The Last Day of School

It's the last day of school! I wanted to take a picture of the kidlywinks, just like we do on the first day of school, but Little Miss was out the door and gone before I could find the camera and Mr. Man was still half asleep. Let's just say he's more than happy that this day has finally arrived.

For the teachers' gifts this year we decided that we would give them something that would induce  relaxation on the front porch. Organic beer for Mr. Man's teacher and a lovely bottle of wine wrapped in a flour sack tea towel for Little Miss' teacher. (You can find the tea towels here.) Here's to summer, fun and relaxation!

Chocolate Milk Mustache

I love this boy. Chocolate milk mustache and all. Mr. Man is a lover of video games, all things retro (that's my boy!) graphic novels and teeny tiny creatures. He draws them. Pages and pages. 

 And now he is sculpting them out of modelling clay. I think he is creating an army. Or universe. This summer he plans on creating more. And more. And more. And perhaps a video. 

And the only thing better than creating a gaggle, herd, posse of creatures is making them with your dad.

Ultimate

Little Miss loves Ultimate. She's been playing with some kids in the neighbourhood once a week arranged by a fabulous family. This family has been a real blessing to us. We are so thankful for them. 

And excitement of all excitement, Little Miss along with the other kids who have been playing weekly, made the school Ultimate team!

Today they competed against some other local schools.

 It was hot and humid, but they played on.

 So fun to see them play.

And cheer on their team from the sidelines.

Don't Forget the Cannoli!

A few months ago, Little Miss was given a book full of easy sewing projects. She set to work right away making sock monsters. This girl loves a project! Not to be out done by his big sister, Mr. Man got in on the action. He made one sock monster and named him Mr. Cannoli. Fast forward several weeks and Mr. Man asks, "What's a cannoli?" Realizing that Mr. Man had no idea what a cannoli was, Andrew arrived home with a box wrapped in string full of - you guessed it - cannolis.

Sweet Wonderful Sunshine

It was time to change things up. Time to add some summer to the living room. Even though, technically, as Mr. Man will remind me, summer doesn't start until later this week. We are enjoying the hot weather despite what the calendar says.

I love words. I always have. Words that remind me of the good things in life. Like sunshine. And to take time to enjoy it.

Oh, how sweet the light of day,

And how wonderful to live in the sunshine!

Even if you live for a long time, 

Don't take a single day for granted.

Take delight in each light-filled hour.

Ecc. 11:7-8

And a little chalkboard bunting full of sunshine.

The best part about this project is that I had everything on hand. A repurposed board and some paint left over from the previous owners is all that it took. 

And of course my little buddy that helps me with everything. We're counting down the days until school is done and when the all there is to do is enjoy the sunshine.

Sharing here:

 

   

Cocktail Party - Mad Men Style

Last weekend Andrew and I hosted a classic 1960's style, Mad Men cocktail party. Oh so fun!

We dressed up in 1960's cocktail attire. A little consignment dress and vintage cocktail ring for me and a 1960's tie for Andrew. 

And our lovely guests came dressed with 60's flaire as well.

Ali even had her hair done. Isn't it lovely?

And Cherolyn styled her own pin curls. Fab, eh?

After all the picture taking (because, really, when are we all dressed up this nicely?) the cocktails began.

Andrew was our bartender. He is good. Really. Andrew served up cocktails from the 1960's. On the cocktail menu: Lime Gimlet, Old Fashioned, Tom Collins, Mojito and a Manhattan. 

The bar cart normally acts as Andrew's bedside table, but for this occasion it was put to its original use. Complete with a vintage ice bucket.

 Although we have some rock and martini glasses, we were in need of more for the party. Thankfully kind friends lent us theirs. Using a china marker, we wrote Men Men on the bottom of our glasses so we could easily tell them apart.

As for the borrowed martini glasses, we simply wrote Mad Men on metal rim tags. It made returning the right glasses so much easier.

 And of course what is a party without food? I raided my mom's china cabinet for some authentic 1960's serving dishes. So fun!

Kind friends brought food. Thanks Marshal & Cherolyn, Leslie and Rik & Ali. They brought awesome 1960's inspired food. We ate Pigs in Blankets, Deviled Eggs, Salmon Mousse, Shrimp Cocktail, Chips and Dip, Jelly Rolls and other yummy goodness.

We kept the rest of the decoration to a minimum. A cocktail banner.

And Mad Men inspired hoop art.

A fun evening indeed.

Memories and Cleaning

Today and probably tomorrow, I am cleaning out closets. I really don't like it, but it needs to be done. And people are coming on Saturday. No, I'm not afraid they will look in my closets, it's just that I have stuff around the house that needs to go away - in those closets - and there is no room. The one good thing about cleaning out all the crap is that you find a few things.

Like Little Miss' baby book. Truth be told, I'm terrible with baby books. There's a page, maybe two filled out. That's it. It's just not my thing. This blog is more my thing. A place to keep memories. Finding this book reminds me that I love blogging. I love recording our lives here, in this medium, not in a book. Blogging just resonates with me. Baby books don't. It also reminds me that I don't have to be good at everything or do everything. I am happy to love Little Miss and tell her all the things that make her special. But please don't make me write down things in a baby book. And poor Mr. Man. I'm not sure if he has a baby book. If he does, I've never written in it.

I also found this. A Kirby kite that Mr. Man made almost two years ago now. He's too big for it, or so he tells me. He no longer wants it, but I have fond memories of him running down the sidewalk with the Kirby kite flapping behind. It brings a smile to my face. So I guess cleaning out closets isn't all bad.

Flower Boxes

 We live on a corner lot. And this is the side of our house. There used to be a very large tree on the corner. It was beautiful. The canopy was large. Although it was close to the road, it hid the side of the house. Now we're left with this.

I took this picture a few weeks ago so the garden has begun to fill in around the deck. The satellite dish can come down since it was left by previous owners. It just hasn't happened yet. The wires have to stay. Well, if we want hydro they do. I've tried to resurrect the grass. We'll see. The awning which is hidden by the magnolia tree will be painted, but I'm waiting until it's consistently warm at night so the paint can cure. Soon. I'd love to replace the awning with something beautiful, like a singled porch with pillars, but that's not happening anytime soon. I'd love to re-do the side walkway. It's a mess. A big mess. Pavement (driveway) to gravel to interlocking stone to gravel to old concrete sidewalk. That's the path you take to get to the side door. Horrible I know. It was like that when we bought the house. And unfortunately it will have to stay that way for a little while longer.

But not all hope is lost. There is one thing we can do.

 Thank goodness for this man.

For Mother's Day he built me flower boxes. In one day. Well, an afternoon really. See the strange box in the middle? He even figured out how to build a flower box around the deck post. Clever man.

Beautiful flower boxes painted a charcoal grey. 

They are filled with flowers that were once in hanging baskets. The grocery store had an amazing deal on hanging baskets. I took the plants out, pulled them apart and replanted them in the flower boxes. Quick and easy - just the way I like it.

Now the walkway may still need to be blown up, but at least I am somewhat distracted by the beautiful flowers in the lovely grey flower boxes. And it doesn't look quite so bare.