What's For Dinner Board

These past few weeks I have been an organizing nut around here.  Nothing has been left unturned, much to the boys dismay!  It feels so great to start the school year off organized!  For me if I can put my hands easily on things it just makes for a much happier mamma.  I was looking for a good little chart on Pinterest to organize meal planning weekly and I stumbled across this magnetic board that some very clever person had made!  Click here for original link and directions on my pin board.)  I thought this was the cutest idea!  So I pulled out my trusty Hobby Lobby coupon and set off to make my version.  The days of the week are magnets so that you can attach your recipes by day.  There is a little pocket to hold your standby recipes in, plus I added a few for fun...kid's choice, breakfast for dinner, Eat Out, etc.  There is a little post it pad attached to add grocery store items to as well.  In conjunction with my iPhone app called Cozi Family Planner, I am now quite dangerous when it comes to planning meals!  I have most of our standby recipes saved in my Cozi recipe box which, with the click of a button, I can add to a grocery list!  So cool!  So far, the boys seem to enjoy offering suggestions of what we have and when.
Now all I need to do is cook....hmmmmm.



Don't forget to enter the contest for the free pillow giveaway!
This pillowcase is 20" x 20"  - 18" (insert not included) burlap and felt with envelope closure.
To enter just write me a little comment in the box below.  If you share this link on your Facebook page, enter a second comment below that says "shared you on FB" and you will be entered twice!
A winner will be selected Sunday evening - cutoff for entering 7 pm CST.

(don't have a Google account?  That's ok!  Just choose to comment Anonymously - but don't forget to leave your email in the comment box so I can contact you if you win!)

Good Luck!

Jenny

The Great Chair Makeover and our First Giveaway!

These cute little chairs have a story.  I really like for anything I have in my home to have a "background"...so this is the tale of the two great chairs!   It all started way back in April when I put our yucky stained couch out for the trash having no idea what I would replace it with.  It was about that same time we were contacted about having a commercial filmed in our front yard, to which ends the producer wanted to "house" the production crew in my house while they filmed!  First reaction..."very cool".  Second reaction "crud, just put the couch in the trash and we have no furniture.  I quickly pulled my grandma's 1960's Danish Modern couch out of storage, reupholstered the cushions in a weekend and then started my hunt for chairs.  A quick trip to downtown Lee's Summit yielded nothing under 400.00....a chair.  Off to Craig's List!  That is where I found these two totally unique gems...really it was love at first sight!  I love the caved details at the top and they were the perfect size for what I wanted.  I pined over them for weeks. Even called the lady and asked if she would work on the price with me...She was asking 150.00 for both chairs, but she declined. I hung up and decided "wasn't meant to be!" Needless to say, I only had a small couch for the production crew, but it all worked out since we crammed about 40 people in this tiny house that day!

Fast forward to Mother's Day... you can imagine how ecstatic I was when Greg walks in the door with my chairs!!  Now all I needed to do was recover them!  That process took a bit longer than I had hoped with the end of school and other activities, but they are finally done, and I couldn't be more pleased with them!  All total with the fabric, which I found dirt cheap at a warehouse, I think I spent about 175.00 for two chairs...not too shabby, huh!  And most importantly, I love them!!  I love that they were made in Kansas City (if you know anything about the furniture Co. on the tag, I would love to hear!).  I love that they aren't perfect...nothing that comes into a house with three kids and two dogs should be!  I  love the texture of the burlap pillows.

The burlap pillows I kind of dreamed up.  I was having a hard time matching the khaki in the hounds-tooth and it just so happened that the burlap I had on the kitchen table was a complete match.  I added a felt silhouette of a starfish to tie in with my summer seashells theme in the living room.  Now the living room feels like a beachy escape....ok, that might be a stretch!

So how about winning one of 

these starfish pillows?  

All you need to do is leave a comment 

on this post!

It's super simple to do!  Just go to the bottom of the page where you see the drop down menu and "comment as".  At the end of that scroll list, if you don't have a blog or Google account, just click anonymous...just make sure to leave a comment and your e-mail address so if you win I can contact you!

