Sprinkle Party with Friends

We hosted Olive's friends for a little sprinkle party this week.  

I grabbed every sprinkle we had in the pantry, two boxes of Funfetti cake mix, personal sized loaf pans and made homemade buttercream icing.  We put the sprinkles in the middle of the table.  Gave each girl two loaf pans to decorate with a huge scoop of icing and a knife.  They had a great time making pretty sprinkle cakes.  Some girls divided their cake into layers and others just decorated the top.

I baked all of the little loaf pans a couple hours in advance.

The boys made their own sprinkle cakes before the girls arrived.

I sprayed the cake pans with Pam and the cakes slid right out.

I did some sanding sugar flowers on my cake.

The girls sprinkled and ate.

Look how cute they turned out!  The girls ate some of their cake and then I gave them to go lids so they could take their cake creations home.

Some girls did tons of sprinkles and others just did a few.  But everyone was happy with their sprinkle party creations!

You'll have to plan a sprinkle party of your own this Summer!  It was a hit with the teens.

Father's Day Road Trip

Hello, friends!  We're back from vacation and mostly caught up on life.  It's good to be back here :)  I have lots of fun posts coming your way in the next few weeks.  We had a fun week celebrating our dads.  We celebrated dinners with both of our dads and then did a fun day trip for Kevin's Father's Day.

We headed over to Louisville, KY just 90 minutes from home to stop at our favorite spots.  We did brunch at First Watch (SO good!), did all things fishing and browsing at Bass Pro Shop, Starbucks and then headed to restock all of our favorites at Trader Joes.

If you ever get a chance to go to First Watch, do it!  We've eaten at them in TN, MO & KY.  Surely they will come to Indiana one day.

The boys have been fishing a lot and couldn't wait to check out things at Bass Pro Shops. We don't have one so this trip has been in the works for weeks.  Fletcher has learned so much about fishing and came preprared.  He asked and answered all kinds of questions to the fishing section employees.  We were impressed.

He said we could drop him off there for the day.  haha.  Olive said she prefers the outlet mall.

It was a beautiful day!

We got home that evening and did a water taste testing challenge.  Kevin swears each bottled water tastes different so we put him to the test.  He says Fiji is the best.  But in a blind taste test, he loved VOSS the most.  He loved this surprise game and so did the kids.  And he'll spend the rest of the week enjoying a variety of different waters.

We searched high and low to find the best assortment of waters.  Then we secretly refrigerated them so it would surprise him on Father's Day.  So fun!

I hope you had a great weekend!  Check back later this week for a Trader Joe's haul.

Olive's Birthday Favorites

Olive had a specific vision for her birthday party this year - cute mice, pink and red.  There aren't many options for decor that matches her criteria so we had to DIY her party.  That's my kind of challenge. We found the cutest gingham stuff at Dollar Tree, vintage mice, HomeGoods and Amazon, too.  Everything turned out really cute!  We celebrated with her friends, my family, Kevin's family and then her actual birthday.

My mom has always loved mice so she gifted Olive her mouse collection.

These sweet cousins are all the same age for a few weeks every year.

Kevin grilled and my mom made fried ice cream for dessert.

All of her favorite things in one picture.

A yes day to all of her favorite places.

She needed a shark costume for the cats.  She loved it.  They did not.

We had so much fun celebrating our favorite girl.

Her BFFs.

I made bundt cakes for one of her parties.  They turned out so pretty and delicious.

This strawberry vase is one of my favorites!

She got lots of new Jellycats.

A really cool new bookshelf for her room.

Happy 13th birthday, Olive!  We sure do love you!

And that's a wrap on our March, April, May kid birthday season at our house!  So fun!  So busy!

I'm taking the next week or two off of blogging to enjoy some extra time with my family this Summer!  I'll check back in around the middle of June.  Thanks for being here!

Slow Down

I was given a good reminder at the grocery store recently when I was navigating the busy store with all three of my kids.  We were going up and down the aisles grabbing food for the weekend.  We got to a particularly busy section and I was gently urging my kids to quickly make their selections and move on.

An older man smiled and said to me - 

There is no rush.  Let them look.  They grown up quick enough.

It made him happy to see the kids browsing the ice cream aisles looking for the best ice cream possible and he was in no hurry.  I loved his message and left the store with a big smile on my face.

Slow down.  There's no rush.  That is my motto of the Summer.

I'm a really efficient, organized person.  I plan our outings in a way that is efficient to pack in the most fun, the errands and the tasks we need to get done.  I don't always think about slowing down and enjoying the process.

So this Summer I'm trying hard to slow down.  I'm saying yes to looking at something or doing something that wasn't on my radar.  I'm agreeing to going fishing even though there is work to be done.  We are sleeping in, trying new recipes, watching movies in the evenings, we didn't sign up for a lot of things this Summer and we are working on a fun Summer to do list.  We are crafting, reading good books and hosting so that we can slow down and enjoy our Summer.

