Thrifty Thursday- Recycled Cabinet Doors

Just wanted to let all you creative people know that Dave has several mismatched/wrong size cabinet doors in his shop that are just begging to be used for something wonderful. Oh, the things you could do with these! He'll sell them to you for a steal. I just turned a couple of them into menu boards for a wedding by painting the recessed part with chalkboard paint. You could also put tin in it for a magnet board, or vinyl or wood letters, or fabric, or hooks for a towel rack, or ????

My Baby Turns Four

My littlest angel, Avery turned four years old on Mother's Day this year. I know everyone says it, but where did the time go? She has been a joy to us since the minute she was born. I kept waiting for the terrible twos to hit, then the terrible threes, but it just hasn't happened yet with her. She's four and still just an angel. Completely obedient, and loving, and complimentary, and snuggly, and positive, and smiley. She wakes up in a good mood and brightens every day. She calls me either Mama or snug-a-bug. Now I'm just bragging, but I can't help it. I just love love love this kid. Now here's my baby riding her bike (sigh.)

Well, we've been partying all week for Avery, so here's a LOT of pictures. She wanted a Hello Kitty Cupcake party. You can see she was thrilled when she saw her cake!

Avery just loves the spotlight, so she thoroughly enjoyed every minute of her birthday celebrations. We were just about to sing happy birthday to her when there was a knock at the door and a very special visitor came by to see her.

It was none other than Mr. Barack Obama! (You have to know that Avery talks about him all the time as if she knows him, so we thought it would be funny if he showed up to her party.) Now, she wasn't exactly thrilled to see him on our front door, in fact she was scared to death and wouldn't look at him until we explained to her that it was just a picture of him, not the actual president. Then she thought it was pretty funny.

She's warming up to him . . . . . .

Avery and her main man Barack Obama . . .

It was such an honor to have him join us for cake and ice cream! We celebrated Avery's birthday and Mother's Day with my Mom and my sister and brother.

Now on to the PRESENTS! She absolutely loved every present she got (except for the clothes she tossed aside, but Mom loves them, thank you very much) This doggy wags it's tail and she would giggle and squeal at it.

This is the one she's been dreaming about, a Swim-To-Me-Puppy.

Hey, this is a great way to get your kids to take a bath more often!

After partying with both sets of grandparents, we had a party with her little friends.

The invitation.

The Welcome sign.

Just add girls for a whole lot of fun!

Pin the whiskers on Hello Kitty . . . .

Freeze Dance . . . .

I love Amanda doing "the chicken" in the back.

Not sure why she was a chicken with a Hello Kitty mask on :) These girls make me laugh, they are all SO cute. We also played Hello Kitty Hide-N-Seek, where they wore their masks and pretended to be kitties.

The Presents . . . . .

The Tea Party . . . . .

Avery's favorite: CUPCAKES!!!

And of course while we ate pink cupcakes, I had to read them the story of "Pinkalicious".

Later we went to lunch with her friend Zach, who couldn't make it to the party, which was probably more fun for him than hanging out with 6 girls anyway . . . . .

Thank you to everyone who made this so special for Avery. We have some really great friends and family and we love all of you.

Thrifty Thursday- My Sweet Chairs

I had the blessed opportunity to attend a photography workshop with the legendary Steve Mackley giving us some of his professional tips and advice, and it was the quickest 5 hours I've ever spent. Not nearly enough time to absorb it all! It left me wanting to learn more. We had three beautiful girls who were so patient to pose for the entire time for us (and probably had a major headache after all those flashes going off for hours.) Maybe I'll post some more of the pics from that shoot if I ever get time to go through them. But for now, I just wanted to post this to show you one of my favorite thrifty finds- My sweet yellow chair. I won't even tell you how much I paid for it, because then you'll all want to go out and get yourself one, and I don't need any more competition at DI. Things like this get snatched up within minutes of going out on the floor.

Yes, Dave thinks I'm crazy every time he sees me bring home another beauty like this, but my photography friends know what I'm thinking, right? You can't find color like this just anywhere, you have to go back a few decades! You can see some more pictures my talented friends took using this chair here or here.



Speaking of color, here's another chair I just knew was coming home with me when I saw it. They don't make this color anymore! Isn't is gorgeous? This one is in Bailey's room for now, but it would make some funky photography too. I'm thinking I want to redecorate Bailey's room around this chair.







































My favorite is the cute button detail. I'm thinking these chairs have so much personality, they need some names. Any ideas?

Thrifty Thursday- Cinco De Mayo

I love this holiday because it's a reason to eat Mexican food (as if you need a reason) and have a party. I didn't realize it was Cinco de Mayo until that morning, so I gathered all the Mexican dishes and decorations I could find in my house. Here's a quick last minute decoration idea that is practically free! Love it when it doesn't cost anything. As long as you have an embroidery hoop (that I think I got for about a dollar) and some leftover crepe streamers from all those birthdays. Take the loops apart and drape long pieces of streamers over the inside hoop.

























