Reopening Sale-abration {Giveaway!}

I told you I had a surprise in store for my 200th post... here it is! My etsy store is reopening this Friday! After almost three years, it' time to open back up! I have a lot of goodies in store including the stuff below. But I want you all to have a chance for some free stuff!

Here's the deal: On Thursday, August 18, I will choose a random winner to get $20 of free merchandise! All you have to do, is become a friend of Little Vintage Me through facebook and then leave a comment here at the bottom of this post!

Then to sweeten the deal some more, everyone who's a friend on facebook will be able to get a coupon code to use during the first week of my shop opening!

So, what are you waiting for? Click the top right button on this page and then you'll be taken to LVM's facebook page, once you're there, hit the "like" button at the top of the page. Then, come back here and leave me a comment saying you like Little Vintage Me.

Want another entry? Share this post with your friends on facebook and leave a comment telling me you did! It's that easy!

{This Giveaway is now closed.}

10 on 10

Today, I thought I'd join up with 10 on 10-- see others here:

9am- Done with breakfast and on to Cuisenaire Rods... Eliana was antsy for her turn, but it did come later.

10am- Yes, I did accidentally send Martha Stewart Living $265.88 this week instead of my electric company! I, of course, didn't catch it until it posted! What!?! I called and told them I didn't want a 10 year subscription and asked them to refund, they couldn't find my paymeny anywhere... of course! And so, I spent this morning hour contacting my bank and the electric company to explain why they weren't getting their payment in time. I feel like a dummy.

11am- Eliana dancing to about three songs at the same time all coming from various refrigerator toys... obviously we have too many!

12pm- Happy baby eats Cheerios and cheese... what can I say? He loves to eat!

1pm- While looking for curriculum that my husband needed to take to an advising meeting to see if it might meet a translation credit, I ran across a book I'd bought at the home school fair... one that I heard mentioned in three different blogs last week and thought to myself. "Boy, I ought to buy that when I get money and read it!" What do you know? I already own it!

2pm- Jesse comes back from said advising meeting with stinky news, he needs to take a class that's offered in the middle of the day... cutting down on work hours. I pouted and lamented the fact that we'll never be done with school! And then reminded myself that it was me who suggested we get married and have kids before he was done. I sit down to try and rearrange his schedule to no avail... then give up.

3pm- Finally got around to sweeping the kitchen floor for the first time today...ew! Sometimes I wonder if I feed the floor more food than the kids.

4pm- Jesse comes home and I finally jump into the shower... ah, clean!

5pm- I foolishly decide to snap a picture of my husband's backside while he's in the midst of taking out all the car seats to do a serious auto detail job. "What you doing" he asks. "Nothing," I reply. "Great, then you can help vacuum this thing out." That's the last time I take a picture of him working.

6pm- Finally dinner's on the table and ready to eat. The kids and I eat alone because Jesse's still working and  needs to bolt all the car seats back into place.

This is my 199th post! Can you believe it? When I post again I'm going to have something special in store... look for it sometime this weekend! Have a Wonderful Wednesday!

Diego's Peter Pan Party

Why is it that I never think ahead to photos at the party? It used to be that my sister was free to snap as many shots as possible when she'd come but some little guy (who's having a birthday next week... can it be!?!) makes it a bit more difficult for her to snap photos non-stop. So, when she arrives, I immediately spring it on her that I expect her to take pics like she normally does. That's not very nice of me, is it? And she obliges the best that she can. So, most of these are from her off my lame point-n-shoot (one of these days I'm gonna get a big girl camera) and some of them are my momma's and a big thanks to both of them for being willing to take pictures last minute like. Thank you!!!!

The invite, specified that costumes for the party were highly encouraged. But just in case anyone forgot, and didn't want to miss out, we had quick costumes (okay, hats and headband) to put on so no one would feel left out. Some very kind adults played along.

You can see Emily chose to be a lost boy and the corner of a pirate hat... we also had Indian headbands... feathers, not dots. 

Many came in costume already. Here's my aunt Nine... who always goes above and beyond (you'll see in a minute!)

This is her pirate husband Ken (my kids call him Mr. Ten) and my mermaid sister.

