Family Hike

We have a lot of house buying stress around here right now...home inspections, loan applications, insurance, signing, signing and signing loads of paperwork full of leagalese that we can barely follow.  Every time we turn around there's more papers to sign or something was dated incorrectly or someone's name was wrong.  BLEH.

Then trying to pick out paint, flooring, carpet and discovering we have not so similar taste. UGH.

So last week we decided to take a break from it all and have family day up at Wright's Lake. 

It's a really easy, flat hike all the way around the lake.  Landon got to ride on Ben's back the whole way.  He loves being in the backpack and is always content for our hikes :) 

Oh...uh this is our new dog, Dozer, who probably deserves a separate post unto himself.  He looooves the water and he loves playing fetch so when we combined the two, he was in heaven.

The Little Wombat didn't really know what to make of it.  

After we hiked around we found a little spot with some sand to play in (well, by sand I really mean mud) much to Landon's delight.  He threw the ball in the lake for Dozer and verntured ankle deep into the lake.  I totally didn't even think to bring his water shoes and there were too many little rocks and twigs for him to go barefoot.  Luckily, his little hiking boots are dark brown so no harm done. 

After fetching the ball in the water about fifty times, Dozer was worn out and Ben had to swim out to get the ball he'd thrown too far, lol!

It was a great day and exactly what this little family needed!

A Shower for My Sister

My sister in law, Brigitte, is getting married.  Which means Landon is getting another uncle and I'm getting another brother! Yay!  It is such an exciting thing to have your family expanding.  I am so happy for Brigitte, she is just the sweetest sister in law ever.  She was the first person to really welcome me into the family when I started dating Ben and has always been so supportive and encouraging to both of us. 

So in honor of my lovely SIL (who threw me a fantastic baby shower) I threw her a bridal shower.  Brigitte's Aunt Sally was kind enough to host it at her beautiful home. 

Pictured above:  The lovely bride opening some presents, a picture of Brigitte and her soon to be mother-in-law, guests playing Bridal Bingo and the Clothespin Game.

Decor:  Chalkboard Frames, Painted Jars & Bottles, Cupcake Toppers, Cake Stand, Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I always like to creat an address-your-own-thank-you-card station where guests can write their address on an envelope and save the bride or expectant mother some time. It's such a busy and stressful few months leading up to a wedding or a birth that any little cut corner helps :)

Pictured above:  Me, Brigitte and Sydney (my other sister in law)

It was an easy shower to host with such a great group of women. I am so excited for my sister in law's big day!!  It's just around the corner!

Linked to:  Tatertots & Jello, Serenity Now, I Heart Nap Time, Snips & Spice, Nifty Thrifty Things,  I Heart Nap Time,  Not Just a Housewife, The DIY Showoff, The 36th Avenue, A Diamond in the Stuff

Pocket Change Findings

While garage saling, The Wombat and I scored this HUGE Mega Bloks Truck for ONE DOLLAR:

And we also found these amazing vintage suitecases! I about peed my pants when the lady quoted me a dollar each for them! I so have big plans for these!!

Then we headed over to Bath & Body Works so I could pick up some small dollar items to send to my little sister.  She is working at a summer camp with no cell reception and sketchy internet so she looooves snail mail.  We are always on the lookout for little things to stick in packages.  Landon was content in the stoller so after hitting B&BW we wandered over to Pier One.  I was pleasantly surprised to find some glow in the dark rubber band bracelets (apparently these are all the rage at camp) on sale for .36 and a sassy little "Paper Pickup" for .96.

Our perfect Saturday morning always includes a good deal and a trip to the park :)

Horses eat carrots...my 16 month old knows it :)

A couple weeks ago, Landon and I took a mini trip to visit my parents.  The Wombat absolutely adores exploring his grandparents' house.  There is so much to do, but his hands down favorite thing to do is feed the horses.

I think I have a little cowboy on my hands already. He makes neighing sounds as soon as we start up the driveway.  He also makes neighing sounds when grandma (whom he has dubbed Me-Maw) picks him up because he knows she will take him to say hello and maybe feed the horses some carrots.  He neighs at toy horses, spring horses, horses he saw on a preview for the Olympic Games.  It amazes me, that he has such a recognition for horses in all shapes and sizes at 16 months of age (and really, it started even earlier).

The other day I was preparing dinner and Landon was begging for some food so I handed him a baby carrot.  He took off running and when he started neighing, I peeked into the living room and saw him trying to feed his spring horse a carrot!  The exact same thing his grandma showed him with the real horses TWO WEEKS AGO!!!  This is possibly the cutest thing he's ever done:

I am in serious awe about how quickly the little brains of children develop and the connections they can form at such a young age.  It is such an exciting stage to witness!

