Style Me Bloggers - How We Share our Home

Happy Friday! Today is one of my off Fridays, so I'm off doing errands with Mini Fox prepping for Baby Fox's birthday party next weekend! Yikes, so much to do...why do I always wait till the last minute?!  Anyway...Back with my Bloggy Besties, for today we decided that we were going to do an exchange. We wanted to share either something from our home with them, or something that reminded us of home, it was really up to interpretation. I decided I was going to help my Bloggy friend decoration her house, head on over to Katie's blog to see what I gave her!

I got a pretty awesome gift from Deena! She decided to send us stuff that we can't get here in the States...she stuffed this thing full of goodies! Look how pretty that card is! I'm fairly certain she used her artist skills for that one. It currently sits on my fridge, so I get to see it everyday and remind myself how talented my friends are.

Let's break down what was in the box:

Her cute note. She decided to send all of the things in Canada that we can't get here in the states, how sweet is that?!

The box was completely stuffed, it was pretty awesome.

A closer look at everything

I can tell you that all of the candy went FAST! The kids begging for candy, haha!

We opened the Kinder Eggs the next day and I took a video for you Deena.

Mr. ate the chips the next day. Funny story, when we were up in  Tahoe there was someone there from Canada and we had been talking about our favorite chips. She said if she cold chose any chips she would pick the Ketchup chips from back home. We sort of laughed at her and said really?! Ketchup chips...then a few weeks later we get our very own bag. You better believe I sent her a picture of our very own bag, she was jealous. :) Mr. said they were really good and that he could see why they were her very favorite chip. Deena when you come visit us, don't forget the ketchup chips!

Mr. approved

Thank you Deena for sending such a thoughtful gift to share your home with us! Now go check out what everyone else gave each other.

Don't forget to enter the $200 giveaway to Gap brands, you could get a lot with that!

Shoes to Shiraz | Two Teens and their Mama | A Lovely Little Wardrobe | 
R Squared  | Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy 

The Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life |  Quilty Joy Joy

Making The Most of Everyday | Puppies and Pretties | She Thought She Could 

 Foxy's Domestic Side | Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After 

Sprinkled Just Right 

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up with Erika, Andrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites, September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday! April and the girls for Five on Friday, and Jennie for Friday Favorites

Get To Know Me Through Vlog #5

I wasn't sure what I was going to do for the video this week, and then Helene from Helene In Between said she was going to be a You probably didn't know link up, so I figured I would do a Get To Know Me Tag from Youtube. Then I realized, we had two birthday parties, both of which would be during nap time so I wasn't going to be able to do it then. I really wanted to get this out for this week, so I did a Vlog and answered questions throughout the day. Click on the Youtube icon on the bottom right, and it will take you to Youtube and you can see in the description box the questions and the times I answered them, in case you don't want to watch the whole video. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Don't forget to enter to win $200 giftcard to Gap Brands! You know you want to! 

Also linking up with Amanda, for Thinking Out Loud and Vanessa and Penny for Thinking out Loud,Lulia, Stephanie and Sarah for The Ladies Collective, Annie and Natalie for Thoughts for Thursday and Joey and Kristin for Stuff and Things

The One with a Guest Post, Outfit Style, a Giveaway and a Link Up

Happy Hump Day! Back with the Style Bloggers today for another link up, feel free to link up any outfit of choice, we'd love to get some more ideas! Okay this is going to be an information heavy post for ya 'all. You might want to go get a coffee.

But before I bring you my outfits, head over to Courtney's Blog, she asked and I answered. She always has the best toddler activities that she does for her daughter, can you come to my house and plan them for us too?!

Okay, now onto the outfits.

Day 1

I bought all of these things from previous challenges, yay me! Alison said to add a denim vest or shirt over it, but too hot here to add any more layers so I didn't. I love this shirt, I want it in every color, do you think that's okay? Please say yes.

I swear when I do my make-up I feel like it's caked on, but then when I see the pictures, you can barely see it, crazy how much make-up people in magazines must wear, right?

And the tradition continues, I swear I don't tell him to take these.

Day 2

I've wanted a printed shirt, but couldn't find just the right one. I didn't want one with some saying that I didn't truly believe. I finally found this Paris one and thought it was perfect. It's from Target, and I tried to find it online but came up empty, *insert sad face here* and an extra bonus, it is made from the softest material ever, I don't want to take it off.

