Perhaps I went a little overboard

 This is the first year Annie is letting me make her cake.  I was SO excited.  She asked for a princess cake, and a wedding cake.   Thank goodness Aunt Heather was here to help because the cake just kept getting bigger and bigger in my head. 

So we have a three tired Princess wedding cake.  Chocolate with whip cream and fresh raspberry filling for the bottom and very top. Then lemon cake with home made lemon curd in the center.   The kids might not like it, but the adults sure will.  Up next... the transportation.  Please be praying we make it.  It's incredibly hot out and we have to drive pretty far.

Can I look in your bag?

 Annie got into Aunt Heathers bag of Yarnage and started trying on her one of a kind hats.  It was an adventure in yarn land that lasted for hours.  Annie even had own creative way of wearing them.

123 Pinata!

 Annie's birthday party is this Saturday.  Her one request? A pinata.  When out shopping I check out the prices.  $15-20 a piece?!?!?!?!   That's was way to ridiculous for cardboard and paper.  Solution: make one at home.  For just under $5 I got what we needed and headed home. Oddly the glue was the most expensive part, it ate up $3.47 of my budget.

 We picked the easiest shape I could think of.

 Using a cardboard box I found in the basement.

 And recruiting the help of my friend Heather who is staying with us for a two whole days!

 We made the fabulous pinata you see here.

It was actually really fun and I can't wait till her next birthday to do it again.  Only I might insist on different colors.  The pink and blue make me think it's for a baby shower instead of a birthday party.

House mess vs. people

I miss people. I miss my friends and getting to just hang out.  I think that would be my number one struggle since Texas and I took on this whole "Let's buy a house" thing.  What were we thinking?  I do love my house.  It's great when I get the chance to be here not scraping paint or figuring out what to do with too much stuff in a too small house.  Correction: how to get rid of my giant pile of stuff I don't need, so we fit in our perfectly sized house.  See?  It's a daily struggle.  Honestly I think I had this fantasy that when I got married I would have more time for friends and play dates with the kids.  Instead I work more, play a lot less, and need be way more intentional with my friends.
So last night I put my plan into action.  We invited a family from our church to dinner at our house.  Wow, was our house not ready, but thankfully my friend Amy and her super awesome husband and two kids could care less. The girls ran around and played and we all had a great time.  I survived, the bathroom which I will post a picture of didn't completely offend them.

 Up next: our first house guest! 

Honey, I think that tree has to come down.

 Texas had been fighting me on cutting down a very unfortunately placed tree.  A few weeks ago he did it.  So here's the garden just before cutting it down:

And here it is now:

 Yes, the garden was starving for sunshine.  It has triple in size and is now breaking out it's brick boarder and giving the wild violets a run for their money.

Harold is checking out my violet killing system. I set them in the wheelbarrow and leave them to bake in the sun for a few days before composting.  Otherwise I would have a compost bin full a violets.  They are wicked hard to get rid of.  Aside from pulling each one out by hand you have to resort to chemicals (and you know I won't do that).  If anyone knows an easier way, please let me know.

Buying in bulk

My latest fixation lately has been cutting out the grocery store, and so far I've been pretty happy with the results.  We got our first order from Azure Standard.   I might have gone a little over board, but it's my first time.  The beans are a huge improvement from what I was buying at whole foods.  They absorb the water so much faster ( a sign they are not old), and taste better.  The spices are not only organic, but super fresh. These have not been sitting on a store shelf for months.  I'm already working on our next order.  I'll probably be posting all bean recipes I'll be trying over the next few months.  I have a lot of beans.   Our meat order gets here at the end of the month and I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Wow, where have we been...

 There was fourth of July cuteness.

 Late spring peas harvested for eating and seeds to plant next year.

 A little extra sister snuggle time/ sleeping in.

 

We went from this.

 To this:

 To This:

It appears Annie has let go of all fear when it comes to water and yes, she can swim across the pool by HERSELF!