Happy Birthday Noah and America!...Summer Time...

I hope everyone had a safe and lovely 4th of July...
Wouldn't be an Independence day without some big ole fashion sparklers!!!

Mason was not so impressed with them. And as you can see by his cheeks, he is working a good case of fifth's disease this 4th of July, poor little man.
The birthday boy!!!
8 years old and so full of spunk :)
We have picked bowl...
after bowl of strawberries from our garden. And made some of the most delicious syrup from them.
Mason took his first trip to the beach as a toddler a week ago and loved it!



Wishing you all a Happy 4th of July and a great summer!!!

Tiff

Junking with my mom....

My mom and dad came from Ohio for Cameron's graduation, and when they visit, we always have to do some junking. This time, since it was June, we did yardsaling and hit a ton on the Saturday before graduation. The pic below is my parents car after 3 hours of yard sales, and we didn't even leave my town.

I'll try to remember everything we got and the prices, but MOST of this stuff is my mom's!!! Let's see, in this pic, is a door basket($2), berry masher($1), lobster pot ($1), stack of boxes($3), chenille bedspread($1), lace curtains(4 for $1), wood butterfly house (.25), picture frames(we got about 10 for .25 each).
The gingham apron was at a church sale and I wouldn't have bought it because they wanted $5 a piece for them(there were 6 done in the 50's by a woman's granny), but my mom bought it for me. The two green signs on the floor were .25 each(love it when the husbands run the sales, they practically give the stuff away), lazy susan( .50), set of three wood chairs($15), old black chair($10, mom bought it for me for my sewing chair), hurricane glasses(3 for .50), two Village Pfatlzgraff candlesticks(my mom's pattern $1).
Stair step basket ($2), awesome old quilt($2, I thought it would be a cutter quilt, but it washed up beautifully), vintage glass food chopper with green wood handle(.25), oil lamp ($1).
Neat twig like wood shelf stand(which is going in the kid's bathroom, $2), wood bowl tray($1), bread dishes(.50), brass chandelier(which will be going in my upstairs hallway, $2, after getting a spray of black paint), metal plant stand ($1), bag of vintage fisher price toys, camper, snowmobiles, etc($3).
Wicker dog bed(which I already spray painted chocolate brown, $2), iron Christmas tree stand ($2), more of those .25 picture frames, old spools($1 a piece)
Three mirror vanity(which we painted raspberry pink and is now in my youngest daughter's room, $15) and small yellow and white quilt($3). Not a bad day's worth of yardsaling! But that's it for me for the summer, I really don't need more stuff.
Oh, and I found this like new quilters/embroidery frame at Salvation Army for $4.99. It says made in England, but I can't find one like it on line, any idea as to what it's worth(just wondering if I got a bargain). And a dear fellow blogger, Sabrina of Falling Leaf Woodworkers and Primitives, gave me two big boxes of new yarn!!! Wonderful prim colors along with fun colors for my daughters. We now have a ton of fiber to crochet all winter long with. Thank you so much Sabrina!!!
Here are my parents with Mason asleep on my dad. My kids always take right away to Grandpa.
The week went by way too fast. It was a very nice visit and we all had a good time. I really wish we lived closer to each other.

Have a lovely upcoming week,

Tiff

My Oldest Graduates.....

It seems like a lot of us in blogland had a child graduating high school this year, for me, it was my oldest son. I'm really not sure how I'm old enough to have a child be finished with school when I feel like I just graduated myself :) But here I am, the proud mommy(yes, they all still call me that) of a handsome young man who has the world at his feet.

I opted not to have a store bought cake for the celebration and instead put my time and love into a unique homemade one. It had two yellow cake layers, one devil's food, one strawberry, and one fudge brownie layer, and lots and lots of buttercream frosting! And an oreo crumb covering.

It surprisingly cut quite easily and stayed together. Oh, and it was yummy!
And now for the man of the hour... his graduating class had around 190 in it.
The graduation was on June 12th.
One little chick is about to fly from the nest, sniff, sniff....
Congratulations to my wonderful son, Cameron, and all those blogger children who graduated this year. May your life be blessed with happiness and may all your dreams come true.

Tiff

Gardens, Mason, and Teacher Gifts....

Last Friday was the last day of school and it was a beautiful day. So when all the kids got home we went outside to play and I decided to take some quick pics of the gardens(forgive the tall grass, it needed to be weedeated).

And of course I had to take a zillion(but I won't bore you with them all) of Mason. He loves to be outside and is very fond of his little tractor, especially honking the horn.



And here are the two teacher gifts I made for my 2nd and 4th graders teachers. I cross stitched their name and what they liked(sea shells and the lion) then I added ric rac and a pocket to both.

I think they came out pretty cute and I figured elementary school teachers can always use an apron in the classroom.

Have a lovely day,

(more catching up tomorrow)

Tiff

Playing catchup....

First day of summer(summer vacation, that is) for us! I think(hope) things will be nice and slow for awhile now. The last month or so has been busy. I have so much to catch up on with blogging that I don't really know where to start, so I guess I will just start with yesterday and go backwards :) The weather here was just about as perfect as you can get, which made for a wonderful Father's Day outside. We headed only about 1/4 of a mile from our house to a park that I really didn't know was there. I knew there was a "look out" at the top of the hill for views of Mt. Washington, but I didn't realize(until we got there) that there was a whole mowed open field park on the hillside. It was a beautiful spot for the picnic we brought and plenty of room to fly kites. And the views were just spectacular, I would love to have a house with such views. The kids flew kites and played ball for hours and we now have a new place to play that is super close to home!

The mountain in the very background is Mt Washington, the snow is all gone from it.
Flying kites....
Mason had a grand ole time running around, picking flowers, and chasing the kites.


All the munchkins! Happy Father's Day to my dad and and all those blog dads out there! And to my wonderful hubby and proud daddy of the best 7 treasures in the whole wide world!!! I love you dear, I hope you had a nice day yesterday.

Tiff