School is out! Exit Interviews and Parties

Elle's end of the year party was last week, have you ever heard of school ending before Memorial Day? Anyway, they celebrated her summer birthday, so she dressed herself accordingly.

She knew she looked "gorgeous-y". Her socks/sandals, whistle, earrings and headband were my favorites. She was dressed to IM-PRESS that day, I Love It!

We thought it would be fun to do a little video of each one so we could remember their little voices and how sweet they are. Please try to ignore my voice, why does it annoy me so much???

Elle's Interview:


Khera's Interview:


I tried to get them to take a serious picture together, key-word: tried.


They are goonies.


Elle's party was at a neighborhood park. They order pizza, had fruit, and a special dessert--Cold Stone Ice Cream Sandies:

MMMMMMMMMM...



I waited and waited for her to finish, so I could swoop in and and finish it for her...I got tired of waiting and ended up chasing after Tommy.

He kept running up to every (parked) white car asking to go "HOME!"

Apparently he hasn't gotten the memo that we no longer drive a white sedan.

He finally gave up asking and played on the playground. He did some climbing...


swinging...


and my personal favorite, throwing tire mulch...

I find that cr@p EVERYWHERE!

Khera had her end of year bowling party that day also, siblings were not invited so we couldn't join her, but she had a blast. Daddy took an early lunch break and popped in on her there.


Khera and Ms. Moore:


Khera and Ms. Yeomans:


Ms. Moore and Mrs. Yeomans have really helped Khera blossom this year, I've never seen teachers truly connect with kids the way they do.  I'm so happy that Elle will be in Ms. Moore's class next year, and 2 years later so will Tommy.  At Tommy's party I will no doubt be shedding a tear or two, we cannot imagine life without Ms. Moore.

That's all for now, stay tuned for an update on what we've been up to lately!

Designing Women and Jena's Kitchen

Khera had to design her own Teddy Bear for preschool, and she and Elle really got into it.  


Elle tried to sell Khera on yellow feathers.


Khera considered the suggestion.




Once we sewed up the teddy bear, we stole some stuffing from an old pillow to fill her up.


Tommy was bored because for ONCE the girls weren't hanging on him.


And here is Khera's teddy bear, yellow feathers and all.


Tommy was thrilled she was finished so he sit in her lap and play on the iPad.

His Daddy has the same "concentration face".

I love this little man--even when he fights me every.step.of.the.way.


My sister Jena is getting the itch to spruce up her kitchen, and much like Elle taking over Khera's project,  I couldn't help but stick my nose in and throw some ideas her way. Here is her kitchen now:

Her cabinets are all wood and have a classic design, I'd keep them all but just hire someone to paint the frames and get the doors professionally sprayed. I know she wants to keep her budget tight on this project so removing the soffits* is not an option.

I think two toned cabinets will really add a lot of interest to her kitchen. I LOVE this color combo:

I like the darker color on the bottom cabinets and island, this will not only make it more interesting to look at, but also hide a lot of dirt from sticky fingers and kitchen mishaps. 

Carrying the color of the upper cabinets up onto the soffits camoflages them as seen here:


I would wrap the island in a tongue and groove (1x6) paneling as well as the backsplash as seen in this kitchen.  It's inexpensive and adds a lot of charm.


I'd replace the blinds with cafe curtains, either hung at the top like this:


or middle, like this:


I'd add 2 pendant lights over the island in this variety:


And hardware on the doors and drawers like this:

They are upgrading their appliances to stainless steel, and I think it's OK to mix metals it gives the kitchen a timeless look.

I'd replace the linoleum with this tile, YES this IS ceramic tile!!! Dark grout too.


I'd use these barstools:


For the countertops I would probably go with either quartz or granite, something that ties the two tones of the cabinets together. I'd undermount a stainless sink and use this faucet:



*If the soffits were flush with the upper cabinets I would suggest adding crown molding at the ceiling and trimming out the soffits to make them appear as part of the cabinets. Here are some good examples:




OK, if you're still awake, a lot of the photos came from magazines, online stores, and my favorite interior designer EVER, Erika Powell (www.urbangraceinteriors.com). Someday I would love to hire her to help plan my dream home...someday.

