Congrats to JANNA!

She said “What cute items for a give-away! I totally love planning tasty picnics and eating outside during June!”

Send me your addy ASAP and I will pop your fun JUNE goodies in the mail to you!

Well…the time has come!  We look forward to this coming week ALL YEAR LONG!  It is time for our annual trip to the beach!  And of course…anytime you are within 24 hours of traveling someone has to puke, right?  Today was Super Sam’s birthday.  I woke him up by singing “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” to him and then he promptly threw up all over my kitchen floor  It has been a LONG, LONG day.  But I think he is on the road to recovery.  Would you please pray that NO ONE ELSE gets this yuckiness before we leave TOMORROW???  Here’s my cute newly turned 3 year old on the beach last year.  I so wish he didn’t have to spend his birthday this year laying on the couch in tears!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY Birthday Boy!  We’ll celebrate MUCH BETTER on vacation! (He was even too sick to open his presents – boo!)

I am going to take a break from editing (to those waiting on their galleries…I promise to be lickity split when we return!) and general computer surfing, emailing, blogging.  I’m gonna dig my toes in the sand and just RELAX!  Who am I kidding?  I’ve got four kids…there’s no relaxing with them at the beach   Here was our little family last year at this time…

And now we have another SWEET BOY to take along!!  See you in a week…hopefully fried to a crisp and with a heart full of new memories!

We have had a CRAZY week getting a new roof, choosing siding and trim colors, and picking out new stone for the front of our house.  We had some SERIOUS hail damage a few months ago and due to an AWESOME insurance claim…we are getting a whole new look to our house.  That means I’ve been busy trying to make up my mind…I’ve only got one shot to get it right!  Meanwhile we are getting ready to leave for our annual BEACH VACATION and I am packing for SIX…so much fun…but lots of work!

So here were the highlights from this week – kind of sad that my highlights are khaki shorts but let’s roll with it anyways, shall we?

Day 1

striped sweater – Forever 21

boyfriend shorts – GAP

sandals – DSW

necklace – The Vintage Pearl

Day 2

We actually went to a graduation party this day so I got “dolled up” (aka: I put on a skirt!)

ruffled tank – Old Navy

skirt – Old Navy

flip flops – Old Navy

glasses – Target (I really need to just take these off my head but they are so convenient up there!)

necklace – The Vintage Pearl (been pretty much wearing this one non stop this week!)

{on Sam:  polo from Old Navy and plaid shorts from Gymboree}

Day 3

Church day!

sundress – Old Navy (must mention that this was marked $29.99 and then on the clearance rack for $14.99.  The one in my size happened to get mismarked and was tagged at $4.99 and they honored the price.  YEAH!)

cardi – New York

sandals – DSW

earrings – Target

{On Jules:  sundress from Old Navy and headband from Gymboree – I’m assuming she wore shoes of some sort that day but I don’t remember which ones!}

Day 4

grey ruffled tank – Old Navy

white tank – Forever 21

chevron skirt – Old Navy

turquoise necklace – who knows…had it forever and I broke it that day – boo hoo!

flip flops – Old Navy

Day 5

(surprisingly similar to Day 3 – apparently I had a thing for orange and grey this week…maybe orange is my NEW YELLOW??}

grey tank – New York

white tank – Old Navy

coral shorts – New York

sandals – Old Navy

necklace – TVP

(there are those pesky glasses again!)

Are you playing along???

And a couple more shots of my cutie Miss Middle.  She snuck in that shot with me before church and then asked if I would take some of “just her”.  It is VERY rare of my kids to ASK me to take photos of them.  And when they do…I POUNCE   This little girl is all sweet and spicy rolled into one.  She’s like my own little egg roll and I just love her!

I’ll be drawing for the JUNE GIVEAWAY tomorrow evening – so get your entry in!!!

I was feeling particularly crafty this month and wanted to share a few homemade goodies with you!  I have had so much fun putting these little gifts together.  We had a little robin family growing in our tree in the front yard so I certainly couldn’t pass up on the sweet blue bird wallet.  It is SO June!

