Grammy & Manny

 Just like Pa & E have a special relationship, Grammy and Manny do too. They are just so darling together with all of the tickles, giggles and laughter.

 Not to mention very elaborate kisses. Manny is quite the kisser ;).

 I could seriously watch them forever! It makes my heart so very happy.

 Duke especially loves to join in on hot lava! Last time Grammy came to visit for E's birthday we forgot to play hot lava so this trip we made SURE that a game of hot lava went down!

 These two look so much a like in my opinion.

We are so grateful for Grammy and how much she sacrifices to be with us! Thank you for all of your help with the house, cleaning, taking care of kids and for all of the super yummy food! We are so very spoiled when you are here! We love you so much and can't wait until you get to come back!!!

A Very Special Tea Party

E has been asking tohave a tea party and so one afternoon Grammy happily obliged. When I think tea party I think tea pot, cups saucers, a few treats and call it good. Grammy goes all out with voices, hats, table cloths, proper manners, and dabbing the corners of your mouths with napkins. The kids were having a ball. Duke behaved like the perfect gentleman! 

 Cheers! 

I love the little juice mustache!

Pinkies up of course!

This set was mine when I was little and I remember having my friends over for little parties. 

 Those eyes!

 Thank you for a very magical tea party Grammy! The kiddos had a delightful time!

Slave Labor

 While we were in love with our house the yard needed some serious TLC. I love the idea of a beautiful yard but I have no clue where to start and it needs to be LOW maintenance. Unless Pa and Grammy live close that it to take care of it for me. We started the morning off with some shakes!

 Then it was straight to work!

 Manny was right in there!!

 He was also right in the mud!!

 Why is it that they won't eat perfectly good food but they will stuff thier mouths full of wrom infested dirt?? The crew worked from sun up to sun down! Mom and I created a little drain for the back patio which involved bricks and getting our creativity on! It was a hot day and we were so greatful for all of Grammy and Pa's hard work!!

 As a reward we had to indulge in some BBQ!!! SO delicious!

Then Pa gave E a lesson in accounting. She wasn't really into it but she was thrilled when she had learned that she had earned enough money to buy her toy bunny! The next day Pa headed back to Vegas :(. He never gets to stay long enough I had so many more projects to work on! Thank you for coming and for all of you hard work Pa! We'll let you have Grammy back next week!

Renaissance Fair

 On Saturday we got a sitter for the kiddos and headed out to the Renn Fair. Jakob and I got seasons passes this year which I think was a total win! With the seasons pass, we got two free tickets so Mom and Dad got free admission. Score! Plus Jakob and I are super excited to go back again! WE started off with some male dancers. ;)

 Then we did a bit of exploring!

 We had wanted to make costumes this year but it just wasn't in the budget. So sad. So I wore some moccasins, a feather headdress and an Aztec shirt. It was lame but something.

 It was SOOO nice not having the kids with us! We got to actually sit and watch the shows. One of the ones we saw was the jousting!

 One cannot got to Renn Fair without getting oneself a turkey leg! 

 Or two!

It was a super fun afternoon! And then we came home and set straight back to work on the house.

Grammy, Pa & the Gardens

 Grammy and Pa are here and oh my heck, I am soooooo glad they are! While this was primarily a "work" trip and my list of projects was 1,000 ft long I wanted to get some fun things in while Pa was here, since we only hand him for 4 days. First thing's first we had our Realtor take Mom and Dad on a tour of the city. Brian took us on a pretty awesome tour when we first arrived in the city and being a KC native he had a lot to say. We asked if he would mind taking Mom and Dad for a spin and he happily obliged. (I may okay I totally am trying to get Mom and Dad to move to KC when the time comes.)

Once they arrived home, we had some breakfast and we headed out to the Overland Park Arboretum & Botanical Garden. This garden is amazing! It's huge and we only got to explore part of it before people's feet were getting tired. Plus is is only $3/ person for ages 5 and up!!!!! Winning!

Sooo many pretty picture spots!

We decided to walk through the Enchanted Forrest and I'm so glad we did! It was full of little fairy houses and it made Mom and I want to race home and start working homes for our fairies!

Seriously incredible! There were so many here are a few of my favorites!

Then we stopped to feed some gold fish some gold fish :)

The it was time for nourishment and community nap time! Once we were up we checked out our projects and played. It is so wonderful having Grammy and Pa here and it's going to go by much too fast!

Chalkboard

 I have wanted to make a chalkboard for the LONGEST time. And now that we are in the new house I had the perfect place for one in my kitchen! I saw this tutorial on Pinterest and figured, it doesn't get much easier than that! I decided that I would rock it out the day before Mom and Dad Tobler were to arrive, so we headed over to Home Depot for supplies. While reading her post I was a bit nervous about spending $60 on supplies, I knew I could do it for cheaper. So I went down the wood isle and I found a sheet of MDF already cut at 4'x2' +/- for $6. Score. I then got 2 1x4's and used them to cut a long and a short side from each board. My friend Gretchen already had the chalk paint, I purchased a can of stain (which will last me throughout the rest of my life!! and then I got some short wood screws, and some d ring picture hangers. Total Cost approx. $30. First I painted my MDF board with three coats of chalk paint. I painted in both directions as well.

 Using my miter saw I cut my boards at a 45 degree angle. This was a bit of a learning curve and I would use a fresh blade next time as mine is pretty old. Then I stained the boards. 

 Let everything dry, add a sealant to the 1x4" boards (which I already had.) and screw it all together. This project took me one afternoon! It was super simple and I LOVE the end result!!!! 

And so do my kiddos! Now we're ready for Grammy and Pa!