going way back

i have quite a bit of catching up to do here. i figured i would start with one to make you laugh... this is us trying to get a family photo with the self timer and an 18 month old who really just wanted to explore....i just had to share this blooper. my own family was by far my hardest photo shoot yet :)i did get some cute ones in there though too.


more coming later.

thankful for:

this crazy bunch i'm so blessed to call my family

beautiful weather lately

healthy kids

a husband that is the most amazing gift i could ask for

i pinned it, i did it - recipes

while mom, dad and kenzie were in town i decided to try out some new Pinterest recipes. The first is called Angel Chicken. i had heard from a friend who tried it that it was awesome, and the bonus is that you cook it in the CROCK POT. i LOVE my crock pot so i had to give it a try. you can click here to go to the original recipe. she has it written out with lots of pictures and details so I'm just gonna have you go to her site. as always though, i improvised a little. because i didn't already have cooking wine, i used chicken broth instead and we served it with angel hair pasta instead of rice. still very yummy. the whole family loved it. you gotta try it!

next up was dessert. i wanted to try something a little different and special since we were celebrating Logans birthday. i had seen these caramel corn bars that Mrs. Baker pinned and knew we had to try them. it was a good thing there were a lot of people around to help eat it because it was so rich.

to be honest i had mixed feelings about it. i didn't care for the "soggy" popcorn. after you put the caramel all over the top the popcorn gets a bit soggy or gooey. i think i am going to try it again but just substitute rice crispies for the popcorn. i will have to let you know how it turns out. might try it for thanksgiving while we are with a bunch of family to eat it all up. here is the link the original recipe.... i just love pinterest and sharing our ideas. Mrs. Baker, have you tried this one yet?

yellow belt in the house

we have an official yellow belt living in our house! garret and his buddy sam started karate lessons about two months ago. they have really enjoyed it and it is a great activity for garret. he can still move and get lots of exercise but it is in a very controlled and quiet environment. we have been so proud of his progress so far. last night garret and sam tested for their next belt. they had to perform their Kata (a series of moves) and then perform the different kinds of kicks, punches and blocks they have learned so far. they both did great and were presented with their yellow belts! garret we are so proud of you. you practiced hard and built up your confidence and did an awesome job. keep up the great work buddy. we love you!

i pinned it, i did it- give thanks banner

i found these awesome marble leaves on Pinterest and had to try them out. a few weeks ago the kids had a few days off school and we got the craft supplies out and made our "give thanks" banner with this fun marble technique. you can go to the original post here.

what you need:

shaving cream

paint

card stock

scrapbooking letters

squeegee (i used a piece of card board)

what you do:

1.) i squirted a big glob of shaving cream into some of my baking pans (lined with aluminum foil, for easy clean up)

2.) add some squirts of paint in whatever colors you like. we used fall colors.

3.) carefully swirl the paint (we used straws) without mixing it all together. you want it to just look swirled.

4.) lay a piece of card stock onto the paint and shaving cream mixture. press down a little making sure all the paper is covered with the mixture.
5.) carefully peel the paper back
7.) squeegee the mixture back off the paper.
8.) sit back and admire your work and let the paint dry.
9.) while the papers were drying we went outside and collected leaves the shapes we wanted to cute our leaves out as.
10.) trace your leaf and then cut it out.

11.) after we had all the leaves we needed for our saying, i got a piece of fabric that i ripped into a very thin string. you could also use ribbon if you have some already.

12.) then i used my sewing machine and sewed each of the paper leaves onto the fabric. i just did them one by one, i never cut the thread, just one long continuous stitch. i would sew one leave on and then put the next leave on the fabric and just keep on sewing until i was done with all of my leaves. (sorry no pictures of this part)

13.) then i glued my scrapbooking letters on our leaves and hung for us all to enjoy.

photos to share

i have two new photo shoots to share with you over at my {bwid} photography site. check them out. one is of my niece and her girlfriends

and the other of my little sis.

Greeneville Women's Club Bazaar

last week was a really busy week, but really fun week. mom, dad and kenzie arrived in TN late on wednesday afternoon. they came up to help with my big craft show and for dad to attend a board meeting at the camp. we had a yummy dinner of bbq pork sandwiches and sweet potato tots.

the guys played twister
the girls crafted.... and then we crafted some more. all day thursday and friday we worked on making lots more product for the big women's bazaar on saturday and sunday.
thursday night we had a wonderful dinner of angel chicken, a yummy recipe i found on pinterst.
and we celebrated my brother logan's birthday. his dessert was also brought to you by pinterst. i will share both recipes later in the week.

friday night dad and dave headed to camp, mom and i headed to set up for the sale and kenzie was in charge of the kiddos. she was a great help these past few days.
so here is what our space looked like after set up friday night. we came back early saturday morning with a rug to make the space feel cozy. i don't have any pictures of it :( i can't believe i don't even really have great pics at all. these were just taken with my iPhone.


and here we are saturday morning getting ready to welcome the hundreds of shoppers. i have to say it was a very mixed crowd though. i think some people come looking for the same thing each year and just pretty much cruised right on past us. others loved our stuff. i can't complain though, we did well and had a good time.
we were on the second floor and this is a picture of what it looked like down below us. lots of vendors and lots of people.

i met this really cute and sweet team called Blue Bird Studios that was along the same lines as our stuff. they have a blog too, you will need to check them out.

so i think i might do one more this weekend. it will just be on saturday and for just a few hours. looking forward to seeing old faces and meeting new friends. big thanks to all our friends that supported us by stopping by the booth or by sending sweet encouragement on Facebook. i read them all to mom and she felt loved too :)

if by chance you missed me at the first two sales and you live in greeneville, come see me at Doak Elementary school this saturday.

halloween 2011

the last week or so has been full of making costumes, carving pumpkins, going to the schools Halloween Halls fun night, pre school parties and last but not least trick or treating last night.

i love halloween, always have always will. i still dressed up all the way up through high school :) fun memories. i don't dress up anymore but i love dressing my kids up. above is brenna trying out her blue macaw costume from the movie RIO. both girls wanted to be birds. i think they turned out so cute and they loved wearing them.

the above photo is one of jori at brennas little preschool party.. i just love that little face :)
we enjoyed halloween halls at Doak Elementarty, where garret and raelyn go, with some fun friends.
raelyn and brenna posing with raelyns kindergarten teacher
time to carve pumpkins!

they look so awesome... garrets, raelyns, brennas and jori's

all dressed up and excited about trick or treating!

jori was a cowgirl. she wore the boots that my little brother wore when he was a kid. so fun!


we meet up with family and friends and went trick or treating in a great neighborhood. here are the three boys in their ninja costumes. they had a blast.

so there is the very quick recap of our halloween. hope you got lots of candy and had a great time too.