1.  embellished tote bag lined in ditsy navy print

2.  pair of fabric flower headbands for you or your sweetie

3.  collection of yo-yo paperclips…the perfect gift if you can part with them

4.  birdie clutch

You know the drill.  ANYONE is eligible.  You don’t have to blog, tweet or sing my praises on Facebook.  You don’t have to take an ad out on a local billboard (although if you do I am pretty darn sure I will need to rig you as the winner!)  Just leave me a comment about your favorite thing to do in JUNE and you’ll be entered!

I will leave the comments open until Thursday, June 9th.

HAPPY JUNE TO YOU!

A few weeks ago we received some incredibly discouraging news.  I don’t mean to be overly dramatic but it was the kind of news that knocks you right off your rocker and sends you into a tailspin asking “why, why, WHY??”  I’m not really ready to talk about it just yet….some things are just too personal for the world wide web.  But let’s just say we have been doing a bit of “soul searching” these past few weeks.  And let’s just be honest here while we are at it…character building stinks

So in an effort to move forward I am looking extra hard for the JOY in the EVERY DAY.  We’ve had 2 full days of summer vacation and so far we all still like each other…that’s a plus.  I learned a good life lesson yesterday that I cannot attempt the pool by myself with 4 little people in tow.  Danny Boy screamed incessantly and clung to me like a tiny spider monkey  (a mere 25 minutes was all we lasted) and Super Sam fell HEAD FIRST into the pool (he was wearing a life jacket before you call CPS on me!)  So today we opted for a more controlled environment and headed to the library.  Success!  I took the girls swimming this afternoon AFTER Mr. P came home from work…and then we headed downtown for a little girl’s night out at Good JuJu.   We didn’t find any treasures (except a book for The Brainiac on deep sea life) but did end the night with McDonalds chocolate shakes.

We made our Summer To Do list today too and I plan to stick to it.

There’s fun to be had this summer.  Remind yourself that EVERY day is a gift and JOY isn’t dependent on your circumstances.  That’s what I’m gonna do {can you remind me of that??}

Every year we go to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  We looks forward to it ALL YEAR as it is the highlight of our summer each time we visit!  We own a week at a condo there and my parents own the following week.

We’d love to sell the second week this summer and are looking for someone to rent it!  It is a FABULOUS and very economical spot for a vacation!  I’m happy to provide ANY info you might need!

Here we are last year enjoying the AMAZING beach right off the back door

EMAIL ME WITH ANY QUESTIONS!

I’m happy to help with additional activities while you are there…of course…it will be hard to pull yourself away from the surf!!!

First come first serve…so if you are interested EMAIL ME right away!

I was kind of lazy this week with the party prep and didn’t take a whole lot of pics.  I did get dressed every morning.  Some outfits were probably more picture worthy than others…there was a fair amount of jeans and tees though to be honest   I’m afraid my WIWW posts are going to come to a screeching halt this summer as I am just not a great summer dresser.  Give me a tank and some cutoffs, baby!

Day 1 (like how I got my mantle totally in focus and my face fuzzy…that takes skillz people…also, just keeping it real with the crazy toy mess!}

blouse – Old Navy

white tank – Walmart

white boyfriend crops – New York

sandals – Payless

necklace – made by The Librarian

Day 2  {My Dad captured this during the boys’ birthday party}

tunic – Forever 21

navy tank – Old Navy

necklace – The Vintage Pearl

I also had on skinnie cropped jeans and metallic gladiators which aren’t pictured

Day 3 {wore this today and got asked a lot why I was dressed up…I didn’t feel dressed up…just super comfy…but that may be a clue to how bad I often look?}

tank dress – GAP Outlet

yellow cardi – GAP Outlet

sandals – Target

necklace – The Librarian

And as a little plug for a friend…how ’bout a bit of fashion for the wee ones?

Awhile back I did some fabric trading with a friend from my ebay glory days.  I also sent along some rad vintage tees and she crafted these little dresses for the girls.  They are RIDICULOUSLY cute and really deserve a much better photo documentation than a hurried photo on the way out the door for school.  If you would like to purchase one head on over to JAM CLOTHING CO and bring some cuteness home to your own house! {Super Sam likes to be in EVERY picture…even with his bed head!}

That’s it for this week.  In the comments tell me your FAVORITE store to shop for YOU!  I’m on the prowl for a few new summer diddies

Can anyone help me find this dress from Gymboree in a Size 8?  Come on gals…I know you can shop

I’ll be your best friend forever and ever