A blue(berry) weekend

Well, its Wednesday.  I know, I know.  Weekend updates go on Mondays, with menu/pinterest likes/fails on Tuesdays, and Welcome Home on Wednesdays.

But let's face it.  I am a slacker.  Or a busy mom.

And I am just now getting around to posting our weekend update.  Better late than never, right?

Really, this past weekend was one of my favorite weekends we had in a while.  It all started Friday night when we threw a surprise party for our sweet neighbor.  Love that the surprise actually was a surprise and love that it was her first surprise party.ever.  Success.

Another party success was the cake -- we didn't go the traditional route because (a) that's boring and (b) little miss had asked me earlier in the week why we never made pies (I don't know...because pies are way more difficult then I'd like to take on with a very demanding 4.5 year old).  But once again pinterest came to the rescue and I found this No Bake Birthday Cake Cheesecake

Not only was it easy, but everyone loved it.  Little Miss may have been very sad Saturday morning when she woke up and asked for some and I had to tell her that I sent it home with the birthday girl (because I didn't want the temptation in my house!)

Once we got moving Saturday morning, we headed to gymnastics and then loaded into the car for a quick trip to east Texas to pick some blueberries at Blueberry Hill Farms.

Talk about fun!  The entire family had a blast picking (and eating blueberries) and I'd highly recommend!

Heading out to pick the berries

Blueberry picking selfie with mom

My three pickers.  Manual labor.

The true pro.

The little eater.  I don't think one blueberry made it in her bucket.

After picking, picnic with blueberry ice cream!

Car ride home.  Can you say exhausted?!?!

Once we got home it was a made dash to make the house presentable as we had friends coming over for dinner and wine.  So much fun and given that they left at a reasonable time, the girls indulged in one episode of Daniel Tiger (Somehow Little Miss knows all about PBS kids and may have squealed in excitement when she saw the icon on the box of the new TV for outside)

Sunday was just that -- a Sunday.  Church, errands, lunch and cleaning up the house.  However, because I only had time on Friday to get my toes done, I tried to sneak away to get my mani done as well. Key word tried. 

This one insisted on coming -- so a little mommy and Little Date, while Littlest Miss slept.

So all in all a great weekend...and thankfully (because of my slacking) the next one is only 2 days away!

Family Time

With all the crazy that's life been lately, a weekend without many plans and a lot of family time was just what we needed.

Friday was Family Night Pizza night.  Once the outdoor area is done this will largely move outdoors, but this week we did it inside. In hindsight, maybe not the best idea, but oh well. Live and learn.

Mommy tried a new cauliflower crust.  Yuck!  But other than that it was a success.  The girls not only ate it up, but had fun making their pizzas and the subsequent mess!

Saturday was a fairly lazy day, including a naked toddler breakfast, lunch with the husband's aunt and cousin who stopped in on their way to Austin and then dinner with neighbors.

Oh and Littlest Miss did her first solo gymnastics class.  Dad said she cried at first, so he hid in a corner and within seconds she was all smiles and did great!

Once we got moving Sunday, we headed out to Lake Grapevine to fulfill Little Miss's request for a family picnic.  Which of course included some fishing and some swimming off the concrete beach (what happens when the lake is overflowing...the actual beach disappears and the boat dock becomes the sand.

Needless to say it didn't phase the girls and they had an absolutely blast.

Sunday Funday concluded with an impromptu evening swimming at the neighbors house.

How about you?  How was your weekend?  Did it leave you refreshed or still needing a nap?

Welcome Home Wednesday

I wish I had more updates, but if you've been following the news at all, most of Texas has been getting hammered by rain.  So much so that a lot of the state is suffering from flash flooding.  Thankfully, we are not one of them.  And we do appreciate the free long care, but honestly, here's my favorite song right now:





Why you might ask?  Because with so much rain, not much has gotten done on the house this past week!  And every day that it rains makes it even more unlikely that we'll be done by June 10th (the last "2 week" completion goal"

So I don't really have any updates this week.  Or at least nothing that was picture-worthy.  The outdoor kitchen is completed awaiting appliances.  The wood storage benches flanking the fireplace are done.  The brick is almost done.  But nothing overly exciting.

However, given the rain and my desire to just enjoy my outdoor living area, I have started to design the space.  We are going to try and incorporate the big items from our old patio -- namely, the couch and the table as seen here:

However, other than that everything else will be new.  No more reds.  Thinks blues, teals, pink and white.  The inspiration for the new space is this pillow:


We'll also get two of these pillows (and yes, they are the same as in the pic below, but I looked out ours and I think something has been nibbling at the trim for a few months or years...yuck!  so time to replace!):
 
Both of these will go on the couch (ordered today!), which will sit on this rug:



Since we have the ottoman and tend to use it as a table, we'll probably forgo an actual coffee table, but will either add a tray or an arm rest table for people to rest drinks.  We'll also add this console table behind the couch...thinking that the legs/base will be a light teal color with the top the dark expresso stain we have in the rest of the house:

 We'll incorporate the old table in the same area as the fire place and couch as kind of a casual seating arrangement.  I'll probably add some type of flower or center piece to it as well as a coordinating item to go on the fireplace mantle.  And then that area should be predominantly done.  Easy enough, right?!?!

