She made them into these awesome soccer and baseballs.  And of course, they were super yummo!  I found the awesome liners by chance at Michaels for 2/$1.  Sa-weet!

My amazingly talented cousin made these amazing covered Oreos.

They were a hit and gone pretty quickly!

I only got a few more pictures.  Puppy and his little cousin had a great time riding his quad!

We also had all kinds of "ball-park" food, like hot dogs (Coney Island, thanks to Gramma Judie), hamburgers, walking tacos, nachos and cheese, popcorn, peanuts, and of course, soda and beer!

We were able to get a family photo!

I forgot to change the setting on my camera, so this is the best picture I have of the boys blowing out their candles!

And the best one I have of the three of them, but I love it!  

So the celebration was wonderful, the rain held off, the kids had a great time playing with all of their cousins and friends, and the adults left with full yet aching bellies from laughing.  I would say it was a success!  

One of my BFF's always says she has a love/hate relationship with my boys' birthday party.  It's always a good time, but it also signifies the end of summer every year, and also the start of school. I happen to LOVE the start of school.  For a person who thrives on schedule and routine, having a set wake time, homework time, bath time, bed time, etc. makes me very happy.  Snip had his first day of first grade on the Monday after his birthday party.  

I can't believe how quickly the past few years have gone.  I remember worrying so much in his first year of preschool.  He had just turned 4, and was in a 4-year-old room.  However, I was still working at the time, so I was dropping him off at "daycare" at 7:30 every morning, and most times, I didn't pick him up until 5:30.  Looking back, I can't believe that my Bug was spending 10 hours a day at school, and never complained.  I remember him getting lots of time-outs, phone conferences with his teacher, and being so worried that he was going to struggle.  Everyone reassured me that he was just little, he would grow, he would learn, he would adjust.  Finally, he did.  And now, I can't believe how he's grown.  I remember him dragging and having to be told a gazillion times to get ready and get out the door.  I remember his teacher calling him by first and middle name to try to get through to him.  I look at this boy now who is ready to walk out the door usually 20 minutes early and who is so responsible and reading and writing, and it just blows my mind.  He loves his teacher and has so many friends in his class this year.  We couldn't be happier!

Snail had his first day of school on the Tuesday after Labor Day.

Now this kid?  I mean seriously?  He is just the happiest, friendliest, kid.  He is so excited to be going to school 4 days a week this year.  He was really sad when he found out two of his best friends weren't coming back to school with him, but he seems to have adjusted.  Every day he can't wait to tell me who he played with and what they played.  Mostly it seems that Minecraft is the big entertainment when they get to play together.  They use blocks to make scenes from the game.  

So far we're off to a great school year.  I wanted to share some pictures of Snips first two football games, but my phone shit the bed last weekend and I had to get a new one.  I lost all of the pictures I took from August 17 on.  At least I had backed up the ones prior to that.  

How excited is everyone for fall?  I don't know if anyone else gets as excited as I do.  My favorite memory of fall is high school football.  If I close my eyes, I am sitting in the stands, looking at a hillside of a million different colored leaves, smelling the smells of the concession stand, hearing the whistles blow for the football game and the band playing, cheerleaders cheering, crowd yelling.  I don't know if that's where my love of fall began, but for as long as I can remember I've loved it.  I love everything about it. Maybe it's because I live here:

These were all taken 5 years ago! (I remember taking them like it was yesterday!)

I have so many things that I love about fall, 

 but here are my faves:

1} colors of the leaves, and the way the sun hits them

2}  color of the leaves against the sky...whether it's bright blue or purple storm

3} football!  And while I'm not a huge pro football fan, I do enjoy it being on in the background while I clean or do laundry!  I am REALLY loving being a part of the youth football league.  It's so much fun!

4} sweatshirts, sweatpants, sweaters, jeans, boots, scarves!

5} fall decorating!

6} fall candle smells (especially pumpkin and Farmers Market from Yankee!)

7} Festivals!! (I WILL make it to FORT DAYS this year!)

8} Halloween!

9} fresh, crisp, air

10} walking in the woods, quad rides in the woods

11} fall tv!!!!  (can we say Grey's, Scandal, and The Blacklist!?!?)

12} farms, apples, pumpkin patches, tractor rides, corn mazes!

13} pumpkin spice coffee

12} But my FAVORITE thing about fall?  Close your eyes, you're walking in the woods, kicking up the leaves....breathe in....smell it?  That smell.  THAT is my favorite thing about fall.

Oh, and then there are these.

um.  yes.

The leaves have already started to change, and as soon as the kids are back in school and football starts, I start celebrating!  While it's my favorite season, it seems to be gone the fastest, too, and into winter, which I don't hate,  but I certainly don't love!

As you know by now, I am the self-proclaimed Queen of Unfinished Projects.  Here's one that is unfinished, but mostly finished.  Bet you can't see where it needs finished.  I painted the front door purple back in July.  Just getting around to taking some pictures and putting them here.  It was one of many home improvements this summer.  While some hate it (won't mention any names here! ;),  I <3 it!  A lot.

Here are some befores...

(ignore the crap on the porch, we were having the new carpet installed!)

And here it is now!

in LOVE with the new Welcome mat that I found at Wally Mart!

My ONE blossom that i got on my hydrangea this year.  

At some point I'll get the master bath final product on here as well as the kitchen, if it ever gets done!  We're expecting the backsplash guy to call any day!  BUT...NEXT we're redoing our dining room!  I am really excited about this, but also kind of at a "designing block" so to say.  I know the colors I want to do (grey, white, gold), but the problem is this.  The current dining room furniture was my Mommo's.  My mom's mom.  She passed away when I was 4.  Remember how I get attached to stuff?  You can read about it here.  Well, I just don't know what to do. I know I want all white furniture in there, or at least mostly white.  Or off-white, or cream or whatever.  But right now it's almost a mahogany color.  It's the farthest thing from what I want it to look like.  Here are the options we've discussed:

1} keep all furniture and have it refinished and fixed (chairs are ready to fall apart!)

2} keep table and buffet as they are in good shape, have refinished, buy all new chairs, buy hutch for top of buffet

3} buy all new furniture

We keep going back and forth, and I just don't feel anything in my gut that is the right thing.  The fact that my Mommo (and the rest of my mom's family) has eaten at that table, touched those chairs, etc. means a lot to me, so I'm struggling here!

When I DO make the decision, here are some of my thoughts for decorating.  Can you tell I'm obsessed with gold?!

I see lots of gold spray paint in my future!  And that includes fall decorating!  So much going on right now, but hoping to make time for the this little place in my life more!

bye for now!

~jenn