{7 days for Joey part- 2}

....so sorry that our week of 7 days 4 daddy- celebrating Joey has come to an end! We have so loved loving on him & letting him know how precious he is to us {and missed when he leaves}!

Here is the rest of the fun...

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day #5

~cup cakes for my choco-holic~

Joey adores the choc-lettiest chocolate you can find... so we happily obliged! We made Paula Dean style cupcakes with homemade fudge icing- SINFUL I tell you!!! And.. cause we are pulling out all the stops this year, we hand crafted chocolate toppers!!!

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super easy recipe for chocolate molding clay...

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{1 bag of semi sweet chips & 1/3 cup light corn syrup}

Melt chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time until totally melted. Then add in the syrup.

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next pour out onto wax paper then put another layer of wax paper on top & roll it out like pie crust. Then let it set for about 3 hours until it's firm.

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we tried our hands at a mustache.... but my freehand pattern was pretty sad

and it needed a little bit of pizazz....

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so we busted out the cookie cutters- MUCH easier and MUCH prettier!! I can't wait to try this again for Prissy's party with white chocolate {she and I prefer white unlike the boys}!!! But we did use a few of them!

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Prissy made these...

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...and we made some mustaches of our own...

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They were a HUGE hit!!!!

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day #6

~surprise!~

Joey has taught at church several times, but I have never gotten to go & hear him..... But this week I loaded the kiddos up {after dinner time- gasp} and headed to church. I had texted him with "good luck wishes" like I usually do & he had NO idea that I would be in the crowd. I felt someone put their hand on my shoulder... and it was him. He had spotted our car on the way in. He was FANTASTIC, just like I imagined he would be. I usually get to hear it the night before, but this time I got to see him in action. I was SO proud of him!!!! He said I made him nervous, but he must have told me "thank you" ten times for coming! I love surprising him & this makes me want to do it MORE often!!!!

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day #7

~pie of course~

next to chocolate... my sweet husband adores berry pie!!! So tonight we will be having blueberry pie & salmon cakes {2 of his favs}! Just the perfect ending to his week & warm homecoming. On a side note a very dear older lady at our church asked A-man about his daddy @ VBS this week. She said "I know your daddy and he's really nice", A-man shyly said "yes he is and he plays Legos good too". Then she went on to say "does he tell you about Jesus" {it was one of those moments as a mother where you just hold your breath, close your eyes, and hope for the best}... He said {with NO hesitation} "YES he reads his bible to me every night and Prissy too sometimes... but not Momma, just Prissy and Daddy!"

**never mind that I stayed in bed with him for almost 5 months and that the ONLY reason I don't GET to read the bible during bible-time is because Joey and Prissy WON'T let me..... and the one NOT reading has to answer the questions afterwards!!!!!**

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Happy Father's day to

Joey & Daddy

and..

Travis, Jeff, Jamie, Uncle Michael, GB, Bill, Dean, Steven, Heath, Crist, Kevin, Jonathon, James, Todd, Rod, Matt, John, Jeremy, Sam, Nick, Jason, Rick, Adam, Jason, Leon, Ben, Larry, Scott, Ryan, Grant, Tom, Eddie, Rich, Darrell, Jimmy, Terry, Justin... and all the other awesome dads that I know.

I pray that God blesses you abundantly!!!!!!!

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and..

Happy 2nd Birthday

Paige!!

{while the cat is away...}

We have been keeping busy.... and missing him! The kiddos & I wrapped up VBS-

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Here is the A-man on day 1

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and day 4

{although this picture is deceiving-

it was snack time.....}

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and here he is on day 5 {with his bestie Lukey}

... much improved however I'll let y'all know how tomorrow goes with the "stage" portion- YIKES!!!!! Next to "snack time"

Lukey was A-man's favorite part of VBS!

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Prissy... well let's just say- she has NO separation anxiety... She has TOTALLY come out of her shell & is looking VERY forward to the "stage" tomorrow.... {regrettably I didn't get many pics of Prissy this year- the A-man wouldn't let me leave his side...}

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and... we've been swimming A LOT!!!

...and missing daddy!

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and making some water bombs.

{wanna know how? Okay!}

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first- go to the dollar tree and get some sponges

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next- cut each one into 4 pieces

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then- stack them together like this & tie them up with fishing line

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finally- take them to the pool & make some new friends- VERY quickly!!!! We we there only a minute before the neighborhood kiddos came swimming over to play...

We had a blast!

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These are also VERY fun with a bucket of water in the yard.... Endless fun for little to NO effort or money!!!! And they would be the PREFECT bow on top of a summer b-day present...hum?

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I {hear} summer!!!

{7 days for Joey part- 1}

Well.... in a sentence- we are knee deep in VBS this week & I am helping out in A-man's class. We have 33 in the 4yr olds- PLEASE pray for us- {ha ha}. And I wanted to do something special for Joey for Father's day this year..... So we decided to make it a week long celebration- why the heck not? I mean after all... he does put up with us all year, and having Prissy around is just like having 2 of me! Perhaps we should have started celebrating last month- wink wink!!! Anyway Joey is headed out of town this weekend so we have gotten a head start on our 7 days 4 daddy!!!

