Fourth of July

Fourth of July is double the fun around the Gibbs, we also get to celebrate Grandaddy's birthday! This year he turned the big 7-0, which meant a BIG cake and TWO celebrations. On the actual 4th we went over to Aunt Laura's house for brunch. Tatum was introduced to the "Liberal Mafia"-a group of amazing, and very patriotic, friends that have been together for over 50 years. They oohed and ahed as Tatum fought Grandaddy for the spotlight. The kids were having a blast in the pool. I tried to capture an action shot of Bennett's fancy diving board moves, but was a little slow and got mostly the post "splash".

The next day we went for a second party over at Uncle Bob and Aunt Shirley's. Another big cake for Grandaddy AND chocolate covered strawberries (YUM!) Tatum was introduced to (and spoiled by) all the Austin's...with all the boys running around they were excited to see someone in pink! The kids were back in the pool as the adults strolled down memory lane looking at old photographs and memorabilia. We also got a tour of Mark and Cyrese's beautiful new house...And Shirley's shiny new Mercedes! Life is good for the Austins! And for all of us, it was a great weekend! Check out all the photos:

Ta Da!

Too much HGTV

Okay...so some of you know I am an HGTV fanatic and have been trying to resist the urge to jump into some DIY project...

It started innocently enough, we had a gift card left from Christmas for Crate and Barrel that I had been saving for just the right thing. We decided to use it toward a rug for the dining room aka my office.


The rationale was it would give Tatum a nice place to play since we have all tile floors. Well, that also meant we needed a bit more room in the room. Seeing how Doug had been eying the bookshelf for the man cave, we moved the bookshelf in there. Now, what to do with the pesky ice cream table and barstools that I love?? In a moment of brilliance, we decided to move the ice cream table out back, and the outdoor glider to the front.
But of course, we needed to build an extended porch to accomodate the glider. After transplanting two plants to the back yard (Good job, Doogie!), and a trip to Home Depot, and another trip to Home Depot....and another trip to Home Depot our "Serenity Garden" porch was born. Of course, by this time it was fairly dark and we didn't quite notice that our porch stone is pinkish while the brick of the house is red. Hmph. But we love it anyway!!!


Now, as for the dining room office....You can't have a new rug and old paint!! I had been carrying around some paint swatches for some time, Green and Eggplant purple, to redo the room. I wanted green all over with a purple below the chair rail that crackled to reveal the green underneath. It's beautiful....in my head. So a trip to Home Depot and the strict instructions to "not overthink it", I got my paint and crackle medium. After a night of painting, which was mostly Doug painting and me holding the baby watching him paint (very frustrating!) the green was done. Now, for the crackle. Under the wise advisement of my husband I did a test corner. And it worked (the second time). The color was looking a little more maroon than purple, but not bad. So, as opportunity arose (during Tatum naps), I proceeded to crackle around the room. But then it still looked more maroon than purple. hmph again. So as a coat of crackle medium was drying I ran to, you guessed it, Home Depot, (crying baby in tow) for paint that was more purply. After a swatch of that it was...too purple, so I tried mixing the two together. No good. Well, Jaqueline kindly pointed out, "I think the problem may be with the green..." Ugh. And that is where it sits today, half maroone crackle, half multi-purple stripe, brassy green all over.





So, I've been grounded from the Home Depot, and the cable boxes have been removed...no more HGTV for me.

Gotta run....Sherwin Williams just opened...