Little Pea Picker

Jared took some cute photos of Mitchell in our garden last night:

Berry Picking

I went strawberry picking with my sister a couple of weeks ago and I have some tasty homemade jam to show for it- yum! I spruced up some of the jars with an idea I found here, using my favorite yellow polka dot wrapping paper for the lids and labels I made with sticker paper. (I'm still loving those two items, by the way.) I plan to give them away as gifts. Oh how I love summertime.

You Had Me at Grosgrain

No, really. I recently stumbled across this great sewing blog that I feel is pass-along worthy: Grosgrain Fabulous. Love the name, love all of her cute creations, love the entire vibe of her blog. Here is just a sampling, go check it out for yourself!
(All images via Grosgrain.)

I'm Back

Excuse me for the lack of posts last week. Among other things, Jared and I were visiting family in Marietta for several days. Now that I'm back it's business as usual. That is, keeping this thing updated with my general non-sense just about daily.

Home Swap

I seriously think this is the coolest idea ever. I've seen it in the movies but I didn't know people actually did this in real life. (It's that whole living under a rock thing.) A family with four children from Phoenix, AZ is currently living in southern France for a year via a home swap. You can read more about it here or the family's blog, here. I think a year might be a little tricky, especially with kids who are in school and also for employment reasons (minor details), BUT if you took the time to figure all that out, it would be such an amazing experience. The only problem I could see myself running into is finding a family to swap with. Ideally it would be a family with a gorgeous home in superbly cool, exotic place with a strong desire to live in my little house in the suburban Midwest. Hmmm... Yeah...That might not work. If you're interested in home swapping find out more about it here: HomeForSwap and HomeExchange.

(Photos via HomeExchange.com: French Riviera and Natal, Brazil.)

For My Dad On Father's Day

(Click on pictures to enlarge)

"How I Love My Dad"
"I love my dad because he helps me. And he plays with me.""And he takes care of me. And he takes me to the office."
"I love my dad. HE IS THE BEST DAD IN THE WORLD!!!!!!!!!"
I knew all these little books I've saved over the years would come in handy at some point or another- Happy Father's Day Dad!

And the Photogenic Family of the Year Award Goes To...

The Neals!

A big thank you to the Neal family for letting me take their picture this week. I am trying to gain more experience using my camera and I must say that while I still have a long way to go, I definatly learned a lot during my time with them. Thanks again Neal Family. You guys rock!

And This Little Piggy Cried...

oh my goodness! These onesies Marci made are so stinkin' adorable!


Note: Add this to my growing list of projects I'd like to get to at some point or another.

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Remember that red, ruffley sweater jacket I blogged about back in March? I have been watching and waiting for it to go on sale since...well, March and I'm happy to say it's now mine! Original price: $148.00 (Are you kidding me?) My price: $31.00. Now that's more like it.

Pistol Stitched

A cool find at the Columbus Arts Festival this past weekend. Purses by Pistol Stitched. Her designs are clean and modern and I really like her funky fabric and button combinations. These are definatly on the pricey side ($90-$180) but I guess she does everything from the sewing to cutting and staining the wooden handles. You can buy them in her Etsy shop, here.

Summertime

With temperatures in the 90s, we decided to make our first official visit to the Ballantrae fountain park today. Definately one of my favorite places in Columbus for kids on hot summer days. The best part? It's FREE!(This last photo made me laugh. This is Mitch doing his famous high-pitched squeal. Toddler talk for, "It's time to go.")

Meet Ohio's Newest Dentist

A big high five to Jared's older brother Austin, who just graduated from The Ohio State school of Dentistry on Sunday. Congratulations to Austin (and his family!) for making it through four years of really hard schooling!

Binth

I'm not sure why I am so drawn to children's gear. Seriously, even before I had children I loved children's books, children's clothing, children's art work, nursery decor and anything involving the alphabet. It's just so much more fun than grown-up stuff, I guess. Anyway, I found this really cool site, Binth, via Design Mom. (Side note: If you aren't reading Design Mom, you totally should be.) And, yeah, I'm in love with this matching game and this alphabet print.