Jessica & Dan's Wedding

Bradley's brother got married in Burnett on a ranch a couple of weeks ago.  I was the photographer and you can view the pictures here.

Here are some pictures of our family and some of the beautiful details that this awesome couple put together.  I think that Jessica and I need to get together and craft because I can tell that she must be a pinterest queen too!

Here is Dan's face when Jessica started walking down the aisle.



The first kiss!



Dan, Jessica, and all the siblings.



Dan's side of the family.  (I know that's a lot of people in one photo.)



Emmy being silly.



You know Bradley found the food.



Their beautiful cupcake tower!



A close-up of the cupcakes.



Grandma Susan's hat was amazing! 



From previous posts, you have probably gleaned that Emmy likes to dance.  Well dance floor dancing at weddings is her favorite!



Watching the first dance with Pappy!



Quick pic for posterity sake...that way I knew I was there! ;)



Back to the dance floor!  This time Emmy was grooving with Christopher.





Then she moved on to dance with Grandma Susan.



She danced with Uncle Beau too.  I snapped this one because it was the first time they had ever met.



And of course a girl has to get a dance with her Daddy.  I love these two so much!



Shortly afterwards, Miss Emmy went home with Grandma and GrandBob so her dancing shoes were put away.  We stayed until after 2:00 A.M. (What! What!)  Apparently we still know how to party sometimes!  It was a beautiful wedding, and we are so very happy for Jessica and Daniel.

Fashion Diva

Emmy I didn't leave our house for TWO WHOLE DAYS.  We didn't go to the grocery store.  We didn't play on the trampoline.  We didn't go visit the new puppies at Nana's house.  We stayed at our house. Indoors.  On Wednesday we were waiting for the DirectTV people to come.  They were supposed to be here between 12:00 & 4:00.  They got here at 5:45, and I sure wasn't going to leave them here alone, so indoors we stayed.  --They also didn't finish until after 8:30

On Thursday, my little diva watched TV in her pjs and played with dolls while I sat in on  an online photography seminar on CreativeLive.  It was amazing!

Thursday afternoon, my dad called and said that he wanted all of us to go with him to Kemah to eat with my Uncle Ben before he went back to Washinton.  So...I guess that meant that we had to get dressed for the day.

So at 5:00 (p.m.) I started getting Emmy ready.  I grabbed a little sundress that would be cute but comfortable for the 1.5 hour trip.  It was, in my opinion, a cute dress.

I got her diaper changed and put the matching panties on, and it was time to put on the dress.  Emmarie looked at the dress, and here is where things got interesting.

Me: Emmy, let's put on your dress.
Emmy: I don't want to wear that dress.  I hate that dress.
Me: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HATE THIS DRESS?!?  I don't think you have ever even worn it. 
Emmy: (looks at me sullenly)
Me: You ARE going to wear this dress.
Emmy: (in an off-handed manner) Oh, okay.

I am practicing deep breathing techniques while writing this because it already gives me hives thinking about what she will be like at 16.

Here is a picture of the dress that offended the sensibilities of little miss. :)

My Cabbage Patch Kid

When I was little, I had a couple of Cabbage Patch Dolls.  When I got mine, I thought it was the coolest doll that I had ever received.  My aunt (only 7 years older than me) had lots of them, and I always wanted to play with them when I went to her house.

My mom bought me a book and cassette tape set that told a story about the Cabbage Patch.  It was full of songs and told a story about how the kids were born on the Cabbage Patch. You can listen to one of the songs courtesy of YouTube .here. **I can still sing most of the songs from memory that's how many times I listened to it.

Well fast forward to present day, and I have my own little girl who is in love with Cabbage Patch dolls.  She got three of them for Christmas this year, and she carries them around constantly. I decided yesterday that I needed to document this phase because who knows what she might like next week.

In the pictures below, you will see my very own Cabbage Patch Kid!  Two of the dolls in the picture with her were my Cabbage Patch Kids.  You can tell which ones are mine because they have the original yarn hair, and the dolls they make now have synthetic hair.



