  Check her out at http://raineydayphotography.weebly.com/index.html.  She is a college student that takes great photos and makes fun crafts.  I wanted to share with you guys the cookie sheet she transformed. 

Her fiance was about to throw the old cookie sheet out when she rescued it.  Lillian's directions were to spray it your favorite color (I do love the red!), cut your monogram out of material and Mod Podge it to the cookie sheet.  Quick, simple, easy & super cute, Lillian!

A Thank You Party

Our friends that are leaving town to take a head coaching job had a party thanking all of their friends for the past eight years they have lived here.  We offered to have it at our place since we have lots of room to move around on our almost 2 acres.  They catered BBQ.  I just decorated the tables in a red, white & black color scheme (their new school colors).  It was an awesome party!  We had 50+ guests.  The weather was wonderful.  We were honored to have the party at our house, it was a small gesture of appreciation to the family that has enriched our lives so much!

My sweet boss let me borrow lots of her galvanized pieces and glassware for the event!

The borrowed milk carrier made a perfect holder for cups, & plastic ware!  I used some of my old athletic baskets for holding bread. 

I didn't make these cute cakes.  I could have, because I've got all the stuff and the know-how.  I'm proud of myself for not volunteering for that! The cakes came from one of the friends of the moving family. 

The bar decorated with sweets.

I had the flower centerpiece left over from a Pre-K Graduation party the night before that I had decorated.  I had pictures of my pre-k son in the center of the pics.  So, I thought it was so cute that I just took the faces of our friend's sons and put them in the flowers.  To make the flowers, I simply took a clipart picture from the internet, printed them, cut them out and hot glued them to silk flower stems w/leaves.  I put a few real red flowers in the picket fence holder and placed moss around the base of the flowers.  It was a quick, fun project!

We had red candies to go with the color scheme (cherry sours, licorice, and red hots).  The chocolate animal crackers were also a big hit!  I didn't even know until about a month ago that chocolate animal crackers even existed.  They are super yummy!

My friend had taken a picture of her boys, holding pennants with their new school on it.  She used it as the invitation to the party.  I used the photo in several locations in the house for decoration.  Here I placed it in a cheap 99 cent frame from Walmart & stuck it in a grapevine wreath.  I placed some left over Mother's Day flowers and used some red gingham to tie up the project for some welcoming front door decor. 

The favorite activity for the 30+ kids that were there was climbing trees and pushing a ride-on car around (the battery bit the dust).  The were so fun to watch.  Surprisingly, there were no injuries that night!! 

I was at a loss as to what to get our friends for a going away present.  Finally, I came up with an idea to give them a customized address book.  So, I took the photo of the boys holding the pennants and took it to Office Max.  There I purchased the guts to a planner that had an address book section.  The Office Max worker printed the picture I had saved on my pin drive on cardstock and bound it all together.  I had it laid out at the party and all the guests wrote in their addresses.  It turned out really nice and only cost me about $15. 

We will miss our friends very much! 

Orange ya glad for great Dads?

Father's Day is almost here, so the boys and I are working on a gift idea.  We are going w/an "Orange ya glad" theme.  Our idea is this:  we are going to give their dad, my husband, a gift basket filled with oranges, orange slices candy, an orange polo shirt and a framed print of the above picture.  We will post photos of the project in the next couple of days.  Meanwhile, I want to share w/you how I created the above photo.  I used the editing tools on the Picnik site, http://www.picnik.com/.  It is awesome!  If you haven't ever used it, check it out.  Once you upload a photo, you can do all sorts of editing techniques like turning a picture into a puzzle, making funny distortions, changing colors, add text or stickers, and much more.  With my photo, under the "Effects" tab, I went to "Colors" and selected an orangish color.  Next, I went to the "Stickers" tab and under "Basic", I chose speech bubbles.  You can change the size of them to fit the needs of your photo.  After that, I went to the "Text" tab and typed in what I wanted the speech bubbles to say.  There are tons of neat fonts to choose from.  Finally, saved the photo and then uploaded it to my Walmart photo account for printing.  My only problem was the Walmart site gave me a warning message and stated that the resolution of the picture wasn't high enough.  So, I'm not sure how to fix that, but I just went ahead and ordered it for nine cents...if it comes out terrible, I won't lose much. 

