It’s Father’s Day today – and it has been since I woke up at 4:30 this morning.  Goodness gracious, I’m tired.  I’d really rather go to bed, but I have so many fun things that I haven’t sat down to write about, that I figured I’d at least share a few…in photos.

I’ll start with the amazingly beautiful sunrise that I was able to witness this morning as I sat trying to get a to do list going for Ellie’s birthday party next month…the beauty of our home blows me away – especially at moments like these.

I had sewn very simple bows and used ribbon for the center strip, then using the same piece of ribbon to make the napkin “ring.”  The shirts are simply scrapbook paper with straight cuts that left a few inches in the center, then folded to make the collar…

Oh!!!! And check out that table! Yeah, used to look like this:

I sanded it down, and painted it with Rustoleum’s Dark Walnut (Rustoleum is the ONLY spray paint I use. I hate Krylon!).  The table had been destroyed by Jeffrey’s huskies years ago, and ALWAYS needed a table cloth.  While it’s not perfect, I do love how it turned out!

 So that was this weekend…but really, we’ve just been crazy busy ’round these parts.  I’ll post about getting ready for our new carpet and the work we’ve been doing on the pool house, but for now, here are a few photos from the busyness of the last few weeks.

Geekah had to build a cover for a drainage hole that had gone from small to massive in the last year

My roses this year are the healthiest I’ve seen them since we moved here in 2007 – every day I bring in bundles and bundles, and Ellie and I fill vase after vase. We’re loving it!

We’ve started working on decor for Ellie’s Lorax party, and I’ve been playing around with these tulle garlands (an adaption from one I saw on Pinterest). Ellie has been very opinionated about where they all go!

So check out her “gloves” she came out of her room wearing a pair of socks on her hands, and was so frustrated that she couldn’t use her fingers…so we just made them into fingerless gloves. What a little character she is. Hee hee…quite the sense of fashion she has!

Where am I? What just happened? Who’d I see?

MY GOD! I can hardly believe I’m not crashed out or curled up in a ball somewhere…this was a total nonstop weekend, no doubt.  Thursday Ellie and I headed to Oregon’s high desert to visit friends and family in Bend.  I had ulterior motives as well – the Shins, then Tenacious D and then Beck were playing at the ampitheater, and I had tickets!

We checked at the Oxford Hotel in downtown Bend (great little boutique hotel that has amazing service, spacious rooms, and the perfect location), then headed over to Uncle Brian and Aunt Julie’s place (my best friend Renee’s brother and his wife…they may as well be my bro and sis).  Ellie played with their two kids for a bit, then we headed over to Renee’s OTHER brother’s house for his daughter’s birthday celebration.  Ellie was happy to discover a playmate there, and soon was running around like a maniac playing tag.  Long story short, we had a great weekend in Bend, though due to a sore throat and cold, I ended up not making it to either the Shins or Beck…oh well. Jeffrey did join us for one night and brought Ellie back with him.

In a move totally out of character for him, Jeffrey decided to invite some friends over for a Memorial Day BBQ, which is one of the main reasons I ended up missing the Beck concert and coming home early.  Nothing like some last minute preparations for company!  It was definitely a bit chaotic, and while things weren’t perfect, I think we all had a good time.

My favorite moment of the whole weekend came when Ellie and I were out in the garden cutting flowers.  I was cutting long stems since they would be going into arrangements, and she looked at me and said, “Mommy, can I please have lowercase flowers, please?” Yes, indeed, she wanted shorter stems. So darn cute how she puts concepts together!

Anyway, here are some highlights of the day……….and the flower arrangements