Winding down the school year.....

Good Morning to everyone! This post has been in the draft form since Memorial Day! What a beautiful time of year it is and it is filled with wonderful things to do and see! Although our weather has been both good and bad, the important dates when we had school functions or parties turned out just fine! I love Summer but don't love the heat --Autumn is my favorite time of year. I think we are off to a good start! My son can't wait to be his Dad's carpenter helper again. He is learning so much!

Our Daisy troop marched in the Memorial Day Parade! What an honor. We had an amazing turnout of residents to salute our soldiers and veterans which is always so great. Afterwards we just worked in the garden and my son and husband did some work on our house. Miss Caitlin was swinging on her swing. School has kept me very busy. I had mentioned Caitlin's play in another post; then we had field day! She participated in several events and relays. This is such a fun day at our school. Picnic lunch, water balloon toss, relays, ices...I know many of your children have field day as well and know how much fun it is.  I have said many times how much I love our school district but I can't stop saying it! We had a great day and Caitlin was excited for me to take pictures of her with her friends. I wish my son would let me photograph him more but he's 13 and usually says "no, Mom" and I try to respect that.

A few days after field day, we had Caitlin's birthday party in our backyard! She turned 7 at the end of March but had wanted a bouncer so she was willing to wait until June! 18 little girls enjoyed it! We had pizza and my sister made the lovely birthday cake! The amazing thing was that the sun was out all day and just as the LAST child left our home--THUNDERSTORMS! but we were okay with that! The party was over and we still had leftover cake :)

I actually don't have too many leftovers these days though as my little friend Miss Raccoon comes every day for a meal. She politely sits on my back porch and waits. She likes to eat her food from a dish (!) and also enjoys bagels. I can't make this stuff up.  She will sit and enjoy her meal and then wait to see if dessert is coming..(that's where my husband comes in...he gives her chocolate chip cookies)  Then she goes home and we see her the next day. Don't fear--we are cautious. She's just a lovely visitor.

I think Miss Raccoon heard from the squirrels that there is good eating at the Stone house. I am "peeped"at through my windows by my squirrel buddies constantly. They love their peanuts and peanut butter bread and now that they can't reach the doorbell, they feel the need to sit on my mailbox or porch rocker and spy. I love the little buggers.

I have posted a photo of Robin. We call it his school picture as Caitlin said "Robin doesn't have one".
He sat so nicely on our kitchen chair and I thought it reminded me of when kids sit at their desks for the school picture. He is such a big ball of love. He's like my third child as we have him since he was born and he relates to Billy and Caitlin better than he does to other cats! Another good son!

My house is always decorated patriotically~~I love Americana~~and I wanted to show you what I did with the rooster mug holder I got from a  garage sale a few weeks back. I could resist it. It was a very nice mug holder, tags still attached to it for $5.99 from Home Goods, and it was so pretty. I couldn't pass it up for $1!  The mugs were too heavy though and it was always tipping sooo I packed it up in my closet and just  let it be; I knew I would come up with a purpose for it and sure enough...I hung my rustic Americana ornaments from it! Doesn't it look festive and pretty? It's now in my foyer! Sometimes it can take a while to find a use but you always do!

I had gotten this wooden toy high chair at a garage sale several years ago. It's actually Amish made but someone had tried to paint it or decorate it :(  not in a good way......then they decided to just rid themselves of it and that's where I came in! Some paint and rub on transfers! I just added that happy little Boyds bear that I got STILL IN THE PACKAGE for $2! I didn't even realize she was Boyds at first. I had loved her for her dress and sunflower! She sits proudly in my kitchen. When people visit and say "I love Caitlin's dolly high chair" I say "It's mine!  But I let her play with it!"   :)      Share, share-that's fair   I had the high chair put away for quite a while but decided to keep it out again hence the reason I thought you might enjoy seeing it ;)

Last weekend we had a busy two days! Our great neighbors behind us who have children the same age as mine had a birthday party for their daughter who is 7 like Caitlin. They have a great pool that the Dad dug and built HIMSELF...with a wee bit of help from the Stone family too I might add. He is also doing an extension to his house by HIMSELF...(my husband poured the foundation but Dave is doing the building...) Love it. We are do-ers here.....Isn't it lovely? The whole house will be that wood siding....very Montauk. The house is high ranch and he added on a second floor and that  summer room as they are calling it with big windows. Those big windows face my house :)  Great friends and neighbors and Caitlin swam for the first time in the DEEP end! Big news it was at the party! She got lots of congratulations and cheers. Like Bill and I, our neighbors choose to rebuild or add on instead of move to a bigger house. My house used to be a 5 room ranch with a basement. In 2008, my husband knocked it down and built the home you see in my photos. He did the entire house himself!We went from 1000 square feet to 2800. And for 1/2 the cost a builder would have charged. It's great when your husband is the builder! and although sometimes I love and dream about living elsewhere, I know in my heart that this is where I should be for now. I guess my neighbors have the same feeling!

