It's the Little Things!

Tonight we hung with Grandpa Jerry!
Convertible Rides.
Pizza/Wings in the park during football practice (Kyan ate afterwards).
Coldstone for ice cream afterwards! One of my dad's favorite places to take the kids and they LOVE when he mentions that they get to go! They were cheering so loud when he announced that he was taking them there after our picnic in the park!
Lots of tears from Lola when grandpa went up the hill home. Both wanted their grandpa to spend the night, but we aren't as good at persuading him, as we are grandma!
Hugs and kisses goodnight with promises of spending time tomorrow!
Really BIG love you grandpa!

"Let's do a silly face!"

Thank you Rae Lynn for teaching me how to use the timer on the old camera! LOVE that I can now plop it on the counter and take goofy pictures like these with my babies!

Tonight we did silly, sad, mad, suprised, and happy!
Really BIG love them!

Spring Door Decor

Seems as if I am always late getting my wreaths done for the season, but better late than never! Just when I think I have a favorite made (the Halloween Wreath used to be my favorite, then it was the Valentines Day Wreath) I get inspired and make another one that I can't wait to hang up!

ALL of the credit goes for the inspiration of this wreath goes to Jenny K. of Blue Sky Confections and her front door decor she made and showed off in the beginning of March!
Below is her beautiful version:
I happen to follow a lot of blogs and participate in linky parties (great way to find ideas) and she had been featured I believe on Tatertots and Jello! When I saw it, I knew I had to try my hand at my own! I find so many ideas via the blog world and can't wait to put my spin on them, which is one of the reasons I love to blog and join parties, the ideas are endless and the things people do are amazing and inspiring!

My Version:

Here is how I created my own version:
Purchase a 3D Letter from JoAnne's Fabric Store and wrap it in Jute (I didn't even know what this stuff was called before I read her blog, I know...shame on me! What I do know is that I had a TON of it in my craft room, purchased at Grandma's annual estate sale in her community for about 25 cents, the wrapper was just torn off, so I never knew the name of the stuff, just like the texture)!

It looks so pretty on the front side of the letter, but the back, not so much! Good thing it was getting glued to a frame and you wouldn't be able to see it!

Next up, spray painted birds! Yes, you read that right, I did say spray painted birds! I couldn't find the color I wanted, but found the shape, so I just sprayed them a shade of brown I had laying around the house (sorry for no before picture, they were cute, but full of too much color for what I wanted)!

Last thing I had to do was spray paint a frame that I found from the thrift store.
A little bit of a side note about me, I am kind of a hoarder of frames, when I see one with good bones, I buy it without really having a use for it, but knowing I will someday. I especially love old gold ornate ones and have great intentions to use all of them that are currently being stored in the closet of my craft room and garage! I even have Grandma Shipe on the hunt for me and almost every time I see her she has one picked up!
Ok, back on track. This frame was perfect because when I spray painted it Robin's Egg Blue, it didn't stick to all the parts, so it left a little of the brown poking through, which is what I planned on doing by sanding it, but didn't have to!

Now, put it all together!
Glue on the Jute letter, find the perfect dead branch that holds your "Welcome to our Nest" sign (first project made with my Silhouette Machine - so easy, but I didn't do a tutorial for it, I was to nervous making sure that it was working properly, made with two sheets of cardstock and a doily in between) and tie it to your letter with a ribbon. Glue on the birdes (one for mama, one for daddy), add your nest with two eggs (Kyan and Lola) inside, tie a ribbon around the frame and hang on your front door!

I LOVE the end result and think I may have another new favorite!

Easter in PJ's and Swimsuits!

We had a wonderful weekend together as a family! Saturday was a huge hit with extended family over for the entire day and was so busy, but Sunday was nice and relaxing and spent in our pj's and swimsuits, just chillaxin' together!
When the kids woke up with their crazy bed head hair (at almost 9am, they were pooped from Saturday's festivities) they walked right by their Easter baskets! We had to direct them to where they were (which was pretty much right in front of their faces)?!
After the excitement of the Easter Baskets wore off, the kids and headed to the pool! They swam for all of about 30 minutes before they headed inside to watch their new movies and get in their new pj's the bunny brought them, which left mama with about an hour and a half of alone time to bask in the sun (I may or may not have fallen asleep)! Thank you Easter bunny for that very unexpected treat!

Hope you all had a wonderful day, no matter how you spent it!

Shipe Family Reunion 2011

Yesterday marked the 2nd annual Shipe Family Reunion! Last year it was held at Grandpa and Grandma Shipe's house and it was awesome! This year, with our backyard complete, we were asked to host the party! We were so excited to have everyone enjoy our backyard as much as we do and it is really the first BIG party that we have held since it was finished in late August.

Our morning was crazy busy with a football game at 8am and dance at 9am, but Michael and Donna came over bright and early to get the backyard set up so that Chad and I could make sure the kids could still follow their normal Saturday schedule! Thank you both so much, that was a huge help!

When all was said and done, daddy did find time to pull Lola around the yard in the wagon while we waited for family to arrive!

As guests arrived, family pictures were taken:
Donna's Family & Grandpa and Grandma Shipe
We love and miss you Kristen, thinking of you in Utah!


Blaine's Family
Somehow he managed to get out of pictures...but Nathaniel was here!
Thinking about you Daniel (serving in the Navy).


