Summer Drinks

We have been trying to beat the heat the last few days with fruity drink concoctions.  My friend, Jackie, showed me how easily it is to make these and we've been hooked ever since.  I especially love this recipe, because you just throw it in there, no measuring.  If it's not quite right after you blend for the first time, just add a little of what is lacking, blend again and enjoy.

So, as you can kind of see from the picture, this particular time I blended:

 strawberries, cut up

blueberries

3 spoonfuls of OJ concentrate

3 glugs of milk

a dash of vanilla

2 spoonfuls of sugar

2 handfuls of ice

Blend it up, and there you go!  We've also had wonderful success with peaches and bananas.  So, pick any combination of fruit you want along with milk, sugar (if needed), a dash of vanilla, and ice.

 Enjoy and stay cool this summer!

Vinyl Name Trains

My mother-in-law bought these cute vinyl letters in the form of a train for each of my boys.  They are from Personal Creations and they were very easy to put up on my walls.  The boys love them, especially Tyler, my train fanatic.

No, my boys beds are not made.  I am washing bedding today and am too lazy to make the beds for one picture and then unmake them to wash them....mommy practicality at its best.

 Scotty wanted his on his bed and I thought it would be good idea.  This way, Tyler can get up close and personal with his train and point and learn the letters of his name.  They were a huge hit, Grandma, thanks again!

Party Decorations

I made these tissue paper poms for my son's birthday party last week. They were a big hit and so easy to make.

A couple of tutorials that I looked at:

Martha Stewart
Imperfectly Beautiful

My sister-in-law did a bunch of them at a huge baby shower bash a couple of weeks ago. Check it out HERE and HERE.

The Not So Great Cake

I had big plans for a planet cake for my son's birthday party last weekend. Swirled fondant covering a sphere with Buzz proudly scaling the uncharted planet. Alas, my fondant was very dry and cracked almost immediately. My cake was not dense enough for the sphere shape and couldn't support the weight of the cracking fondant.
Solution? Start over and make another one. Any other weekend, I probably would have done just that, but my in-laws were flying in that very night and my house was not ready for visitors AND my two youngest were still getting over a three day tummy bug.

So, we ended up frosting the cake with purple and blue swirled cream cheese icing. Not nearly as cool as I wanted, but I just didn't have time to troubleshoot and the birthday boy could have cared less when you got right down to it.

If he didn't care, then I chose not to care too. Happy Birthday and here's to taking the easy route!
Sometimes it just has to be done.

Pictures on the Walls 2

Wall next to the kitchen table

My grandma with the first four of her eight children. My dad is the one on the far right.

My great grandfather during WWII. I believe this was taken in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor was attacked. I'll have to double check on that.

My husband's grandfather in 1956. These pictures have been great to have up in the house. My oldest has been asking questions about them and it has brought the chance to tell stories about his ancestors.

Nice, but it needs a little something else.

How about floating books?

These clever little shelves are so much fun. I picked up mine at my local Barnes and Noble, but you can also order them directly, HERE.

How do they work? The bottom book slides onto the horizontal part of the shelf and there are two tiny little hooks that hold the back cover in place.

Stack the rest and enjoy. They hold a lot of weight and create a little spot for a small frame. These are really nice for me because I am out of bookshelf space, so this is helping relieve some of the double stacking. You could do some really great designs on your wall with books, the possibilities are endless. I'm going to buy some more of these and see what I can come up with, stay tuned.

Pictures on the Walls

Finally starting to get some pictures and artwork on my walls. This is the first thing you see when you walk in the house.

The kids' coat rack and shoe bin. Someday this will be a nice bench seat with spots for hanging coats and cubbies for shoes.

Pants into Shorts

In our new home, we have hardwood floors that my 5 year old loves to slide on with his knees.

With summer fast approaching, I had a huge pile of pants with varying degrees of holes in the knees. So, I did what any mother who didn't want to waste more money buying her destruct-o child any more clothing.

Cut 'em off, hem 'em up, and you're ready for summer. We'll buy him more pants when it gets cold outside again, which is in like November. Hopefully, these shorts can make it until then.

I'm also hoping to work on some projects soon. Real life, sadly, has taken much of my time lately. We do have a birthday party coming later this month, so stay tuned for that.