Welcome to Summer Party

Last week in Georgia, it was that time of the year when students and teachers rejoice, last day of school!! I know so me people are excited and looking forward to a fun summer. Being a kid in summertime is priceless and I don't think you realize how special it is until you don't have it anymore! Although I no longer get a summer break with my job, I do get excited about less traffic and longer days with my family. Our daycare does a lot of fun stuff to fill hot summer days so the girls will have fun. To celebrate the start of summer I put together a little Welcome to Summer Party and we had a blast!

I picked up some cardboard and a big black marker from Walmart and made a bright sign that ready Welcome to Summer!!

I picked up a cheese pizza and bread sticks from Big Pie in the Sky, its right across from my office so I just stopped in on my way home from work. I am all about staying cool this time of the year, so I figured the coolest snowman around was Olaf! I picked up a tablecloth, plates, cups, Hawaiian punch, Triscuit and Easy Cheese. For dessert I got some pre made Rick Krispy Treats!

Table is ready to party, now we just need the girls!! I held Nicole and asked Taylor to walk outside, meanwhile my husband was hiding with some cans of silly string!!

Taylor wanted to spray me and her Dad, it was so much fun!!

You know Taylor and my husband wanted to make sure I got my share of silly string!

Once all the silly string cans were empty we enjoyed some yummy pizza!

Balloons added to the fun!

My baby girl was worn out from all the excitement, she just took a little cat nap while we played outside. It was a great night and a fun way to bring in a special time of year for my girls. I hope they will always look back on summer as a fun and carefree time, I can't wait to get our Summer Bucket List together soon!! Warm sunny days are ahead!

Memorial Day Decor

We are almost there, the start of a 3 day weekend!! I am so excited!! For many of us, this is the first holiday in almost half a year (where the work/life balance?!), I hope it's a relaxing and fun holiday for everyone! I added a little patriotic decor this week around the house, its truly the reason we celebrate, as we all know, freedom is not free. I am forever grateful for all that I enjoy being an American, its truly the best country in the world. I hope my girls are raised to appreciate and never take advantage of all we have been give, at the sacrifice of many men and women. GOD BLESS THE USA!!

I picked up this star and a couple of flags at Walmart, really cheap just to add some red & blue sparkle!

As I have mentioned before our garage is an out of control mess, but can still be patriotic! USA all the way!

On the front door I hung a navy star that say celebrate, I have been eyeing a new patriotic door hanger from Etsy, but with shipping its like $60 so I may have to wait on that one!

I wore my Old Navy stripped shirt with a denim skirt and red necklace, I am a proud American!

As we celebrate Memorial Day, this quote keeps pooping in my head, I hope I live a life everyday that is worth dying for XOXO

Eleanor Roosevelt's Wartime Prayer

Dear Lord,

Lest I continue
My complacent way,
Help me to remember that somewhere,
Somehow out there
A man died for me today.
As long as there be war,
I then must
Ask and answer
Am I worth dying for?

What I wore & smiling faces

I've got sunshine, on a cloudy day...
When its cold outside, I've got the month of May.
I'd guess you'd say,
What can make me feel this way?
My girl,
My girl,
My girl,
Talking bout my girl.
My girl!

This Oldie is one of my favorite songs ever, so much that I danced to it with my Dad on my wedding day XOXO And it always reminds me of my sweet & sassy girls! I totally get this:

They can be like wild animals let loose! Never get too comfy, cause you will be getting up for something! Here are some pics of my girls smiling so cute!

I just love matching dresses, these adorable ones came from The Monkey and The Wheezle, Catherine is so talented and can create anything you need! I thought these yellow and pink flamingo dresses are perfect for warm weather!

Taylor is not really a morning person, but any type of fart or burp sounds crack her up as you can see!

My baby girl looking so cute playing while I get ready for work in the morning :-)

They had school spirit day at school so we pulled out our red and black, GO DAWGS!!

This is one of my favorite tops, its a floral shirt I got from Old Navy last year, so comfy and pretty! I paired it with a hot pink necklace and pants.

This is one of my favorite dresses, my Mom got it for me at Stein Mart, I love the fabric details and color, she even paired it with a cute leopard scarf, she is so good at fashion!

I got this polka dot dress at Ross a few years ago for a wedding, its sleeveless so for the office I paired it with this green cardigan my MIL gave me a few years ago, love this color combo!

Just to show you how old this dress is, I got it from an online company called Newport News, not sure if they are still around but their cute dress it! I loved the bright yellow and green colors!

I was sitting behind this driver in traffic the other morning, lets hope I don't upset him! Maybe Shooter is a nickname? Or could that be Shooter Jennings in front of me?!!!