My little Tiger Lily and my husband who came as Nana!

The hat didn't stay on long, as you can see... something about the fur ear flaps being hot... Cruz was Michael and I was ever so glad his costume was already something we had on hand!

A pirate, Tink, and Wendy ate with the birthday boy.

The inside of the house was where we spent the majority of our time... it's too stinking hot in the middle of July! Why did I decide to have a baby then? And the inside was decorated with pirate stuff... here's the entry:

We also had the favors sitting in a basket so no one would miss them on their way out.

Themed food, cupcakes and chocolate gold coins in the treasure chest... we used Diego's Play Mobil to decorate the table.

Grilled tic-toc clock pizzas. My daddy and I were out on the drive in a hundred-plus degree weather for over an hour grilling all of these. Thank you, Daddy! (We used carrots sticks for hands. I used a Martha Stewart recipe for the dough, made it the day before and kept in the fridge until it was time to make them. I just used spaghetti sauce from a jar because I'm into easy and when cooking 30+ pizzas nothing is terribly easy to begin with, so you look for ways to cut corners.)

We also had walk the plank cheese, cannon ball grapes, and codfish crackers.

Diego loves having the attention of everyone... he handed out his own cupcakes this year. I love that boy!

Our absolute favorite part of the evening was opening the gift from Nine and Mr. Ten. The box had air holes, was moving and had "Danger! Beware!" scrawled on it. He was afraid to even open it so had to have some help. 

When it was finally open, one of the big boys tipped the box over to let it out.

Finley, went for it right away... this blur of a photo, is Diego "saving" Finley from the treacherous jaws of croc just in time! Huge hoot!

Towards the end of the party, we moved outside to enjoy the rest of Neverland since the temp had dropped to somewhere in the upper 90's...

Here's Tink blowing bubbles from one of the peace pipes we had set up at the tipi!

The kids splashed around in the Mermaid Lagoon, which we might have had pictures of if the fire department hadn't decided to visit about then. Something about looking for kids in the neighborhood that were burning paper... we didn't look suspicious at all with all of our burned paper signs all over the house (that I'd made over my kitchen sink at my house the day before). It probably didn't help that we were all dressed respectably as pirates and mermaids and lost boys and such. Fun, fun! Never a dull moment, that much is for sure!

Thanks to everyone who came and helped make Diego's 5th Birthday so special... we love you!

Today You're 9 Months

It's hard to believe you've already been with us for 3/4 of a year, but it's hard to remember life without you, too!

Today, we went to a new park with your brother and sister. The big kids played Captain Hook and Smee... Papi got to be the Croc!

Our favorite line: "There's only one thing to do now, Smee, and that is nothing and run away!" Ha!

Smee though was able to fend off the attacks of the crocodile by throwing rocks! That's my girl!

You, on the other hand, were perfectly content to sit beside me and watch your crazy siblings... you are so intent on watching them and learning all you can from them. I can see it in your eyes that you're processing all they do and scheming to join in the fun. Soon, little guy, all too soon!

In the mean time, you love the swing! And I love your giggles!

Cruz, right now, you:

• pull yourself to a stand and cruise around on the furniture.
• have six teeth to bite me with! (sometimes I cry a little but I'm determined to nurse you for another 3 months!)
• can high five and shake your head no!
• say hi and yeah.
• weigh 19 lbs! (that's 8 oz. more than your sister weighed at a year.)
• usually only wake once in the middle of the night to feed... and typically sleep about an 8 hour stretch.
• love to sing and dance!
• want to play with everything your brother and sister play with and throw a fit when you don't get to.
• love to tear and eat paper.
• make us all really happy to have you around, you smiley boy! We love you!

Joining up with Embrace the Camera today, go take a look!

Diego's 5th Birthday

I stayed up until 2 am finishing gifts for Diego's birthday. But it was worth it. The tent waited for morning discovery. And he was thrilled! It was a lovely way to start off the day even if he was only wearing one sock.

Because I was shot from a late night and had the start to a bad headache, I decided against taking the kids to Exploration Place. Diego would never know the difference because I hadn't mentioned it to him.

