Pinterest: Lollipops, birthday albums, S more snacks and more!

I love Pinterest! If you haven't indulged yet, I highly recommend it! And if you are, join me in reliving some of the highlights of the past week...

1. Patriotic Cookie Lollipop

Snackpicks

I love this idea. It seems easy enough to do and you could change the design to accommodate all kinds of holidays and events. Kellie, the creator of this fun snack, also has a personal blog, "Little Nummies," with all sorts of cool kid snacks. There are also more by Kellie and others on "Snackpicks."

2. Birthday Album

Reaves, Party of Four

I have seen this particular idea many times, but now that Zoey is about to turn three I am putting on my should do now list. I love doing special things like this for yearly events like birthdays. It idea is that you ask your child the same 20 questions every year and watch how the answers change as your kids grow. I am excited to start this year on Zoey's birthday.

3. S mores Snack Treats

Come Together Kids

I am always looking for unique snacks and treats to make life a little more fun and interesting. This idea jumped out at me. One, because I love S mores, and two, because Zoey loved making S mores while on vacation this past week. I am excited to try this for myself as much as Zoey.

4. Veggie Garden

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I know this veggie garden will take a lot of effort to build, but we need something similar to this or at least a good fence to keep the dogs out of our garden. They are simply too interested in the plants. Between the dogs, the heat and the flash floods, our garden has not done very well this year at all. This is a bit frustrating, but we are making plans to do what we can to eliminate these problems for next year.

5. Sunflower Beauty

Tasty Treats At Home

Sometimes things are just good for the soul. This picture made me catch my breath the first time I saw it. It is beautiful. It simply makes me happy and something that is all we need. 

I hope you enjoy Pinterest and some of the ideas I find. Feel free to add some more that you found particularly Pinteresting. I would love to make this a linky and possibly link to other Pinterest links around. I intend to make this happen very soon, stay tuned!

Friday Faves: Vacation Edition

We have been gone on vacation for the last almost two weeks. When I look back over the last week to focus on things I am thankful for, they are all from vacation. I am still planning on doing a recap of some of the details of the trip. However, it is important to stop and enjoy and be thankful for the little things.

I am thankful for...

How wonderful a traveler Zoey is.
We went all the way up and back down the east coast and Zoey was a trooper the whole way. She had fun, kept herself and us entertained and made the whole trip a little easier.

Finally getting to see the Liberty Bell.

I had always wanted to see it and Philadelphia and I was finally able to along with some awesome friends.

Zoey's delightful ability to instantly make friends.

Though she has met most of the people we saw this past week, she was too young to remember. So she made new friends easily and love it. She especially enjoyed our friend's little boy who is just a little younger than her.

My silly, awesome family.

No matter where we are or what we are doing, we always have fun. I love them so much and it was wonderful spending so much time together.

S'mores!

I love s'mores and roasting marshmallows, but it is even more exciting when you get to share the experience with five kids. 

Two generations of play.

Stephen grew up in New England where we visited. It was a special treat to have the next generation, Zoey and her cousins, to play in the same place Stephen and his brother did. I know it meant a lot to them to be able to bring the kids to this memorable place. 

Maine

I had always wanted to go to Maine and two years ago I finally did. We went back this year and let me tell you, at least the part I visited, was everything I dreamed it would be and more. We were able to visit more family and camp in a tent. It was warm in the day and cool at night. I already miss Maine.

Three Generations

This is a very special picture to my family. We do not all get together very often, especially with Zoey's grandpa. Anytime we can get three generations together like this is definitely something to be thankful for.

Home

I loved being on vacation and seeing all of our friends and family. But I was also very glad to be home, we all were. There is nothing like spending time away to fully appreciate what a blessing your own life is. I needed the new perspective of our everyday life and I am very thankful for the wonderful friends and life we have right here at home.

Back to The Real World

Beaver Dam Campground; Berwick, ME

We just returned from being on vacation for almost two weeks. It was AMAZING! I didn't want to come home. I loved getting away for a while and slowing down in the process. However, it was time to come home. The last day we were away I asked Zoey if she was ready to go home, her response was "Yes Mommy, go home and play in Zoey's room." Adorable, but also a sign that it is time to go.

Still, we had a blast, Zoey included. We went all around New England. We started in Philidelphia, PA then moved up to Templeton, MA. We also had a stay in New Hampshire before trekking over to Berwick, Maine to camp with our Aunt. It was a wonderful, whirlwind trip to visit friends and family.

