32 and counting....

"I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June." L.M. Montgomery



Birthdays.  When you're a mom of littles it's really just another day isn't it?  I've learned not to have too high of expectations when youngun's are involved.  Simple and low key is the way to go.  I mean it may be my birthday and all but the world doesn't suddenly start revolving around Tara.  I still have diapers to change, lunches to make, and dishes to clean. 

I decided to take the kids out for breakfast at Starbucks (Cory still being in SC).  It was nice actually.  We sat outside and the weather was beautiful. 

Emma chose a butter croissant. 

Both of the boys had little chocolate donuts.

Then we went to the park and "treasure hunting" at Goodwill.  Who goes to the Goodwill on their birthday?! 

Apparently I do. 

But it was fun and simple and the rest of the day we hung out at home and rested a bit and waited for Cory to get home from work. 

That's it.  Oh, and I made strawberry shortcake.  Yes, I made my very own birthday shortcakes.  They were yum though.  Cory had two heaping, and I do mean HEAPING, plate fulls of it. 

Emma gave me a necklace that she made herself last night at the gym.  I wore it ALL day. 

I'm thankful for the cards, gifts, phone calls, texts, facebook posts, and messages I received today!

“It is the month of June, The month of leaves and roses, When pleasant sights salute the eyes And pleasant scents the noses.”
Nathaniel Parker Willis

I've had a couple of visitors for the last couple of days.  My mom (not pictured) and my Gramma (pictured above with my kids) came for a visit. 

It went by very quickly!  But hopefully if plans work out there won't be such a long wait between visits again.  :)

Spontaneous Craft Day

I made my first craft from Pinterest today.   

I have brand new twin nephews who I plan to make a visit to this weekend and I wanted to take a gift.  :)

When I saw this idea on Pinterest I just had to try it!

First I had to gather what I needed so off to Hobby Lobby we went this morning.

The onesies came from Target but the rest I found at Hobby Lobby.  Next is the finished product.

It was super easy so don't get too impressed. :) 

Of course the kids always LOVE crafts so I try to find inexpensive things for them to do. 

Cody always picks ceramic figurines to paint.  He loves those things. 

Emma was inspired by the shirt craft so she chose to make her own.

I did the iron patch for her and she painted the words on.  I think she did a better job than I would have. 

Country Girl

I made Beau's craft for him. ;) I did something similar to this for Cody a couple of years ago. 

Again just more iron patches.  The bag came from Hobby Lobby too.  Now he has his own little bag to take to the church nursery and co-op class. 

Love!

Redirect

I'm going to take some time to think about the direction of this here blog. 

No, I'm not going anywhere.  At least I don't plan to.  I'm not even thinking about changing the look of it.  I'm just thinking about the direction of my blog posts.  The subjects I choose to write about.

What is the purpose and meaning behind my posts?  What do I want to share or NOT share? 

So I'm going to take a day or two to think and pray about that and then I'll be back.  :)

On a completely different subject, I checked out "Little Women" by Lousia May Alcott today at the library.  I can't believe I've never read that lovely little classic.  I've seen the old AND new movie versions and loved those so the book must be even better right? 

So on that note, I'm headed to bed.  Goodnight.

Dish cleaning, tie-dye, and paint =)

It doesn't take much to excite me.  I LOVE my dish strainer.

Yes, this is a dish strainer courtesy of Target.  What's up with the dish strainer?  Alright, I'll tell you what's up with this dish strainer!  I got tired of and just plain fed up with my so-called dishwasher.  Maybe it's just because it's the cheapest one the builders could find when they built this crib!  At any rate, it did NOT clean my dishes up to MY standard.  Baked crusty stuff, lip prints, and smeared spoons is not my idea of clean dishes straight from the dishwasher.  You get the point.  So I did it.  I finally started washing ALL of my dishes by hand.  I don't mind one bit because what a difference it has made!  I am loving my clear glasses, shiny silverware, and crust free plates and cups.  Really, it's the little things!

So I decided to get in touch with my artsy fartsy side. :) Yeah, I know that the picture is basically drawn on there already but you know I can make it MY OWN with the little paints. ;) I did one similar to this a couple of years ago.  It took me several days to complete but it was fun and kind of relaxing.  See below.


See!

 Not too bad for a first timer right?  Be nice.  Well, I'm proud of it! :) I'll post pictures of my next piece when I'm done.  I know you can't wait!
I let Emma and Cody pick out something to work on too.  They were so cute! 
Cody chose some little porcelain figures to paint.  See below.



I've never seen him sit so long for anything before.

 He was so focused and intent.  Emma took the longest to pick something but finally decided on a t-shirt and tie-dye colors.  I tried to tell her that we needed to tie the shirt in sections before dyeing.  She didn't want to do it that way!  I had to take a step back and let her do it herself.  So you see the results below.


Her own style

Pink, purple, and turquoise splats all over it.  She's very happy because she made her own design! 

Happy Art Day!