Date Night!

Last week Russ surprised me with a date night! We don't go on many dates. I can probably count on one hand how many we have been on without Chloe Jo since she was born. I know some think that is crazy, but it works for us and we don't mind.

We dropped Chloe Jo off at Aunt Chelle's and we went to Big City to celebrate our birthdays and our upcoming anniversary. While we were at Aunt Chelle's she took a couple of pictures for us.

I love this picture!

Chloe Jo (and her pony) got in this one!

We went to eat at Red Lobster (my favorite!) and then did a little bit of shopping before we headed back to get Chloe Jo.

We had a great time and I'm sure we'll do it again in the future!

Happy Birthday to Us!

Well, Russ and I are still alive...

Even though we have embarked upon an age that starts with a 3.

Ha! I'm just being silly. I've decided the 30's are going to be the best decade of my life!

Until I hit the 40's.

On second thought, let's not think about that!

We are having a big housewarming/30th birthday bash this Saturday so Russ and I decided not to do very much in the way of gifts.

I found this great helicopter for Russ. He has been wanting one of these forever and Amazon had an amazing sale that I just couldn't pass up. He was thrilled!

Russ and I were shopping together about a week ago and I picked out a few things for my birthday. I love hats during the fall and winter and I've been wanting to try the skinny belt trend. We'll see if I can pull it off.

Since we are having our big party on Saturday, I have been trying to get the house ready for it. As soon as I woke up this morning I wrote out a to-do list and after breakfast we got started.

do my daily Bible reading

send my nephew a birthday card

send a donation to the Alzheimer's association

go to the store

start freezing punch ice

clean living room

clean kitchen

hang house numbers

mulch flower beds

plant hanging planters

finish back flower bed

put away pool

put away castle

sweep garage

take clips down from back porch roof

I didn't know if we could get everything marked off today, but we did it!

Our house looks so good now! It is really surprising what new much, house numbers and a beautiful potted plant on the porch will do for curb appeal! I did go ahead and smudge out the new house numbers. :)

I also planted these sweet potato vines in our hanging baskets that have been empty since we moved it. I love the color of them!

This little flower bed was in desperate need of some TLC. The previous home owners left a bunch of the gray brick that they didn't use in the front flower bed so Russ dug out around this flower bed and we gave it a border. Then we put new mulch down. The poor hydrangeas have a little bit of green at the bottom of the plants so I am hoping they are going to survive. This summer was pretty bad for our plants. Also, the stones don't look even in the picture, but I don't think they are like that in person.

I am so happy with how everything has turned out! I think it looks fabulous and I'm glad we finished what we did before the party.

We are planning on planting a couple of trees later in the fall and eventually, in 1, 2, maybe 5 years, we would like to repaint the outside of the house. Little by little, we are marking things off of the list!

Laters, Peeps!

Skylar

Hi all.

The missing poster above is for Russ' cousin from West Virginia. She has been missing since July 6th. It would be greatly appreciated if you helped spread the word so she could be found.

Russ' dad is from West Virginia and has several brothers and sisters (13 or 14, something like that) out that way. I've never met any of them so I don't know the details about this case, but we share a last name so they are family. I've been praying for Skylar since I heard about the case. I can't imagine what her parents, family and friends are going through.

Please help us spread the word and please pray for her and her family as they go through this difficult time.

Thanks!

The last few weeks

Hi Friends!

I know. I know.

My blog has been sorely neglected the last few (um...3!?!?) weeks.

I've been so busy that blogging has been pushed to the bottom of the need-to-do list.

Tonight, though, it is at the top of the list!

Our housewarming/30th birthday party is this weekend and I am so looking forward to it! My Mom and Dad came to stay a couple of weekends ago and my Mom brought me the finished quilt for our guest/craft room. It is so gorgeous! I really is perfect in there!

 My craft room has turned out exactly how I wanted. Unfortunately, I am going to have to do something different with the drapes. We have a streetlamp right outside our house and the light really shines in through the half-round window. It makes it hard to sleep in there for our guests. I went to Wal-Martian today in search of some white black-out curtains to add length to the ones already there. I couldn't find any today, but I think my solution will work if I can find some.

Russ and I took Chloe Jo to the zoo a couple of weeks ago. I'm really glad we have season passes because it was lame the day we went. The temperature got up to 105 and the animals that were out were very lazy.

