Summer Snaps 4 {3 for me}

I believe I missed last week, which means this is week 3 for me 

whereas it's 4 for everyone else.

It was a great week....It seems like it flew by so quickly.  

I'm sure that's because we filled with lot's of FUN! 

{Or maybe it's because all the weeks blend together in the summer time}

1. I went shopping with a dear friend and we started the day with a Bloody Mary. 

{Clothes look better after a bloody mary}

2. My oldest son is a sandwich arteest.  He made this yummy dagwood.

3. This is how your wine looks right now...

4. A house near ours has about 10 goats and they're too cute for words.

5. I found a new dress to wear to a party this Saturday night.

6. A gorgeous rose I stopped to smell while on a walk with my littlest.  

Believe it or not, it's bright red in real life.

7. We decided to go to the Giants game at 3p on Sunday.  

First pitch was at 5:05.  We're spontaneous!

8. The hubs and a Panda fan-da.

9. Radishes we bought at the farmer's market.  Pretty sure I ate them all...

so yummy with a little lime.

10. Lou Seal stopped by our seats during the game.  He freaked out our little guy.

We've got a few fun things planned for this weekend 

and hopefully I'll remember to take pictures.

Hugs!

Carrie

Fourth of July

I know. I know.  The fourth passed a LOOONNNGGG time ago, 

but I haven't posted since before that and so you're stuck with my 

red white and blue that's long overdue.  

For the previous two years we've been gone on the Fourth of July.  

It seems our  family vacation was scheduled to begin in early July which meant 

that we have been out of town.  This year we had planned to be away, but our older son decided not to do his best in math class thus requiring him to remediate during the summer....early July.  

All wouldn't be lost though, as we decided to shorten our trip from 1 week to 4 days and he would just have to miss one day of summer school.  

Well....then we were fortunate enough to begin a relationship with a new client who was planning her first arrival with us for July 1.  

That was that.  

Our vacay was officially postponed until August.

We found ourselves home for the holiday without any plans.  

While explaining this to my dear friend who lives on the Central Coast 

she suggested she and her family come to visit for the weekend.  

Great Idea!  

While they were here we got up early and headed to the flea market.  

Our friends had never been {we planned to take them there during their last visit in early June, but the stinkin' flea was closed due to rain when we arrived at the gate}.  

It was a beautiful day in Alameda with the City as the backdrop.  

Lots of fun stuff to scope out and we all came home with something special and a great price :-)

{here are some red, white and blues that caught my eye}

That night we headed to the local country club after dinner.  

Every year the club sets off fireworks on July 3rd.  I think the event is supposed to be for members only, but they open up the fairway and essentially the whole town shows up.  

People carry in dessert and wine, blankets and low chairs to sit on.

{They even sell glow necklaces!}

Groups of people play frisbee and toss footballs while waiting for the sun to set 

low enough for the show to begin.  We always run into friends and spend time chatting 

while the kids wonder around looking for buddies they haven't seen since school ended.  

It really feels as if you've been transported to another time....

like you've become part of a Norman Rockwell painting.  

To top it all off the fireworks are always great and seem to last forever! 

It's Americana at it's best and one of my favorite ways to celebrate. 

{When we're in town that is!}

{The long walk back to the car after the fireworks}

{Cool old car decorated for the day}

We spent the rest of the weekend eating yummy food, watching baseball, 

going to the movies and playing games in the pool.  

I'm still hearing "Marco?"... "Polo!"

Even though our plans changed {twice} and we weren't on vacation for the holiday, 

we had a fabulous time with good friends.  

Isn't it great when things work out that way?

Hugs,

Carrie

Summer Snaps 2

It was a busy week for us, filled with celebrations and sunshine.

1. We spent time by the pool.  Oddly, my boys don't spend much time in our pool.  

I'm sure it has something to do with accessibility equaling lack of interest.  

But I love it ~ I grab a book, iced tea and some sunscreen and head outside.

2. This little cutie turned 1 year older and we celebrated by...

3. having hamburgers for lunch {his choice} and we went to see Super 8 as a family.  

{Side note: I loved Super 8.  It was a great movie full of action and suspense.  I was worried about it being too scary for our Birthday Boy but after talking to a friend who had seen it I felt more at ease.  Our youngest is 11 and I'm not sure it would be appropriate for kids younger than that.  It was similar to Goonies, Stand By Me, or ET}

4. I HAD to take a picture of this yellow rose.  

It was unbelievably beautiful and the smell was intoxicating. 

5. NASCAR came to our area -- Sonoma to be precise.  It never fails, the hubs and I always seem to head that way over NASCAR weekend when that little, two lane country road is packed with 40,000 cars.  Lucky for us, we didn't get slowed down too much.

6. This palm tree looks a bit like a living firework to me 

and reminded me that the 4th is just days away!

7, 8 & 9. I went to a hotel/country club in Calistoga called Solage 

to celebrate the engagement of one of our friends.  

