Happy Fall Ya'll!

This is my first time decorating for fall, and started with nothing! I have been watching the blogs since summer, gathering fall decor ideasm, thriftydecorchick.blogspot.com, and houseofhepworths.com are my two favorites! So with an ounce of creativity and a ton of inspiration, I came up with the following ideas!

Coffee table centerpiece:

3 vases from Dollar Tree- $1 each

1 bag of popping corn- $1.48

3 candles from Walmart- $2.88 each

1 square tray from Goodwill- 1.99

1 box of pinecones and small squash from Michaels- $2.99

Jute- had on hand

Leaves- left over from garland

= fabulous! :)

Fall Mantle:

Leave garland from Michaels- $1.99

2 small pumpkins from Michaels- $1 each

2 Faux wheat bunches from Michaels- $2.99 each

Pinecones- free!

2 glass pedestal vases- made them from dollar tree parts, cost $2 each!

3 fall hydrangea bunches from Michaels- 3.99 each

3 Vases- had on hand

Pics of kids- of course we already had those!

Small swirly black thing (candle holder) from Goodwill- $.59

Fireplace Scarecrow:

Metal Pale from Goodwill- $1.99

Pinecones- free!

Scarecrow from Michael's- $3.99

Small Pumpkins from Walmart- $1 each

Added a basket from Walmart for $10 a throw we already had and a pumpkin for cuteness!

the "Live, Laugh, Love" sign also came from Goodwill, $2.99 :)

Metal basket from Walmart- $5.00

1 Box of "sugared" pumpkins from Walmart- $6.00 (they look white in this pic, but I swear they are orange!)

Dollar tree pedestal vases again!

1 bag of popping corn from Walmart- $1.48

Leaves left over from garland

Jute- had on hand

Candles- had on hand

Dollar Tree pedestal vases, once more...

1 box of "sugared" pumpkins from Walmart- $6.00

1 Small pumpkin from Michael's- $1.00

Leaves and Small Squash left over

Kitchen Table:

4 fall placemats from Dollar General- $2.00 each

3 leave votive holders from Dollar General- $1.00 each

Popping corn left over from vases

Tealights- had on hand

Jar candle from Walmart- $4.00

Candle holder from Goodwill- $.79

Jute and leaves- left over

That's pretty much all she wrote for fall decorating this year (besides the porch), now on to Christmas planning!

Celebrate Good Times!

We celebrated Kayleigh's 10th Birthday by having a sleepover Friday night...it was alot of fun everyone had an awesome time! :)

Cell phone from Daddy and Tam!

She was so happy, she started crying, she made the rest of us cry too!

No this is not hairsprayed, there is actually a plastic cup under all that hair!

Lady A

Last night we had the pleasure of attending an awesome concert...Lady Antebellum visited the St. Augustine Amphitheatre. We had an awesome time, I would definately go see them again!!! Thanks Pops and Ann for inviting us!! :)

Our Life Lately...

Our life lately has been crazy, fun, busy and more busy! The kids started school back, as well as baseball, gymnastics and AWANAS at church! I started class again as well, not to mention, work and home life!

Let me play catch up here...let's see...a weekend or two after Travis' birthday, he and I took another trip down to Salt Springs, we left Palatka bright and early, arrived down there around 9:30. We ended up having the best time with some friends that went in their boat, the rain clouds went around us all day, it was perfect! We left about 5:00 or 5:30, and Trav decided we would make a detour on the way home, go up Dunn's Creek and across Crescent Lake to 3 Bananas, a Margaritaville-type restaurant. I had 2 of the best daiquiries I've ever had in my life, banana and then strawberry banana, good food and great times. We got back to the dock around 9:00 that night. It was the best day ever, literally, ever! I had so much fun I pretty much forgot to take any pictures, until it was dark and too late! I managed to snap one of myself with my phone, on the way back down Dunn's creek...it was windy!!!

The very next night we decided to pack up dinner and head out on the boat after work for a "sunset cruise". This time we went north of Palatka to Deep Creek, we went up the creek a ways, turned off the engine and had a very nice dinner, and managed to see the biggest alligator ever, and of course I didn't get a picture! I did manage to snap a few sunset shots through the clouds.

Labor day weekend we attended a birthday party for Travis' Grandma Freeman that also doubled as a family reunion. I had not met nearly any of the people that attended the party, so it was pretty exciting for me. I enjoyed meeting Travis' family members and making new friends. We are headed down to Naples in October to visit with his cousin Chris and his girlfriend Kelsey.

Freeman Family, Pop's branch of the family tree

Freeman kids, T-R-O-U-B-L-E...with a few exceptions!

Sibling rivalry: Travis and Chase vs.....

Brian and Chad

Most recently we had to prepare for picture day at school. I remember wanting to pick out the most perfect outfit and wanting my hair to be absolutely perfect, although picture time was always right after PE for some extremely dumb reason! Anyways, we managed to get up and get all spiffed up, well Trav and the kids did, I didn't, I had the day off! I took some pics of he and the kids, since they all looked so nice!

That same night, we went to Creekside, in St. Augustine again, but this time for Mema's (Angie) Birthday! It was a great dinner, and the whole family attended!

Birthday Guy

Last Thursday, August 5th, was Travis' Birthday. We started off the celebration with a dinner at Creekside in St. Augustine. We had the company of Trav's mom, grandma Glisson, Uncle Mike, Aunt Julie, Tessa, Kayleigh and Travin. We had a very nice evening on the deck, a (slightly cooler) breeze and the musical stylings of some guy that could play guitar pretty well! Thursday night, we had homemade chicken enchiladas at home with the kids, and Publix made cheesecake with strawberries for dessert...yummo! Saturday night was spent with family and friends at the Comedy Zone in Jacksonville, which was a blast! I hope you as much fun as I did for your birthday Trav! Love you!

So long...Farewell...I'll see you soon!

Wednesday night, we had our last family dinner with my sister before she headed off to college in the far, far away land they call Kentucky. Yes, Kentucky...never been there, never really wanted to go there, never thought, "Hey, I'd really like to go to Kentucky someday". But I guess I have a reason to go now! This move is a very new and scary experience for my sister, never having gone to overnight summer camp, never wanting to spend an extended amount of time away from home, and always living within 30 minutes of our family members. She will no longer have the comforts of home including me annoying her, telling her to clean up the bathroom, saying this place is a mess, "can't you put your clothes away", and all the other things that a big sister says and does to a little sister. She also won't have mom there to comfort her and make chicken noodle soup or chicken and rice when she doesn't feel good, no mom to do laundry or clean her room, "just because she can't stand it anymore". No mom, to wake her up by gently scratching her back or saying GET UP! You're Late! Lol. But I am very proud of her for making it to this point. The past few years have been VERY hard for all of us and especially for Ash, being so young and not having the life experience to deal with the feelings and emotions of losing our father. I just wanted everyone to know, that I love my sister, I am proud of her, no matter what, and even though she drives me crazy sometimes and I do the same for her, she is still my sister and always will be. Go Cougars! www.midcontinentcougars.com/article/547.php

Summer Days

It's August, I can't believe it! The year is flying by so fast...it will be football season (Go Gators) and then Christmas before we know it! We had another fun filled weekend with the kids, even though it was a scorcher! We spent some time riding around in the woods on Saturday evening, letting the kids practice their driving skills with the help of Travis and on Sunday we headed out to my new favorite "swimming hole", Salt Springs with Papa and Mimi! We had an awesome day, even though we got rained on a little.

Mimi and some of her girls

Thanks for cooking Pops!!