I have lots to talk about and small things that I discovered or realized, but it will take several weeks to get them all processed. I also took over 2,000 photos. I will not torture you with all of them, but I have to share a few.

Now we are home. I am glad to be home. The beauty of leaving for a while is that you get a perspective on your life again and now I am ready for the challenges of the house again.

I'll do a real recap after I go through all of my pictures. It was such a wonderful trip. Right now, I am just trying to get back into the swing of the real world and doing lots of laundry.

Time to Fly

I am still packing bags, but we are leaving on vacation this weekend! I will be away with little to no Internet for almost 2 weeks. I am extremely excited about the whole trip. We are going to see some amazing people and visit some awesome places. I will have much to talk about when we return. However, for the time being I am giving myself a small hiatus from posting so I can fully enjoy spending time with my family.

I hope you are having a great summer! See you again in a couple weeks!

Our Visit to See GrannyPops and Our Crazy Week

This past weekend Zoey and I went to see my parents. Zoey calls them Granny and Pops, but the way she says it makes their names become one word. She says "Let's go see GrannyPops!" This proclamation of course melts my hearts as well as GrannyPops'.

I meant to talk about all of this yesterday, but between being completely distracted packing for our big New England trip next week and my exhaustion which I account to a busy weekend, the heat, the first trimester of my pregnancy and the amount of things I need to do, I didn't even open my computer.

That is our crazy week and it gets more crazy before it gets better. However, I do I want to take a minute and share our exciting weekend hanging out with Granny and Pops.

When we arrived on Friday afternoon, Granny was still at work. However, Zoey knows this because we always go in the afternoon. So, she was excited to spend the afternoon with just Pops. It is so special for them to have their own time together. I love watching her with my Dad. Sometimes Zoey follows him into his workshop or out in the garden. She loves to help him with projects, just like I did when I was a kid. On this day though, Zoey cuddled up in the chair next to him and they sang the ABC's thanks with the help of an iPhone app. She is so proud of herself that she knows the ABC song now and I was happy to see Pops singing right along with her.

When Granny got home we went out to eat and then came home and got comfy. Zoey loves to read so it was a special treat for Granny to read with her. This book that they are reading in the picture is fun because you get to act out parts of it. They were so cute together reading and acting out this book.

On Saturday we had a girls day and a mega shopping adventure. We went all over town and were gone most of the day. We ate breakfast and then left, we ate lunch at this awesome Japanese restaurant and then got home at dinner time. While we were out we got a few things for Zoey's Princess Birthday party next month, some craft/scrapbooking supplies and fun books for Zoey, supplies to set up our homeschool preschool this fall and a few clothes. Like I said we went everywhere and we had an amazing time together hanging out and shopping.

On the way home we treated ourselves to an Icee (shaved ice) for each of us. It was delicious and the perfect treat to beat the heat. Zoey got a blue raspberry ("I want blue Mommy!") and ate all of it (which wasn't the full cup at least). Her lips and tongue were blue for hours. I can't say anything, I had Tiger Blood and my lips and tongue were red for hours, even after brushing our teeth. 

Zoey loves to help around the house. She helped Granny do the dishes, fix meals and even put sheets on the bed. Even though she does a lot of the same things at home, they are different and more special with Granny.  I know Granny loves spending time with Zoey and teaching her all she knows.

Zoey, Granny and I went to see Brave in the theaters! It was quite an adventure. It isn't the first movie Zoey has gone to, but it was the first one that she was really interested in and that we stayed the whole time through. She loved watching the Princess on the Big Screen! She didn't really stay still, she was in my lap, in Granny's lap, standing between us and in her own seat too, but it was a matinee several weeks after the movie opened so it wasn't a big deal. There were only two other people in the whole theater. She enjoyed the princess and so did I. It turned out to be a really great movie! 

Granny sewed Zoey a couple dresses. Zoey loved learning about the sewing machine and helping how she could. She was so cute dancing around in her little dress (though unfinished at the time). These are pictures I will always remember because crafts and sewing are special times in our family. I remember sitting in my mom's lap at the sewing machine, it's so exciting to see Zoey enjoying some of the same things I did as a kid. 

That was our weekend. It was lots of fun. Spending time with family and those you love always makes for a good time. I hope you had a great weekend and continue having a good week.