 

 

Simple Joys

Half way on our way to a long weekend here at work and I am excited!! I know everybody is looking forward to a nice break, hopefully the weather will continue to be pretty for any plans you have. As long as I can score a little more sleep, I am ok with any type of weather! After putting up the big tent last weekend I treated myself and hubby to the new Waffle Cone Frappacino at Starbucks and it was awesome! Even better then the s'mores flavor I mentioned last week! Tons of yummy caramel and waffle cone pieces, delicious!

Last spring we were looking for some flowers to plant along side out house, its really long and to buy flowers that had already bloomed were out of our budget, so I purchased lots of seeds for Forget Me Not's and they have really come out! I just love the blue color, I hope to pick up some more seeds at the store and really fill it out!

Here at work we love picking up BBQ once a week from Spice Right, I tried the turkey and it was great, but what was even better was the banana pudding! And they didn't short me either, they filled it up with pudding, cool whip and chocolate chips, I was in heaven!

My hubby came home and the first think he said was, I want fried chicken! So he took Taylor and got some Publix fried chicken, it was great! There is just something comforting about friend chicken.

My sweet Nicole knows how to enjoy the warm weather with a little cat nap. Feeling the sun on your face and a cool breeze, perfect nap weather!

 As any parents know who use formula to feed their babies, it's not cheap!! Boy, for a little bottle it sure will cost you. I am counting down the months until September when Nicole can start drinking milk, hoping to have a little more jingle in my wallet! But until then I found this cute chalkboard jar at Home Goods, I figured if I am going to use so much formula I may as well put it in something cute!

 I get it honest, but I just love anything monogrammed, my Mom is the same way! Since I am at work the majority of my day I try to make my desk as cute and welcoming as possible. I have lots of pictures and inspiration quotes. I ordered this sparkly notebook from Etsy along with the beautiful pen from Dixie Delights, its the little things!

When my Mom came to stay with me last weekend I wanted to treat her to some of the best donuts around. I picked up an assortment of Dutch Monkey Donuts and we all enjoyed! I got salted caramel, not samoas, chocolate raspberry Nutella and a sprinkle one for Taylor, YUM! And their restaruant is super cute!

 My favorite singer for so long has been Celine Dion, I just love all her music, her voice, her positive attitude and how friendly and non diva she seems. I have followed her career and even got to see her in concert, it was fantastic of coarse. Maybe one day I will see her in Las Vegas. But as the world knows she lost her beloved husband this January after a long battle with throat cancer. She was his care taker along with being a Mom and working. Her first TV performance since Renee passed was Sunday on the Billboard Music Awards, she performed Queen's The Show Most Go On. I can't even describe how good I thought she did. She is such a great role model and inspiration, even through life's hard times, GO CELINE!!!

A salad with no lettuce

For our first meal on the updated patio I wanted to do something easy, yummy and good for warm weather. I saw a blog post for different summer salads and this one caught my eye, cause it has all the yummy toppings I love with no lettuce...SCORE! Even my hubby said it was one of the best meals I have cooked! Its super easy and not to expensive, here is what you will need:

Antipasto Panzanella Salad

-3 tbsp. olive oil

-1 load of Italian Bread (I got mine at Walmart for $1.oo)

-1 tsp. salt

-3 Roma tomatoes, cut into chunks

-1 cucumber, sliced and peeled

-1 tbsp. basil leaves

-3 oz. hard salami, they come pre-sliced

-3 oz. pepperoni, they come pre-sliced

-1/2 cup Balsamic Vinaigrette dressing

-8 oz of mozzarella cheese balls

-2 tbsp. olives (black or green)

 

Instructions

-Heat the olive oil in a large skillet of medium heat. Add the bread cubed and salted. Toast the break cubes. tossing ans stirring until they are nicely browned.

-Add the tomatoes, cucumber, basil into the bowl with the bread cubes. Toss to combine.

-Add the salami, pepperoni and salad dressing. Toss well to make sure the dressing is evenly incorporated.

-Transfer into a serving dish and garnish with mozzarella and olives. Enjoy!!

 

 

A Patio Update

Since becoming a Mom I have noticed something that I believe happens to all Mom's, you become way stronger then you ever thought you would be. It could be physically carrying and delivering a human, holding a crying baby all night long, lifting a car seat with a child in and out of a vehicle. Or the strength that comes from being up all night and having to report early to work and still make it through the day on no sleep, or being sick yourself but no time for a sick day, too much to do with people depending on you. Whatever strength you thought you had, I believe gets multiplied! So when I set my mind on a new project I got really excited. I have always wanted a screen in porch, and hopefully one day that will happen, but they are really expensive and not in our budget right now. So I was looking around for something to keep us shaded and still cute. I found a lot of ideas on Pineterest and with my Mom, created a cute little patio cover. When it came in the box, I was thinking, oh no what have I gotten myself into? But I used that Mom strength and my own Mom for help! Come take a tour!

The patio came delivered in this box from Walmart.com, it was around $200, not too bad but still, $200 is a lot if money for us! This thing was so heavy, it has lots of metal pieces, lifting it from the porch into the house you could hear me grunting!

