Another Haircut

You may remember a couple weeks back when I gave Action a haircut.

Well, last night we were all sitting around chatting and Action's hair length was mentioned.  It was once again, on the verge of being too long.

Someone brought up the idea of Action getting a buzz cut.  It actually may have been me.  Hubby frowned at the idea, as did I.  I mean, I was totally kidding when I mentioned it ~ kind of ;)  But it was Sassy, who likes to torment her brother a bit, who kept pressing the issue.  And after about 5 mins (it didn't take as long as I thought it would) he was convinced that he wanted a buzz cut.

Hubby grabbed a towel and the cutting tools, meaning the clipper and in no time Action's hair was laying all over the garage floor.

So here I am today, embracing Hubby and Action ~ creating memories together ~ first buzz cut memories!

Pinnin' Pinnin' and Pinnin' Pinnin'

I was going to give you this little Pinterest review yesterday, but my internet was down ~ a few adjustments and a new modem later, we are back in business.

Anyway, here are a few of the recipes I've recently "pinned" and tried.  (See all of my Pinterest boards here)

First up, "Million Dollar Spaghetti"

(original website here)

This was pretty tasty.  I will definitely be making it again although I'm not sure it is quite worth a million dollars as it's name implies.  It was reminiscent of lasagna except with spaghetti noodles. Next time (if I was just feeding my family of 5) I would probably either only make half of a recipe or freeze half.  I felt like we were eating leftovers forever.  And I would maybe add some veggie's to the sauce.

Next, "Totally Scrumptious Chicken Salad Croissant"

(original website here)

I thought this was good, not totally scrumptious, hubby was ok with it and the kids... not so much.  I probably won't make it again although it wasn't bad.

And other one from it's overflowing , "Baja Chicken Wraps"

(original website here)

These, I love.  I have been eating them for lunch for the last couple of days.  They are filling and fresh, with just a hint of lime.  When I eat them for leftovers, I add a little fresh coleslaw mix, just to freshin' it up a bit.  Does the rest of the family like them?  Don't care, I do :)  Ha ~ hubby likes them, Sassy hasn't had any, and Action and Smiley will eat them (not sure I can quite say they like them).

Finally a little breakfast ~ "Egg Muffins"

(original website here ~ although I've seen lots of variations around)

I made a bunch of these one evening before a weekend softball tournament.  I knew we would be up early (5:30am) to head out to get to Sassy's games in time.  I'm a believer in eating some sort of protein for breakfast and I thought these would be perfect to quickly warm up and eat before we had to head out.  I made a variety of these.  I used green and red peppers, mushrooms, onion, sausage, and cheese.  Some just had veggies, some had everything and some had a little of this and that.  We all agreed that these were good and perfect for our early morning.  Yep, you guessed it, I will make them again. The worst part was washing out my muffin tins ~ seriously why does egg stick to everything?

That's it for now!  Actually I'm working on dinner right now ~ a pasta I pinned and some bars I pinned.  I'll let you know how it all turned out next week :)

What have you been pinning and trying?

S'more Time

What a nice weekend it has been.  After a week of leading Vacation Bible School games and the 200 kids a day I was ready for a little bit of nothing.  No softball tournaments, no baseball games, no plans.

Now I'm not saying we laid around all weekend.  Especially since I decided Smiley's room and the garage needed a good cleaning out.  But after cleaning all day yesterday, we spent some evening family time out on the deck, enjoying dinner, a few giggles, and to top it off, we enjoyed some yummy s'mores.

Ahh.... s'mores, sticky faces and chocolatey hands ~ welcome summer!

Down Time

We have been busy ~ softball or baseball every day or night for 10 days.  Sassy had a tournament last weekend and played 6 games ~ They were in the championship game when the rain started.  We're not talking a light shower.  I'm talking rain.  Thunder.  Lightening. Downpour.  It stopped after 15-20 mins, but the fields were a MESS!  The tournament director ended up calling the game in the middle of the 4th inning (they play 6 innings).  Unfortunately when they do that, they take the score of the previously finished inning which was 2-3, in favor of the other team. Second place was bittersweet for the girls.  They were playing so well.

This week, we've all been attending Vacation Bible School (VBS).  Sassy is in charge of a group of 5 preschoolers along with another girl, Action is participating, Smiley is unhappily attending the church daycare, and I am in charge of elementary games meaning I get to organize and "play" with 200 elementary kids on a daily basis.  It's fun, but can get a bit tiring.

After VBS, we rush home, eat a quick lunch and I get Sassy and Action to the local senior high for volleyball camp.  Both kids are loving it!  But, by the time they are done with that and either baseball or softball in the evening they are ready for bed and quite honestly so.am.I.

