Fall Football :: Fall Bucket List Check Off!

Here is the South we are very passionate about a lot of things, like sweet tea, southern hospitality, Bojangles (if you do not know what I am talking about immediately find the location closest to you or ask for someone to overnight you some chicken and pray that it is still warm once you get it!) and FOOTBALL!  Around here we start our kids off with a football in their hand as soon as they are born and once they are four it is off to flag football!  Growing up my sister and I never missed a high school game and I was even crazy enough to be a glorified water girl for my middle school team (hey what can I say my best friend and I liked the cute boys!)

This year was Jake’s third year playing tackle and let me tell you this boy LOVES football!  He moved up an age bracket this year so he was back to being the youngest guy on the team again but that has never stopped him!

I know he is supposed to be a tough football player but I can’t help but love that sweet face of his!

From August through October he practiced 2 hours a night, three nights a week and that was after he completed twenty hours of conditioning within two weeks!  Every Saturday my whole family would come out to support Jake.  The beaming smile on his face every time he would turn around and see us all was priceless!

This year he was able to play on both offense and defensive lines.  He loves offense but that boy LOVES to tackle!

No matter what it didn’t matter how many times he got caught up by the other team he would play tough through every play.

What really made this year great was of course the awesome line up of coaches!  Our team had eight coaches which was the maximum we were allowed to have and with only 24 boys they each got a lot of one on one time.

We even had the cutest dance team this year!  I hate to say it but most of the boys didn’t pay them much attention.  The girls were so sweet though!!

Jake of course had his own personal little cheerleader.  Emma Grace watched him the entire season and wanted nothing more than to go play on the field with her big brother.  She would scream to him from the sidelines.  She thinks the world of him!

This year we bought Jake a pair of awesome yellow cleats so that we could pick him out easily on the field!  Let me tell you that was the best money I have spent in a long time.  All you had to do was take a quick look on the field and scan across the ground until you found him.  I LOVE those cleats!

The referees always cracked me up.  They always seemed to keep their cool even when a coach or a team mom on occasion became confrontational!  Good job refs!

The best part of this year’s football season?  We now have TWO boys to cheer on!  My little nephew turned four this year and guess what that means?  It’s flag football time!  He has grown up surrounded by football since he was a baby.  Between all of his cousins football games and watching Jake he has been waiting for his time to shine!

He was one lucky boy because with his Daddy as a coach there was always someone to help him out when he would forget to tighten his belt and loose his flags!

This little man has got some serious moves!  He scored more touchdowns this season than I can even keep up with!  He was born to play football!

I’m so proud of both of my boys this year for how well they did.  More importantly they both had so much fun and learned a lot.  I can’t wait for next year!

Psst…you can still download your own copy of our Fall Bucket List here!

Fall Wreath Makeover :: Fall Bucket List Check Off!

This week is all about what we crossed off our Fall Bucket List before we jump into Christmas next week!  Fall always seems to get short changed because everyone always thinks about December as Winter BUT the last day of Fall this year is actually not until December 20th!  So there is still time to download your very own copy of our Fall Bucket List!

I love wreaths!  I get made fun around my house because I seem to have quite a few wreaths for different times of the year and for special occasions.  I just think a wreath makes our entryway more welcoming!  A couple years ago I tried to make my own version of this wreath which I shared with you last week on Inspiration Wednesday.

When I first made the wreath it looked AWESOME!  Once Winter came I carefully put it away for the next year but unfortunately it didn’t fair as well in storage as I had hoped.  The burlap had creased where it was supposed to be softly folded.  So I took it apart, ironed the burlap, put it back together and I had a pretty wreath again.  Unfortunately this is what it looked like when I pulled it out this year.

Whomp whomp!  Why do you look so sad little wreath?  How about a different angle?  Nope I hate to say it but you still look pretty bad.

Last year I had an idea that maybe I could make it a bit more fluffy by putting beads in-between the folds.  Which worked well but the burlap kept moving around so I had to keep fixing it which became a big PAIN!

I bet you didn’t even notice the cute little flowers that were on the bottom did ya?  I loved the idea of the burlap and the flowers but it became pretty clear to me this year that I needed to update it.

Being the cheap person that I am I didn’t want to have to go buy another wreath form   Then I remembered seeing on Pintrest how people had used pool noodles to make a wreath form!  Oh yes I had three of them stashed in my closet from this summer.  Score!  I put some fast drying tacky glue on the ends and then added some duct tape and I was set!

** UPDATE:  A couple days later part of the noodle pulled apart under the duct tape so I had to go back and re-glue and re-tape the noodle.  I found that by placing two pieces of tape from one end of the noodle to the other in a criss-cross pattern gave the noodle more staying power than just going around in one direction.  Anyone else have the same problem?**

So, I took the old wreath apart and started at one end and began to wrap the old strips of burlap around the form.  Since I reused my original burlap strips they were anywhere from 2″ to 4″ wide.  If I was to start fresh and cut new strips for this project 3″ would probably be perfect.

Then there were my pretty flowers!  Originally I had put hair clips on the back of them so that they could be removed or changed to another wreath later on if I wanted to.  Boy am I glad I did that or else I would have had to make new ones.

The type of clip I used actually works great for burlap because you just pick a spot and squeeze it in-between the spaces and it holds great!

And that was it!  Ta da!  It probably only took me 10 minutes to do!  I love a quick and easy project.

The flowers are still one of my favorite parts.  I just love all of the different colors in the plaid.  They are so festive for Fall!

I didin’t have any more of the plaid fabric to make more flowers so I just decided to stay with the original three that I had.  If I was starting the project from scratch I would probably have added a couple more flowers to fill some space.

