Happy Memorial Day!

I love decorating for each season and holiday, so I decided to get a little festive for Memorial Day.  I can reuse these decorations for the 4th of July too. 

The mantle.  I found these red, white, and blue carnations at Michael's.  I tied some red and blue ribbon around my coffee bean jars.  I bought some painted wood embellishments shaped like flags and stars but I think I accidentally threw them away with the Michael's bag. :(

I arranged these little plastic gold and silver stars on the top of the mantle.  They give it a kind of nautical look.

I found these cute luminary buckets at Target in the dollar spot.

We are getting ready to cookout and enjoy the day together as a family.  I love spending time in our backyard, splashing around in the pool and sprinklers, and just being together.  Casey is a master on the grill so anything he makes always turns out delicious. 

I always get really emotional thinking about the brave men and women who laid their lives on the line to keep our country free.  I have the utmost respect for all of those in the military and their families. 

Hope you are enjoying your day!!

 

Lauren's Wedding

My sister Lauren got married a couple of weeks ago, and had a beautiful, intimate ceremony at a museum in Perryton.  I was honored to be her Matron of Honor.  Abby was one of the flower girls, along with my brother Scott's twin girls.  Wyatt was supposed to be one of the ring bearers but he had other plans.  When it was his turn to walk down the aisle, he screamed and cried and simply refused to go.  Ironically, he had no problem following the flower girls out.  Sheesh!  Here are a few pictures from the wedding.  I apologize that some of them are blurry and not so great, but they're all I have right now.

Lauren and her dad (my stepdad Denny) walking down the aisle

My nephew Trey carrying the rings (Wyatt was supposed to be next to him)

Abby dropping petals

Addison dropping petals.  Ashlynn is right in front of her crying her eyes out. :(

The Newlyweds

Getting ready to make a toast (ridiculously bad picture of me)

Siblings.  Scott, Lauren, and me.  I love how we're all looking directly at the sun and squinting. ;)

Aunt "Lolly" with her nieces and nephew

My mom, stepdad, and Lauren

Those are a few of the highlights from ceremony.  I'm happy for Lauren and Michael and hope that they have a long, happy marriage.  Love you Sister!!

Summer is Starting!!

Today is Abby's last day of school and also marks the unofficial beginning of summer in the Tolliver house.  I'm excited!!  I absolutely love summer and all the wonderful things that it brings...cookouts, swimming pools, vacations, long summer nights on the deck, VBS, etc...  Love it!

We've been hard at work getting the loose ends tied up on our vacation plans.  We are going to Colorado in July.  I've never been to Colorado before but my husband has and he's told me how beautiful it is.  We've got some really fun things planned.  I can't wait!

We've got a fun Memorial weekend planned, with lots of grilling out and swimming in the backyard.  It's supposed to be in the upper 90s all weekend so I hope we can stand the heat.  

Have a great weekend!!!

Soccer

Abby decided to play soccer this year and had her first game this past Sunday.  She's a little apprehensive to get in the mix because she's afraid of getting kicked but she's starting to get the hang of it.  Her coach is great and her team is adorable out there on the field!

Abby's got her game face on!

She did really good as goalie. 

In the mix!

The other team's players were a lot bigger than ours but we still came out on top!

We have two practices this week and another game on Sunday.  It's gonna be a fun season!

What We've Been Up To

It's been way too long since my last post, but student teaching is over and school is almost out so I promise that I will post more consistently.  Summer is almost here!!!!  We are SO ready for it here at the Tolliver house.  Fun and relaxation are in store!

First up, I finished student teaching.  I'm sad that it's over because I loved it so much but now I am all ready to have my own classroom.  Hopefully, this hiring freeze will be lifted soon and I will find a job for the upcoming school year.  If not, I'm planning on subbing and taking care of my babies.  It has been just wonderful to be home with them again after three months of student teaching.  My house is clean, the laundry is caught up (well, almost ;) ), dinner is on the table at a decent hour, and my babies are happy.  It can't get any better than this!

I'm also recovering from a bout of walking pneumonia.  Bad stuff.  I had it 2 years ago and was seriously hoping that I would never have it again, but I did.  After steroid and antibiotic shots, oral antibiotics, and breathing treatments, I'm finally feeling like I'm going to be normal again someday.  I've still got a cough but it takes awhile for that to completely go away.

Unfortunately, I was pretty sick on Mother's Day.  Casey and the kids tried so hard to make it special but I was too sick to really enjoy it.  We usually always go out to eat on Mother's Day but since I was sick, Casey made my favorite: enchiladas.  They bought me some beautiful flowers, some new earbuds for my iPod and an iTunes giftcard, and some goodies from Bath and Body Works.  Plus, I got serenaded with some really cute songs from the kids. 

We were in Perryton this weekend for my sister's wedding.  More on that plus pictures to come very soon!  It was beautiful and special, but I'm glad that it's finally over!  I did get to see some family that I haven't seen in years and even meet some new, tiny family members (my cousins' babies).  It was a great weekend!

This will be my first full week at home in three months, so I'm planning on getting caught up on some sewing and decorating projects that I've been putting off. 

Happy Monday!!