Here is our patio before, I usually also have 2 trash cans out there so its a little smaller with them on it. It was trash day when I took this so the cans where on the street still. My husband has 2 grills, we have a glass table and 4 chairs I got from my Aunt Sarah and a fire pit I got last fall from Home Depot, I love having Spooky S'mores during October!

My Mom helped me take all the pieces outside and I spread them out on the grass, the instructions where only one page and each piece had a letter on it, they made it as easy as possible. The directions helped but the best thing I found was a You Tube video on how to put a very similar tent together. It gave me a good idea of what I needed to do and I just started!

Here is the basic frame, I got it all up some screws and pliers and the help of my Mom, she watched my girls the entire time. Doing any project with kids can be a challenge so this was the biggest help of all!

The reason I liked this tent so much and spent a little more then I wanted to for it was that it offered screens. I know it won't totally keep the bugs out but it sure helps! They zip open and tie back, like curtains. Notice my little helper? She likes the zippers!

Thanks to my Mom again, I picked some plants from Walmart lawn and garden. I got 2 palm like trees for some height, 2 ferns and 4 little flowers, I think they are annuals. The color really pops!

As I mentioned before I got a fire pit last fall from Home Depot, it doesn't get used that much but I don't want to get rid of it, what to do? My Mom put some ferns it in, GENIUS!!

When I ordered the tent, I got a new out door rug too, a neutral color to go with everything. I pulled out some beautiful deep yellow chair cushions Mom gave me and a floral bouquet from Lakeside Collection to put on the table. I also picked up a bug go away candle!

The entire project took about a half day, I started later in the afternoon and my Mom helped me until about 12 AM! She helped me put the top canopy on, string the lights and decorate. No way I could have done it with out her help! Sometimes in life, a project in front of you can seem overwhelming and you may think I can't do this, but it's not until you try, you realize the strength you have inside of you. The directions said it was a 4 MAN job, but 2 Mom's did it and its still standing! I will let you all know what happens when the first storm comes in! But I hope it inspires every one, especially my girls to never give up, you can do anything!

I purchased the tent from Walmart.com, its called Mainstays Cabin Garden House 10 ' x 10 '

8 months and what I wore

My littlest angel Nicole turned 8 month old this week, when I tell people that they are usually surprised and respond, I can't believe it been 8 months, it seems like you just got back from maternity leave! I laugh because it does feel like 8 months to me! But its a good 8 months and I am so blessed to have the sweetest little girls. At 8 months Nicole as 4 teeth that I can see coming in, sits up by herself, rolls around on the ground like a rolly polly. I have a feeling she will be crawling soon! She wakes up with a smile, is ready for bed at 8 PM SHARP. She sleeps through the night most of the time, but has not done a full week yet. She can pick up objects, she loves juice, going for walks and is starting to watch TV. Her hair is dark brown with a slight curl, she likes to sleep with a blanket curled up at her face at night. Her eye lashes are long and dark and she is memorized my her big sister. What ever Taylor is doing, she is watching and has a great laugh. I had her at exactly 40 weeks to the day, I could have gone earlier but I wanted us to share the same birth date (not month). She does not like getting dressed after a bath! She has more hair then anyone else in her day care class from the pictures I see. Every time I see her I just want to kiss her chipmunk cheeks! I am lucky to be her Mommy and I pray I give her all the best that she deserves, 8 is great!

Walmart has a really cute selection of summer shorts right now, I have said before I am not really a short girl but so far I have picked up 2 of these cute shorts, they are so light weight and have an elastic waist. Plus the fringe at the bottom is precious. I got these red paisley ones and paired it with a navy shirt, I thought it would be great for Memorial Day and 4th of July, actually any time is a great time to wear the red, white and blue!!

I got this navy floral print dress at Target after Taylor was born and still love it. Its an empire cut which is great for my post-birth-8-month belly. The downside is its very low cut and sleeveless, not really good for the office. I put on a purple tank top and navy cardigan and it worked great. I mean, who doesn't love wearing a cardigan when its 80+ degrees, did you catch my sarcasm? Office dress code :-)

I got this comfy red dress at Walmart, its almost a silk fabric and very comfortable. A cute little tie around the waist and I paired it with my black jewelry showing my Bulldog spirit! Sad my Dawgs lost to Tech this week in Baseball, a real buzz kill:-(

When we had Taylor's 2 year old pictures taken we wore nave and red colors, they came out beautifully. This is the navy dress I wore and it still looks good, I got the dress and cute & soft cardigan from Target.

This was my favorite outfit this week, my new/old Lilly P dress I found on Ebay for around $30 which is a score for Lilly. Its an older print but so comfy. I paid it with my goldie sandals, flying through the week with Lilly XOXO

My man loves him some nachos. Just mention nachos and he smiles and he does them right. He can make a plate of nachos like no other, take a look at his dinner last night: