Last Weekend

was BUSY.

CRAAAAAZY BUSY!

I had a booth at the Polka Festvial.

A huge annual festival in our town.

My most busy festival of the year.

It basically lasts all day Saturday and Sunday.

And, is typically about 100 degrees.

This year was no exception!

However, I had it made in the shade.

We pitched my tent under a huge shade tree.

Thank.the.good.LAWD.

I worked all week on candles.

So many of my local customers come out to this festival.

I wanted the RBCC booth nice and filled up with yummy summer scents.

I had over 400 candles made and ready to sell.

I am happy to report,

only a few cases came back home with me.

YAY!

:)

THANK YOU FABULOUS FRIENDS, FAMILY & CUSTOMERS!



It got a bit more crazy during "parade time"

Both of our kiddos were in the parade.

Since I was working, the hubs was on DAD DUTY!



Thankfully, Mama came out to help me with the booth.

I was able to sneak down and see the kids in the parade line,

and take pictures of them, of course!

I had Mom snap a quick family pic of us.

Then, it was back to work for me,

and the fam headed out to cookouts and swim parties.

I snapped this pic on my way home.

The flags lined the cemetary.

It was a such beautiful sight,

 and a nice peaceful moment to reflect on Memorial Day.



I picked up these shirts for the little lady and I.

SO glad I did!

We are loving them and they are a nice little Polka Fest keepsake!

Have a great evening my friends!

It's almost Friday.

YAY!

What's Happening

It's Friday!

Yay!

So excited about the long weekend coming up.

We finally have a ton of red tomatoes from our garden.

Oh.My.Lawd.

They are SO delicious!

Thanks so very much for the comments on my "funky tomato picture"

Luckily, it has only happened to a few of them so far.

The rest are growing like crazy and so purty!

:)



So, we actually had no practice, games or homework yesterday afternoon.

Right after school, the kids JUMPED into the pool.

They had so much fun swimming together.

They stayed in the pool for over two hours.

HELLO SUMMER!

Our squash is doing great.

I made my squash casserole last week or the first time this summer.

I will be sharing the recipe soon.

It is a great "go to" summer squash recipe.

Great with food off the grill.

You will love it!

:)



We seriously can't get over our tomato plants.

Some of them are even taller than the little man!

HA!

I found this new shade of blue green polish at Target.

I am in love with it.

Great color for summertime!



Don't these peaches look delicious?

My sis-in-law has a tree at her house {that my father-in-law} planted.

Before he passed, almost three years ago,

he loved to make peach cobbler and peach pie with them.

I will be using his cherished recipes and making some for our family soon.

I am also hoping to make peach jam and peach preserves.

Hope you all have a great long weekend!

Take care my friends!

:)

XOXO

Wish Me Luck!

Howdy peeps!

I am getting ready for my biggest festival of the year over here!

THE POLKA FESTIVAL!

Yay!

Been working like a CrAzY woman this week.

I finally finished 400 candles!

Shew, I can't believe they are all actually DONE and ready to go!

It is going to be a super fun weekend over here.

Both of our kiddos are in the parade are are super excited about it!

And, we are invited to a few get togethers.

I am working all day Saturday and Sunday,

but you can bet your behinds that we WILL be grilling and swimming as well!

:)



In the past, my candles have actually started to melt.

Awwwwwwww,

So sad, I know....

But, thankfully, this year, I landed a spot it the SHADE!

So happy about that.

Like, you have NO idea how happy I am.

:)





I better run, I still have lots more work to do.

I am working on finishing up a few little projects for my booth.

Gotta make it all cute and sassy, you know?

Presentation is EVERYTHING!

Toodles!



What I Wore.Target. Head To Toe.

Haaaay!

Back this week for another edition of "What I Wore"

:)

I purchased this shirt last summer at Target.

I wore it back in November, when sister took our family photos.

Of course, it was cold then, so I wore a long sleeve shirt under it.

I have to say, I am loving it just as much without the shirt underneath!
LOVE coming accross a clearance item that I can wear all four seasons!
:)

Shorts and shoes are also from Target.

I wear these shoes all.the.time.

They are SO comfy!

And, they are a GREAT neutral color, so they match EVERYTHING!

Don't mind my brown jute rug that DRIVES.ME.NUTS.
Cuz it won't lie flat.

Other than that, I love it.
Guess what, it is from Target too.
HA!

Earrings and watch also form Target.

Ages ago.

Seriously.

I wasn't kidding peeps.

Target, HEAD TO TOE.

And floor, apparently.
:)

Linking here.

