12 years ago....

I married my best friend.

The one I laugh with,

the one I cry with,

the one I pray with,

the one I will love forever.

I love you, babe.

Grey's

I finally watched the Grey's Anatomy season finale [trying to catch up on the dvr...]

Tell me you saw it...

It was a complete surprise ending [at least for me ~ maybe I'm just completely oblivious].

I'm not afraid to admit that I bawled my eyes out at the end.

I always check on my boys before I go to bed, but tonight, I wanted to wake them up and tell them I loved them. Mark was already in bed, but I'm glad he wasn't asleep because I definitely would have woken him up. I had to give him a hug and tell him how much I love him.

For those of you non-Grey's watchers, you might be wondering what prompted all this.
At the end of the episode, Meredith was narrating.
Here's what she said:
"Did you say it?
I love you.
I don't ever want to live without you.
You changed my life...
Did you say it?
Make a plan.
Set a goal.
Work toward it.
But every now and then look around.
Drink it in.
Cause this is it.
It might all be gone tommorow."

Live in the moment. Make sure your loved ones know that they are loved.

I Guess We're Going Out for Dinner.....

Sock Chickens, Part 2

Remember this post?

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he needed sock chickens in the sandbox....

Last week after the sock chicken episode, I decided to sit out on the deck and help Evan with his homework there while the other kids were playing. I observed Ryan playing intensely in the sandbox. He was pouring and stirring and mixing and would get very upset if Nathan or C disturbed anything.

Then, I overheard him telling Nathan that he was mixing up the cheese with the breadcrumbs to put on the chicken. The "chicken" was 4 shovels lined up in a row awaiting their crumb coating.

This child tells us almost on a daily basis that when he grows up he's going to go to chef school and become a chef.

He loves watching shows like "Everyday Food" and "Rachael Ray."

And when asked what he was thankful for on Thanksgiving, his first answer was the refrigerator.

I'm beginning to think we have a foodie on our hands :)

It's Official....

Summer can begin.

I've had my yearly begining-of-summer pedicure.

The car is packed and ready.

We're on our way to the beach for our annual family vacation in the Outer Banks....

Life is good, but it's about to get better :)

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please note that all posts this coming week have been scheduled ahead of time :)

Magical...

This used to be my sister, Jill's, favorite word.

Everything was or had to be magical.

Her trips,

her parties,

her graduations,

her wedding,

her house.

I love that Jill thinks like this.

It's what makes her Jill. :)

She and her hubby, Brian, are in the process of making

their yard magical. Brian trash-picked a sliding board

and installed it into the side of the hill in their backyard.

And as if that wasn't magical enough, they put little steps
up the one side with bricks and flowering plants around it.

Isn't that the most magical thing for a 2 1/2 year old?

Nathan & Ava had a blast playing on this Saturday night...

Cheap & Easy

This is my mantle....

I cannot take claim for the creativity here. I stole all my ideas from my MOPS crafts coordinator, Karen ~ she is awesome ~ someday, I will dumpster dive with her!!! :) She was kicked out of the Pottery Barn Outlet dumpster once [apparently you're not allowed to actually put to good use something that they have thrown away as trash].

Anyway, most of the stuff you see came from the dollar store!!!!! Yes, I said the DOLLAR store! And the rest of it was pretty inexpensive [read: found around my house, on the beach, or at Walmart]

the greens....$1

the large glass hurricane.....$4

the sand.....$4

the candle plates....$1

the glass votive holder w/wire handle....$1

You can put this look together, too. Just gather various sized glass containers and fill them with sand. Then you can add shells, candles, votives, black & white photos, greens....whatever you want to give it texture and dimension.

I made the glass votive holder with the wire handle. The glass container was a parmesan cheese shaker for $1 at the dollar store [I bought 10]. All I did was get some wire and twist it into a handle and wrap it around the top of the jar. Filled it with sand, plopped in a votive, and it was complete.

Aren't they cute? And super cheap and easy....

I made a bunch and gave one to each of my sisters and sister-in-law on Mother's Day. I'm going to make some more ~ why not? ~ and hang them along my front sidewalk as decoration.