It could not have been a more perfect day full of cocktails, sunshine, 

laughs and chats.  Just fabulous!

I am just loving this linky party hosted by Starfish Blog! It is reminding me of

how fun our summer has been so far, even though the days

can seem so monotonous sometimes.  Head over to her blog and take a look 

at all the other fun snapshots.

Hugs!

Carrie


PS I'm also linking up here:

PPS ~ I've got a post coming up with before and afters of my oldest son's room. 

So stay tuned for that.

Well Dang It

My youngest has a birthday tomorrow.  

I'm a slacker and have nothing planned.  

Well, not "nothing", just not a friend party.  

Here's the deal....my little guy and I talked about his friend party several weeks ago and decided on a movie date to see Cars 2. 

Then back to our house where we would do cake and presents.  

And he could have a few buddies sleep over.  

Perfect!  

Almost...

He must have mentioned it to a "friend" at school because the next day he came home explaining that he didn't like that plan anymore and that Cars 2 is a "baby movie". 

UGH!!!

The last several years we've done pool parties at our house.  

They're great ~ he has fun.  

His buddies have fun.  

But, I thought it would be nice to change things up a bit.  

Well, after the "baby movie" fiasco conversation I sorta, kinda let party planning fall apart.  

Which brings me to the real problem...

I'm a loser Mother who should have her 

mothering license revoked!  

{Lucky for me they let any old boob have a baby so there's no chance of losing my license.}

What kind of mother lets her child go friend-birthday-party-less?!?

Tomorrow we will go to a movie with his older brother.  Have the lunch of his choice and a special dinner with cake and ice cream.  

Hoping this will tide him over 'til I can get that friend birthday party going.

In the mean time, I'll be online searching for boy party inspiration for the tricky "I'm not a baby" but "You're not a teenager either" age.

Wish me luck....

Hugs,

Carrie

Summer Snaps, Week Numero Uno

I follow {and LOVE} Jones Design Company and last week she posted about 

a new snapshot linky party being hosted by The Starfish Blog every Wednesday.  

Because I seem to be completely obsessed with photos right now 

I thought it might be a fantastic party for me to link up to. 

Here is our week in snapshots ~

Summer has started out fabulously for our little family.  I hope it has for you too ~

Hugs!

Carrie

PS ~ these images were taken with my iPhone with the exception of the last two pool shots.

A Perch On Our Porch

The sun is finally shining consistently here in NorCal and I am giddy.  I feel like every moment should be spent outside soaking up the rays and getting our vitamin D.

Because of the return of the sun and realization that the solar panels that heat our pool aren't working so well ~ our family ventured out doors and up on the roof to replace the panels.  I nervously supervised from the patio reminding the hubs and the kids when they were "Too close to the edge", and to "slow down Please!"

{More on this soon}

Anyway, to ease my nerves, and give them a break, I went to the other side of the house and cleaned up our front porch.  It's not too different ~ just a couple little tweaks.

Before ~

It was fine.  A little neglected due to weather....see the rain boots?

After ~

I washed everything, changed placement slightly and added some pillows.  

I'm on the hunt for a small table and some flowering plants.

Looks like a nice place to perch.

Hugs!

Carrie

PS ~ my house is black.  You can read about that here

InstaGram Lovin'

It's Friday again and I had such a fun time linking up to Life Rearranged last week that I thought I'd do it again.  Plus, I love posting to Instagram so it's a win win!!

Some of our closest friends came to town on their way home from a business trip.  They were only here for one night, but we managed to eat as if they were here for a week!!

First we had lunch.  A burger and fries at our favorite place,

Gott's in downtown Napa.

After lunch we went next door to Oxbow for cookies and coffee where we

chatted about kids and life and marriage and work ~ 

all the major subjects.

After lunch, husbands and wives separated for a bit.  

I think they bought a ShopVac while we sipped wine.  So much better being us!

Latter that night we went to dinner.

The hubs ordered a salad...

I ordered steak and potatoes.  

Should I be embarrassed that waiters often confuse our meals??

We all woke up VERY early {5:30a} to head down to the Alameda Flea Market.

Several months ago when I visited their website it noted the flea happens

"Rain or Shine", so even though the weather was iffy at best, 

we headed out on the 45 minute drive.

Only to find a BIG HUGE sign saying the flea had been postponed due to weather.

I felt bad ~ the hostess should have checked the site the night before...

It was particularly frustrating because the rain never came...

We ended up at Omega Salvage and I stumbled upon this bike.

Not very useful, but sort of cool ~

Our littlest guy graduated from elementary school this week.

It was exciting, and sad at the same time.

I shed some tears that day ~ the hubs teared up too, shhhh.

I think even Lola Dog was a little nostalgic

We rounded out the week with a Giants game at AT&T Park.

Find me on Instagram at csedwards.

Happy Photos ~

Carrie