Home Project: Backyard Oasis #1

Every since we got married, I have had this weird dream to have this incredible backyard oasis. I have bought gardening books, plants, pots...it never really came together :(. I tried...I really, really did. Just the properties never seemed to want to work with me.

However because of this distance between our last home property and this one they haven't had time to talk and conspire against me (HAHAHAHA) so I am going to sneak up and attack it :).  The first step after having read my books for so many years is to decide what you want to use your backyard for. Thats an easy one...I want an oasis. A place to eat, relax, pick flowers and dream the day away...when I have nothing else I want to do (as if my addiction to Pinterest will ever let that happen...or my kids)

So we are going to be working on our backyard in stages. Stage 1 is the patio/terrace area. We have been blessed with a big slab which totally aids in the eating/relaxing areas. In the picture you can see the chairs and lounges we bought at Target. Nice for relaxing but not so great for the eating.

Our Slab in Backyard Oasis: Stage 1

Welcome to one of the joys of Texas living! You see patio furniture comes out in the stores at about the time I wouldn't want to use it down here...SUMMER! Seriously everyone keeps saying this summer is so different then normal, but I haven't really ever wanted to spend time outside since we moved here. If I wanted to be in 100+ degree weather, I would have my bathing suit on and be in a hot tub or sauna.

Another shot of Stage 1 - Slab improvement :)

Anyways, back to patio furniture. Well all those stores that had the lawn furniture are now prepping for Christmas (Yay) so that means great sales at the perfect time to start eating outside. So I headed over to Lowe's today after looking around the other night and me and the girls picked out a table, chairs, umbrella, torchs and pots for our patio area. We are hoping to get it set up on Sunday prepping for Labor Day. So because I want a place to record all the changes we make you get to see the backyard become my oasis (unless it gets a telegram from PA)

So the stages in my mind so far:
---WE R HERE---->Stage 1 - Slab Improvement
Stage 2 - Border Plantings (thinking these will be herbs mixed with flowers...we'll see)
Stage 2.5 - Set up Our Tool area in out building
Stage 3 - Landscaping around out building
Stage 4 - Raised bed garden
Stage 5 - Children's play area
Stage 6 - My reading/relaxing nook (this needs to involve a hammock or a comfy swing)

So this is long term planning (Daddy, you will be around for stages 3 and 5 right :) But I find having it written down helps a ton. Oh and you will never guess where I am getting a lot of my inspiration!
Pinterest! Check out my gardening boards...I will be adding more to it!

BTW...look for some crafty blog posts coming soon...and some cooking ones. I am having a get together with a new friend (hi Darcy if you read this) and we are going to craft from Pinterest this weekend YAY!

Good night for now! I will dream of Stage 7....RELAX IN BACKYARD!

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

Our church is having a meet and greet for the the students at Southwestern Adventist University (SWAU) where my husband started working this year. Every year the church, which is right on campus, holds this event, and church members bring watermelon and cookies to share with them. I decided I wanted to go so I looked through my Pinterest boards for some cookie recipes. I picked out three but only had time to make two of them.

Roo helped me make the first batch -- Strawberry Lemonade cookies! Boo and I had already done the shopping in the morning to get all the ingredients so I had everything set out on the cupboard all ready for Roo's special time with me!

all the ingredients laid out for the cookies

We immediately got busy. Roo loved using the hand mixer. I was going to use my kitchen aid but wanted to teach her about over mixing wanted her to feel like she was doing it not just some machine.

So she mixed it all up and then it was time to make the cookies. I totally love Pampered Chef's (PC) Small Scoop. It was easy enough for her little hands and made perfect scoops each time. We also put them on PC's Large Stoneware Bar Pans. I love stoneware! I have never had anything ever burn on them. They always turn out perfect.

frosting made and ready to decorate!

So after baking them (btw, the recipe made 54 for us) I made the frosting and got out the sprinkles. I frosted each of them and then handed them to the girls to decorate. They had a blast! I did have to rotate evenly through though so that that one kid didn't get more then another and as a side note there were actually 55 cookies but we only decorated 54. One lucky cookie got a trip through my digestive system so that everything was fair. Aren't I the best mother ever ?!?!

I also enjoyed watching the girls decorate. It was a picture into their creative thinking. Loo used the sprinkles  with no real thought pattern except that Mommy had said don't waste them. I let her know she could use more then 10 sprinkles per cookie and then we were all good. Roo made hers to look just like the cookie I had demoed for them. Almost exactly! We really are twinies :). Boo on the other hand was super creative making some half and half with the colors, some just pink, some with the crystal like sprinkles. They sky was her only limit.  I love how even something as simple as this can show me another insight into my children!

This is the finished product along with the Lemon Crinkles that Loo and I made from one of my Pinterest boards as well. Look for that post coming soon. The students of SWAU seemed to really enjoy them and because I made so many of each we also brought a plateful over to our Fire Station.  The visit turned into an impromptu fire station tour and the kids had a blast. We have decided to adopt C company and bring them stuff all year! Without much planning we had a very fun home school day!

So here is the recipe as well as a cute layout I whipped up for the pictures. The kit will be going live in my store soon and I will post the links! Also here is the link to the site I got it from.

Kit Used: Strawberry Lemonade by Truman Studio (releasing soon)