Flower Season

Hello Friends! 

Thank goodness for Fridays, right? Especially when they fall on a nice extra long Memorial Day weekend here in the states.  Life has still felt kind of crazy, so I'm looking forward to a lovely weekend with not so much on the agenda. 

We've had quite a bit of rain....but seem to be slowly heading back to warmer temps again. It's making me have nothing but flowers on the brain and wanting to get planting and playing in the dirt. I've picked up a couple of palettes, but I'm hoping to pick up some more this weekend and some dirt so I can get started! Thought I'd share what I have so far for my five on Friday today... and to share the flower love with you Friends! Happy TGIF!!

ONE

Bleeding hearts have begun to bloom! I just love how dainty and adorable they are in their pretty little row.

TWO

Some miniature shrubs and other cute fairy plants for the fairy pots this year.

THREE

The hangers on our deck now hold pretty burgundy petunias.  Around the deck the lilies leaves are starting to get taller and there are dandelions all over yard.  ;) 

FOUR

I picked up several packs of beautiful pansies!! Love their sweet little faces. 

FIVE

And one of my favorites - begonias. They are so elegant. And yet pretty fragile and like their shade too. They'll go in the front of our house where it's more sheltered. 

I hope you get to have fun digging in the dirt - and have a wonderful weekend. I'm sharing this with Tricky of the FAST blog for Five on Friday.

Wednesday Wonder

BEAUTIFUL SPRING ON THE BAY

Happy Homemaker Monday

Hello Dear Friends! 

I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We had a bit of rain, so worked on house projects and did a family night out to dinner and the movie Guardians of the Galaxy. Good fun popcorn kind of movie. And I love that one of our local theaters has the new recliner seats. It was wonderful to cuddle with my hubby like we were on our own comfy reclining couch & hold hands like when we were high schoolers. Lol Just fun! 

I kind of eased in last week - but feeling better about getting more balance this week and getting back on track in blogland. Still have other fun endeavors I'm working for myself and will share all in the future. Wishing you a blessed week ahead!

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

Gray, windy. Looks like it could rain more. Low 50's for temp. Midweek should start seeing more sunshine an looks like temps get to upper 50's. 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Honey nut chex cereal and coffee. 

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listeing to Ed Sheeran radio on Pandora while I work on this. I take breaks to do some housework, next load of laundry. Phone call from my Mom. I always start these posts earlier but I get distracted a bit along the way. Lol

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

I actually saw a muskrat run across our deck a few minutes ago. Living on the bay we see lots of critters and I never know what I'll see out on our hill (or deck) each morning. I really kind of LOVE that! ;) 

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Pretty tidy. Some things still laying around from projects worked on over the weekend. My Hubby worked hard painting our kitchen cabinets that had been peeling and really needed it. Some handles still off here and there and he has a few more coats to go on certain areas. Looks so much better though!  Still trying to find some things we want to put in laundry room to finish that up too. 

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

Laundry, little load of dishes to get in dishwasher. Work on some of my personal craft projects. Already did devotional time and exercise time up next. This week both kiddos have soccer practices and my son has a game. My daughter has a little hockey too. Not too bad overall for our usual weeks. Will be running errands and visiting my MIL later in week. Time with my Mom this week too. And I'm hoping to start getting some flowers to plant. 

CURRENTLY READING:

Some self help books that have been helping me deal with some of the issues I've had going on. Fun magazines too. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Cooking shows, The White Princess, Call the Midwife, Foodnetwork stars Comeback, a couple movies

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: leftover chicken almondine I made on the weekend

TUESDAY: ham & swiss sliders, chips, veggies & dip, melon

WEDNESDAY:  pancake variety: cinnamon apple, regular, & maple bacon mini pancakes I'll make in muffin tin - along with sausage & fruit. Easy stuff to heat up after my son's soccer game

THURSDAY: homemade pizza, cheesy bread & marinara (my kids love), veggie salad 

FRIDAY: out for dinner?

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Etsy store albums and canvases 

Legacy box stuff  

My Grandpa's heritage album  

My Mom's album & my family album catch up 

(this is my continuing list)

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

ham & swiss sliders that get baked in the oven (will share later in week)

TIP OF THE WEEK:

This just makes me laugh!!