 I am sad that the zoo was so lame, but I'm glad that we were able to get in the family time.

 Even the otters, who are usually very playful, were just laying there. It was just too hot for them!

 At least the heat couldn't take away our sense of humor!

 The zoo did have 2 baby cheetahs that were out. Isn't it so cute!!! I would have snuggled with it if I could have! And then it probably would have ate me.

 Before leaving, we did Chloe Jo's favorite thing and rode the train.

 Poor girl. She was so sweaty.

After the zoo we went to McD's for some ice cream to help us cool off.

 I think we are about ready to retire the stroller. We took it to the zoo, but Chloe Jo ended up wanting to walk most of the time. I ended up pushing Miriam (the Cabbage Patch Kid) in the stroller. HA!

Last week was another busy one. Russ and I dropped Chloe Jo off at Aunty Chelle's and we went on a much needed date. He took me to Red Lobster (my favorite) and we had a great time. This date was to celebrate both of our birthdays (which are this week) and our anniversary (which is next week).

Then on Saturday was the Alzheimer's Walk. I will be blogging more about this later.

Today was busy with grocery shopping. I have also been hunting fabric to make curtains for our bathroom. I haven't found anything that I like enough to buy 8 yards of. I also haven't found any ready-made curtains. It is so frustrating because our bathroom gets so hot during the day. The search will continue. I'll just have to see if I can find anything I like in the city.

I did get a batch of dishwasher detergent made this evening. It is amazing how much money we save since I make our laundry and dishwasher detergent.

On the same lets-save-money thread, I also made a reusable swiffer duster. I made it out of fleece so it works great and I can just throw it in the washer after each use.

I sent some pictures to Reasor's photo lab to try them out. I hate our Wal-Mart photo labs here. I've tried two different stores and they were both horrible. One store wouldn't print part of my pictures because they were "professional". Some of them were, but they were school pictures of my grandparents from the 40's! How in the world am I supposed to get a release from a school picture that is that old?!? The other store didn't print part of my pictures and then argued with me about it. Needless to say, I had to find another option. Reasor's did a good job and I will probably continue using them. I am so loving the instastrip they do!

I have several projects I need to get done this week including Chloe Jo's Halloween costume. I know it is early, but I like to be prepared and who knows what all is going to come up between now and then??? I still need to add the skirt. I am loving how it is coming out so far, though!

I finally caught up in my Bible reading. I hate that I got behind, but at least I am caught up now! I have been taking my Kindle to church services to use as my Bible. Once I got used to it I really enjoy it. I'm definitely faster with my traditional Bible!

I am so loving this little girl. 3 has been so hard with the fits and tantrums, but also the most fun because her adorable sense of humor has been developing. She is a joy in my life! I thank God for her!

60th Anniversary!

Last week my grandparents' celebrated their 60th (!!!!) anniversary! To celebrate, my Aunt Cindy, Mom, sister and I put on a fantastic party for them! We had a great time and I loved catching up with all of my cousins and family!

My family and my sister's family stayed with my cousin Friday evening. They have a little girl who is just in between Chloe Jo and Brianna in age. They had so much fun playing together!

My parents came to our house on Thursday to stay the night and drive to Wichita (where my grandparents and several other family members live). We set up the party tables and decorations Friday evening. Decorating is my favorite part of the party planning process. Well, that and the actual partying!

This is the entry table. The picture is almost all of our extended family (minus just 2 families) from 2007.

My Aunt Cindy set up this table display and I made and hung the tissue paper poms. I had put the tissue paper poms part way together and my sweet cousins helped fluff them while I hung them up.

This is the colorful banner I made. For whatever reason, the banners I do don't look that great in pictures. The words showed up fantasticly (is that a word?) in person.

My Mom and I created this table display. We call it "Sparkle Me Truly" because the inspiration was from one of those freebie flyers from Hobby Lobby and it said that on the front. The yellow cards have favorite Bible verses and quotes from Granny Tiger and Pappy.

This was another display my Aunt Cindy did. She received a box of old photos from one of her Uncles recently so we decided to share them. I love looking through old photos!

This is another one of my displays. This went over great! It was so fun to put together!

Here is the whole room. I have to admit that I wasn't really on board with the color scheme until we started putting everything together. I thought it was going to look to much like a Sweet 16 instead of a Sweet 60th. I was so wrong! Everything came together and it didn't look teenage-ery at all. It was beautiful and perfect!

