Memorial Day!

Happy Memorial Day!!

I'd love to show you all of the great

photos of the fun we had today,

but I didn't take any....

We were too busy in here!

It was soooo HOT today!  

In the 90's and humid...

Summer time in the South has arrived.

Uncle Rick smoked Ribs and corn on the cob

and we spent the afternoon around the pool.

Jackson didn't even want me to take his picture.

Last night after church we took the boys to 

Aunt Leisa and Uncle Rick's to let them swim for a little while.

Jackson did not want to venture off the steps...

Kerri even tried to pull him off while he was holding a noodle,

but he wanted no part of it...he was just fine on the steps!

Uncle Rick told him he had not even gotten his hair wet,

so he promptly leaned forward and ducked the top of his 

head under the water.  When he came up he was laughing 

and said "see...now it's wet!"

Kerri and Austin fought over the noodle...

there were two of them in the pool,

but they both wanted THAT noodle.

Kerri finally convinced Jackson that he would be able to touch

the bottom of the pool and not go under water...

slllllooooooowwwwwwlllllllyyyy

he decided to give it a try.

He finally ventured off the bottom step and touched the bottom,

and then jumped right back for the steps!

He had  lot of fun in the pool today.

He is still very cautious...but that is good.

He did let Leisa's sister take him out in the shallow end, twice....

I guess some times he does take baby steps instead of giant leaps.

Hope you all had a wonderful day!

Sailing Into Summer

It's official...

Summer Break has started

and we are 

SO EXCITED!!!

I thought I would set the table with a little

Red, White and Blue 

as we get ready to celebrate

Memorial Day

and the start of our summer fun!

I borrowed the sailboat from The boys bathroom.

It sits on their vanity for decor and 

Jackson has been telling me all week long to put it back.

Just grabbed some red and white flowers from the floral

department in our local Publix and filled in with

some clips off my ferns on the back porch.

I found the nautical rope place mats at a Dillard's Clearance Store.

I have to admit, I was like a woman on a mission in there.

Although they do organize (sort of) by department...

there is no organization on the shelves themselves.

The place mats were all stacked on top of each other on a shelf and you had

to dig from the top to the bottom to see if you could find a matching set.

It was a little like digging for gold...

and the many boxes of napkins...

Oh My...

With Memorial Day right around the corner,

I figured it was a perfect time to bring them out.

Red chargers and crisp white plates top

the navy and white place mats.

Red sail boat napkin rings from Old Time Pottery

topped off the setting...

Red Cambridge acrylic handled flatware make it a little more festive.

And after pressing the napkins, the table is set.

Will you come and join us?

A quick view from above

A close up of the edge of the charger and plate.

I like that the beading on the charger is repeated on the plate.

The chargers were from also from Old Time Pottery

back at Christmas time.

Clear stemware at each setting ready for some

sweet tea.

We hope you enjoy your Memorial Day

with family and friends as we kick off the start to summer, 

but most of all remembering those who have gone on

before us, fighting for our freedom

They Keep Us Free

by

Roger Robicheau

In time of need, their will is sure

American, their freedom pure

Protect our life and liberty

Unselfishly, the keep us free

Each soldier knows what is at stake

The risk is grave, there's no mistake

With pride they serve our country strong

They face each foe to come along

Remember them while in your home

Or, where you choose to freely roam

Don't take for granted what you see

Some left this life, so it could be

To God, I urge you all to pray

For soldiers brave to face each day

We should be thankful, one and all

For those who march to meet each call

Thank you so much for stopping by...

come again, anytime.

I am going to join in at

Let's Dish with Cuisine Kathleen

and

Tablescape Thursday with Susan

Have a wonderful weekend!

On the Downhill Slide....

We are holding on and counting down the days until 

School is OUT for SUMMER!!!

While we are ready for the end of school, I think we are most ready for

the end-of-semester projects to END!

This was tonight's project for Geography....

They had to make a food from a country that

they are also reporting on.

Austin's group has Ireland...

Land of Irish Whiskey and Beer?

We would laugh when reading the recipes...

the conversation went a little like this.

"Oh, this sounds good....wait...nope...beer"

"Here's one... never mind..."

Would not be wise to send something made with 

Liquor to the Bible School....

So, we settled on Boxty...

and a box of Lucky Charms...

(one web site they found listed Lucky Charms cereal as a 

delicacy in Ireland....)

Who knew?

So, 7th Grade Geography will be munching down on some

potato pancakes and Lucky Charms tomorrow!

All I can say is

"Kiss Me...I better get an A!"

Also, the end of the school year brings 

Awards Day...

Austin was really hoping that he could go 

"under the radar" this year...

Since he is now considered in

"High School", the awards day festivities have

changed from elementary years.

Gone are the awards for all "A's",

now there are only a few awards given by certain teachers

for the highest average...

Austin was really hoping that he would not have

to walk up in front of everyone and he knew that 

he was not the "highest average" kid, so he thought he was in the clear.

BUT

He wasn't so lucky!

The night before they had scheduled the awards program

we got an e-mail that he would be recognized

along with the others in his class that participated

in the Duke University TIP program.

This program selects 7th graders that have

scored in the 95th percentile on the standardized tests

that are given each year by the state to take the 

ACT or SAT college entrance exams.

