It's a "Two-fer!"

Hey everyone, and Happy Easter to one and all!  I hope that whatever your Easter day plans might be, big or small, that it will be a joyous occasion.  Ours is going to be very small this year with just The Man and I.  Even though it is only going to be the two of us, I decided to do a "pretend" Easter table in the dining room and a small "for real" table-for-two in our breakfast room.  Fair warning, lots of pics!

You have to know I've been wanting to use our newly acquired china, which you can read all about HERE,  and decided an Easter table would be the perfect venue.  So, without further ado.....TA-DA!

A bird's-eye view!

Some "Eastery-Spring" Peeks!

Hey everyone!  Yes, "Eastery" is definitely a word -- well, at least a word in my vocabulary!  I have several little areas in my home that have gotten some special "Eastery-Spring" tweaks, so I thought I'd share.

Peter Cottontail is out to greet everyone coming to the front door!

My Baby is 40 Today!

Hey everyone!  Well, it's just not every day that your baby turns 40, so I had to crow just a little bit!  Of course, this was way before gender could be determined ahead of time, so we were surprised and very delighted to have a little son since we already had our little daughter.  

He was kind of late to the party, but apparently still did not want to greet the world!  He hemmed and hawed the entire day, like 13 hours, before giving up the fight and making his debut.

He was as tired as his momma, so once he was all cleaned up and wrapped, he slept peacefully.  He brought us so much joy as a baby and then a little boy growing up.

He continues to bring us so much joy and a life filled with love and happiness.

Happy Birthday to our most wonderful and much loved son!

Family Treasures

Hey everyone!  It's a brand new week and Spring is definitely in the air in lots of places -- here for sure!  I've been so excited to share this post with all of you, about our newly acquired family treasures.  The Man's sister and bil were kind enough to deliver these items to us all the way from the Great Northwest.  These are things that had belonged to The Man's mom and dad and were very much treasures, especially to my sweet mil.  No one else in the family had a place for them except us.  So, yay, we feel so blessed to be the guardians of these lovelies.

A Family Gathering

Hey everyone!  I was absolutely planning to wait until next week to share photos about our "Family Gathering," but I was so happy with how everything turned out and could not wait any longer!  We had been planning this for a couple of months, trying to get everyone's schedules coordinated.  The Man's sister and BIL have a time-share in Scottsdale and arranged a time when their kids and grandkids could join them for a few days, and we worked around our son's schedule to choose an evening when we could all be together.  The adult cousins had not seen each other for a long time, and a couple of spouses were new on-the-scene, not to mention all the second cousins who had never met.

We could not have asked for a more perfect evening, and the Bunny Trail sign was out to greet everyone when they arrived.  

Our HOA Community Center has this wonderful Party Trailer that you can borrow or simply borrow the items you need for events -- tables, folding chairs, BBQs, lights, kids' pools, etc.  You simply leave a deposit when you pick up what you need and get it back when you return those items.  We didn't need very much, just a couple of tables and folding chairs, but it was so nice not to have to rent them!

Y'all know I've been on a "drop cloth" kick lately, so I made a couple of oblong cloths and a round one.  I already had the fringe from a gazillion years ago and thought that was a nice touch.  On a last-minute trip to Trader Joe's for some wine, I spotted lots of fresh "white" flowers -- daisies, tulips & stock, and knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.  I gathered up a bunch of jars and other clear-glass containers and added a mix of the different flowers, then placed them down the middle of the long tables and added some to the round table.  It was very simple but looked great! 

I always forget to take pictures once things start happening, so I didn't get any pics of the food or food and beverage tables.  We took the easy way out on part of the food with ribs and baked beans from Joe's BBQ (a real landmark here in our area), so all I had to make was potato salad, bread and chocolate chip cookies for dessert.  I made "Bunny Munchies" treat containers for the "littles," but no pic of those either!

We had six "littles" here, ranging in age from 11 down to 18 months.  Poor little Parker is so outnumbered, but he is a great big brother and didn't mind a couple of extra girls thrown in the mix!  I just have to chuckle -- I don't care how many pictures you take, with this many little ones you will NEVER get them all "antic-free" or even looking in the right direction!  We tried!


