Red, white and blue

Happy July 4th week! I have always loved this week and celebrating America. Over at our house, we are already decorated with our red, white and blue. We also had the opportunity to see some fireworks over the weekend to kick off the celebratory week.  I hope you are geared up for a fun weekend of festivities.  Now more than ever, we need to pray for our country and celebrate our freedoms and the ones who sacrificed so much to make those freedoms possible! 

Last year's simple July 4th dessert. Just add blue and red sprinkles to ice cream sandwiches.

"America was not built on fear. America was built on courage, on imagination and an unbeatable determination to do the job at hand." Harry S. Truman

Happy July 4th! 

put a ring on it

 If you like it then you should've put a ring on it:) Put a gold ring on it that is. 

 While at the beach two weeks ago, Graham picked up lots of seashells along with several oyster shells. I have seen oyster shells painted gold before and thought they looked so pretty so I decided to take his and put a gold ring around the edge of them. I really like how it makes them stand out. I think they add a nice, classy coastal feel around the house for the summer months. 

Runner, Votives

Hopefully you can escape somewhere this summer. If your getaway is the beach, bring some shells home and find ways to use them to decorate your home. 

camp counselor mode

All parents have now switched from teacher into camp counselor mode since kids are out of school, but still need something to do at home. Before the school work really picked up in quarantine, I found several fun, free printables for my kids to work on while I was trying to work . These may be a fun free activity for your kids on those rainy summer days that will pop up here and there. 

During quarantine, so many great artists made painting tutorials. I have seen several folks participate in this one. I have not done this yet with my kids, but plan to this summer. 

We all watched The Call of The Wild movie in March and loved it so my kids really enjoyed these Call of The Wild activities. 

Here is another great resource for kids free printables. 

I, probably like you, am concerned that my kids did not learn all that they needed to learn at the end of the year.  I found this article to be very helpful and plan to incorporate some of these concepts with my kids this summer. I also ordered this book for Graham and this book for Georgia just to help prevent the summer slide. I will only have them do one or two worksheets each day. I really think outdoor play is important and I like the idea of my kids taking on more chores and helping around the house this summer. 

I would love to hear of any ideas that you may have to help keep kids busy this summer while at home. 

steak cobb salad

I have always been a big fan of cobb salads. Several nights ago, I was looking thru my Williams Sonoma catalog and saw this recipe for a steak cobb salad. We tried it out last week and it was delicious. I am apparently on a radish kick. We added radishes and green onions to ours. I will definitely be adding the cobb salad and some of these other steak salad recipes to our summer meal lineup.

You cannot see it, but I have blue cheese crumbs on my salad too. 

pier 1 closing sale

About a month ago, I purchased this navy chest from Pier 1. I had no idea that they would be closing. We have several strange cutouts in our house. One cutout serves as our time-out spot:). The other cutout held a small chest where I literally stuffed all of our photos and the kids' crafts that I wanted to hang on to. I told myself, one day I will organize all of this. Well, when quarantine hit,  I really had no excuse not to organize it. I knew I needed a larger piece of furniture than what I currently had, but it could not be much larger. I also wanted it to have 3 drawers: one for Graham, one for Georgia and one for family photos.  Pier 1 is one of those stores that I sometimes forget about. I happened to be looking on their website and found this chest on super sale with free shipping. It was exactly what I was looking for and gave this spot the pop of color that it needed. 

Pier 1 has so many great items. I am so sad that they are having to close their doors. There are several items that I have my eyes on right now during their closing sale. 

this chair

these napkins

this floor lamp

these tumblers

these glasses

this garden stool

Happy almost Weekend! 

sheet pan nachos

We are starting to get a little bored with all of these dinners at home so last week I was inspired to try some new recipes to keep things interesting. I came across a recipe for sheet pan nachos. I modified it some, but they turned out great and were a hit. I served them with these yummy corn on the cob.

I added radishes, green onions and cilantro for extra tasty toppings. 

I seasoned the ground beef with this Rock Yo' Taco  seasoning

 that I picked up at Harris Teeter.

Have you found any new recipes during quarantine? I would love to hear of anything new I can try at my house. 

the best linen drawstring pants

Since I have been working from home full-time, my daily outfits have changed drastically. If you are like me, every few days I like to break up the routine of active-wear. I still choose comfy clothes to wear like a cotton dress or skirt or my most recent find are these linen pants.  They come in lots of different colors. The length and fit are perfect for me. I ordered size x-small because the reviews said that they run large. I like linen pants to be loose, but not too baggy and these fit perfectly. I wanted to order the white ones, but was afraid they may be too see-thru so I ordered the olive color and love them. I may order the white ones next and will report back about them.  

I also ordered this white tee to pair with the pants and it is honestly my new favorite white tee.  You cannot see thru it and it has a v-neck that is not too low cut for all my zoom calls:)

Here is a rough selfie if you are curious what it looks like in person. I am just wearing it around the house while working today, but last week I paired it with a jean jacket and sandals for a quick outing and I really loved that look. 

Happy Memorial Day weekend friends! I am thankful for our country and for those that have served and continue to serve to protect our freedom!