It's BACK!

Both Sassy and Action each saved up their own money to purchase themselves an iPod Touch.

A month into having them, Action dropped his on the driveway (we think he was attempting to put it in his pants pocked and missed).  Tears were shed, then, more tears were shed.  $200 shattered in 1 second.  We got a recommendation from a friend as to who we could call to fix it.  Turns out it wasn't only the screen that was broken but the external speaker as well.  We explained to both kids that we would pay for the first repair.  After that, they are on their own to fix them.

Action was without his beloved iPod for about 2 weeks and he is all smiles now that he has it back :)

And then I watched him play a racing game

~ notice his excitement and my dismay when he crashed ~ Boys......

Beer, Pasta, Chicken, Salad and Chocolate....

By now, I'm sure most of you pin stuff on Pinterest.

But how many of you actually make, create,  or purchase the stuff you do pin?  I'm absolutely guilty of pinning things and doing nothing about them.  However, I've been going through my boards to gain mostly dinner inspiration.  Here's what I've made recently:

Raspberry Beer Cooler 

(original website here)

I made this for a get together we had at our home last Friday night.  While most of it got drank, I don't think I will remake it.  Kind of tasted like a tart, sweet beer.  Does that make any sense?  This one, I deleted from my beverage board.

Penne with Roasted Asparagus and Balsamic Butter

(original website here)

Not so sure I would agree that is "The best pasta you will ever eat", but it was ok.  I'm not deleting it from my cooking board, but I won't be making it in the near future either.  

Southwestern Chopped Chicken Salad

(original website here)

I made this for a family potluck.  I would/will definitely make it again.  It makes for a great side dish, or as a main course.  Put in (or leave out) whatever veggies you please.  The dressing is yummy,  just the right amount of kick to please many different palates.

and last but not least, 

German Chocolate Cake Bars

(original website here)

I also took these to our family potluck.  For me they were only ok.  They didn't have the ooey gooeyness I was expecting.  I'm deleting them from my sweet treats board, not because I hated them, just because there are better bars out there (in my opinion).

What have you been pinning?  

4 1/2 days of fun

We headed out of town last Thursday for a long weekend of fun with hubby's side of the family.

We did some fishing:

Some singing, listening and laughing (we only got one phone call from the front desk to keep it down):

Hard to believe, but during all the fun some little girl 

(who had skipped her nap that day) completely crashed:

Some golfing (we were trying to determine, but I think it's been 3 years since I've golfed at a course or driving range..... it wasn't quite as scary as I thought it might be):

A few self portraits found by our resident golf photographer (i.e. Sassy)

And me with a little golf "take that face"  or maybe that is actually a "Ugh. I can't believe I hit it there" face.  :)

Still smiling after a round of golf

Some golf cart riding ~ a favorite thing for the kiddos to do at Grandpa and Grandmas house ~ that gravel road saw lots and lots of golf cart tires!

 

They even tried racing our dog, Zoie.  Zoie won :)

We had a great time and now it's time to unpack do tons of laundry and get back to reality :)

Early Morning

Embrace the camera snuck up on me this week ~ you know the challenge to actually get in the picture and not always be the one taking the pictures.
So, this morning as I was heading out the door to go work out, I snapped some lovely pictures to share with you:

And After a good speed interval run and some weight work:

So lovely and sweaty!  :)

A weekend of Softball and Relaxation

We had a fantastic weekend!  Saturday started off early ~ 6am.  Sassy had a day long softball tournament about an hour away so we woke up some sleepy kiddos, ate some breakfast and headed out.  Her coach, who is also her Dad :)  has the team arrive about an hour early for warm ups.  Anyway, I knew it was going to be a long day out in the sun, so while they were doing their pre-game warm ups before the first game Action, Smiley and I hung out in the car, reading and playing with the iPad.

Then we were onto the games ~ they ended up playing 4 games and going 2-2.  The girls played really well. Sassy mostly played in the catcher positon, but also played 3rd, left field and had a couple of innings as pitcher.  She did really well, striking out a handful of girls.

(getting a pep talk from Dad/Coach after a tough inning 

this is probably my favorite picture of the weekend!)

Yesterday, Mother's day, we went to church, took the boat out, hit a lakeside restaurant for Bloody Mary's and appetizers, came home and relaxed.  It was a beautiful, relaxing day spent together as a family!

How was your weekend?

Sewing

Last night I had some pacifier clips to make.  Usually, I sew them up in my little, windowless, room in the basement (aka, "mom's scrapbook room")  But this time, I decided to bring my sewing machine upstairs and break-in the new kitchen island.

(purchased by a family member in January of 1977)

And, I had a pretty cute audience:

Plate Wall

Yesterday, I showed you my inspiration picture, talked about the plates I started with, ones I purchased and the one I personalize.

For my wall, I gathered my plates and arranged them on my dining room table.

Then, I traced each plate onto a piece of paper, cut it out and hung each one up on my wall.

After more rearranging, I hung each plate.  One by one.

Before:

Um, yeah.... nice vacuum!

And After:

I love it!  I love looking at the plates and seeing them for their meaning and not just for decoration.  I want to add a couple more ~ a little one next to the dark green one and a couple more towards the bottom, but they have to be the "perfect" plates ~ not just some to fill it in :)

Like I said, I got my idea from Pinterest and found lots of kitchen inspiration ~ for our new kitchen ~ on Pinterest as well.  So I'm wondering, what have you found on Pinterest that has inspired you (link it up in the comments)?