Here is what we've done so far....

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day #1

~root beer floats~

{fancy straw included- which was of course the kiddos' favorite part. This was so easy & I'm sad to say that my kiddos had NO idea what a root beer float even was - gasp!!!! NO WORRIES- they do now & the LOVE them!!!}

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day #2

~kids choice~

{they made special signs and posters for Joey & took him out for lunch to McD's {all while I was @ work}. A-man even made a Lego ship which he politely told Joey "he could keep until daddy's day is over, but NOT the guys". Joey found it most impressive & A-man beamed with pride!!! Prissy choreographed a complete ballet for him {to music I might add}. It was stunning- I cried and Joey kissed her cheeks off! A-man didn't seem impressed...

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day #3

~a little apple~

{nothing says "thank you" like an itunes gift card in this house. Although- true to form, Joey has promised to share his gift with the kiddos... We are now the proud owners of Clone Wars season 3 & Cody Simpson's new single.... And now you can start to see why we are celebrating what a WONDERFUL daddy we have!!!!!!!!}

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day #4

~a morning off biking trip~

{my sweet husband loves biking almost as much as I like sewing- so he says... He went to the trail furthest away- one that he doesn't go to often (the MOST dangerous of course!) and loved every minute of it!!!! He came home dripping with sweat, cut up, bruised, grinning ear to ear with a jammed hand....- I still say sewing is better!!!}

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{Prissy adding some polka dots...}

~more of 7 days 4 daddy to come~

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{I found this little paper tucked into Prissy's kitty caddy.... it made me chuckle. Poor little A-man isn't quite loved as much as Joey & I.... but he would take a bullet in a minute for her! I bet she loves him more that she would care to admit!}

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And I picked up a couple of new furniture pieces this week...

I can't wait to get my hands on them!!!! Now I'm off to bed early tonight- Lord knows I need some sleep tonight!!!!!

{free-decorating for summer- part 2}

Now... let's talk more change for free!

Here is what we did today to freshen-up for summer..

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first- I used a can of white spray paint {always on hand} to re paint the trunk {once blue} on the front porch. It makes a huge difference & took 5 minutes...

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then- I spiced up the dining room built ins for summer. I added shells {free from our vacay} and added some crystal- which makes it much more airy & clean looking...

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next- I scavenged trough my fabric bins for new pillow makeovers.... I like the look of the french ticking fabric, but it was a little dark... So, I turned it inside out. The pale gray {inside out side}- proved the PERFECT solution for a summer makeover! Prissy persuaded me to add a flower- which I {loved}!!!

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then, cause I loved the square one so much... I made a rectangular one too {by the way NEVER throw away any old pillows- keep them for their pillow forms, you never know when you'll want to make a new one}.

But.... again, Prissy said it needed something else? So, I added some ruffles.... and it is positively PRECIOUS!!!!!!!

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I made them for the porch, but I loved them so much...

They are staying inside for a bit!!!

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Then, I freshened up the chalkboards...

Easy & FREE!!!

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{the kiddos loved this part the MOST!!!}

Hope this inspires y'all to love what you already have

& truly love your home {again}!!

{free-decorating for summer- part 1}

Well... since we got back from the beach, I've had an itch to redecorate... imagine that {ha ha ha}. But, my favorite forms of redecorating are: changing up the furniture, making pillows, and repainting something that I just spray painted a month ago- go figure!!!!! So today- this is what the kiddos & I did.... and YES I bribed them with Popsicles and Lego time and even promised a late dip in the pool- SHAMELESS??? I think not!

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first we started out with Prissy's room and moved the bed... It really is one of my favorite finds from last year!

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then I moved her toys to another corner of the room and hid them away with the dressing screen {the perfect solution by the way for unsightly toys- NEVER pass one up if you see one!}

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Next we moved the book shelf closer to the "grown up" part of the room.... We cleaned out some princess books that she said "were NO longer age appropriate". I had to laugh because she insisted on keeping ALL of the Barbie ones...

{a little cameo from the A-man and Prissy}

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then we tackled the A-man's room- cause what you do for 1 you have to do for the other.... He just really requested much more accessibility to his arsenal of weapons. I think this little red wire basket is perfect. And of course we spent most of our time displaying ALL of his Star Wars Lego- good grief!!!!!!

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And we moved his bed and car prints

{that I'm sure would have been worth a fortune on "Antique's Roadshow" if I hadn't colored them with colored pencils to make them match the room....}

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next, I paired his memory board up with his coat rack- MUCH BETTER!!!

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... then he added some Pirate Legos and we called it a day -shewwwwww!

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So in review total cost of today's redecorating= FREE!!! We are thrilled with the feel of something new & it didn't cost a thing- yeah!!!!!

Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow.....

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p.s. My sweet, handsome, very tall, very witty, and very much like my husband- nephew Tyler graduated from high school last Saturday... Today this came in the mail. He wrote it when he was 7...... It made Joey & I both cry. We love you Tyler and we are ALL so incredibly proud of the man you have become!!!!

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