Levi's Vintage Style: Mountain Lake

We're vacationing in the Adirondacks this week. It's been lovely. I can't get enough of the mountain views. The boys love swimming and kayaking in the lakes and streams. This is Levi at Thirteenth Lake. I wanted to take some photos of him by the lake but he ended up wading in and sitting down - fully clothed!

These are some of my favorite shorts of Levi's. I love the cut. And the pocket in the back!

Shirt: Vintage thrifted :: Shorts: Vintage thrifted

Linking up with Hart + Sew's Little Vintage Style and Mama Loves Papa's Small Style...

{how about a vote for us? two clicks}

Winner

And the winner of the earrings is....

Laura of evol.ve!

Yay Laura!!

Happy Weekend

July is National Ice Cream Month - that means you get to eat ice cream every day! Hope you have a lovely weekend. We'll be busy packing to go spend a week in one of my favorite places!

Lovely links to share:

:: I cannot wait to try this cake. I may need to postpone packing so I can make this.

:: Such a creative gift idea.

:: I just love looking at these tiny shoes.

:: I am obsessed with these bikes.

Fav blog quote: "I swear the nicest thing you can do for someone with young kids is babysit their children." - Jordan from Oh Happy Day!

Last day to enter the giveaway!!

{how about a vote for us? two clicks}

-xoxo-

Vintage Swim Style

This heat wave has been unbearable. I saw on the news that someone baked cookies on their car's dashboard...what?! So we've been pool crashing a lot.

Sometimes I get so frustrated trying to take pictures of the boys - they are always doing their own thing or running away. Even with bribery {chocolate chips for this shoot} - I can't always get them to cooperate. But then looking back through the pictures - I always laugh at the shots I get. And then have to share too many with you because I love them all!

So here's Malacai & Levi - rocking their striped vintage swim trunks.

Linking up with Hart+Sew's Little Vintage Style and Mama Loves Papa's Small Style.

Have you entered the giveaway yet?

{how about a vote for us? two clicks}

Chocolate Chip Break-Up Bars

This recipe is from one of our family cook books. I'm not sure why the name break-up bars. My first thought when I read the title was that these are a nice remedy for a broken heart after a break up. Someone else thought maybe because the bars break up into pieces. I keep forgetting to ask my mom's cousin {who submitted the recipe} why they have that name. Whatever the reason - these little cookie bars are scrumptious. And easy to throw together. And go great with your morning cup of coffee. Oops - we're not supposed to be eating dessert for breakfast?

These cookies are different from plain old chocolate chip bars because of the texture. These are like a nice buttery shortbread cookie.

Chocolate Chip Break-Up Bars

2 cups flour

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

1 cup {2 sticks} butter - room temperature, cut into one inch cubes

1 cup chocolate chips {or a little more for the chocolate lovers}

Preheat oven to 375º. Lightly grease a 13x9 baking dish.

In a medium size mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, vanilla and salt. Add butter and mix well with a pastry blender. Mixture will be crumbly. Add chocolate chips and stir just until they are incorporated. Press mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the crust is just barely golden.

Cool slightly & enjoy!

Source: cousin Julie - Nesbitt Family Cook Book

Have you entered the giveaway yet?

{can you please give my blog a little vote lovin'? two clicks}

Giveaway

Supporting a good cause and giving you a little freebie! These cute earrings are from SEED, which is the international livelihood ministry of the Free Methodist Church USA. SEED uses global partnerships to create local livelihoods for people who may not have other opportunities in their local settings. I bought a couple pairs of earrings for myself at the FMC General Conference last week and because I think SEED is doing great work - I thought I'd buy a pair to give to one of you!

{And soon, you'll be able to buy SEED products online - yay!}

One lucky winner will receive the earrings shown above.

To enter, leave a comment telling me: what is one of your favorite charitable organizations? {please be sure to leave an email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win}

For additional entries {remember to leave a comment for each extra thing you do}:

- Become a follower of my blog and leave a comment saying you follow {if you already follow just tell me that}

- Blog about this giveaway on your blog

- Share this giveaway on your Facebook

Giveaway ends July 23 2011, 11:59pm EST. Open to people all over the globe.

