wreath bunting.

About two weeks ago I put up my fall wreath.

This is a sweet little wreath I got from my Grandma and Mom.

They brought it to me when I had Pauly.

I love putting it up - it reminds me of that sweet weekend when they came to visit -

Grandma Pattie took one peek at Pauly and tears ran down her cheeks.

"Oh, Sam!", she said.

I'll never forget it... she made me feel like I was presenting her with

a precious little contribution to

her legacy... and she was thankful.

I figured this year I would do something little different,

and add some "bunting".

I say "bunting" because I actually used to call these little flags

- pennant garland -

but how boring is that?

compared to "bunting" which I learned from this gal

and I totally told her I was going to steal it

this new term so

all.

is.

good.

:)

BUT

it all started with a bow.

I had some crappy plasticy paper ribbon that was from

my wedding actually -

I made a bow out of it by just using some florist wire weaving loops back and forth.

(look it's actually uneven and I noticed this when I was all ready finished with it

but I don't think Martha Stewy will be by to visit any time soon.... ffhew!)

Now, where was I.... oh - yes.

I made the bow, put it on the wreath and thought...

Needs something

MORE!

so off I went to find some crafty paper and I pulled out colors that
would coordinate with fall my wreath, and the door.
(Yes! I still haven't painted that hideous front door. Boooo! It's Halloween worthy, I figure.)

Anyhow, I cut little diamonds out of the paper
and then
I had to find some type of ribbon or string to make the "bunting"
and attach the diamonds to.

This ribbon was obviously NOT going to work.

and I have done ran out of jute string,
as my husband used it in his garden.

Thank you, husband.



So. I stole kite string from my boys' kite!

I took the string folded the diamonds in half around the string and glued it up
with craft glue.

I'm a HUGE fan of "bunting" - I might even go as far as to say addicted!

I used it in my boys' room here.

It was not the best sew job ever but hey! I'm learnin'.

I took the bunting and looped it from each side of my wreath

and

Ta - DAR!!!!!

I LOVE it.

Hope you do too.

Happy Fall decorating! & don't forget the bunting!!

Happy Day.

an informal introduction.

i have been thinking for a while about all of you.

you who come by my little ole blog and read about our daily events.

you put up with my crazy attempt to take "good" photos of my kids.

y'all listen to me ramble on and on about caterpillars wearing tulle

and my huge obsession for Grey's Anatomy and Gilmore Girls.

Let it be known that

you make my heart

so this is the post where i invite one of my dedicated blog readers to have coffee with me.

so without any further ado...

will Carolyn, please come down!

you're the next contestant (and first!) on

an informal introduction!

(this is where Carolyn puts her hands over her mouth and jumps up excited! as she didn't even know that I knew... she existed)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

hi Carolyn!

come on in!

((hug))

i'm so glad you could make it today...

these are for you.
aren't they gorgeous? i just love how sunflowers encourage autumn so beautifully.

i'm sure they will look fabulous in your home.

Now,

don't mind daphnie, she's friendly

pauly and william... say hello to Carolyn ~

boys.

you two play nice over there while we visit

-k-

i'm sorry that Ben is going to miss you - he is at work, of course.

maybe you two will meet some other day...

Carolyn, please take a seat here with me...

now, would you like some coffee?

i actually can whip up some tea in just seconds if you prefer.

okay...

great.

cream? sugar?

and how about a blueberry scone?

source

let me get us a couple of plates, here.

okay, now.

let's visit.

~

OF COURSE I know you exist!

The Lady knows all *wink*

(I have a very dependable source consisting of sweet sister and all but shhhhhh... I won't tell Carolyn if you won't!!)

I know that you are so sweet to take a few minutes out of your day.

each day.

to come here and visit me.

I know that I am insanely jealous that you live so close to my sister -

I know! She is a doll.

I love her so.

I know that you, Carolyn, have made my sister and her family feel more at home than

just about anything or anyone since they've moved so far away from all of us.

and I

thank you,

from the bottom of my heart.

