HAPPENINGS ON THE HOMEFRONT...

Happy Monday everyone, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend!  Today I'm catching you up on a few things that have been happening around our home lately.  We're rapidly approaching the end of the school year (6 more days!) which adds plenty of events to the calendar as we wrap up the year.   I think we're all ready for a change of pace, although with camps and church activities and other commitments summer brings it's own form of busy too!

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BIRTHDAY GIRL

My daughter turned 14 last week.  14!  My baby!

Any gift that keeps her active or busy outside is a winner.

A few of her favorites tucked inside her gifts from the family party... Funyuns, a fresh pineapple, mint gum, and cheese dip ingredients!  ;)  Snacks and quality time are definitely the way to this girl's heart.

Our immediate family celebrated on her birth date, but the extended family gathered last weekend at our home.  The weather was gorgeous and we set up on the patio.  We added a folding table and pulled chairs out from the dining table to seat all 15 of us, and I bought some simple canvas drop cloths to cover both tables for a uniform look.  I've already used them on several occasions, so having a couple of clean, extra drop cloths around is coming in handy!

I wanted to point out the centerpieces to you also, they were so easy and so cute!  I just discovered these spools of paper at Hobby Lobby.  The patterns are similar to printed scrapbook paper, but on a long roll like ribbon!  I simply used some Mason jars and wrapped the appropriate length of paper strip around them, then used tape to hold it in place.  With a few sprigs from bushes in the yard and one bunch of flowers split up, I had 10 of these in a flash to line down the center of the tables.

I love the paper ribbon because you can customize the length needed and it's super easy to affix with tape.  Again, similar to ribbon but much easier to work with for certain jobs.  There are the patterns that are available at my store currently, I think I need one of each!  Wouldn't that plaid be so cute to use at the holidays?  If you want to keep an eye out for them, they're in the scrapbooking department, and they do go 50% at times so keep an eye out for that or use your coupon. 

The best thing about hosting parties is continuing to use the flowers around the house for several days after it's over!  Actually, these would make great little favors to send home with your guests if you wanted to.

WOOD TECH

It has a fancier name now than when I was in High School and it was just called "shop", but my son has been in Wood Tech for the first time this year and loved it!  Wood Tech 1 is only one semester, but he's excited about taking WT2 for the entire year next year.  Their classes recently entered some of their work for display in a project fair at the mall, and both of his pieces earned enough points for a blue ribbon!  I'm so happy for the lifelong craftsman skills that he's learning (I'm sure it's in his blood), and that he enjoys doing it!

WEEKEND PROJECTS

Between Mother's Day, baby showers, and church, we didn't have time for a lot of projects, but we did spend several hours on Saturday cleaning out beds, transplanting some things, and getting new annuals planted in the front of the house.  I'm still shopping for a few new larger bushes and will show you the finished product when we get everything in place.

 If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram (stories) you saw that our entire family gathered at my parents' house Friday evening to give the gift of labor for Mother's Day.  They recently ripped out all of the old landscaping from the front of their house in order to totally start over.  They had everything purchased and ready to plant, and after a few hours of work the 11 of us had it looking great!  Click over to FB here if you'd like to see snippets of our progress.  They'll still add some mulch and a few other things, and then they're starting over with grass, too, but the beds look fantastic!

SAY ANYTHING

My daughter received this game for her birthday, and it's really fun!  I would say it's best for teens and up.  It's good at fostering some creative answers and intriguing conversations.  It's been interesting to me to see my kids' sense of humor really come out as we play.

MOTHER'S DAY

After a fantastic morning with our church family, we enjoyed the rest of the day with takeout meals, lounging, playing games, and doing a bunch of nothing!  I sure am thankful for these two kids and it's a privilege to be their Mom.

After a "normal" photo, I asked for them both to give me a kiss on the cheek... easier said than done!

I asked for one pair of these cute earrings, but received 3 fun colors!  And they didn't break the gift giving budget... they got three pairs for about the same price that one of this pricier version would cost.  I've linked available colors online, sadly I don't see the yellow ones online any longer but they might still be available in store.  I thought they might be heavy but they're really pretty lightweight. Looking forward to wearing these with casual outfits this summer!
*EDITED:  Rats!  These were on sale at the time I wrote this yesterday, but it looks like they're regular price again.  Still not bad and I bet they'll be on sale again, I'll keep an eye out and let you know!

turquoise || orange || hot pink || multi-colored

Alright, bring on the band concerts, recitals, graduations, final exams, and 6 more days of sack lunches to make!