April/May in Review

    I'm fresh back from vacation. You know what that means, lots of dirty laundry, bags strewn all over the floor, no food in the kitchen, and a lazy mentality that won't shift into high gear to get it all done!

So what's a girl to do about her blog?

How about a recap! 

No worries, I do have some fresh stuff for you all but I'm saving it for next week!

So here are may favorite/most popular projects from the past two months.

Summer Decorating Ideas

Independence Day Wreath

I have totally embraced the current trend for wreaths in the past few years. Yarn. 

I love the bright colors you can use and the impact that it gives to your wreath. 

So why not continue this trend for the 4th?! I was all gung-ho to get this done for Memorial weekend but it didn't happen! Good thing the 4th of July is just around the corner!

The little poms are supposed to be like fireworks. Can you see it?

As you can tell this is a simple wreath to do. It just takes time. If you haven't tried one of these types of wreaths before this is a simple one to do and it gives a big impact!

Here's what you'll need:

For the patriotic theme I did sections of white and red for 'stripes' and then a patch of navy. I did this all by eye ball, meaning I didn't measure or count how many times I wrapped. Just tie your color on and wrap!

To make the poms simply wrap the yarn around your fingers, tie in the center and cut through the loops!

Aren't they cute! And now we have fireworks!
These little guys attach easily with hot glue.

Or add a little flag:

With that I am ready for vacation! Today is the last day of school {I can hardly believe it!}

Here are the pics of my cuties!

{this is my ham!}

and apparently we are too cool to smile now that we are a big 6th grader!

I will be back in a week or two! Welcome to summer!

I'm sharing this here:
Tatertots and Jello
Funky Junk
Its Overflowing
Between naps on the porch

Carrot Bars

Oh you are in for a treat today! I wish I could give you a taste of these amazing bars!

What makes them so amazing you ask? Its a secret.......but I will let you in on it, just for today! ;)

I was never much of a fan of carrot cake or carrot bars for that matter. I didn't like the chunks. And some well meaning souls decided that nuts and raisins would go well with carrot cake. Really?

This might sound rather harsh but my motto has always been "if its got fruit in it, its not dessert!" {This might have a little something to do with some fruit allergies of mine but I digress}. 

What makes these bars so good is that they are super moist. AND, no chunks! :)

Summer Ideas

Life has been super hectic and busy this spring. I think more so than last year. My gauge for this is how organized I was last year versus this. Summer break starts next Friday and I am so not ready! {Let me qualify this by saying that I am ready for the break from school, just not prepared for the days to fill. Does that make sense?} Last year by this time I had put together our Summer Schedule, decided on how chores were going to be done and created boredom jars filled with ideas for things to do inside and out. I had also come up with a post filled with 65 free things for kids to do in the Summer. Oh yeah baby, I had it together! At least on paper.......:)

So what's a disorganized girl to do? Recycle last years material! Yup, not ashamed to admit it, I'm plagerizing myself! That's allowed right?

The only thing that I have started for this summer is a list of house rules for the kids and the nanny {on the two days a week I will be working at my job that pays!} I wanted something clear and straightforward so that we had consistency between me, my hubby, and the nanny. {Makes it harder for kids to pull the wool over your eyes! Not that my little angels would do such a thing!} ;) I don't have it done yet but this list includes obvious things like being kind to everyone and showing respect for people and their things to "no friends in the house when mom or dad aren't home". So we'll see how this comes out. 

For starters here's last years summer schedule. As a recap, having a schedule is huge. Not only does it give the kids a sense of security {knowing what's happening}, it also takes the fight out of things that have to be done like chores, summer reading and their workbooks. You just blame it on the schedule! ;)

{Click here to read the whole thing}

I am sure that we will make a few minor adjustments, but this works well for us!

For free things to do, I came up with this list.

In these jars I filled with slips of paper giving ideas for things to do inside and one for outside ideas. 

In this post, I shared out plan for summer chores. Each day, my kids are given 3-4 cards that list what their job is and what its expectations are. For my non reader, he still gets the cards but I go over what they say.

I am serious when I tell you my kids love this. Its not the same old "clean your room and make your bed" each day, although they often get these cards, but they love the variety and think they've hit the jackpot when they get a job outside. Me, I love that a variety of things I would be relegated to do are getting done.

Their cards for the day go on a clip with their name on it on the side of the fridge. 

Thank you for indulging me in a bit of recycling! ;) Now I'm feeling a little more on track for summer. What are your tips for getting ready for this? We have our kids full attention during the summer and we need to make the most of it!

I'm sharing this here:

Its Overflowing
Between naps on the porch
Tatertots and Jello
Funky Junk

More Parade Home

Last week I shared with you some of the pictures of the parade home that I helped my designer friend Jaren decorate. My pictures were really poor quality because they were taken at night. Jaren was able to get back into the house in the daylight and took some great pictures that I just had to share with you!

All of these photos are courtesy of Green Apple Design.

This is my dream kitchen. Of course anything big would be a dream! ;) But this kitchen has it all: gorgeous floors, stainless steel, white cabinets, extra sink, beautiful counters, some open cabinets, amazing backsplash {love the hexagon}, farmhouse sink, beautiful pulls, and wooden island. The fridge even senses how big your cup is and will fill it accordingly, hands free!

