July Phone Favorites

And just like that July is gone! This summer is flying by I can hardly beleive it. Here is a round up of this months phone favorites.

We got a coupon for $15 off a build a bear. I thought it would be a good birthday gift for someone so I picked out a little bunny that was $12. When I got to the store there was still a line outside of the door. Crazy!

I love this little profile. 

The most beautiful cloud. the rest of the sky was grey but this could was stunning. 

Double fisting like a champ.  

As part of our summer bucket list I decided that I wanted to read a book. I went with the Throne of Glass Series per a friends reccomendation and it really enjoyed it. I blew through all 6 books and I think I'm hooked on reading. It's a love hate relationship. I am obsessed, but it is a huge time suck and it puts my crafting and other projects on the back burner. I've got to learn a good balance.

My friend Anna was really sick this month and so I kid napped her tiny humans and they played with us all day. The best part was I was able to fit ALL 5 kids PLUS CAR SEATS in my VAN!!!!!!! Words cannot describe how much I love my van. LOVE LOVE LOVE it! 

Rainy day crafts. We started working on Duke's birthday party favors.

Dinosaur eggs!

Good Job Bear. :) I don't really think he grasped the concept. 

Duke was part of a summer school program this month. It was three weeks long, half day, Mon-Thurs and it was awesome. Duke did a great job and really learned a lot! Plus he got to take the bus again and he was  pretty big fan of that! So proud of you Bear! 

I could get used to this... don't be fooled... it only lasted 3 seconds. 

Duke is not a big fan of the buzzers, in fact he is terrified of them. When it comes time to cut his hair he usual siting in someones lap while they hold him down and we buzz his hair as fast as humanly possible. So Gramma had the wonderful idea to let Duke cut his bears hair. He held the clippers and went to town. then Gramma cut Duke's hair without a problem. I decided to reenact the process at home and it was wonderful! Duke did a great job and sat so still and didn't shed a single tear. 

Sprout is obsessed with the slide. 

Where did my children go? It was a busy month full of traveling, visitors and projects and I am not looking forward to the summer ending so soon!

Balloon Lessons with E

E has been asking to have a balloon lesson for the longest time. With Bear at school I thought it would be the perfect opportunity.

She was so excited and she did a GREAT job. Here is the puppy she made all by herself (accept for the ball at the end of the tail.)

She had a special request.. can you guess what it was? Haha! 

I love the way she holds the balloon to twist it. 

Another request of a different owl. this one is for Bear.

It was such a fun morning with my sweet girl! 

Bear had a dinosaur and a owl waiting for him when he came home. 

And then I felt horrible. At the beginning of the summer school course the teacher set home a flyer saying that his award ceremony would be three weeks later... and i totally forgot. Duke came home and said "Mama, where were you? We had party and you only Mama not there." And then my heart shattered. Poor guy. I felt so freaking bad. Duke got the snickers award and rightfully so. 

Aside from being a lame-o Mama, it was a fun morning!

House Makeover

While my Mama was here we decided to tackle a project. I'm sure how we even ended up deciding to do it, it just happened. We decided to redo the front of our house. We started with the landscaping. WE pulled up all of the mulch, cleaned up the leaves and pulled a couple of bushes. That grass in the back was the first thing I wanted gone. I hated that stuff! 

I forgot a before picture, but there was a dead bush in the middle there that we pulled.

My Mama was a trooper! She worked HARD and I was so impressed with her. We would start working at about 8:30 and we would work until about 11 or until it was just too hot. 100°F  with 87% humidity made it hot!!

 

We borrowed a pressure washer to clean up the side of the house! I {love} pressure washing, Instant gratification!

This flower bed looked horrible so we pruned back the bushes (just like Pa likes) and laid down new mulch. It was a quick and beautiful transformation!

 So long grass!! 

Made a new friend.

 

 IT'S GONE!!!!! And what a difference!! It was surprisingly simple to pull up. Mama rocked the shovel and I pulled. 

 Oh gosh I can actually breath!

 Fresh mulch and outdoor lights that we got at Home Depot for a steal!!

 I'm not much of a sweater generally. My pitties yes but my back and legs no. Every day we would come inside and I would be SOAKED!!! 

 We bought a bush to fill in the akward gap where the grass and another ugly bush had been.

 Sprout was a wonderful helper!

 Jakob took over the pressure washing. 

 Once the landscaping was done, we started painting the house. Sure I thought, no big deal.... It was a major pain! 

 We went with a white and I never realized how pink my house was before.

 I spent a great deal of time, perched up on a ladder! 

 Painting brick SUCKED! I mean squished mortar is ugly to begin with but then painting it was just terrible. The previous owners had no concept of finishing projects well either. The more I painted the more I realized how sloppy my house was. 

 Looking so fresh!

 At long last the brick is DONE! Sweet Mercy! Now time to paint the brown all grey!

 Be still my heart!

 Getting all of those details!

 WE threw around a lot of different color options for the garage side door. It's on the front of the house and made from wood so I figured it would be fun to pick a funky color. We thought about a mint, a kelly green, a deep forest green and mustard. Jakob decided to go with mustard.

 The previous home owners never even opened the door to paint it brown. things like this just really bug me. 

 Jakob picking up a paintbrush!

 And its done!!!!!!!!

 Before

 

 After

 Before

 After. I love the mustard!!!

 New door knob!

Before

 After!!!!! Be still my heart!!!! (Pay no mind to the dead grass, we are going through a major drought here this year!)

 The side of the house all nice a fresh!!!

 

And our final masterpiece. Thank you so much to my Mama who sacrificed blood, LOTS of sweat and some tears. This took 17 days for us to complete from start to finish while having kids home. We  told E we would pay her $1/day for watching Sprout while we worked outside and Bear was at summer school. I am so grateful for this lady right here and for her willingness to help me with all of my many projects. WE make a wonderful team. She's already picked out our next project for when she comes. We will be building a headboard and re finishing my dressers/ nightstands! I am super excited! I love do love ya Mama!