Mimosa In Bloom

Our Mimosa tree is finally in full bloom.  It makes my heart happy!

The tree is covered in these little pink puff balls.

The power lines really add to the beauty, right?

I can't believe how much this tree has grown since we bought the house nine years ago.  I suppose it's time to trim it a bit.

At night the little leaflets close up.  They open up again in the sunlight of the next morning.  It's so cool.

The leaves do the same thing during a storm, and we've had several storms this week.  I waited for the rain to let up, and then I ran out and took a few pictures.

The storm knocked lots of the little blooms off, and they were like confetti in our back yard.

One thing I can't show you is the amazing smell.  These cheery little pink puff balls fill our back yard with a sweet floral aroma. 

I'm a total sucker for this blooming tree.  It makes me all nostalgic about when we bought our house.  We're hoping it'll hook some other poor sap as we try to sell our house.  :)

Jessica

How To Fix Broken Blush

Friday morning I was putting on my makeup, and I accidentally dropped my blush.

Dropping (and therefore breaking) my makeup is one of those things that makes me stand there dumbfounded, wishing I had a time machine to go back and undo.

This is what my blush looked like after the fatal fall:

In case you're wondering why there's a heart, it's because my blush originally looked like this:

Lucky for me, I remembered something I saw on Pinterest the other day:  How To Fix Your Broken Powder Makeup.

I pulled out our bottle of isopropyl alcohol that we've had for a lifetime (does anyone ever use an entire bottle?).

I ended up mixing in about a capful of alcohol to the pieces of broken blush so I could mash them all together.

Here's my salvaged blush:

After drying overnight, it's ready to go!

Jessica

Vacation Pictures--Everything Else

You've seen our beach and pool pictures and our family pictures from vacation.  Here's the final installment of vacation photos.

The little girls:  Nora, Layla, Josie, & Lauren

Griffin and Alex lounging, eating beef jerky, and discussing life

Charlie's family owns a shop called Moody's Quality Meats in Corpus Christi, TX.  Charlie brings the most delicious meats possible for our vacation dinners.  We basically worship him all week because he feeds us unbelievably good food.

We were on the 22nd floor of our condo.  My brother took this picture of me sitting on our balcony while he was down on the beach.

We happened to be there when there was a big boat race near our condo.  I can't remember the name, but it was basically like NASCAR for speed boats.  We had perfect seats from our balcony.  It was super duper exciting to watch.  These were the 1st and 2nd place boats.

View from one side of our balcony

I love when the sun's rays look like this.  This view is from the balcony off our bedroom.  You can see the Orange Beach water tower.

Nora and I were out on the balcony on a windy day, and I took several pictures of her.

A famous Nora face

All that swimming wore Nora out, and she fell asleep on Layla.  Josie was snuggled in, too.

Nora made herself a perch by stacking pillows on a chair.

The kids did these scratch-off colored turtles.  This one is Griffin's, and he wrote "I love Mom."

We all went to Fort Morgan, which was used by the military in four major wars.  It was cool to see the history and teach our kids a little.

Thank you, Jared, for setting such a great example for the children.

We tried to get a family photo, but some of us were too hot and grumpy.

On the day when each family chose their own activities, we went to The Track.  It has several go kart tracks, tons of kiddie rides, and arcade games.  Nolan barely made the height requirement to drive on the intermediate track.

Lauren and Nora on the carousel (my cousin's family was at the same place we were, and the kids got to ride some rides together)

Griffin's favorite:  riding in the engine of the train and ringing the bell

Jared drove each boy on the biggest track.

We all went to TCBY for dessert one night.

All the kids at TCBY

Eating at Lambert's Cafe in Foley, Alabama, is always a vacation highlight.

The kids played on the train outside the restaurant while we waited.

Nora got cold in Lambert's, so Kristi ("Aunt Twisti") wrapped her up in her sweater.

Nora loves a good chicken leg.

We always look forward to crab hunting at night.  My kids have their own nets and headlamps.

I love how everyone gathers around whenever someone gets a crab.

We were just getting started.  This bucket really filled up!

Jared holding a crab

Jared teaching Griffin how to pick up a crab with his fingers

He did it!

Nora's headlamp slipped down, and she just kept running around with it like this!

Daddy helping Nora get a crab in her net

Kids at the end of crab hunting

It was fun having the kids sleeping in our room.  They were each in a sleeping bag on the floor.  We enjoyed the coziness of sharing a bedroom.

Ahhh, vacation.  I miss it already!

Jessica