Here's the back entry off the kitchen and the small bath there.

From the front entry is this beautiful rounded arch. That door leads to the basement. I love the glass knobs!

And the kitchen looks on to this family room. {Aren't those floors gorgeous~they are white oak and will age and weather over time}

Here are some pics from upstairs:

In the boys bedroom you can see the little secret door that goes from the inside of the closet to the playroom.

Here's the playroom with the secret doors that lead to the two kids bedrooms. What kid wouldn't love these!

Thanks for dreaming with me!  Enjoy your weekend!

{This home was built by Solomon Homes in Rockford, MI}

I'm sharing this here:

Its Overflowing
Too Much Time
Between naps on the porch
Funky Junk

Memorial Weekend: a little bit of everything!

Thank you for your patience with my absence this past week. Today's post is chock full of lots of things. I could have parceled this out and made a few posts out of this but decided that together they make a better story! Hang tight baby, you are in for a ride! :)

This past week was super busy and full. I had to work extra at my social work job but also got to help a sweet friend decorate a parade home! Jaren is a friend of mine from college and she is a designer. She is so cute, sweet  and uber talented! Check out her blog here.

The picture that I took of this house didn't turn out super great because they were taken at night. {That's when things were finally staged and completed enough to get a few pics!} We've had a lot of rain so the landscapers hadn't been able to put the yard in yet.

This process was really fun but it began my weekend long struggle with contentment! {There is a happy ending.....keep reading!} Staging a house for a parade is a little bit different than I thought. Our goal was to showcase different features in the house not just to make the rooms look good. The homeowners provided some of their furniture but the rest we hauled in. We couldn't put anything on the walls either so that made it more challenging. 

Here's the gorgeous kitchen:

These floors are gorgeous but I'm not sure they're for me. They are a natural floor that you can only clean with water and then occasionally have to oil. When you wear socks on them  you can tell they aren't polished  but over time they will wear and distress.

{sorry, didn't have the white balance on on my camera}

This opened up on to the living room. You make notice I didn't take one huge picture of the big room. Things weren't all done before I left and had to strategically take some pics.

Upstairs there are four bedrooms including the master bedroom. In each of the kids rooms were these little doors that went from one room into the closet of the next kids so that they were all connected by these little tunnels. My kids would love this!

Solomon Homes in Rockford MI were the builders for this amazing house. Their attention to detail is superb and they always add a lot of unique elements to their homes. 

So then I went home to my little house with my tight budget and a mountain of laundry.

And thus began my struggle with contentment. :)  Its difficult to even admit that in my heart I complained. I am reminded every time I turn on the news how much sadness is out there in the world and how many struggle with illness, poverty and the loss of loved ones. But in this little moment I felt kind of bad for myself.

I am humbled to say that my God is always faithful. Even in the grand scheme of things and all the sadness in the world my God met me where I was and gently reminded me of what I do have. He reminded me through the smiles of my children, the hard work of my husband, the joy of good friends and time spend in His creation with family. Oh, how good He is!

The rest of my weekend was full and we got so much accomplished! I finally got all of my pots and windowbox planted along with flowers along the front path. I had to rip out the back corner in out back yard and replant it all because so much grass had grown up in it, choking out my flowers. My amazing hubby did all the grunt work for me this weekend without a complaint! This back corner of the yard kind of defines the back corner of our property on this side.

My hubby took the boys fishing and then they had a lot of fun fileting them on our front porch.

We also had supper with some of our great neighbor friends and even popped popcorn over the fire. A first for this little fam of mine!

We took a day trip up to Ludington Michigan where my in-laws have a summer place. Together we went to the other side of the lake they are on {Hamlin} to the state park there. We took the kids for a hike on the lost lakes trail and it was just gorgeous! If you live in Michigan and have never been to the state park in Ludington you are missing out! My kids were like puppy dogs running from one side of the trail to the other making all kinds of discoveries. We constantly heard "mom, look at this"! We saw wild deer out on the trail and even saw one swimming across a little bay area. Just beautiful! We were so impressed with the beauty of God's creation and marvel that some can think this all just happened by chance! 

{My mother in law and daughter}

{My Hubby~ Isn't he cute!?}

{Yep, that's my baby and he's totally peeing!}

Resting after the long hike!

We were surprised to see so many wind turbines as we drove up to Ludington.

And I've decided that this pretty much makes me mother of the year....worms in my fridge!

When we were at our friends house, before we ate I was helping her with a little bit of decorating and we were looking through some books for a foyer table. We came across this one:

Lisa offered to let me borrow it and I read some of it on our trip yesterday. Remember that designer friend of mine, Jaren? She has been reading through this and actually doing the experiments in this book. {Giving up so many of the creature comforts that we Americans take for granted}. Oooh boy, this is a humbling book, and the perfect capstone to my weekend struggle. Jen Hatmaker is a very witty author and so far it has been a quick but enjoyable {if not convicting} read. I cant' wait to finish it.

This morning we finally got our vegetable garden put in which inspired the kids to start their own.

{Note that they are surrounded by weeds!} ;) 

So now I am feeling fulfilled and blessed. We serve an amazing God who creates joy out of sadness and meets us where we are. Thanks for stopping by!

I'm sharing this here:

Between naps on the porch
Tatertots and Jello
Its Overflowing