First Iris

My first irises are finally blooming. I am so excited. They are absolutely gorgeous. It is not the traditional purple that I originally guessed either. I believe this is a variation called " Earl of Essex".

Memorial Day

We spent the weekend helping Dan's mom move into her new place. Dan's sister and her family came too and the cousins had a lot of fun playing together. We barbaqued a lot and the kids had fun playing in the pool. It was my first really hot and humid weekend. We had a lot of fun but are glad to be home, relaxing and sleeping in our own beds.

Amazing Grace

I am not a perfume person generally. I am allergic to so many scents so it is hard for me to find something I can use that I actually like. I found the most wonderful perfume. It is called Amazing Grace from Philosophy (sorry Tracy). It smells so clean and nice. I find myself wanting to wear it all the time, even to bed.

Danny's Smile

I think Danny has the cutest little boy smile in the world. Of course I might be a little biased since I am his mother. This photo was taken on Sunday at "Danny's Park" (our backyard).

No Fences

I hope the photo works. I have been having trouble with adding photos for a while, so I hope this works. This is a photo of my large lilac bush. I love not having a fence. I can never imagine having said that in CA. I never know what will come wandering through the yard. Last week we had a dozen wild turkeys. Yesterday it was a deer. Of course they all seem to be attracted to my strawberry plants. It is so strange to just have things wander through. We also have had bunnies, squirrels, chipmunks, every bird imaginable and a skunk. I am sure that there will be more. We are very close to a wildlife preserve. It is amazing how much our lives have changed and the things that are becoming normal to us. I would definetly say we are settling in nicely. Danny today asked if he could go to "his park". He meant the new swing in the backyard, but our yard is like a park in many ways and I love it. My peonies are about to bloom. I can't wait. I have been anxiously awaiting their arrival. It is going to be so cool to finally find out what color they are. I have a dozen very large plants of them. I also have irises ready to bloom any day, I am also anxious to find out what color they are. It is like waiting to have a baby and find out if you are having a boy or a girl.

Yard Sale Fever

One of my best yard sale finds is a swing set for the kids, it is one of the big cedar sets with a fort, slide, swings, etc. We rented a truck and picked it up yesterday. It took 7 adults to take it down, and reassemble it. But we finished pretty quickly and the kids couldn't be more excited. Danny figured out the swing really quickly and he loves it. He also loves the slide but the ladder is steep and hard for him to climb so we have to lift him still. We think we will make a stair like ladder. It was a great deal and such a good find. My husband thinks I have gone totally insane. I am still on the hunt for things for my MIL's house. I have widdled the list down to one more twin bed and a video game system of some sort reasonably priced. I can't believe the deals that I have found. The only problem is that as I yard sale I found great deals for my house too. When we moved we got rid of most everything so I am starting from fresh, but the house is filling up fast now thanks to yard sales. I have to say they yard sale very different from CA. Yard sales here start on Wed for one thing. It seems so strange but there are always a lot of people at them. Also they have evening yard sales, sometimes they don't even start until 5 pm. If the ad in the paper says subdivision yard sale you definetly want to go there. We went to one with 65 houses having sales, you can park and walk yard to yard. It is so cool. Then the next day we went to one with 50 houses. You can find good deals too since they are competing with each other. Lastly, no one yard sales on Sunday. It is reserved for church. The best part of yard sales: I am really learning my way around the area. It is so cool!!

Barbie Live In Fairytopia

Today I was able to surprise Madison with a trip to Milwaukee to see Barbie Live in Fairytopia. This is the first live Barbie show. I was excited because I surprised her (she didn't know where we were going) and we got to spend the day together, just the 2 of us. It was a lot of fun. She was so happy, we left the house wearing fancy dresses and a promise for something she would love. She loves it when I wear a dress. I did get a little lost in Milwaukee because they have the exit closed that mapquest gave me. But luckily I found our street and we were only a few minutes late. The costumes were gorgeous. Madison describes them as so "sparkly". The woman playing Alina has a beautiful singing voice. It was a great day.

Mothers Day

Today we finally had some sun for Mothers Day. That was my biggest wish after the last week or so of rain. Believe it or not I actually wanted to plant things. We planted 5 new rose bushes, petunias that we bought from the Boy Scouts and a whole flower bed of strawberries. I still don't exactly find it relaxing but I am starting to enjoy gardening more. My yard keeps giving me presents. I have more and more flowers and bushes popping up everday. I still don't know half the time if the plants are weeds or flowers but I am learning. I spent the majority of the weekend going to rummage sales. My Mother-in-law and I plus 5 kids and her significant other. I called her Thursday and said "what are you doing tommorrow, there's a subdivision yard sale with 65 yard sales tommorrow" So they all came to spend the night and we drug all those kids out at the crack of dawn and took 2 vehicles. We hit the mother load of yard sales. We filled both cars 2x and still have 3 large items to pick up. Then on Friday after she got home, she called me to say a subdivision by her was having a yard sale with 50 plus sales. So me and the kids drove down to spend the night and drive around to mega yard sales again. My MIL and her SO are moving to a much larger home soon. So we are filling alot of space quickly. We furnished a majority of it at the rummage sales and we had a blast doing so. We couldn't believe the deals we found. I also found a few great deals for our house including a large cedar swing set and a patio set. We even found Danny a power wheels train with 40 feet of track. I even set her up with toys, books, movies, bikes and a little tikes slide for the back yard. My kids will love to be there.

Dresses

I swear Madison would wear a dress or a skirt every single day if she could. Even during the snow here she wanted to wear a dress. Finally it is skirt and dress weather and she couldn't be more thrilled. We of course have been shopping to pick up some new dresses and skirts. The other day I got her up for school and got out a dress for her to wear. I helped her get her dress, tights and boots on. Then she looks at herself and says "Now that's what I'm talking about!!" Where did she come up with that?!! The little boy on our street that is in Kindergarten also couldn't stop staring at her at the bus stop. He told his mom that she looked beautiful-like a girl is supposed to. Oh boy!!!

Scrapbook Expo

I spent most of yesterday at a Scrapbook Expo in Chicago, that is after I spent 2 hours lost and driving around Chicago. It was my first time to drive there alone and it was a bit nerve wrecking. The Expo however was well worth it. I had a great time and took some great classes. I found some great new products too. The names of some of the brands: Daisy D, The Stamp Castle, Urban Girl and Kesslers Creations. Of course I found some products from some old favorites too: Basic Grey, 3 Bugs In A Rug, SEI. I am sure there are a few others too. I even won a prize at the Making Memories Vintage Hip Class.

Fancy Pants

Madison was invited to her first birthday party over the weekend. It was for 2 girls in her class. It was at a place called Fancy Pants. It was so adorable. They did all the girls hair and of course added glitter (which I am still trying to wash out) . They got their makeup done and their nails. They made bracelets and lotion. They did the limbo and had cupcakes. It was truly adorable. Best of all she made a new friend. Her and the little girl clicked right away. We came home with her phone number and she even has a 2 year old brother -how perfect could that be??

Lilacs

It is like Christmas here everyday except instead of presents it is the blooming of a new flower or tree. We still don't know what a lot of them are but I do know that I have a lilac bush in the front yard that is as big as an SUV. It is covered in beautiful lavender colored lilacs. They smell like heaven. Everytime I walk up or down the driveway the fragrance of lilacs overwhelms my senses. Sometimes I just stand there and drink in the smell. When the blooms open a little more I am going to cut some and bring them in the house. I love them.