Share it on Facebook and get an extra entry!  Just add a second comment that says "shared on Facebook".

The winner will be announced Sunday night - entries must be in by 7:00 CST.

Johnson Family Vacation 2012

Where has July gone!  We left for a week to travel to Colorado for our family vacation, and when we got back everyone was shocked to learn that summer is almost over!  We had an excellent time in Estes Park, Colorado last week.  The weather was PERFECT!  Yes, I am screaming PERFECT!  The weather here however....well, lets just say we are well out of the mid 70's that the Johnson's had grown accustomed to last week.  I just wanted to share a few pics from the vacation.  Ok, maybe more than a few...I had a really hard time narrowing it down!    Everyone did such a great job traveling!  We look forward to returning to Estes again next year.  I am always stuck as we drive across Kansas on the way home how when we left we were members of a family co-existing with our own things all going on, and when we return we are a family.  All on the same page, enjoying each others company, not really ready to re-enter the craziness of "real life"...but that's what makes "a vacation" a vacation, right!?

Good Morning Mountains!  Thanks to Kate, we had the breathtaking opportunity to see the sunrise over the mountain almost every morning...speechless.

Kate quickly figured out if she wanted out of the stroller, she had to hold someone's hand :)

That water is c-o-l-d!  Alluvial Fan, Rocky Mt. Natl. Park

Momma doesn't go much higher than this...
 but Dad always tries!

Colorado Kate

Bryce finally in Colorado...all school year, every day, he would ask "Can we go to Colorado on Thursday?"...It's finally Thursday lil buddy!

Is he getting older of what!? Where did my baby go :(?

Does it get any better than ice cream every night!?

after every bite..."mmmmmmm"

skipping rocks turned into heaving boulders..my boys "move mountains"

I think, my favorite pic of the whole trip!  Good job Dad...perfectly captures the moment and how we all felt about being here together!

Enjoy these last few days of summer!

Jenny

Happy Fourth of July and A String of Pearls

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  I hope you had an opportunity to relax with friends and family and enjoy celebrating!  We have had a busy last few days here!  Lots…and I mean LOTS, of fireworks!  The boys have been in hog-heaven shooting off their bag of 4^th of July goodness.  In the evening we have been able to enjoy big “professional” displays at both our neighborhood and my parent’s.  I had lofty dreams of a darling little family photo with everyone sporting their red, white, and blue outfits…but trying to organize this resembled herding cats.  In reality, the boys couldn’t be pulled away from the explosives, and Mary Kate was less than cooperative posing with Dad.  Oh well, I tried! 

As far as sewing goes, not a ton getting accomplished here this week as the boys are out of summer school now and “nap-time” is looking a bit different!  I did manage to whip up Kate’s little stars and stripes top Monday, but it was such a quick task!  I am still working on a “top secret” project when the time permits.   I am so anxious to show you!  But on to today's main attraction....

I wanted to give you a little peek at a pretty sweet little birthday present my clever husband put together for Kate last month.  Poor Kate’s birthday got postponed twice, so somewhere in between postponement #2 and the real deal Greg decided to just go ahead and give Kate her gift from him and the boys.  I. Was. Blown. Away.  In a very special little box was a note from him and the boys and a beautiful pearl necklace.  The very cool thing about this necklace is that you can add a pearl for any special occasion that warrants a pearl!  He had done some research on the internet and discovered the idea, but could only find one jewelry company in Kansas City that carried them.   The woman that sold it to him explained that her three daughters each were given one by their grandmother for their first birthday, then grandma added to it each year.  By the time they got married they had a full string of pearls!  So the first three pearls on Kate's will all be the same size (you can choose different sizes for different dollar amounts J ).  These first three pearls will represent Greg and the boys so Kate will always remember that her three boys gave it to her.  And the note….ahhhhh.  Well, it talked about a lot of things I try not to think about just yet….birthdays, first dates, marriage, etc).  Dad really outdid himself on this first gift…in his own words "home run!"

Have a great Friday everyone!

Jenny