Summer wreath

I've become a bit of a wreath person it seems in the last year.  I've found some great inspiration online and made a few myself.  I love jones design company and was enamored by her simple summer wreaths she posted a few weeks ago.  Hello?  She had me at jute twine!  Here's my take on her idea:

I used cute scrapbook paper from my stash although it made the pinwheels a little harder to work with because scrapbook paper is so thick.  I had to hot glue them together and then on to the wreath rather then just using the thumbtack.

It cost me less then $5 to make and only took about an hour and half to create.  Wrapping the twine always takes some time, but was much faster then wrapping yarn as I've done before.  I'm so happy with my finished project and it definitely reminds me summer!

Two years later

 Two years ago today, you slept in my arms as we drove away from a place that was never home to you.  I silently cried, overwhelmed by the unknowns that laid ahead.  I cried because I had to leave Silas behind.  I cried because you were a sad, frightened baby and I didn't know what to do to fix that.

But God did.  He saw it all...each piece of the puzzle of your life moving together to unite us as a family.  He poured out His love to us, that overflowed to you.  He filled us with extra grace that carried us through the beginning of our new life together.

And today I could sit here and cry because I'm overwhelmed by the amazingness of YOU!  I love you, Mathios Jon Kumalo!

Lake House 2011

As mentioned before, we spent the weekend at a lake house with members of our home group.  One of the families in our group owns a house on a small lake in Michigan and they invited us all up for a long weekend. Friends + large body of water + good food = perfect weekend!  We all had a great time being out on the water, fishing off the dock, playing games after the kids were in bed and getting to know each other better.  I didn't take nearly as many pictures as I thought I did.  But here's a few of our fun...

 Early morning canoe rides

 Tubing with buddies

 Mati was my brave guy and went with his little buddy, E (and Cale, too!  We didn't put two 3 year olds out there alone!)

Beautiful clouds giving us a break from the scorching sun

Our trusty boat that safely hauled all 17 of us around the lake!

We are so thankful for this group of people to share life with.  We celebrated lots of first with adults and kids alike.  Our kids love being together and even after 48 hours together had only minor issues.  It was a great weekend and something we hope to do again and again!  Next year, we'll bring the boat!

Must watch soon.

We had the pleasure of spending our weekend at a lake house with friends from our home group.  That means two things: we had a ton of fun and I have yet been able to watch the SERIES FINALE of the greatest show ever...Friday Night Lights. (Come, on!  You knew I wasn't going to let it's ending pass without mention!)  This is killing me.  People are writing about it and Amber and I need to debrief and I have yet to watch it!  I spent 14 hours in the car yesterday that prevented me from watching and I told Cale I would wait for him, but I don't know if I can keep that promise.  There's a lot of hours to go til tonight.  And we both know that I'm gonna watch it more then once anyways.  Amber emailed me as she watched and it only heightened the anticipation.  When she mentioned that she was alternating between crying and clapping, I knew I was gonna love it. I've got to watch it soon or I might explode!

And the lake..it was great.  Picture proof to come!

Mati's New Wall

Mati moved to a big boy bed last November and since then I've wanted to re-do the wall over his bed.  That wall previously held his dresser and the rocking chair so we had a mirror and a print on the wall.  Back in March we bought a few little pieces to re-do the wall and they've sat in his room since then.  Until Saturday when I had had enough.  I really wanted to get it done, but I also know you can't force yourself to be creative.  I had an empty canvas I wanted to use but wasn't too sure what to do with it...but then inspiration hit and I'm happy with it.  It's nothing really original, but it works great in his room.

 A blank canvas, quickly painted and then his name cut out with the Silhouette with some paper in my stash.  A little twine, a few triangles and you've got yourself some pennants!  Cute!

And the whole wall view- I promise things don't look this crooked in person!  I even straightened everything before I took the picture.  If I were a perfectionist I would go take another picture. I'd also go fix the bumps in his bed so it looked nicer.  I'm not a perfectionist.  Good enough is more my style when it comes to stuff like this.  I'm so glad to have this little project done.  On to the next thing on my to-do list!

The Highlight Reel

It's been awhile, hasn't it?  I didn't really intend to take such a long break, but life just happens and here we are 2.5 weeks later.  We've been busy living up summer fun and visiting with family.  So here's a few pictures...we'll call it the highlight reel:

A day at the lake with friends...tubing and Cale's annual try at skiing (he's always good!).

Although this year when he did fall (or give up because he's getting old and his back hurt!) Mati cried, "He fell down!  Papa fell down!" and started crying.  It was a sad, but sweet moment!

One of our three dates we got to go on found us at one of my favorite places in the world- Presque Isle for a sunset.  Even more enjoyable then the view was my company. But it was a beautiful sunset!

Ice cream treats with Nana and Papa Jim are always a hit.  And it was very entertaining watching both of them inhale their "kid cones" that were giant sized!

Mati and his buddy P, riding around the yard.  Doesn't P look worried and Mati slightly mischievous?  Always fun to see old friends and let our kids play together!

Climbing trees and playing outside with cousins...the good stuff summer memories are made of.

 Mati and his cousin Levi on the merry-go-round while the big kids rode something scarier at the local amusement park we visited.  I went there as a kid and my mom used to work there; its a place full of memories and was the perfect way to spend an afternoon with family.

Mati and Cale rode one of the roller coasters together.  The fact that my three year old can ride it tells you how "big" it must be.  He loved every second of the ride!

Funny, there are no pictures of our actual 4th of July celebrating.  I think my mom captured all the fun on her camera so sadly you won't be seeing pictures of my sparkler dance or Cale's fireworks show.  I know you're bummed.  So that's what I've been doing lately.  What have you been up to?

Family Road Trip

We crossed state lines last weekend and headed to Indianapolis for a little family getaway.  We spent Friday at the Indy Zoo and fun was had by all.  It's not a huge zoo, but had plenty of animals to see including some special features that we loved.

For the low, low price of $1, Haven was given the chance to feed a giraffe.  Guess what they fed them?  Sweet potatoes!  A mammal after my own heart!  She loved it!

We spent lots of time watching the giraffes.  There was a baby who was only a few months old.  Right across from the giraffes was a huge area that held zebra and kudu.  We also enjoyed watching them.  Mati was very into the zebras.  He was also into carrying the map around.  And then he dropped the map into the zebra enclosure.  Whoops!  He was so upset and started crying.  The next day at the museum he was holding the map and he said, "Mama, I not feed the zebras again."  So funny!

They also loved the shark petting exhibit. We spent so much time there as they patiently waited again and again to try to touch one.  Haven was successful several times.  Mati's just a bit too short!  Since we planned to stay the night it was so nice to take our time through everything and not feel rushed because we had to be somewhere.  Another highlight of the zoo was the dolphin show.  It was a little low-key because they had a 2 week old dolphin, but the kids still loved it. We also liked the train and roller coaster.  A great zoo all around!

After a fun night of swimming and a wonderful dinner here, we were exhausted!  We found a great deal on a hotel via Hotwire and even had a free breakfast.  Saturday morning we headed to the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  We got a membership for it this year and have absolutely loved it!  (Thanks, Groupon or some other deal site like it that hooked us up!)  We spent 6.5 hours at the museum and we were dragging by the time we left!  All that time and we still didn't see everything!  We did check out the new National Geographic Exhibit and the kids had lots of fun "deep sea exploring".

A fun trip from start to finish with so much packed in to two days, but it was perfect for our family.  Five and three are such fun ages and I loved just being able to be on the go with them.  It was great time together as a family and we're already thinking of where we can go on another little weekend getaway.