Pinterest Friday...or bust!

So this is not going to be a complete post...My little family is enroute to our next big adventure. Our first trip to the Outer Banks with my Holland clan! {insert squell here!!}Since I am sitting in a hotel room somewhere is Virginia I don't have complete access to my pictures for this project. Please forgive me...I promise to post a complete tutorial for this project in the next few days!
A friend pinned this wonderful diy poject from Super Jenn {check out her seatbelt pillow post here}. As I have said I am not a great sewer but I can sew a straight line! This project had lots of straight lines...and here was the first final product!

I have to say that I love how it came out, but this only came after having to totally rip apart my first attempt...thank goodness for seam-rippers!

See the tabs on top...that is where the velcro goes and I origanlly put the two tabs on the same side...that was wrong! So I had to rip apart the seams and resew! Not a huge deal but it just took up a lot of time. The fleece wasn't very cooperative.

I am not sure if it was just me but I found the directions weren't real detailed and I am a detail person. And, mixing in the fact that i was trying to do this while the kids were running around me and I was trying to get all my final packing done didn't help in me grasping the directions on Jenn's page.

And after having to completely redo a pink one for the girl {I just couldn't get the measurements to work} she also has one!

And with that, we are on our way to our first OBX experience!

I am sure I will have plenty of amazing pictures to share during this next week.

{come back for a visit}

And be sure to check out the complete tutorial for this seatbelt pillow in a few days.

Sweet!!

Okay, I am still working on the Seat belt pillows I told you about a few days ago, but until then I thought I would share a little gem that I found today {througha pinterest friend}.

Iesha over at The Uncluttered Lifestyle is doing some pretty amazing stuff.

I love her style and vantage point!

She has great ideas on stashing organizing all the stuff that needs to be organized.

And, she makes it all look so pretty!!!!

The tag line on her site is..."Sharing a love of organizing with a vintage flair"...I love it!!!

As many of you know, being organized is not my forte...that is a bit of an understatement but I'm working on it.

I struggle with matching function with things that are pretty! Iesha has done just that.

So I will be heading over to see Iesha and all the great ideas she has!

Just click on the site picture or name to go directly to her site. 

Opps...Pinterest Friday missed!

After having our first trip to the beach, I found myself burnt to a pretty good crisp and never got around to getting my latest pinterest post out. But with our first family vacation to the Outerbanks just around the corner I have one specific project I found on Pinterest that I am going to attempt.

SEATBELT PILLOWS!!!! From SuperJenn.com

When we went to Disney World a year and a half ago we bought the kids neck pillows. They worked great for Lizzy since she was in her convertable car seat. But for Jake in his large booster seat {like the one in the picture above with the little girl} his head boobed forward every time he fell asleep. It looked so painful! And now that Lizzy is in the big booster and Jake has a basic booster we are in desparate need of suitable pillows!!

So with our trip to the Outerbanks coming up I want to make sure the kids can nap comfortably!

The tutorial looks great! I'm heading to the craft store tomorrow for supplies...i get a bit giddy when I get a chance to go to the craft store!!!

Stay tuned for a completed project!

PS~I will also be posting a diy pillow case tutorial this week too.

Don't you just love the fabric...and the girl is pretty cute too!

I'm in a crafty mood!



Summer Lovin'

One of the best things about growing  up in New Jersey is being so close to the shore. It really is so easy to just decide to pack up and head down!
I've done this my whole life. In fact my great-grandmother lived right on Rt. 9 when I was a little girl. We would spend many summer days and nights with her and drive to Stone Harbor, Avalon, Wildwood, or Cape May!
Now, as a mom, I have a great group of friends that will form a small village on the beach as we watch our kids play in the sand and the water together. It's great to spend time together.

This was our first trip to the beach this year and the kids loved it. I can't wait to many more days in the sun, having fun watching my kids.

{side note~my Nan was the best. We loved spending time at her place. She would feed us until we couldn't eat another bit. We would help her with her mini-farm and selling the produce at her stand. She loved to laugh and talk with us!}

Cleaning for summer!

