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Friday, September 28, 2012

Pallet and Hay Fall Display

So I've been a little absent from the blog world lately, mostly because things have been really busy around here...but also because I feel like I've lost a little bit of my creativity. I thought when Eli started preschool two days a week, that I would have a ton of time to do some crafting, creating, and decorating. But so far that hasn't happened. Instead my house is a wreck, my craft room is still nonexistent, and I can not for the life of me keep up with the laundry! Despite all of that {and sorry for my whining, but surely I'm not the only one feeling like this right now!?!}, I did manage to get a few fall decorations put up last week. I created this fun outdoor display from a few things leftover from Eli's Barnyard Brunch birthday party along with some of my usual fall decorations and a some things from a local nursery. 
 I think my favorite part of this whole display is the fun pallet with the vinyl saying. This is the same pallet that was the backdrop for the food table at Eli's party. I had already added the whitewash effect, which I thought was very fun and fallish. But it needed something a little more, so I broke out my Silhouette and cute out the cute Happy Fall, Y'all saying. I think it adds a ton of whimsy to the display! The best thing about it is that if I want to use this pallet again for something else, all I have to do is peel off the vinyl!
I also love the look of the funky pumpkins stacked together. I originally had a triple stack of pumpkins and another cute orange one, but the Mississippi heat was too much for the pumpkins and I ended up with some gross rotten pumpkin soup. I managed to salvage the two in the picture, but I don't think they are going to last much longer either....I'm starting to see the beauty of the fake, crafty pumpkins:) I threw in a couple of mums to complete the whole fall look, and I think it turned out pretty cute! 
Do you put any fall decorations outside?
{And do your pumpkins still look perfect, or do you have rotten pumpkin soup like me?!?}
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Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Geocaching with Kids

A few years ago a friend of mine mentioned something about this thing called geocaching that she had been doing. It sounded like fun, but with a house full of wild little boys I never had the time to research it beyond what she had told me. Fast forward a few years, and my boys are older {and still wild} and we are now a camping family looking for fun things to do while we are traveling all over in our Airstream. We ride bikes and make s'mores and go on hikes, but surprisingly geocaching has become on of our favorite camping activities...and the most exciting part is anybody can go geocaching almost anywhere!
What is geocaching?
It's sort of like an outdoor scavenger hunt that uses GPS {most smart phone are perfect for this} to locate hidden treasures. I did a little research online, then I downloaded the free geocaching intro app to my phone to see if we liked it as much as I thought we would....we did! So I bought the full app {it cost around $10 & it's totally worth it} and we got started! This is the app that we use {Geocaching by Groundspeak Inc.} There are quite a few different ones to chose from, but this one has worked great for us so far and I love that it is connected to geocaching.com so you can plan out your adventures at home before you hit the road {or trail}! 
We've had quite a few geocaching adventures over the past few weeks and most of them have been on our bikes at a couple different local state parks. We start by picking a cache to look for then we head out on our adventure. Once we get close according the app, the boys park their bikes and start looking. For the most part, the first to find the cache gets to open it up, but sometimes we save the easier ones for Eli:)
We spent one afternoon on our last beach trip geocaching, and we found this really fun coconut cache near the beach! The boys had fun with this one because it wasn't the typical box or bottle that we had been finding:) 



Here's a picture of what the log looks like. For some caches you have to bring your own pen to sign the log because they are too small to hold a pen {which was the case with this coconut}. When we find a cache, we sign the log, and check out the log to see when the most recent find was! It is fun to know that other people have been out looking for the same thing you are! We even saw a guy grabbing this one the day after we found it...which was really neat because we knew exactly what he was doing:)
We went on quite an adventure this past weekend too {and introduced my aunt to the world of geocaching}! After a really close encounter with a really big poisonous snake, we found this cache hidden in the woods buried under a pile of pine straw. 



This is what a typical geocaching adventure looks like for us: 

We really have been having a blast on all our geocaching adventures, and I would recommend it to anyone! If you are looking for a fun way to get your kiddos outside to burn off some calories, geocaching is a great way to it! 