Tonight though, Action's baseball game was cancelled due to weather.  The kids went to bed almost on time and Hubby is away getting ready to participate in a golf tournament tomorrow.  The house is quiet.  And here I sit relaxing

with a glass of wine :)

The last 4 days

Last day of school

1. Sassy on the last day of 5th grade

2. Happy kids

3. Action on the last day of 2nd grade

Last day of school "water ambush"

1.  Parents getting ready to ambush the school bus on the last day of school with water guns and balloons.
2. Sassy running from her dad
3 Chaos ensues
4. Sassy getting ready to shoot
5. Action taking aim at me
6. 3 wet kids ready for summer break to begin!

Trip to the zoo

Water Gun fight with a cousin

Silly Smiley

1. Antiquing 
2. reaction to eating a lemon
3. telling me her "legs are getting big"  meaning ~ she's getting taller :

What have you been up to?

Haircut Day

I gave Action a much needed haircut yesterday (and yes, I'm wearing my apron).

He was kind of a wiggly little client.

But happy with the overall outcome :)

And today is last day of school for my kiddos ~ they are doing a couple of fist pumps :)  And are super excited to get off the bus today ~ click here to see why.

Just the two of us.

In three months, I know I will feel opposite of how I do today.

But today is today and this is how I feel.

I feel like time went too fast. 

How can the school year be over already?

It’s not that I don’t want summer to come, fabulous memories to be made, imaginations to be used or new places explored.

It just, I’m sad that this school year alone with Smiley is coming to a close.

After Thursday it won’t just be her and I, we’ll be back to being a foursome.

Next year she’ll start preschool and my “baby” will slowly be changing into a “girl”

Time just keeps slipping away and so I’m going to take these few moments we have left, just her and I, and savor every second.

Lots and Lots of Spoons turned Wreath(s)

Some of you may remember me talking about the Pancake Breakfast/Auction Fundraiser Hubby and I Co-Chair.  This year's theme was "Greek".  You can see us in all of our glory here.

Anyway, the breakfast is held in a school gym.  In planning the table decor, I knew I wanted something that would be big, so it would be noticeable in the gym, yet I didn't want it to obscure anyone's vision.

Here's what I made:

The idea came from "The Nester" over at the blog Nesting Place

You see, every year this fundraiser takes place and every year once the events are over, the theme for the following year is announced.  Last year's theme was Hollywood and when they announced that this year's theme would be Greek, my mind was on full speed.  I had  remembered seeing some cool laurel leaf looking wreaths somewhere, I just had to remember where.

Once I found them again, I filed it into my "auction ideas" folder.

I was absolutely going to make them, but initially I hadn't planned on using them as centerpieces.  I was planning on hanging them on the doors to the entrance.  But as I thought more about it, I decided they would make fabulous centerpieces.  Big, open, perfect for the theme.... just right :)

So I gathered my supplies, lots and lots of plastic spoons, and lots of green spray paint.

First I glued my spoons together.  Each wreath I made took about 50-52 spoons.  My placement of the spoons was based on trial and error.  I didn't want the wreaths to look too "tight" But I didn't want them to be enormous either.  Once I that figured out, I glued and glued and glued some more.

 I used hot glue and basically put a dollop of glue on the lower back part of the "spoon", glued that to the "neck" of the next spoon, then flipped it over and put a dollop of glue where the two spoons met at the bottom/lower middle.  I admit, I used lots of glue, I didn't want these coming apart as they were on the tables.

Once all of my wreaths were assembled (I made 13), I set out to spray paint them green to mimic an actual laurel.   You could leave them white, or paint them whatever color you desire.  I used lots of spray paint, and it took many coats to get each wreath thoroughly covered ~ there are lots of nooks and crannies on these babies!

Next up, creating a stand so they could sit on the tables and not tip over.  Lucky for me, we had just thrown out Sassy's old book shelf that had finally collapsed under the weight of all her precious books (this was a cheapy $20 bookcase that we purchased for her nursery 11 years ago).  Using the shelves and sides of the book case, Hubby cut 13 10x10" squares (round ones would look pretty nice!).  I purchased dowels (however in the picture below we made a "trial" stand and just used a 1x2 we had on hand) which we cut down to 23 3/4" (this will vary depending on the size of your wreath).  He then drilled a screw into the bottom of the base and into the dowel.

I hammered a nail into the top and spray painted the bases gold.

Using ribbon that was donated, I tied the wreaths to the stands using the nail.

Voila ~ an easy wreath and simple wreath stand, perfect for our event.