FIVE on FRIDAY

 

 

 

Hey there!!  I'm linking up again with my Five on Friday!  We have had lots of fun the last few weeks and getting ready for Fall.  It will be busy but fun!!

 

 

 

{one}

Lex's Grandparents gave us a TV armoire a while back.  I had know idea where we would put it.  After staring at it in our garage I decided to paint it.  I used a DIY chalk paint and glaze.  It was a BIG project, bigger than I expected but, I love how it turned out.  I still need to add knobs, but I went ahead and put it in our room because I just couldn't wait.  When it's complete I will post how I did it all.  It took me about a week.....  If I didn't have these two munchkins around I'm sure it would not have taken that long.  ha! 

I love how it looks in our room.  {Lex and I have been married almost 10 years and have moved at least 5 times.} So we have never really spent time on our room and making it our own.  I'm determined to make this bedroom nice and cozy.  Curtains are next! 

 

 

 

{two}

 This past Saturday Lex had to work on a side job.  I was suppose to stay home with the girls but, Bill Bill and GiGi wanted to take them to the lake.  So off they went and I decided to go with Lex.  We spent the whole day together and it was so much fun.  Lex and I do not spend nearly enough time together, just me and him.  I love that we enjoy doing things as a family, but I forget how important it is to spend time with just him.  We are both going to make more of an effort to set aside more time with just the two of us. 

 

{three}

Along with spending time with my hubby, girl's nights are important to me.  They keep me sane! ha!  I love getting to get out and just sit and talk with the girls.  Last week was a rough week so it was so nice to get out of the house for a little bit and see some friends.   I love all my friends and we are all so different and some of us are at different stages of our life, but we always find time to hang out.  They were such a HUGE part of my life before kids.  I worked with them and spent time with them,  ALL. THE. TIME.  I love my babies and being with them all the time now, but I am so thankful for my girlfriends. 

 

photo credit: here

 

{four}
I was so back and forth trying to decide if we would send Kagen to preschool or just keep her home.  But, I decided to teach her.  I'm getting a little sad thinking I only have one more year and then she will be off to Kindergarten.  I want to spend as much time as possible with her until then.  I know some days I am PRAYING for a break, but I love that girl.  I have been a stay at home mom ever since she was 4 months old.  So it will be tough next year. 
We went and picked out school stuff and she is so excited.  She really is a quick learner and I am thankful for that.  Ha!  I am praying that God gives me the peace and wisdom AND the patience needed to do this.  I bought Kalli some fun toys to play with while Kagen and I work on school stuff.  She loves doing whatever big sister does so this will be fun!

A few of our goodies

{five}
FALL. IS. COMING!!!  Fall is my most favorite time of year.  I love the smells, the weather, the décor.  Everything.  I am tempted to start burning my Baked Apple Pie Scentsy.   Ha!  I have been looking at Pinterest getting ideas for decorating and recipes to try. 

                                                              This one looks so good!

photo credit: Kids Kubby

photo credit: http://www.girlvtheworld.com
 

I was rushing through this so I hope its not too boring or makes no sense! Ha!

Happy weekend!!!

Parties

Something I really love is parties.  I don't spend a ton of money, but I do try to make them as fun as possible.  I'm in the process of planning Kagen's 5th birthday party.  It's going to be a circus theme and I have been pinning stuff like crazy on Pinterest. 

 Each party I learn something new.  Find something new.  There's always something I wish I would've added.  But the overall experience is just fun. 

 

 

Lemonade Party

Kalli's 2nd birthday party was a lemonade theme.  I wasn't sure what kind of party we would do, then a friend of mine showed me a lemonade theme party and I fell in love.  I could have really gone over the top but I calmed myself down.  And to be honest I didn't get anything done until a few weeks prior to the party!  We actually had two small parties for her.  We had a play date with a few friends and then a family party.  These are pictures from her family party.   I just reused everything for her play date. 

 

 

I actually found these paper straws at Marshall's of all places!  I was standing in the check out line and there they were! 

I bought this piece of wood at Lowe's last year and painted it with chalkboard paint.  I intended to use it as a menu board but it has really come in handy with parties!



I have a very talented MIL and she always makes the cakes and cupcakes for us!!  So thankful for her.  This cake was PERFECT!

I made rice crispie treats and put them in paper cupcake liners.  I used lollypop sticks and place washi tape at the top for a little flag.   Cupcake liners and washi tape were from Pick Your Plum.  They have daily deals.  A friend of mine got me hooked to the site!  You should totally sign up. 
I also spray painted a couple mason jars pink.  I made small bunting using scrap book paper.  I found the wooden crate at Hobby Lobby.  I painted it pink when I used it for Kagen's 4th birthday(below).   

