our son, whom we named maguire. his hair so white it sparkled and his blue eyes that everyone said would some day change to brown, he was such a beautiful baby. i could not believe that he was finally here. i thought i knew what love was, until i met him. *sigh*
i also remember feeling scared. scared that he didn't come with a manual! but just like making a tower out of blocks, we have taken life one block at a time. each stage just keeps getting better.
such a sweet boy with a great personality,
likes his dessert first,
has a little mischievous grin more often than not,
super cool,
very independent,
and a crazy sense of humor.
and that hair and eyes? as blond and blue as ever! i am asked, daily, where does he get that hair? my husband and i both have dark hair and dark eyes, who would of thought and who cares?! HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY BABY!! i am thrilled to be your mommy, love to watch you grow into a young man, and am so proud of you!
i made this invitation for my mom announcing our trip to the flea market in Sparks, KS. the inside had all the when and where details.
a tiny town and so full of junk! we had such a fun day and the weather was just beautiful. neither one of us brought home that much stuff, my husband says 'that's a good thing'.
booths set up in fields and even in some of the run down little houses. what a charming little place for a flea market. vendors were also there selling funnel cakes, kettle corn, corn dogs, all that yummy and oh so bad for you food. it really added to the atmosphere and a funnel cake every now and then is ok in my book!
tons and tons of stuff just packed in everywhere. if you like to dig and hunt this is one sale you will want to attend. they have it a couple times a year. google 'sparks flea market' and you can get all the details.
this was my favorite booth. filled, jammed pack with game pieces, old vintage playing cards and letters. i could have easily spent all day here digging.
letters and numbers..... drool!!!
i selected only a few playing cards. i have a cute idea to re purpose these for a little something for my june sale.
this mirror has since received a dry brush coat of white paint and will be for sale in the june sale. the butcher paper cutter.....all mine! i have been looking for one of these for a long time. you know, to sit on the counter of that store i don't have. so for now it sits on the work table in my studio. still need to get a roll of paper for it and am pondering painting the gold part of it black.
with two boys, there is not a lot of pink around my house. i fell in love with this old ford jeepster. she's pink, rusty and adorable.
she is right at home on the mantel. i would love to have a real one to use as my garage sale vehicle.
i was excited when i saw this sign. thought i would pick a bouquet to take home. once i got around the side of the sign i cracked up. the flowers were all artificial. it is all about the marketing is it not?! 
well here it is friday again and i can not believe it has been another week since my last blog entry. and i thought i was supposed to be getting better at blogging more frequently?! oh well, at least i am consistently inconsistent. 
a wood table and chairs for two. how sweet this will look when i paint it white and add some numbers to the chairs. i will post a photo once it is completed. cool, large, (1970's) galvanized bucket. i love the rope handles on the side. there are so many uses for this baby but he is in the 'june sale' pile. *sigh* i just can not keep everything i find....even though i really want too! an oval metal photo frame that will soon become a pretty little cork board. baskets for our may day baskets that need to be made and delivered TODAY! and a cute, red plaid shirt for M that doesn't even look like it was ever worn. i love my boys in plaid and i could not pass it up....Talbots Kids...for a buck twenty five.
This was also a fun find today. a box filled with lots of different games.
i drooled over all these game pieces. the tiny card sets all have adorable vintage images on them. the wooden bingo pieces and the black and white cardboard letters. oooooh the possibilities. 
our old potting bench was also moved into the garden area. i plan to grow something up the trellis to make it appear to be in a room of its own. chicken wire side gates are up to keep the pesky rabbits at bay. still need to line the bottom of the fence with wire to make sure they do not sneak in.
the boys and i planted seeds last week. carrots, lettuce, sunflowers, and marigolds. corn and pole beans will go in this week along with the tomato, peppers, and herb plants. our lettuce is already starting to sprout up!
plant markers and tomato cages are in and waiting. i divided the garden into sections with jute so the boys could each have a space and know where things were planted.
i signed up for a class on how to make a rain barrel. unfortunately i was sick with the flu that day, but my friends who also were taking the class put mine together for me. thank you lorie, amy and leslie!! i finally got around to painting it and installing it to the gutter. these are bit unsightly, so one of these days i will get some plants in around it. one project at a time. but for now.... let it rain!