Instead to add a bit more interest I made my wreath hanger out of two different ribbons rather than one.  I pulled the blue and the orange out to match the flowers and I couldn’t help but smile because they are also my high school colors!

So there she is!  A new simple, pretty wreath to dress up the front door for Fall!

How do you usually dress up your entryway to great your guests?  Do you like to add fresh flowers or plants?  Maybe a welcome sign or a wreath like me?  Share with us!

Psst…you can still download your own copy of our Fall Bucket List here!

Related articles

• Fall Wreaths :: Inspiration Wednesday

A Thankful Week and Celebrating Our 100th Post with a Top 10 Recap!!

I have had the best week full of wonderful blessings and making great memories with my family.  We had an amazing Thanksgiving and filled our bellies to the brim with all sorts of delicious goodies!  I did a bit of shopping last night with my sister and we had such a great time together.  While driving home listening to Christmas music in the wee hours of the morning  I couldn’t help but think about how lucky I truly am.  I have the most amazing family and friends that support me through everything I do.  I have a husband who adores me and two children that are perfect in every way.  I have a roof over my head and am blessed to have enough money in my pocket to buy a few new toys for my kids for Christmas.  I am so lucky to have the life that I have.  I just wanted to tell all of you, my wonderful readers how thankful I am for you.  I started this blog as a creative outlet and it has become so much more.  I have made so many new friends and learned so much along the way.  So today I wanted to share a big milestone for the blog…OUR 100th POST!  How exciting is that?  I thought we could all celebrate today by taking a look back at my most popular posts along with my personal favorites!

One of my most popular posts is Emma Grace’s Weekly Photo Project which is one project I am so proud of.  For all the hours and time that I’ve spent editing photos and preparing each shoot it is by far my most rewarding project!

Emma Grace’s Nursery reveal was also a very popular post including my personal favorite, the French Provencal Dresser makeover!

After being sick of my old worn out kitchen rug I gave it a fun facelift with a bit of creativity with the help of some paint!

An afternoon, a quart of chalkboard paint and waiting what seemed like forever and we have an awesome new space to jot notes and play tic-tac-toe!

My post about my journey to get my first tattoo has been my most viewed post and I received so much feedback I actually decided to offer custom designs in my Etsy shop!

I celebrated Hyperemesis Gravidarum Awareness Day by sharing my own personal journey with HG.  It was by far my most difficult post to write but since I wrote about my story I have had several women who are suffering or have survived HG reach out to me.  Their stories of strength and encouragement made it worth finally telling my story.

I have learned so much about photography over the past year and I was excited to share with you all some amazing pictures that I took at a friend’s wedding.  That post along with the photos I shared from the very first wedding I was asked to shoot are some of my most popular posts!

I know everyone loves a pallet makeover and we had a great time turning an old pallet into a vintage soda sign for hubby’s birthday!

Hungry?  We sure were when we made these AMAZING stuffed burgers filled with several cheeses, crisp bacon and sautéed onions!  YUMMY!

Our free Fall Bucket List printable was a big success!  For the rest of November I will be sharing with you how many things we were able to cross off!

I hope you have enjoyed my special 100th post recap of my favorite and most popular posts so far!  Thank you for all of your support along the way and don’t ever be afraid to leave a little comment for me.  I love hearing from you!  If you want to keep up with what I’m up to outside the blog stop by and follow me!

    

Happy Halloween and Pumpkin Fun!

Are you all ready for a fun night of trick or treating?  We sure are!  I am putting the last couple touches on Emma Grace’s costume and Jake’s is all ready to go!  I can’t wait to share pictures with you guys!

Last week Jeremy was able to sneak out with the kids and go pick up some pumpkins at our church’s pumpkin patch.  I’m kind of bummed I didn’t get to go this year but I did get to take a couple of pictures when we went to the farmer’s market!  Does that count for a check on my bucket list?  We did end up carving a one of the pumpkins last week while Nana was here.  Although Jake’s once scary pumpkin is now all wrinkled and looks like an old man!  Not so much scary anymore…just creepy!  So while I finish up putting some spots on little Miss Pebbles’ costume for tonight, enjoy some kind of  pumpkin patch..ish pics of my cute kiddos!

Miss EG and I were able to make it one day without the boys.  This is one of my favorite outfits!  Her headband reminds me of Lucy from I Love Lucy!

I think it is impossible to get these two to sit still long enough to get a good picture!

On the other hand my sweet nephew is always a ham and is fun to photograph!  He is wearing a shirt that my Mom picked him up that says “Judge me by my size do you?”  Pretty funny if you ask me because he is standing next to HUGE pumpkins!

Do you like her quick wardrobe change?  Another day another outfit!

This handsome boy though…that smile!  Ahh I love it!!

Happy Halloween!

Fall Bucket List

Can you believe that we nearing the end of summer already?  It is hard to believe that Fall is anywhere in our near future in the south right now.  It was 95 degrees outside when I got in my car this afternoon!  Crazy right?  I am ready for the leaves to start turning beautiful shades of red and orange.  I’m ready for pumpkins and mums and hot apple cider.  I love Fall!  You know what is also great about Fall?!  Being able to pull out your favorite pair of jeans,  those worn in boots and cozy sweaters!  There is also so many fun things to do during the Fall that I was inspired by several other awesome bloggers out there to create my very own Fall Bucket List.  It is a great way to make sure you make the most of the season, spend time with the family and make lots of great memories!

Print your own copy of my Fall Bucket List!

5×7     8×10     16×20

So don’t worry I will keep you up to date as we cross off each thing on the list.  I’m so excited!  What activities would you put on your Fall Bucket List?  Do you have fun family traditions?  I would love to hear about them!

Happy Soon To Be Fall Y’all!