Back To School Shopping Already (and a little Christmas too!)

Everyone is talking about getting ready to go back to school.  I'm in that parade as well.  In fact, the Monday we came back from the beach house we bought school supplies for Bella.  I have always made the kids wait until after our beach house week to get supplies.  Monday we popped into Wal-Mart to pick up a few items for the house, saw the supplies and I figured why not...better to get them now and be able to have a choice than get what's left later.  Bella had so much fun picking everything out.  Who knew a pencil bag and super cool pencils could make you squeal with delight.  Chris is easier now that he's in high school. Well I guess its easier...he gets his list of "supplies" the first day of classes.  Bella wasn't crazy about the backpack selections so when we ventured to Target later in the day, she found a cool cheetah print she loved along with a new lunch bag.  As far as clothes and shoes are concerned, we really haven't started that task yet although if I see some clothing pieces here and there on sale, I will probably pick them up.  We did pick up a new running outfit for Chris Tuesday evening.  He starts cross country practice Monday.  I'm really dreading shopping for him.  He's getting expensive and picky and expensive.  I shouldn't really say "picky"...he just knows what he likes and you cannot deviate from that.  Period.  He also found THE BACKPACK he really wanted at Academy so we picked that up as well.  Bella is fun to shop with most of the time, but there are times when I think something is totally awesome and she's like "yeah mom, not so much!" The shoes will be the biggest pain in my ass.  I'm going to stand my ground on buying another pair of Twinkle Toes shoes.  Those things just didn't last.  My girl plays hard y'all and Twinkle Toes are not made for playing hard.

While we were at the beach house last week, I did manage to order a couple of Christmas gifts.  Score for me!  I have to say that purchase has motivated me to get my shopping done in record time this year and enjoy the holidays and my time off with my babies. I have a list going and have been perusing websites looking for more gift ideas.  We shall see how this goes.

I didn't take a lot of pictures while we were at the beach house and my phone never went down tot he beach with me.  Its too new so I'm still a little bit protective of it.

Between me and my siblings, here's what we did capture...

Lastly, Tuesday evening we had dinner Fuddruckers in LJ before heading to Academy.  Chris chose to sit with the King.  Don't we make a lovely pair?

When we got back home these flowers were in our mailbox.  We have no idea who left them but it was a nice surprise to come home to.  Brightened us all up :).

Hope y'all have a great weekend.  Tomorrow is August 1st.  One last official month of summer.  While I realize the heat will last into September, etc....I still look forward to September 1st because in my book....its FALL YALL!!!

Fireworks

So Thursday we were turned loose at work by 3:00--yay to the boss for letting us go early for the holiday.  I skipped on over to Hobby Lobby to pick up some supplies for a craft project I saw on Pinterest....straw fireworks.

I picked up the paint and 8x10 canvasses which were both on sale (lucky me) as well as gold & silver glitter.  I still can't believe I did that.  I like sparkly things but glitter just seems to get all over everything.  Anyway, I got home and Bella was super excited to start this project.  Chris decided to join the fun as well.  We taped 7 straws together to make the fireworks shape and then we had a practice run on paper plates.  

 Now for the real thing...

I helped Bella.  She was afraid she would get too much paint or not enough, so I dipped and she told me where to place it on her canvass, then she pressed the straws down to make sure the paint stayed on good.

After the blue and red paint was in place, we added the glitter.  Bella choose to add both silver and gold while Chris stuck with just silver.  I love how both of them turned out. 

Christopher's creation....

Miss Bella's artwork...

And here are my two monkeys showing off their art....

I loved this little project that took about 10-15 minutes tops and now we have something to decorate with every year.  I have one displayed on the dining table and one on a shelf.  Perfect.  I should have taken pictures of that huh.  Oh well.  

Saturday evening we went to Lake Jackson to watch fireworks.  I snapped this picture of my monkeys waiting for the show...

I didn't get any pics of the fireworks because I was too busy oohing and awwing with Bella.  It was a fun night.  Hope ya'll had a great 4th of July.

Happy Birthday Momma & Happy 4th of July

Today would have been momma's 74th birthday.  She was the best momma ever.  Even though she isn't with us anymore, she is still teaching me.  I miss this woman every single day and here lately, more than usual.  Now I'm going to sound like a little kid when I say....it just isn't fair.

Y'all have a super 4th of July!!  I hope you get to see some pretty spectacular fireworks!

Y'all have a good one!