What's Happening

Hi there!
Hope your week is off to a great start.

I thought I would share some pics of what we have been up to lately.
Flower picking as usual.
In the evenings we love to sit on our back porch.
The kids play ball and then do their usual wild flower picking for the day!
:)

Then they head to the back fence to chat with "their pets"
They absolutely love these horses!
;)

Last week we had a great time at field day.
The kids enjoyed hot dogs off the grill.
They even grilled burgers for the kids.
It was so much fun!

We have been spending about 3-4 days at the ball field every week.
Either with practice or playing games.

The little man gets so excited that our whole fam comes out to watch him!
:)

The kids and I made homemade donuts this weekend.
I think they each had about 5 or 6.
So, yah, I would say they enjoyed them!



Sunday, I made candles most of the day.

I am almost finished up for a giant upcoming festival I have this weekend!

It is local {thank the LAWD} and my best one of the year.

So, I better get back to candle making.

Take care my dears.

I hope you all have a great week!

:)

XOXO

Our Garden Squash and Tomatoes

Just wanted to share with you a little peak into our summer garden.

Typically, we plant ALOT more.

However, this year we have just been so busy, it didn't happen.



We decided plant two squash varieties.

Our family absolutely LOVES squash.

So yummy!



Sadly, we lost three of our squash plants.

However, the other four are growing like crazy.

It can get crazy windy in the country where we live,

we have pretty much concluded that the wind killed our little plants.

I am SO excited about picking our squash.

ALMOST excited as the kids!

 I can't wait to share great summer squash recipes to share with you!

:)

All of our tomato plants have managed to withstand the wind.

We planted three different varieties of tomatoes.

They really are growing like crazy.

The cages can hardly contain them at this point!

There truly is nothing like a garden fresh tomato!

This year we also put down weed mat.

Oh my heavens, it has made SUCH a difference.

There are some weeds growing,

but nothing compared to what we have dealt with in the past.

Now, I have a question for you my peeps.

Do you garden?

If so, do you have any idea what would be causing this?



It has only happened to a few of our tomatoes so far.

We are thinking it may be the birds,

we keep "catching them" sitting on top of our tomato cages.

I see a scarecrow going into the garden in the near future!

:)

I would love to hear your thoughts on this issue!

Have a great day my friends!

Mango Summer Salsa

Oh my word.

Are you guys in for a treat today!

I came across this recipe a few weeks ago.
I found it on my favorite recipe website.

My mouth started to water just looking at it!

I knew I just HAD to make it for our little family!
I paired it with some grilled chicken breasts and it was delicious.
I know I will be making it ALOT this summer!

Here is what you will need:

One half of a chopped red onion

One finely chopped jalapeno pepper

Half a cup of chopped cilantro

Two mangos {peeled and chopped}

Throw everything into a bowl.

Squeeze the juice from one lime on top.

Give it a good stir.

That's it!

This is also super yummy with tortilla chips or baked crackers.

Linking here.

Hope you week is going great so far!
:)

Mother's Day



~Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother~

LOVE!

Happy Monday my dears.



I hope all of you Mama's out there had a wonderful Mother's Day.

I couldn't have asked for a better day.

We had a fun filled day of family dinners, visiting and laughing!

It was GREAT!



The hubs surprised me with these.

Oh.My.Lawd.

So far, the pecan praline is my very favorite.

I would say we are good and stocked up on coffee for awhile!

;)

There are no words to describe HOW MUCH I treasure handmade gifts such as these.

Gifts made with love and tiny hands.

Reminding me to SLOW DOWN and enjoy being a Mama.

Showing me the love THEY are filled with,

and that I am doing the job I feel I was born to do.

Life goes so fast.

So, so fast.

In the blink of an eye,

your children have grown a few inches,

turned another year older,

are learning and exploring new things,

starting a new school year,

ending a school year,

just growing up way to quickly.

I spent the whole day reflecting on these things,

 while watching my children laugh, play and run around.

Yes, I cried part of the day too.

:)

Tears of joy and thanks.

That God has given me {us} these two to raise.

I love them so very much and couldn't ask for anhything more.

Except for maybe time to slow down a bit.



When we finally got home last night I decided to get out my sewing machine.

I bought fabric over a month ago to sew new living room pillows with.

Something always comes up when I plan to sew.

And, it always gets pushed to the back burner.

So, the hubs took the kids outside to play ball for an hour or so.

I fired up a candle, my sewing machine and finally got my pillows made.

I can't wait to share them with you soon.

:)

I hope you all had a great Mother's Day as well.

Take care my friends!