4 years ago ...

we welcomed our first bundle of joy, A, into the world. I remember most every detail of that day. I remember being truly amazed that this was my child and that my DH and I had created this beautiful child. It was one of the happiest days of my life. It's hard to believe that it was four years ago. My how she has grown and changed and truly developed into her own person. I'm so proud to be able to say I'm her mom. No matter how much she aggravates me at times, she is so precious and so full of life. Happy birthday A, Mommy loves you!

Two of my favorite pictures of her recently.

Simply Stunning!

This is amazing! Too bad I don't have $4,200 plus $1,425 shipping to put it in my own home.

Restored vintage claw foot tub via paintintheair

Winner, Winner!

I know most everyone says this, but I never win anything. I enter contests and giveaways all the time and I never win. Well all that changed yesterday ... I entered the Think Crafts Blog Free Stuff Friday giveaway and I won! Who would've thought! I'm pretty excited about the bobbin tower since I've been eying these for quite some time. Maybe this will be my kick start to start working on my strip quilt.

Here's what I won!

A Fairy Special Birthday

I'm finally getting around to putting up some photos from A's birthday. I decided to try this fancy Shutterfly slide show instead of posting all the photos. She had a wonderful time and loved eating her mini fairy cupcakes!

Click here to view these pictures larger

5 years!!

Five years ago today I married the man of my dreams. I can't believe how fast these 5 years have been. I remember our wedding day like it was yesterday. Almost everything turned out how I wanted it, except the cake -- I'm still mad at that lady. A couple months after our wedding we bought our first house. Then 6 days after our one year anniversary I gave birth to A. We traveled and worked and went to school and kept very busy. Then last year along came J and we bought our second house. It's amazing how much we've grown over the past 5 years. I couldn't imagine my life without my wonderful husband and my two girls. Some days I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. As my DH told me this morning "Just think of the things we could accomplish in the next 5 years." I can't wait to see what the next 5 years of my life holds. No matter what I know it will be wonderful.

Photo taken last fall at my step-sister's wedding

Just keep running

Every Sunday night I run. It's not a lot, but at least I've committed to one day a week. I'm excited for September to do the 4 mile race -- my goal is to run at least 3.5 miles of that time. I can run 2 miles so hopefully in the next 3 months I can get better. Maybe as the race gets closer I'll set a time goal for myself. Right now I run about a 12 minute mile which isn't very fast, but I run the whole thing so that makes me proud. I always hated running as a kid ... I was the rebel in high school that would walk the mile because I didn't want to run or just complain the whole time. I made fun of the cross country runners because they liked to run, I thought "who would want to run?!" I take back everything I said about runners because now I want to be one. It's a chunk of "me" time in the week; I get to be outside and take time to reflect upon the week. It's peaceful to run by the lake and see the families playing in their yards. I feel like a better person when I'm done. The stress has gone, the arguments of the week fade away ... I feel renewed.

I probably need these ...

Vintage library cards via fadedplains

Brass hanging baskets via VintageExpedition

Blue Ball Perfect Mason jars via southrosewindow

Eat Me party picks via pinkcherrymama

And visions of fabric danced in her head...

I've been itching to sew lately. I've lived in my current home for over a year and I have yet to get my sewing machine out. It's been calling my name ... asking to be used ... asking to come out and play. I see sewing in my future (after party planning of course!), but until then I've been searching for some fabric eye candy.

This would be perfect in J's room via rainbowfabrics

I'm thinking pillows for this one via SuzyQsFabric

Don't really need it, but love looking at it via masonscottage

Getting Crafty!

I worked on the table cover for A's birthday party last night and I'm pretty happy with the results. I thought about adding some additional elements around the edges, but that might just have to wait until tonight. I attempted to make a welcome banner, but my spelling skills weren't with me. I got "Welcome to Pixie" on there perfectly and when I went to add "Hollow" I somehow wrote "Hallow". So needless to say the welcome banner went into the trash and maybe I'll try again tonight. I plan on assembling the favors tonight (fairy purses filled with bubbles, candy and whatever other goodies I can find), so hopefully those turn out well. Only a few more days to pull it all together! Who knew party planning for a 4 year old would be so stressful?!

Camera phone photo so it's not the best

Camping {take 2}

Yes, we did it again. We went camping this past weekend. Somehow I just realized that I never blogged about our first camping adventure, so here is a quick summary.

Our first camping trip...

• The break line went out on the truck while my DH was hauling the camper. He spent 4 hours trying to get it fixed.
• The campground was muddy from all the rain we've had, so our first campsite was very muddy and the camper was tilting. Bad enough that A kept saying "Mommy our house is falling!"
• Saturday we moved our camper to higher/drier grounds. We had lunch and tons of fun being outside. But then Saturday late afternoon came with the rain. Yes, more rain.
• It wouldn't stop raining. It poured all night. The ground was even more muddy and full of puddles. We were sick and tired of the rain.
• Sunday was nice until after lunch. The sky darkened and the tornado sirens started blaring. We decided to pack up and get out of there.

So ... not a glamorous first camping trip, but we had fun none the less. Which brings me back to this past weekend and camping trip number two. Friday night didn't start very well since it was pouring down rain while we were trying to hook up the camper. By the time we got to the campsite the sun was shinning and it turned out to be a beautiful weekend. We swam in the pond, played at the playground and cooked over the campfire. It was a perfect weekend!

On a roll!

Got the invitations sent out for A's birthday ... now I'm looking for tutus and fairy wings for the girls to wear. I've found some super cute options on Etsy, but I'm not sure I really want to spend that much. In my ideal world I would make them myself, but as I mentioned before I won't be around this weekend since we will be camping. Crafting in the camper doesn't exactly sound like the best plan. Here's the outfits I like so far ... maybe they will serve as inspiration.

Fairy set via attiTUTUde

Pixie tutu via lilyjillbowtique

A very fairy birthday

I'm starting to plan A's birthday party. She decided last night she wants a Tinkerbell/fairy birthday. So today the planning has begun. I've got to get invitations sent out by Wednesday this week (which means I need to buy them tonight), I need to start buying decorations and I have to figure out food. Oh and we are going camping this weekend so I will have to try and accomplish all of this after work during the next week or two. Fantastic! Nothing like party planning on a tight schedule (and budget!). Wish me luck -- I may need to pick up some fairy dust first so I can get everything accomplished.

Lots of cute ideas found here including this fairy dust

It may be true ...

[image source]

It may be true that I'm a the pilot, but sometimes I think I'm off course. It's hard to believe that it's already June. We are half way through the year and it has flown by. I wish I could stop and just enjoy the small moments in the day that make you smile. One day I will get to slow down, one day.