I Scream, U Scream, We All Scream For

ICE CREAM!!!

I had been wanting to have an ice cream party for Arabella and her friends all Summer long so when Mother Nature decided to cooperate today, we had one! I sure could tell that Arabella was excited about the party today when it was about 7:15 and I was still in bed, but awake, and she walked into our bedroom and crawled into bed and said to me "Mommy, can we go to Junies house for ice cream now?" It was so sweet! So as soon as swim lessons were over, we packed up all the ice cream fixings and headed to June's house to enjoy the pool and sunshine and of course ice cream! (PS - I was good and stuck to my diet...no ice cream for me...I am 2 1/2 pounds away from losing 20 pounds...not about to wreck the diet now!)

I put all of the different toppings in a muffin tin...we had sprinkles, fruit, nuts, coconut, cherries, dark chocolate chunks and smashed cookies!

They kids worked up an appetite for ice cream by playing and swimming. Arabella had a lot of fun pushing Ryan around on the John Deere tractor...better not let Dad see this picture!
Ryan also gave her a little ride too!


Arabella doing her superfly jump!

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! I hope you know how much you mean to me. I am so thankful for the support, guidance, understanding and love that you have given to me. Without you as a role model, I don't think that I would have turned into the woman and mother that I am today. Thank you for being such a wonderful Grammie to Arabella - she loves you so much!



Thank you for all that you do! We love you and hope that your day was as beautiful as you!

Martha Moment

So since I am totally caught up on my school work and I aced my 2nd exam...yes, I got a perfect score (Go ME!!), I was able to take a break and do something fun. I decided to put some of my beautiful ribbon to good use and make some new hair bows for Arabella. I love how they came out this time around and I have to say, that I am getting much better at it. I can't wait to make some more!

Scenes of Summer

We have been keeping busy and enjoying all the great sunny weather this past week. Arabella has been loving her swim lessons and she loves her teacher, Emilio. She is doing great - this is the last week of session 3 so we will see if she gets to move up a level or not.
Practising her "starfish" a/k/a back float.

We are starting to enjoy the fruits of our garden. Arabella loves to pick the grape tomato's right off the plant and eat them! We have a lot of green ones on the plants so there will be more coming along soon...YUM!

My little chipmunk with cheeks full of tomato's!

Yesterday, we went to a Birthday Party in the park for Ella who turned 1! It was the perfect day to celebrate in the park. Everyone had a great day and all the kids had fun playing and splashing in the water. Happy 1st Birthday Ella!








And after the party and a cat nap, Arabella and Dad went looking for worms. I am not sure why, but they were!


And since we try to get in as much outside time as possible, we have been enjoying our dinner on the patio. And I love that the plate in front of Arabella is full of fresh fruits and veggies...not junk going on there!

Thursday's Thoughts

Hearing: The breeze rustle through the leaves in the trees outside my office window.

Tasting: A teeny, tiny piece of olive cheese...delish, but not on my current diet...

Seeing: The new Pottery Barn Kids, Pottery Barn and Ballard Designs catalogs that mom sent me! I love everything in them and am feeling inspired to make some fun changes in how I have decorated the house.


Smelling: The Tomato Blossom candle that I purchased on my last Target run in Massachusetts...it is such a pure Summer sent.


Feeling: Content and comfortable. I am caught up with school, Arabella and I have had a great week and I feel like we are right where we belong.

Wordless Wednesday...Late Again

Grocery Haul

I have been seeing a lot of my friends post pictures of their grocery hauls. For those of you who don't know what I am talking about - people will take pictures of how much they purchased and then tell you the total cost and the actual cost after the used coupons, etc. It is pretty amazing to see the deals that people can get and I am secretly jealous over this!

So after being infuriated when I came home from the store last week over how much the bill was, I decided to show you the flip side of that. Most of the items were on sale, I tried to buy as much natural and organic products as possible and notice, that I purchased no meat or milk.


Go ahead, take a guess at how much it cost...drum roll please...

Yes, you are seeing that correctly, $175.95! Pretty sad and scary all in one, right?

And to make matters worse, I had to run out last week and pick up 2 cards. It was like rubbing salt in an open wound. I said out loud to the cashier when she told me the total..."Are you kidding me?" I think she thought I was crazy!


So as much as the US is complaining about having their rating downgraded to AA and your economy is shaky right now...at least you have coupons and can buy greeting cards inexpensively!