Fun Fourth!

Projects...photo booth...family...cake and FUN!  We had a great fourth!!!

4th of July Project:

I love the American flag! Around this time of the year you see it everywhere. Waving in the air on the front porches of homes, in store front windows, and lining the sides of streets. But, I want to see it all year long!!   With some pinterest inspiration and some scrap wood I found while cleaning the garage I made some wall décor for the boys new bathroom (a remodel in the works).   A short DIY project that was seriously easy.

What you will need:

*piece of wood (any size)

*paint or stain (I used leftover paint I found in garage)

*painters tape

*star stencil (I made my own)

*foam brushes (so you can just throw them away)

Step one:

Found this piece of wood- mine is 48"x 24"

I wanted the colors to be muted and natural so I put a light coat of stain on the entire piece of wood.

(Stain used: Watco Danish Oil in Dark Walnut)

Step two:

Tape off stripes (I did approx. 2" stripes)

Step 3:

Paint!

I used French Vanilla chalk paint for the white and left the stain for the red stripes.

Step 4:

Star Stencil

I made my own stencil.  I just printed out stars on a piece of paper and used a razor to cut them out. 

Tape the stencil on the edges and paint!

Project complete!!

Time to Celebrate this Land that I love!!!

Family, photo booth, fishing, food, cake and FUN!!

YUM!

My Fisherman!!

Love Photo booth props!! HA!

Happy, Happy, Happy

Don't wait for the storm to pass

 AHHHH! It has been a month since my last post.  Where did the time go?  I have soo many post to catch up on, so it is time for some "Speed Blogging".  Grab some coffee or sweet tea- multiple posts coming your way...ready...set...go! 

Learning to Dance in the rain:

This southern girl loves her sunshine, so when weeks of rain flood  your life (literally) it would be easy to get bummed out.  I took my first vacation so far this year for the week of the 4th.  Plans for a stay-cation with my family filled with days at the pool, Six Flags and White Water ended up being a week of non-stop rain and days spent inside.  This could have sent me into a panic...however sometimes the unexpected turns out to be a blessing.   This vacation week was an eye opener for me.  As a person who thrives on organization and schedules...I was faced with 7 days of no plans...and no plans turned into finding joy in the simple things again.  Family meals were one of my favorite times during this week. (an event that is few in our house of ever changing work schedules)

From big pancake, egg and bacon breakfasts to southern feasts of ribs, turnip greens and cornbread...I loved the time sitting down for meals everyday as a family. 

In this electronic driven world we live in... board games have become a thing of the past.

 So my kids were not exactly thrilled when I first suggested playing one.  But, sometimes you need to get back to the basics.  One family board game of Yahtzee turned into a week of board game tournaments of Rummikub, Scrabble and Yahtzee...oh and one of my kids favorites Spot it.

From early morning games with coffee in hand to late night games with S'mores.

            My cup runneth over for days like this!!!

As a working mom and wife, days get hectic and rushed thru and the everyday tasks (aka-cooking, cleaning, laundry) usually feel like work.  The slow pace of my "stay-cation" week brought me back to a life I love. I actually enjoyed cooking  these big meals....blasting country music while doing some deep cleaning was actually fun...and laundry...well it was still laundry...but a week inside where your entire family wears their pajamas all day made for a lot less laundry...score!  

Thank you Lord for these storms last week...and thank you for teaching my family to dance in the rain!