Fourteen Candles

I can hardly believe it is fourteen candles for Jared!  Jared celebrated with a dozen of his friends by playing Bunco (a dice game) and eating tacos.  Check out the divine Reese's peanut butter chocolate cake I made.  It has peanut butter frosting and the buttermilk chocolate cake is filled with Reeses.  

Jared's only gift request this year was an argyle sweater.  Unfortunately, none of the stores were selling sweaters at the time.  Apparently it is sweater season now though.  Just yesterday he bought one with some of his birthday $.

Pickin'

Few things delight Grace more than picking berries.  The entire month of September she was out in the berry patch with her berry-lovin' dog.  Gunner is a polite dog that knows not to mess with Grace's berry bucket.  He simply eats the berries off the vine!  

Last month we drank berry smoothies, ate berry pie, topped ice cream with berries, and ate them just plain.  We even have some stored in the freezer.  I have to say that wild blackberries are one of my favorite things about living in the Pacific Northwest.  Picking berries with 4-year old Grace is one of my sweetest memories too.

Adieu, Summer

 Oh, it is so hard to say good-bye to summer, but I am afraid it is time.  So goody-bye perfect summer days.   Cloudy days, buckets of rain, and lots of gray lie ahead for the Pacific Northwest.  Adieu, summer, adieu.

 If you haven't been to my back porch before, than you are missing out!  It is my own piece of heaven on earth and favorite place to hang out in the summer.  Be sure and come next summer!

Baby Joy

My brother married an absolute gem of a girl by the name of Serena.  Now Jake and Serena are expecting their first baby.  Sigh.  I was privileged enough to co-host a shower with my sister in honor of  Serena and sweet little Allie Joy.  

Just had to share the dainty little details of our party decor.  Everything looked so sweet and pretty. Kirsten and I make an awesome team.  She is the food specialist and I am the decorator.

Kirsten thought it would be fun to have pumpkin treats in honor of Fall.  It worked perfectly with the orange and pink color scheme.  Too bad I forgot to take pictures of the food!  I'll just have to say the roasted pepper and feta dip was to die for.  Craving those warm pumpkin chocolate chip cookies too.

Everyone wrote a note to Serena giving baby advice and best wishes for the soon-to-be mommy.

This picture is just for you, Mom.   Mom makes sure that all of the grand daughters have beautiful blessing dresses.  This one did not disappoint.  

I LOVE my sister's bay window.  I would go nuts decorating it every season.  After I took the baby shower trinkets down, I couldn't resist spreading a little autumn flare.

Little Masterpieces

Just returned from visiting my sister and her family in Alexandria, VA.  While there I hosted a young artist workshop for my nieces and their friends.  We spent practically the whole weekend painting.  We had such fun and made such a mess, but look at the fabulous creations we made.    

Don't you just love the clipboard art display?  My sister recently moved into a fabulous new house.  Of course I had to help decorate! I suggested my sister buy at least 6 clipboards, but after all the art projects we cranked out, she had to go out and buy more. Groups of clipboards are perfect for displaying "Little Masterpieces."  By the way, you have to know, their last name is Little.  :)

P.S.  We used painter's tape, a level, and a measuring tape to place and hang the clipboards in nice neat rows