Left to right: Greta (3), Avey E (18 months), Flynn (4), Phoebe (9), Parker (11), and Avey Q (2).  Yep, we have two Averys in the family!


These little people played with toys, tossed balls, looked at geckos on the fence, and even had time to bestow us with lovely chalk art!

The Man's sister was so sweet and sent us this iPhone pic that she snapped of our family.  It's a bit grainy but still a pretty good picture.  You can kind of see the Bunny Munchies containers that I spoke of earlier in Flynn's and Phoebe's hands -- got those boxes at World Market, made some little tags and filled them with small chocolate chip cookies & some Easter candies -- they were a big hit!

We all had so much fun together and closed out the evening with promises to do this again soon.  I hope the children won't all be teenagers before we make that happen!

In case you are wondering what I did with all those lovely flowers after the party.......

I brought them inside and gathered them together on this tray on my kitchen island.

I'm truly enjoying how pretty they look, and the wonderful smell of the Stock is incredible!

I'm so happy you stopped by and indulged my sharing of our family party.  Next week I will share a post about our newly acquired family treasures.  I think you will enjoy that, so please come back!  As always, you know the "Welcome" mat is always out!

I love to party here:
Karen at Sew Many Ways for Sew Darn Crafty

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Dawn at Creative Cain Cabin for Budget Decorating Party
Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays
Maria Elena at Our Home Away from Home for Tuesdays at Our Home

Marty at A Stroll Thru Life  for Table Top Tuesdays

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Mary Beth at Cupcakes and Crinoline for Project Inspired

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Karin at The Style Sisters for Centerpiece Wednesday

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Pamela at From My Front Porch to Yours for Treasure Hunt Thursday

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading

The Tablescaper at The Tablescaper for Seasonal Sundays

A Sneaky Peek at Some Newly Acquired Family Treasures

Hey everyone!  I'm not ready to do a full-blown post about our family gathering on Monday evening or about the wonderful family treasures that were delivered to us by The Man's sister and bil; but I just had to share a sneak-peek of these family pieces that we now have guardianship of.  I can't wait for you to see how they have already become part of our home, but you will just have to wait a bit longer for that reveal.  I am also anxious to share some photos of the wonderful evening we had all together with our sweet family, getting acquainted and reacquainted with nieces, nephews, cousins and second cousins.  That post will be coming soon as well!

So, for now, I just had to share a glimpse of our new treasures.

I'm just ecstatic over these items and look forward to sharing "mucho" photos!

Hope you are having a wonderful week!

Old Out, New In!

Hey everyone!  We are getting ready to have a big family gathering here this afternoon with relatives we haven't seen in quite some time.  There are also some little people we've never met, so it's going to be fun and exciting.  I've been super busy this past week doing what we all do when we are about to have company -- go a bit crazy cleaning, cooking, tweaking -- well, y'all know, right?  

The Momma-Cave Pt. 2

Hey everyone!  Welcome once again to The Momma-Cave and Part 2 of the tour (PART 1 is the previous post), and don't believe for a second that there will be fewer pictures this time around!  Part 2 is more about the details of where and how I store my tools and supplies;  but for me, that is all about making them pretty while also being organized.    So here we go!

The Momma-Cave Pt.1!

Hey everyone!  Happy brand new week to y'all!  I've just been having a ton of fun in my craft-sewing room, now referred to as "The Momma-Cave," and wanted to share some of the new things I've added and a number of tweaks that I've made.  If you want to see how this room looked before, go HERE, HERE, or HERE.  I am so blessed to have my very own creative space, and I have loved and appreciated it from the get-go;  but I just felt it needed something more after living with it for about a

Feed the Bear With Bear Hugs!

Hey everyone!  Hope y'all are having a great week.  I haven't been posting more than once a week, but I've been meaning to share this and it's short.  As you may have heard me say before, I am making quilts for each of our grandchildren, three down and three to go, but I do have all the fabrics and two of the quilts are well on their way to being finished.  When our youngest was born, our son and DIL were in the throes of purchasing a home, so I held off making a baby quilt until I knew what colors were going to be in the baby's room.  Well, two years later (bad me), I now have a larger quilt cut out for Littlest Miss and in colors and prints that will grow with her.  With each quilt I've been making for the Grands, I've also been making a Teddy Bear, and even the older kiddos love them.  Littlest Miss's birthday was at the end of January, and having just gotten the quilt fabric, I decided to go ahead and make her bear for her present.  

