Last Day of School (and my lame laptop)

My computer is out of commission. I dont know what I do to them...but Somehow this always happens this time of year. Wondering if it's God's way of telling me to enjoy Summer?? Today is the kids' last day of school! So all things considered...I'm gonna be unplugged for awhile. Or quick blogging from my phone! Honestly, that's kinda exciting for me...looking forward to it. Here's some quick picks of what we've been up to this week.

Peonies at Ina Garten themed Supper Club.


The Tie Wreath I made for Father's Day


Megan's portrait of her Daddy on Father's Day


Passion Fruit margarita celebrating the official Furst Day of Summer!


I started a new devotional called 31 Days to Clean - Having a Martha House the Mary Way. I love it!


Lots of Water Balloon silliness! I have blisters from tying buckets full the last few days!





Today after the girls ate done with school, we are having a pool party, then a pizza party, then a movie and a slumber party!! I think I went a little crazy with the "let's celebrate summer" idea!!

Matt and i are going to a costume birthday party tomorrow. As Brangelina. I at least have to blog that, right??!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My So Called Life Sunday

Because your love is better than life,

My lips will glorify you!

Psalm 63:3

Date Your Mate - Rachel Reeves

Today's Date Your Mate is a guest post by my friend, Rachel. You might know her as MrsNo17. Either way, she is a delight. Practically Perfect in every way. Or at least doing her best to be so in HIS eyes! I love Rachel's heart. I love her vintage style. I love her convictions and ability to be transparently honest. In her spare time, she co-hosts a little thing called Blog Sugar. Are you going? I AM! Come play with us! And jump on over and say HI to Rachel. She has some awesome plans this weekend.

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If you are anything like my husband and I, your date nights are few and far between. Life is busy, but honestly....going out is EXPENSIVE. If we went out as much as we wished we could, we would be spending $50.00 a week. NOT happening. So, I'm forced to get creative.

Once a week, Sean and I have a date night. EVERY WEEK.

The trick?

We have an "in house" date night.

Here is the low down:

We put the kids to bed.

We change the lighting.

We change into something spiffy.

We meet, at 8pm sharp, downstairs to commence date night.

Simple as that.

The creativity comes with what the date is "about". Picking a theme is fun and finding ways to make it unique and interesting is where you are able to really flex your romance muscles.

Lately, I have been thinking a LOT about traveling. Italy, to be exact. Sean and I traveled there in 2006, but we were backpacking, so it was anything BUT romantic. We were sweaty beasts, trekking around Rome and Florence. It was a wonderful trip, but not pretty.

I was thinking, for next week's date night, I would recreate some Italian memories for us. Join us, will you?

The menu (since dinner will have already been eaten):

RAINBOW cookies

The drink:

An espresso to sip

The movie:

The Godfather

or maybe,

Roman Holiday

The outfit:

Pencil pants, black turtleneck, string of pearls and flats.

With red lipstick.

Extra credit:

Put some twinkle lights around the room.

Italian music playing.

Don't let the money situation get in the way of romancing your husband.

It needs to happen and it can be easier than you think!

Enjoy!

Summer...Almost!

For us, the last official day of school isn't until next Friday.

(So LATE this year!)
And this morning's walk to school involved umbrellas.
(Stinkin' June Gloom!)

Even still, the last few nights it has felt a lot like Summer at the Burns house.

We've been eating outside.

And having dessert every night!

And doing silly things like dancing around the pool to Justin Bieber.

Checking ourselves out in the living room's huge plate glass window.

Yep.

Summer is almost here.

But we are already acting like it's arrived.

And I like it!

(i'm kinda obsessed with Picnik's cross process feature too!)

Wordless Wednesday

Megan colored this last week out back by the pool.

The details, the colors, how she turned the Earth into a heart...I love it all!

Playing Hookey

We are ditching today.

School and Blogs and Menu Planning.

Aunt Kate is in town - so we are playing all day!

And recouping from our cousin Elliott's Mustache Bash.

Can't wait to share the rest of the pics from the party.
It was some Little Man, Big Time FUN!