Keep adding streamers to cover the entire hoop. (I think Avery is getting the hang of my blogging habits, because when she saw I was making something, she got out the camera and started taking my picture and I didn't even ask her to!)



















When you've covered the inside hoop, add the outside hoop to it to secure streamers in place.




















Tie up with fishing line to hang it. Too bad the weather wasn't nice, we wanted to have it outside. May 5th should be nice weather, right?

My collecion of Mexican dishes..... Thank you Dollar Tree. The Woodruff's joined us to celebrate and together we made a delicious meal and listened to some salsa music and sipped margaritas. We were all impressed when Dan offered a prayer in spanish. Here's a super easy, super yummy recipe for Cafe Sabor's Pollo Durango.

2 chicken breasts, cubed

1 c mushrooms

butter

1/2 c shredded monterey jack cheese

1/2 c sour cream

3/4 c tomatillo enchilada sauce (Cafe Sabor sells theirs at their restaurant)

cilantro

tortillas

Sautee the chicken, mushrooms, and butter in a pan. In another pan, cook the cheese, s. cream, and tomatillo sauce until creamy. Add a little cilantro to the chicken, then combine with the sauce. (I tripled this recipe). Serve with tortillas. Yum.

And my new favorite: Chocolate, Chile, and Cinnamon Brownies

2 pkgs brownie mix (any kind) follow directions then add:

1 1/2 tsp. Chile powder

1 1/2 T cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla

Topping:

2 T powdered sugar

1/2 tsp chile powder

I love these so much, I think I should have been born Mexican. Janette brought some delicious fried plantanes and spanish rice. I need to get those recipes too!

A Grand Afternoon

My long-time high school friend Lis and I started a tradition with our daughters when they were little, and each spring we get all dressed up for a fancy girls' day out at the Grand America Hotel. Bailey looks forward to this all year, when she can go to "the Castle" with Lexi. She twirls through the halls and sits on the furniture, pretending it is her palace and she and Lexi are the princesses.

After a fabulous luncheon of fancy foods I can't pronounce, and the famous bread pudding (my mouth is watering just thinking about it), it's out to the gardens for a stroll. Lexi is pretending to fall into her fountain.

While we were visiting, our beautiful "princesses" found some snails in the garden that they made their pets and ended up coming home with them. So maybe they're not as girly as they pretend to be.

Meanwhile, the boys in our family were off with their friends doing what boys love to do.

Building paper rockets and launching them way up in the air.

Pretty soon the neighbors were showing up. It's true, if you build a rocket launcher, they will come.

Family

It's not often that all five of us siblings are in the same place at the same time, but thanks to my brother's wedding, this was able to happen, if only for one day. Unfortunately, we are missing Kollin in this picture because he was honeymooning with his wife. So here's four out of five. (Brett, Me, Nessa, Logan)






My brother Brett was visiting from Alaska for the weekend, and so we got to soak up some precious hours with him. It wasn't enough though, only left me missing him more. He gave Cade and me some pointers on playing pool (I didn't realize Brett was an expert pool player and competed on a team back home!) He humbled me in a game when he cleared the table in one- ok, maybe two, turns.

Cade was pretty impressed, to say the least.

I miss Brett.

Well, it's official, my brother Kollin and Becca are married! If anyone remembers a post about this a year ago, yes its true they already got married, but apparently the first time wasn't exactly legitimate. Whooops! So we get to celebrate AGAIN, and hey, we don't mind celebrating twice! It was fun walking downtown with the entire wedding party and cars honking at the bride and groom to congratulate them.

I've seen alot, and I mean ALOT of wedding receptions, but this is one that will always stick out in my mind. It was a dinner party on the stage of the Egyptian theater, and it was really quite stunning. Becca's sister did an incredible job of setting the stage in all black and turquoise, with gorgeous crystal garlands hanging down the curtains.

This guy was playing some instrument I can't remember the name of right now, and wearing a kilt. It was beautiful. The music, I mean.

I was having trouble getting any pictures with the lighting on stage that was throwing me off, but here's a few that turned out. I love the look on Kollin's face here- such a proud groom.

Here's my niece as a pretty little flower girl- She is 8 going on 18! Look at her holding her water glass like queen Elizabethe. What a sophisticated little girl! This is my handsome eligible brother, Logan. I think he looks a lot like Matt Damon, no?

And here's some pics of Elizabethe's birthday last weekend. Her choice of activity was this awesome indoor swimming pool- what a great idea! There's a circular whirlpool where the water spins around like a toilet bowl flushing, and once you get in it's a struggle to get out! The kids thought this was hilarious. Of course Avery, being obsessed with the potty talk right now, kept saying "Look at me, I'm a poop in the toilet bowl!"

Elizabethe is such a happy girl and loves to give hugs. She has the sweetest little voice and gives the nicest compliments. She was all about butterflies this birthday. We sure love her. Happy Birthday, sweetie!