this is for you Erin!

I don't know how many of you are seamstresses in hiding. I wish I had the talent, the time, the ambition to make beautiful things out of gorgeous fabric and decorate my home (or myself!) with them. I love seeing the creativity come out of seemingly nowhere!

Recently I came across this blog of a woman who had an itch to stir up her creativity. 365 days, $1 a day to spend on a thrift store find. She then recreates it to her liking as a dress or top of some kind. I can sit here for hours reading her blog! So awesome!

Erin, you could so do this! (But I totally understand if you want to wait until all 3 kids are in school. :) Love you, friend!

Jude turns 1!

August 6th marked our little beetlebug's 1st birthday! It was a whirlwind of a weekend, but so fun! I had to convince myself I wasn't letting anyone down by not planning his party 6 weeks in advance. And truthfully, his invitation was non-existent (which really kinda saddens me because I am making a REAL effort to try to make his babybook as complete as Deron's is *his is awesome* before the new baby comes and also just because he's a 2nd child doesn't warrant less amount of pictures or a hardly filled-out book!). I sent his "invitation" around on facebook, people! *sigh* oh well. I can laugh about it now.

My sister and brother-in-law came out to spend the weekend with us, which was so fun, and my parents drove out Friday night, getting here at midnight when they had to leave the next day right after the party. Such committed grandparents! I love it! We woke up early Saturday morning to start preparing, and I decided that morning I will never ever throw a morning party again. It really wasn't terrible knowing there were only a few hours to get everything together, but it was just an unnecessary hassle. It was fun having a lot of our friends over to the new house though! We had the party outside on the patio, which being in August you might rethink, but it was shady and cooler than you'd think being at 10:00am. If it hadn't rained the night before, it would have been perfect.

The cake was beautiful and delicious, kudos to Albertson's (who gives you a free 1st birthday cake)! And Jude devoured it like I've never seen. It might have been the best 1st birthday cake eating ever. He was covered. And we hosed him off after I thought his sugar intake was reaching critical levels. After most everyone left, I laid him down and he crashed for a good 3 hours. I think the party was successful. Here's to another fabulous year!!

shout out to Curtis (our Dodge Caravan)