Simple but sweet.  My Mom made her awesome chicken salad for lunch.  I'm telling you, that stuff is amazing.

                            Cowgirl Party

For Kagen's 4th birthday we had a cowgirl theme.  One of Lex's coworkers has a couple miniature horses that he takes to parties, so he brought them to Kagen's.  The kids had so much fun!  I loved this theme!

I made some bunting using burlap and twine.  I just cut the triangles out and sewed them onto the twine.  I bought a wreath at Hobby Lobby and added little rosettes to it using left over burlap.  The table cloth belonged to my Gran.  I was so excited to put it to use.  I borrowed some gorgeous platters from my Mom to decorate with and found the small hay bells at Hobby Lobby.

 

 

The smores pops were SO easy to make!!  Just dip large marshmallows in melted chocolate then sprinkle with crumbled graham crackers.  I put animal crackers in mason jars and used some left over fabric I had.  The powdered donuts where a hit!  I could easily eat a bag of those things by myself!

 

I got the popcorn from a local shop.  It's a mix of caramel and white cheddar. SO GOOD.  The cookies were made by a sweet lady a friend introduced me to.  And I made the cake myself.  Don't look too closely.  ha!

 

Party favors were a trail mix a made.  For the entrance I used Kagen's side table from her room.  Added some extra details I borrowed from a friend and my Mom.  There's that chalk board.  I love that thing!

 

 

And the games.   I made these signs in Photoshop and added them to frames a friend loaned me.  I couldn't find the bean bags, so I just made some.  They were so not perfect but they worked!

 

                        Gender Reveal Party

A friend of mine asked, okay I may have INSISTED,  if I would do a gender reveal party for New Years Eve.  It was so fun!! Gender reveal parties are so neat to me.  Perfect excuse to party too!

Her mom made some yummy cookies and she had some popcorn and pretzels.  This party was so easy because we pretty much used everything we already had. 

We had a hot chocolate bar.  So fun!

 
                               Olivia the Pig Party

Kagen was obsessed with Olivia when she was 3.  Now, not so much.  Here's the details from that party.

Again, my MIL made that adorable cake and cupcakes,  A sweet friend of mine made those really cute cupcake toppers for me. 

Party favors.  White Chocolate dipped pretzels.  YUM!  My friend made some favor tags too.  Aren't they CUTE?!

I found a lady on Etsy that had some super cute labels for water bottles.  I accidentally had cupcake toppers printed on sticky paper, so I put them on the cups and it worked perfectly! 

 

I didn't post Kalli's 1st birthday.  I may get around to it. Ha!   Have a great day!

Five on Friday

                                                                          Hey guys!
                             I'm so excited to be doing my first link up with The Good Life Blog!!!



{1}
 My allll time favorite makeup is bareMinerals.  I was introduced to it over 7 years ago by my MIL.  At the time, it wasn't in all the stores like it is now.  It's so much easier to buy now!!!   I have pretty oily skin so I don't like wearing liquid foundation.  Bare Minerals is the only makeup I've found that has such great coverage and doesn't make me feel like I have a ton of makeup on.   They recently came out with a new color called Golden Fair.  Which has been AWESOME!!!!!   I have a golden skin tone but I'm fair.  So when I heard about this, birds started singing!!! Haha!!  I have been loving the color.  The other products I use is the warmth, which is a must have.  It gives me a little extra color.  And their blush is wonderful.  They also have Mineral Veil that goes on after everything and gives you that final touch. It can also be applied through out the day if you get oily and it doesn't add anything color or make your makeup cakey.   Ulta is giving a medium size mineral veil free for each purchase of bareMinerals foundation.  That was a nice surprise!

Photo credit: Sephora 

{2}
Tonight Lex and Kagen are going on a little date.  She has this obsession with planes lately.   Not sure why?   So when the preview for the movie Planes came on.  Lex said, "I'm taking her to see that!"  They are both so excited.  The movie is a little late so I made Kagen promise she would nap today.  Here's hoping.

