her first bike.

That's right this girl got some new wheels.
Lucky little girl. :)
Grandpa W. came to town with good friends Bob and Diana to celebrate my birthday, and we had a wonderful time!  And this lucky little girl got a very special gift from her grandpa.
I wish I had the "oooohs" and "ahhhhs" on video, but they will be forever in my memory of how excited she is about this bike.  She loves it.

Her mama's back will love it when she starts to really learn how to pedal. ;)

a girl and her first bike.

a happy place.

The other day Quinn and I just had a very blissful happy day.
It made me think a little about my happy places.
ya know, the places that you go or activities that you do that you just can't help but to be happy.

Me, I have quite a few of them.

For instance...
Outside on a gorgeous Fall day, happy place. 
Pumpkin Farms, happy place.
Target, happy place.
you get it.

On this particular day, our day went a little something like this.
Woke up a little early, snuggled with my girl and watched a movie in our jammies...happy place.

House was already all clean from Sunday cleaning...relief and happy place.

Took a trip to Hobby Lobby...craft happy place.

Made a craft game with my girl... happy place.

Played the game together for an hour....using my "teacher brain" happy place.

Baked chocolate chip cookies just because....happy place.

eating cookie dough... do I even need to say it? :)

received birthday cards, a Lowe's rebate check, and a notification of a bill going down (when does that happen?)....good mail happy place.

Todd had a pasta volleyball dinner...didn't have to make big dinner happy place.

wore a cozy sweatshirt and played outside... fall weather happy place.

two chairs arrived for our farmhouse table and we put them together right away...marveled in their beauty happy place.

started writing the 4th chapter of our love story...writing and blogging and sentimental happy place.

ate cookies and milk cuddled on the couch with my husband watching the first fall season premiere tv show...happy regular tv season is back, the DVR is up and running again happy place.

this was my last day as a young 31 year old. :)

What are some of your happy places?

weekend perfection.

I love our weekends together.
This past weekend was all the bits and pieces of quiet weekend perfection.
Lazy times and productive times and snuggle times.
My kitchen is clean, a new project was completed, yard work was done, cookies were baked, movies were watched, football games and on, and on...

I know I am not teaching anymore, but I must say so far the start of this school year has been so nice. :)  I mostly say that because we made a big change in Todd's coaching position.  We are enjoying the benefits of that decision...more time.

Todd took Quinn over to a local Kite Festival for a little Daddy time.
Quinn loved telling me all about it. :)

I worked a little bit on expanding our DIY projects page.
Check it out HERE!

Speaking of DIY projects.
We worked on a little one this weekend.
The whole family helped. :)
You are never too young to be a little creative!

We made a Wood Plank Headboard for the guest bedroom.
You can check out all of the details OVER HERE @ all things DIY!

For anyone who would like to grab a button for our "all things DIY" page:

<div align="center">
<a <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">href</span>="http://<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">allthingssimpleandsweetprojects</span>.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">blogspot</span>.com/" title="all things <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">DIY</span>"><<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">img</span> <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">src</span>="http://i1120.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">photobucket</span>.com/albums/l499/lisw917/alldiybutton200.<span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">jpg</span>" alt="all things <span class="goog-spellcheck-word" style="background: yellow;">DIY</span>" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

 

Hope you had a bit of weekend perfection too. :)

and a batch of scotcheroos.

The last few weeks Quinny has had the opportunity to spend time with her grandparents on her daddy's side.  She is a lucky little girl to be so loved.

 

A few weeks ago we celebrated Grandpa's birthday, and I had mentioned that I didn't get to take any pictures.  Thankfully someone did. :)

 

For Labor Day weekend we had Grandma and Derek in town for a visit.  It was a nice quiet weekend.  No visit is complete without a batch of scotcheroos. :) 

And sometimes when grandparents are around...
we are lucky enough to sneak away for a little date night.

 

Todd and I went to dinner and to a Collective Soul concert.  We had a great time!

Todd loves Collective Soul.  They are definitely a band that has way more songs than you think they do.  It was so humid outside that night, so when it rained on us it was a welcome cool relief and fun. :)



and then we came home to a batch of scotcheroos. yum.

back to school.

When did this itty bitty chubby cheeked little boy...

 

...become a big tall 2nd grader?!?

 



 

Yesterday Quinn and I took a road trip and picked up my nephew Aidan to take him to his "Back to School/Meet the Teacher Night".  (His mom and dad are out of town for a wedding.)  I am really glad it worked out for us to go and take him.  He was really excited to see his classroom, find out who was in his class, and most of all meet his teacher.  Thankfully, she passed the test! ;)  Mrs. S. was super sweet and fun and Aidan was so excited about her.  It made it okay that some of his best friends weren't in his class, he said.

 

He found the classroom library right away.

Quinn was his little buddy for the evening. :)

She was pretty excited about this classroom and the desks, it surprised me...and scared me.  Not yet, chickadee!

Yeah, I see you deep in thought about it. ;)

Aidan and his teacher seemed to hit it off great and it helped him to be put at ease about the start of a brand new year.

 

She even did "bunny ears" with him. :) 

I'm pretty sure Quinn thought Mrs. S. was a Disney Princess, because everyone was having their picture taken with her.  Quinn kept going up to her for a picture. :)

Best wishes for a wonderful start to the school year for our little big 2nd grader, Aidan!

laughing hard with the windows down.

"Making time for the ones that count
I'll spend the rest of my time
Laughing hard with the windows down
Leaving footprints all over town"
                             - Kelly Clarkson - Catch my breath

It is so important to take time out for yourself and do something extra fun.
We deserve it.  Life moves too quickly, the fun things are too important.
Girlfriends...even more important. :)

Especially ones who jump in on a last minute plan to go to a concert and then also does any little thing she can to make it extra special.  My friend, Kirsten, is so this girl.  Always thinking of the little extra things.  She makes even the small moments special, and I have always loved her for this.  She has been this way for as long as I have known her. 

 

So, last night we hopped in her parent's white corvette and headed to the Kelly Clarkson/Maroon 5 concert.  We found tickets the day before and we were so glad we decided to go.  We couldn't help but feel totally young and hip dressing cute, no children, driving the corvette with the top down and music blaring.  :)



 Kelly Clarkson - Fantastic!  She is adorable.  Loved all the songs she played, but favorites last night were Since you've been gone and Catch my breath.

 Maroon 5 - I love Maroon 5, and I'm also just an Adam Levine fan too.  I watch The Voice every season. :)  They were fun, and sounded great. Favorites last night was the entire encore set.  It was so energetic and interactive with the crowd:  Payphone, She will be loved, and Daylight.

Two mamas so excited for a fun night out.
Two girlfriends ready to sing the night away.  (Friends for 18 years :))