______

Linking To: Ni Hao Yall: Sunday Snapshot, Simple As That: Simple Things Sunday, The Paper Mama: Photo Challenge, Mama Pea Pod: Outdoor Play

DIY Chalkboard Frames

Once upon a time I had a fruitful trip to Goodwill.  Here is a refresher:

See those God-awful, ugly green frames on top?  These ones?

Well, I got two of them for a dollar each!  I spray painted the frames gray and sprayed the glass with chalkboard paint.

Then added some simple flowers made from hot glue and crepe paper:

Due to these little flowers I'm pretty sure I will no longer have a fingerprint on my right ring finger.  The glue gun exploded all over it.  Normally I would have rushed straight away to the sink but we were in the garage and Landon was in his swing.  In hindsight I probably should have just ran inside and soaked my finger, hitting the garage door on the way in but in my panic I wrestled a not so happy toddler out of his swing and into the house and those few precious moments caused my finger to blister, badly.  So that's my glue gun war story.  At least the final product turned out well:

Linking to:  DIY Show Off, Not Just a Housewife,  A Diamond in the Stuff, Kammy's Korner, The 36th Avenue, The Tidy Mom, Whipperberry, I Heart Naptime, Tatertots & Jello, The Shabby Nest,  Nifty Thrifty Things, Snips and Spice

DIY Cloud Dough

This week we made some cloud dough, also known as moon sand, which is super expensive to buy but lucky for us there is a cheap way to make it!  Just 8 cups of flour and 1 cup of baby oil:

We had yet to put any "sand" in our water/sand table...how cute is this?!

The Wombat had SO much fun with the cloud dough and it held his attention span for over an hour, which is saying a lot for my easily distracted 16 month old.  He played with the measuring cups, he transferred the sand from the table to the bowl, he threw it EVERYWHERE, he put it down the water slide, he drove his truck through it....really, the possibilities were endless.

I didn't put any water in the table the second day and it was just as much fun for Landon and much less mess to clean up :)  It probably would have kept for a while longer but our quantity was drastically diminishing, especially once L discovered he could mold the dough into balls that would break into a bazillion pieces once thrown.

I will officially be buying our flour in bulk at Costco now!

Play Fort

So when it broke 100 for the first time this summer, we decided to stay indoors the whole day.   Days like this are hard on the Little Wombat, who needs constant outdoor time to exert all of his built up toddler energy. 

Days like this are also tough on my furniture because when we skip the park my couch transforms into a full on bounce house. 

So to compromise, we built a fort. 

Landon got really into it once we added the tunnel and the ball pit. 

Here he is hanging out with his dad in the fort.

And here they are defending their fort from mommy's camera :)

All in all, a great indoor day!
          

Upcycled Bottles

While browsing Pinterest, I came across some super cute painted vases and knew it was a Pin I was going to put to good use!  Instead of vases, I just used recycled bottles. 

After struggling with the first bottle to remove the stickiness from the label, I realized it was going to be harder than I thought.  I whined asked my husband nicely to lend me a hand and he soaked them in a solution of water and Simple Green.  After about an hour of soaking it came right off! Yay!

So then I headed to Home Depot to pick up some Oops Paint and I found some Behr paint samples for .50 each.  Score!

I also got some Valspar paint for a dollar and set to work, pouring the paint in the bottles and slowly turning until it was completely covered.  Then I dumped the paint out and had some lovely vases!

However, the next day the Valspar painted vases looked like this: 

Bummer.  I tried to salvage them but they were beyond repair and causing more headache than they were worth so they wound up being tossed out.  Instead, I used the Valspar paint on mason jars and they turned out great!  Not sure if it was the texture of the bottle or the lack of air needed to dry or...who knows?

Will definitely be using the technique more to pretty up some vases :)

Linking to:  The DIY Showoff, Kammy's Korner, A Diamond in the Stuff, Not Just A Housewife, The 36th Avenue, One Artsy Mama, Whipperberry, I Heart Naptime

DIY Cup Cake Toppers

Why in the world are cup cake toppers so expensive?  It's only paper glued on to a toothpick!  So here is how you can make your own:

Toothpicks
Glue
Scrapbook paper
A Paper Punch (you don't need one but it certainly makes things easier!)

Easy Peasy!!

Cake Stand

I have been in major craft mode preparing for my sister-in-law's bridal shower (yay, another wedding for Landon to shower off his ring bearing skills)!!

So when Ben's grandma dropped off some stuff for our garage sale I found this little candle pillar in one of the boxes.  I put it aside it in hopes of creating some more cake stands. 

I eventually spray painted it gray and hot glued a purple plate on it.  Well, actually it's a purple charger....which according to the warning label technically you aren't supposed to use for food but I'm planning on either placing the lined cupcakes on it or using it for favors so no biggie :)

Linking Up: A Diamond in the Stuff, At Home With K, The 36th Avenue, I Heart Nap Time, Not JUST a Housewife