As for the area under the pergola, given its size and the fact that the kitchen area and fire place area essentially got divided when we had to put in the super-duper support beams, we've deciding this will make for a great formal (or as formal as outdoor dining gets) area.  The big project on this list will be making our own dining table -- sort of like this:

I love that the trough in the middle can be used for flowers (so pretty) or better yet an ice bucket for beverages.  We've found a few online tutorials and a new friend has experience making such tables, so we are hopefully that a little sweat equity will pay off.

We'll pair the table with 8 of these chairs:

And place it on a rug similar to this (although thinking I want a blue closer to the other rug):

Oh and I can't forget the lights that we are going to hand on the pergola:


And then its just a matter of accessorizing the space, adding flowers, and other knick knacks -- none of which I can visualize until the space is done, but hoping it all comes together rather quickly from that point on.

Any thoughts on the design?  Am I missing any outdoor living must haves?

Flying Solo

This past weekend the Husband jetted off to Utah to spend some quality time with his little brother.  Lot's a manly things.  Namely hiking and hanging out.

While he was busy climbing mountains, the girls and I were flying solo.

I think we all had exhausting weekends.  Us girls, mainly because I kept us super busy.  Which worked well until yesterday.  When thankfully the husband was home, because we were all just super cranky and on each other's last nerves. Probably not the smartest thing for me to take them grocery shopping solo.  Oh well.  We still love each other.

and had a blast the rest of the weekend up to that point.

Friday night we just headed to the neighbors for pizza (and wine for the parents).  This wine glass charm may be the motto of the weekend.

After dinner, the kids watched a movie.  But not just any movie, a drive in movie!  Thank you Pinterest for the idea to do drive in movie theater cars out of card board boxes...Not only did it keep the occupied to decorate it, but all of them sat quietly and contently in their "car" eating popcorn and candy and watching the movie.  Score!

Saturday morning the girls and I woke up late and skipped Littlest Miss's gymnastics class (oops!), but still managed to burn off plenty of energy at the Sea Life Acquarium, walking over 0.5 miles of the mall to get to Rain Forest Cafe, and then walking another 0.5 miles back to the car.  Needless to say, we all took good naps!

Looking at the crocodile

Sharks from above

Checking out the fishies 

Once up and at them, we relaxed around the house and hung out with my friend Mary for a bit...well, until the babysitter showed up and the older girls headed out to dinner and drinks.

Sunday morning was again a lazy morning, but we mustered up the energy to go and see Angry Birds.  Overall, it was a cute movie, not great, but it kept both girls attention for the span of the movie...at least with some help from popcorn and sour watermelon candies!  Oh and it was Little Miss's first movie!  Wahoo!

After that, we really just relaxed the rest of the weekend.  We picked the husband up Sunday night and grabbed dinner as a family and got in some much needed cuddle time with our main man.

We spent Memorial Day getting ready for the week -- working on the house a bit, cleaning the cars, grocery shopping, etc.  Oh, but I can't forget that the Husband and Little Miss did manage to sneak away for a little bit to go fishing in the neighborhood.  They had a blast, but sadly didn't catch any fish...next time!

What about you?  How was your weekend?  Hope it was a a great one!

Welcome Home Wednesday

So, I may have skipped quite a few of these.

So many so, that I really don't recall what the last update was.  Thankfully, there has been progress on the patio -- but sadly, not nearly as much as we'd hoped.  At one point just a few weeks ago, we were told that the target completion date was this Friday...well, as you'll see, I don't think that's going to happen.  I was optimistic that we'd be done by the following Friday, but with each day (and each storm that rolls through) I begin to think that the husband may be right and we'll be lucky to have it done by Friday June 10th...

...anywho, enough ba hum bugging by me.  I really do love everything that's been done to date.

The fireplace is almost done.  It just needs the stone tops on the seats and hearth and then the fireplace cap.

The interior ceiling of the outdoor living area is installed as well.  We still need to stain the wood, add the can lights and ceiling fan (or customer chandelier) and add the speakers, but hopefully those are all relatively quick steps?!?

The outdoor kitchen area is coming along as well.  The mortar is largely done and now its a matter of waiting on getting the appliances, getting them installed and getting the stone counter tops installed as well.  Part of this hold up is our fault as we accidentally (or may be not) initially picked a refrigerator and ice maker that weren't certified for outdoor use.

The masonry on the addition is almost done as well.  (Including the installation of the window...which only took 3 weeks to get delivered!)

And most of the interior of the media room is done as well.  All that remains here is some paint touch up (including painting the angled ceiling), adding the window trim, installing carpeting and then transferring our existing media room electronics from downstairs up into this room.

Once construction is done, its time to start decorating!  I've been looking at a few things for both the outdoor spaces as well as the media room, but haven't made any final decisions.  I am hopeful, that because of the delay, by time I actually purchase items for outside, I'll be able to snag some good deals as part of the end of summer sales!

And while I am thinking about it, where are your go-to places for outdoor decor?