1, 2, 3, Ready...GO!

We are gonna try to pack in as many things this weekend as we can.
You think I'm joking?
Try me.
After school tomorrow, Evan is bringing one of his best friends home to spend the night.
After volleyball practice, Grace is bringing home her two best friends, which happen to be identical twins. They are also spending the night.

We are having 2 of the largest pizzas you can buy and cook in your own oven and Brent and I will stand by and watch as they are consumed by 5 children in the span of about 10 minutes.
You wouldn't believe it if you didn't see it with your own eyes.
Girls can EAT!
I would like to wear this outfit, which I found on Pinterest to the game...isn't it cute?

(Sorry I couldn't enlarge it!)

On Saturday the "extra" kids in my house will get picked up, and I will hustle over to Flowerpatchfarmgirl's garage sale since she is awesome, and we really don't live that far away from each other. I MIGHT even go up and introduce myself this time if I'm not too star struck.

When I get back, I'll take Evan to another friend's birthday party, then go grocery shopping.

Oh, yeah, in my spare time, I'll make this pumpkin cake which I'm taking to our friend's house for supper.

YUM!

When we crash into bed on Saturday night we'll wonder when the day got away from us!

Sunday means church in the morning, and a nap for Brent in the afternoon. It just means laundry, and other chores for me after I'm done making lunch. That night we have our annual neighborhood picnic at my aunt and uncle's house. I'm making something like this...

Easy, and GOOD!

I'm gonna need to go clone myself.

I'll get right on that...like right now.

So, 1, 2, 3, 3 1/2...I'm ready to go!

What does your weekend look like?

Rainbows rule

It's been a rainy couple of days. 

It's kinda depressing.

Thank goodness I'm surrounded by rainbows in the places you'd least expect.

I mean, really, doesn't EVERYONE sort out their crayons by color?

Or take pictures of sidewalk chalk?

Please, you know you all do it!

I'm ready for sunny skies again.

P.S.  I was thinking that if I get 100 followers, I will have a giveaway of some crafty things I've been working on.  That's only 11 more, so I'll keep you posted!

We're drowning in hilarity

I don't know about you other wives out there, but I've already become a football widow.

If Brent isn't watching it on TV, he's watching it on the computer, or at least reading about it on the computer if you'd call it that. (reading that is.)

This year, Brent was asked to be in my family's Fantasy Football League.

Granted, it took a divorce in the family to get him in. (We're

sad about the divorce, but he's happy to have a spot.)

This league is his new favorite past time. It's eating up all my available computer hours to post, surf Pinterest, etc. He's worn the cushion down on the computer chair to a nub with the time he sits here.

Of course his team is filled with Detroit Lions players.

No one but him likes these guys. But he's not doing half bad.

Course this changes by the week.

My cousin, who is the "Commissioner" often posts "predictions" about everyone's team.

One of my other cousin's let his 4 year old daughter choose his team name...FlowerBananaPants.

Hilarious.

Brent's name is Hillbillybucketheads.

Awesome.

This league cracks me up, not because of all the time Brent devotes to it, but because it turns my very sweet, and hilarious aunt Deb into a trash-talking stranger.

Thanksgiving isn't the same anymore without some fun lovin' trash being slung across the table while we eat.

There's even a trophy that gets passed around each year with a new name engraved each time.

Brent's hoping his rookie luck will see him through. I can't imagine how we'll get him through the door with a blown up head if that happens.

So, to all you ladies out there who can sympathize with me, wish me luck...I'm gonna need it till this season is over!

I'm drawn like a moth to a flame

Do you have a favorite color?

I'm sure everyone does...

Mine is aqua, if you haven't already guessed it by the numerous posts I've done with that color!I'm drawn to it like a moth to a flame. No matter where I see it.

I'm not really sure why it's my favorite color, but it always has been.

My laundry room, kitchen, and now Grace's room, are all different shades of aqua. I have it in bits and pieces around the living room, craft room, and a few places in between. My wardrobe is scattered with pieces of it too.

I found these pictures online in various places and on pinterest.

I want to incorporate some of them into my home.

And doesn't this just sum up what we should really do on a daily basis? I have it in a frame in my kitchen.

What is YOUR favorite color?

P.S. If you are like me, and are having problems commenting on mine or other people's blogs....sometimes it comes up as you being anonymous....try installing a free version of mozilla firefox on your computer or google chrome, and then bringing up my blog through that. It's a blogger bug that hasn't been fixed yet, and is very annoying.

Housing a Tween

Grace has inherited her decorating ADD from me.

She gets it honest.

Often she will say, "Can we change my room around today?" And while I would LOVE to every time she asks, we're honestly running out of ways her room can go.

However, for awhile now, we've been talking about changing the color.

She asked about it this weekend, and since Menards was running a sale on paint, I said, "Sure, why not!"

Her room has been purple for about 3 years now. It's also in the last 6 years we've lived here been green, and then blue.

We like to change things up around here!

This is the purple BEFORE.

It was purpley (sp?). Really purple. It was ok for awhile. But she was kinda growing out of it.







She'll be 12 in January. Yikes!







Her tastes are evolving quite rapidly. It's all about Paris, and fashion, and movie stars.







I guess I can remember what that was like oh, so long ago.







Since her bedding is adorable, and full of colors, we decided to stick with a color that matched that.







Shy Turquoise from Dutch Boy was what we came up with.


It was a pretty quick project. I trimmed out the walls, and she used the roller. Evan played in his room with Lego's the whole time.







Worked for us.







This is how it turned out. Some walls look darker than others since there was an abundance of light when I took the pictures.





