Beautiful New Niece!

We're headed out of town for the weekend. But before we do, I want to introduce my newest niece (and the only one on my side of the family): Olivia Clara Smith!!

Picture stolen from my sister's blog.

I haven't gotten to see her at all yet (Texas is a pretty far drive), but I'm already smitten! She's one week old and because she wasn't actually due until September, she only weighed 2 lb 11 oz at birth. My older sister is amazing and though I'm going to miss 'being pregnant' together, I'm thrilled to have my brand new niece!

Pool Party, Anyone?

The HOA company for our condos went bankrupt and I think they're in the process of transferring our account to another company . . . I think. Something like that! I don't really know what's going on except that our pool now looks like this:

Wouldn't you love to jump into that on a hot summer day?!!

Independence Day Goodies

I love making this centerpiece every year out of mini flags. It may seem nerdy to some (ie, my husband), but it makes me smile!

I made this jell-o treat just for Brian & I to enjoy before we headed off to watch fireworks:
And I made 40 of these babies for Brian's family picnic. Incidentally, the picnic got canceled and I now have heaps of cupcakes in my kitchen! I was going to take them to the neighbor kids today, but they're a little dried out so I think I'll eat what I can & throw out the rest. Luckily, I hadn't put all the flags in yet when we found out it was canceled, so I'm saving those for next year!