Flash Me! Friday

Interested in what everyone else lives like?

Curious to see where others live, but don’t feel comfortable asking?

Want to take a peek into your friend’s home….who lives across the country?

Then join along in our weekly blog hop!

This week's flash....your garage!

Ugh…our garage is not at all organized. Typically our van is parked on the left side, but sometimes I park in the street so Gav Man has more room to play.

When bad weather is headed our way…or when it gets cold outside…I stack up Gavin’s toys so that Casey’s car can also squeeze in with all of our stuff.

Someday…hopefully sooner than later…we’ll put in a ton of shelving so that we can always fit both cars in without a second thought!

So what does your garage look like? Do you have a garage? Or just a parking space? Or do you park on the street? Let’s see where your cars are supposed to be able to be parked!

Tomorrow’s Flash

Tomorrow’s flash…your garage!

Eek! Not excited about this one!

If you don't have an actual garage...do you have a designated parking spot? Do you struggle to find a place to park on the street? Let's see where your car belongs!

Wordless Wednesday

(dear CPS…this child put himself in there and thinks it’s a fort. I don’t need any of you stopping by my house! )

Deals, Deals, Deals

For those of you who know me, or follow my blog, you know that I love a great craigslist/sale/thrift store deal. Especially when it comes to stuff for Gavin!

Many of you will probably remember these chairs from elementary school…

A few weeks back I picked up four of them for two bucks apiece. Then, last week on craigslist I found a posting for a child sized table for five dollars…

After a little spray paint which I already had on hand (I’ve only completed 2 of the 4 chairs) Gavin has his own table set for a whopping fifteen bucks!

(thinking about painting the table black, what do you think?)

And when I went to pick  up the table, she threw in this easel for free!

That same week I stopped in at Once Upon a Child to see if they had any baby gates in stock (still need one for our deck). They didn’t, but they did have this kitchen for fifteen dollars!

The washer and dryer make realistic noises, the iron makes a steaming sound, the phone rings, and the stove sounds like it is starting right up. I stopped by Toys R Us and picked up some pretend food and Gavin is in heaven.

So yes, Gavin does have a lot of stuff to play with…but I rarely pay full price for anything so my guess is that I’ve gotten at least three times the amount of stuff we’d otherwise be able to afford!

Flash Me! Friday

Interested in what everyone else lives like?

Curious to see where others live, but don’t feel comfortable asking?

Want to take a peek into your friend’s home….who lives across the country?

Then join along in our weekly blog hop!

This week's flash....your favorite piece of furniture!

For me, it's our comfy sectional in our basement rec/play room. It's great for curling up and watching tv (and in front of a fireplace for the winter months) and it's in one of my favorite rooms in our house.

This is also where Gavin and I do his daily vest treatments, as you can see his machines on the floor...nope, those don't ever get put away!

Another thing this couch is great for? While I'm getting Gavin all fastened into his vest, it holds up his nebulizer mask perfectly :)

So...what is your favorite piece of furniture?

Looking forward to your flashes!

Flash Me! Friday

Haven't done my post yet...but starting at midnight you can link up here :)

Tomorrow’s Flash

Flash us your favorite piece of furniture!

Is it your bed? Your dining room table? An uber comfy chair?

Looking forward to the flashes!

Once Upon A Time

I lived the life of having bags of makeup just sitting on bathroom shelves waiting to be used. Bottles of lotions & perfumes lined up on counter tops. Baskets of fun hair accessories waiting to be paired with that special outfit.

Now…those pennies & dollars once spent on myself have been used for diapers…milk…medical bills…diapers…

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining, but living in a one income family consists of making sacrifices and the frivolous spending went out the window…quickly replaced by conscientious, well planned purchases.

Yet, a certain little goober that runs around our house…or should I say, runs our house…has decided that the few necessities I buy for myself should also be his.

A few weeks back he opened up my brand new bottle of foundation (apparently he can unscrew caps to bottles now) and flung it, splatter paint style, all over the bathroom.

Or his recent discovery that he is able to open the drawers and reach inside to it’s contents…

Or the excitement of discovering what is in those boxes below the sink…

He sure is lucky that he’s cute.

Counting down

Gavin and I are counting down until Friday…when we leave for the cabin and we’ll be there for 10 whole days. (Casey is meeting up with us a few days later)

I can’t wait.