I know that you have a beautiful home.

impeccable taste.

you love your family

and they love you right back.


you ♥love♥ twink lights.

oooh! let me show you mine, my hubster put them up on my back patio for me.

dreamy, huh.

well, I wanted to send home something with you for Ed and the boys...

hope they enjoy them :)

(do you think they'll understand that they aren't real? ahhhh...Men! they're so serious when it comes to food :)

and this,

my dear,

is all.

for.

you.

Enjoy! & Thanks again, so much for coming today.

I hope we can get together again real soon. *wink

God Bless you and yours.
x♥x♥ ~ The Lady of the House

P.S. ~ Stay tuned all my love-bug-readers!

You might be my date next time on

an informal introduction.

~~~~~~~~
Psssst! (but really the only way for me to know that you're out there... is to leave me a comment... so don't forget, now!)

anniversary brunch, Football! & Sadie♥

we had a pretty great weekend.

Saturday was our anniversary.

we got SUPER spoiled with lots of beautiful cards tucked with a little dinner money from Grandmas and Mimi's.

Granny watched both boys Saturday afternoon and then also took Pauly all weekend which was a lovely gift for us to celebrate our 6 years of wedded bliss.

we kicked off our "date" by going downtown and walking through the Farmer's Market & then I saw this...

growing up, us girls, had a little hatch-back Ford Escort - his name was "Buck Snort" and

I'll-be-darned

if I didn't see a sign that said Buck Snort Rootbeer.After we got our fix of organic jams, handmade aprons and garden-fresh turnips - we made our way to a little bistro called the Red Feather Lounge.

I had only been there one time before - far before I was a mother - it was in late hours of the night and we were just stopping in for a drink.

I didn't know they had an upstairs so when the hostess started heading up a flight of stairs I was excited to see where she was taking us.

There was only one other group up there and they soon left which left the whole top floor

all.

to.

us.

Moi

& Moi ♥ we loved the glasses.

they were made out of used wine bottles.

got us thinking about reusing, recycling and so on. we also loved their wine cellar.

very cool.

we had mimosa (cocktail with champagne or white wine and oj) &

we decided to split our meals -

so i ordered a delicious apple pecan salad

and

Ben ordered ham and eggs benedict.

mine was divine

and

i kinda regretted doing the "split" part of the deal

and

so did Ben.

next time, no splitting :)

(sorry, no pics of the food - i was too busy devouring it) but none of it was near as cool as paying for your anniversary brunch with this.

just the two of us. then we went home to watch football,

GO BSU!!!

cheat on my diet with some subpar chinese food

and rescue this little darling.

this beautiful female golden retriever was walking up and down the road

near our home.

i had seen her when i was in my kitchen and she was walking along with a family and i thought, why is that family taking their dog to the football game? weird.

sure enough about 5 minutes later a gal knocked on our door asking us if she was ours.

the gal tried to get humane society on her cell, but it was Saturday afternoon -

so there was no answer.

long story short - i told the lady that i would take care of her

and after the game my hub went around to the neighbors

and thank God we found her daddy.

it was precious when he came to get her from our backyard - with Ben leading the way, i saw the man behind him and then i heard him call her name... Sadie!

i could see her eyes lighting up,

she loved him and he loved her.

i couldn't believe her name was Sadie.

Sadie, was the name of my sister and brother-in-law's golden that passed away last year.

in my heart of hearts,

i totally believe that little Sadie,

in her own little sweet way,

came by to say hello to us on that beautiful Saturday afternoon.

Rest in Peace, Sadie Brown

BIG FIVE Oh!

My mama turns 50 today.

I didn't send her a card...

... yet. :)

I can't really send her flowers - she lives on in the middle of NO WHERE and works out in the middle of NO WHERE so that

equals no flower deliveries...

I wanted to do something that she would remember...

so here we go...

I want to tell you mama how proud I am of YOU!

I am SO proud of you.

You dedicated this whole year to becoming healthier.

You started off by buying an elliptical... which, let me be honest with you -

I HATE THE ELLIPTICAL!

but you get on that darn thing in the morning before you have a 10 hour work day

and that's awesome!!!

I don't think I'll share your nickname with everyone that you have for it... since it's so..

colorful.

Yeah,

that's the word - your name for your elliptical is colorful!

You've made leaps and bounds this year on your "leading a healthier life" trail - and YOU are the reason I decided to work

on my weight and get on my road to being healthier...

this is one of the many things that you

have taught me over the years - so I wanted to THANK YOU

for all of the many things that

us, girls -

have learned from you through these past years...

We've learned these precious qualities

and

we are striving to pass them onto our own babes.

