The Locusts Have Invaded!

The locusts have invaded our house in a BIG way! This year's bumper crop of 13 year-locust (technically called periodical cicadas) has provide endless entertainment for my bug-loving boys! Bright and early each morning, the boys head out with great excitement to collect discarded shells. Locust shell hunting has become a favorite pastime for the boys this summer and, to my delight, has proven to be very educational for the entire family. I am proud to say C-N-C have become quite skilled at finding the "crusty treasures" and at last count had collected an impressive 186! They have a goal of 200 shells before summer's end and with the help of their Daddy's keen eye and long reach, I am confident they will have no problem!

Trumpet

Jason and I found this little gem at a flea market some time ago. It was oozing with character and I just couldn't pass it up, but when I got it home I struggeld to find a fitting way to display it. It changed locations in our house many times, but no place seemed to do it justice until recently when Jason surprised me with this shadowbox he made. Backed with antiqued sheet music and painted distressed black, it is the perfect spot for our little treasure. Three cheers for handy and creative hubbies!

Now Allow Me To Bore You With Details of Our Vacation...

Last month our family solidified our status as a middle-class-family-of-four by enjoying a Branson getaway. It seems to be a rite of passage for families south of the Mason Dixon to do this at least once, some even annually. We hit all the family friendly Branson hot spots- shows, Ducks, Butterfly Palace, water parks etc. It turned out to be the perfect first vacation for C-N-C, who had not so much as crossed the state line since gestation. It was also mine and Jason's first holiday in 7 years, so the marginally adequate accommodations, rowdy, overly-tattooed water park crowd and almost constant rain didn't phase us a bit. We enjoyed ourselves to the fullest and look forward to more vacations in the hopefully near future.

An Amusing Audience...

This morning's dress up fun was interrupted by the boys' interest in a convey of trucks and crews from First Electric visiting our neighborhood for Spring tree trimming. The amusing audience did not go unnoticed by the workers who got a chuckle from being watched by a bumble bee and a red dragon...

Forthisa

I robbed these pretty yellow blooms from my mother's forthisa bush. I placed the clippings in my flea-market-find colbat blue bottle to create a simple, sweet Spring centerpeice.

Spring Has Arrived...

Spring has arrived at the Coleman residence and with it comes a new Easter tradition for our household. I happened upon these sweet little Easter trees at the dollar store and felt they needed a place in our home. I purchased one for both boys along with two new ornaments for each tree. The boys got a big kick out of hanging their new ornament and I promised them a new ornament for their Easter tree every year. Establishing holiday traditions is so much fun and my hope is these simple little traditions will help to create many happy childhood memories for C~N~C.

Project Pizazz!

A dear friend of mine passed down this sweet little wooden table and chair set to the boys. C-N-C were getting so much use out of it, I quickly realized it would have a permanent home in our kitchen and I thought it was due for little face lift to add some pizazz...



a little sanding, a coat of black paint and a little lime green ...

and voila..

The tabletop was painted a standard regulation checkerboard, and the chairs got a fresh coat of black paint to match. After the project was complete, Jason and I agreed we went a little overboard with the pizazz and we plan to repaint the legs of the table black to tone it down a bit. The boys love the new paint job and I envision them enjoying many rainy days playing games and assembling puzzles together on their table with pizazz!