Happy Monday!

My So Called Life Sunday

Book Page Addiction

I love to read. When I'm really on a roll, I can go through a couple books a week. A few months back, I joined PaperBackSwap.com. Both to save me some money, and to make some room on my bookshelves. It's fabulous! I can't say enough good things about it. If you love to read too, you should check it out.

Even with all the books I've been able to swap, there have been a few I've kept and turned their pages into handmade happiness. Remember my Book Page Wreath?  One of my all time favorite things I have made.

I also made a few of these book page roses to top the kids' teacher gifts.

I found this tutorial for book page nailpolish on Pinterest.
I think I am going to have to try it!

The girls and I have been creating a special place for reading in their room. I want to make letters like these that spell NOOK and put them on the wall.

Tonight is my book club and I get to pick our next book!
I'm still debating amongst three titles...
The Girl In the Italian Bakery
Whistling in the Dark
The Book of Bright Ideas

Who wants to help me pick!

Wyatt's Star Wars Party

This post is LIGHT YEARS LATE!!
It's almost time for me to begin obsessing on Wyatt's next birthday.
Who am I kidding? Almost.
Here is the pin board I've already created on the subject....

But, I digress.

Yesterday, I had a good friend ask for some Star Wars party tips, and I realized I had yet to get around to blogging Wyatt's 3rd Birthday Party, (which was last September!) Thank you Kristen for the kick in the butt!

Here we go...There are a ton of pictures and details, so I am just going to post them all and then add the links at the very end.

Invites

Dining Room Chalkboard

The Birthday Boy!

Drinks

 

Food

We also had "Padawan Pizza" but I didn't get a picture of it!

Dessert

Oreo Cupcakes

Favors

wool felt appliqued, Yoda & Leia tees

Family & Friends

(me and my siblings)

 Aunt Adrie, Uncle Andy and Elliott the Ewok

(Adrie made the Ewok costume. I died!)

Aunt Erin and Taylor

Pinata Time!

Light Sabers

(pool noodles cut in half and some duct tape!)

Daddy wearing the remnants of the pinata!

More Fun!

Invites and printables - Anders Ruff Designs - Maureen and Adria are my go to girls in this department! Fabulous to work with and every one of their designs is adorable!!

Darth Vader cake pan - vintage, my mom kept it from my brother's 1981 birthday! But it's for sale here on Ebay

Yoda & Leia tees and ruffled party streamers - made by me, for sale here

Oreo Cupcake recipe - seriously one of the best cupcakes ever!!

Star Wars metal lunch box and cookie cutters - Williams Sonoma

Williams Sonoma also makes the Star Wars pancake molds I featured in this post.

Most of my food/drink/dessert inspiration came from The Star Wars Cookbook and this blog post. 

Darth Vader pinata & Star Wars temporary tattoos - Amazon

Star Wars table confetti, place mats, straw circles - Made by Hallmark, but I found them all sold together in a big punch out book at Walmart in the party aisle.

Oversized Star Wars coloring pages - Barnes & Noble

Wyatt's FAVORITE Star Wars Themed gifts??

1. This Book from Grammie & Papa. For reals. We read it every night and I can tell you Wookie lineage if you'd like!

2. These bath toys from his friend Beck. FAB FAB FAB!! So old school authentic, and the keep him the bath long enough to actually get clean! 

3. R2-D2 Potato Head from his friend Carter. He also got the Yoda Potato Head. Considering Wyatt's other obsession is Toy Story...these presents were like the BEST of both worlds!

4. The original watercolor Ewok painting from Kate & Paul....I think the artist is on Etsy. I'm gonna have to research for you!

This party was so fun...for both me to plan, and for the birthday boy to celebrate! I hope this post and the pics help you plan a Galactic Event too! Hostess With The Mostess has some more great Star Wars Party ideas including a Jedi Robe pattern. Totally wanted to makes these, but ran out of time! I also really wanted to make a "big girl" version of these dresses for the party. But again, ran out of time. Someone...please do it! Too cute.