Family Ties

This weekend some aunts and cousins came in for a visit...


So we did what all good family gatherings do.


We ate.






And then Opa went and bought a new chiminea. Cool...but the box it came in? Now that was fun...











And sometimes we just laid on the hammock and felt the breeze...



Then we took a trip around Mom-Mom's yard looking at all the beautiful flowers...(and little friends hidden in them)





Later, Opa set up the sprinkler, and there was lots more fun to be had...











New friends to be made...





And more eating to be done...








And as the sun set, we talked and laughed and ate some more, until I packed four sleepy children in the car for the short ride home.




 

The Start of Something Good

Last week I decided that I hate my living room.


Well, not "hate" exactly...because we all know it's not nice to hate.


But...let's say, 'extremely dislike'.
 So with {very} limited funds, I've set out to brighten, modernize and update the room on a tiny, tiny budget.

Phase One: Scan living room, grab anything not nailed down. Visit thrift shop, grab stuff you think has "potential".


Take it all outside, thusly:





Phase Two: Apply liberal coats of white spray paint!!


I'm going to break this down into a few stages, but for today lets focus on those two candlesticks in the background...


Yeah, these guys:





They had a big lampshade that was actually made out of wax on top. (I should have taken a "before" pic of the whole thing) The wax topper got put away for later purposes. After I sprayed them white, I got two simple glass bowls at the Dollar Tree, and glued them on top. One got a little candle inside, the other got some of those "moss" covered stones from the Dollar Tree.


Result?




I. LOVE. THEM.

That is all!

More living room reveals coming next week!!! Stay tuned--same bat time, same bat channel!

I'm linking up to some of the parties you can see here.

Lots of Random Happiness!

SOOOO...just a quick listing!


First, YAY! My pillows were featured on Under the Table and Dreaming this week. I love that blog, and I'm so excited! Thanks UtTaD!!







Also, I recieved a little bloggy love from Jessica @ Adventures of a Wife & Mom. She writes some really funny stuff--you should check out her post about the mullet! (And her girls are just stinkin' adorable!)
It's the Honest Scrap Award!



Thanks so much Jessica!


I think the rules are that I have to spill 10 honest things about myself, and pass on the award to some (10?) other blogs I read & like.
Yikes.


Okay, 10 things, here goes:


1. I have been a vegetarian since I was 13 years old.
2. Except for when I'm pregnant, and each time I have eaten a cheese steak sandwich, because I wanted it, and because I'm 20 mins. from Philly.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.


Okaaayy...well. My brain bandwidth has already been used up for the week. (Can I upgrade to Brain Pro? I hear there's no ads...) I'm sure there's more I could spill...much much more. I'm going to have to think on it and come back to this. But I wanted to thank Jessica for the award!!


And FINALLY we have a giveaway winner! Through a thoroughly scientific and guaranteed random manner (no, I totally did NOT just ask my daughter to pick a number between 1 and 7--what would make you think that???) we have...





Congrats to our #2 commenter Tina, who said...




"I agree, reading to your children REALLY DOES pay off, not only in thier grades, but also in their imaginations, (my kids are much smarter than I was). Anyway, this is a good promotion. And, sidenote, I think googiemomma has more hours in the day than I do."


Congrats Tina! Your book will be coming in the mail soon!
And why yes, I have it worked out so that I have 25.7 hours in my day. :0)


This was a fun week...even though it's only Thursday for some reason in my brain it's already Friday. I'm checking out a day early apparently!


I think I'll end this post with a picture, because who doesn't love some dirty baby feet?