Happy Weekend

{Photo by my one true love}

Hope you're having a lovely weekend and staying cool. It's heating up in our neck of the woods {ugh...not liking that}. We're spending our weekend watching the farmer cut & bale the fields next to our house {Lincoln could do this for hours!}, pool crashing, sipping lemonade, and hopefully I'll be getting a date night with my love!

Some lovely links to share...

:: I love the toys in this shop

:: USB Typewriters? So cool...

:: These greeting cards make me laugh.

:: Are you a cat lover? Perhaps you need one of these.

:: My sister and brother-in-law have a stack of logs in their living room; I'm tempted to go over sometime and paint them like this when they're not there. {Too cute!}

:: Such a cute gift wrap idea.

:: A refreshing summer drink.

-xoxo-

{can you please give my blog a little vote lovin'? two clicks}

Levi's Vintage Style: Diaper Shirt

I love this little vintage diaper shirt. The giraffes are so cute. It's a little on the snug side for Levi - but I couldn't have him not wear it at all. Now that I have some pictures of him in it - I might hang it on the wall in his room for a while {once we get around to finishing it!!}.

Shirt: vintage {no tag} - gift from Cait

Diaper: Flip

Cheesey Face: goldfish {aka: photo shoot bribery}

Linking up with Hart + Sew's Little Vintage Style and Mama Loves Papa's Small Style.

{can you please give my blog a vote? two clicks}

Vintage Button Hair Pins

I don't think of myself as a very crafty person. I love seeing all the neat-o things people can make. I look at things and think to myself, oh I could make that. But the actually getting around to it...rarely happens. I'd much rather be baking some delicious treat in the kitchen. So when I do craft something, I'm really proud of myself. So I'm going to show it off.

For her birthday, Lyndsay said that she wanted some cute hair things to keep her hair off her face. She suggested that maybe I could have my step-daughter, Cait, make something for her since Cait is a very crafty person. But I thought, hey I can do this. I will do this. And a month and a half after her birthday {eek!} - Lynz got these...made by moi!

{Vintage buttons from Cait - of course!}

I need to make some for myself now!

Ten on Ten :: July

Linking in with Rebekah's Ten on Ten this month:

- On the way to church - It's getting hot! New vintage thermometer I just got at an auction - love it! - Steel cows are tough - Homemade creamy potato salad - Addiction - Summer fun in the backyard - Looking forward to the harvest - Ice cream + toddler = this face - Lady birds - Being a lady of leisure: book & ice cream

Join us:

Fourth Food & Fun

The fourth of July means a huge family reunion on my mom's side of the family. It's a 3 day event that takes place at Uncle Hubba's {there we go with the nicknames...} pond and there's always well over 100 in attendance. There's food galore, swimming in the pond, drinking lots of soda from the huge vat filled with soda cans, an egg toss, every outdoor sports game, and lots of family togetherness.

I didn't get nearly enough photos of all the festivities that went on. It's hard to take pictures when you spend most of your time wrangling a very busy 14 month old.

My patriotic raspberry pie.

I made a flag cake that I found here...what a fun surprise to cut into! {I was so relieved it looked good when I cut that first slice!}

My mom is Independence's Day's biggest fan!! She looked so cute - and she even painted her toenails red and white stripes!!

Red Velvet Brownies. Delish. Recipe here. I followed the recipe exactly {except I doubled it} but Justin & I both thought cream cheese buttercream would have made these even more divine. Guess I'll just have to make them again to try it out...oh the things I must suffer through!

Little boys playing in the sand at Uncle Roger's pond {day one of the reunion was actually spent here because there was a wedding at the other pond that day}.

The egg toss! Malacai & Tate were partners - they only made it a few tosses before their egg broke.

Lincoln really didn't want to do this game - I had to pretty much drag him to the field...and then he won! Well he & Donovan tied for first with sweet little Amelia & Ryan - neither team's eggs would break even as they were moved farther and farther apart...so they finally called the game a tie.

Ice cream cones are always a big hit with the little crowd. I love that Cai is inhaling his and this is Ryan - who was "dripping" as Malacai told him.

And sweet little Levi - always trying to get a bite from someone. This is my new favorite thing that he does - whenever he sees someone eating or drinking something, he'll lean towards them and open his mouth.

My thrifted vintage fourth dress. I did a fun photo shoot with Cait that morning - you can see it here.

{can you please give my blog a vote? two clicks}