We went to the local Independence Day Festival.
Connor got a George Washington tatoo.
Spencer finally got to try one of those giant Turkey legs.
And win a few prizes.
All of the above was done on Friday, July 3rd because it RAINED all day July 4th. Our friends, Denise and Joey came to visit us from Ohio over the weekend. We had a great time with them and the boys can't wait for them to come back and have a Pictureka rematch!
Isn't she just the cutest little thing! She joined our family on Saturday. She is a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier and has the sweetest disposition. She was really nervous her first day with us, but yesterday really started to show those good ol'puppy traits.
We did lots of research to make sure we found a breed that would be great with kids, didn't shed (a high priority on my list!), and would stay a medium size dog. Some friends of ours have a Wheaten and just love him, so we decided this would be the dog for us.
Connor is constantly in her face. This is so funny because he has always been a little nervous around dogs and was not too sure about getting a dog that would actually live with us. This is one of the reasons we wanted to get a dog now, we didn't want him to continue to be timid around dogs. Let's just say that Maggie is the dog for him! Saturday night I was kidding with him about not wanting a dog, and that he wouldn't leave poor Maggie alone, and he says, "But I like this dog!"
It has been a long time since I had a puppy around and today I'm feeling pretty tired. It has been a couple of late nights and early mornings trying to get her crate-trained. We took her to the Vet this morning and she checked out great! She was a very good girl getting her shots and letting the doggie dr. check her out.
And needless to say the boys are loving having a new puppy. You should have seen Chris have her dance to Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The boys were cracking up, and Maggie was not sure what the heck she has got herself in to!
We love you Maggie! And I promise to not let those boys torture you too much!
For the most part I am done with the room. I want to do something with that blank spot next to the big clock there, but I'm not sure what yet. I have more of the Ikea rails I can put up or I might hang some layouts. Just not sure yet. And I know I will probably move some things around as I actually get in there and start creating some stuff. 
Just some different angles of the room. It was hard to take pictures with those windows. I tried with the blinds open and shut, but it didn't really make a difference in the pictures. I do love having natural light to work in now!
These are the Expedit shelves I got from Ikea when we went over Memorial Day. Love these! Right now they are holding my paper, punches, stamps, and lots of misc. things.
The next two pictures are of the closet. I love the shelves I have in here!
This particular side is right behind my desk chair.
This is my cricut table. I got that table from Ikea last year and it fits perfectly between those two windows. I cut the vinyl on the wall with my Cricut. I thought that saying could have a couple of different meanings. KWIM?? ;-)
And I think my favorite part of this table is the little shelf/drawer things that hook right onto the legs. I put my Cricut carts in them. You just swing them out to get what you need, and then they swing back under the table out of the way.
And here is my vintage wall that I previewed a week or so ago. I got those dress forms at Marshalls. I love hanging my ribbon on them. And the shelf I got from Home Decorators Collections. I like hanging my mini books from it.
And this area is my cozy little nook! I got the chair from Ikea. I wasn't planning on getting a chair for the room, but when I saw it I just knew it would fit perfectly. And I made the ribbon flowers that are on the wall. I love how they turned out! I got them to stick using Elmer's Tack. That stuff is great! I got it at Michael's. I also used it to help keep the scissors and big clock on the wall.
Here is a close up of the ribbon flowers. The watering can I got a long time ago at Hobby Lobby. I just put it up on the wall with a couple of nails.
So there it is! My new scrap room! If you have any questions about anything in my room, just leave me a comment. I will be happy to answer!
And now I get to award this to 7 blogs that I love!
And I will say that this post is picture heavy because taking pictures of the Arch is so much fun! I just love how they all turn out!
And yes, I was laying on the ground to get the above shot. I was trying to take the picture by squatting down and this woman walking by yells out, "You need to lay down on the ground to get that picture!" So I did. :-)
Here are the boys in the little egg-shaped pod thingy that takes us to the top. It only seats 5 and they have 8 of them. So we did a quick math problem to figure out that 40 people could go up at one time. See, isn't learning fun?! 
And here we are at the TOP!
It looks like Connor is trying to crush that building with his finger. Ha Ha!
And this the shadow of the Arch from up top. And those little white specks are people. We are way up high!
In the base of the Arch is the Museum of Westward Expansion. This is us taking a self-portrait in the museum. The next two pictures are just a couple I took while we were there.
The next two pictures are what I call my "artsy" pics of the Arch. It was such a beautiful day to take pictures of it. I love the clouds behind it. Just beautiful!
And this last picture of my two boys is my favorite picture right now. I just love this picture. They look so handsome! This was taken on the Arch grounds. I took quite a few shots here, but this one turned out the best.
And now if you would like a little bonus to the many pictures you have already looked at here is a video I took with my Flip camera. I love that little camera. So handy! The video starts off in the waiting area before we get to go into our pod thingies (I'm sure there is a technical term for them, but I like calling them pod-thingies.) The next shot is of the boys going up into the Arch in the pod-thingies (I told you I liked that word!). Then the rest of the video is shot while we are at the top of the Arch. I will warn you that both boys took the camera for a short time and shot some of the video. If you get motion sick, Connor's video may not be for you! (Just giving you fair warning. ;-D)
We finally had a good, hot , sunny day. So we went to our neighborhood pool today along with everyone else in the neighborhood! I don't think I have seen it that crowded on a weekday afternoon before. It has been so rainy and kind of cool here until today and I think everyone wanted to get out of the house! This is the only picture I took. I put the camera back in the backpack after this and started talking to the neighbors and forgot to get it back out. I think this picture will do just fine for my picture of the day. ;-)
