If I type really quietly, I might be able to finish this post before the girls wake up!

I'm not sure why, but mosquito bites are ALWAYS the itchiest at three in the morning.  I have them all over my ankles (although I'm convinced they are actually SPIDER BITES) and I woke up this morning with a speckle of "boo-boos" from all the scratching that took place while I should have been sleeping.

SLEEPING.

HA!  It's that time of year where the looming goodbyes make falling asleep really, really difficult for me.  The initial going down at night is tricky, and if I wake up for any reason in the middle of the night (like from, REALLY ITCHY SPIDER BITES), I'm destined to take a very long time to return to sleep.  It's frustrating.  And exhausting.

So I called it quits around 6 a.m., made a cup of coffee, and now I'm cozy on the couch with no children or husband in sight!  (I hope I didn't jinx the peace with that statement.)

How do you like the new blog design?  Sometimes I am struck by blog boredom and feel an immediate urgency to create a new look.  This is what happened to me at 7:30 yesterday morning.  So for the remainder of the day, I obsessed over re-learning HOW to make the changes and I managed to get a good chunk of it done thanks to an Aunt Dana visit (THANK YOU! xo) and prolonged quiet time in the afternoon.  It's not quite finished, but it's getting there.  The pages below the header are my next big job! 

Today we plan to go to the sidewalk sales happening just down the street.  Nory and I have some banana loaf to make as well and I'm sure we'll be crafting at some point.  Speaking of which, Nory has become the arts and crafts initiator in this house (shocking, I know) and we've kept busy with all sorts of things found in our craft trolley.  Take a look at some of the crafts we've done this summer:

Father's Day ties for extra-special Dads :)

Painting on canvas with friends :)

THE JEWEL PHASE.  OY.  Everything was JEWELS for a whole 48 hours!  We made one of these signs for Jet too.

Magical wands.  This one made Daddy jump and sing and dance ;)

Also part of the JEWEL PHASE. Whale/dolphin/fish/shark magnets....with JEWELS.

We've had a robot phase too.  Naturally, the phase entailed ROBOT CRAFTS! :)

And the dinosaur phase continues with salt dough fossils!

I can't wait for Juliet to join us in our crafting adventures.  I think she is going to be an all-in-there type of artist because messes do not bother that little darling one bit (you're welcome to join us at meal time, HA!).  We might actually be able to enjoy finger painting.  Or do regular painting without a package of wipes beside us.  Wouldn't that be neat? :)

Happy weekend, Everyone!  With the summer nearing its end, I hope you get some time to relax and enjoy the beautiful outdoors (and remain spider-bite free).

XOXO