The time is flying by

Seriously. FLY.ING. These last few weeks have been complete craziness, hence the blog sitting pretty on the back burner. The headlines...

This guy turned 8 last week!!

It's hard to believe it's been 8 years already! I still remember the day we brought him home and how tiny he was. He was 6 lbs. 2 oz when he was born...just a little peanut.

Donuts and a bucket of baseballs were waiting for him when he woke up.

At lunch time, I surprised him with a special lunch at school. Smiles from ear to ear.

He had a baseball game that evening and after we went to Red Robin with our families. Food, ice cream and presents...what more could a boy ask for?

The celebrating continued the next day with a birthday party at Sky High Sports, a wall-to-wall trampoline venue. All the kids got some donuts to take home. I found a really cute "8 is great" printable here

To keep going with the 8 theme, I made an 8 cake

He had a great few days of celebrating!

Sweet Pea is getting ready for a dance recital. This is our first ever recital with the whole costume and everything. It's quite a production, but she's having fun and loves doing it with her friends.

I got to take a break from the busyness and spend the evening with some awesome girlfriends and Hillsong United. We got the royal treatment...a private suite, server who brought us food and VIP parking...BOOM! We have friends in high places and got totally spoiled!

It was an awesome concert!

On Saturday, the Boy had a baseball tournament and they played in the championship and WON! They went undefeated all season. It was a lot of fun...great coaches, new friends and just an all around good time.

After a week and weekend of non-stop to-dos and places to be, it was time to relax and break in the new slip-n-slide.

We have one more week of school and then things slow down for us a bit. I'm looking forward to it.

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ALSO, last week I shared my classic guac recipe over at 30 days. You can see it here.

Have a great week!

InstaFriday

I'm linking up with Jeannett over at Life Rearranged for InstaFriday, even though it's Saturday. Late to the party, as usual.

Speaking of Jeannett...she wrote an awesome post about the #fitchthehomeless campaign that's running around the web and she put into words exactly what I was thinking in my brain. She's such a great blogger and I appreciate her heart.

Did you have a nice Mother's Day? We had a great weekend! Lots of time just being together as a family. And I got to sleep in! Ahhh, what a treat!

Sweet Pea's preschool did a Mother's Day Tea and we were not allowed in until party time. She was serious. There were bouncers and everything.

Sweet Pea got a new bike for her birthday, along with a sweeeeet new helmet! Meow!

She loves bath time.

Successful day at the dentist. No cavities. No tears. All smiles.

I make school lunches every night before I go to bed and this was my attempt to get out of the rut I am in...Cherry Chocolate PB sandwiches. I didn't hear any complaining after school, so I guess it was all good.

This is what we do during at every one of brother's baseball games...sandpit. It's actually a jumping pit for track & field. And it's not like the soft, beachy sand. Oh no. It's grainy, rocky, yucky sand. Ewwww. But whatever keeps her off the baseball field!

Someone got an easel for her birthday and she LOVES it! She's our little budding artist.

And I finally got to a project that I've been wanting to do...creating a chalkboard and a corkboard for a little message center in our kitchen.

P.S. There's a new app called A Beautiful Mess and it has lots of fun doodles and text to add to your photos. If you're wondering about some of the photos above, that's the app I used :)

Look Who's 5!

Five years ago today I was induced and our Sweet Pea came into this world fast! And she hasn't slowed down one bit.

She loves...

Grilled cheese sandwiches (with ranch!)

Rainbows

Staying with her Auntie and Uncle

Pinkalicious

Oatmeal with brown sugar, butter & milk

Her best buddy, Charlie

School

Riding her bike with NO training wheels!

Today we met up with her birthday twin and bestie for cupcakes

Then we came home for lunch and made cake pops for tonight!

Tonight we are meeting our families at Sweet Pea's favorite pizza parlor. 

The sun is shining and I think it's going be a great day!

Celebrations

Last week was a roller coaster of emotions. On Thursday evening, the Boy went with his baseball team to see a teammate of theirs who was battling cancer. Just hours after they had seen their 8 year old friend, he went home to be with Jesus. It has rocked our community, baseball team and family. And while we celebrate the health he now has in heaven, we grieve here on earth and for his family. Please pray for them this week as they prepare for services.

The very next day, we celebrated our Sweet Pea. Her birthday is this week, but we had a little party for her and her birthday twin, Charlie, with all their preschool friends. They are best of friends AND they share a birthday. It is a sweet friendship.

At the request of the birthday twins, we served bubblegum cupcakes

and Mint Chocolate cupcakes...

All their friends got take home a little goody bag filled with bubbles, sidewalk chalk, lollipop, pad & pencil.

My inspiration for these bags came from here. SO easy...bag, two sizes of cupcake liners and a tag all stapled together. The tags and cupcake toppers (above on the Mint Chocolate cupcakes) came from here.

We spent a lot of time soaking up the sun this weekend...water balloons, sidewalk chalk, bubbles and the sprinkler all came out.

The Boy had a meeting with his cub scout den and they performed a flag ceremony for the grand opening of our new community center in our neighborhood.

And THIS WEEK is Teacher Appreciation Week. Sweet Pea's teacher got donuts this morning, which we put in this cute bag...

You can find the printable here. I just printed it on a brown paper bag and it worked great!

There are so many cute ideas floating around Pinterest. Have a whole board dedicated to DIY gifts with LOTS of teacher appreciation ideas. Go check it out!

Raspberry Swirl Coffee Cake

Head on over to 30 Days to see my go-to coffee cake recipe! This would be perfect for a Mother's Day brunch or for Teacher Appreciation Week (NEXT WEEK). See the recipe here.

A few house photos

My sister-in-law gave this Katie Daisy print to me for Christmas. LOVE it! You can find it here

Well, now that we've been in our house for just about two months, I thought I'd share a few pictures. Things are still a work in progress around here and I'm thinking they will be for quite some time. But here's a few for now. The kitchen:

It normally doesn't look like this. Just imagine piles of dishes in the sink, food all over the counters and junk mail piled up on the island...that's about right.

My two little lonely globes need a friend. In fact, I need some fillers up on top of the other cabinets. Any suggestions?

Okay, and I know I'm a total dork for taking a picture of an outlet, but look closely...

USB PORTS!!!! Genius! 

My hubby found it on Amazon and installed it (NOTE: if you plan to install one, turn off your power first! Speaking from experience here, folks). You can find it here.

This is our dining area, just off the kitchen

Again, the cleanest you will probably ever see it. Normally it's covered in ketchup, syrup, glitter, playdough and who knows what else!

Here's where we spend a lot of our time...the family room:

We're still fine tuning the decorating, but it will come in time. We are loving our new place and our neighborhood.

Beth Moore

I had the pleasure of spending this weekend with some amazing girls while filling my soul with words from Beth Moore in the flesh! I've done many Beth Moore Bible Studies, but I've never seen her live. And let me tell you...she did not disappoint! She spoke to 7,300 women about TIME and the kingdom calendar.

She is such a gifted speaker and motivator. The Holy Spirit just oozes out of her. I highly recommend her studies and if she's going to be in your area, GO see her! Her schedule is here.

We're getting ready to celebrate Sweet Pea's birthday at the end of the week, so my to-do list is calling! Happy Monday to you!