The Deck.

Mike has designed the most amazing deck (porch) for us.

It's architectarally beautiful and it's coming along quite nicely.

The other day it was time to stain the upper boards on the roof.

First Mike had to clean and sand them ... so he used his scaffolding to make this easier.

Guess who else likes the scaffolding ...



Mike got his handy dandy paint sprayer out and it made it a pretty fast job.

Notice Griffin over on the steps ... though he's in his bathing suit, he's wearing the swim goggles as "work" goggles to protect his eyes from the over spray. He's so funny.



The natural wood is gorgeous however we had to stain and seal it to protect it from the elements ... we chose this beautiful natural stain finish.

Can you see the difference?



Here's a closer look ...


It is absolutely GORGEOUS!!

It's going to be a screen enclosed deck/porch ... it's going to be fantastic!

Unbelievable.

Yesterday I opened the door to discover this ...


I couldn't believe it.

Jasper had destroyed my big beautiful boston fern planted in the antique pickle barrel.

When I was cleaning it up a little lizard came out of the fern ... pretty sure he was after the lizard and not the fern.

{sigh}

Happy Birthday Caden!

The day Hurricane Irene was whipping through our area we helped our friend Caden celebrate his very first birthday!

The sweet birthday boy ...



Caden's Mommy Shebly made this darling birthday banner for him



Caden's grandpa carved this amazing Winnie the Pooh out of a watermelon



The cake was delicious and it was dairy free!



Griffin had such a good time ... thank you for including us Andy, Shelby and Caden

A Chair Built For 4.

In our house Daddy's chair is built for four ...


Mike, Griffin, Jasper and Oliver

A Surprise In My Backpack.

The other day when Griffin got off the school bus he said Mommy I have a surprise in my backpack. I said great buddy you can show me when we get home.

Thinking it was more than likely something he chose from the teacher's prize box or perhaps something he created in art.

Instead, he pulled this out ...


Once we arrived home he was digging in his backpack and pulled out this little yellow flower. He said Mommy this is for you.

My heart melted.

He said he had found it in the morning in PE and knew I would like it. So, all through PE he held on to it. Then when he returned to his room he put it in his backpack.

I can absolutely say this is one of the sweetest most thoughtful things anyone has ever done for me. Knowing my little boy saw something he thought I would like and then making sure to give it to me ... well, I'm just moved to pieces.


The absolute best gift in the world is one given with a pure heart.

I love you buddy. =)

Help Bring Alan Jackson To Mineral!

I live in a tiny little town right outside the town of Mineral, VA.

On August 23rd a 5.8 earthquake rocked our area and caused severe damage.

The local Louisa County High School has been condemned. The high school is currently sharing the middle school. The high schoolers have classes on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. The middle schoolers are going Tuesday, Thursday and every other Saturday (yes Saturday!). They have also condemned one of the elementary schools and those children are being sent to another elementary school.

Many folks aren't even aware of this as the media chose to concentrate on the surrounding areas (such as Washington, DC and New York). Mineral, VA was the epicenter of this earthquake and they need YOUR help!!

In an effort to raise awareness and to possibly help with donations to the disaster relief fund ... please, please, PLEASE help bring country singer Alan Jackson to Mineral, VA!!

All you have to do is click on the following link. Then choose Mineral, VA. You will need to know to type in zip code 23117.

If you will ... please take just a moment to do this.

Here's the link:



Share this link with your friends, family, bloggers, facebook ... anyone you would like!!

It takes 30 seconds to place your vote.

Don't forget ....

Mineral, VA

Zip Code 23117

Cub Scouts ~ Tiger

Griffin started Cub Scouts last night ... it's his first year and he is a Tiger.

We are very lucky to have two wonderful men as his scout leaders. He already knows most of the boys in his group and looks forward to having an awesome time!


He was super excited to go and participate. The whole way there he talked about being like Russell (from the movie Up!) and how he was able to wear his uniform and earn badges. It was a.dor.a.ble!


Their first project last night was to create a scrapbook page called "About Me". I was super excited myself to be able to help the boys with this. I gathered up some scissors, glue, papers and stickers so the boys could create a page.

The boys were asked to bring a family picture and some magazines to cut out some things they found interesting as well.

It was great fun ... I think I had as much fun as Griffin did!

It's going to be an awesome year in Tigers!!

10 years ago.

No words could accurately describe how I felt that day.

Three words still ring true for me ... United We Stand!

GOD BLESS AMERICA.

Caden's 1st Birthday Party!

Today we joined in celebrating our friend Caden's 1st birthday. What a fun Winnie the Pooh celebration!! The interesting thing is there was a hurricane brewing outside!

Creative.

Griffin received a fun care package in the mail from his Grandma Bett.

Included was a package of colored pencils. Griffin is very creative and LOVES to draw. I was busy cleaning house and he was busy drawing a picture. I thought he might be drawing a picture of a whale or dragon, two things he typically loves to draw.

After awhile he proudly came up to me with his drawing behind his back ...


He drew the sunflower field (down on the farm) we had just visited.

