This Little Piggy...

is from World Market. I love that place! I went in to purchase a chair for Sport's room and left with a little friend. Well, Fisherman and Sweet Pea left with a little pig. It is just the cutest thing. It is a tiny grill and makes the best s'mores. It is too cute on our back patio.

They have named him Mr. Piggy. You too can have one here and it also comes in an elephant!

Happy Summer!

Krissy

Not Your Mama's Camp Trunk

Southern women love to monogram and personalize everything. My husband has said that if it will sit still, I will monogram it. I cannot confirm or deny this. One of my favorite projects to work on are camp trunks. Camp is a big deal here in Texas. I don't know who loves it more: the kiddos or the parents. One camp essential is the camp trunk. You have to pack your camper with all the things they will need for one week and for some, four weeks. No fear, the trunk can take it!

I have ordered our trunks from Everything Summer Camp. I am not getting paid to advertise for them. I just love their products and recommend them to all my friends! At many camps, the trunk sits at the foot of the camper's bed and is their way to personalize their little chunk of space. So, personalization is a must! Here are a few of the trunks that I have painted through the years. For some reason, I have not photographed the trunks for boys. They are more "tame" than the girls. My boys like to put stickers on theirs. I have also used sports team pennants, camo, hunting and extreme sports for themes. 

The inside lid of the trunk is a great place to tape a family photo and a sweet note to your camper. I also put a packing list there, so that we hopefully we will return home with most of our things, and I include my number one rule of camp (after having the greatest time ever) "No wet things in your trunk!" Large ziplock bags are a camper mom's best friend. I pack theme night clothing and special outfits in them and label them accordingly.

A well-packed trunk makes me feel as though I can still take care of my babies when they are away from me. I envision them opening their trunks each day and feeling my love through the sweet note and the easy to find, well-labeled clothing. I know that the labels that I ironed on their undies will make their camp experience even better. This is what I tell myself, so that when we pick Sport up and get him home from two weeks of camp heaven and I open his trunk and find pretty much everything still clean and in the bags that I packed them in I won't go crazy. Yes, that has happened. When asked why only two pairs of socks seem to be the only ones worn for two weeks - "I didn't want to ruin them all." was the reply. When asked why only one set of sheets was dirty, "We didn't have time to change them. They feel kind of sandy though." Uugghh! In his defense, underwear was changed, showers were taken and more than one shirt was worn. Not sure about the toothbrush and I don't want to know. Sweet Pea usually does use everything. She would want me to say that. 

Happy camping!

Krissy

Summer At Our House

Hello darlings! It's summertime! I am a summer girl. I love hot days and warm nights, no bedtimes, snow cones, sun-kissed faces, pool time, lake time, anywhere around the water time, having a house and a car full of excited kiddos and the general fun spirit of summer. This summer is a little different from the rest. Fisherman has Driver's Ed and football workouts, so that boy has a full schedule that requires us to stay pretty close to home for a good chunk of our summer. The boy is not happy. Seven a.m. is a time that is not on a teenage boy's clock, so getting up each day for practice is a challenge: and that's all I have to say about that.

Never fear, we are having fun though! I have been painting camp trunks for some sweet campers and I will share those with you and I have had time to do some house-tweaking - always fun! 

A trip to the new drive-in movie in town...

Swimming with precious neighbors. Sport is really good with little ones.

A wonderful get-away to Horseshoe Bay. Fisherman was in his element, not only does he get his Driver's Learning permit this summer, but he got his Boater's license as well. We are not safe on land or water!

Fishing in the dark!

Dinner at a family convention for Mr. Pearl's job.

You might be a redneck if.....

You set-up a slip-n-slide in your front yard.

We had so much fun though!

Our summer has been really "bright" so far. Hope yours is, too!

Soakin' up the sun,

Krissy

Summer On My Mind

The school year ends a week from Friday. I am ready. I need Summer vacation. I need to not have a schedule (although that may not be possible). I need warm sunshine, trips to the pool, the smell of Hawaiian Tropic, snow cones and late nights under the stars. I took up the cow hide rugs in my family room this weekend. I already feel more summery. Sweet Pea even commented on the difference in the way the room feels. I put out some of my collection of shells around the house and the front porch. A little bit of the beach always feels like summer. Bring it on!

Are you ready for Summer?

Krissy

all photos via Pinterest

It's Broken and Mother's Day

Hello dear ones! I hope a lovely weekend was had by all, specially the moms out there. I know mine was davoon. Before I show you a pic or two, I want to catch you up on Sweet Pea's football finger. Yes, it is broken. This makes broken finger number three for baby girl. Don't for a minute think that this discouraged her. Oh no! She was back at practice and has no retirement plans in the works. I guess I better start looking for, what were her words, "cute and colorful" football cleats. Oxymoron. Okeedokee. I would show you a pic of my warrior child, but alas, she has forbidden me to show any pictures of her on any of my social media outlets. I am sneaking one in, but only because her brothers and myself are in it! I would welcome any and all input into how to convince her that volleyball is the better pick for next fall's sport choice. She says though that she will only play one season...to be continued.

My biggest blessings - you can see the famous pinky finger - 

Fisherman would like you all to notice that he is taller than me and I am wearing three inch heels.