FROM THE CAMERA:

I have been working hard on my health and feeling better. I have currently lost almost 22 pounds and I am almost down 2 full sizes. My goal is to at least lose 40-45 pounds total (or so).  No big secrets. It started from illness, but has since turned into hard work...inluding some isagenix protein stuff, eating healthier and smaller portions overall and a lot of working out and strengthening.  I still cook and bake because I enjoy it and it will always be part of  me. Just finding better balance. Planning to get back to some sports I love playing as well - for more me time. 

 I'm planning to run a 5k this Fall with a friend too. Also, in the Fall I'm signed up for training to volunteer at a local hospice house. And other personal endeavors I'm still working on that I will share in the future. It's been a long time coming - to truly take time for me and figuring out where I want to go!

The bay has been greening up and I'm loving it! 

Annie's Spring concert from late last week. I will share a bit of video below:

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm linking with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.

Birthday Fun and Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes

Hello Friends! 

I hope you've been having a wonderful weekend. Life got away from me last week and I meant to post this sooner. I guess I'm slowly easing back into blogland life with how crazy life still feels here. ;) 

I know I shared a bit about Annie's birthday earlier in the week, but I thought I would share a bit more and fun cupcake recipe too.  

As I mentioned before, it was my Annie's "golden birthday" so we also had done a special celebration at home that included her 11 presents from us (for turning 11 on the 11th). I had done this for my hubby WAY BACK - when he had turned 23 on the 23rd. Lol So it was a tradition I had started and enjoy continuing for special golden birthdays like that. ;)  

Annie and her Dad after her fun dinner at home and her 11 presents. ;) 

And then she picked to have an extra special overnight hotel pool party. 

As I showed prior - there was fun snacks that fit our pool theme. As well as lots of goofy hamming it up by crazy Girls. :P

And of course lots of fun pool time!! Annie had a couple of her younger cousins come for that part of the party too. Annie is holding one of her younger cousins in this pic.  I put this caption on this pic as it's a "thank you" that I'm sending to her friends and cousins.

And her other younger cousin is the boy splashing it up on all the girls in this pic! Lol

Of course, what's an overnight pool party without some pizza??

And lovely gifts to open from friends. The Gal in those photo with Annie is another cousin! 

And there was fun new pj's that were specifically made to be ones your friends could write their birthday wishes on. Truly adorable. (I found them at Justice). 

And of course no birthday party night can end without singing "Happy Birthday" and enjoying some yummy cake! In this case: Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes per the birthday girls request. 

Making sweet 11 year old wishes. xo

For Strawberry Lemonade Cupcakes:

Take a strawberry cake mix and make according to directions and pour into lined cupcake muffin tins. Bake according to directions. Then you can make homemade lemon frosting like in this post I found on pinterest. Or you can take a shortcut like I did and use store bought lemon frosting, but add a bit of kool-aid lemonade powder to it - to your (or your daughter's) taste. I whisked it together until it was well blended. Then frost cupcakes with frosting. I used some strawberry lemonade licorice as "straws" in the cupcakes. They'd also be cute with a twist of lemon and strawberry slice on top with a fun umbrella too (like they do in those fun fruity drinks). They were a big hit and most of the gals had two! 

Happy Homemaker Monday

Happy Monday to you Friends ~ 

How are you? It feels like it's been so long since I've been back in blogland. I've missed you Friends!! I hope those that celebrated Mother's Day yesterday had a wonderfully blessed day. We had my Mom and my FIL and MIL over for a meal and gifts. We also celebrated our dear Annie's 11th Golden Birthday! She turned 11 on the 11th. So she had a party with friends on Saturday and family yesterday. We will be getting together with my Dad and step Mom this week for the same things. It was a lovely weekend overall. :)

My life continues to be overwhelming at times, but doing much better. I will just say due to some family things, some issues with my health (better with correct med I'm taking - at least for now), as well as just daily life - kiddos' sports and things that I really needed that break...I may need to be less involved with the blog here and there in the future. But I'm hoping that will change in the near future and I'll be fully back on track.