Jesse, fortunately came to the rescue and took the morning off so he could take them instead, and so I could rest for a while when Cruz went down for a nap.

They frequently hold hands. Makes my mama heart melt. I hope they never stop loving each other this much!

Diego still loves Thomas trains and thinks it's wonderful to play with someone else's track... even though he has a very good one at home with a more extensive collection of trains. I don't get it, but whatevs. It makes him happy. He started his love of trains at 2... I've been told it usually tapers off around six which means that about the time Diego stops loving trains, Cruz will start loving trains. Oh, how I'm sick of Thomas!

Apparently, he got to play pirate.

And Eliana is still little enough to fit into a cradle. (Cruz just has seven more pounds to catch her, even though she's three years older.)

They actually both love trains, so there's no way I'm done with them in the next year even if Cruz never shows an interest. Do you know, I've been on more than 5 train rides in the past 3 years? That's a lot of train rides for someone nowhere near a working train station.

Wendy sent two of these monstrosities home with the kids on the fourth. I told them they could finally have them for his birthday at lunch.

We had Chipotle for dinner and cake afterwards. Diego loves having people sing the Birthday Song to him... no hiding under the table in embarrassment for this kid! What? you don't have family members who quite literally crawl under the table at the sound of the birthday song?

Four layers of colorful surprise inside... the best part was the chocolate butter cream frosting though!

Diego wasted no time putting on his Peter Pan outfit after he opened it!

This little monkey looks like he's plotting ways to eat some wrapping paper.  (I never would have let Diego go out in public in just a onesie... what has happened to my standards!?!)

Yea! Another train... I limited him to two train requests this year... which I felt was way more than enough! He got both of them and seems pleased.

What a special day for a special boy! Diego, how I love your smiles, hugs, besos, "questions" at bed time that end up being just really long statements to stall going to bed, laugh, passion for sharing Jesus with others, and determination! I love you!

Sweet Tea for my Sweetie

Jesse's from the south. He grew up in Texas and then moved to Tennessee when he was in high school... then lived there off and on for the next 14 years. So, of course he loves sweet tea. *sigh*

For a long time I didn't get it at all. But apparently, there's a big difference between adding sugar in to your drink when it's served cold to you at the table and adding the sugar when it's warm. So, I'd do it at the appropriate time for Sweet Tea and it was okay, but not wonderful. And I really had no clue what I was doing wrong. And so, when Jesse cut out all carbonation from his diet, he resorted to going to McDonald's for Sweet Tea when ever he felt a migraine coming on.

Until last week, when I figured out the trick. Are you ready? A pinch of baking soda.

Really. It supposedly cuts down on the bitterness and keeps it from looking murky. Who'd have known?

If you want to give it a try here's what I do:

Put a pinch of backing soda in my pitcher, add two family size black tea bags, and add two cups of boiling water. Cover and let sit for 15 minutes. Add 3/4 cup of sugar; stir until dissolved. Add six cups of cold water. And I'm done. Goodbye, visits to McDonald's for Sweet Tea.

And Jesse's happy. So happy that he no longer feels any desire to ever move back to Tennessee. Right? 

Our Little World

I love to travel, experience new cultures, meet new people, find new foods, and see the beauty of God's handiwork.

But this place:

The place where we make funny faces and have lots of giggles.

The place where even if we fight, we kiss and make up and are best friends again. The place where we lay on our bellies at the back door and dangle our feet out at the steps so we can wash the sand off before coming in.

The place where we have tears, but are comforted and snuggled and loved on.

The place where we eat strawberry shortcake for breakfast. And waffles for dinner.

It is my respite and my home. It is full of the people I love the most. This place is my favorite in the world.  It is our world.

And our world needed a new wreath on the front door because there was only so long this could stay up before looking really lazy. It's made up of all sorts of bits from the outside world via vintage National Geographic magazines.

Thanks for taking time to peek in our world today, we're so glad when you come by to visit!

Oh! And because there's nothing worse than an ugly back of a wreath on a glass door (okay, maybe I can think of lots of things worse, but still), I made sure this cute little guy is smiling at us!

Today I'm joining up with Life Made Lovely-- go take a look:

Have a Marvelous Monday!