celebrating the 4th

It's been such an awesome, laid-back holiday weekend and it's not even over!

We've enjoyed

shopping (just me :-)

sparklers

swimming

smoke bombs

dads who have more fun with fireworks than kids

yummy dinners with friends

late nights

more fireworks

neighbors

fabulous surprise weather

and so much more...

 I never got to do fireworks growing up because it was against the law in our town.

No fireworks stands.

Nothing but sparklers.

If I remember right, maybe my dad did shoot off a few illegally one year - only because as a fireman, he either felt that he could break the rules, or whatever cop would come to the house would just laugh at him.

So I love getting to sit outside now and watch the family get to do fireworks.

 the littlest two did lots of this...

 fireworks in pjs that are too small and don't match, such a crack up...

 and a dog that was bothered enough by the fireworks that she tried to attack them...

 maybe the fastest lesson ever learned...

The weather gave us a pretty nice little break from the heat.

Enough so to put jeans on and enjoy some hot drinks while watching fireworks!

 We were SO excited to let off our lantern.

Instead of a big firework finale, we decided this would be the climax of the night.

So the suspense built, we wondered how far we'd get to see it go, and how high it would go...

just standing there waiting for Daddy to let it go.

 All of that excitement for nothing.  The breeze took it directly into the tree.

Where we just sat and watched it burn. (and watched Joel attempt to throw a shoe up there to rattle it enough to break through the branches)

 Dave eventually got it down by shooting a roman candle at it, but it was too late.

So it was back to the fireworks stand to get 2 more to try tonight.

Happy 4th!!!

then and now {home inspirations}

Having 3 bedrooms on our list to re-do all at the same time is a bit overwhelming. 

Especially when I am feeling a bit "lost/confused" in my style lately.

It's weird.  But I just feel my style changing so much.
Has that happened to any of you?

Maybe that's natural.  Maybe it's outside influence - blogs, magazines, or friends with great taste.

Maybe it's that new house that I started dreaming of all the things I'd do there and how it would look.

I think that is a huge part of it.  I was excited about lots of windows and just the old house look and feel.

I was excited to redo some things that I would do differently if I was to do my current house again.

So needless to say, I've been searching the web for inspiration, ideas, new bedding, colors, etc.

And thank goodness for Pinterest!!  Have you heard of it?  Are you on?

Instead of filling my internet "favorites" with a mile long list of websites that would take me forever to sort through and find something - I am loving "pinning" all my finds on my boards. 

In one place, so I don't have to forget where I saw something.

LOVE LOVE LOVE pinterest!!  And I love following friends' boards who I know always find good things too!  That makes the searching even easier!  You can follow me at http://pinterest.com/abalzer/ .

It's just so weird how my style seems to be changing so much.  I THINK. 

I'm also not completely ready to get rid of some of my current style that I love.

Maybe pictures will help explain a bit more. 

For example, nurseries.

The first nursery I got to do I was drawn to girly details, sophistication and chicness, and black and pink.

Now, I'm loving the vintage feel and bright colors!

I have beenVERY drawn to yellow, teal/turquoise and red combos.

And I just got my hands on a jenny lind crib for $10!!!  And I'm pretty sure I'll be painting it yellow.

 And then there's kitchens.  Although we will not be redoing anything anytime soon, and I'm not really sure we will at all.  Here's something I'd consider my dream kitchen a few years ago...

 I used to love dark rich colors.  Low lights were cozy to me.  Loved anything that gave me a cabin or rustic feel (not that this kitchen does that).

But then I began dreaming of a bright, white kitchen with pops of color.  

 And then back to bedrooms.

I would have fallen in love with bedding like this...

And I do still like it.  Reds, greens and browns always caught my eyes.

But now this is catching my eyes..

More color and brightness.

I'm leaning towards a pale bluish/gray wall color in our room.  Just need to find bedding.

Have you ever searched for bedding?

Oh. my. goodness.  The hardest thing ever!

I've spent hours and there just doesn't seem to be much that is what I have in mind.
I think I've checked every department and home type store possible.

Or at least what I DID find, it took me FOREVER to find it.

I went as far as looking at custom bedding on Etsy - but man, that stuff can get expensive!

And sheets??? WHOAH EXPENSIVE!!  Especially when we have to buy deep pocket and I can find them hardly anywhere.  We haven't had to buy sheets since we got married - so I guess this is my first real experience at buying sheets.

I'm having the same problem with bedding for Taylor and Mason.  They'll be moving in together - using the bunk beds that were Dave's.  Trying to come up with a gender-neutral room is hard. I'm trying to start with bedding and then pick wall colors after that.