(bedspread...Meijer, Paris window art...me, purple rug...Target)







I have to say, I love all the details in her room.




Even the poster wall, that I remember drove my mom nuts. It's making me feel the same way...but after all, it IS her room.







I like it. She likes it. That's all that matters, right?!

Truth Thursday...It's come to this...

I can feel it in the air.

The crispness, the rustle of the leaves in the trees, the corn fields drying up all around us, it's time to get the fall decorations out.

Usually, Grace is the first one to tell me she's ready. But this year she hasn't. I'm not sure why.

We're already several weeks late getting them out. Usually when the last day of August hits, up they come from the basement.

Not this year. Volleyball and school have kept us busy. Today marks a little over a month since we started school.

I just haven't felt the desire to lug it all up from the basement yet. And the weather until recently has been too hot for fall.

However, it's time. Maybe this weekend.

So, I started collecting some pictures from Pinterest. If for any reason you're interested in seeing what I've got "pinned," you can click here.

These are my favorites in no particular order.

You just can't have fall decorating without bittersweet. I've got a spot along the road I go to each year. The kids think I'm nuts, but it's free!

For Mother's Day Brent made me a wagon similar to this, and so I might try something like this on my porch.

I figured, if the kids can paint pumpkins like they do every year, why can't I do the same?

Then I'd like to frame some of these for my shelves...

And lastly, these were just beautiful, and I couldn't help but pin them.
So, I'll drag my tired old body to the basement, and see what I can do with what I've got.

I'm a sucker for the babies

The weather is turning cooler, it feels more like fall (FINALLY!) and it's time for babies again.

We're "growing" them in our garage right now. Under the heat lamp.

Brent brought them home from the feed mill yesterday.

Dipped all their little beaks in the water to "teach" them to drink since this doesn't come naturally for them. (Crazy, huh?)

The kids fell over themselves to see them after school.

I even went out to the garage last night to pick one up.

They are so fluffy and willing to let you hold them.

They cuddle right up.

I feel the same way when we get the 4-h pigs in the spring.

I'm a sucker.

A little background

I am the quintessential farm girl. I grew up on a farm, went to college, met a man and fell in love. Moved to a "city" for 7 years, and because the said man wanted to be a "farmer" moved back to the country, and now live on a small petting-zoo like farm.

However, I never quite got the desire to live in a big city out of my blood. It's there, probably not in the amount it used to be, but every once in awhile, it flares up.

You see, when Brent and I started dating, I had just made plans to go live in Grand Rapids close to my aunt and uncle, and start an apprenticeship type of thing at his business. I was already to go. My dad and I had made the trip, I had toured the business...I was making plans.

Then Brent and I started dating, 6 months later we were engaged, and 6 months after that we were married.

Whew!

So, plans for the big city were put by the wayside.

It was ok. We got started having a family, and the country life became more important to me. I didn't want to raise my kids in a city. Where would they run around? Where would they grow to love animals? Where could I go outside my back door, and not have people staring at me.

The country.

However, each year we travel to Chicago. The nearest "big" city to get my fix.

It's our annual destination for vacation.

Brent has family that live about 1 1/2 hours outside of town, so the end of our trip to the big city usually involves visiting them afterwards.

This past summer we took the kids to the Lincoln Park zoo, which is nice, but maybe not so much for kids our kid's age. However, once we left the zoo, on our way to the hotel, we had to take a street (I don't recall the name) to get back out to the main highway.

Suddenly we were transported to the neighborhood of my dreams.

It was what I had always pictured my house would look like if I lived in a city and had a million dollars in my pocket.

There was a whole street full of them. Side by side. All cookie cutter, but adorable just the same.

Kinda looked like Bill and Claire Huxtable's house (name that show!)

I couldn't tear my eyes from all of them.

But then I remembered, I don't want to live in a city. Just being gone for a week of vacation in a big city nearly does me in. I can't wait to get back home.

I can't wait to be surrounded by this.

Serene acres of corn or beans blowing in the wind. A green yard (well, most of the year that is), that my kids can run around in, and we can have friends over to ride the 4 wheeler in.

So, for now, I'll dwell on how good I have it. I'll let my city "fix" flare up only once in awhile.

Once a year of city livin' is good enough for me.

Truth Thursday: I have a problem

I have a problem, (and NO, BRENT, it's not that I'm too short...we'll discuss that later.)
/div>

It's that I feel the need to be organized most all the time.

There's nothing wrong with that, right?

I just like things in their place.

I'll admit in the late 90's, when I was first married....I jumped on the Tupperware organizing bandwagon.

I had parties to support my habit.
My cupboards now show proof of that. They might be outdated, and the labels on the containers might have changed, oh, say about 50 times, but I spent too much money to just throw them out.

And sure, arranging books by color might be a tad over the edge...

but it sure looks pretty.

I know if I wasn't organized, we'd all be flying by the seat of our pants like my wonderful husband loves to do. (sorry babe, we both know it's true!)
Now, I've completed some organizing projects that at the time seemed a great idea.

But they didn't really catch on, and no one really used them.

But others, they work pretty well if I do say so myself.

It's not like I come up with these ideas all by myself, either. Websites like tipjunkie and iheartorganizing rock.

It makes me feel "put together" to be organized. Some of my favorite stores have the best organizing things...IKEA...The Container Store, etc. They make my heart go pitter patter.

My daughter once caught me swooning over a very cute binder in a store. She didn't think I was cool at all. I thought I had just hit the jackpot!

Can't please everyone, can you?

I'll stay just the way I am thank you very much.

I just wanted to be honest.