Hitting the Mother-load...

Today was a good treasure hunting day

...very good.

I found 12

you heard me correctly...

12 boxes of Shiny Brite vintage ornaments

and they were ALL full!

Never ever have I found even ONE

completely full box of these at a thrift store.

But to find 12, wow!!!!

Then I found a whole bag chock full of these faces...

(and one very weird singing alien baby???)

 Then I found this string of plastic poinsettia lights in the original box...

and they actually work!'

AND ...

Then I found a big bag full of red thread wrapped ornaments

which I don't come by very often around here either...

when, what to my wondering eyes should appear...

But a miniature sleigh, and 3 tiny elf-deer!!!!

(I know, doesn't make tons of sense, but I was trying to make the rhyme work!)

Seriously!!!!

Finding just the bag of ornaments 

would have made me happy enough,

but to find these

 three crocheted elves

the deer

AND

the sled 

hidding inside...

made me even happier, elated actually!!!!

Talk about hitting the thrift store mother-load....

Look for all this vintage goodness

 soon to show up in a future

"call IT courtney" creation...

I Have a Small Crush...

I've always liked 

Bruno Mars.

After I saw

 this performance...

I now

really like

Bruno Mars...

There's just something about a boy that

can sing and dance...

Little League Football...

Smith and Christian

both had their first football games

of the season today.

Will is the head coach of Christian's team 

and 

the O coordinator of Smith's. Needless to say

our weeks are dominated by 

FOOTBALL!

Christians team was victorious...

Smith's little team of rag taggers, not so much...

Smith doesn't really know what's going on...

Quite frankly

none of them do.

 (they're in 1st and 2nd grade)
During practice they like to
pick and throw grass
and chat with each other...

Some of them are like bobble heads out on the field,

trying to keep upright with that huge helmet

on their heads.

But...
it's their first year
and
it's hilarious 

and 

it's pretty darn cute...

Off they go...

Today was bittersweet.

It has been a loooong summer

and I have grown weary of entertaining my children.

I have literally been counting down the days

until school starts.

But today was a little sad...
our kids are getting old
FAST...

Dre started his last year of high school...

wet head..oh well

Christian started junior high...

Sibley started 6th grade...

Blythe started 4th...

AND...

our baby Smith started 1st grade...

Here is where my bittersweet issue lay...

I dropped all my kids off at school.

First time in 17 years that I haven't 

had at least one baby home with me.

I thought I was good until 

I walked out of the school

ALONE...

Got into the car without having to buckle up

ANYONE...

Drove quietly home without a million questions being asked 

AT THE SAME TIME... 

and

Walked into a completely

VOID OF CHILDREN and SILENT house...

there is where I had a teenie melt down.

I spent the rest of the day in a fog of being "lost."

At 3:30 when the school bell rang,

all the kids jumped into the car

and 

within 6 seconds flat 

the whining and the "she's sitting to close to me" began...

 the fog miraculously lifted and I remembered

having a WHOLE day to yourself 

is a GOOD THING...

Football...

Even though school doesn't start 

until next week...

Dre had his first football game last night.

Little cheerleaders

They won :)

Back to school shopping...

I love Harajuku style.

Not that I could easily pull it off 

as a thirty something year old momma

but

back in the day...

I would've totally rocked it.

(now that I think of it, I may of had this skirt. It was the 80's remember)

sans furry surgical masks perhaps...

and in the fall....

Pretty costume-ie for everyday wear
but super artistic, creative and funky!
SO....
when I took the girls to Target
to do some back to school shopping
imagine my elation when I saw these...

We soooo got them...

I Made it Monday...

I made this pillow 

for Smith's bed. 

Sewing squares together is pretty easy

and

 right up my alley.

(as sewing is not my forte...I have good ideas...executing them...not so much)

How darling is this fabric?

You can't really go wrong with

Sara Jane fabric

She is a children's illustrator
who has now branched out 

and

everything she does is 

beyond precious!

I could just eat it up....

Sundance...

We spent an awesome weekend

up at Grammie and Grampie's

Kindernest....

Close to home

(so the kids don't go stir crazy on a road trip)

and yet...

far enough away 

(that you still feel like you've GONE somewhere)

This was actually the first time we took the chair lift

while there wasn't snow on the ground...

We took it up,

went on a hike,

then

took it back down.

Beautiful!

Why doesn't "business" care if you're on  vacation?

We LOVE Sundance....