Wedding

Memories of Summer

Our summer has really gone by fast, but I am glad school is back in because we need a little bit of consistency. After Megan's dance competition back in April we made a list of things that we wanted to do this summer, some we got done and some we didn't. One of the things was go to a drive in movie, we didn't make it to that but we did make it to the movie in the park, definately something we will remember.


Our summer also seemed to be taken up by a very big 4-H project-Sheep. This is something that the entire family was involved in and we really wont forget it. Megan did a really good job with her sheep and we are pretty proud of her.


Probably at the top of our list of things to remember this summer is going to our family reunion and renting a cabin in Island Park, and then spending two days in Yellowstone. We had some fun games that just the other day I was talking about with my brothers, definatly not going to forget the scavenger hunt for that reunion.

Lois' Memories of Summer Photos

Go over to Lois' blog to see all her Memories of Summer Photos. She's got some awesome pictures!!
http://flwblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/memories-of-summer-photos.html

Memories of Summer

I have to confess, at this point I don't even remember what I've done this summer...and I don't have too many pictures to show for it.

I spent many hours this summer making this rolled flower wreath from *vintage* book pages.

I went to my first estate sale ever this summer and got this window for $1. I've been to a couple other estate sales, they are kind of fun. Unfortunately a little foot kicked through the glass and broke the window.

At the reunion, they made rockets out of duct tape and shot them off.

At the reunion again--they had a toilet in a wheelbarrow to give rides. I never tried it, but mom did. She's always up to try anything out. Yeah---the toilet busted though, so this didn't last too long.

Old Faithful. Our immediate family reunion we stayed in Island Park in a cabin and went to Yellowstone.

One of the days we were in Yellowstone, we had a contest to see who could get license plates from the most states. We actually chased down a couple of cars to get theirs. We even saw Alaska and Hawaii.

Classroom Makeover

Okay--I don't know that you could really call it a makeover---but i changed a lot. My classroom is very organized, I don't like a lot of stuff laying around or having boxes piled up or anything like that. I like it clean and orderly. Funny thing is I will have a couple kids each year comment on how clean the room always is (obviously other classrooms are not this way). So, I decided I wanted to have everything coordinate. I did not realize what a big undertaking this would be. I started with a bulletin board border that is turquoise with different colored polka dots and took my colors from that. I've already changed a few things and it is taking a little getting used to. But, I think I am starting to really like it. (the pictures aren't so great--but classrooms are horrible places for pictures)

 I started out with these curtains--they're turquoise and then I ironed on some polka dots---this was way brighter than I am used to and reminded me of a circus---so, now I have these black ones with the cute ruffle strip.

 My Reading corner---remember the chair---then I found some cute black materials to cover pillow forms. Each of the pillow have a brightly colored cording around them.

On the wall of the reading corner I made some posters in Photoshop of quotes from books. I really like this wall, but I'm thinking it might need one more frame (I always think in odd numbers)

This is one of the best things I've ever done. I took paint cans, covered them in scrapbook paper and store extra supplies in them. I love them!!!!

Here are my wooden READ letter and lampshade.

Pretty much the only I bought to do all this is material and one more pillow form. Everything else I already had----ohh--and spray paint.

I have redone all my labels and tags to match the color scheme. I'm hoping it is too girly--but I really like it. However, I don't think I will undertake changing it all up again for a LONG time.

My room may look good, but I am far from being ready for school on Monday. I will be spending a lot of time at the school tomorrow. Maybe with no one else there and no more computers to fix, I will get something DONE.  Then, I look forward to sleeping all day on Sunday because I am exhausted.

Back to School Night treat

Instead of having Back-to-School night a couple weeks after school, we are having it before school starts this year. I thought it would be fun to have something for the students when they come. Merlynn had these Fun Dips she had bought after Halloween last year (sugar doesn't expire---right?). So, I came up with a completely cheesy little saying. But--they probably won't read it anyway.

 

I am attaching an editable PPT file for those who would like to download and use this. I had to recreate it, so it looks a little different than the picture.

Fun Dip tag-editable. Let me know if it doesn't work.

Last Auction Items

This has been an insane week. We just finished up the last auction items. I just really loved this material---so why not another bag (I think I have a slight bag obsession!)

 This next one is actually what Merlynn is taking to the auction. She bought the DANG cute box at Target, then we tried to come up with fun things that matched to go inside.

a fun pennant banner

a jar with fingernail stuff.

frame with a really great quotes (which i got from Less Cake, more frosting

this is a canvas that I created. I'd never heard this quote before,
\but I really liked it.

Auction Items

I meant to get all of these posted days ago...it's been that kind of week.
Anyway, here are some of the items we are taking to the family auction this year. It's been tough, I think I am getting all crafted out----NO IDEAS!!!

We've got a couple other things to finish. It is so hard to figure out what to take. Hopefully, someone will like this stuff.

Lois' Tastes of Summer

Visit Lois' blog for even more great pictures---I just love seeing how we each choose different things--but then we also overlap--love her rootbeer float!!!
http://flwblog.blogspot.com/2011/08/taste-of-summer-photography-shots.html

Summer Food

Shaved ice is a must have at our house. The little Snoasis in the Smith's parking lot is so good on a hot day.

The other day we had a hotdog roast and marshmellows, it was a lot of fun. I really like smore's and had some pictures but since they are already post I will just post the fire roasted marshmellow

Fair- Corn on the cob, need I say more. I really like this picture.

Tastes of Summer

This one was pretty fun to take pictures of---there are so many good things we eat that are associated with summer.
My favorite in the summer---peas and potatoes!!!
 Homemade ice cream (cinnamon--the best flavor)

 S'mores--the lazy, less messy way--on the grill. Have you tried the new flat marshmellows? They're pretty cool.

 Been eating a LOT of raspberries with cream and sugar. yumm..

I really hate to even say this, but....summer is about over. The next two weeks, the challenge is Memories of summer. This could be memories from this summer or past summers. They'll go up August 21.

Refinished Chair

I went to an estate sale a couple weeks ago with Merlynn. (okay---they should have just called it a big garage sale). They had several different chairs, and we have talked about getting a cute chair to use to take pictures. Well, I saw this chair. (Isn't it lovely?) I liked how it was lower to the ground, and the little bit fancier legs and stuff. I could see a little bit of potential---and, it was only $12---so, we bought it.

I got it home, looked at it and decided I was crazy. Luckily, mom was kind of into redoing this chair. I have a tendency to get really excited about a project and then when it doesn't all work out like I had dreamed---I lose interest. The chair didn't end up being very solid---it had already been fixed a few times. Luckily, dad helped with that a little. We actually took the chair out for a test run on pictures and Merlynn said it worked pretty well

I spray painted all the wood black (using my new spray handle!!!)

We decided that we needed to make it functional for everyday use as well. Since I am trying to spice up my

classroom a little, I decided I could use it in my reading corner. So, when we were at Hancock's, we saw this fun zebra-ish print and thought that would be cool. So...here is the refinished chair. Hopefully it will look alright in my classroom. We're going to have to try it with pictures and the new fabric now. Honestly, I was impressed, The fabric cost me $14, with the chair, that's a total of $25---not too bad.

Lightning Storm

Last night on the way home from the kids rodeo it was thundering and lightening really bad. We talked about how cool of a picture it would be so we hurried and tried to get things set up. We took probably over 100 pictures and got about 24 with the actual lightening in them. It was really kind of fun. I had the lighting set at flash, my ISO was at 320 and then it was on shutter speed and most definitely on a tripod. At first I tried to take them on auto focus and it was not working, then we set it on manual focus and we were able to get these pretty cool pictures.