Lola's Tank for the 4th of July!

I have had stack of little tank tops that I purchased from Old Navy when they had their $2 tank top sale sitting on my shelf, washed and ready to be worked on for at least a month. They have been staring at me, waiting patiently for me to get started. Finally, I whipped out this little number for Lola for the 4th of July!
It is far from perfect and took me forever (I had a fight with my bobbin on my sewing machine for about an hour, but once we worked things out it was smooth sailing!) but I love the result and I think it looked so cute on her yesterday! I am excited to work on the rest of the stack!

How-To Make Your Own:
Pin down your first layer of lace, sew.
Add as many layers as you want. I added one at a time, as I wasn't sure how many would look just right! Lola's shirt had 8 layers.

Here is the shirt all finished! I made a hair clip (first intended for Lola's hair) and pinned it on the shirt just to see what it would look like and fell in love! So I had to make two, one for her hair and one for the shirt, just in case we needed both!

Up close of her clip!

I was trying so hard to make a "red/white/blue" version of something! Turns out the lace was a little on the hot pink side (for the shirt too) over red, but - I still think this might be my favorite clip I have ever made her! To make your own, go back to this post to see how I made the basic one. For this clip, the only difference is that I used an alligator clip instead of the snap clips and I jazzed it up a little with a peacock feather and some lace instead of the felt leaves!

Backyard Update!

Hope you are not sick of the little back yard updates yet - 'cause there are a lot more where this is coming from!
Mr. Landscaper Man, Scott, from SS&J Landscape Designs, dropped off several lovely baggies of rocks for us to choose from on Friday afternoon along with the sample of grass/turf that we will be putting in our backyard. I knew immediately that lots of the baggies were out of the question NOT going to work! Thank you, try again. There were two that caught my eye. I grabbed a few rocks from the front yard, which you see on the left (it didn't have to match it perfect, but I wanted it to be kind of close) and placed the rocks on top. I made Chad stare at the rocks for a long time and tried to decide which ones to use. I went with my gut and the rocks that immediately grabbed my attention from the very start - 1" Cotton Candy (rocks on the right)! They almost look good enough to eat, or at least lick (just kidding)!

Ok, so this morning we knew the Mr. Pool Guy 1 and Mr. Pool Guy 2 were headed over bright and early to do their measure and mapping out of where the pool was going to go. I met with them when they first got over, left them to their business and said see you Tuesday morning bright and early!
Well, about 2 hours after they left I went outside to take pictures of what they did and my heart just about stopped. Ummmmm....the pool was NOT painted out where we were talked about where we wanted it and was WAY to close to the house. Our backyard is HUGE, so why was it pushed so far up? I panicked. I yelled for Chad to come outside to see if I was just going crazy and not seeing something right. Nope, this time I was not nuts! So I called Mr. Landscaper back (he has the contact #'s for Mr. Pool Guys) and explained the situation. They came back about 30 minutes later and told us to play with the layout and get it to where we wanted it and that they would come in early on Tuesday, before the diggers (I know that there is a more professional name for it - excavators?!, but diggers is what you are getting today) came in, respray it out exactly how we wanted, where we wanted! Whew! So after they left, we played around with the layout (which was fine by the way, I LOVE how big the shelf is. Just the direction and proximity to the house was wrong) for a while and finally came up with a solution! We are ready for them on Tuesday!

Other than that setback this morning, our 4th of July weekend is shaping up to look rather fun! I am sad to say that we weren't able to make it back to NE this year to be with my parents, small town celebrations are so unique and fun, but we do have plans to spend with family tomorrow! We will be heading over to BBQ and swim at Aunt Lori's at 11, then off to the Garrett's for round two of the same thing around 3:30 and then Rae Lynn's to top off our evening with a dinner BBQ and fireworks at the Surprise Stadium!

Hope everyone has a safe 4th of July weekend with the ones they love!

Joel, we miss you and are thinking of you as we celebrate our country's freedom. THANK YOU for all of the hard work you and the rest of the service men are doing so that we can stay free! Can't wait until you are home soon. Love you.

If I Could Freeze Time

On my way to bed, just one last peek in on them and I find this...

If I could freeze any moment, this would be it, the two of them cuddled up together, asleep in Kyan's room, tonight of all nights, with his little arm draped across his sister's body, like he is protecting her. He has been sharing his little twin bed with Lola because she says she is too scared to sleep in her room. Her big brother is her hero, mine too.

I just stood there and watched them forever, I couldn't move.

The words of this song played in my mind over and over and over again:

I hope they know how I feel.

Movie Day!

Today was a BIG day! Today, Lola went to see her first movie in the movie theater!

We picked up our girl Celeste (one outta two of the best babysitters in the world - we have been missing her, so we went to get her w/ our belated birthday present in hand, everyone was so happy to see her. We missed our Laken Bacon though and even got to talk to her for a red hot second at lunch)!
When we got to the movies, I went to pay and was shocked at how much tickets were. Then the guy handed over the 3D glasses (we called them goggles the whole time?!)...ummmmmm, I did NOT want Lola's first experience at the movies to be in 3D, but the next movie wasn't for an hour (online the times showed different, I swear). I looked at Celeste, back at the guy, at my kids...grabbed the glasses and said a quiet little prayer that this was going to go okay! Funny, Kyan asked if we could see the movie in 3D on the drive over and I said "NO WAY!", he was getting what he wanted and couldn't have been happier about the little mistake!
Lola actually did very well, she kept her glasses on for all of the previews and about the first three minutes of the movie, then really wanted nothing to do with them. She wanted them a few more times throughout the movie, but quickly took them off - she liked it just fine without them (it was a little blurry, but I took mine off to see if it was worth leaving over for her, it wasn't. Just felt like I needed to put my contacts in or something)! She laughed right along with everyone else, so I wasn't too worried!