Side Note: I also bought a Captain America shirt so I could twin Baby Fox and his Super Hero Obsession.

Mr. said he thought this shirt was super cute. Love it when he compliments my outfits.

And another one for ya...silly Mr.

The girls and I decided it was time for another giveaway! This time Alison said she wanted to participate too! Go check out my other bloggy besties and see how they styled their outfits.

 Puppies & Pretties // Daily Style Finds

Shoes to Shiraz // A Lovely Little Wardrobe // Making the Most of Every Day

Two Teens and Their Mama // Once Upon a Time & Happily Ever After

A Little Bit of Cheer // Nick + Nik // Foxy's Domestic Side // The Mishaps and Mayhem of a Solitary Life // Quilty JoyJoy

Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy // Get Your Pretty On

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Link up with us every Wednesday, we want to see your outfits.

 

 Shoes to Shiraz | R Squared | Two Teens and Their Mama | 

Confessions of a Frumpy Mommy | A Lovely Little Wardrobe | 

Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life | Puppies and Pretties | Daily Style Finds | 

Making the Most of Everyday | She Thought She Could | Foxy's Domestic Side | 

Quilty Joy Joy |  Once Upon a Time and Happily Ever After |

A Little Bit of Cheer | Nick and Nik

An InLinkz Link-up

Also linking up with Pumps and Push-ups, Because Shanna Said So, Get Your Pretty On, The Pleated Poppy, Tucker Up , Shopping my Closet,  Molly and Carly and  More Pieces of Me and On the Daily Express,

Show and Tell Tuesday: My Yard

Linking up with Andrea for another Show and Tell Tuesday. Today's topic is My Yard...I've shown you the before pictures of our yard, it was pretty nuts.  We were dealing with things like this:

Front Yard

Part of the Back Yard

Back in May of 2012 we decided to do a backyard reno. Actually that's not totally true, we really decided in January and it took us 5 months to make any decisions. That's the truth.

So this part is going to be really picture heavy, as I feel pictures are best describe what we went through to get our backyard. The first few days are when you saw the biggest differences.

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The pallets of pavers they sent to our house, and there are 6 more not in this picture, crazy right?!

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Coping around the pool! Plus some pavers!

 

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Tile in the pool!

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And the moment you've all been waiting for.

Sidenote: These were taken a few days ago, So almost three years after our reno, so the plants have had some time to grow. I did not attempt to clean up the kid toys, this is life right?

The table and chairs were given to us by my parents when they moved out by us, as they did not have any room for it. Lucky for us right? And that umbrella is the same shape as the table and pretty awesome!

In case you were wondering about the pool gate thing. We decided since the pool is so close to our house, that we would gate in the door, that way the kids can play in that little area if they wanted to.

Standing in the backyard looking towards the front of the house (the "right side" of the yard in all of those pictures up there). Can you tell the kids like to play in the dirt right here, it's the perfect height for them, they move the dirt from one area to another. We had no idea this would become such a popular area when we built it.

Again the table and chairs are from my parents house, lucky us right?

This fountain is just across from the table and chairs. The Jasmine vines behind there are so pretty when they are in bloom.

Baby Fox has a rock collection and he keeps them in here so the gardeners don't throw them away like they did last time. We do not keep water in the fountains as it's too much to take care of. We usually fill it up if we're having a party.

Same area looking towards the backyard.

Now onto the front yard. We haven't really done much work out here, other then let the plants grow on their own.

Cleans up nice right?

We have some beautiful rose bushes in our front yard, they line our property and our neighbors.

The other side, some more rose bushes.

We just bought those bulbs at Costco and planted them here, we had NO IDEA that they would be so massive, and so darn pretty.

Another fountain we don't keep filled.

This Japanese Maple tree is my absolutely favorite tree. The colors on it are gorgeous all year round.

And there you have it, our front and back yard. We put the pool cover on the pool on Sunday, so now there is that there. Usually we have to keep it on the pool till August or so when it's warm enough at night and hot enough during the day to keep the pool nice and warm, around 83°-88°.

Also linking up with Jasmine, Tuesday Talk and Mommy Moments

1 Meet Up, 2 Parties and a Sunday Dinner

Note: Picture heavy...you've been warned. :)

Another Monday, we had such a great weekend, I didn't want it to end, plus I need WAY more sleep, another day off sounds pretty nice right now. Friday after work we met up with some friends to let the kids run around and we both brought our own dinner and ate it on the grass, it was super fun and I expect we'll be doing that a lot more this summer.

