Happy Fall, Ya'll

I am so excited that it's Fall! I am ready to enjoy crisper weather (not cold, but just right for jeans!) and Halloween and Thanksgiving and the leaves and ... the list could go on and on!

I have also enjoyed decorating the house a little for Fall. Here are a few things that we've done to help us enjoy the season even more! Pumpkins, pumpkins EVERYWHERE!!

Little faux (sounds classier than fake, don't you think?) pumpkins on some pillar candlesticks.

More pumpkins on candlesticks! The larger pumpkin was from the dollar section at
Target - I added the green ribbon.

Bowl of gourds and mini pumpkins - this time all real! Sam's Club
has bags of gourds for under $5.

Candy Corn!

And a little before and after for you...

Before - I bought a cute pumpkin to hang on our front door, but when I got it home, the brown color of the pumpkin did not work with my burgundy front door. The pumpkin kind of got lost.


And after - I painted it a creamy white and added another green ribbon and it shows up much better now!

Have a great day! And Happy Fall, Ya'll!

Blessings

There are a lot of blogs that I read that have something called "Thankful Thursday" where they list things that have been blessings in their lives over the past week. I have also heard of people doing this every night in a journal.

I have to admit that I have never actually done this. And I should. I have a tendency to take control over my own life - even taking control from God - and take credit for the good, the bad, and the ugly in my life. Not a good thing.

So, this morning, I was looking through my reader (if you follow blogs, you should use Google Reader or any other reader. It makes your life so much easier - thank you Brooke!) and I began to read a post that I needed to read so badly. I know that it was written for me today. This blog, called "Stretch Marks" is so funny and I always am touched by reading what Melissa Lee has to say. Today was no exception. She wrote a wonderful post about letting go, being still, and allowing God to take control in your life. Click here to read the post. I especially love how she turned the lyrics to "Jesus Loves Me" around - Jesus knows me. This I love.

I have to say that this blog is my "sunshine and roses". So many wonderful things have happened in the life of my family this past year, and I wanted to document them here in this blog. But, I have to admit, that moving and the changes that have happened in my life have been so difficult for me. I am a control freak and having no control over circumstances and just life in general has been tough. But rather than just floundering, like I've been doing, I'm going to be still and let go. Today.

So, today I am thankful for...

• Davis' ginormous smile and giggles, his boundless energy, and the fact that he's at preschool right now.

• Drew and his love for all things Captain Underpants (he reads all the time!).

• Kevin and his heart.

• Watching my little sister being such an awesome mom to her little man.

• Blogs posts that touch my heart.
• My home.

And I am thankful for you! Have a great day!

Funny Story...

Kevin usually doesn't get a whole blog post dedicated to him, but I thought this story was truly deserving...

So, since I have been staying at home, I have tried to take care of the shopping (I am REALLY good at this job, by the way). I pretty much run errands for our family - including buying gifts.

Kevin tells me that he needs for me to buy a shower present for one of his colleagues who is having a baby girl any time now. Not a problem. In fact, I LOVE buying for girls! So, I buy the gift and have it wrapped and all tied up in pink ribbons. So cute!

Anyway, he will miss the shower because he will be out of town. So, he delivers the present early to his colleague. Normally, this would be great because he is thinking ahead (and as much as I love him, he is still a man, and he does not "think ahead" on a regular basis). But, not this time! He delivered the gift the day before her SURPRISE baby shower!

Hahahahahaha! Good one, sweetie! His face in the photo, by the way, is similar to the look he would be giving me if he knew I was writing this!

Spa Saturday

I know it may sound silly to get excited about spa products, but I was jazzed when Arbonne introduced Sea Source, our new line of spa products earlier this year. Really, really jazzed! This may sound crazy to some of you, but I do not love going to the spa. I'm always by myself when I go and it's just not that relaxing to me. I worry about EVERYTHING - where I put my clothes, how gross my feet look, how much to tip...

I know it sounds goofy (and I realize that now that I'm typing this all down), but that's just me, I guess. Now, you may understand a little better why I was so excited about Sea Source. You can have a spa day AT HOME!!! Hooray for not having to tip!

