It's coming!

Only two more weeks until SUMMER BREAK! Can you feel it? I am so happy to have summer break re-instated in our home. Since the end of college, summer has been a letdown of normalcy.
UNTIL Aevyn went to school.
Now we can get all hyped up about summer and listen to songs like, "The Boys of Summer," "School's Out,""Summer Nights," and all sorts of great, beachyness! However, there is a sadness pervading my summer. The biggest letdown ever. This year I will not be attending Beach Retreat.   For those of you who aren't aquainted with BR at Second,  IT. IS. AMAZING. Nothing like it on earth. I can't overstate it. 
ANWHO, That will mean TWO weeks alone with my babies. I don't deal well in these types of situations. I'm not the best loner. HOWEVER, Tyler comes back into town on my 30th. Best birthday present ever.
(Jeanne, and Moo, I know that ya'll will be onto me for telling the world of Tyler's absence...good thing we are getting the alarm fixed!)

I digress... The end of the school year has kept us quite busy. It's the great rush to the end. This week we started swim lessons back with the kiddos. Two dear friends have offered their home and expertise free of charge. What sweet swim angels. You wanna see sweet swim angels?

OH, the sadness! Yes, that is Aevyn practically running from my friend and Stone clinging to her for dear life. Blerg. I am officially an advocate of putting your kids in swim lessons EARLY!

Also this week Stone graduated 4K! What on earth does that even mean!? He sang his days of the week and months of the year. I guess that's all it takes to graduate from 4K. Our tax dollars at work. 

PS. Aevyn comes home talking about all the movies that she watches at school....like every other day. Tyler is seriously annoyed. What is going on over there?!

What a cute little ducky.

Lastly and most exciting,  is that these cute friends have moved to Pearland! 

And look who they brought with them!

What a little yummy. Seriously, the chillest baby alive. I could eat him! 

We are so thrilled to have them here. We literally can walk to their house from ours! So fun. ANNND, I am going to commit myself right here in the public domain to going to one of Becca's Zumba classes. Get your cameras ready. Welcome to Houston, Bo James and Rebecca!

Guest Room

Well, I am still not finished with Stone's room. I hope that keeping you waiting for so long hasn't increased your expectations. I am working on a pallet project for the room in honor of our dear friend, Jeff Foreman;) 

 Have you ever lifted a pallet before? It's kinda like lifting a cow.

Until then, I HAVE finished the guest room. Do you remember the before? 

There MIGHT have been stains on the walls from a certain child throwing his poo around the room. 

This room is TINY. The reason we moved Stone is because there is no closet, and he was swiftly destroying the room. I won't indulge you all the degrees of gross. There really is something to waiting till a child is ready to potty train. Anywho, I LOVE this room now. It's clean, pretty, and cozy. I would stay in this room over mine any day!

I must warn you that while the room has changed for the cuter the photography is still dreadful. I need a class. For real. And something other than an IPhone! 

Here she is. The little gray box:

Now come see it for yourself so that we can play!

Ballard Designs and Birthday

Forever I have had this picture in my head. It's from an old Ballard Designs catalog. I love this settee. The lines, the buffalo check. Yum.

 I don't usually just love Ballard, but every now and then they have really cute pattern play. I love this combination of the brown walls with the black and white check in the next picture. 

I have been wanting to reupholster this bench I have had for quite sometime to copy that cuteness.

Enter Hobby Lobby buffalo check fabric. When I found it I was so pleased! All it took was a yard, and it did the trick! Next, I attempted sewing my first double cording using this tutorial. It was SEW easy! (hardy-har-har).

Just a roll and seam:

Another tuck, roll, and seam:

AND TADA! (forgive the pins, the glue was still curing).

Now all she needs is some cute pillows!

Eat that Ballard.

PS. I am getting rid of that rug. Does anyone want to buy it? Name your price. It's the Jacobean Floral rug at Target. A best seller!

Tomorrow my baby celebrates her 6th Birthday! At this point 6 years ago I had already been in labor for 10 hours. Only 16 more to go!
We are having an ice cream party. Can't wait!
For now, I am smelling this yumminess in the oven. Cupcakes in a sugar cone. DUhhhh.

Happy Birthday, Aevyn!

A Weekend in Pictures

This past weekend Tyler surprised us with a getaway to Conroe, TX. It was such a wonderful, relaxing time. Here is what we did in pictures:

We ate catfish!

 We antiqued! I found this cookie jar like the one that I had growing up. It was 60.00! WHAT!?

 These were my favorite!

 She is my favorite!

 We explored.

Aevyn and I crafted these cute bracelets. I saw them on Pinterest. They have your address and phone number on them. Tyler thinks it's creepy. Maybe so....kinda like a dog collar.

 We snuggled and read books. 

 We made pound cake s'mores and they were delicious!! 

*pound cake

*nutella

*graham cracker

*marshmallows

We fed the ducks and fished off the dock.

 We found a delicious bakery called "Tickled Pink" in Montgomery. DELISH!

 We had a great time.

Pool, Paint, Pier One, Picture

Hello there! I have been quite negligent of the blog lately;( Not to worry, I am back and I will have a few projects to share with you in the next few days. Or weeks... maybe months. We will see how motivated I am to write;)
First on the agenda is to tell you that the kids have started swim lessons. OH. BOY. When we moved to Houston the first question I was asked (a million times) was what activities in which I was going to involve the kids. What mother's day out do they go to? Do they swim? What about dance? ( they were 4 months and 2 years old at the time). Here they are just a bit older than that:

Who would send these darlings out into the wild???!
WOW. I was a bit overwhelmed, I admit. The nursery worker at church told me that Stone was too attached, and that he needed to go to pre-school. YIKES!
I want the kids to be well-rounded, educated, talented babies, but I also like having them home with me! Not to mention the expense of carting them around the town to all their adventures. GEE WIZ.

Anywho, since then we have discovered the Westside Events Center. It is the Pearland Parks Dept. They offer a zillion activities for a fraction of the cost and and the activities are short spurts of time. YAY! The one thing they don't offer at that location are swim lessons. Stink.
So this year we finally took the plunge-ha and put them in lessons at Houston Swim Club. Boy, is it intense! I have been very impressed. And never have I seen my children's personalities so polarized. Stone -terrified, screaming, chest heaving, sadness pervading. Aevyn -happy, thrilled, thriving, laughing, aggressive.

 Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Stone's sadness for fear that the other moms would think I was a monster for documenting such terror. That's him on the float in the back of the picture. Poor baby.

I am thrilled with their progress and it's just week one! Hopefully this summer will be smooth sailing,  uh, I mean swimming.
Last week Erica and I found this cool dresser at Goodwill for 20.00 Yes, 20.00. I thought it would be perfect for Stone's room.

All it needed was some paint... Well I painted it, and I think I like it better all-naturaall;(

It will have to stay this way for a while. I don't have it in me to start over. But don't worry, he will be getting some new knobs. The good news is that I will have pics of his big boy room soon! 

Since I moved Stone into the guest room the new guest room is getting an overhaul as well. It got new paint and this cute duvet set is on order: 

I think it needs a monogram...

And finally, I found these Pier One curtains on clearance for the room. So fun and cutesy!

Long live the garage sale!

And finally, here is a picture of the kids at Easter:

Please note that Stone's shoes are on the wrong feet...again.