We’ve got one week left of Ben’s vacation, but it isn’t really vacation because we have tons of things on our to-do list and it feels like not much is getting done. We are down to the wire of his paternity time (we just finished off two weeks) and he is now on his last week.  We spread it out through the year and never take it all initially when our kids are born because there is always so much help those first few weeks from family visiting. The end of this week we will celebrate with Glow’s birthday. I can hardly believe that my baby, MY BABY!, turns one! ONE! We will celebrate by just hanging out and filling Glow’s day with what we think she might enjoy. She can’t tell us much yet, so we have to guess!

This week’s learned and links…

Soul is eager to join school like her older sisters and I am so amazed at how she really has been doing so well on the potty.

Glow can stand!

Ben’s taken charge of the kitchen and I haven’t made anything in two weeks! I am going to be sad when he goes back to work, with him home, we get gourmet meals all day long.

Still snacking on cookies from this party. Someone get them out of my house please!

I ordered this shirt from Anthro. Thank God for gift cards!

These doily lions are so cute. Must make them asap!

During lunch with our church family, my pastor read us this story and it was so funny it had me in tears! I can think of a few moments when I had that sharp pain! lol. Anyone relate? This is especially funny because when Ben and I fart (did I just type that? but to be clear, mine do smell like roses) or pick our boogies (did I just type that?!) in front of each other, we’ll say… “You didn’t do that while we were dating!” Oh, the joys of love and marriage!

Do you have any funny stories like that?

Supplies Needed: straight edge, card stock, marker, baker’s twine, black & white wool felt (I used ivory because we already have white walls and I wanted it to stand out a bit), scissors, and basic sewing supplies (I used a sewing machine and white thread).

Directions: 1) Using your straight edge create your isosceles triangle on card stock and cut it out. The base of mine is 3″. 2) Using your card stock template, cut your triangles out of your wool felt. I did 12 black and 11 white. 3) Line up your triangles with every other one the opposite color and pointing the opposite direction from the previous. Stack in the order they are lined up. Take your twine and zig zag stitch it onto the top of the garland. Cut another piece of twine the same length as the top and then repeat the zig zag stitch on the bottom of the garland. Some tips of the triangle may need a backstitch to secure onto the garland. I placed each of my triangles about 1.5″ from each other.

I love the contrasting color and the simple geometric design. It also looks cute hung vertically. If you want more color, I think this would be cute in a bright pink and yellow or a turquoise and mustard. Really, the possibilities are endless! Simple and striking projects are always right up my alley.

They come home from school with loads of stories of what they did together. They eat lunch together and they play together, but they are in different classes. They are both full of so much enthusiasm about their days (they go once a week and and the other days is homeschool) at school. These two sisters (and the little two sisters) totally warm my heart. They are all so good together.

on true: dress, misha lulu. shoes, salt-water sandals. on brave: dress, misha lulu. shoes, converse.

Where most people are already starting to see and feel the beginnings of Fall, Summer is alive and well in Southern California. Straw hats and sunnies are still used around here and will probably be for awhile as Fall doesn’t really give way until November. Oye! I do see the shorter days, but man oh man, it’s still as hot as ever. Things are brown from the heat, not from the Autumnal change.

The Sunglasses Shop sent over these sunglasses and I love them. They are such good quality and really, I am typically a never-spend-more-than-$10-on-sunglasses person, but I do now understand that a bit higher in price definitely yields quality. Not in every case, but in this case… yes. I can now totally tell the difference between a $10 and a really nice pair. I am so careful with these (and these handmade ones) and makes sure that they are always in its case when not in use. I plan on these lasting me a very long time.

This dress is a new fave.  It’s linen and comfy, but my favorite part is that it is really simple. Ben has been going through his many boxes of vintage clothes and came across this one that I must have stashed ages ago. I immediately ironed it and put it on and have worn it pretty much 4 out of the past 7 days. I see this getting many more uses into the Fall and Winter with some boots and instead of a denim vest, a chambray shirt or denim jacket!

on me: dress, vintage. vest, c/o joa closet. necklace, lo fidelity love. sunglasses, sunglasses shop. shoes, modcloth. on soul: shirt, c/o little esop. pants, misha lulu.

And this one is just for kicks because this looks like a photoshop picture gone bad…

This post is brought to you by Nestle Toll House Birthday Sugar Cookies. Bake some birthday love.


When it was Brave’s birthday (pictures of her party coming later this week), True was wanting to celebrate her un-birthday and I promised we would. One afternoon, we finally got that UNBIRTHDAY party together and had a blast. We wanted wacky, quirky, and fun and I think the results were just that. I wanted simple so I did all ready made cookie dough. I even got a colorful birthday one. There was some left over sugar cookie dough, so with some edible colored markers, the girls colored their cookies and then ate them up! It was a cookie galore party complete with with a chocolate chip cookie cake with chocolate cookie dough ice cream in between each cookie. They were on a sugar high and there was lots of happy screaming all afternoon long. This is definitely a sometimes food, but we do know how to give a little for a bit of fun!

Everything for the small festivities were simple and using things we already had in the house. I also made some pretty easy-peasy party wands to add to the celebration. So cute and lovely, you must do them for your next birthday or UN-birthday celebration…

Supplies needed: colored tissue paper, wooden dowels, contrasting washi tape, and scissors

Brave came home from enrichment classes last week with a little clay model of the Earth. She was so proud and loved telling me about the crust, mantle, and inner & outer core. She was proud to have the whole world in her hands.

This week’s learned and links…

Soul really has taken to using the potty. I am amazed!

Want this diagonal color blocked door.

Had dinner with Elsie and Emma while they were in town and this duo is utterly sweet and lovely. I hope my girls have a sister bond like them one day.

Peanut Butter Crispy Treats?! Um… yes!!!

Love this matchstick bracelet set!

Love how Kelli made her A-frame tent using my tutorial as a guide. There’s also this one that I just did.

True and Brave have both been reading more lately. It makes me happy to hear them reading!

Definitely will do a project with scratch off stickers… so cool!

The message yesterday at our church family gathering was a good reminder… don’t be a hoarder and don’t store your treasures on Earth. Sure! It’s alright to like things and get nice things, but watch where you heart is.

I can hardly believe it is already September. Anyone else feel they are racing with time? So much to do, but not enough time!