Parties & Projects......Bees & Berries!

The last 5 days have been a flurry of activity as I prepared for Cayla's 10th birthday party, along with keeping up on a few crafts/projects and getting some yard work done.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I thought I'd save you most of the words and just post some pictures with a few captions.

Cupcakes taken to CrewKID at church on Wednesday night, in honor of Cayla's 10th birthday!

Cupcake centerpiece for Cayla's "Pink Party" celebration with her cousins on Thursday.

All ready for Cayla's "Pink Party."

Wherever there's food.......there's Chuck!

Pizza and cupcakes with family!

The boys really were good sports about all the pink!

I think Mark actually liked it.  That smile says it all :)

Presents!!!

Quite a few people gave her cash so she's had a blast shopping for her own gifts!

Lisa and I bought trays & chalkboard paint for the kids to make portable chalkboards at Cayla's party.  They had a blast.  Tip 'o the week though......the paint sticks significantly better to wood surfaces rather than metal!

A celery green drawer front that I painted with chalkboard paint.  Lisa and I each made one and they turned out really cute!  I plan to make some more chalkboard pieces so stay tuned.  I know you can't wait!  ha ha!!!

This chair was left at our house (one of the few things remaining) when we moved in.  On Sunday night, after sanding off all the rust Cory painted it metallic blue.  It's going to look so vibrant on my back patio.  Can't wait for it to fully dry so we can use it!

Saturday afternoon I made Berry Quartet Jam.  It's a blend of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and blueberries.  It's delicious!  And yes, it warranted a picture!

A blank drawer front being prepped for a project.

Saturday I painted the drawer front.  The unfinished wood absorbed the paint super quickly and I think the lack of coverage made for a wonderful 'distressed' piece, but I did give it a couple more coats because I wanted to make sure the words I was going to put on it would really show up.

Finished.  Simple and cute!

Another drawer front.  I love them, and we have a ton of them left over from the pallet of cabinet doors and drawer fronts Cory purchased years ago from a bargain wood store.  I had originally painted the word 'beach' on the piece, but ultimately didn't like it.  So I painted over it and using a template and some scrapbook paper, I cut out the letters and decoupaged them onto the board.  It's hanging in my bathroom and looks pretty good.....for now :)

On Sunday evening we celebrated Cayla's birthday with Cory's family.  We left up her "Pink Party" decor  from Thursday which made for an easy set-up for Sunday's party.

This photo is fake.  My camera wouldn't click fast enough to capture her actually blowing out the candles, so I had her re-enact it for my photo op.  Although, now that I've told you, not sure why it mattered :)

Opening presents!

She received a lot of money which she promptly spent on Wii games and LaLa Loopsy dolls, but she did receive a lava lamp from her grandparents.  Chuck, the hippie dog, is intrigued!

After a few hours of plugging it in, her lamp was glowing in all it's glory.  She loves it!

Caitlin and Autumn.

If he could talk I wonder if he'd tell us to stop putting stupid things on his head!

Amidst all the craziness, I managed to sneak outside to water and check on the progress of my raspberries. I was pleasantly surprised to see numerous bees busying themselves with my berries.  While not much of a photographer, the bees were beautiful and I couldn't help but snap a few pictures!

My raspberries are 'greening' up nicely.  I love summer!

May and June are months FULL of birthdays, parties and celebrations for our family and while they're always fun, I can't help but be a little relieved the hustle is over.  Well, almost.  Next weekend is a retirement party for my mother in law.  Hopefully I won't forget my camera and I can post some photos for family who aren't able to make it!!!