I made several tissue paper poms and tulle poms to decorate with. I ended up mixing them and it was worked out great!

My Aunt brought the tablecloths and made the centerpieces.

I also collected photos from each family unit and my sister put together a wonderful slide show. It was fantastic and everybody enjoyed it!

Here are Granny Tiger and Pappy opening their cards before the slide show.

This is my sister, Chelley, my Granny Tiger and I. Love this picture! It may be a framer!

 

Chloe Jo's favorite part was having ice cream sundaes for dessert. Precious girl!

We had a wonderful weekend. I hope our family continues to get together as we grow. I love catching up and seeing all the new babies everyone is having! My sister's little boy, Brenson, is great grandchild #25!!!! We are so blessed to have an amazing family!

What I'm Loving Wednesday and Oh, How Pinteresting!

It's Wednesday again!

Why does the world keep spinning faster and faster and I get older?!? When I was young I thought Christmas would never get here and now, each year, I can't believe it is just around the corner.

I am linking up with What I'm Loving Wednesday and Oh, How Pinteresting today.

Play along {here} and {here}.

I'm loving that in just a few weeks Russ and I will be turning 30 (EEK!) and we are going to be celebrating our 8th (seriously!?!?) anniversary. I love my hubby and the life we have built together!

I'm loving that this weekend we will be celebrating my grandparents' 60th anniversary! What an amazing accomplishment. I am so thankful for their example in my life. Here are a few of the fun decorations I made for the party.

I'm loving all of the crafting I have recently been able to do. Chloe Jo is great about hanging out with me in the craft room or wherever I am crafting. She usually has stickers and paper or sometimes she will have some of my scraps to play with. I keep thinking about opening my Etsy shop back up.

I'm loving that I have been getting some Christmas shopping out of the way. I always start early so that we don't go completely broke in December. I try to buy 1 or 2 things a week until I mark off all 26 people off of my list. It would also help if my family would stop having babies (just kidding...sorta...).

I made this for Russ' niece. Alli has always had a special place in my heart. She was born just after Russ and I started dating and then she ended up living with Russ and his mom and Dad. Even though she has had drama in her life pretty much since day 1, she is a sweet, beautiful young lady. Oh, and Chloe Jo looks just like Alli did when she was her age!

Alli's birthday is in November. I made this yesterday and I think I'm going to give it to her as her birthday present.

I'm loving that Halloween is also just around the corner (much more so than Christmas). Halloween is my favorite holiday, especially since having Chloe Jo. Chloe Jo really wanted to be Annie, but after searching the internet for an Annie costume that wasn't $50, I came up with nothing. I finally had to tell her that we just couldn't do Annie this year. If I can get a good deal on an Annie costume after Halloween, maybe she can do that next year. Anyway, so she finally decided on being a princess (ugh, so cliche). I found some very clearanced velour and am making a cloak (because it might be chilly) to go over her dress. Then I ran out of ribbon when I only had about 12 inches to go. I hate it when that happens.

This is the fabric she chose for the actual dress. I may be biting off more than I can chew. I've never sewn on satin and I know it likes to crawl. We'll see what happens!

Since I pinned some Halloween things, I am going to show you my Halloween board from my Pinterest!

Are you excited???

I am!

Source: kids-birthday-party-guide.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This is what I wanted Chloe Jo to be for Halloween. A matryoshka is something that you don't see every day and I just thought it was very clever. I would have made it out of felt and stuffed the sides so it would hang right. Alas, my idea was vetoed by Russ. I don't think he understands my matryoshka obsession. :(

And then Chloe Jo saw a picture of Snow White.

Source: kenickysfancydress.co.uk via Lisa on Pinterest

And it was all over from there.

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

This one is my favorite, but her actual dress is not going to look anything like it.

Source: allabouttots.com via Lisa on Pinterest

CJ's dress is going to have a tulle overlay like this on the bottom. It probably won't be as full, though.

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

It will also have some princess-y embellishments on the bodice like this dress.

Source: bing.com via Lisa on Pinterest

Love this for a front door.

Source: etsy.com via Lisa on Pinterest

And how cute is this? I've never used deco mesh, but I'm seriously thinking about trying this!

And that is it for today!

Have a great rest of the week, Peeps!