I am so glad that we went to see the Toy Story 3, it was so cute and very emotional. I looked over at my little Kyan several times and just felt like squeezing him. He is getting so big. I LOVE him. Without giving too much about the movie away, when you go, you will be able to look back at this post and go, "oh, that is what she meant!". It was very sweet.
This was my test run with Lola and the movies, thank you so much Celeste for helping, and I have to say that I think it was successful! Now she will be able to go with Kyan instead of going to the sitters for movie time!

Notebook Makeover!

Thank you to the middle school that I teach at for such a lovely notebook, with such good bones, for teacher appreciation week months ago, so that I could make it over! Turned out to be one of the prettiest things I carry in my purse! Even the pen got a makeover!


Front and Inside Cover
To create this look is very simple.
Take any notebook that is plain looking and pick out your favorite scrapbook paper.
Use Mod Podge and smear it all over the front cover of your notebook.
Take the scrapbook paper and place on cover, smoothing out any bubbles. You will want left over paper hanging off of the edges so that you can wrap around the back side (kind of like you wrap a present) and glue down folded part on the back.
Then, take another piece of cut notebook paper, just the size of the inside cover and glue it on top of the folded pieces that is already glued down, again smooth down.
You can add whatever you want to both the inside and outside overs to make it pop that much more! I added rosettes (click here for a how-to) to the front and a picture of my kiddos with a glitter frame around it to the inside cover (think that is my favorite part, when I am busy working on the pageant, I just flip to the front and I get to see their cute little faces)!


Back of Notebook
Repeat the same process for the back and back inside covers of your notebook!
Mine was a little tricky because I was dealing with those tacks that were holding down the string that binds the notebook together. I thought that if I attempted to take them off and put them back on, I would have ruined it forever, so I worked around it! It was a challenge, but I love how it turned out!


Why give this notebook a makeover?
Why funny you should ask (ok, maybe you didn't ask, but I am going to tell you anyway)!
I was running out the door the other day to meet with Cyndee and I knew that I was going to need paper. NOTHING was around, but that thing. I threw it in the pantry when I first got it and forgot about it. It was the first thing I saw, so I grabbed it, thinking in the back of my mind - how embarrassing this thing is. Good thing she works at the same school as I do (she even made a joke about it when she saw it) and the paper/paper combo did come in handy! Whew! When I was taking notes, I was thinking about scrapbook paper and Mod Podge and how just a few little things could make this look notebook look so much better. Guess I am weird for not wanting to write on something BLAH looking.

My handy-dandy notebook is being used for all things relating to the Queen of Hope/Worldwide International Pageant that I was hired to be the official photographer for. To read more, head over to Rosie J. Photography! I have busted out the notebook more times than I usually write things down this past week and I am so excited for the opportunity that I have been given to work these ladies coming up over these next few weeks! I feel this really strong connection to Brion, and even though it makes me miss him and think about him constantly with each event that they add to the schedule, it is a good kind of miss you and I feel even closer to him than ever.

Wanna Go For a Dip?

We met with the pool company this afternoon and signed the paperwork to get the pool started!
We got to pick out the color of pebble sheen, tile, and cool deck! It was a pretty big deal! I am sure they thought I was a little crazy when I busted out my camera and started to take pictures!
I am very excited out the very large shelves that will make up a good portion of the pool! That was the most important thing to me and I think they gave me exactly what I was asking for! After playing with the direction a little bit, the fountain is going to get moved a little to the left (as you can see by the big red arrow), that way the fountain can be seen from anywhere you are in the yard or kitchen table inside the house, and the basketball hoop is going on the right side of the fountain instead of the left now!

It was really cool, with them, they brought over someone to draw pictures for us to give a better vision as to what our pool (he drew the picture above and below right at the table as we were talking about everything) and part of the backyard is going to look like from the covered patio! It was so cool to watch him draw it out and then actually see what they were explaining to us on how it was going to look!
They said they were going to get permits on Monday and as soon as they get them, start digging!!! They thought that by July 5th for sure they would start the dig! I thought maybe the hole would be dug by next week and he said that if he can get things going earlier, he would...so here is to every body part getting crossed! Either way, we are so excited to finally get this show on the road!

Two Very Important Birthdays!!!

Today is my little brother, Joel's, birthday. I like to still call him my little brother even though he is NOT littler than me by any means! I didn't really know that he took my blog so seriously over there is Bahrain and checked pretty much faithfully every day, even counting the number of times that I mentioned his name or posted a picture of him on here (since he never leaves a comment, just gives me crap!), so this is a special shout out just for him! Hope you can hear me over there Joel - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! I love you and can't wait until you are home in just a few short weeks!

The second very important birthday shout out goes to my very beautiful mama! Truth be told I was so busy on her birthday that I forgot (throw stones now) to put this up on her actually birthday! But, I did get her cards sent to her ON HER BIRTHDAY, which is a bigger deal to her anyway. Now, if I could just remember to not have to overnight them or second day air them to her, my wallet would be so much heavier, but I can't do it, and she might have my head if they don't arrive on or before her birthday (and trust me, I have had to call in favors before to get cards to her on time by way of friends or aunts in NE, sorry mom, now my secret is out...but they have even snuck them in the mailbox for me). It is a big deal and she is worth it! So, I know it is already passed, but shouting to you all the way in Nebraska - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMA! I love you.