handprints.

So I saw this precious idea on Becky's blog.

I knew I had to do it immediately.

 I bought an 8x8 canvas at Michaels.

I had the paint at home, but you can buy it at Michaels too.

I painted the top and sides of the canvas with a foam brush. 

Then I enlisted the help of this precious one...

I painted his right hand with turquoise paint. (loving red and aqua lately!)

No pictures of the rest because we got paint EVERYWHERE.

Here is a close up of the "after".

I just love it!

The great thing about the idea...

If you do this each year around the birthday of your child,

 one day you will have an amazing colorful display of your childrens

handprints as they grow.

I hope to display these in our playroom one day!

I am linking up to the

smile...

This picture absolutely cracks me up!

I love these bowls! I bought them at Bealls Outlet the other day.

Pretty much love polka dots and bright colors.

This is that photo book I ordered off of Walgreens.com the other day.

Very, very cool. And easy to design too.

Libby brought me this Apple Cider Tyler candle the other day.

It smells delicious. We share a love for Tyler candles.

If you haven't ever had one, you need to try them out!!!

Target Dollar spot find last Thursday!

Couldn't resist this cute little bucket!

This morning I made Rowan try on a bunch of

different outfits for fall and winter.

He was not happy about it. Here is one of my absolute

favorite longalls that I bought for him.

Libby brought us a BIG bag of Luke's clothes for us to borrow.

I am so thankful for friends with little boys who have my taste and don't

mind sharing with us!!! :) Thanks Libby!

Also, Lauren and I got to hang out last Thursday night without

our big boys or our little boys...and it was WONDERFUL!

We figured that it had been TWO years since we had spent any

one on one time. Hopefully our plans to make it a monthly

thing will actually come to fruition!

I think we both need it!

coupon binder...

When I started couponing I read about making a binder to hold my coupons.

However, I thought that my coupon file system would work fine for me.

And it did.

For a while anyway.

Then my mini coupon files starting breaking, and I

was wasting too much time fumbling through my coupons.

Time is precious these days, and I am all about simplifying my life.

So, I made a coupon binder.

It consists of a 1 inch binder, 66 baseball card holder pages,

and a bunch of colored dividers.

I wanted the front of the binder to be cute, so

I printed my monogram on a piece of scrapbok paper.

I used some Avery labels from Wal-mart to personalize the dividers in Microsoft Word.

And here are some pages of my binder.

This layout works sooo much better for me.

I am saving much more time (and money).

random...

We had hundreds of these little frogs all over the outside of our house

a few weeks ago. They were about the size of my pinky nail.

Like I said in my last post, my older sister celebrated her 33rd birthday!

She loves purple. She loves houndstooth. She loves Red Velvet cake!

Hope this year is great for you, Paige!

And here is the bargain of the weekend.

My antique Christmas tree topper!

More posts coming soon...

my mind is so full...

so, we went to alabama this weekend. it's always good to see my
parents, my nephews, my sister, and my grandparents.

it is very tiring; to chase a VERY busy one year old around houses that
are not childproof. v-e-r-y tiring!

my older sister turned 33 last Thursday. she wanted Tupperware bowls!
Gotta love the things we want as we get older.

the weather has been so nice. Fall is on the horizon, and that makes me happy.

i got Rowan a Christmas outfit and some cute navy blue shoes for this fall
at a consignment sale.

me, momma, and rowan went junkin' but didn't have much luck. i bought
an antique christmas tree topper for only 50 cents. only deal of the day!

it is very hard to keep up with sippy cups.

i ordered a FREE "purse photo book" from Walgreens.com last week.
it was in the mailbox when we got home. i am very impressed by the quality of
said photo book.

my little boy travels like a champ. only fusses when he is hungry or thirsty.

we went to athens today. we visited our old co-workers. it was bittersweet.
i miss my old peeps from ARMC.

we also went to our old house, that is now our rental house. it was...strange.
kinda sad, kinda happy, kinda weird. rowan wasn't a part of our lives when
we lived there, so that felt weird. it was weird seeing someone elses stuff in "our" house.
our renter is very sweet. she signed a lease for another year! yay! the house looked
great inside and out! She has taken great care of the house in the past year. We are
so glad to have her back again this year. it was a little bittersweet because it brought
back very happy memories of a time in our lives that we will never get back.

we learned some unfortunate news about some of our favorite neighbors.
they got divorced and no longer live in our old neighborhood. makes
me sad and a little sick to my stomach. it seems like divorce is rampant these days.

so tonight, i am thankful for my family. my marriage. our renter, Stephanie. a
healthy, happy, busy baby boy. for good times and good memories. and for
where we are today!

sneak peek...

of Rowan's adorable one year pictures are up on Alicia's site.

Just thought y'all might want to see them!

two things I am loving...

Blogger Reading List!!! It has saved me so much time. I used to go from blog to blog
checking to see if the blogs I keep up with had updates. Now I just log in and then
the latest updates are there for me to see!!! I love it!

Kaboodle. I made an account a few years ago, but never did anything with it.
Basically it is a list-lovers dream with pictures and links to the items you have saved.
I started my Christmas list on Kaboodle because when the time comes
I can never remember the things I would like to have.

Oh yeah, and this darling child!

(And his Daddy too). 

to-do's...

I love this...

I still need to...
get Rowan's one year pictures taken.
do his handprint tin thingy.
take his 12 month picture with his lamb.
write thank you notes for his birthday.
blog about his birthday.

i have already...
started my Christmas shopping.
scheduled our Christmas photography shoot with Two Chics.
bought Christmas cards and address labels.

I made a coupon binder this past weekend. I love it. So much easier and faster to shop now!

I am making him a longall  for Rowan that will hopefully be done before next spring.

We bought greenish-khakish paint for our "office". The color is called Caraway Shield.

I can't wait to see Lauren...hopefully one night next week!!!

We are headed to Alabama next weekend and I cannot wait!

truckload...

of love!

Every day gets better and better.

And every day of love him more and more!

beach favorites

one legged bird.

Rowan's first time on the beach.

love this face.

my boo.

blue birthday cupcakes for our baby boy!

gorgeous lighting.

birthday cupcake on the beach...

and all that was left.

Daddy. Mommy, and Rowan.

he loved the sand!!!

so glad we brought the wagon!

the sun and the fun has tuckered him out.

love this picture.

hello freckles.

thanks for looking!

shades...

these pictures crack me up.

we got these sunglasses for rowan while we are

at the beach.

loving some coupons!

spent 13.77. saved 106.

walked out with 6 Register Rewards and 4 ExtraCare bucks.

And people think couponing is not worth it.

Whatever...

:)

imagine my surprise...

when I discovered my beach memories candle holder had been featured on

Tatertots and Jello!!!

 

And then Cate left a comment saying she featured me on her blog too! Thanks Cate!

 

This has totally got me motivated to do more and share more! :)