~~~

As wee babes you've taught us to sing...

and sing LOUD!

Doesn't matter if you can't "carry a tune"

... EHEM!

Just as long as you get that hair-brush

or that spatula and

sing it like ya mean it!and dance.

We definitely learned to dance...

and we have the home-videos to prove it, don't we?

I remember that talent show that Ken Torrey hosted

and we practiced and practiced in Grandma's living room.

and the splits in the end -

I was SOOO nervous about doing the

splits at the end.

BUT I DID IT!

because you helped me till I got it right.

I was so proud of myself... even though I didn't win.

You always told us to be a kind...

even if we didn't.

really.

want.

to.

You taught us how important prayer was from

day.

one.

I will never forget that picture of all of us praying

around our small kids' table.

We had our little picnic set out and you had set us up with

water in our cups and and

buttered bread folded in half on our little saucers.

Our hair was in braids and we were praying.

You and dad took those crucial moments

to make sure we knew how precious

praying really is

and

how important it is

to keep working at our relationship

with our Savior.

you've taught us how to love.

whether it's kittens or horses,

Barchone,

our favorite Mrs. Norris teachers,

or Grandmas & Grandpas,

or the librarian that we call

Grandma,

or kids at school that make fun of us.

Love them.

Love each other.

You taught us to love our husbands.

Even when they've tracked in mud through the entire house, (Daddy)

haven't showered for days and days? (Bub)

or drive us nuts learning new songs on their ukulele. (Ben) You taught us to believe in another day.

When we are down and out and don't think there is an ounce

of keep-going in us.

We will continue to believe that God has a plan for us and we have to keep going.

Press on, right?

Now, this is something recent...

This last Christmas - I watched as my mama - yes that's YOU -

you RAN down the lane chasing the kids as they

rode on the sled being pulled behind

daddy on the horse.

You ran

and ran

and ran.

I think you even biffed it once!

and I think I even have it on camera!

You are living.

I think this is the first time in a LONG time

that I've seen you

really Live!

You are enjoying every ounce of your day

that you are blessed with.

& I was jealous...

so I decided to stop being jipped out of my days

& start living too!

Thank you so much for that mama.

So along with giving our husbands unconditional love, loving each other, always believing and keeping our faith, living, praying, being a friend, singing & dancing and many more -

you've taught us to keep learning.

Treasure every day, every person, every opportunity to squeeze out any ounce

of wisdom that we can - you never know what you might learn,

if you just take a second to read... or watch...

or simply listen.

Quick to listen... slow to speak.So there you have it my dear,

many things listed here

and so very

many

many more.

Reasons of why I'm so thankful you're my mama and why I'm (WE!) are so proud of you.

Happy Birthday My half-a-century year old mama.

muaaaahahahaha!!!!!

I love you to the moon and back.

always always, your oldest.

out one day.

here we are, my love - 6 years later.

can you believe it - it feels like it went by so fast, doesn't it.

wait, don't answer that.

out one day with girlfriends and you're stealing

chicken strips & carrot and celery sticks off my plate...

then the next moment we are bringing our second sweet baby home.

i remember our wedding day as one of the

most exciting days of my life.

all our family,

delicious food

and dancing,

lots & lots of dancing.

twinkle lights galore.

glimmering candles.

and crisp cool september breezes.

your eyes, your smile and your broad strong shoulders

in that classy suit you wore.

sends {goosebumps} up my back.

thank you for standing beside me through these past years of happiness, beginnings and ends.

here is to our lifetime together.

lots more dreaming, laughing...

and babies *wink wink*

&

tonight, maybe we can watch something we both will like *wink

~~~~~

you.

you're mine.

for always always.

Hallelujah!