Sunday fun day!

I hope your Sunday was a fun day! When I came home from grocery shopping today, I was presented with these:

They were growing in the middle of our yard, lol. My son was mowing, & stopped to pick them. I think they're doing better than the ones I actually planted in my garden!

Still trying to learn the basic manual settings on my camera. Good grief, I've had it a year now & still don't know what I'm doing!

I hope you had something make you smile this weekend! 

Looking forward to a 4 day weekend next week. We were originally not going have off on Friday - but at a company meeting a few months ago, the owner said we could either close on July 5th, or New Year's Eve. Um.... yeah.... I'm pretty sure I'd rather have a Friday off in July - in summer - when it's (hopefully) nice out -- than boring old COLD New Year's Eve. July 5th won by a landslide!

What are your plans for the holiday weekend? 

Steamy Sunday

It was HOT today - first really hot day we've had this year. Can you tell how steamy it is? 

And that was at 9:00 this morning, before it even got *really* hot!

So you are not going to believe this, but I made another card! That's TWO since January! Woohooooo I'm on a roll! 

I was going through my beloved High Hopes stamps & found Swinging Shannon. Since it IS officially summer I thought it was perfect!

Not only is my coloring a bit rusty, but I also found out my scissor skills aren't quite what they used to be. I mean, I've always hated cutting - but it was like I forgot how to work the little knife thing!

I had ordered a whole bunch of SU paper last year, & they are all still sitting in the box. I needed a really really dark brown & nothing I had in my drawer even came close - until I looked through the box. I was just going to sell it all, since it was all unopened. But wait -- what's this gorgeous dark brown called "Early Espresso"? It's perfect! So ... I guess I won't be selling that pack, since I clearly HAD to open it! It went with the  Basic Grey Porcelain perfectly!

And it just so happens the High Hopes' blog theme this month is SUMMER! I think this qualifies :)

I'm linking up to Everything Etsy's Crafty Girl linky party HERE. Go check out the fun - there's a giveaway involved :)

Hope you have a super week!  

High Five for First Day of Summer Friday!

Boy did it STORM today - it looked like it was the middle of the night for most of the morning. And the thunder & lightning - yikes! That was a lovely welcome to the first day of summer!

Well, even if I don't have time to post anything else, I'll find the time for High Five for Friday each week - it's fun recapping the positive events of my week, no matter how minor :)

1: Watching my kids play baseball. I may have mentioned they each play 2 games a night. Sounds like a lot. It IS a lot. But I love it. So what if we have to eat hot dogs on the go 4 nights a week. 

2: My peonies are finally open! I was starting to think they were going to die without ever blooming.

3: Every year our small little town has the greatest parade - for Father's Day. Seriously? I think mothers deserve a parade WAY more than fathers! Whatever. We still had fun :)

4: Have you tried the Crystal Light liquid mix yet? My kids love the MIO, so I thought I'd give it a try. YUM! I have this at my desk at work, it definitely livens up the boring old ice water that I'm supposed to be drinking (my employer is VERY into wellness). My favorite CL flavor is the Raspberry Ice, but I didn't see that one in liquid form. So sometimes I mix the strawberry lemonade above, with this:

Soooooo good mixed together! Hey - I bet it would be good mixed with a little vodka!! You know - like Vodka Lemonade - big summer drink here in Wisconsin. I know what you're thinking! I swear, I would never drink vodka at work!

5: I was SO thrilled to find these flowers at a nursery last weekend! These are Pretty as Picasso Supertunias, & ever since Proven Winners posted a photo on Facebook I was on a mission. They didn't have it at the garden center I usually go to, which usually just has "the basics". So I found some time last Sunday to stop at a different one & there it was, in all its glory. The above picture is not mine - but once it's nice & full I will post some photos. It's so pretty :)

One more awesome thing happened just today, in fact. We are in the process of refinancing our mortgage - & just found out today that our house appraised at a LOT more than we originally thought it would - therefore allowing us an even lower rate than what we were going to get. We will be closing in the next week or so, with a rate of 3.875% - our mortgage payment will be HALF what it is now. So happy about that! I guess I have High Six for Friday this week!

I'm linking up with Lauren over at My Grey Desk - how about sharing your own 5 things from the week & linking it up?

Hope you all have a great weekend!

High Five for Friday!

I'm trying something new - High Five for Friday. Lauren over at My Grey Desk hosts this each Friday, just a fun little recap of the week!

1: First & foremost, was the last day of school. Shaving cream fight.  Beach. Culver's. Time with my kids. You can read more about my day (& see more fun pictures) HERE. 

2: I signed up to receive Birchbox a few weeks ago & last night I got the email that I am IN! If you haven't heard of Birchbox, it's a $10 monthly subscription, & you receive 4-5 primo samples of hair products, makeup, fragrances & other beauty supplies based on your profile. There is a bit of a waiting list (only about 3 weeks) but it's soooo worth it! I can't wait to get my first one, & to share with you what I got! You can read more about the Birchbox sample subscription HERE. 

