Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Kane!
We Love You!

Knitted Goodies

My husband has been hard at work learning to knit and the first fruits of his labor have been bestowed upon me. I am so proud of what my sweetie has accomplished that I just had to share these wonderful gifts!

a pretty green bookmark

a lovely knitted bag

perfect for holding a book

Seeing his accomplishments and his ability to stick with it and keep learning is a wonderful example for me. It spurs me on to keep working on the Mickey Mouse I’m trying to cross-stitch. Hopefully, one day soon I’ll be able to share that as well.

Happy Birthday Kyleigh!

My littlest niece just turned one year old! We spent lastnight celebrating our little princess! She is just adorable, even with a cold and mosquito bite!

Drumsticks!!! Ice Cream Fun!

These drumsticks are perhaps my favorite ice cream treats. Recently, I discovered a receipe for making my own fun treats. I haven’t had a opportunity yet to try it out, but I am excited at the prospect. Click here, for the directions and have a little summer fun!

And if a full size cone is a bit much, then visit your local grocer and try these new mini cones from Nestle. They are a perfect treat!

Extreme Makeover Vacation Edition

We have returned from vacation and oh did we ever have fun! We swam and shopped just a bit. We cooked hot dogs on the grill and read ( I finished three books!). It was one of the best vacations. In fact we were having so much fun, we decided to stay an extra night. I highly recommend the cabins at KOA. Here was our little home away from home.

It sleeps four and has a little refrigerator and a little TV inside. Outside, as you can see, it has a porch swing, grill, and picnic table. We did have to use the park restrooms which were kept immaculately clean. Also, since most everyone else there was in a RV, they were quite private. The park has a pool, a laundry room, a rec room, and a playground for the little ones. This particular park also had a fish pond. We were able to swim a little everyday and bookended our week with hotdogs on the grill.

We shopped a wee bit, visiting a few antique stores, dollar stores, and of course Hastings. We also visited Laura’s Cheesecake for what else but a slice of cheesecake. It was soooo good. We also went to the dollar movies and saw Transformers 2 which was quite good. Most of the time we just spent laying around our little cabin and goofing off. My hubby did find a program called jKiwi. It is a virtual makeover program that is free to download. You can upload your own photo and play with hair and makeup. We had so much fun playing around with this.

Hubby liked the white hair. He said that that’s what I will look like when I’m old. Personally, I am rather fond of the red hair. Maybe, I’ll try a new hair color, hmm. This was really so much fun. I giggled and laughed for hours while we played. We gave hubby his own makeover. What do you think?

If your interested in downloading this program visit http://jkiwi.com/. I suppose all vacations must end. We are home now and not quite ready to go back to work, shedules, to-do lists, and so forth. But, we are refreshed and more relaxed which is a good way to start a work week. I’ll be back soon with a few book reviews and other little goodies.

Happy Anniversary!

Hubby and I celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary Sunday! Well, in actuality, we celebrated all weekend. We had a lovely dinner at Olive Garden, went to the bookstore where I got to choose my own gift, and even watched a movie! We had a wonderful weekend! Honey, I just want to say I love you so much! You’re the greatest and sweetest and I am truly blessed!

Ethel and Eileen

While traveling and visiting lastweek, I discovered that my cousin has her own Etsy shop. Lindy has been making beaded jewerly for a while now and her work is quite lovely. Recently, she has opened an Etsy shop called EthelandEileen. It is named for her grandmothers. Eileen is her dad’s mom and I know little about her. Ethel is my grandma as well and was a very creative person. She sewed, painted ceramics, and crocheted. I have a quilt she made, an afghan, dolls, doll clothes, doilies, potholders, dishrags, stuffed animals, and ceramics. She was always a big part of our lives and I know my cousin has many fond memories of her. I want to encourage you to visit EthelandEileen and check out some of the wonderful pieces my cousin has there. Here are a pair of earrings and a bracelet I brought home.

“There’s No Place Like Home”

We had a wonderful time visiting family, yet I am glad to be home! Unpacking has been quite fun! My mom decided to do a bit of Spring Cleaning this year and found a bunch of old dolls that my Aunt Shirley and my grandma made for me and my sister and as well as some that were gifts. I brought home two Rubbermaid tubs full of dolls, doll clothes, and a few dresses I wore as a baby. Add to that the box of books I brought home as well as the bit of shopping we did and the car was completely loaded down. Nearly everything has been put away. I still have an old doll that I found at the flea market in Poteau to clean. I have a crocheted purse that turns into a bassinet that my grandma made. The little doll is to go in it. And that box of books is still waiting for me. Three book shelves just simply won’t cut it for a true reader. My shelving dilemma has me putting off tackling the box. I’m not complaining, though. More books than shelves is a wonderful problem to have! Childhood memories, shopping, books, fireworks, weinie roast, and fun, fun, fun is a perfect description of our little family holiday. I’ll leave you with a few pics of our time together.

Holding those little feet, she was just too cute!

My Aunt Shirley has a big backyard with a lovely sitting area. We spent a great deal of time out there.

This is what happens when you light an entire package of smoke bombs at once. It was really kind of pretty.

Grammie and Kyleigh.

My sweet, silly husband hamming it up for the camera!

Three sweet, beautiful kiddos!

Still On Holiday!

Well, tomorrow we head for Oklahoma!  I am so excited!  I can’t wait to see my aunt and uncle.  We are having a blast with the kiddos.  They keep me in stitches!  They all have such a wonderful sense of humor.

I mentioned my little trip to the flea market and I wanted to share a pic of the figurine I bought.  It is similar to and kind of goes with the one you can see in my new banner.  I am quite excited to have found it!  I also, made it back to the bookstore and made of couple purchasing using my credit.  I came home with Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel and The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

All in all the trip has been fun and relaxing.  It’s always fun spending time with family.

On Holiday!

I am writing this from my mom’s house.  Hubby had a little time off and he I are visiting my mom, sister, and the kids.  So far, we’ve really had a blast.  I spent the day shopping with my mom and sis.  I even found a few pretties at the local flea market that I hope to share later.  I’ve had the pleasure of seeing my new baby niece.  She was born in October and is growing much too quickly.  We’ve had fun playing with Carter, Peyton, and Kane (our dear nephews and niece).  I’ve already visited the local bookstore.  I brought a box of books with me hoping for enough credit to come home with a new book or two, however, the owner wasn’t in yesterday.  She’ll be back on Monday and so will I.  I took a little time to peruse the shop and have an idea about what I hope to be able to bring home.  I brought my niece along and let her pick out a birthday present.  I think she had more fun playing the drums and guitar.  One has to walk through the Radio Shack to get to the bookstore and the kind gentleman at Radio Shack found out it was her birthday and let her play a little.  She was so excited!  I only wish I had thought to bring my camera.  A bit later in the week, we are planning to go up to Poteau, OK and visit my aunt and uncle.  I may be out of pocket for a bit as I wish to focus on spending precious time with my family.  I will return and in the meantime want to leave you with a precious picture of our darling girl!

I just adore her dress!  I adore the model even more!