Introducing “Mom’s Cafe”

I’ve been moving things around again in my house … what can I say, I love to change things!

My dining room is rather small and since we took out the wall separating it from my kitchen it’s actually more like we have a large eat in kitchen and no dining room. It’s all just one big room now. Anyhow … two things I’m in the process of changing. Phase one was making a little ‘cafe counter’ for all my coffee fixins and phase two will be changing out the stuff on the walls.

Here is what it looks like right now …

 

This wall is going to have some BIG changes coming soon … I have had all my word signs for years and even though I do love them, it’s time for a change ….

This white board was put up last year for us to use for school … however since the girls are going to be at regular school this coming fall I might be changing this whole wall too. I am entertaining the idea of keeping the white board and using it as a weekly calendar / message center … but haven’t completely decided on that yet.

And THIS little bookshelf is my phase one!

I decided to bring all my coffee and tea elements over here and make a little cafe …

On the top shelf is my Keurig, my coffee spinner, a jar with spoons and my awesome fruit / vegetable stand.

On the middle shelf I put a fun Paris tray with all my mugs …

A bright red plate with sugar, Truvia and Honey and my Bible study stuff so I can easily access them in the mornings while I have my coffee …

On the bottom shelf is my ‘collection’ of Keurig K-cups and a basket with some different teas …

And some fun new Torani syrups which can be added to coffee or tea … {I found these 1/2 price at my grocery store!!}

I got my coffee spinner for FREE from a friend who wasn’t going to use it! And my fruit stand is from Target, I’ve had it for several years and I LOVE it!

 

And of course I adore my Keurig!!

What I love about the cafe is that it freed up a lot of my counter space in the kitchen, it looks cute and it makes me want to sit at my dining table and enjoy a cuppa joe, a pastry and a fresh piece of fruit!

When I was all done my sweet daughter made this sign on the white board …

And don’t you just love the coffee cups with swirls of steam??!!

Yep, this is my new happy place …. I’ll be back to show you the walls when I’ve completed that part of the project!

Thankful

Lately I've been trying to remember to write down little things I'm thankful for .... here are just a few as of late ...

* Island Coconut coffee
* My 'new' little coffee station {in my dining room}
* laughter with friends
* swimming pools on hot summer days
* fun things that arrive in the mail
* a little chat with my neighbor
* the power of prayer
* hearing a great song on the radio
* spending time at the beach
* a new swimsuit that I love
* shopping with my girls
* time to connect with my hubby
* a REALLY SUPER HARD workout that even though it made me wanna throw up, I felt such a feeling of accomplishment afterwards
* friends, friends, friends ... SOOOOO thankful for my friends!
* colorful flowers in my garden
* iced green tea with kettlecorn
* a challenging message at church last Sunday
* new plug ins
* summery straw placemats that make me think of the islands

What are you thankful for today? =)

The Little Things

 

I’ll be honest … around here breakfast is sort of a serve yourself kind of affair. Most days we each make what we want and usually it’s all different things. One might have cereal, another may have toast and I might have eggs … but for the most part it’s not something that we ALL sit down and have together.

So one lazy summer morning I decided to surprise my girlies and made some simple {but yummy!} muffins. When they woke up they were met by this fun surprise …

 

And although sometimes I DO make things homemade … these were just simple little muffin packets from the grocery store. I think they sell for about 99 cents each! Can’t beat the look on those precious faces when they emerged from their rooms all sleepy headed that day!

Doing simple but meaningful things for your kids doesn’t have to cost a lot or take a lot of time … this is something I’m learning {slowly}. So I’m trying to remember to make time to do those simple, extra special things that make my girls happy. =)

Summer Days Part 3

Wow, I guess I took a little unintentional blog break! Our summer has been super fun and super busy so far and I just can’t believe how quickly it’s flying by!!

Last week my brother in law, sister in law and their 3 boys came to visit {they live an hour away} and the WHOLE family went out on my Father in law’s boat. We have a fave beach we like to anchor at, it’s awesome because not too many people go there so you always feel like you have the whole beach to yourselves! The kids can search for all kinds of crabs and sea creatures, they can swim in the surf, they can dig in the sand … it’s always a super fun time!

 

 

My brother in law and my youngest nephew …

My nephews are addicted to football!

The kids had a blast swimming together.

Love those happy smiles!!

There really weren’t any waves that day but they still have fun on their boogie boards.

Another football lover …

Just floatin’ around, I love the one with the cousins sitting on the tube together, I picture them chatting about all kinds of things … the 2 on the tube are about 3 months apart in age and have always been good friends.

My nephew is having a birthday real soon so he opened a couple gifts at the beach and Grandma made her famous Chocolate Rice Krispy squares for everyone to enjoy. =)

 

My sweet girls with little creatures in their buckets … {they are NOT afraid of picking up crabs and such!}

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this picture! It is SO hard and SO rare to get a good one of all 5 kids but somehow I managed and I just love it!

 

My father in law took all 5 kids out to go tubing behind the boat and oh my goodness, those kids had a BLAST!! You should have seen the grins on their faces!

I know it’s really blurry because it was pretty far away, but here is a Submarine coming in, it’s SO cool to live where we do and see this kind of thing fairly regularly! I am always a bit tearful and full of emotion when I see this because I know it’s someone’s Daddy and Husband who is coming home from months at sea! SO thankful for those who serve our country!!

The kids had fun jumping off the front of the boat ….

I love this picture of my Father in law and his youngest Grandson! So precious!!!

Here are the Mamas … My sis in law, my Mom in law and myself …

Beautiful sailboats out on the water ….

And on the way home on the boat, we took a couple more pictures ….

After the beach everyone came back to our house. The kids swam in the pool and we had a BBQ with chicken, fresh fish, clam chowder, corn on the cob, etc… It’s so nice to have a wonderful family and we really enjoy spending time with them!

 

And I just wanted to include this one last photo … I LOVE hydrangeas and am so happy mine have bloomed enough so I could bring a few blooms inside … they look so pretty and bring a smile to my face every time I see them!