Photo credit: IMDB

{3}
 Lex and I will be coordinating our 3rd Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Class.  I'm so excited about it.  Mostly because I want to get a refresher.  This man and this class have changed the way Lex and I handle money.  We save like we never have before.  We give tithe regularly.  And we WERE debt free, but we needed a new vehicle.   By new, I mean used. It's nearly 7 years old.  We searched and searched and prayed and prayed.  We hated to get into debt again, but we looked at it as an investment and we are focused on paying it off quickly.  If you've never heard of Dave Ramsey
or his famous snow ball method, you should look into it.  Being debt free (other than one car and the house) has been such a blessing.  We tell our money where to go instead of having to spend it paying off a bunch of debt.  If we want something, like new recliners, ha,  we save until we can pay cash.  We don't believe in the no interest if paid in full.  Because we have been there.  And we NEVER paid it off by the date.  The feeling you get paying cash for something is awesome.  Having an emergency fund is also super important.  We are going to be needing new tires soon.  Thankfully we have and emergency fund and don't have to put tires on credit.   I've become very humble the last few years.  I learned that material things are nice, but that's not really what matters.  I don't care what others think of what I drive or wear.  What matters is that others know we love the Lord and have complete faith that he will take care of us.  Gosh.  I'm getting off subject.  Another post, another time.  Ha!

Photo credit: Dave Ramsey

{4}
Have you seen those Melissa & Doug reusable sticker pads?  No?  Go get some if you haven't.  Thank me later.
 My Mom got Kagen some and she loves them.  I love them because they don't get stuck on things like the refrigerator or my floors.  These have been a little life saver when I need to get something done.  They can sit and play with out me hovering and making sure the stickers are going on the page and nowhere else.  

Photo credit: Toys R Us




{5} 
And finally.  The thing we talk about DAILY around here.  Kagen's 5th birthday.  This kid tells EVERYONE she will be five soon. Not until October, and this has been going on since July.... I think she thinks 5 means BIG girl.  And she's right.  I had a hard time when the girls each turned one.  Then again when they turned two.  I was okay when Kagen turned three and four.  But, five?  I might cry a little lot.
So we have been back and fourth with themes.  As I said, she has been obsessed with planes and wanted a plane party.  Plane party?  For a girl?  *sigh*  But now it's settled.  It will be a CIRCUS party.  This will probably be the last big party I will do for her besides milestone birthdays.  I am getting really excited looking at Pinterest for ideas.  I am doing this party cheap people.  I am determined to spend as little money as possible and make as much stuff as I can.  Kagen's PawPaw has a tent we are borrowing and that is her FAVORITE part. We have been looking at invites and she insists the invite must have a tent on it.  I think I might be more excited than her for this party though! 

Photo credit: Kara's Party Ideas

Have a great Friday!!!

A little of this and that

The last few days have been so.... ordinary. Ha!  Nothing special has happened.  No big milestones.  Just a plain ole week for us.  But I'll give you a recap and mostly because I enjoy looking back and seeing how we spent our days, because frankly I can't always remember. 

 

On Tuesday's Kagen has gymnastics from 11-12.  Next week is actually her last of the summer, then we have one week off and start back on Tuesdays 5:30-6:30pm.  I chose the later time so that Lex could watch her when he can.  She will also be moving up to a more advanced class and I am so excited about that.  Lately she seems a little bored in class so I'm thinking she needs a change. 

 One day after leaving class she told me thank you for letting her do this.  I'm so glad she enjoys gymnastics.  I was so hesitant at first, but she has so much fun!

 

If I'm getting ready, you better believe this kid is right behind me.

Ready to take sister to gymnastics!

 Before we went to gym I took my phone by the repair shop because as you can see from the picture above, the photos were bad!  He replaced the camera for me and now it's good as new.  *Little back story.  I washed my phone with our sheets one weekend.  SO dumb, I know.  I'm still not over it, can you tell?  The hard drive was salvageable so the repair shop put it in a new phone(with a crummy camera) Ha!*   Now I'm feeling complete again.  

 After gymnastics I picked up some makeup, where Kagen introduced herself to the cashier. "Hi.  I'm Kagen!  I did a cartwheel at gymnastics today. Watch this!"  Luckily,  I stopped her attempt of a cartwheel before she knocked everything down around her.  That girl.   Afterwards we met Lex at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. 

                              

The rest of the day was a blur.  And honestly I can only remember this part of it because I took a photo.  See?  Life isn't the same with a crummy camera.   They played so nice together while I cooked supper.   

Little fact about Kagenz: She has decided she doesn't like sleeping in jammies.
 So, when she got up Wednesday morning I told her to get dressed and this is how she showed up.      It's a little warm out, darlin'.

Other than that crazy blonde hair, the girls are so different.  Bugs don't scare Kalli, but terrify Kagen.  Loud noises make Kagen panic, where Kalli could care less.   Kalli is very girly whereas Kagen.... is not.  I think Kalli may be converting Kagen to her ways though.  Ha! 

