from this to that....

                                                              from this $7 ugly Goodwill find...

to this useful corkboard....

just used black craft paint I already had..

roll of corkboard I already had..

and some foam board I purchased for less than a dollar...

Bring on all the school papers!

impromtu photo shoot...seven and five...

took some shots of the kids the other day..

can't believe how big they are getting...

I also have gotten a couple emails asking if I would be willing to take photos of other families/kids..

I am open to it..if you like what you see on the blog and you understand that I am a complete amateur and you live in Arizona... we can work something out...just email me...

I did a couple shoots already and I just charged 100 bucks...took my time..worked with everyone..then sent them the cd with my edited images and gave them the rights to print to their hearts content...

pretty rough around the edges I  know.. I have a laid back attitude about it though and I really enjoyed it and they were happy with the way the photos turned out ..so everyone has won so far....

First Day...

Introducing....

Mr. Second Grader and Little Miss Kindergarten...

(it was a little early in the morning for them..can you tell..lol)

off to the first day of school they go....

Hailie anxiously waiting for the school bell to ring...

than she saw her teacher and her face lit up....

he is such a ham...

ready....

Came down the stairs and found Hailiegirl sitting at the counter like this... so I asked her
"babygirl...whatcha doing?"
and her response...
" I'm practicing for Kindergarten mommy..it's in two days you know..."

I hope her Kindergarten teacher is ready!

Our Sunday...

was spent with the fish at the Sea Life aquarium....

photos from Grandma Mary Jo's iphone....

bathing beauty.......

I love you more today than yesterday...

I found this photo on a design blog..can't remember which one... sorry..

but I printed it out because I fell in LOVE with that sign..

I felt pretty confident that I could recreate it....

I found a couple of thin wooden boards at Micheals for $3.99 each...

and the stencils were 4 bucks...

I already had the black and linen paint....

So excited about the way it turned out and it was so easy!

FIVE...

Happy Birthday Hailiegirl....

xoxoxoxoxo

muffins

I finally jumped on the bountiful baskets bandwagon...
and oh my..what a great way to get your fresh fruits and vegetables.. the 7:45 Saturday morning pickup is a killer though..
but this week we got blueberrys... I found this recipe for blueberry muffins on Pioneer Woman..
and wow...these were some good muffins...

I found the Turbinado sugar at Fresh and Easy...

the kids really enjoyed their homemade blueberry muffins..

hope everyone had a happy 4th of July...

guess what I found at target...

has anyone else seen these yet?
so cute..love

J.CREW diy skirt....

Remember this $40 JCREW skirt that I blogged about here 

well for $7 bucks you can make it yourself... I did...
$4 walmart 2xl tshirt
99 cent one inch elastic
$1.99 for some chiffon

I used one of Hailies skirts as a guide to cut the tshirt...

no need to hem the skirt ..I just used the bottom of the tshirt..

then I created a casing and ran the elastic through to make the waistband..

presto...one tshirt skirt...

I then cut one inch strips from the left over tshirt

baste stiched down the middle and pulled the thread to create my ruffle...

I used the jcrew skirt photo as a guide to where I pinned the ruffles and then I just sewed them on...

                                                                  we're getting there....

I then took the white chiffon and cut out two inch strips and based stiched near the top and pulled the thread to create ruffles the same way I did above and I used the picture again to guide me where to put them on the skirt...

and here we go.....

What do you think!? Pretty close right...

I need to cut some of the threads off a little better but Hailie was literally tugging at it to put it on while I was still trying to sew the ruffles on..

She was so happy with her new skirt.. and that made mommy happy

hailies first dance recital....

as you can see she was not shy one bit...she was LOVING it!

After the performance mommy made her take some pictures...
She loves her brother....

with mommy... (seriously with the hand on the hip? where does she get this?!)

Grandma Kathy gave her some really pretty flowers...

and with Grandma Mary Jo and Geoff.. they were really working those poses...

"Mommy, this is what I am going to wear today!"....(hailies line EVERY morning)

My little fashionista is getting ready to turn 5 soon...

I can hardly believe it...

(hailie at one!)

I am seriously in love with all of the new stuff on Crewcuts for her...

I am going to try a couple diy.. stay tuned.. we will see how they turn out...

and then I am going to just have to buy the rest for her...

hey..she has to be ready to set the standard for the rest of the Kindergarten girls... lol