The Forth of July...

                     
I love parades, cook outs, and fireworks.  Naturally, the Forth of July is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate and usually by doing all of those things. Our town has a great celebration. The town square gets decked out with flags, there is an evening parade, a festival with music, food and games, and fire works.

This year we participated in the parade with our preschool. The theme of our float was super heroes. All the kids were dressed in red, white and blue with capes or super hero costumes. It was super cute. Most of the adults dressed up as characters also. I walked the parade passing out candy. It started out great but by the end I was so exhausted because we decided to go for a run earlier in the day that ended up being a 5k in distance. Not the best idea when you have to walk a parade that's roughly four miles!

2014 Forth of July Parade

We are very lucky in that we live within walking distance of all the events. The parade is a block away so when we hear it coming we walk over and stand in the street and watch as long as we all can. It is a great community parade with lots of businesses, organizations, our first responders, high school bands, pre-schools, scout troops and politicians. Plus, a roller skating frog! Who wouldn't love that! 

We were lucky to get to spend the afternoon and evening with our good friends. Even Syd, the dog, got in on the super hero action. As the sky began to grow dark we packed up our things to head to our spot to watch the fireworks.

Two Years …

Rhys, you are two years old. It happened so fast. I looked through the tons of pictures I have of you to find the prefect ones that describe you best, it was amazing to see all of the things you have done in your very short life. You will not remember any of these things but we will, your dad and I are lucky to have such a happy boy.

I thought I that I would ask each family member why they liked Rhys instead of speaking for everyone. Sometimes, I am overly sappy with my words because I am the mom! I kept the question simple.

Why do you like Rhys?

'cause I like playing with his truck all day and I like to play with him at school and at home and outside and eating candy canes and cupcakes with him. -Emerson

He's my baby boy. He is happy. He is loving. He is sweet. He is determined. He is easy going. He loves to play and laugh and run and jump. He adores his big brother, loves his daddy and is totally a momma's boy. I love every little thing about him. I love when he runs to me and says, "mommy hold you." I love when he lights up when he sees me. I love that he calls me, "Mommy!"- Jill

I love everything about him. I love him no matter what he is doing- running, talking, yelling, crying, sleeping, climbing…he has such a great personality & soul. Plus he is super cute! I guess I love him through and through I just want to give him a big hug now! -Eric

Happy birthday Rhys!!! Little has changed over the year in the way you eat cupcakes but you have grown so much. We love you!

The Last Day of School.

This year has been a great year. The boys have loved going to school, playing with old friends, making new friends, and they had really great teachers. I am truly going to miss this year.

The question at the end of the year is always, "do we need to get the teachers something?" I always say no, but only if you want to. It's not an obligation nor is it expected. I do not remember anyone giving teacher gifts when I was in school. Here's the thing, I like to get the boys teachers gifts. So, I decided this year that they will get handmade gifts as a thank you. 

I made these cute little posters. I saw something very similar on an Instagram feed. I really liked it and decided that it was a great saying for a teacher. So, I made it. 

I feel very lucky that my boys go to a preschool that they love. E was asking this morning if it was a school day. I had to break it to him that schools out for summer. Then he asked for a graham cracker and ran outside. 

I am pretty sure he will have a great summer break!

'I did it!' The most satisfying words after a challenge.

Over the weekend, I ran a 10k, with this awesome group of ladies. This is my workout group, mom's group, social group and most importantly they are my friends. 

We were encouraged to run this race by an instructor that leads our challenge group, Hollie. She created a training plan for all of us to follow for ten weeks to prepare us for the 6.2 mile run. The training included one day of speed training and two days of race pace runs to build up endurance. Each week, my goal was to complete the speed work and at least the longest run because I wanted to continue with my regular workout schedule. Plus, I wasn't actually going to run the race so I was just running to run. I thought I had plans but actually had my schedule all messed up. Anyway, it worked out for me to run with my girls. 

So, we met at 6:30, walked down to the starting area, heard the national anthem and then walked towards the starting line. When I started running I had two goals; one- finish the race and two- finish it in an hour. The first couple miles flew by, I had a great pace going. Then, I was thirsty and at mile marker four there was a water station. Sadly, they had very little water and I had to search for a cup and then I stepped in mud. It slowed me down a bit but I felt great about where I was with my time. Fast forward to my last mile, I was relived when I saw the last mile marker because I was running out of steam. I had to keep telling myself that I could do this, don't walk now, almost done and you've got this! Almost, nonstop! As I got really close to the line, I saw my husband and kids with a sign we made cheering me on. I crossed the line at just under and hour, 59:53, officially. 

I did it!

We did it! I am so proud of all these ladies for completing this challenge. As well as, thankful that I call them friends. I am pretty lucky!

Things I love...

This week has been brutal, coming up with things I love besides warm weather has been overwhelming.

I have been working on planning my cousin's "One Big Bridal Shower". I took on the task of organizing and hosting her shower for both sides of her family, her fiancé's family and her friends. I will have help from her bridesmaids and some of her aunts in making sure things go off without a hitch. As part of the planning and something I love to do, I made the invitations. I didn't come up with the design, I found one that I liked on Pinterest and figured out how to make it my own. After searching for the perfect fonts, I put together this little gem.

So, why did I decide to do this? I love to make things and this helps me in my creative processes and learning techniques. How did I make it? I did it in Photoshop. I drew the graphic by hand, snapped a photo of it, edited the graphic, layered in the text and printed. 

I am a big fan of making your own cards and invitations because of the personal level. I completely understand that not everyone can or will do things like this. If purchasing is more your speed, check out Esty.com. There are many makers there. Some makers create cards and invites and ship them to you and others create files for you to download and print. There are many different options to get a more personalized or customized look. 

I also make most of the birthday cards we give people. Most of the time cards get tossed with the wrapping paper so I decided to just make the cards myself. These are customized to the theme of the parties we went to but I think coming up with a signature card that I give to everyone might be the best way to go.

Here's the thing with making my own cards, I don't stress and I have fun with it! When I make things its really for me, I want others to like the things I make, but I know not everyone appreciates these things. So, I just make them and keep working on my process and style so maybe one day they will be masterpieces!