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Monday, September 17, 2012

Eli's Barnyard Brunch Birthday Party

My baby turned four a few weeks ago. Thinking about it almost makes me cry...because really four is not a baby anymore...it's also not a toddler either. Four is officially a preschooler which means I will soon have a 'schooler' and I will be left all alone with no kiddos at home!
Despite the tears {that I almost shed}, we had a SUPER fun Barnyard Brunch birthday party for Eli.
******
Here's a quick look at the party:
I bought a little over a yard of black and white gingham to use as a table cloth. I wanted to have a more elegant, less kiddie look to the table for this party and black and white with pops of color seemed like the way to go. Jason brought home an old pallet for work for me to use as the backdrop of the table. I slapped on a little bit of white paint and added a cute bunting to it. I think it gave the table the perfect barnyard feel! 
 I found some cute cow print napkins and I bought red plastic-ware for a little more color. The cute chalkboard came from Hobby Lobby and I added some colorful washi tape to the frame.
We had a fun and yummy cereal bar set up with five different kinds of cereal and milk in a big drink dispenser. It was fun {plus SUPER easy} and what kiddo doesn't like cereal!
 I also fixed small mason jars filled with chocolate milk for the kiddos. I added a white cupcake wrapper to the top as a lid to hold the cute orange and white paper straws in place.
 We had Chicken Feed aka Chex Mix...
 ...Pigs in a Blanket {that I bought premade because I knew I wouldn't have time to make them the morning of the party}...
 ...and fun licorice Wagon Wheels:)
 I also set up a table with a couple of sodas and some yummy orange juice, along with the birthday boy's cake and some cute cow print plates.
 This is the same cake design that Henry had for his 3rd birthday. Eli saw it a couple of weeks ago and decided that he wanted one just like it:)
 Farmer Eli in his overalls and his straw hat had a SUPER fun time at his Barnyard Brunch Birthday Party!

”TipLinking up here..
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Thursday, September 13, 2012

Quite a Few Days Ago

***I shared these pictures yesterday, but not long after the post went live my whole blog disappeared! Apparently my account was tagged for "unusual" activity and was blocked. It took more than 24 hours to get it back....which seemed like an eternity! But luckily everything is back up and work just fine, so I figured I would republish these pics just in case anyone missed them in all the excitement of the disappearing blog:)***
Our last trip to the beach for the summer:
blue skies and rough waves
soaking in the last days of summer
digging in the sand
having a little fun
trying to be just like his big brother
making sand angels

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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Fourth Birthday Fun

Today is Eli's birthday!
He is now officially four years old...though for most of the day he has insisted that he is still three:)
 He {with a little bit of encouraging from me} decided to have a farm themed party to celebrate. So I thought it would be fitting to take a few fourth birthday pictures with our Little People farm set... especially since it has been one of Eli's favorite toys forever!
 We spent most of today shopping for farm themed stuff for his party that is happening on Saturday despite the fact that I am more than a week behind in planning and prepping for it because of Hurricane Issac. So while I'm getting ready for the party, Eli will be playing with all of his farm animals and practicing his rendition of Old MacDonald:)
Happy Birthday Eli!
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Tuesday, September 4, 2012

August Recap Via Instagram

We started August off with a trip to the pool.
 We spent quite a few days {and nights} watching the Olympics.
 Jason and I started P90X again...which only lasted about two weeks:(
 We took a trip out in the gulf with some friends!
 First day of school for Henry and Grant:
 I tried to be a better homemaker, and pulled out the crockpot to make dinner.
 We had a little fun with some stick on mustaches:{)
 I made back to school apple waffles for the boys and shared the recipe HERE.
 I spent a lot of time in the car rider pick up line in August.
 We {and by we I mean Jason} did a couple at home haircuts on the boys.
 Eli had his first day of preschool!
 Henry and Grant started peewee football.
 I planned a fun surf party for Grant's birthday...
 ...and made cute shark cupcakes for his class.
 This kiddo turned 7!
We celebrated with a fun surf party!

 We spent most of Sunday getting ready for Isaac {and enjoying happy hour slushes from Sonic}.
 We loaded up on Tuesday and headed over to my grandparents' house to ride out the storm.
 The boys had a blast playing in the rain:)
 It continued to rain and rain and rain!
 Our road flooded and we had to evacuate in a National Guard Hummer. The boys were thrilled...I was not!
 The weather finally settled down a little, but Jason still had to work a ton.
He brought me a yummy Cookies n Cream milkshake to cheer me up after the stress of the week...and it worked:)


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