Sorry for my sudden disappearance.  I’ve been relaxing with my family.  And working on my kitchen.  And First Birthday Partying.  And enjoying every second of all of it.

I guess I’ll recap on the staycation I enjoyed last week.  My nephew had a blast sharing popsicles with my daughter.  Her first popsicle… she loved it!  She wore her Italian bikini all week… thanks Erin!!

I had lots of qualified help with Sloane last week. For some unknown reason she suddenly hates getting her jammies on and having her diaper changed.  I had a team effort here- my mom and my sister… and I think Sloane thought we had all lost our minds.  I’m sure my sister is saying something about how I need to take charge and handle the jammy dressing with authority.  She’s got two more kids under her belt… so I just stood back and watched her in action. We stayed at the most kid-friendly, fun house on the planet!!!

My sister did a tribal dance across the beach every night as she brought the beach umbrellas back up to the house.

Sloaney B and I spent a lot of quality time together in the baby pool!

Sloaney and my Mom.  I say “pat your Momma” and that’s what she does… pats her Mom.

I shouldn’t post this makeupless photo of myself… but that sunset… it was magnificent.  Thank you Lord for sunsets!!

And another of my little birthday girl.  She loved her beach vacation!  She misses her cousins!  I miss my family!

My loving husband stayed back at our house most evenings to keep the kitchen remodel trucking along… because after all there was a little birthday party deadline approaching. I went home on Thursday night.  We worked our buns off.  Two hours of sleep.  Got the kitchen presentable for Sloaney’s little birthday party.  It was just family and a couple of close friends, who of course love us regardless of our kitchen, but it was a good reason for a deadline.

I worked with sweet Megan @ Toast & Laurel to design her birthday party invitations.  I had a large piece of Sea Cloth’s “Beach Stripe” fabric that I planned to use as the table cloth and let it set the color scheme.  I mailed Megan a swatch so she could match it up!

Thanks to our sweet friends in Arkansas (Jennifer & Erin) at Nesting for Sloaney’s adorable plates- the colors couldn’t have been more perfect!!  (they sell the plates, if you are interested!)

I’m not prepared to do a full kitchen remodel post just yet, but here’s a sneak peek…. and a big party mess and my father.

I cannot believe my little Bologna Sandwich is already a year old… time flies when you’re having fun!  I am blessed beyond measure.