Tommy's hanging on my leg, gotta run. Have a great weekend!

Kitchen Progress and Mother's Day

Ever since I finished the patio, all I can think about is the kitchen. Do you remember my list?

Kitchen
-Cafe curtains
-Slipcover Pendant Shade
-Artwork
-Clock Makeover
-Family Command Center
-Additional Storage

I'm having trouble putting together a total plan.  The one thing I have done is find more storage--in my existing cabinets.

You know how they say if you haven't worn something in over 2 years to donate it? I'm applying that philosophy to the storage, I'm donating some and moving others to the garage.

The juicer was a great purchase, but after 2 weeks of cleaning that bad boy he's been parked in my cabinet for 3 years. Let's be honest, it's way easier to go to Publix and buy a carton of OJ. You're losing out on a lot of fiber that you gain from actually eating the fruit too...


KitchenAid attachments? If I ever decide to make my own salsa from scratch please feel free to slap me. Or grind my own meat...get too lazy to slice cucumbers...you get the picture.


I'm no longer making baby food, so I can return the food processor to mom, jumbo muffins have too many calories, for the 1 month a year I use these I can fetch them from the garage.


Elle really got into Mother's Day this year. She took a lot of pride in helping me out around the house.  Here she is helping fold laundry,


doing the dishes,


she's such a silly.


My rule for Mother's Day this year was I didn't want to cook, and I didn't want anyone else cooking in my kitchen either. While I was out with Ashleigh and Andi having a mommy conference, the girls convinced Brandon to break my rule and make me pizza for dinner.

He can't say "no" to these two--he's doomed...


It started off well, they used the pizza stone, rolled out the dough, and added the sauce.


And then they moved onto the toppings.

Why use bowls when you can dump the toppings on the counter, right?   I'm convinced this was the girl's strategy.



Brandon chopped the peppers and onions so finely that they roasted in the time that the pizza cooked.  It tasted like perfection.  The mess scared me, but they did a great job cleaning up too.


And, much to my surprise, after the oven cooled off it was pretty easy to clean also.


It ended up being the best Mother's Days yet!  Why? 
Husband survived crash.3 healthy children.Mom is on the mend.She can stand.She can now burn annoying back brace.  We love you, MOM!  We are all so proud of the strides you're making--no pun intended!

Early this week Brandon got into an accident and while thankfully he was not seriously injured, the car was totaled.   Instead of buying himself a new car he bought the kids and I some more spacious wheels to roll around town in.  We are no longer Sardines!  THANK YOU B! 


This morning we got back to reality, and it wasn't as tough a re-entry as I thought it would be. I enjoyed my day off thoroughly, thank you Brandon, Khera, Elle and Tom-T!

Royal Wedding and Princesses

My princesses and I have a confession to make, we REALLY got into the Royal Wedding. It didn't happen until about the day before, but once we started watching the coverage, we couldn't stop!


One little princess in particular did a lot of dreaming that day...


Watching the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge inspired us to start thinking about the upcoming Royal Wedding in our own family--Ryan and Amy's. Khera and Elle are going to be flower girls and couldn't be more excited. We looked at dresses for them at the bridal shop and loved what we saw, but the $250+ TIMES TWO price tag made me cringe.

We ran across these little numbers at Target for $20.




I figure with a little sewing surgery they'll be perfect for them in October. I was thinking a substantial sash matching the bridesmaids dresses and a flower to embellish the sash of Elle's dress and lapel on Khera's. What do you think?

I could hardly pry these dresses off of them once they put them on!


They look like little Degas ballerinas.


What about all of those fascinator's at the royal wedding? Wouldn't the girls look so cute with a headband with feathers in them? Here's one I made for our photographer Rachael, she is getting married on the 21st on Amelia Island. Her colors are mustard and gray and wanted that reflected in her fascinator.


Wedding season is so exciting, I love all the little details...