These are all the fabrics that I am using in her quilt.  I love the chenille and actually had that in my stash!

Looks kind of hungry, doesn't she?

I've made at least a hundred of these bears.  When I was working, I would always make and donate a bear or two whenever there was any kind of fund-raiser.  Invariably, several people would ask if they could commission me to do a bear or two for them.  Pretty soon word got around our little town, and I had a little sideline business.  This was my favorite "stage" of putting these little guys together.  I referred to them as the hungry bears and would sit and feed them with stuffing as I watched TV with The Man each night!

Anyway, on to the "Birthday Girl."  

Do you think she loves her "Teddy?"

Littlest Miss closes her eyes to make a point.....

Ahhhh.....she loves her little bear.

Sorry for the blurriness, but Littlest Miss's alias is "Busy," and she had already posed long enough

for me to take pictures.  Dang, I have to remember to use the "Sports/Action" setting when I'm taking pictures of this little one!  Hope you enjoyed!

I love to party here:
 Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays

Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading

Karen at Sew Many Ways for Sew Darn Crafty

The Garden Casita

Hey everyone, and Happy Monday to y'all!  I was planning on sharing a different post today, but changed my mind and decided to go with a DIY project that has been a long time coming -- our Garden Casita!  This project was actually started back in June 2012, but due to AZ summer temps, other more pressing projects, company, etc., it is just now finished.  Would you like to see? 

If you have been following me for awhile, like when we lived in our previous home, you will remember this garden casita.

After building this one in our backyard in Yuma, The Man knew he wanted to build another one, and we had the perfect spot.

The original owner bought an extra large lot, and had a concrete pad put on this side of the house.  The Man did a lot of pre-planning to make sure the building could not be seen from the street -- that's one of our HOA requirements.

Adding the additional concrete to fill in the gap was the first job The Man worked on.

Doing concrete work in June in AZ is kind of tricky -- you have to work in very small batches because it's drying so quickly!

Then the lumber started arriving -- it's really a good thing we have a Home Depot about a mile away!

Hard at work!

Here we are into July and the heavy lifting was starting to happen.

We invited our daughter & family over for July 4th and put our SIL to work.  I'd rather cook than try lifting those wall frames.....lol!

I didn't get a good picture of the concrete tile roof, but The Man did that all himself.  We found the tile on Craig's List & it just happened to match the tile on our house, & we got it for a "song!"

Construction is coming right along, but this was August and I was only a "pleasant-natured" helper until about ten o'clock......lol!  Once the cement board was all installed, The Man (with his trusty sidekick who could only work until 10 am) started on the rock.

We were able to purchase this from a supplier who was getting rid of this particular brand, so it was less expensive.  I thought I had a picture of this process, but can't seem to find it.  Anyway, prior to beginning this installation, each section of the building had to be laid out on the ground in order to make all the odd shaped pieces work right together.  I was actually pretty good at getting a more random look than the "retired engineer".....lol!

Rather than keep you in suspense any longer, TA DA......here is the finished building!

I am so proud of The Man and how much hard work he put into creating this Garden Casita.

Aren't these doors gorgeous?  The Man designed and built them.

The barn door rails were about the most expensive part of the construction, but it's the 

perfect finishing touch.

I love the little window, too!

We have had friends say that if we put a bathroom in there, they would be happy to call it home!

Well, that might be true until they saw their first scorpion or black widow -- yikes!

The Man is still working on shelves and storage cabinets, so I won't show the inside just yet.

Just one more "gander!"  I have to say, it was well-worth the wait!

I like to party here:

Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Metamorphosis Monday

Kathryn at The Dedicated House for Make It Pretty Mondays
Leslie at House on the Way for Twirl & Take a Bow

Kim at Savvy Southern Style for Wow Us Wednesdays

Richella at Imparting Grace for Grace at Home

Jody & Stan at Rooted in Thyme for Simple and Sweet Fridays 

Amanda at Serenity Now for Weekend Bloggy Reading