celebrations!

Today is my mom's birthday.  Yesterday, when we picked up the kids from their house, we had a little party, complete with swimming, home made Italian subs, and cannolis.

Happy birthday Mama!  We love you so much and are so thankful for your life!♥

games, decorations, and a mini stay-cation...

Jenga is a new favorite at our house.

Eden takes it very seriously...

 So I decided to use them as part of our display on our new yellow cabinet, along with some Banana Gram letter tiles.

It's starting to come together and things are getting used and played with, which makes it all so much fun!

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The kids are currently having a sleep over with their Mia and Papa until Sunday.  We wanted to do it before school starts and so Kit and I are using this time as a little stay-cation.  Our plan is lots of fun eating, sleeping in, and tackling some fun decoration type house projects!♥

back to school books!

I am a sucker for any reason to add to our children's book collection, and Ryder starting kindergarten is no exception!

Here are some children's books that we have been reading and enjoying together, with sweet story lines, amazing illustrations, and fun opportunities to talk about this upcoming adventure of the school year! 

(This book was more for Eden but Ryder has taken such pride reading each of the letters to her!♥)

Ryder just can't wait for school to start!

(I'm warming up to the idea more and more...♥)

curbside find for the win!

I also thought that I should call this WE ARE FINALLY WORKING ON FURNITURE PLANS FOR THE FIREPLACE ROOM SINCE WE HAVE ALMOST LIVED HERE A YEAR AND A HALF AND IT IS STILL COMPLETELY EMPTY... but that seemed too long.♥

So in all seriousness, our fireplace room has sat empty since we have moved in and this last week, I found a FREE curbside piece of furniture that has gotten me so excited about thinking of what we want this room to be and how we want it to function.

Here it is:

    It's a solid wood piece of stackable cabinets that was in good shape but had enough rough an tumble marks that I knew I was going to need to paint it to make it look how I wanted it to look.

Ryder has been my little side kick and helper.  He has been always wanting to help and be right by my side, whether it's yard work and gardening or house cleaning and projects or cooking...  He loves to be involved.  So Ryder and I decided to put the piece in the room to better decide what color to paint it.  Our top choices where green or yellow since our floors are so dark, so Ryder went around the house getting things in those colors so we could better decide what would look best:

We both decided that a shade of yellow would be the best choice.

So we took a family trip to Home Depot and picked this color in satin finish:

This little butterfly was super helpful...♥

So after a few days of sanding and priming and all that super fun prep in 90+ degree weather, we were ready to paint:

Ryder wanted to help sand:

 He looks so much like Kit to me, farmer's tan and all!

In process:

The finished product:

I can't wait to style it!

a new staple...

We can't get enough of Kit't grilled pizza.  It's become a staple that I buy the Trader Joe's pizza dough with every shopping trip.  

 From watching Chopped, Ryder likes to use phrases like "It has great texture"  and "The flavors really work well together..."

And when It's so hot, quick out door cooking makes life inside so much nicer! So please, come over anytime

monkeys and a circus

And I wouldn't want it any other way because I just love these monkeys...♥

cousins

Every year in Oxnard, we take pictures of the cousins, laying on the floor next to each other and we have loved watching the kids, though the years, get older and older.

Oxnard 2010:

 2011:

 2012:

 2013:

2014:

2015:

I will be making them take this picture for as long as I can get them all in the same place at the same time... Man, I love these kiddos!