I will say that I think my boys have the best Dad!  Growing up without a dad around, I know not to take his presence for granted.  He provides for our family and loves each one of us unconditionally.  Most importantly, he is the spiritual leader of our home and leads us down a Godly path.  We are truly blessed to have him in our lives!

Dear Mother...

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there!  I had a  great Mother's Day complete with handmade gifts from my boys, breakfast in bed from my hubby & boys, and sweet cards from my hubby and his mom.  I am well loved! 

Excuse the boys in their skivies & me before make-up &my hair brushed...it was so bad I came back to edit this post w/a smiley over my head!  (The tiny bed is the bed in Parker's room and I slept w/him the night before because he was restless.)  Look at that great breakfast, on fine china & crystal! 

The "Dear Mother" picture that I used in my Mother's Day decor this year has been in the family for ages. On the back of the picture written in faint pencil reads, "From Mildred & Jessie, May 10, 1942."  Mildred & Jessie are my late grandparents.  They gave the framed print to my grandfather's mother for Mother's Day.  It feels special to be able to display it some 68 years later.  

Mom, I wished you were here today.  We visited your graveside today.  The almost five years you have been gone seem like an eternity.  I hope you knew how much we all loved you so!  

Dear Mother...

All happy greetings 

And wishes unmeasured

To a very dear Mother

Who'll always be treasured! 

A Toast to Great Friends!

Our sweet friends are moving to another town to take a head coaching position.  My husband has coached high school football with him for the past six years.  It is a bittersweet for us because we are so happy for them that he got a head coaching job, but sad because we enjoy them so much!  They have four boys:  8, 6, and 4 (twins).  Our boys have loved playing Legos, baseball, and touch football after their daddies big games.  We will treasure the memories we have made with them and hope that our paths in the coaching world will be destined to join again. 

I found a great football themed Easter basket to use for the "Congrats on Your New Job" gift.  Their new school colors are red and black, so I used red tissue paper and a red and white gingham bow.  A bottle of champagne and two champagne glasses complete the gift basket. 

I love red & white gingham.  I use it all the time.  It makes great bows for packages.  There is just something nostalgic to me about its simplicity. 

My toast for our friends is for many TOUCH DOWNS to be in their future!!!

I'm linking up to:

  http://blackberryvine.blogspot.com/2010/10/pretty-packages-party-3.html

Thrift Store Junkie!

I am a thrift store junkie!  I would pick going to a thrift store anyday over the mall or department store.  I love searching for a bargain!  Whether it be clothes or something for my home, I love the process. 

Practically all my clothes and shoes are from a local thrift store.  I always get comments on my finds and I love saying, "thanks, it was 99 cents!"  :) 

On my latest venture, with two of my three boys in tow, I spent $40 and got a ton of stuff. I'll share my bargains with you.

8 dinner plates for $4.94.  The green matches my dinning room perfectly! 

Here is the whole haul, with one of my shopping buddies.  He was very happy with his Light Saber ($1) and Spongbob cup ($1).  The two dollar bribe worked, he was good the couple of hours we were out. 

I got bargains for the baby for super cheap.  Shorts were .49, $1.49, and $1.99 and a cute tee for .49! 

The best deal of the day:  Versace flip flops for........$1.41!  Yes, $1.41.  I think the store didn't know what they had. 

I got lots of nice spring/summer work shirts from $1.99-$4.99. 

 

I got a bag of vintage pool balls for $5.00.  I'm going to put them in a bowl and use for decoration in my boy's sports themed room.   

Parker was not impressed with the bargains.  This is how he felt after the shopping trip.  Poor little guy!  He got some nice milk and applesauce and was happy again. 

So....5 work shirts, 3 gap shorts, 1 versace flip flops, 8 dinner plates, bag of pool balls, light saber, sponge bob cup, puzzle, 3 pairs baby shorts and one baby tee...all for $40!  That is why I am a thrift store junkie.  I'd love to hear about your latest thrift store finds!