The Actress in the Family

My sister in-law is such a phenominal actress.  She has already one

a Grand Award and we recently found out that she was nominated

for another one!  We're all pretty excited for her :) 

We all know how many changes we go through during college, and

Chelsea is no different.  She was in need of some new headshots

to send out for acting jobs, so we took a few one Sunday before

family dinner.  Here you go sis!

xoxo

Easy Fall Porch Decor

Football, Cider, Crisp Falling Leaves, Pumpkin Spiced Latte's....

FALL is here :)  I pulled out my fall decorations and just wasn't

as in love with my front porch decorations as I have been in

years past.  I rummaged around in the garage to try and

find some inspiration with things we already had

that I could do a quick facelift to and I am

so excited with the end result!  Take a look!

I started with this old milk jug, and sanded it up so I

could spray paint it a fun bright orange color.

Then I took an old black picture frame that I accidentally dropped and broke the glass in....ooops!  So happy I held on to it though!  I painted it yellow, then scruffed it up with some sandpaper.

Then I took some sticks from our yard and broke them up and spelled

out FALL and hot glued them together.  Then I

grabbed some yarn and hung them around the top of the jug!

HERE IT IS!!  I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! 

Paired it up with a $1.99 fall flower/pumpkin planter thing I found at Goodwill

and ta-da!  An easy and fun updated fall porch project! 

If you have any fun diy ideas, please share them with me!  I'm always

up for a fun crafty challenge :)

Here He Is!

I've been REALLY excited to get these pictures up!  I spent

so much time with Jake and his family the day we took pictures, and we

had a blast :)  It's always nice when the person behind the lense

is giving some genuine smiles that day too =)

So....here you go Jake!  I hope you have an amazing senior year!

For My Baby

I am so proud to be a mom today.  There are so many

things going on, and available to us now to make the lives of children today safer and healthier.  When I was pregnant, I swore up

and down that I was going jump on the clothe diaper

band wagon.  That didn't exactly happen....  When the realization hit

me of JUST how many diapers you actually go through with

a newborn, it was a bit of a reality check!  I just couldn't

find myself to do it.  For you mom's out there who

not only lose sleep and your state of mind at times...I SO ADMIRE YOU! 

What an amazing woman you are to sacrifice yet one more part

of your day!  I'd high five you if you were here talking to me ;) 

Anyways!  I still want to do as much for Lily as I can.  I grew a garden this

year and when planting it thought, "Why not throw some veggies in here and

try out making babyfood!?"  Oh my goodness, when I looked into it I could not believe how simple it is!  Seriously ladies, you steam or bake your veggies, throw em in the ole food processor and walk away while they puree.  It's amazing.  SO simple and you know EXACTLY what you're feeding

to your little one.  And think of how much money you will save!

I just had to snap some pics and post about my first time making Lily carrots.  I couldn't believe how fast and simple it was, and that was

with a whiney teething 5 1/2 month old clinging to me most of

the time!

 Just chop up some carrots and throw them in to steam, if
you need to buy them definitely go with organic!

 Throw em in the ole food processor, you'll need to add a bit of

water.  I used the water that I steamed them in.

Once they were all smashed up, I put them into ice cube trays to

freeze them

 I used 3 lbs of carrots and they filled three trays.
Then just pop em in the freezer to harden up

I suggest having a glass of wine and some cheesecake after that's all done :)

  Once froze, they pop out SO easy! 

Then put them in a freezer bag with the name/date and anytime
you need to feed your little munchkin grab a cube and let it thaw out :)
Each cube is about 1 ounce so you know just how much you're feeding.

I hope you do try this for your little one.  I've already gotten apples, squash, green beans, pears and carrots as you saw.  The hubby is hoping

this doesn't get in the way of all my big people canning!!!

Hilarious Cousins

Jake is going to look like the star of my blog this week!  Not only

did I take some pictures of him and his sister, he also has a

cousin who is also a senior this year.  Cameron met up with us

to sneak into some of Jake's senior pictures.

These two were cracking me up- I had to keep asking

if they were putting on a show, or if they are always

crazy and fun when they get together :)

Don't you just love these two!?

I was so nervous snapping these, but luckily they both

had perfect landings :)

Brother and Sister...all grown up!

I had the pleasure of doing Jake's senior pictures and his mom asked if we could try to recreate some pictures of him and his sister Kyra from when they were just little tots!  We had such fun trying to find the exact spots

the pictures were taken, along with trying to get the poses

identical to the originals. 

I haven't posted anything recently with all the editing I've been doing, so I thought I'd toss a couple of these cuties up here in the meantime. 

Stay tuned....I will be posting LOTS and LOTS of

pictures of just Jake soon :)

I LOVE this one :) 

Mom looking at a snapshot of them as little kids trying

to get their pose JUST right. 

Thanks for sneaking into some of the shots Kyra!