Crazy Lovely Fun

Look at this kid heaven!
I Googled the words "splash pad Tennessee" this morning and I found this! Not sure how long it has been there, but this piece of kid heaven is located in Smyrna. Sounds far, but it took us right at 30 minutes to get there from Franklin. Why has no one told me of this gem before???
It was totally free, provided by their parks and rec department. Anyone know who I have to beg to get one of these in Franklin???

This picture shows about half of the splash pad. It is the perfect size, not too big, (although I would still recommend dressing your kids in something brightly colored and easily recognizable), and not to small. 2 hours of pure bliss for the kiddos. TOTALLY worth the drive!

First Impressions = squeals of delight and of course the inevitable full body quiver that Harper has when she just can't contain her excitement, complete with the birdy hands.

Apparently nothing is as good when daddy isn't there because the whole time Grace is saying: "Moooooommmmm, can we bring Daddy here.....um, like today?"

Harper does funny things to show her excitement... and this was just so awesome that she had to experience it right side up and upside down!

"Seriously Mom, can I catch a break here... what's with all the pictures?"

I'm seriously up for going at least once every 2 weeks this summer... who's with me???

A flapper and a fairy

The fairy is having a mental meltdown in her bed right now. Come to think of it, she is about to cause me to have a mental meltdown too!


The flapper is fast asleep, snoring in the monitor. I don't know how she can sleep through all the noise. This is such a Free People catalog pose. I love it.

The IOP continued... a little late.

I somehow thought I'd have all this extra time while on vacation, but it never happens... I know better... so I didn't get a chance to post again after the first one! Sorry. Anyhow, here is what my dad brought home to put in the hot tub: Dry Ice. Yes, only Frank... it was pretty cool, I must admit.


We had such a good time. I am trying to decide which I like better: South Carolina or the Gulf beaches...? Hard choice! Still haven't decided. The city is charming and somehow captures my heart every time. The house we stayed in was lovely and it made all the difference in the world to have the pool and hot tub right out back. We spent the majority of our time on the lovely screened in porch... heavenly. I even finished a 400 page book (The Summerhouse by Jude Deveraux). I know nothing about whether or not this is a 'worthwhile read'- it was on the shelf at the house... but it was pretty good, and I can't tell you the last time I read an entire book! (sad, I know... I'm not a big reader, but I am trying)
We had lots of night swims and the girls thought the hot tub was build as a baby pool just for them. We cooked fresh shrimp and had some good meals on the porch.

So thankful that my parents were able to come with us. The kids LOVED every minute of it. Chris and I even had a date night in the city alone. We ate at a place called S.N.O.B, and while it was excellent food, snob was a pretty fitting name, if you know what I mean. I guess Chris and I are just not food connoisseurs. We'd rather have tons of food for little money than tons of money for little food.

I am trying to upload more photos, but blogger is not working well for that at the moment!

The IOP

Here we are in the IOP, SC... (as the locals call it) anyways, it is beautiful, lovely and there is no threat of oil!


This is the one thing that Grace loves and Harper is not so sure about... sitting at the shoreline and letting the waves crash on them... They both had a BLAST on the beach yesterday. Loved every minute of it.
Grace even let the ocean waves crash on her and got water all in her face... and liked it!!! Can you believe that??? Maybe it's the fact that Chris is here, she feels really comfortable with him in the water... whatever it is, she loves it!

This is at 3:30am in the morning... when we left Franklin... Look at these smiles!
They were great in the car... no crying, whining, no fits! They each only slept about 30 min or so the entire ride.

I love South Carolina... such a lovely state... more to come later. Just wait till you see what my dad brought home last night.... only Frank. The pictures are on his camera and he and Chris have it with them... they got a fishing guide this morning and are out doing guy things.

Summer Sewing

You know you've got some kind of obsession when you are watching a basketball game and wonder about the sewing techniques used to make the uniforms. Yes, I will admit, I did it.

Actually... anytime I see something that catches my eye, I don't look at the tag to see how much it costs, or even look to see if they have the size I need... I pick it up, look at the fabric, examine the seams and make mental notes on how to recreate it at home... N.E.R.D. It's embarrassing. I am sure people think I am crazy. Ok, enough with the confession: Here are a few things I've made in the last week or so.

Let me just proclaim here how much I love elastic thread and shirring. From a cost-saving standpoint, it is the wonder thread! Above is a dress I made for Harper... She seriously may be able to wear this for 4 years... with the tie straps, and the shirred bodice, it will fit almost any size. I could probably wear it as a shirt! When it gets too short, throw it on with some leggings or shorts and you have an adorable boho-chic top! Actually, Grace could wear it like that right now. LOVE it.

Here are a couple of dresses I made for the girls to wear on vacay... Again, elastic thread, awesome. I just barely had enough 'designer' fabric left over from a project to make these dresses. I don't buy designer fabric, usually because it is so darn expensive... we are talking 12$-25$ per yard and sometimes more... Ummm, no, I don't think so.
Confession #2. I broke my own rule recently because my fav fabric store had all their fabrics 50% off... but that is literally the first time I've ever splurged like that. Now I have to try out a million patterns to make sure I have the perfect one before I dare cut into that fabric-gold!

(when I tell the girls I am going to take their picture, this is the reaction I get...silly poses.)

Here's one of the patterns I am trying out. Love the round yoke, and I think I like this pattern... but we'll see. Grace's is made from some vintage fabric and a lady's skirt... Harper's is 100% vintage fabric, baby. I love that.
Ok, so if you don't care anything about sewing, I just bored you to death... sorry about that! Off to cut some more patterns.

reason for the delay...

Well, the reason I haven't blogged recently is simply this: My primary job these days is to keep Harper from accidentally killing herself. Plain and simple, that's it....

Take today for example... we were slip-sliding away at a friends house... somehow, Grace managed to lock herself INSIDE their house, having to pee and not being able to get her bathing wet suit down...leaving me helpless to get to her because like I said, we were locked OUT... all the while, Harper is rambunctiously climbing up the stairs so that she can give her input to the situation, and somehow slips and falls down the stairs... landing on her head, I might add. Lovely. Now she has another goose egg to add to the collection, along with some bruising and scrapes...

Saturday night, she was climbing...because that's what she does...climb... anyhow... she was standing on top of an art bench we have in the kitchen, and of course, loses her balance and falls down, feet first... which sounds well and good, until we realized she could not walk on her foot anymore... We debated taking her to the ER (because of course, that's the only place that is open...) to have it checked... but just gave it some time, and she seems to be fine today.

OH, and Friday night we had a babysitter for the first time EVER, and Harper decides that would be a good time to climb out of her crib and fall to the floor. She's never done it before, but why not when we have our first babysitter...right???

This child could not be more different than Grace was. In all honesty, I could not imagine how different they would be. Night and day, oil and water different.... and I guess that's good. The only problem is that I am having to learn a whole new set of 'parenting rules.' I can't just do the same thing I did with Grace... My brain is tired and I really don't have the capacity to learn anything else right now... So, this is all kind of annoying... but we'll get through it.

I love to see Grace and Harper's relationship because they get along so well and they love each other. They literally roll on the floor and laugh at each other and have the best time. That is such a blessing. I am not having to constantly break up fights or work out compromises... ahhh, I love it... so nice. ..... Now if I can just keep the younger one alive... that would be fabulous...