Future little momma

I let her play Angry Birds while Kalli napped.  Why do children outgrow nap time?  Seriously.  I want nap time.

After supper we went to Lowes to price fencing.  Our neighbors are re-doing their fence.  So now ours looks even worse than it did before.  Ha!   We also had to buy a new battery for the lawn mower.  Which ended up being the wrong one. Figures!  

Up until a few years ago I had never pushed mowed.  Ever.  Then up until a few months ago I had never mowed on a riding mower.  I am now obsessed with mowing.  No idea why.  It's kind of like vacuuming.  I like the way the carpet looks afterwards.  Don't judge.

 

 

Our 10 Year wedding anniversary is next month.  I can't believe it!  10 Years!  We were just babies when we got hitched.  I would die if the girls ever said they wanted to get married at 20. Yikes!   But, I don't regret it one bit.  I love that man of mine.    

 We have been so back and forth on a location to celebrate.  We started out thinking Colorado, then Mexico, then Florida, then San Antiono.  And we finally decided on Lake Degray in Arkansas.  Only 3 1/2 hours away from my babies.  Who was I kidding thinking I could go to Mexico without them!  Really? 

 We decided on 3 nights away. Which is big.  We will probably leave late on day one and get home as early as possible the last day.  Ha! 

This resort looks so nice!  Lex's boss has been there and recommended it.  It may not be the beach or the mountains.  But it's a pretty good combo of water and tall hills!  I'll take it!  No passport needed. 

I booked our stay this morning.  We actually will not be going until November due to work and just lots going on the next few months.  The weather should be perfect then, so I'm not complaining!

 

 

 

 

I needed to work in our flowerbeds.  They looked so pitiful.  I had to get something from our storage building and Kagen spotted the bounce house.  So we hooked it up and they jumped while I cleaned our the flower beds.   You can bet I will be putting news paper down next spring.   But now we have a weed free flower bed.  For now.

Can you tell we haven't mowed?  HA!!!!

We ran to have lunch with Lex and now we are back home and the girls are napping. 

I plan to do a link up post tomorrow that I'm looking forward to!!! 

Happy Thursday!

The weekend and a little of today

We had a fun and hot weekend!   This August weather is no joke.  After breakfast on Saturday Lex wanted to wash my car.  (Is that guy awesome or what?)  So the girls insisted on helping playing in the water.  I put their suits on and off they went.  After a while Kagen decided her car and bike needed to be washed as well, so she got to work on that.  I should've taken pics!!

                                

After lunch the girls napped and we relaxed a little.  That afternoon we had a birthday party to go to.  The youngest little Richardson cousin turned 1!  We didn't stay long because it was just so hot outside.  But we still had fun.  

 

 

Sweet cousins at the party
 

                          

After the party we went to Bill Bill and GiGi's for the rest of the day.  The girls had fun playing and dancing.  Kalli was in a very rare mood.  Okay, she was hyper.  Could be all those cupcakes she had. All I know is something made that child turn into a mini crazy person. Ha!

 

 

I just love Brit. 

 

 

 

Sunday we all got ready and headed to church and actually got there early!  I couldn't believe it! It seems like we are always running late.  After church I needed to run in to Wal-Mart for a few things and Kagen wanted to go with me.  She pushed the cart the whole time and loved being my little helper.

 

                                     

 

 

 

 

When we got home Lex started getting lunch ready.  Turkey burgers.  Yummo!!   It was so hot out and the girls wanted to ride their bikes.  So I let them ride inside.  Kagen's response, "GiGi lets us!" Hahaha.  We love you GiGi. 

 

 

 

                             

 

The rest of the day we relaxed a little.  That evening we loaded up and went over to Shana and Cory's so I could run with Shana and the girls could play.  We are training to run a 5k and I am pretty sure it will kill me. 

 

Sunday night after we put Kalli in bed she got up 50 10 times. She was wearing us out! The last time she got up, she went to Kagen's room.  So Lex told them they could sleep in the same room but they had to go to sleep.  Well, they did and Kalli slept all night!  Lately she has been getting up in the middle of every night and coming in to our room.   I'm thinking she might be lonely and that's why she wakes up?  Who knows?  I'm going with that...  If she will sleep all night with Kagen, I'm in!  If things really start going well we have talked about letting the girls share a room and converting Kalli's room to a play room.  Which would be pretty fantastic. 

 

 

And finally, today....  I took the girls swimming over at NaNa and PawPaw's.  We swam, played and ate lunch.   Came home for naps.  Well, one kid napped.  The other played and had her doll house fall down on her.  She informed me it was just an accident and that everything was ok.  *sigh*