A Christmas Parade

 Every December my family participates in a little Christmas parade.  The Miracles Christmas Parade is in it's 6th year of existence and is so much fun! All of our cousins who can come out to ride with us.  Most of the time the girls ride on the trailer while the guys are in the truck. 

 For some reason we are the only family that has a float. 

 We love it.  We sing, wave,wish everyone wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and try not to freeze.

Until next year, Merry (late) Christmas from the original family.

Connar's Grown Up Barbie Party

My youngest sister Connar graduated from high school in May. Time has flown by!

Calli and I threw a little vintage Barbie party for her and her friends. 

 Nothing says vintage Barbie like her silhouette, so we started there.  Calli made a giant Barbie canvas to go above the fireplace.   

We also screen printed Barbie onto tank tops and then added a bow for her pony tail which turned out super cute!

TJ Maxx had some vintage Barbie cards which turned into a fun garland to go over our pink crepe paper curtains.

We had a great time!  We made up a mad lib for Connar's life that all the girls filled out after they ate. If their predictions come true Connar could end up "flying Japanese kites in sweatbands" or "bird watching in Spanx." All wonderful aspirations. 

After we made all of the girls stand up and read their mad lib (yep, we're both teachers) the girls had fun in our own make shift photo booth. 

 After everyone left my mom, Calli, and I had a little fun of our own!

 I laughed harder than I had in a long time!

 It was a hit!  I can't wait to throw another party for her when she graduates from college!

The Ultimate Shed

When I bought my house the backyard looked terrible.  No blade of grass in sight, giant holes in the dirt, and rotten fruit on the ground.   It looked terrible, but what looked worse was the shed...

The people who lived here before me used their shed as a combination of junk storage and dog house.  It was dark and dank with mysterious spots rotting through the floor.  It was not the most inviting place. 

Plus, the dogs decided to eat the walls.  Which seems really appetizing and safe.

When I was looking for houses, I knew that I needed one with a shed of some sort for storage.  At that time I was an itinerant teacher and had to store all of my school stuff at home, and I had a ton of stuff.

For my birthday, my dad decided that he was going to "pimp out my shed".  I wasn't exactly sure what that meant, but he had been watching a lot of the DIY channel.

He started with the floors.  He had to rip out and replace the sub floors.  It was a big job.  I wasn't much help, but the acoustics were great so I did a lot of entertaining singing and dancing numbers.

Then we installed a new door, and put in new windows.  My dad made breaking through the sheet rock look super easy. 
 

Unfortunately, it wasn't.  I apparently didn't have the technique down because every time I would hit the wall the hammer would just bounce off.  I gave up pretty easily and went back to the entertaining. 

We finally got the wall out and the new window in.  I was constantly there with the camera.  My dad is just precious. He never even acted annoyed with my constant chatter. I guess being the father to four girls for close to 30 years has helped him be able to tune us out.  That or earplugs.

After that we started in on the ceiling.  I really wanted the ceiling to stay vaulted, so it didn't feel like a box.  It took us many nights of just staring up at the ceiling wondering how to do it.  It was a tall order, and a group challenge.  It turned out beautiful and made a world of difference though.  I sit in there and just look at it sometimes.

We then added electricity, redid the sheet rock, put new flooring in , and finally painted the outside and inside.  All hands were on deck.

And then we were finished (ish) with the actual structure.  The cabinets still needed put in, as well as,  my giant "workspace" countertop.

There are still touch ups to make, drawer pulls to add, and molding to finish.  It may get done...it may not.  I'm not worried about it.  Last night it looked like this...

I'm super happy with it the way that it is right now.  I know it sounds cheesy, but my shed is one of my very favorite places to be.  It turned out way girlier than I intended.  Almost everything in it means something to me.  I have notes from school parents, pictures from kids, homemade gifts from friends, and all kinds of other things filling my shelves.

I have paper chains, old mirrors, and a chair that takes me back to college.

This chair sat in the corner of my bedroom.  My friend, Allison, and I painted it eight years ago. On the front porch of our nasty college house.  There was a storm which caused spilled paint.  The rush to clean up the mess went on to cause a major wipeout.  I laugh every time I think about it.  I loved those days. In turn,  I love this chair.  It's where I sit and look at the ceiling.

 On the other side of the shed, I have yards of fabric that are waiting to be used for something.  They could be waiting for years. 

The stuff seems to keep multiplying.  Hopefully, I'll have some time to start making things soon.  But right now I am content to just look at it all.

I am super lucky to be able to have a place that I can go to if I want to sew, craft, or create.  But I'm even luckier that I have a dad & mom that put in so many hours of hard work in an effort to "pimp out my shed."

I just love it!