Baby Shower DIY

Last Sunday we hosted a baby shower for one of the couples in your young married group from church.  This was her church shower, so I knew a big crowd would be possible.  I think our house may have been the cleanest it's been since we moved in a year ago!  I decided to keep things simple (which might I say, in our Pinterest world, is hard to do) with fresh flowers as the main decorations.   There is a flower shop just over the river that my friend, Eileen, has shown me.  I got lucky they were still there as I went after they were closed.  Flower arranging is not my forte, but I have to say, I was a little proud of myself.

Some lemons really made this one bright and fresh looking!

there were NO blue Hydrangeas in Tuscaloosa.  So we, settled for white.  I also have to thank Glisa for coming over and helping put everything in place and her flower expertise!

Mrs. Cindy came to my rescue on this one and cut some fresh flowers from her yard

John William has a sign in his room that says what "little boys are made of" and I'm learning it's more true every day!  So I decided to put this on the chalk board down stairs (the chalk board that we say we will one day frame!)

the mailbox had a baby blue ribbon and I decided to put a cross on the door. This idea came from a cross John William got that we hung on the hospital door.  They of course retail for $40, and I found some wooden crosses at Hobby Lobby for $25.. still more than I was wanting to spend on a door decoration.  So I went to the trusty foam board, $2.54 :)  This is what I used for the Valentine heart I had on my door in February.  I traced the cross that we had, and then passed it on to Brett to cut out.  He wasn't thrilled with me on that because it can be hard to cut.  But I knew my engineer of a husband would work it out!  I painted it, and viola!

I've also been wanting to change out my door wreath anyway, so I decided I'd make one for the back door, that would move to the front after the shower.  I saw this on Pinterest, and loved it!

Living in Tuscaloosa with football season right around the corner I decided to use red as the 'accent' color.  I got some 2 1/2 inch burlap ribbon with red polka dots and used some red and tan raffia I had on hand.  I also had the "P" (yes in the over used 'Curlz' font) so thought it should go to!  It took a lot of playing with the ribbon to loosen it up, but it finally started working.  I tucked some in the grape vine wreath and hot glued other pieces.  It's not just like the pinterest version, but I thought it turned out ok!

We rushed home after church so John William could take his nap and then he and Brett spent the day at the Skelton's watching the Crossfit games.  When he got home Sunday evening he was impressed at our still clean house.  Maybe it will stay this way for a while... we'll see!

July

I can't believe July is coming to an end.  I can't believe Summer is coming to an end!  I have to say I am on of those that actually looks forward to August rolling around.  For many reasons... Getting closer to the holidays, cooler weather is- well- closer, normal routines will soon resurface, and football season is just around the corner!

Back to the time at hand.  July has been kind of crazy!  Lots of fun happening!

John William found the play loft in my class room

ran to the yellow room

and climbed on the buggy- all before 7:30 :)

he loves the buggy

we have enjoyed some snuggle time

he also loves our stairs.  He will be to the top in 5 seconds if we'd let him.  He also likes to sit on this bottom step and 'read'.

We're working on some teeth, as you can tell by the excessive drool!

and Thursday nights have been lots of fun with neighbors

singing in the car is fun, too!

Patrick and Eileen even let us hang out with their neighbor's chickens!

We are here and there and everywhere these days, and I tend to forget which day it is, but I guess we wouldn't have it any other way!  Not many more days left in the Summer of 2013 so we'll enjoy it until it ends!

Cow Appreciation Day

The Paulk's love some Chick Fil A!  I was so excited when it was cow appreciation day, so we could dress like a cow and get a free meal!  I was ready to dress up myself, but Brett said no (party pooper) but I knew we had the perfect little calf!

He wasn't as enthused as I was

But once we got to Chick fil A, it was all worth it!

We ordered our food, our 3 meals for all of $0.55!  We went to sit down and got a visitor

He loved him at first, but then Mr. Cow got a little too close.  Once John William calmed down all he wanted was to check out that cow.

so from, a distance, he loved him.

and stood and mooed at him

but once brought close again...

with a little help from daddy, and a tight grip, he was ok to touch him

this was really the only cow he wanted to be close to!

This is one of many reasons we love Chick fil A!  We are going to have to work on John William with his 'mascot' love.  Big Al will be in the picture very soon, and we can't have him scared!!

Coeur d'Alene day 5

Sunday was our last day in Coeur d'Alene, and we enjoyed it as much as we possibly could!

We started the day off by taking a 'hike' around the mountain

don't let the stroller confuse you, it wasn't actually pushed, it was carried, with him in it.

we found a beachy area and John William got his first lesson on skipping rocks

we attempted a family photo with the camera propped on a rock

and just enjoyed the view

we found that famous Moose and Mouse!

after our 'hike' we took Pontoon Plane (I think is what they called it) ride around the lake

It was nice to see an arial view!

after our air born excursion Brett, Brian, Mr. Ronnie and I enjoyed riding Jet Ski's around the lake.  The water was cold, but Brett assured me he wouldn't put me in! 

the water was beautiful and clear, the houses along the lake were breath taking, and the vibrant colors all around us were just beautiful!

We then headed back and took this little one to the indoor pool.  There was a large top step that he could splash around in, he loved it!

We then went back to the flower garden (as I like to call it) to try to get one more photo op.

there was music playing in the background, so he just wanted to dance!

I love my family of 3!

that night Brett and I went out on a dessert date.  Oh my goodness.  They had what they called a 'Butterfinger Gooey'.  Luckily we found this on our last night.  It was alternating scoops of chocolate and vanilla ice-cream, caramel, hot fudge, cake crumbles, chunked/shaved/whole pieces of Butterfinger, topped with Whip Cream and a cherry.  Yes, I shared.

 The next morning we loaded up and headed back south.  To the warmth and humidity.  Even though we had an amazing trip, it's always nice to come home.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, and look forward to the next Paulk family vacation!!