how sweet are these tiny white chairs? (they measure approx. 7" tall) they were all lined up in a row and i could not resist them. as much as i love these babies, they are going in the june sale (details on the sale when it gets closer). i just need to decide if i will sit small potted herbs on them or a candle. so cute!
i also thought that this old wood table was destined for the june sale. but....once i got him home i decided that i needed him here on my patio. the cute round mirror has a plastic frame. it was cracked, but for $1 i knew it had to go in my garden or on my patio. love it!! i also found an old black tray and a garden trug, and a one can never have enough white bowl. i will put my tray bella touch on the tray and maybe some old garden tools in the trug and they will be for sale at the june sale. the bowl i will keep to hold fresh vegetables from my garden.
a photo of my patio. stuff just got lugged out for the season. looking at this photo i see lots of projects. wicker chairs need a new coat of paint and the wood coffee table and my new small table need a coat of marine varnish so they will withstand the summer weather. look how cute that tiny table and mirror look. a perfect spot to hold summer drinks or appetizers when we do summer entertaining. i knew i NEEDED that table! 
over the weekend i used a post hole digger (thanks dad!) to dig the holes for the gate posts. they are in cement and with all the rain we have had will most likely take a week to dry. that gives me time to find some gate hooks so that i can hang the gate. i will also even up the posts on the top and M wants to top them off with bird houses.
luckily the rain stopped yesterday and lucky for me it was during C's nap time. with my rubber boots on and already muddy jacket i headed out to work some more. i have a pile of bricks, left over from another unfinished project, and decided to add some visual interest to the front of the garden. these are just sitting there for now, hopefully this afternoon i will get them buried into the ground a bit. this makes it easy for the mower wheels to go over while mowing the grass. i also need to get these box woods planted and mulch around them.
i finally got all the dirt from the end of the driveway hauled back to the beds. some bags of compost and also mixed in some mulched leaves. once the dirt dries out i will get the beds tilled and we will be ready to plant. it is coming along and the kids and i can not wait to get plants in and watch them grow. i better get out there and get those bricks in the ground.... stay tuned.
coloring eggs is another easter tradition. the boys have a good time dipping the eggs and seeing what colors transpire. by the end, i think each egg gets dipped in ALL the colors. we never know what we'll end up with, and M thinks of it as some science project. we eventually got C to slowly lower his egg into the glass. but then he said 'i like to splash it'. 
seems like we always end up with lots of purple and pinks. the pale blue ones are my favorite.
luckily these just go right back into the fridge....because you know how i feel about pastels. ;)
these cute little eggs, wrapped in strips of paper torn from a french book, are cozy in a nest that sits on an urn.
the perfect color of toasty brown.
spanish moss in a jar with a few eggs is so easy to create. a white rabbit next to a large cream crackled egg sits on my entry table.
this tall rabbit i love. i changed out his pink bow to a chocolate one and i like him even more. he sits on the mantel in our living room.
aaahhh looky there...some blue! i tuck nests here and there and some are filled with eggs. most of these i will keep up all spring.
i just love the simplicity of this white rabbit and like how he really stands out from the green plant he sits in front of.
little brown cast iron rabbit sits quietly on my other mantle waiting for the easter bunny to tuck a filled egg next to him. 
for three years i have been wanting to make raised vegetable gardens in our backyard. with picky eaters, i thought it would maybe help them with their vegetable intake if they had a hand in the process. 
in a sunny part of our yard we started the building. i had some helpers but after just a few smacks of using the hammer they were done. then they decided that a snack in the garden would be good. i hope they are as excited for snaking in the garden once we get some vegetables growing!
it took the better part of the entire day to get these two beds made. chicken wire around the exterior of the beds to keep those pesky rabbits out. a rusty gate i had stored in the attic for this project will be the door to our garden. these will be organic beds, so i could not use grass killer to kill the grass in the beds (and i was too lazy to dig it out). instead, i layered cardboard and then newspaper and then filled them with dirt. the truck load of dirt i had delivered to the end of my driveway was a three day workout for me. not much dirt fits into a wheelbarrow...back and forth, back and forth. wow, was i hurting for a few days (a good kind of hurt!)