I had to do this one in B&W too because it's my favorite. :)





I love how you can see so many of the facial expressions that she makes on a daily basis. (minus the frowns...I didn't include those this time)







This is her "Surprise" face.  "Oh Mom, where did you come from?"



We may have tickled her a little too much at the end.





She had her own agenda when I was finished.  She set up her dolls (and Minnie Mouse) and posed for another picture.



All of these photos were made possible through the expert wrangling of one of our favorite "Emmy Tamers"--Aunt Rah Rah!

DIY Projects

Project 1: Mailbox Upcycle

Our mailbox has been a constant source of shame for me for a while now.  Everytime we go to Lowe's or Home Depot, I try to get Brad to buy a new one.  Mr. Cheapo has always refused.  It apparantly wasn't a "priority."

I decided to take things into my own hands.  I unscrewed the mailbox from the siding and took it inside a good scrub.  Once I cleaned it really well, I learned that it was originally white (not cream) and it was much rustier than I had originally believed.  I sanded down the rust as best as I could and I let it dry.




Now it was time for the best part.  Spray Paint.  I already had a can of black spray paint in the utility room, so I went with that color.  Free is Awesome.

I carefully spray painted the front, bottom, sides, and inside of the mailbox.  I did not worry about the back since it would be butting up to the siding.  I also didn't want to have to worry about the paint rubbing off and staining the siding.



I carefully applied to coats, and here is the final product.  I think it is a vast improvement over the original.





Project Cost: 50 cents worth of spray paint (and some elbow grease).


Project 2: File Cabinet.
Our file cabinet/filing system was a mess.  I'm not talking about just papers sticking out here and there.  I am talking about  digging through papers for two hours to find what you need messy. So I needed to fix it up, and isn't that what summer is for?

I bought this filing cabinet at a garage sale last summer.  It has served it purpose very well, and it even came with  hanging file folders (score!).  All of the papers that needed to be filed have been stored in an old diaper box.  Classy, I know.



Here is a shameful picture of the messy drawer before.  Notice that all of the folders are still labeled using the previous owner's labels.



All of the papers needing to be filed.



This is the nifty label maker that I bought to help me solve this dilema.  They are normally pretty expensive, but Office Max had them on special for $20. Whoop!



Here is an after picture.  I still need to get more hanging folders, but for now, at least everything is neatly labeled and organized.



I still need a holding area for mail when it comes in.  It is just not feasible for me to file stuff everyday.  So I wrapped the box in brown paper, and I bought some expandable folders from Target's dollar bin.  I think it is much prettier.






Not a beautiful permanent system, but definitely an improvement over what we had. The best part is that the only project costs were the label maker and label refils, and I will definitely use those again.

Project Cost: $30


Project 3: DIY Chalkboard

I have been wanting to play around with chalkboard paint for some time now.  I have countless pins about making your own chalkboard paint, and I even bought some grout so that I could try it out.  Since this was my first project though and since it wasn't giong to require a lot of paint, I decided to buy some chalkboard spray paint.

I friend of mine gave me some old cabinet doors.  I thought these would make perfect chalkboards.  I wanted one to go in my classroom and one ot go in my kitchen to use as a menu board.  Britt also made one.



First we cleaned the boards since they had been sitting out in the garage.  Then using acryllic paint that I already had a home, we painted the "frame" of the cabinet.  We put two coats on each of them because I didn't want any of the wood to show through.







Next we taped off the edges, and we started spray painting the board.  The instructions called for 2 coats.  We also had to wait 24 hours for it to fully dry before writing on the board.











This is what the board looks like after we pulled off the tape. I also had to go back and touch up the white edges because I was a little messy with the spray paint. Next time, I will probably get thicker painters tape.





Next, you have to coat the entire board with a layer of chalk to "cure" the paint.  If you don't do this, you will have a hard time getting any writing off the board without soap and water.



Then you can start writing! 



Final cost: $3.97 (cost of chalkboard spray paint).

Now to peruse Pinterest for some more fun projects to work on!   :)