With summer in full swing I am finding that the house seems to be falling apart!!!
Cleaning and such is not on top of my list.
Heading outside and visiting friends is taking up our time already {and summer just started this weekend for us}
But I'm realizing that letting the household duties go makes things much more stressful. So I have been keeping my eye out for anything that might help me get more and more motivated. I am one who loves to cross off things on my to do list...so I found two great sources {from Pinterest of course} that got me started.

From Tips and Pix

and from Life on Paper 

Both sites have have great info and more resources that might interest you.

As school came to an end this year we were amazed at the amount of things my kindergartener brought home. I am struggling to figure out how to decide what should be kept and how to store those precious gems from our wonderful first year. {they have really become a cluttered mess and i have to find something to get them put away} 

I am looking for any and all suggestions, but I think i may have found something very handy.

The creative minds at Creative Organizing had a fab idea I think will work perfectly for us!

I the love the look and how easily accessible these binders are. They will be my next project.

I quickly went through some of the posts on Creative Organizing...I think I may become addicted to their site! So many wonderful ideas.

Saw this quote as I was scrolling through the blog on Creative Organizing...love it!

"Use your creativity to help you organize."

Playdate fun

There is nothing like a great playdate with great friends. Especially when the host has a backyard wonderland complete with chickens! Yes I said chickens!

We had such a wonderful time...we have started this summer off right. Thanks Tracey for the day and the special treats! Can't wait to see what other adventures will come our way this summer!

GoodBye's

Can I just say that goodbye's suck...no matter how you dress them up, they just suck! Today my family had to say goodbye to a pretty great family that we have been very close to!
We did it in style, Pop Shop style that is!!! {it still sucked and didn't matter that we were at our favorite go to diner...it still sucked}

 It was their first time at The Pop Shop!!!

 the famous soda jerk hats!

 Our crazy boys!

 love her!

 One of our favorite servers, Ms. Sara!

{thanks for putting up with our crazies this morning}

 chocolate chip pancakes!!!

 what a cutie pie

 silly faces!!!

 girl-friends!

{I think there was a little cheer from the rest of the Pop Shoppers when we left...our kids were a bit crazy while we were there}

It isn't easy to find a friend who is more than tolerant of crazy children, who loves Good Morning America, the Twilight series and Hunger Games! I only wish we would have realized this all sooner and had more crazy adventures together! But I know this is just goodbye for now and we will get together when we can. Until then we will blog and text and facebook!

We are going to miss them like crazy and can't wait to be able to visit them in their new home.

We pray that they love and enjoy their new home and make more friends.

I did hold it together until goodbyes happened...as we drove away more tears came.

It was finally real.

Jake asked if I was crying because I couldn't go anymore dates with Ms. Gina.

I said, "Yeah buddy!"

Pinterest Friday...Recipes, Recipes, Recipes

One of the first things that turned me on to Pinterest was that you could find great recipes...and oh boy is that true.
Last week we had a few dinners made from Pinterest pins that I just had to try. Most were successful. Here they are:
{Up date: If you click on the name of the recipes it will link you directly to the original source, not to my pinterest page}

HEALTHY CHICKEN NUGGETS

I cut these too small which caused them to over cook. They were still really good!

PIZZA MONKEY BREAD

You will need at least two pizza dough recipes (below) and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to do this one...It takes time to make the dough, using yeast you have to let it sit for about two hours, and then it takes a little time to make the "biscuits" and then let it sit for half an hour. But let me tell you, it is well worth the wait!!! The kids loved them! I even made ones with just cheese for the self made vegetarian of the house (Lizzy doesn't like meat)

PIZZA DOUGH













CRESCENT CINNAMON ROLL

PERFECTION!!! quick and easy!


PENNE WITH ROASTED ASPARAGUS AND BALSAMIC BUTTER

Didn't turn out quite right but I think it was my fault! I reduced the balsamic vinegar way too  much...made it very thick. The hubby and I loved it...I will make it again and try to correct my error...but they kids didn't care for it. We invoked our "must try at least this much" rule and they did eat the amount. But they were not thrilled.

So there you go...some great recipes that we loved!!! Happy Friday!