Lucky Morning

Top O' The Mornin' to Ya!

I wasn't here this morning to see my little's faces at breakfast, I was already at school co-chairing Teacher Appreciation Week, but that is another post in itself.  However, there was no way I was letting them think the leprechaun had forgotten about the Cibulas due to Mommy's exhausting commitment.

So Jack, Maggie, and Lucy woke up to a much deserved spirited breakfast.  And by the accounts I received, it sounds like they were all feeling mighty lucky this St. Patrick's Day morning.

Those cuties were properly dressed in green when they came by to wish my a lucky morning in the Teacher Appreciation Week room...oh, how I wanted to pinch those sweet cheeks!  Nothing like a week of absence to make the heart grow fonder.

Happy St. Patrick's Day to Ya!  Off to put this worn out volunteer to bed.

Pleased As Punch With The Porch

Happy March!  I figured now was as good a time as any to share my new porch, since Spring is hopefully in the air.

I couldn't wait any longer for decent lighting.  It seems it doesn't exist out there.  I would wait for the clouds to part and as soon as they would, I'd get beautiful rays of sunlight which made it near impossible to get a picture without a glare or shadow.

That being said, it's lovely to sit out there, sun or clouds, but not lovely to take pics of.  Oh well, I am still pleased as punch with our new porch!

Without further ado, here it is...

Actually, let me just preface with one thing... this is a small space.  I'm not even going to try to pretend I know the square footage.  But, to get all that I wanted out there I had to be pretty choosy.

When you walk out from our indoor sun room this is basically the view you have.  A table right under your nose and the living space just beyond it.  I HAD to have a table to seat all of us.  We love family dinners outside and I'm looking forward to playing games and crafting there too with the kids.

Once you get past the table, we have a cozy living space.  A couch for hubby to watch TV from and an airy coffee table that he hates.  Again, with the spacing I wanted to keep the table small and "see through".  The aforementioned hated table is from West Elm and the outdoor couch is from Arhaus.

The blue herringbone throw pillows are from Pine Cone Hill.  Once I found these, I knew the previous jute ones {that you may or may not remember from a previous post} were out of here.

Across from the couch are two swivel chairs.  I knew they were perfect when I spotted the pair at Arhaus...compact, swivel, and covered with Sunbrella fabric {just as the couch}.

I tossed these pillows from Serena & Lily on them and added a concrete table between from Joss & Main.  I am tempted to re-do my entire house with Serna & Lily...love!

We added the fireplace and had the brick white washed with the trim color per our contractor's suggestion.  I am so thrilled with the way it turned out.  As you can see, we've already enjoyed a fire or two out there.

The dining table is in full view from the fireplace.  I got the table from Ballards and the two end chairs from Cost Plus World Market.  Both are perfect for outdoors.  I knew because of spacing issues, I could never get away with four more chairs.  So I found two teak benches on Overstock and had cushions made from Cushion Source {highly recommend if you want pillows or cushions made online}.

I had the cushions made with Sunbrella fabric as well.  But as you can see, I'm still too scared to take the wrapper off.  Eek...I'll do it come official Spring.

The beautiful throw is from my sweet mother in law.  Imagine my surprise when this showed up in the mail with a thoughtful note saying...thought this would look pretty on your new porch.  Made me smile from ear to ear.

I found two little outdoor end tables at West Elm.  They just so happened to match my stone table between the swivel chairs.  Since succulents are all the rage right now, I picked these little guys up at Target.

And the rug is an indoor/outdoor from Dash & Albert...another love of mine.

I have been wishing and hoping for a place to put an oyster bowl in my house.  I finally found one!  And although it's actually a clam bowl from Ballards, I am adoring it.

 For extra {and very little space taking} seating I added a couple poofs to the front of the fireplace.  Another find from Target.

But of all the decor, my favorite thing about this space is the detail put into the railing.  I worked very closely with my amazingly creative contractor and we came up with this design and color pattern.  I wanted to keep it simple and clean but make it pop.  In my eyes, mission accomplished.

As you can imagine, we are looking forward to spending Spring, Summer, and Fall out here.  I'm envisioning many happy memories to come.

Now all this decorating and updating has got me itching to take on another project...my poor hubby.