3:. New shoes. Aren't they cute? And they are just $17.99 at Kohl's (plus I had a 20% off coupon) AND they have other pretty colors! See for yourself HERE. 

4: My 10 year old played his best baseball game EVER last night. 3 at bats, 3 hits - & I don't mean little hits. He hit the STUFFING out of that ball each time! Got home all 3 times. Proud mom moment :)

5: Going downtown with my 14 year old tonight to listen to some bands. Every Friday from June-October, they close off the main street & set up 8-9 bands around town. Good food - great people - I've never been & I've been sooo wanting to go. My son LOVES music - he plays guitar - so he is the perfect date for this little outing. I can't wait! 

So there is my week in a nutshell. Post your own 5 favorite things from the week, then link up with Lauren HERE. 

Have a super weekend!

School is OUT!!

Ok, let me preface this by saying that the end of the school year isn't quite as fun for me anymore, since I went back to work a few years ago. Summer vacation always meant lazy days .... no schedule ... staying up super late .... *sigh* then I had to join the real world. 

That said, I had a SUPER FUN day on the last day of school Tuesday. It's a tradition here in our town to have a shaving cream fight amongst the middle school kids. God help them if they're caught with any in their lockers .... but all the parents meet them at various side roads & store parking lots, where they load their kids up with ammo. Matthew didn't get to do it last year, because I needed him home right away because his brother is too young to be home alone (unless you ask him. He will tell you he is PLENTY old to be home alone). This year I took the day off. Oh, I'm so glad I did!!! I asked Matthew if he minded me tagging along to take pix. At first he said no. I told him my friend would take pictures for me then. He said "Fine, you can come, if you don't follow me". Me? Follow? Never!

He's armed & ready for action!

This kid got hit early -  all the kids weren't even out of the school yet! I think he foamed himself, just to be funny LOL

Because there's Matthew, across the street - waiting for his posse to come out of the pharmacy. Matthew instructed me to stop at Target by my work the day before to buy the goods, because all the stores pull their shaving cream the few days before. Well guess what - this pharmacy had a sign in the window that said "Shaving cream $1" -- those enablers! Wish I had taken a picture of that sign, it was quite funny :)

Why is the only DRY kid a boy?? 

Did you know shaving cream doubles as hair product?

Here he comes, not nearly as foamy as his friends (enemies?) - & he's still holding the same 2 cans LOL

Nice action shot. If I didn't know any better, I'd say this was his version of giving me the finger. "I said don't follow me!"

I love this picture - it shows what a great time he had with his friends on his very last day of middle school.

All the kids make their way from the school to the beach, where they jump in to wash all the foam away. I didn't even have to blur any faces, lol - nobody is recognizable!

After Matthew was done galavanting in the lake, we picked up his brother from the grade school. He came in with me because he wanted to see some of his old teachers, and he wanted to say good bye to the principal, who is retiring after 25 years at the school. I am so sad. He has been the best. principal. ever. Everyone loves him, & whomever takes over is going to have some ginormous shoes to fill. 

I took the kids to Culver's for lunch, which is something we did every last day of school until I started working. Everyone goes there & it's just a party. A party with great food! You know, I think I'm going to take every last day of school off from work from now on. I should have done it last year, but I was saving up my vacation days for our Disney trip. I had a blast! It's hard to believe my first born will be in high school come fall. Time really does fly once they're in school. So if you have little ones, enjoy every single moment!!!

Crazy birds

Not angry LOL - just crazy!

Every single day last week, we had a bird sitting on our window, peeking in. It started in Michael's room - one day I opened his curtains & there was a goldfinch staring at me. Now that was a rude awakening! Then there were 2 finches on our living room window, then another on our side window ... the kitchen window ... now I'm starting to wonder if the seed we are giving them is spiked with something! 

These are all different birds at different windows .....

Aren't they hilarious? And of course my cat ... almost 18 years old ... sees nothing strange at all about it ... doesn't even faze him. Maybe they want to come in & play with him!

So are your kids done with school? Mine go all day tomorrow, then a 1/2 day Tuesday then DONE. I can go back to getting up at 6:30 rather than 5:30. I don't know, that hour earlier KILLS me! Of course, I miss the days when summer vacation meant all 3 of us hung out, all day every day. Dumb work! (just kidding, I love my job!)  My older one will be starting high school in the fall ... (eek!) ... so he will celebrating on Tuesday with the shaving cream fight ritual ... every year the kids from the middle school smuggle in shaving cream (God help you if you get caught with it!) & they run through the whole town Barbasol-ing one another ... then they all walk down to the beach & jump in the lake. Crazy kids! Crazy birds & crazy kids .... I definitely lead a fun life :)

So Tuesday I took off of work ... I will meet my son with the goods ... & let him have his fun while I pick up the younger one & take him to lunch. I just realized I'll have a whole 2 HOURS between getting my younger one on the bus in the morning, & meeting my older one after school. Wow ... what to do with 2 hours ....