It's starting to look very patriotic around our house these days.  It's kind of the official start of summer around here.





And because I'm obsessed with seasonal paper garlands, this year I added a red, white, and blue glitter paper garlands.  (You can get yours here!)


I made this wreath for our front door last year (read about how I made it here).  It was a really easy DIY project.

I love summertime.  Our days are spent in the backyard with homemade ice cream.

So ready for fireworks!
 

Not long after moving to St. Louis, I started taking ballet class on a whim.  I've pretty much been going to the same studio ever since (minus a few months when I had Katherine).

Every year we do two shows at Jefferson Barracks, one in June and one in December.  Originally, I just started taking ballet to have something to do/workout/meet people, and was not interested in performing in front of an audience.  But over the years, being on a stage has become something that I do twice a year.  But that's it.  Just twice.  Twice is actually one time too many.

Keep in mind I'm not that good, I almost always insist on being in the back, and often I feel self conscience.  But nevertheless, every June and December, I'm there on that stage.

Saturday was our June performance and it was the first one that Katherine actually paid attention to throughout the show.  This year's dance was crazy hard and very strenuous, but overall a good workout.

{Katherine showing me the lights on the stage}

After a nerve-racking but successful performance, we spent the rest of the weekend playing outside.


Ahhhhh Ready for another week.  

Also I finally saw my fish today!  Monica and Chandler are alive and well!  

After days and days of rain and storms, we were finally able to take advantage of some beautiful weather this weekend.

On Friday, we headed out to Tower Grove Park for Food Truck Friday.  If you live in St. Louis or plan to visit, this is something you must see.  Lots and lots of food trucks, with lots of different kinds of food, all parked in one spot for your dining pleasure while a live band plays.

{My brother's dog Molly was there too}

{You just never know what you might see.}

It was an absolutely perfect night for dining outside.  The awesome weather continued into Saturday, when we got the new water table out for the first time.  Katherine loves water, so it was no surprise that the water table was a big hit.





Father's Day brought more sunshine and great temperatures (despite what the weatherman said), so we headed to the ballpark to watch the Cardinals play.

{Lunch at Cardinals Nation before the game}

It was a great day and an even better Father's Day.


On another note, I finally made it through that horrid book two on my summer reading list.  Book three was The Fault in Our Stars.  I read it in four days.  Then I cried for two more.  Awesome book, but sad.  I will not see the movie.

I also have yet to see my fish.

It's been a little crazy around here lately.  I literally don't even know where the past week went.  Story of my life I guess.

After months and months of deliberation, I finally decided to add goldfish to the fish pond in our yard.  Our pond has been vacant for two and a half years, and I was ready to "add to the family."  On Friday, I came home with two goldfish.  I named them Chandler and Monica, but Jason named them Frank and Fred (that's a long story....unless you went to high school with us).  We let Katherine look at them in their plastic bag, before I put them in the newly cleaned pond.  I let them swim out into their new home and haven't seen them since.  I've been checking on them constantly, but haven't seen either of them.  Even when I drop fish food into the pond.  I'm literally in the yard saying "Hey guys!  Are you there?  I brought lunch!"  I really hope they haven't gone to be with Jesus already.

{Monica and Chandler aka Frank and Fred's new home}

Katherine and I kicked off the weekend by heading out to a couple of yard sales Friday afternoon.  We scored some major finds and were back home in time for dinner and outside time.

{Yard sale finds}

{One of our yard sale buys.  Best $1 I've ever spent.}

We spent what turned out to be a rainy Saturday at The Magic House, also checking off another stop on the "Katherine sees St. Louis" summer.

{Deciding whether or not to crawl through the tunnel.  She opted out.}

{Loved the water table.}

{First trip to The Magic House.  Check.}

Sunday I got crazy and decided Katherine and I would eat dinner on the deck.  It was all fun and games until she realized that Doc McStuffins was on the TV inside the house.  I spent the rest of dinner looking at the back of her head while her burger got cold.

Jason was working late this weekend, so I decided to watch a little Netflix which turned into a two night John Cusack-a-thon, starting with Say Anything..., then America's Sweethearts, followed by Serendipity.  I love how Netflix gives you lists of movies and shows based on what you've watched.  "Since you watched this, you might like this."  Turning what should have been an hour of TV watching into a 32 hour event.

Not to mention when I signed Katherine up at the library for the toddler summer reading program, I signed myself up for the adult summer reading program.  I haven't participated in a summer reading program since I was in the sixth grade.  Six books in 10 weeks?  No problem.  Except for Netflix and the fact that I'm stuck on book two.  Stupid book two.

Happy Monday!  I'm off to concur a toddler and a summer book list.  And to check on my fish.

You may have noticed that the trend in summer shorts (again) is the cutoff.  This trend comes back around every few years, and each time it baffles me how much retailers charge for cutoff shorts.  They are exactly what they sound like.  They are jeans that have been cut off to make shorts.

I see price tags of $40+ on jeans that have been purposely cut off and distressed in the name of fashion.  Not to mention by next summer or the next these shorts will be "out of style" again.

End soapbox rant.

Because I can't resist a good summer trend, I decided to make my own cutoff shorts.  I found a pair of jeans at Goodwill for $4 and got to work.  For distressing, I used a block of wood, sand paper, and a cheese grater.  
First I decided how long I wanted my shorts to be.  Don't even get me started on the popular "length" of cutoffs these days.  I layed my pair of jeans out and placed a pair of shorts I like on top to get a good measurement.  I added a couple of extra inches before I actually cut them just to make sure.  You can always cut more off, but you can't add length later.
After I cut them, I tried them on to make sure the length was right.  When I was happy with the length, I turned up the edges about an inch and stitched it to keep it in place.
I used the cheese grater to fray the edges where I had cut.  Then I added a distress hole near the right pocket by putting the wood block inside the leg and distressing the heck out of it with the sand paper and grater until I reached the look I was wanting.

They look and feel like $40 cutoffs for the low price of $4.  And next year, when the long, tailored Bermuda look is back (let's hope not), I won't have invested money into a quickly fading "trend."