I challenge you - slow down and enjoy your Summer!

Summer Book Club Ideas

I have loved being in a book club so much!  My neighbors make the best book buddies.  We take turns picking a book.  Choose a local restaurant to meet at each month.  We text a little about the book throughout the month.  There have been anywhere from 4-6 ladies in our group.  We all look forward to a dinner out at a favorite local spot.  It's easy peasy.

This month we read The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff.  It was very good.  

The characters were so interesting and compelling.  You grow up with some and grow old with others.  There were tons of twists and turns and things that catch you by surprise.  You find yourself rooting for all the characters to be their best selves in spite of the things life throw their way.  Your heart breaks as they experience the effects of alcohol, divorce, untimely deaths, tragedy, miscarriage, marriage, moving, job loss and all the high highs and low lows that come their way.  It's very well written and a quick read.  It's hard to believe that it's the debut novel for Sarah Damoff.  Well done, Sarah!

So what should we read for June??  

It's my turn to pick and I need your help!  What is a book that you have read and loved??

13 Favorites

Happy 13th Birthday, Olive!  She's been the easiest, best first born.  We traveled and moved SO much when she was little and she was always just happy to be along for the ride.  

I thought I'd celebrate her by writing out our 13 favorite things about Olive.

1. She's always been decisive, confident and knows what she wants.  She is okay doing her own thing and might just make you Google slide presentation when she really wants to get your attention.

2. She is a very hard worker.  She loves her teachers, loves school and works so hard to do her best in every class.  We're so happy with her effort and drive to do her best always.  She manages herself, her school work and her schedule so well.

3. Olive loves to go to concerts with me. She researches the set list ahead of time, makes us a playlist to prep for the concert and then we have the best time enjoying concerts together.  She has a fun concert tee collection.

4. Pasta has always been her favorite food.  She's a salty snacker so goldfish, Olives, popcorn and such are always her favorites.

5. She loves to host and party plan.  She gathers her friends at holidays, arranges gift exchanges and knows that if she loops me into the planning that I'll be happy to host her friends.  Her group of friends has been close for years so it's fun to see them sticking together.

6. Olive is crafty.  She likes to learn new crafts and then make the crafts for friends and family.  She's working on key chains, bedazzling things and knotting fleece blankets right now.

7. She is the best babysitter.  She is always happy to babysit when I ask and she takes great care of her brothers.

8. Olive has loved Jellycats since she was a newborn.  Her first stuffed animal was a bunny named Bun Bun and while Jellycats are making a comeback, Olive has loved them for 13 years.  It makes me smile to still see them on her birthday wish list now.

9. She throws a crazy good football, watches football, has a favorite team and understands the game of football well enough to do a presentation on it at school with a guy in her class.  Maybe this will be the year that we go to a college football game in the Fall?

10. Reading is her jam.  She got a cool new bookshelf for her room for her birthay and is filling it with her favorite authors.  Sprayed edge books.  Pretty covers.  She's going to have such a fun little library.

11. Olive has her own font.  She has combined print and cursive to make her own very distinct handwriting.  I love that she's practiced and come up with a signature handwriting.

12. She adores cats, bracelets, earrings, a cute top and Vera Bradley bags.  You can find her playing volleyball with her friends or LOLing on group calls with her buddies.

13. Her favorite days are when she gets to spend alone time with her parents.  Her goal this year is to grow taller than her mom!  We shall see.

Happy Birthday, Olive!  We're so proud of you!

Gorgeous Garden Center Haul

Leo and I headed to the Meijer Garden Center over the weekend to grab some flowers for our patio.  He was so sweet and helpful picking out the best flowers for me.  He even learned about sun/shade plants.  He would ask me - can these take the sun or do they need shade?  He's going to be a great little gardener.  We remulched our landscaping, too!  Our yard is looking great!

Our yard is FULL SUN so that was our only requirement - grab flowers that like the sun.  I love lavender, lantana, marigolds, asparagus fern and sweet potato vine.  The rest just found us!

We filled one cart with flowers.  I always spend my Mother's Day gift money on flowers!  And the other cart was filled with bags of mulch.

I prepped my pots a week or two earlier so planting was so easy.  I did matching pot arrangements on the corners of our patio.  I placed one side and Leo made the other side match.  When I asked him to help me plant he said - I was hoping you'd ask me to help!  It was so sweet.

This petunia is new to us!  Leo said it looked like the solar system to him.  It is called a Night Sky Petunia.  I think it'll look so pretty in my pots.

I can't wait to watch these containers fill in.  I also make sure to strategically place the planters in spots where the sprinkler system will hit them each morning.

Have you planted your flowers for the season yet?  I'm a little behind this year because LIFE, but I'm thrilled to get them planted in May.  That way they can take root and really have a chance to grow before it gets too hot.