Here are two of my favorites - the Rescue Wash and the Re-Mineralizing Lotion.

Plus, as I have begun to learn more and more about our products lately, I have realized that these products are not just a luxury. These products were created to detox and re-mineralize. And when I say detox - I mean DETOX! If you would like, you can email me and I will tell you a really gross story about a detox bubble bath that I had not long ago. Let's just say, it wasn't pretty!

I also have to share that I visited a dermatologist recently and he told me that there was nothing that I could do about the PK (little red, raised bumps) on the backs of my arms. "This is as good as it gets," he said. Well, obviously he does not know how vain I am! I was determined to make it better and I have used the Sea Source products religiously and, I am happy to say, he was wrong. HA! I love proving doctors wrong!

I would love to host a spa party at my home (or yours!). Let me know if you are interested! Arbonne hostesses earn LOTS of free stuff - you could earn the entire Sea Source line of products!

Click on the Arbonne button to visit my Arbonne website.
You can shop from there or visit the Arbonne website to learn more about Sea Source!

Hope you have a great weekend! I have a lot of home projects that I can't wait to show you next week!

See you soon!

Farmer Davis

Tuesday was Farm Day at Davis' preschool. So, we dug through the box of Drew's old Halloween costumes to find the only pair of 2T overalls that we have (he was a train conductor that year, but we do the best we can)! They fit perfectly and we stuck a red bandanna in his back pocket too. I know I don't have to apologize, 'cause this is my blog, but, I'm sorry - have you EVER seen a cuter farmer?



When I got him dressed, I said, "Well, hello Farmer Davis!" And Davis said, "Hewwo, Faamah Mommy!" I could just eat him with a spoon!

And I had to include this picture - I'm not sure what this look is, but he gives it to me all the time. Hmmm....


We also had snack duty that day and we made haystacks for his class - sticking with the farm theme, of course! Davis' teacher said that the kids really enjoyed them, but they just kind of sat there looking at them for a minute until she started breaking them up into more manageable 2 year old bites!

Waaay too Early for Halloween!

Oh, well! I just can't wait! I wanted to show a few Halloween projects that I have been working on. Both projects were inspired by other bloggers.



I bought a grapevine wreath not too long ago with the intent of creating a Fall wreath for our back door. I never could decide how to start and what I wanted to put on it, so I changed directions. Drew and I have been checking out all of the new Halloween decor as I drag the boys around Home Goods or Target or Michaels or...well, you get the idea. I drag my children through a lot of stores that they have no interest in!



Anyway, I had been buying up some orange and black ribbon from the dollar ribbon bin at Michael's and it hit me one day that I could tie ribbons onto my wreath kind of like how the Nester and her Ragamuffin Garland.

I could make a ragamuffin wreath! I thought I was so original and creative until I went to Etsy and searched "ribbon wreath" and came up with a hundred or so examples of what I had done. Oh, well. I still like it and I think it may get to grace the front door come October! By the way, the wreath was from Wal-Mart for about $3 and the ribbon was stuff I had or from the dollar ribbon bin - in all I think this project cost about $10.



I made this after Joy at Joys of Home encouraged her readers to use some other Wal-Mart craft finds. I used 3 round, unfinished wood plaques and bought 3 letters to spell out BOO!



I decopaged some scrapbook paper, roughed up the edges with sandpaper and used a black ink pad to distress the edges. Then I painted the letters orange, sanded them, and used the ink pad again to make them look old and spooky and attached them to the plaques. That's it. Took about 30 minutes total, but 20 of that was drying time. This little project was about $6.




I've never decorated much for Fall, just Halloween, but I have a few really good ideas from some of my favorite blogs. I'll share some pictures if I can get motivated!

Have a great day!

Clemson Football

2 Football Tickets: $134

ESPN Game Day Bottle of Water: $6





Watching Alabama "roll" over Clemson: PRICELESS

I hope you can feel the sarcasm here! I still love my Tigers!