I'm Pretty sure I"m not old enough to have a nine year old!

Wow, it's been awhile since my last post! That little monkey down there in the striped shirt turned nine last week and it's been crazy around here getting ready for his birthday.

We didn't have a friend party last year because Riley didn't know very many kids yet at his new school, but we discovered the Grand Slam and I think we made up for it this year!

This place has everything: mini golf, batting cages, bumper cars, an arcade, lazer tag... I doubt he's ever going to want to have a party at home again!

Yeah, we totally hang out at the same places as Justin Bieber. We're just cool like that.

Riley came home from school today and told me his friends all said it was the best party ever! So, moral of the story: kids can be bought with lazer tag and bumper cars (pizza and cupcakes don't hurt either).

Now, we have to get ready for his family party this weekend.

What I'm Digging ~~ I've got some serious Studio Envy

A few weeks ago I showed you my basement which I was hoping to turn into my office/art studio. Well, lately we've been talking about moving again. This is completely insane considering we moved twice last summer, seriously... twice in a three month span. I'll tell you that story another day!

The townhouse is starting to feel a little claustrophobic so we've been looking at houses, but so far we haven't found anything worth moving for. So, my studio space is kinda in limbo. It doesn't really make much sense to completely remodel the basement if we're going to move, except that we don't know for sure that we're going to move. Ugh!!

So, until we get that all figured out I've been spending a lot of time lusting over other people's studios (that's not weird, right?) dreaming of my future space. Here's a few of my favorites right now:

1. Just Lovely Things  2. The Odd Girl  3. Apartment Therapy  4. My Home Ideas  5. Jen Johnson  6. Making It Lovely 

Do you have a pretty craft space I can drool over? Leave me a link!

Apparently We Like to Go to The Zoo

This weekend my brother and his family (except for my nephew Mykel who is 15 now and way too cool to hang out with his lame-ass family) came up to visit and we went to the Minnesota Zoo. Even though we're only about two hours away, we've only seen each other a few times since we moved, so it was nice to spend the day together, and the kids are always happy to see each other.

It was a day of walking around in 90 degree weather, watching caged animals, and eating overpriced food. So yeah, it was a good time!

So, what did you do this weekend?

30 Days of Lists

I am a compulsive list maker. I can guarantee that on any given day if you were to look in my pockets or purse you will find some kind of list. Shopping lists, to-do lists, books I want to get at the library lists, ideas for the shop or blog lists, etc. I'm not horribly organized with my lists, and I often forget to put everything I need on the list, but I still make them almost everyday.

So, when I found out about the 30 Days of Lists, it sounded like it was created just for me! The idea behind 30 Days of Lists is that while you might not have time everyday to journal or scrapbook, everyone can take a few minutes to make a list. Each day you're given a new prompt, you make your list and then at the end of the month you have a little snapshot of your life right now.

It's a collaboration between Amy of Lemon and Raspberry, and Justine of A New Beginning, and Kam of Campfire Chic. And I'm pretty much in love with it. Beyond just the lists, there is a private blog and forum with a bunch of tutorials and other cool stuff. If you're interested in participating you can find out more info here.

A lot of people put up pics of their lists on the Flickr page. I haven't gotten around to putting mine up yet, but I wanted to share a few with you here.

List #4: Things to do on a Sunday Morning

- Snuggle and watch Harry Potter marathons

- Sleep

- Read the paper (or at least look at the ads)

- Go to the too-rare Sunday garage sales

- Make/Eat a big ol' breakfast

- Read

List #7: I'm Not Very Good at...

- Time management

- Taking a compliment

- Taking a break (although sometimes I'm a little too good at this!)

- Believing in myself

- Getting books back to the library on time

List #8 : Things That Remind me of my Childhood

- Ice cream trucks

- Barbies

- New Kids on the Block

- Cabbage Patch dolls

- Swimming at the pit

- Babysitter's Club books

- Pound Puppies

Well, there's a few of them; I show you some more soon. Are you a list-maker?

Riley's First Day of Third Grade!

Well, Riley made it through his first day of third grade. He was a little nervous, but also really excited.

This year was so much better than last year when he was starting a new school. He didn't talk to anyone for the entire first month he was there. Seriously, he wouldn't talk to anyone. He would answer questions when he was called on, but he became so shy he wouldn't talk to any of the other kids. We were so worried that we had made a huge mistake in moving here, and that we had permanently messed up our kid.

Finally he started to open up and by winter break had made some great friends. Now he says he's glad we moved and would never want to move back! Unfortunately, he found out yesterday that his best friend is moving in December. He seems to be taking the news pretty well so far. We'll have to see how that goes.

I just can't believe he's already in the third grade! Why do the years have to go so fast??

Do you see that little munchkin up there trying on her big brother's new backpack? It won't be long until she's starting school too....aaaaahhhh I can't even think about that!!!







Summer Recap

Well, I can't deny it anymore, the summer is officially over. Riley starts school tomorrow, and Jack already started a couple of weeks ago. I'm sad to see it go, but I'm also looking forward to the Fall. But, before we start planning birthday parties and picking out Halloween costumes I wanted to show a few pictures from the summer that never made it into posts:

So, are you sad or excited to see the summer end?

Busy, Busy... and a Giveaway Winner Announced!

Hey Everybody, can you believe it's the first day of September already?! Summers should not be allowed to go by that quickly. Oh well, I'm getting over it by staying busy, busy, busy. I'm currently working on an order for the typewriter, and a custom piece. Any guesses what it is?

I'll show it to you when it's finished. I've also been working on a couple pieces for fun (I'll show you those soon too, jeez who knew this post was going to be so mysterious?) and I'll get to start working on the giveaway piece soon.


Speaking of the giveaway, I should probably announce a winner! Okay, here it is, not going to keep you waiting anymore, nope no waiting here, the winner is ...  Kara !

Congratulations Kara!!!

Kara, please email at averlygetscreative@gmail.com to figure out the details!

I really really want to thank everyone that entered, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I put off doing a giveaway for awhile because I was worried nobody would enter, I'm so glad I didn't wait any longer because it was so much fun! I can't believe there were 66 comments, you guys are awesome!

Thank you so so much, and I hope you have an awesome first day of September!