THE WEATHER OUTSIDE IS:

We had some storms come through overnight. The sun has been in and out now this AM and temps to be in low 50's. But it looks like more storms on the way. The week ahead looks much the same. 50's for temps and chances for rain almost every day. Ugh! 

ON THE BREAKFAST PLATE THIS MORNING:

Toast, raspberry yogurt. Coffee.

RIGHT NOW I AM:

Listening to Praise and Worship on Pandora - along with nature sounds.

AS I LOOK OUTSIDE MY WINDOW:

Watching the sun go behind some clouds. Trying to soak it up when it comes out for a peek here and there...as I know stormy clouds are on their way.

AS I LOOK AROUND THE HOUSE:

Cleaned up pretty nicely from the relatives over yesterday. My Hubby was wonderfully helpful all weekend with the party and getting things done for yesterday. My son went out on his own and got me the sweetest card and some candy yesterday. He wrote a beautiful message and it brought me to tears. I must be doing something right with this Mom stuff. ;) 

ON TODAY'S (& this week's) TO DO LIST:

The usual household things. Going to catch up on visiting you my dear Friends!! I've missed blog time so much. Devotional time. Workout time. Also, kiddos' sports. Annie had her final volleyball tourney this past weekend as well. So it's nice she's down to only 2 sports. I need to run errands, work on some of my craft projects etc.  I recently signed up to go through volunteer training in the Fall to work at a local hospice house. I feel a calling to help in this way, and with my past experiences as a social worker...I know it's where some of strengths lie. Another reason I want to get the other areas in my life currently under control. 

CURRENTLY READING:

I just finished reading an old novel that I've read before just for fun. I have old Lavyrle Spencer books - she's a relatively local author (from MN) and she wrote a lot of kind of historical fun fluff books.  I have a "self -help" kind of book lined up next...for some added knowledge and strength with some things. Daily devotionals too. I've also been slowly catching up on my magazines. 

ON THE TV TODAY:

Some cooking shows. Call the Midwife to catch up on. We watched Billions finale. One of our family's favorite hockey teams - the Ottawa Senators - are currently in series playoffs and they have a game tonight! 

ON THE MENU THIS WEEK:

MONDAY: leftovers from the weekend

TUESDAY: tacos (bring to FIL)

WEDNESDAY: beef vegetable soup, muffins

THURSDAY: breakfast for dinner 

FRIDAY: out for dinner 

** I canceled Blue Apron for now. Due to the timeliness of when things needed to be prepared, it was too stressful with life currently. Maybe back to it down the line as I still found it to be a wonderful service and great food! 

WHAT I AM CREATING AT THE MOMENT

Etsy store albums and canvases 

Legacy box stuff  

My Grandpa's heritage album  

My Mom's album & my family album catch up 

(this is my continuing list)

NEW RECIPE I WANT TO TRY THIS WEEK:

Will share Annie's birthday fun and cupcakes I made for it this week. 

TIP OF THE WEEK:

Interesting....

FROM THE CAMERA:

My Girl  - in the middle in the mint green suit

Annie had a fun pool party sleepover at a hotel. We did  a kind of fun pool/beachy summer theme to it all. I got a bunch of beach buckets and labeled many of them for snacks. So cheese balls had the label "beach balls" on it. Gummy life saver candies were "life preservers", crazy licorice were "pool noodles" etc. She requested strawberry lemonade cupcakes (strawberry & lemon are here 2 favorite flavors) - and I used strawberry lemonade licorice to be the "straws". I had special pj's for her all the girls could sign and balloons for them to play with in the hotel room. I got cute beach sandal muslin bags on Etsy and used them as favor bags to give all the guests. I filled them with blow-up beach balls, beachy sandal necklaces & flip flop soap (all on Etsy) and gum. I finally got a new "good" camera and I'm still figuring out how to use it well - but I was able to take lots of better photos - these are all from my phone. All and all a great success and my Girl had a special "Golden" day. 

This AM one of our daily bunny visitors hopped on the deck to wish Ruby a good morning. ;)

PRAYER, INSPIRATIONAL QUOTE OR DEVOTIONAL:

I'm sharing this with Sandra of Diary of a SAHM for Happy Homemaker Monday.