The next day my niece Michelle and her husband had a family bbq!Such a wonderful day. It's heartwarming for me to see my beautiful niece (who is a teacher) follow in the footsteps of her Mom, Grandmas and (me!)   She did an incredible job. She made everything herself except the potato salad (her Mom made that) and let me tell you I am asking HER for recipes! For someone married only just under two years she has mastered so many things in the kitchen! She had it all flowing so nicely too. Usually at family parties we start with appetizers and "pickings", then proceed a little later to the main course followed by fruit and dessert. She changed up a bit and CHANGE IS GOOD sometimes!! Michelle had all kinds of dips first ( I brought Texas Caviar-- a yummy recipe with avocado, corn, black beans and more), chips, etc. Then a little later she served  cheeseburger sliders, hot dogs and make your own tacos!  A while after that she had chicken shishkebabs, London Broil, and a whole bunch of other stuff for our dinner. It was such a pleasure to be there``not only for her good cooking but for her presentation too! Oh she made this delicious spinach and strawberry salad with home-made poppy seed dressing, home- made baked beans, the list goes on and on...a big pasta salad (her new recipe).....It was just a great day and like I said, my heart just beams that she is carrying on a tradition of welcoming family and friends with a love and good home cooking! Our future family members are in good hands.....She has a small garden too growing strawberries, basil and a few other things. :) and her husband built the pond. What can I say I'm a proud Auntie.

Saturday is Stormville Flea Market upstate! Can't wait to go! You just never know what you're gonna find. I'll be blogging about it next week!

Have a great day!

Peeping Squirrel

Miss Raccoonie

Robin

Field Day

Neighbor's pool

Our neighbor's extension

The Sun is Out Once Again!

Hurray! Hurray! The sun is here! Finally after soaking rains Sunday night into last night and the last of her drizzles this morning~~~the sun showed her face! Let me say that I am happy it rained. We spent our Sunday planting so our sprinkler system was given a holiday and nature's own sprinkler system did her magic upon my garden! My newly seeded grass is sprouting too! I am looking forward to Summer!

Sunday was a beautiful day! Not just weather-wise! It was one of those days when the not only did the weather cooperate but so did everyone in the house! We planted the trees and bushes we had purchased on Mother's Day, and Billy made a new garden bed surrounding one of my rear porches ( I have two). One is a large porch that has sliding doors and the other is a smaller porch that since we built the house had not had a garden around her. My husband loves flowers and he envisions gardens everywhere on our 1/4 acre! We just have to get the mulch now for it. You can see the porch with the table has the new bed around it and snowflake bushes. It also has Caitlin's flip flops I see.....and some siding ....we have to get that put away! I love that little porch! The larger one with the sliders also has new bushes so I posted pictures of the rear of the house.

Look at the close up of the johnny jump up flower...we think it looks like little kitty cat faces!  Oh, and see the bird bath? I had gotten that at Lowes several years back and it is made of resin and cracked little holes started appearing about two years after I purchased it. I love it so much...the base has little bunnies, etc. I couldn't part with it so I planted it up! I love how it came out! It will be even prettier when the impatiens grow!

I also planted seeds for four'oclocks--they are  hardy, continuously blooming Summer flowers. You don't have to start them early. Just sow them in the dirt and in a week you will have buds. Lovely colorful blooms! They drop their seeds and you have more flowers and MORE! They are perennial so year after year you will have them blooming! They stay closed during the day and open up in the afternoon! Late sleepers I imagine :0  but they do look soooo pretty. I planted three packets.

So here are some photos! I planted up our big rock~~this is at the end of our driveway. Every year we try to add or try different things. I love perennials so I buy them mostly. I added a small peony and the lovely yellow daisy style flowers. We have roses growing there that do well and hosta and others. Some shots of my foxglove and new garden. Like I said, we have to add mulch. You can see some of the damage from hurricane Irene. We have to have several stumps ground down. It also damaged my large patio but my husband has plans for that! He's always thinking.

Before I go, if you remember I mentioned in past posts that my parlor is decorated with a nature theme. I have a bird house border and the room is decorated with my  resin birds, squirrels, decorations of raccoons, chipmunks, etc. I love that room so much. I've bird houses and other nature related items. How do you this cling for the wall I just added? A friend of mine bought it for me at Bed, Bath & Beyond. I think I'm getting used to it! Opinions, please! Have you seen these? I had seen the wall words but not actual objects. Such a creative touch I think. Wish I thought of it!

