Spectacular Saturday

Last Saturday was a great family fun day.  Home Depot had another craft day, co-sponsored by The Lorax.  The craft was a paint-your-own corkboard, followed by face painting and various activities outdoors.

 The kids loved sitting in one of the Mason fire engines.  The visit was complete with their own firefighter's hat and a trip through the stop, drop, and roll smoke house.

 Saturday afternoon while Morgan napped I took my girl to fly her kite at Cottell Park. The wind was perfect and we were able to get the kite up easily.

And to top it off, Nate's mom treated us to pizza at Dewey's.  A great day!

Lucy

 On Monday of this week, we were playing fetch in the backyard.  Lucy was chasing her ball at full speed and tripped over Tessa's soccer ball.  She flew into the air and landed on her back.  She couldn't walk at all and was dragging her whole left rear when she tried to walk.  One overnight visit to the vet, five x-rays, and $500 later, we were left with an injury...a fractured bone in her back, one in her tail, and a slipped/herniated disc in her back.  I will say she has gone from not walking much at all to hobbling around.  She is still sweet as ever, but it is hard to see her without the same spark and feisty running.  The only treatment for her injury is pain meds and bed rest, which is somewhat challenging with two young kids and a lot of stairs.  Right now, we are slinging her back legs with a towel to maneuver the stairs and she has managed to make it walking herself while on one floor.  But I don't know if our poor pup will ever be the same.  The doctors said we should be able to see a good indicator of how she will be in 4-5 weeks.  So if you could send some positive vibes Lucy's way, we'd appreciate it.  She is just about the sweetest dog ever and Tessa is heartbroken to see her with an injury.  

Sunflowers

 I apologize in advance if you are friends with me on Facebook, as you probably saw some of these already.  For the past three years, we have always taken photos at the sunflower field near a local park. It stays in bloom for about a week or two every year and provides some great shots!  Tessa was a great sport this year; Morgan lacked focus, but I still managed to get some cute ones.  I really did narrow it down.  Originally, there were 51 pictures.  Yikes!  I can't wait to get a few of these printed for frames.

Pizza Party

Playgroup this past week was at Larosas and included a tour of the kitchen as well as a make-your-own pizza buffet.  The tour was so-so, largely due to the large number of attendees and the very quiet voice of our tour guide.  Nevertheless, it was cool to see what goes on behind-the-scenes.  

 Tessa posing with her friend Lauren.

 Morgan being impatient.

 Tessa was a good girl though!

 Each kid got their own number, written on their pizza with sauce once they were finished making it.  Morgan was 1 and Tessa was 2.  Here is their finished product before going in the oven.

 And all the pizzas once they came out of the oven...

Yummy, we are good cooks!

Home, Sweet Home

As many of you know, my goal for the summer was to decorate our house without spending too much.  With all the moving we've done, we have had to do a little decorating and buying of furniture in each house so I kind of had to work to make it all fit.  Here are some of our updates, and if you take out the couch, I didn't really spend all that much.  The mantle:  The only new thing I bought was the green vase and the branches (less than $15 total, and the vase was on a gift card, so really only $5 out of pocket for the branches on clearance at JoAnn's).

 Here is a little peak from further away, as well as the new faux wood blinds that Nate lovingly installed throughout the whole house (that was a fun, blister-inducing project).  Thanks, honey!  Those, not quite as cheap...but I really, really hated the aluminum mini blinds that pervaded the entire house.  The wood ones look so much better!

 The family room. Here you can see the window.  Any suggestions for something to put on top of it?  I've tried a wreath and the "P."  Neither looked very good.  Eventually, I'd like a wall entertainment unit for the TV here.  Someday...

 The living room:  I spent a little over $100 in here this summer.  The rug we had from our first house down in Oakley and it matched the window treatments (which I don't really love, but didn't want to spend the money to replace at this point).  Most of that money was on new pillows for the couches to tie in the window treatments.  I also got the two little silver vases on the black hutch from Crate and Barrel with a gift card from my birthday.  I have an idea in mind for over the couch on the right side.

 And the attached dining room.  I spent no money in here, except the blinds.

 Some glass canisters from Crate and Barrel for the kitchen (thank you, birthday money).  Still need to get something for the big one.

And we also bought a new couch for the basement from Macys back in June.  It is finally in stock and being delivered on Wednesday.  I can't wait!  So there you have it!  I enjoyed my summer decorating and look forward to continuing with a bit more next summer.  Can you say, "Hello, new refrigerator!"

A Tiger, a Butterfly, and a Sucker...

I think you can figure out who is who (sucker not pictured).  

I have to say though, they do look awfully cute!

Oh, La, La Beauty Spa!

One of the characters Tessa really enjoys is Fancy Nancy.  And when we were reading this book the other night at bedtime, Tessa asked if we could have a spa day at home like Fancy Nancy did. 

 And so we did.  The book contained all sorts of do-it-yourself beauty recipes.  We started with a face mask made of banana and honey.  Tessa mashed the bananas and mixed them together.

 We sliced a cucumber from the garden to cover our eyes.

 And we rested for 10 minutes with our beauty masks on.

We also followed the book's instructions for a sea salt/lemon mani and pedi and a polish change.  I can't wait to take her to a real salon when she gets a bit older!