Shiloh thought these flowers were pretty cool. I had to agree.

I have a few vintage cameras sitting on the shelf but lately I seem to have come across a bunch of old Polaroids.

I recently found one of these

I got it for $10 when I tagged along with my friend Aimee to a flea market recently. it’s in great shape, came with the case. They stopped making the film years ago- well as of this year they stopped making all Polaroid film- but you can still find instant film and retrofit it to use in the camera- I can’t wait to try it because I have no idea if it even works. Of course the film cost more than what I paid for the camera…..

It was Number 8 on PC Worlds 50 greatest gadgets of the past 50 years- cool.
My parents have one of these in their basement, looks brand new. It uses pack film- I read somewhere that you can use some type of Fuji film in it too.

and my mom told me the other day that she found an old basic land camera at my Grandpa’s house when she was cleaning it out.

Cameras are so much fun.

In the meantime I sit on the porch with my little guy with little bags of organic carrots (Costco- the BEST deal on these).  He bites off half and gives half to himself, half to a dog.  1 out of three boys likes raw carrots (the other two prefer cooked) and 3 out of 4 dogs like them.

I have prepped everything for dinner (fajitas on the grill) and planted all the plants that were getting droopy in their pots while I decided on the perfect location.  And now I sit on the porch swing with a fan blowing in my face, dreaming of a cool refreshing pool to jump into.  Think I will win this debate?  Stay tuned…..

One of the things that I thought a lot about yesterday is how I wish our families lived nearby.  When we drove the (rented) boat by all the cool lake houses, almost all of them had lots of families playing outside.  Generations enjoying the lake, each other’s company, meals outside.  Perfect.

But in a weird twist of fate, my brother is moving from Ohio to Texas, and Andy’s sister might be moving from Texas to NY, so here we sit. Enjoying the midwest with our own little group of 5.  Plus 4 furry friends.  And that’s cool too.

And since no post is fun without a picture, here is one from the group I tried to do solo

oh yeah baby- as Cole likes to say- I totally scored on the J Crew flip flops.  My all time favorites as they are so SO comfortable.  I used to own one pair, but picked up a couple more at the outlet the other day for a grand total of $12.  Yee Ha Cowboy (his other favorite saying).

Speaking of feet, while my size isn’t as huge as my sister in law (who always finds herself shopping with the female impersonators in the bargain basement of Macy’s) they did grow to a size 9 after having three kids- well actually after having Blake- but he was/is huge so that explains that.  Anyway, my oldest son now wears the same size- this is both weird and cool at the same time.  Weird because when I see his feet dangling off the couch I always think “dang- not sure how that happened” but cool because if I need a pair of shoes really quick I can throw on his because like the other two (well three- Andy included) he never puts them away.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Oh and here are some fun pillows

you can find them here.

I often get asked for “lifestyle” photos of my bags so people can get a better idea of their size. A couple years ago I did a bunch but nothing lately, and there have been a lot of bags added since then.

So….thinking “it can’t be that hard… I can use a mirror and crop my face and camera out”.

It’s not that easy.

In fact nothing about it was easy. From all the crazy angles, laundry in the background, a house full of boys and friends yelling “where is my swimsuit??” or “I’m hungry!” to well let’s just say that modeling isn’t my thing.

I managed to get a few that I like, but they all seem to only include my feet. I will post them in the next few days.

In the meantime- this will give you a good idea about the size of the Bailey.  I am loving it in this chocolate trellis.

This is part of an order that is going out for a bride that ordered a bunch for her bridesmaids.  What a cool bride!

I have gotten so many requests from the fabric lovers out there to offer up more of our fabric to sell so I have been thinking hard about that.  In the past I would just put up ones that I knew we had a ton of- now I am starting to think I may put them all up as that would allow more fabric to come through the door.  Of course it also means more work- so I don’t know.

I am also brainstorming a few other ideas with bags, adding more, taking some off.  I already took down a couple for the summer- and of course the day that I did I got three emails asking where they were.

So the Emma is down for a bit, as is the Clara.  I am going to replace the Jordyn (at least for now) with the larger version

because it just seems to be a perfect summer bag- I will probably call it the Jordyn2 because I am just so original like that.

Look for it on there soon.

and if you have never seen the outtakes- the Rwanda kids always make me smile

and if you want to learn a little more about Matt

But yesterday it did- well sorta, he came home at 3.  So what do you do when you have a Friday afternoon free?  You hit the lake.

Blake cracks me up when he tubes- his long hair blowing in the wind

Austin is crazy man tuber- he likes to go fast and bumpy

A parent always has to ride with Cole- and it’s slow and steady.  I love riding with him, he gets so excited.

Tired boys.  Watching the boats go by.

Perfect summer afternoon

some antibiotics and he should be good to go.

Austin has recently turned into a skateboard punk.  He bought himself a skateboard with his mowing money and has been out every night.

When you glance up and see your kids at a top of a hill like this- well is there any chance that it will turn out well?

because not only does he have to try it on his feet, he has to try it every other way he can think of too.

Helmets are a good thing.

So is DQ- where we had to head after.  Along with everyone else in the city.

my little stinker

Happy Friday!

too much to do.  The yard is a mess, the kids are all home, and a bunch of sewing to do.  Trying to keep focused and productive.

Thank you for the kind words on Astro- turns out that the vet was not calling about the results from his cyst (we still haven’t heard about that).  Apparently he is having kidney issues.  They want us to collect a urine sample.  Nice.

Anyway, he is still kicking- you would never know he is as ancient as he is.  Well except for the fact that he can’t hear a thing- which is a mixed blessing.

The first one is Indian Lake where we spent the day yesterday.

Indian Lake is about an hour West of here.

We found a lot of very pretty places.  This one was my favorite

Can’t you imagine spending a nice relaxing summer there?  Actually I could live in that house year round!
We saw lots of families- grandparents, kids, grandkids, dogs- hanging out at most of these houses.  Lots of boats, jet skis, water trampolines.  My kids were going nuts.

Isn’t this a cool old bridge?  Built in 1877

One of the channels

lots of boats

another cool house

Now we just need to win the lottery.