dinner under the golden gate bridge.

how magical. a dinner party on the beach under the golden gate bridge. i can't even imagine how wonderful it must have been. read about it the whole party here at oh happy day.

(photos by paul ferney for oh happy day)

inspiring.

found it here.

hamster ball.

have you ever seen a human hamster ball? i don't think it's something i would ever want to do, but my inquisitive son was anxious to try. so, we paid 10 dollars for him to run (and sit and lay) inside a huge inflatable ball that floated in a pool of water.

actually, a little wierd.
here they are inflating the ball as slade stands inside.

he's all sealed up & ready to go.
(and all i could think of was... suffocation and germs... ugghh!)

although slade said it was fun, i thought he looked a bit bored. perhaps if a group were doing it all together it might be a bit more fun. however, i really am not a big fan of the human hamster ball!

monday morning sweetness.

wishing i woke up this morning to the sweetness of these pumpkin cinnamon rolls... they look absolutely delicious and the perfect treat with my morning latte.

i just had to share...
i will be making these very soon!

back from the beach.

although we really didn't want to leave, it was time to go.

we packed up and arrived back home last night. back from santa rosa beach. back with sun-kissed faces and a little more rested and rejuvenated from our little family getaway along at the shore.

lucky for us, we had absolutely beautiful weather all week long, allowing us to spend most of our time on the beach...

which is exactly what our family enjoys.

together, we dug giant holes and built sand castles in the sugar-white sand. we swam and played in the water, sometimes along with the fish. we took long walks along the shore, enjoyed picnic lunches, played ball in the surf and...

jumped the waves as they came crashing along the shore.
(which i might add is one of sia's favorite things to do-)

we also had fun swimming in my sister's mermaid pool, attending a nearby seafood festival and even riding go karts one night.

and... on our last evening, we enjoyed dinner a local waterfront restaurant and bar spending one last evening with my sister and her husband- laughing, talking, soaking in the smell of salt-air and truly being thankful for our little vacation by the shore.

and so... we are back from the beach. back to life here at home. we will be spending the weekend unpacking and settling in before the kids go back to school on monday.

i hope you have a happy weekend whatever your plans are. i'll see you back here on monday, perhaps with some more pictures of the fun that we had.

happy, happy weekend!

headed to the beach.

happy friday. we are headed down to the beach today. school is out for the first break of the new school year. it's hard to believe i know, because it feels like school just began. (actually...it did!) but, we are not complaining. instead, we are very anxious to be taking a family trip together and looking forward to putting our toes in the sand again. we love spending lazy days on the beach, unplugging ourselves from daily life.

i hope you have a great weekend and i hope you'll enjoy some of these things too--

i'm loving these fabric pumpkins

or this pumpkin (made by kids) for the front door

book paper wreath- DIY too!

very glam party for halloween

simply beautiful & homemade meadow wedding

great clock that caught my eye

have you checked out rue magazine yet?

just a note: although we'll be frolicking in the sand and water this weekend, i am still dreaming of fall. still wondering when it will ever begin??

rue magazine.

if you haven't seen or heard of rue magazine,
i urge you to check it out.

grab a cup tea or coffee and indulge in the beauty of great design and the ultimate of stylish living. the creators and designers, who are also bloggers, have done a fabulous job!

i definitely have found a new magazine to gush over!
the premiere issue is online today.

did i tell you?

one evening last week after we put the kids to bed, jeff decided we should paint the kitchen. i've been wanting to do it for such a long time (i have never liked the red that came with the house). so, after i came down from kissing the kids goodnight, jeff was already in work mode- taking off outlet plates and cabinet doors, prepping walls and stirring paint.

i really do love to paint and usually i can endure staying up really late, as i am always the last to go to bed. however, after only two hours of painting, i became really, really tired. yet, quitting and finishing the next day was not an option for my husband. so as he painted, i quietly curled up on a chair in the living room and fell very comfortably asleep.

my wonderful husband let me sleep as he finished painting the kitchen alone. not one but two coats of white were needed to cover that red. and when i woke the next morning, everything was back in place. cabinet doors were back on, pictures were hung back on the walls and the kitchen was cleaned.

i know my wonderful, ambitious, thoughtful husband didn't want me to come down to a mess in the morning. he wanted me to see the kitchen as i had been envisioning it for some time now. and, not a mess, but nice and clean.

so, now our kitchen is white. so bright. so full of light. i am loving it! here is a glimpse of it now--

i'll share more later after i've made all the finishing touches.

say say my playmate.

so sweet.

a reminder of the song we have always sung to our little sia,
only replacing "say, say" with "si, si"

...it was the first song she sang on her own too!


i found it here.

garage sale.

we're having a (huge) garage sale this weekend- starting tomorrow and continues saturday. i've been busy this week, organizing, pricing and cleaning items to sell. a lot of baby and toddler items. i am so amazed at how much stuff we have accumulated over the years. stuff that has been sitting in our storage area. stuff that we don't use anymore and stuff we haven't used in awhile. it really isn't necessary to hold onto so much stuff, is it?

i'm back.

image via here

the weekend was wonderful. the weather was a bit cooler and we enjoyed our weekend outdoors at home.

i loved waking up each morning with three smiley faces crawling into our bed and not having a schedule or a plan for the day. our days just fell into place. we enjoyed walks to the playground and playing outside. we made complete dinners on the grill and then when it became dark, we roasted marshmallows and made smores while sitting around the fire. i am loving that we are starting to see a glimpse of fall.

now, the kids are back in school, back to a scheduled day. and i'm back to my daily routine but rejuvenated by a wonderful weekend spent right here at home.

celebrate the weekend.

do you have any fabulous plans to celebrate the weekend?

my kids are off from school for three days and i am looking forward to spending a long weekend together. perhaps, making a trip to the farmers market, family dinners cooked on the grill, ice cream cones, swimming and maybe we'll work on some projects around the house. no real plans for the weekend, just enjoying the time together, the five of us.

whatever your plans are, celebrate the weekend! and hope you'll enjoy these things too--

family photos with balloons

what i'm gonna do with my peaches

cute toddler backpack to make

ever seen a bathtub couch? (wow... it's pricey!)

clever stencil tricks

ice cream cone pinata

bananas + cupcakes = yum!

kindergarten project.

what do you think of elle's transportation project??

the assignment was to create a means of transportation. it could be anything that travels by land, air or sea. we chose the hot air balloon and created it out of paper mache. i have always loved the technique and was excited to introduce it to elle. i think she did a wonderful job choosing the colors and painting. with my help, we created the basket out of a small take-out box covered with pieces cut from an old straw hat.

she was definitely proud to turn it yesterday. and i hoping her presentation goes well today.