The 3 Stooges

This is my brother in law Mark, caught off guard.

This is my goofy husband, Brandon, caught off guard.

This is my goofy husband, Brandon and his best friend Simon, who's actual name is Joey and lives next door to us (this post just got complicated), not caught off guard.

Let me tell you something funny about my hub and his bestie.

They usually match (case and point in the picture above) and sometimes I wonder if they call or text each other to let each other know what the other is wearing. haha

They have been friends for years and he is Riley's Godfather.

For mother's day he gave me the most obnoxious card know to mothers; an audio one with pictures of kids in the car getting food all over and when you open it it says "MMmmoooOOOooooooooMMMMmMMMmMMMM.!" Riley loves to leave it open for forever.

They both love the Reds and I am very thankful that my husband has such a great guy as his best friend and that our girls have their Uncle Mimen as Raigan likes to call him.

Raigan's Down on the Farm Birthday in the making

I thoroughly enjoy planning my little girls birthday parties. It's my favorite hobby to do and I usually spend the months preceding their birthdays collecting things related to the theme. I also keep a tote in the garage of times of parties past and recycle the things I can to use in party after party.

These are the things I have collected so far for Raigan's 2nd birthday themed Down of the Farm. I love collecting things all year round because it's fun and because I can buy things that are cheap, on sale, or on clearance. Instead of rushing at the end and paying whatever price without shopping around.

Like these cow printed finds from the 80% off section at Hobby Lobby, one of my favorite places to shop for party things. I paid a little under $10 for both of these great things.

I have started the color combination of white and black, red, and yellow which are fun primary colors for a 2 year old and go with the cow, barn, farm theme. I found this red beverage bucket for $8 at Dollar General, I saw the same one and wanted it at Target, but didn't want to pay nearly double the for it. I did find these really cute corn on the cob holders at the dollar section of Target.


I found these food baskets and table cloths at Dollar General as well, they were only $1.50. I also found the paper liners to go in the baskets on clearance at Walmart for $2.00 for 50 of them. These really cute paper straws came from an Etsy shop for a couple dollars for 50 of them, I'm hoping to find some cheap mason jars to use them with. This apple basket I scoured the internet to find some cheap ones, but came out unsuccessful, and then I went and found them half off at Hobby Lobby for just $1.50.

I'm really excited about all these finds, and I'm really excited for my little one to have a fun themed birthday party.

And just for the sake of keeping it real, I worked really hard to take these pictures while trying to keep up with a little toddler that this party is for.

Argyle socks and polka dots would only look good on a cute little one. 

And cute little pink ruffle shorts. 

And the mess my little love leaves behind. 

Lucky

I feel really lucky and blessed when I walk down the hallway to see this:

Usually before we get ready to go to the grocery or where ever else, I find myself asking Riley to put her shoes on 85175987 times because she currently is so picky about what clothes and shoes she wears that I don't even bother to do it myself, because I know she will just go sit in her little closet and change them to her liking.

But it was refreshing to come upon her helping her little sister to get her socks and shoes on as appose to the alternative of the usual shoes battle.

I'm am so thankful that these little girls have one another to navigate through life together and to gang up on their parents when appropriate, hopefully no time soon, but I'll be waiting for it.

I love these little girls and I love that they love one another.

Lazy Days of Summer

I love the lazy days of summer! and I love these little sunbathing beauties.

Happy 4th of July

Unfortunately I did not have my camera attached to me like an appendage as I normally do through our 4th of July celebration.

Fortunately I enjoyed the heck out of this birthday of our country with my family, mother in law's family, brother's family, and pretty much other brother but he's actually my cousin's family.

Unfortunately I really burned my hand and it hurt, but fortunately it feels much better today.

Fortunately I and my mother in law made these Rice Krispie Treats, but unfortunately for my figure I ate a good majority of them. 

We enjoyed fireworks, time with family, cookout food, which is my favorite, and a wonderful holiday.

Happy Birthday America!

Atlantic City

I cannot believe that it is already the weekend again and how fast time goes these days.

A few months ago my husband's best friend, Simon (who bought the house next door to us) and his girlfriend were planning on going to see Dave Matthews Band in Atlantic City, New Jersey. I love DMB and thought it would be so fun if Hub and I joined them for a weekend getaway. We bought tickets, they booked a hotel, my mother in law agreed to keep the girls, plans were made.

Skip ahead a few months and our friends decided that they couldn't go after all, so we all listed our tickets on Stub Hub and canceled our reservations.

Their tickets sold ours did not. So after teetering back and forth about whether or not to go we teetered on the go side and I'm so glad we did, because my Hub and I had an amazing few days together. It was a little strange without the girls because although we do things without the girls, the other one of us is usually at home with them, and it's with our friends or other people, not with each other.  It was strange, but much needed and honestly I forgot how much fun I can have with my husband and that things are so laid back between us with the chaos of daily life is not in the mix. I also came back a better mama, because I feel as though my patience cup was filled to the brim and possibly overflowing this week.

Here is our weekend getaway in picture form, because that's the best way I know how to share things:

We had a blast!

I have 8 minutes to write a blog post, GO!

On Tuesday something pretty life altering happened to our family, nothing too terribly tragic, but it still kind of sucks. We are looking at it in a positive light and a new path for us to take and an opportunity to thrive instead of flourish.

I love this jar that we saw in a little food shop on the boardwalk in Atlantic City, New Jersey last weekend that I just had to photograph it to remind myself when the time was appropriate. I was thinking, wow, I can just reference this when I'm scared of change and how a positive attitude can change everything. Little did I know I would be referencing it so soon. Soon being Tuesday when my husband was unexpectedly laid off from the jobs he's been at for years. Business is slow and the economy is still slow and well it just sucks.

We are forever thankful for my job at the hospital and that I will be graduating in December into a career that forever has job security, nursing.

I really have no idea where the rest of this summer will take us, but I know it's going to be fun regardless and we are going to look at this as an opportunity for bigger and better things to come into our lives. We are not going to fear change and leave it, we're going to pick it up and run with it.

And it's always nice to know that the good Lord will always provide, even if it's different from what we expect.