I was amazed at the detail and coloring. The sky is shaded and the sunflowers even show their roots. He added the sun and clouds.

And he did this for ME!

He's such a kind, sweet, loving little boy. I'm very lucky to be his Mommy.

I do plan to frame this and proudly hang it on our wall.

Yes, Virginia. That Was An Earthquake.

Wow ... Wow ... Wowwwww!

Yesterday around 1:50 in the afternoon we experienced a 5.9 earthquake here in Virginia. Apparently the epicenter was located approximately 12-15 miles from where we live.

It.Was.Scary!

We experienced several aftershocks throughout the day including a 4.2 at around 8:00 pm.

We slept downstairs last night because I felt safer in case we needed to get out of the house. Around 12:45 in the morning I was awaken again to another aftershock.

Local residents are still reporting aftershocks today ... I haven't felt any today.

I just hope everything has settled down and will get back to normal.

1st Day Of 1st Grade.

Today is Griffin's first day of first grade ...


He was very excited to start school.

When I took him to school this morning I was prepared to walk him in.

He told me he wanted to walk in himself because "first grader's do not walk in with their mommies".

Ahhhhhh ... he's growing up.

Freckles.

Griffin and I were discussing the sweet little freckles on his face ...


He said "you know momma they are like sesame seeds on a hamburger bun"... it made me giggle because he's absolutely right. =)

Harry Potter?

So last night Griffin and I sat down for dinner ... left overs.

I was still getting my plate warmed in the microwave when I realized he had his Harry Potter glasses (I made them out of paper) and his magic wand (the wooden piece from a pinwheel) ... and he was trying to cast a spell.


Apparently he did not want the left over (and delicious!) roast beef, potatos, green beans and carrots we were having because he was trying to cast a magic spell to turn it into spaghetti.

It gave me the best laugh I've had in a very long time.

So, nooooooo ... Harry Potter does not live in our house ... but a boy with a big imagination sure does.

Autumn Is In The Air ...

Fall is my favorite time of the year ... I love the crisp, clean feeling of fall.

With that in mind, I have created some new fun, fresh and fabulous handmade paper embellishments!

You can find them in my Etsy Shop {Missy Made It!} by clicking HERE


Does anything else make you think of fall ... pumpkins!!


I'm a southern girl and ya'll is a word in my everyday vocabulary ... so "Happy Fall Ya'll!"


This is a brand NEW design!!


Right now I'm loving crimson red and butter yellow together!

I hope you will stop by Missy Made It! to see the other fabulous handmade paper embellishments I have available!!

Jasper & Oliver!

If you've read my blog before you may know we adopted Jasper in May. And then in July we adopted his brother Oliver.


They are two of the cutest puppies you will ever see ... and they are like night and day.

Just look at this picture ... they do not even look alike!


Griffin has introduced them to his little purple pool ...


For the past few days they have been getting in it all by themselves to cool off


Of course a game of "chase our favorite boy" is always fun too ...


And once you go one way you must go the other ...


I believe this picture of Oliver and Jasper in action shows exactly how much fun they are!


This is a picture of Oliver ... he's the layed back and sweet one. He actually was still long enough for me to get a picture. His brother Jasper ... the spunky and feisty one was probably off running in the woods at this very moment.

We are so glad they are now part of our family ... we love you boys!

Sunflowers!

There's just something about sunflowers that makes me happy ...


If you take a ride down our road you will see this beautiful sunflower field Mr. Gill has planted


It's a bit hard to see in the picture but you can see rows and rows of beautiful sunflowers!


How about a little closer look?


Griffin and I decided to hop out of the buggy and Daddy snapped our picture


Just look at all of this bright, shiny yellow beauty!


Gosh ... how I love sunflowers!!

The Color Orange.

Griffin's favorite color right now is orange.


(Picture taken at Old Town in Kissimmee, FL July 2011)

If it's orange ... he likes it.

When given a choice if the color orange is involved he will always take it.

I hear several times a day ... "look Mommy, it's orange and that's my favorite color". When he says that, something inside me just melts.

It makes me happy that the color orange brings him so much happiness.

I think if it was up to him every single shirt he wore we be orange, every popsicle he ate would be orange and every toy he chose would be orange. =)

That's great buddy ... because orange is a terrific color!

New Paper Flower Embellishment Kits!

I have made handmade paper flowers for about 14 years now ...

The sunflower paper flower has always been my favorite to make. The other day Griffin and I went down the road from our house to visit a field of sunflowers ... that got me to thinking. I wanted to offer a "field" of sunflowers.

So I came up with this ...


Paper Flower Embellishment Kits!


In the kit I provide all the PUNCHED PIECES so *YOU* {my customer} can create your very own sunflowers!

I'm really excited about this ... I will be offering other flower colors and shapes too!

Plese visit My Etsy Shop By Clicking Here to check them out!!

The Smurf Movie

Griffin has seen Star Wars, Transformers and even the first two Harry Potter movies ... but we had to leave 1/2 way through The Smurfs because he was scared of Gargamel ...