Brick Crazy

I still reside with a Lego Maniac.  Last I looked, Jack's room resembled that of a Lego Museum complete with cities, jungles, fortresses, and a police and robber set up.  Let me just tell you, that room is a bear to clean.

So when I saw the Brick Fest was coming to town, I just knew I had to get my brick crazy kiddo a ticket.  I went ahead and bought two kids tickets and one adult, thinking he would prefer to build with a fellow maniac rather than his Lego incompetent mom.

Jack racked his brain to pick the perfect guest and when he made the decision, I was thrilled.  One of my FAVE friends, so much a fave, that I've invited B to go on our beach vacation with us this summer.  This was good practice for all of us.

We arrived later in the afternoon per our entrance time.  The kids both grabbed a check list and got right to work hitting each station.  The first stop was the Monochromatic Brick Pit.  They managed to build a green tower taller than themselves among other green things.

One of my favorites was the Mosaic station.  We had 1x1 plates to design and then hung them on a display wall with others.

Jack, of course, got super creative and made this winking emoji.  I was mighty impressed.

I, on the other hand, followed a pattern and ended up with this Mallard.  Jack graced me with a "good job Mommy" although I'm not sure I deserved it.

Another fun station was the Mystery Floor Puzzle.  The kids all worked to complete one part of the puzzle before it was laid out on a massive puzzle board.  In the end, the puzzle turned out to be Darth Vadar.  It was a pretty impressive feat.  I would give you dimensions, but that is another one of my incompetencies.

Other stations included the Lego Mini Golf...

the Brick Fest Build Wall...

and the Derby Races...

Jack came in 3rd place and B came in 5th.  They both had a great time building a race car against the clock and then watching the race.

The three of us literally closed the place down.  I'm pretty sure they would have kicked us out if these sweet boys hadn't loitered around past closing helping to clean up.

I was out the door, only to turn around and see Jack and B picking up bricks and cleaning off building walls right along side the employees.  I figured, I might as well join in. I'm not even kidding when I say we made lots of Brick Fest staff friends.  I was getting a kick out listening to the boys engaged in conversation.

You might just be looking at two future Brick Fest employees....

Choo Choo Day Two

Good Morning!  We woke up Monday morning {President's Day} to another beautiful day in Chattanooga.  I imagine you are dying to know if we ever made it to the Children's Museum...read on to find out😉.

Thankfully we were smart enough to split the kids between two hotel rooms for the night.  It ensured a good nights sleep for all.  However, come morning, they were raring to go.  i.e. morning pillow fight/wrestling match.

After that awakening, us Mommies, treated ourselves to Starbucks for breakfast and managed to find something for the kids to eat too.  And this is where we discussed our plans for the day.  Can you tell we were just winging it?

So Rock City won the final vote!  I was super excited because it was just one of those days that you needed to be outside.  It was gorgeous.  We vowed to make another quickie trip up for the amazing Children's Museum in the future...hopefully with the Miccas next time.

But for this day, it was all about us and lots and lots of ROCKS.  They don't call that place Rock City for nothing.

Our party of eight followed the garden trail over bridges...

...up to the view of seven states...

...through the village...

...between Fat Man Squeeze {which you can imagine was a favorite}...

...and all the way back down.  So much fun!

We were all starving by this point, so we hopped on the incline railway {which is so boringly slow & expensive} and grabbed lunch at the bottom of the mountain.

We hit a darling ice cream shop after lunch while we waited for our ride back up Lookout Mountain.

I'm pretty sure the ice cream helped the kiddos to forget the about turtle paced ride down because they were pumped to see their ride arrive.

From there, we decided it was time to get back on the road.  It was a school night after all.

But, not so fast!  Us Mommy's decided to treat ourselves to back roads all the way home and stop at every. single. dollar. general.  Yes, you read that right!   Remember my embarrassing confession a couple posts back...I love a good Dollar General.  You should see the loot I stocked up on for Lucy's birthday party.  {and yes, you read that right too, she and I have already nailed down her theme and I am seeing *stars*, I'm so excited...a little hint for you}

The kiddos were loving the DG stops until about the 4th one.  By then, they were pretty much over it.  So much so, that Jack tattled on me to Daddy as soon as  we got home.  Can't buy that kid off with $2 goodies anymore.

So it's back to the real world this week...alarm clocks and homework...here we come!  Tood-A-Loo Chattanooga!