Tammy's Family


Mark's Family

First thing on the agenda was to EAT! There was so much food and it was all so delicious! Pot luck style is how we roll at our family reunions!

From the moment the kids started arriving and took one look at the pool, they begged to go in! So that was the next thing on the agenda after lunch!
While Kyan was swimming away with (second) cousins, Lola stuck by me most of the time at the pool! The water is still pretty cold and she didn't enjoy getting splashed so much. She did love shaking her booty with me around the pool and we danced a ton out by the water!

There was an afternoon of fun and games planned as well:
I don't know who was more excited to break the pinata...the kids or Uncle Blaine (who happened to be the one to break it, imagine that)?!


There was never an empty seat at the Domino table and the boys had fun playing the Wii when they weren't outside!


Decorating Cookies!


Easter Egg Hunt!
Donna made it into a game, where the two oldest grand kids were the team captains (and let me tell you they were such good leaders, encouraging the teams and helping when they fell) and their teammates had to bring the eggs to the correct basket once they found them! The winners (everyone won) won bubbles and fun dip!

Daddy had to help Lola after she wiped out egg hunting to find the rest of her eggs! Such a sweet moment to me between the two of them.

Enjoying her newly won bubbles!


Plenty of time to chillax...

form new bonds...

...and pose for pictures!


AND speaking of posing for pictures (I giggle about this even as I write), Grandma had a special request. She brought a picture of her and grandpa posed with all of the grandchildren from years ago that she wanted to recreate, being that we were almost all together (sitting on laps and all)! Without knowing for sure, I would say it was one of the last pictures taken of all of them together up at the cabin (where the family used to go when my hubby was little for family reunions every summer - if someone knows please correct me - Chad says it wasn't at the cabin but offers no help, so I will leave it until someone tells me for sure)!
So here it is...way back when and now!
If you could have only heard all of the laughter and belly aching that was going on, it was too funny!

It was an amazing day together as family and it turned into a wonderful evening as well for those that stuck around (that I didn't photograph, just enjoyed)!


From our family to yours, we thank you for such a great day and look forward to next year!

Deviled Eggs w/ A Twist!

Last night we colored Easter eggs, but not how you would typically color them! Instead of coloring the outer shell of a hard boiled egg, we peeled the shells off of 4 dozen eggs and dyed the actual egg! Sounds crazy right?! But there is a reason behind this...

Each Saturday before Easter, it is becoming a tradition to get together with Chad's mom's side of the family (like entire family) and this year it is being held at our house! Each family member is in charge of a certain food/drink to bring and we decided to make deviled eggs to go with the sub sandwich and chips and dip theme! Well, being that it is Easter too, I thought it would be fun to make deviled eggs that actually looked like Easter eggs! As soon as I saw this idea over at Giggles, Glitz, & Glam I was sold! Her recipe is a little different from mine, but I loved her idea for dying the inside of the egg!

Step One: Boil as many eggs as your little heart desires! We are having close to 50 guests today, so I did 4 dozen!

Step Two: Once eggs are cooled, peel the outer shell, like the picture below on the left. I added the finished eggs on the right, so you can see what they look like when you are done dying them!

Step Three: Follow the directions on the back of the food coloring box to get the desired color you want. The kids loved dropping the colors in and mixing it up! We chose pink, turquoise, purple, orange, and mint green for our eggs!
*JUST FYI, I only boiled the water and did the drops, as I did not have the vinegar and it worked just fine!

Step Four: Wait and wait and wait (it seems like it takes forever) to get the desired color that you want! Like, some of them took an hour and a half to two hours to get as vibrant as we wanted them to, but they turned out so pretty, so it was worth it!

Step Five: Once the eggs are the color you like, set them back in the carton and let them dry off (see the first picture, on the right).

Step Six: Cut the eggs in half.

Step Seven: Put the yellow part of the egg in separate bowl (see step 8 for what to do) and the colored part of the egg on your serving platter.

Step Eight: Mix yolk, real mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and sweet relish together. I wish I had exact amounts to share for this, but I really just eyeball it. I know I used the entire container of mayo, from there...it is really to taste. I probably add more mustard then most, but I like my deviled eggs zippy!

Step Nine: Scoop yellow filling into a ziploc baggie and cut a hole in the corner towards the bottom, this lets you squeeze the the filling into the egg without mess and it looks pretty!

Step Ten: Sprinkle paprika onto the tops of the eggs.

Step Eleven: ENJOY and try not to eat them all gone before your guests arrive!

Embrace the Camera: Two is Better Than One

I am blessed.
One boy.
One girl.
Best Friends.

My kids LOVE each other and 99.1% of the time, play very well together.
I really think that as they get older, the better it gets!
Their love and friendship grows and they are always finding something fun to do together. Lately they have been playing "Castle" and will combine all of people toys (boy and girl figurines) and spread them all over the playroom and they do castle things?! They enjoy riding their scooters out front and playing in the sandboxes (really the horse shoe pits) out back!

Last night I caught them digging away, building something together.

After watching them for a really long time, I begged them to squeeze in close to me, so I could embrace the camera with them, sand toys and all!

Embracing the Camera with Emily and many other mamas today! You should too! Grab your babies and your camera and start snapping!