 Pussy Willow tree

carnations and pansies in my  driftwood log

foxglove

newly trimmed japanese maple (mini)

rear

plum tree

rear---lights in kitchen window

Pussycat faces!

Repurposed birtdbath

hurricane irene damage

wall art

Talk to you soon!

School Play

My Mom, Caitlin & me, Maggie!

My sister Christine!

My husband with his baby!

Just a quick post! My Caitlin played a museum visitor asking questions to Pablo Picasso in her school play about famous artists today! My husband, Mom, and sister were there too! It was a great play, and we were so happy to be there for my little angel! The only one missing is my son~~he was in class and couldn't attend, but he was happy for her that the play was so good!

Thanks for letting me share my family with you!

A SALE-ING I WILL GO!!

What a beautiful brisk and sunny day we have here on Long Island! It's a beauty out there! Perfect day for me to get back out and do some planting/weed pulling! I was out there before dinner for quite a bit of time pulling some weeds~~you see we had some very heavy rain the two days before that and when we get a soaking rain like we did, the weeds suddenly EXPLODE!They just come out of nowhere. Sooo I must keep up on them. That's just fine with me. Weed pulling is like a form of therapy! You kind of ponder your own thoughts in peace while you pluck!
 I'll be home today and I am happy about that. These last couple of weeks and the ones coming up before school ends the end of June are very hectic but in a good way! We have our last Daisy meeting tomorrow afternoon, and we'll be having games with prizes and an ice cream party! Excited about that! My troop of now 15 girls (!) will be bridging (as they call it) to Brownies in the next school year. I've been out to Girl Scout HQ getting the necessary items, working on registration, and shopping for our party. We also have Caitlin's field day coming up on June 7th which is a really fun day where each of the grades play field games and have lunch and music outside. My sister has joined me to see the kids for this special event every year since Billy was in kindergarten and occasionally my husband can join in to see or one of my sister's adult children ill stop by which is always a treat for Caitlin or Billy.  Good stuff! AND tomorrow is Caitlin's class play!
Last Friday was fun fair at Caitlin's school. I worked the sand art booth. Cotton candy, popcorn, masking tape bracelets (so cute), face painting (Caitlin is a puppy), make a picture frame, and carnival style games was just some of the fun. Wow! By the time school ends you don't want it to because the kids are having so much fun! And they have earned it. We are excited in our community that our high school is ranked #18 in New York state and that our school system is what is rated as a blue ribbon school district. Not bragging mind you---just have lots of community pride! Blessed to live here and happy to see my kids thriving between school and our wonderful church.
We had a lovely Mother's Day that began with an incredible service at Church. They sure know how to make us Moms feel appreciated and special. We each received a book as a gift called "Get off your knees and PRAY!" and a flower. After Church, we headed to the nursery and then home to plant and bbq! Great day!
We decided to do more of our planting this coming Sunday. My husband is still bringing home some great additions to our property--foxglove, snowflake bushes, and several bushes to finish the area around one of our rear porches. If you are patient everything comes! I have discovered that in the past couple of years. Patience is a virtue for sure. I find that if I don't rush into purchase or impulse buy, if it is meant to be, it finds its way to my house. Seriously! It happens more and more. Maybe it always did and  my eyes were not open to realize :)   My eyes and ears are open now! I have wanted to plant up that back porch area because it tends to get muddy and now we will. AND IWAS PATIENT :)
On Saturday, my sister-in-law Linda and I had decided to take the kids down to Northport Village for the park and just relax while they enjoyed themselves. On our way we had decided to follow several signs for garage sales. We stopped at several and I did so well! Garage sales are off to an amazing start this year. I have only gone two days so far this Spring and came home with good stuff both times. In my last post I showed my  lovely shelf for $3--still loving that so much. I have since added some pretty potted plants to it. But on to Saturday--We hit a couple that were duds---then hit a multi family  garage sale in Northport and I was pleased. I got this lovely hand embroidered retro tablecloth that fits my table (yeah) and that was $2. It's lovely and no spots :)  very clean. I got this cool tall vessel..not quite sure what it is but it now become a tall flower container. I'm thinking tall dried branches, pussy willow, etc to fill it. An interesting piece I thought! If you know what it is please tell me! I also got a Betty Crocker cookbook that I am enjoying. AT the next house I found a woman who loves roosters like I do! She sold me an unused "hens & chickes welcome" stake for outside for $2  :) lets see...my husband's favorite item I got for $1 which is this adorable mail holder...see where I hung it. He loved it! I also got a rooster mug holder that I am going to use when I have buffets to hold my mugs. Good stuff. The mug holder still had it's tag on it from Home Goods for $5.99 but I got the mug holder for $1. Yippee!  Linda purchased some lovely pots from Home Goods as well for $2 each that also had their stickers on them! SO we are off to a good start! For every clunker you find, you find two good ones!  OH! and I got two adorable punched tin items for candles only .25 each! Can you say BARGAIN!!!!!
Well, time for me to get Caitlin ready for school! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

May Days!

