A Cute Tote Bag & the First Day of Summer (Plus Our Summer Fun List)

I've been thinking about adding some small and medium tote bags and zippered pouches to my Etsy store, but...I'm not sure. I made this one as a gift (well, if it didn't turn out right, then obviously it would never have seen the light of day), and I think it ended up looking very pretty- and with all those pockets on the outside, quite useful too!  =) Here is a pic:

(I'll post more photos over at Rose & Ruffle if you want to see// okay, they are HERE)

Isabelle adored her teacher this year, and while she was happy about summer beginning, her little eyes would tear up at the thought of not seeing her beloved Mrs. A everyday. So sweet. I know exactly how she feels, both as the student and the teacher. Change is exciting but also sad, too.

Of course, as is tradition with us, the very last day of school is celebrated with ice cream sundaes for dinner (the main course is dessert). Yum! I got the new Celebration kind which claims a likeness to ice cream cake. It was pretty good, but nothing can take the place of real ice cream cake, even if the cake is made out of, well, ice cream. We also pooled together our ideas for summer fun and have our official list completed and hanging on a door in the kitchen where we can see it all the time. I love love love summer fun lists!

Ethan has already pointed out that I included a repeat, ha. So maybe we'll do that twice!  ;) Do you see it?

The stinker also created the best tie-dye shirt. Me, on the other hand? Not such a knack for the ol' tie-dye. Until inspiration hit, and then I got an idea to do little twists all over and it came out muuuuuuch better than my first attempt. Truth be told, for the mess and mishap involved, not my favorite activity. But it was on The List so it gave me something to cross off. That totally makes it worth it.  =)

I woke up super early this morning for no particular reason, and after getting sick of not finding a comfortable spot (or being able to shut my brain off), I couldn't stand it any longer and just headed downstairs. Before I knew it, I was organizing sewing things, cleaning the kitchen, working in the yard, taking a nice walk, all before 6 AM. Then it was time to make apple pancakes, per request of my new little 2nd grader. Gulp. I'm not going to say that, write that, or think that again until I absolutely have to, two months from now. At this very moment, she is upstairs in the bath belting out her little heart along with the Frozen soundtrack.

So is Ethan, sitting down here near me, though he'll tell you he's only singing along to make fun of it. HA HA

I'm not buying it- he knows every word by heart.

....the past is in the paaaaaast...  ;)

ps- some favorite summer fun posts can be found here and here.