But honestly, it looks like I MAY be making all of our duvet covers.

Dave doesn't believe I'll do it.  And to be honest, I haven't quite commited.  But the thought of being able to just buy fabric and get the exact look I want seems the way I may be going.

Although I am NOT ready to change all my rich colors to white or light colors, I am feeling ready for a change.  It's that new house pursuit that did it to me. So we'll see what happens a little at a time.

But for now we'll stay focused on the bedrooms.

If you have any ideas for Taylor and Mason's room I would love to hear them!

That's definitely where I'm stuck the most.

Or if you have favorite places that you find bedding, sheets, etc.

bits and pieces of our summer

It's been such a great summer so far. The heat is definitely here.

We have lots of triple digits ahead of us.

We had visitors all weekend due to the heat.

Dave's parents' air conditioner went out so they've been staying at our house, waiting on their replacement.

It's been nice to have some extra hands and energy around here to spread between the kiddos and the dishes.

Here's a quick, and kind of random, catch up on our summer.

Our garden is looking TONS better than last year.

Our first pick was a banana pepper.  Which didn't make it past Taylor's mouth - they are a favorite of hers. We planted them by her request.

 The kids' pots of zinnias are growing like crazy!

It's been routine every day to go out and check for blooms (which we now have lots of!)

 Despite the heat, we've been outside A LOT.  Pretty much every evening.

It's hard to keep these kids inside.

 Sometimes we feel like we live next door to the Selenski's in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids".

You know, they'd always look over the fence to see some really strange things going on at their neighbor's house.

Same with us.

 But really, there has been lots of playing with neighbor friends.  Regardless of what kind of exterminating they are doing.

Sometimes our pool, sometimes theirs.

 And lots of grilling.

And rib smoking (thanks to the awesome smokin skills of my hubby! Ribs are his specialty)

 We also had our first "date night" with each kid separately.

Daddy and Taylor headed out to eat, a movie and ice cream. She was so excited to get dressed up with Daddy.

While Mommy and Mason headed to the park, pulled over to watch a football game from the car, out to eat, bike riding and a paddle boat ride. (man, my date required a lot more energy, and I was BEAT by the time it was over).

The funniest thing is that we couldn't get them to pick different restaurants. Thanks to my earlier suggestion of Huddle House (b/c I really needed a ham and cheese omelet), they couldn't get their minds off it.

So we had to go in shifts.  Dave called to tell me when he and Taylor were leaving so that Mason and I could go there next.

Our golf ball collection is up into the hundreds, thanks to the frequent 4-wheeler rides to the fields behind the golf course. 

A few days ago, Taylor decided she'd try to count them all.

She started over about 7 times before she finally gave up.

 We have spent lots and lots and lots of time on the deck.

In the mornings. For lunch. And definitely the evenings.

Mornings are by far my favorite.  But I'm sure not even those will be enjoyable much longer.

We enjoyed a great evening with family for Father's Day.

To be remembered by Papa "slipping" into the pool.

We have a few small outdoor projects we're working on.

One that I'll show you soon, another that I'm hoping we can start soon.

Other than that, it's time to move inside - we've got 3 bedrooms to redo!

Our room, the kids' room that they will be sharing, and the nursery.

But definitely some more summer to enjoy too!

going fishing

So, there are definitely a few, if not A LOT of things, we would have missed if we had moved.

As much as we really really want to raise our kids in the country (or as close we can get to the country),

we do love our neighborhood!

For many reasons - but one being, that we love the pond!

We take walks to it almost daily, sometime multiple times a day.

We walk around it.

We paddle boat around it.

We see duck families, frogs and turtles.

And just recently, we took our first family fishing trip to the pond.

I made 15 whole dollars on a few things I put in a friend's garage sale- and rather than buying a few pepsis or a trip to Chipotle with it.  We spent it on a few fishing supplies we didn't have yet.

And put it towards some quality family time!

We taught them both how to cast.

Ok, ok, Dave had to kind of remind me too.

But soon we ALL had the hang of it.

We started in one area and weren't having the greatest luck.  It was really hot and sunny.

 So we decided to try the shade.  And we found them!

 You could pretty much guarantee every cast would get you something.

 Both the kids casted and caught fish on their own, and reeled them all the way back in.

Daddy tried to get Taylor to hold her fish.  She really wanted to, and was so close.  But always chickened out. Mason would not even think about it.

So she settled for a picture with Daddy holding it.

We fished for over 2 hours - wow, time sure flies when you're having fun and kids are content!

 I think we caught about 15 fish altogether - a handful for each of us.

And Dave caught a frog (on purpose).

We tossed them all back in so they'd be there the next time we want to catch 15 fish.