What fun!!

While I do not do Pintist myself, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate all the lovely things that other people do pin. And the lovely-lovely things that are shared.  I discovered this fabulous blog- the Sassy Pepper-  through the beauty of Pintrist and I HAD to try it out!  So I did.  Results- super easy, super cheap and came out well.

 The picture here is too dark.  I was too excited to try this so I one-hour photoed them to Walmart so I could run out and buy canvas and mod-podge and get started.  I do like the way it turned out.  However, I was a bit heavy handed on the mod podge and that wasn't good.  It makes the photo a little glare-ey from certain angles.

So I tried it with my very favorite picture of my folks.  Much better!  Except I need to work on my border technique.  Perhaps black is not the way to go, I think.  But aside from that, I love it!

By the way, these were both 8x10 pictures on 8x10 canvas and I trimmed the pictures just a tad.

Marian decided she wanted to use some of the pictures from Africa to put to canvas as well.  I had gotten the 6"x6" four pack from Walmart as well.  We grabbed a couple of the photos from her Africa book (the one the pages were coming out of) and mod podged away.  Sadly, the pictures from the book wrinkled a bit.  I was surprised how well they turned out, because the bubbling was pretty significant at the beginning.

Yep, they came out nicely.  Marian picked the blue border paint.  I'm not in love with it, but she's happy. 

And now for some completely random pictures that I felt the need to share:

 This is the sign at the Baptist Church.  If you can't read it, it says, "Stop, Drop, and Roll does not work in Hell".  Makes me giggle every time I drive by.

And this is the creepiest, most disturbing Halloween costume I think I've ever seem.  And how spectacularly awesome, because it doesn't look too hard to do!  

Playin'

We had a lovely deluge of rain last week.  Since the pool is closed, the girls decided swimming in the backyard was the next best thing, so they donned their swimsuits and headed out to play in the water.  The rain wasn't coming down hard enough so they employed the hose as well.

Thank Goodness they have a boat! The yard was quite the swamp about now. 

Ahoy Delaney! 

Oh yes, these girls know how to have a good time. 

And then it was time for a real bath.

Birthday Boy

Yes, someone had a birthday last week.  I've been thinking of him as "almost 11" for so long, now that he's finally 11, I keep thinking, "Isn't he older than that?"  

I love this kid.  He is so responsible and tries so hard to do the right thing.  I love that he is sensitive to his sisters.  Sure, he makes unkind remarks and will shout at them and (gasp!) has even been known to belt one of them.  But he saves snacks for them and buys things for them and loves them.  He makes sure they get to school and back home safely. He is a really awesome boy.

Joshua wanted a Chocolate Truffle Pie for his family party.  

 It was delicious! 

Just ask Delaney. 

 And the chocolate mustachioed Rylee!

For his friends party, Joshua wanted a Minecraft Cake.  This was the best I could do, but Joshua was pleased.  I suppose one day I will try fondant, but so far I have refused!

Unsupervised Children

The kids came home with a bucket of toads.  I knew that had the toads and I knew they were playing with them in the back yard. The kids knew that they would have to release the toads before dinner, so I wasn't too worried.  What I did not know was how much fun it would be to pick up my camera and discover this:

Obligatory First Day of School Pictures!

I know, no one but moms and maybe grandparents care about the first day of school pictures, but here they are anyway!! 

This school does the first day differently.  The big kids started school a few days before the Kindergarten did.  Delaney was so sad.  Callie was so cross, because it was not fair!

 Here are my favorite big kids, making silly faces before their first day of school.  I love these kids!  I especially love that Marian is smiling and that Joshua and Callie were being so goofy.

 And then the 3 of them did some hip thrusts for me and I laughed so hard I couldn't take any more pictures.  They are my favorites!  They did have a good first day and have had pretty good days so far.  However, there was the little matter of Hurricane Isaac that cancelled an entire week of school.  Delaney did not get to start Kinder on time as she had hoped.  She had to wait an entire week longer!

Here she is, all dressed and ready to go.  This school also had the Kinders start school an hour later on the first day.  So the big kids headed in at 8, and she didn't start till 9. I'm not a fan of that, I think.

They did make it a big deal though and the kids all met in the gym.  I'm not sure why, since there was a huge bottleneck when they sent us off to class and it took 20 minutes to get out. 

We were in no rush to get to class.  Delaney is in the same class as her best friend James and they were running all over having a ball together. I thought they were so cute!

 I got to walk Delaney to class and she found her seat and settle right in.  She was so excited!  As was I. The school had "Krispy Kreme and Kleenex" for the parents in the library.  I went for the donuts.  No tears from this mom!

Here are Delaney and James, after a successful first day of Kindergarten!   Hooray!