To the right of this picture is a large, empty lot where my Grandpa’s cabin used to stand. When he passed away we tore it out and now we use it for a huge fire pit, a place to play games, etc. Both lots are right on the water and I cannot wait to go for a dip in the lake!

It’s a three hour drive and we’ve learned that it’s the easiest to wait until the evening hours to hit the road. That way we can get Gav’s treatments done before we leave, we miss the Twin Cities rush hour, can eat dinner on the road, and Gavin usually falls asleep not long into the trip. The only problem with this? Once we arrive, he wakes up and doesn’t want to fall asleep until he gets some play time in :) But being up late is much better than listening to a crabby toddler whine for three straight hours!

The last weekend in July is our annual family reunion for my mom’s side. It will be the first time that my cousin & her husband will get to meet Gavin! They were students at Columbia, have finally graduated (with multiple degrees apiece) and now have the free time to head out to Northern Minnesota!

But don’t worry bloggy friends, even though we don’t have internet access there, I’ve “prepared” some posts ahead of time (including Flash Me! Friday!) that will appear even while we’re gone…gotta love technology!

Party and a Pony

Yesterday, we all headed over to the fourth birthday party of Gavin’s friend Wyatt…and it was hot. Humid and in the mid to upper 90s, not exactly ideal for our little CFer but we weren’t about to miss this party!

Why you ask? First, Wyatt is one cool kid…secondly, they had a petting zoo.

Enjoy :)

Make My Heart Melt

Flash Me! Friday

Interested in what everyone else lives like?

Curious to see where others live, but don’t feel comfortable asking?

Want to take a peek into your friend’s home….who lives across the country?

Then join along in our weekly blog hop!

This week’s flash, your favorite piece of art in your home!

My favorite piece, I’ve had for 10 years, and it was done by my cousin Lacey.

I danced for 15 years at a studio in the Twin Cities, and it had become my life. For each of her cousin’s graduations, Lacey created an art piece that depicted that cousin’s favorite activity.

So I received…

ballet shoes.

And they have been hanging on a wall in each place I’ve lived ever since :)

So, what’s your favorite art piece? Is it a painting? Sculpture? Was it created by someone famous? Someone in your home?

Flash us your art!

** This week I’ve switched up the linky tool a little bit. It now gives you the opportunity to add a thumbnail picture to your link…like this idea? dislike this idea? let me know!

Tomorrow’s Flash

Flash us your favorite piece of art in your house!

Is it by someone famous? Do you have a mini Picasso living in your home?

Let’s see what you got!

Lots o’ fun

All I had to do was say…

“Gavin, Grant & Morgan are at Grandma & Grandpa’s house, do you want to go see them?”

And he ran to the door and immediately began pulling on the door handle as if to say…LET’S GO LADY!

Remember this last year?

Well, this year Gavin was able to join in on the fun as we stopped by the country club for their 4th of July festivities.

 

Along with jumping in the bounce house he…

did a lot of running around…

 
(did you notice Grant & Morgan rolling down the hill?)

acted silly with Daddy…

wrestled with Morgan…

chowed down on some slushees…

and danced to the music…

We sure had a fantastic holiday…and yes, I am fully aware it was two weeks ago!

Babies don’t keep.

Being the mom of a little one with a life-threatening, incurable disease really teaches you to enjoy the moment. I oftentimes catch myself appreciating the littlest things…

And today, I read this poem on another blog and felt the need to share.

Mother, oh Mother, come shake out your cloth
empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
hang out the washing and butter the bread,
sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She's up in the nursery, blissfully rocking.

Oh, I've grown shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(pat-a-cake, darling, and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping's not done and there's nothing for stew
and out in the yard there's a hullabaloo
but I'm playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren't her eyes the most wonderful hue?

The cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
for children grow up, as I've learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

by Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

Wordless Wednesday

Twinkies

Last week we were busy!

We all went to the Twins game…which was our first visit to their new stadium, Target Field

Minne & Paul
(they light up & shake hands for every Twins homerun)


Grandma Groettum, Daddy & Gavin with
the Joe Mauer statue


Our golden boy sitting in the golden glove


Grandpa Groettum & Gav

   
Contrary to this picture, Gav had a great time!
by this time it was late and he was spent!

   
The mascot TC went out of his way to say hi to our boy!

Gavin’s cousins also came to town last week, but more on that later :)