We "made" Austin take it back in February.

He took it along with four other kids from his class.

While he really did not "like" taking the test,

it was a good experience for him.

Not to mention it will look good on his

applications in the future when he applies for College.

So, now that projects have been completed...

we are kicking back and counting down the 

last three days of school!

Whoo Hoo!!!

It's almost SUMMER!!!!

I snapped this picture tonight to remind me of the 

"Sweet Moments" that these two share every once in a while....

It was very quiet and I knew they were not sleeping, 

I found them computing...

Austin on his computer and Jackson was on Austin's iPad...

He wants to do what Big Brother is doing.

Too Sweet!

Congratulations, Class of 2012!

This weekend I helped host a Graduation Party for

all of our Seniors at church.

This year we had nine Seniors to help celebrate.

We held it at a local bank in their community room.

We set up a table in the foyer with all of the

kids Senior portrait, school they were graduating from and a 

copy of the party invitation and a couple of cute quotes.

Heather, one of our fabulous hostess' made several

lovely centerpieces that were placed in small vases

on silver candle plates.

The serving tables were set and awaiting our guests.

Beverage table for punch and water.

Starting to put our goodies out on the table to have things ready for

our guests of honor to arrive.

a few more goodies are making their way to the table.

This year we decided to have a brownie bar for our 

dessert table.  We had brownies with an assortment of toppings and 

coffee for dessert.

brownies, cherries, nuts, sprinkles, OH MY!

We also had some yummy chocolate sauce and caramel topping!

It was delicious.

I didn't get a picture of all of the individual dishes, but snapped

a quick photo of Becky's beautiful vegetable tray.

Her daughter Beth helped her arrange the different veggies and used 

a cabbage and peppers to hold hummus an ranch dip.

It was a very beautiful presentation.

I thought the little picks were cute

"Class of 2012"

Here are all of the lovely ladies that helped put on

a wonderful party...

(L to R in front)

Quinta, Heather, Mia, Becky, Ingrid

(L to R in back)

Michele, Me, Veronica, and Joy

Each graduate set up card tables to place some of their 

"mementos" for everyone to see.

It was a wonderful evening and I think everyone 

had a really good time.

Dining Room Mix Up

Wait... May 1st...

How did this happen?

We have been so busy around here, I feel like

we are spinning around in circles.

School is winding down for Austin

and he is ready to be out for the summer.

I think he only has 16 days of school left...

where did this year go??

Well, while I have been trying to keep him on track until

the last day of school we have been busy around the house,

inside and out.

The spring weather always makes

for a laundry list of projects for Scott on the outside

of the house and I always have a laundry list of things to

do inside... as well as the laundry!

One of the projects we have been working on inside is

my Dining Room.  

While Mom was here, I got the bright idea to move the furniture around.

Mother and I unloaded the china cabinet and proceeded with 

the old switch-a-roo

I was so excited to get to moving that I forgot to take a photo

of the furniture the way it was...

I dug around through some of my old photos to see if I could find one,

but these were the best I could come up with.

the buffet sat in an inset in the wall.  This was where I had the movers put it

the day we moved in and that was where it stayed.

As you can see in the photo above, the couch was creating a 

"wall" on one side of the dining room and the table was running

parallel to the couch...

Mom and I unloaded things and got to moving...

And this is what we ended up with...

We moved the china cabinet to the little nook where the buffet originally sat,

moved the buffet over in front of the window, brought in the server

that matches my dining room set that we had no room for 

with the other arrangement.

And finally we turned the table perpendicular to the 

way it originally sat.

The room looks so much bigger!

I am really liking the new furniture arrangement.

Now, I am just going to have to figure out what to put on the walls.

The large mirror that was above the buffet is too big

to hang over the server, but the wall looks very bare

with it's high ceiling and little piece of furniture.

I would love to have a plate display on the wall.

 I have been looking around on Pinterest for some ideas...

I really liked this idea of mixing blue and white

together...

source

It's still a work in progress, but I am liking what

we have done so far.

I would also like to paint and have Scott add some wainscoting.

I need to find a new rug...once I turned the table,

the rug that was in there was too big.  We moved it into the

living room and it now covers the ugly carpet that is needing to be replaced.

Scott has been busy outside working on a project or two

as well...

Jackson's swing set and play house were in need a little face lift...

This set was a hand me down when Austin was little.

Our good friends, the Pender's had bought this for their

daughter Kerri when she was little...

she will turn 22 this month and be getting married

at the end of the year.

The roof that had been on it, became worn and torn with the weather,

so we had taken it off long ago.  We had stained it several years ago,

and it was showing a lot of wear, so Scott got straight to work.

We cleaned it with a mixture of Tide and Bleach

and then went to town with the pressure washer!!

Bye-Bye ugly stain....

Scott also built a new roof for the little fort...

My little handy man...

He can fix just about anything.

Hard at work adding the last few nails to hold the top on...

And this is where we are today...

New roof and all ready for some new stain.

Which is on the list of things to do when Scott is 

able to stay in town for more than three days at a time...

Some times we take baby steps around here...

I guess that is better than no steps at all!

So that is just a little peek into what we've been up too.

Now, just to make it through Homespun at school this weekend,

along with the Graduation party for the kids at church,

end of school and the summer fun can begin!