Baby Fox is going to be playing soccer this Fall, and guess what, our friends are going to be the soccer coach! They were getting some practice time in. We kept trying to tell Baby  Fox, no hands! Guess he wants to be the goalie.

Mini Fox ate and watched them play soccer.

Thrill seeker this one is.

Our playdates always end in some sort of ice cream/yogurt. They just opened this ice cream sandwich place, but the line was super long, so we opted for frozen yogurt. The kids didn't seem to mind the change in plans.

I need longer arms, sorry E for cutting you out there

 These two boys are 2 months apart...Baby Fox is the older one, haha, he looks so small!

Saturday was my usual Saturday morning hike.  I didn't take any pictures because it was just cloudy and grey. We're getting our usual June gloom, but it's good because I'm not sure if I'll be hiking in the summer, too hot for this girl.

Saturday I decided to to a Vlog plus do a Get to Know Me Tag on youtube, so look for that video on Thursday, if I can get my act together.

Breakfast was bacon, eggs and toast, and some cheese for Mini Fox yum! Everyone eats breakfast with a princess crown right?

We decided to do a family trip to get my car smogged and while we were waiting we went to Target to pick up some gifts. When did she get old enough to stand on the cart? Don't worry it was short lived, as soon as we got into the store she was in the cart where she belongs.

Mr. had promised them Krispy Kreme the night before, so we delivered on that promise.

Tough choice right?

They have these mini donuts that are 1/3 the size of a regular donut, it is perfect for the little humans.

Since we had just eaten the donuts, neither kid was hungry for lunch, so put them down for an early nap (since had the party to go to and had to leave by 3:30), they ate lunch after they woke up about 3. (outfit #2 for Mini, I thought the dress would be too uncomfortable to sleep in)

My mom and Sister were invited to the party too. This place was so much fun, you'll see in the vlog on Thursday. Yep and outfit #3, her previous outfit didn't make it through lunch.

Going down the slide.

It's hard wrangling this many kids.

Time to eat!

Wasn't this balloon huge?! Mini Fox loved it.

Birthday boy...Baby Fox did not want anything to do with taking another picture.

Sunday was a pretty great day too. Breakfast was pancakes.

Mini Fox and I went to the grocery store, in which I took no pictures, oops. And then when I got back I took Baby Fox to swim lessons. Mini Fox and Mr. stayed behind because she had to go down for an early nap because we had yet another birthday party, and we wanted her to get a full nap in.

After nap time we headed to another birthday party. This one was also at a place and was super fun. the first room was full with bounce houses.

I love when they hold hands

I tried to get a picture, she didn't want anything to do with it.

The second room was a ball pit/firing area...super fun.

Load  the gun

Then push the little button to make it shoot a puff of air, which send the balls flying down below. Don't worry they are super soft and you could barely tell they were even hitting you.

Baby Fox is aiming it directly at us.

They also has a ball flying area, where you could put balls into a machine and it sent the balls flying out.

And hidden behind the scenes and it was quite difficult to get to, was this awesome slide. Luckily Baby Fox found a short cut to get to it, so that helped.

Time for food, Mini Fox went to town on the pizza, actually this is pretty much all she ate, we gave her some rice and Kahlua pork and she chose that instead of pizza. Smart girl.

Happy Birthday!

She doesn't like being center of attention at all, haha!

 Baby Fox with the birthday girl.

Then...I know can you even believe I am typing, Then...with something after it? We headed to my parents house for Sunday dinner. Mom made pot roast, it was delicious.

So happy my parents live so close by, it's great being able to do Sunday dinners, plus I don't have to cook on Sunday, yes please! Next week they're headed to our house for some BBQ Shrimp and Father's Day celebration.

Okay, that is finally the recap to our weekend. I think Saturday could have been one of the best days EVER. I got to spend the entire day with my family and see some friends. I just love days when we do mundane errands together just so we can be together. It's pretty much perfect in my book.

If you made it to the end of this, congrats! Now tell me what your most favorite thing of your weekend was.

Linking up with Faith, Heather and Daily Momvitity for Mommy Moments,  Erin for Weekend Snapshot4, B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs  for Weekending, and Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle