Fall has finally arrived!

So after sweating our way through the summer months we are finally being teased by the cooler temps of fall. I for one am ecstatic, it was a miserably HOT summer around here where the kids wouldn't even think of venturing outside during the day unless forced to do so. So with the coolish temps showing up it was my motivation to get the fall decorations out. I started off with my mantel. Remember the hurricane vases I did last year, you can see them here. Well I changed them up just a bit this year by adding just leaves and little pumpkins & squash.  I also put out different pictures, a table runner and a pumpkin candle holder. Which I have to add I scored at Kohl's for only $2.50!! (it was on sale and I had a $10 coupon)

Then I was on to the front porch.  I hit up Michael's to get a hay bale and some other decoration, I finished it off with a Mum I picked up at Lowe's on Sunday for only $5.  I got a new welcome sign at Joann's the other day for just a couple $$'s.  Gotta love sales and coupons :)

 

So bring on the cool temps, bonfires, smores and more we are ready!

If this puts you in the mood to decorate and you need to do it on a budget there are great coupons out there.  Go to Joann's website here and sign up for emails they will send you coupons all the time.  Or if you're in a hurry you can text CRAFT to 56266, they will send you a 20% off total purchase right away and other offers occasionally.  Michael's always has coupons in the Sunday paper, you can also sign up for an account here and they will send you emails about sales and coupons and you can print coupons from their website. You can also go to Hobby Lobby's website here and print a 40% one regular priced item.

One thing (or eight) that kept us busy this summer

You've heard me go on and on about our crazy pack of dogs we have and love.  Well over the summer we figured 4 dogs just wasn't enough that we should add more to the mix.  I agreed because they only would be temporary residence of our house and come on who can resist brand new puppies and puppy breath? Also the last time we had a litter of puppies Wyatt was little bitty.

The black puppy in this picture is the mom of Wyatt's dog, Suzie

When we left for vacation we left a very pregnant Jet and when we returned we had these guys.

You counting? yep that was 8 more dogs around here

 

I know seriously how cute?

 But like all Labradors they didn't stay small for very long. Soon they were escaping their pool and causing all kinds of craziness around here.

Shane's sister took this cute guy

As you can guess the puppies were a big hit with the kids and lots of hours were spent outside in the kennel with them. The little girl I babysit was obsessed with them she talked puppy the moment she walked in the door every morning and her mom said she talked about puppies all weekend long too:)  I will say it is sad to see them go, but I also did a little happy dance with every departure, cause dang 8 puppies make a big mess:)  We do still have one hanging out with us for the time being, so that makes everyone happy.

Cape 2011

Well since the kids have been in school now for a little and I have some time during the day I figured I would finally get around to talking about out trip this year to the beach :) As I mentioned before we had another wonderful trip this year to our favorite sandy spot and we also decided that 1 week is just not enough time and have decided to figure out some way that we can squeeze more time out next year. This was our 7th year going and I still get so excited when we role into town, I seriously love this place and hope it never changes.

We took some friends this year and the kids had a blast having some friends there to play with.  We also had to go early this year due to baseball and it was the first year in a long time Wyatt hadn't spent his bday at the beach.  The boys were suppose to play ball on the day we went so the women decided we would pack up & head down solo before them not wanting to miss one moment of beach time. We wouldn't let Wyatt skip the game since we had committed him to the team and thought it was important that he not skip it just cause he wanted to do something else instead. But I know Shane and David were secretly doing a rain dance to keep it raining that morning and lucky them the games got rained out and they ended up only about 2hrs behind us.

                                                                    acting goofing one night on the beach

As usual Abby was rocking the different bathing suit every day :) like I have said before it is so much more fun to buy them for her.


We love going to the bay while we are there. There is always awesome things to see and do, and the fact that we can catch our dinner is a plus also :) we got enough scallops to feed both families.  We also found loads of Sand dollars, the friends with us had never found them before so we schooled them on it and soon they had tons to take home with them as souvenirs! They loved chasing and catching the little crabs as you can see Abby is not afraid of them:) The twins dad also managed to scoop up a Puffer fish and the kids thought it was great, that is it in the net Abby is holding it up.



We took them to our favorite places to eat down there and Wyatt really enjoyed showing the boys his crab leg cracking skills :) We love seafood and love showing others how good it can be if eaten at the right place.

I also managed to force Shane and the kids into another photo shoot while there :) I actually got some good ones of the kids believe it or not!