Back to Mother's Day. It was loverly. My hubby thought of everything: my favorite finger sandwiches from a local luncheon place, cupcakes from a fabulous bakery, chilled Proseco and bountiful carbs to devour, flowers and my precious family in our home. Perfection! Thank you Mr. P! I am so blessed to be the wife of a wonderful man and mom to three amazing young people! 

 The table ready for guests

 Just a small sample of the goodies we munched on!

 My Mommom - the Birdie in Birdie Pearl

 My precious mom - Mumsie!

Flowers from my Daddy. These touched my heart, as my dad is not the "gift-giving" type. He brought these "lellow" (how I said "yellow" as a child) for me.

May the love continue all week and any sweets you ate this weekend not effect the way you look in a swimsuit!

Krissy

I Got This

I will keep repeating that to myself until it becomes reality. So, I know we are all busy and I know that I am no exception, but just when I think that "I got this," I reminded that I do not. This is the time to hit my knees in prayer. We have another crazy May week this week and yet, I am home today with one sick child (his mean mommy told him it was just allergies and to "suck it up", only to look closer and find that he does indeed have a fever) and another child, darling daughter, awaiting a trip to the doctor to x-ray her pinky finger. If it is broken, this makes broken finger number three for Sweet Pea. This was  NOT on the calendar for today - not even close!

I am thankful for my full life. We have had so much to celebrate and be thankful for and yet, there are set backs. Life is not happy sunshine 24/7, but wouldn't it be wonderful if it was? Even for say, a week or two during the craziest month of our year? I won't go into great detail about the rest of our challenges, we all have them and they hurt, but I think the hurt makes the happy that much better. LAst night, we celebrated Fisherman's new school at a school-wide picnic. We found out that some dear friends we haven't seen in a while will be at the school next year with Fisherman. Blessings abound!

I will wrap this up, as I have to take Sweet Pea to the doctor, but I want to fill you all in on my daughter, and give you some unsolicited parenting advice. From the time Sweet Pea was in preschool, she has been asking to play football. Let me insert here that she is indeed a bow wearing, card carrying, girly girl who is tough as nails and out to prove it. Girl power! Anyhoo, girlfriend asked and asked to play football and I answered with "Oh no sweetie, how about ballet?" or "Wouldn't you rather play volleyball"(which she does, pretty well, I might add) Fast forward six years and our school is adding six man football to the sports next fall for seventh and eighth graders. Again, she asks to play football. However, instead of waiting for me and Mr. P's answer, girlfriend goes to the coach and asks him to play and apparently was convincing. Guess who was the only girl to start spring training with the team?  The coach planned on working her hard, thinking she would get discouraged and go back to volleyball. It didn't work. She is more fired-up than ever! It also doesn't help that she is better than most of the young men on the field. Really. She throws a mean spiral, catches like a guy and thinks getting hit is fun. Should I worry? I have been praying that God would be in control of this situation. If she is ever going to play, this is the time, as high school would be far too dangerous. All of this leads to yesterday at recess. She was playing football with her girlfriends and one of them threw a "wonky" pass and she caught it wrong and now her pinky is three times normal size and blue. Not good. Answer to prayer? Or just proof that you shouldn't play football with girls? I will found out in an hour or two. My unsolicited parenting advice? ALLOW YOUR DAUGHTER TO PLAY FOOTBALL, FLAG FOOTBALL, when she is little and get it out of her system if she thinks she wants to play. It is much safer and a lot less of a headache!

Amen! Pass the Tylenol.

Have a great day!

Krissy

photos via Pinterst

Texas History

I spent last week chaperoning fifteen seventh graders on our school's Texas History trip. Do I have a child in the seventh grade class? No. Do I teach texas History? No. Was I compensated to go on this trip? No. Why in the heck did I go? Good question! Just for the record: Fisherman is in the eighth grade and Sweet Pea is in sixth. The students in our school have the opportunity to go on overnight trips in sixth, seventh and eighth grade. Parents of students in that class are not allowed on the trip, so my thinking was that I would pay forward someone having to chaperone my own children on these trips, by chaperoning theirs. And, I do teach preschool at the school, sub quite a bit and I therefore appear to be "available" a lot, so I was asked. I really did have a fun time. I am tired, but I learned a lot and had the opportunity to see what my own children will experience. It was fun!

I won't bore you with a dissertation on Texas History, although I would love to. I am a bit of a history buff and find it fascinating. Yes, I do realize that most people do not share my enthusiasm. However, you might enjoy the pictures. We toured the Alamo (site of the famous battle between General Santa Anna and the entire Mexican Army against two hundred brave souls defending Texas freedom. The Texans lost but ultimately won freedom at the battle of San Jacinto). We also toured two other missions in San Antonio. These churches are still active parishes and were built in the 1700's.

The Alamo and my charges

We then traveled to Austin and went to the capital building, state cemetery and museums. Our state senator, Wendy Davis, took time out of her schedule to meet with us on the capital steps. Thank you Ms. Davis!

We also packed in some swimming in record cold temps, time at Main Event and lots of junk food. Whoohoo! Oh to be a teen again!

Top of the rotunda of the Texas State Capital Building

 

I had to thrown in one last pic. The eighth grade travelled to Vicksburg and Natchez, Mississippi to tour the Civil War historic sites there. This is Fisherman's class. Don't they look like a handsome bunch on this veranda? Fisherman is standing, second from left.

I feel so blessed that my children are in a school with these opportunities. Thank you for letting me share!

Happy Monday!

Krissy