Good Afternoon! I hope this day finds you happy and content! I just returned home from the ladies' Bible study I have been attending weekly since October~~we are studying Daniel--what a chapter to learn about. We are certainly living in Daniel's Babylon today! What a great group of women at my table too! I come home feeling refreshed and renewed by them! The first Tuesday in June will be our last meeting for the year and at that point we will have concluded our study of Daniel with a brunch! Can't wait for that! So many of the ladies bring amazing food. We have a lot of good cooks in this group--and there are 70 of us! Any suggestions?

Billy and I started our planting. I have to go out in a bit to plant some more Johnny Jump Ups! Love them! We have a lot of landscaping to do not only because we lost so much during Hurricane Irene but also because when we built our home in 2008, we had moved or changed some of our bushes/trees. So the buying and planting has begun! My husband sure has a green thumb! He could seriously add landscape designe to his resume! Some of our choices so far are a pussy willow tree, a purple plum tree and clematis. I love clematis! My azalea are blooming like crazy --vivid white and some pink too! I want to plant large clumps of pansies around the whole front of the house. My husband drove me past a house that did that and it looked spectacular. Usually on Mother's Day we go out to the nurseries so I hope we get to do that on Sunday! My husband surprised me the lovely fountain of a boy and girl! Isn't it precious? I have it on the front porch so that when I sit out, I see and hear it! I love the sound of the running water. The little boy and girl are Billy and Caitlin :) to me.

I have so much to catch you up on since my last post at Easter time.....lets see...I hosted a small Cinco De Mayo dinner---any reason to cook Mexican food! We started off with seven -layer dip and a 4 cheese chilli dip. For the main course I made a taco bake casserole, my chicken enchiladas, chilli and vegetable quesadillas that everyone loved! And they were an afterthought! Did that ever happen to you? The item you add at the spur of the moment or the item you randomly throw together becomes the hands down favorite!  Well, I had some scallions and red and green pepper and I sauteed them and added mushrooms. Then I added some Mexican shredded cheese and scooped that all into a a tortilla which I then browned in a frying pan. What a big hit! It was a very nice evening with some great friends.

I've gotten to two good garage sales too! I got this adorable metal shelf for only $3! Right now I have it on one of my two rear porches but it could be brought inside as an interior shelf. What a steal! The funny thing is, I thought it was old and then when I got closer to it, I saw the price tag was still on it and it was actually new made to look old! Got some great baskets, a bowl that I actually used for my cindo de mayo party, as well as an enamel bucket and a galvanized wash basin! I put both of those in my bathroom! How do they look? :)  Got a couple of Christmas decorations including carolers that look like Byer's Choice carolers and a moveable girl holding a candle that reminded me of my Caitlin. What else......some baskets and two statues! Great stuff.

Check out my stacking chicken bowls! I love these. My husband's brother and his wife came down last weekend with their 4 sons for a lovely day and she gave me them! She knows my love for chickens/roosters and they fit right in! She had each dish arranged with a different fruit. We had a good time! he also bought me a gingerbread train to add to my gingerbread collection at Christmas--I do a gingerbread tree in my foyer. It was fun cooking for their family too. Four boys=lots of food! I made baked ziti and meatballs, two big roasted chickens with roasted potatoes, stuffed mushrooms and  baked corn. I sure love cooking for friends and family! Already thinking of what to bring to my niece's bbq on June 10th! We sat on my      front porch rocking in the chairs and chatting all afternoon. The kids played frisbee--a real fun/laid back dayand we all need that sometimes!

Anybody in the NY/CT area...on June 18th Stormville, NY (Putnam County) is holding it's one of two days of NYS Largest Garage Sales! We went last year and the treasures I picked up were incredible! We are planning on going! If you live in the area or don't mind driving, you must go! Scroll back tomy post of last June and see some of the goodies I picked up. Google:  Stormville Airport Flea Market for more info.

So it has been a little of this and alittle of that---with my Daisy troop we have seen Cinderella at the John W. Engemann theatre, painted pottery at Paint - A -Piece, and we are now preparing for our march in the Memorial Day  Parade. We are also having an ice cream party to wrap up the year. Next year my girls bridge from Daisy to Brownie!

As for crafting, I repainted a few items for outside but haven't had time for much else! Looking forward to Summer! More time and less schedules! I have several projects to work on and more ideas for new ones!

Hope you have a super day!