A Little Photoshop Fun…

After having Brooksie’s tae kwon do pictures done last night I decided to play around with some pictures I had taken of her. This was the result…

 

Movin’ On Up…

Another belt down… Brooksie now has her purple belt with black stripe!!  I’m SOOO proud of her and so happy she found something she loves to do!!

 

Water, Sand, and Sunshine…

What more do you need to make a perfect ‘summer’ day in fall??  Family of course!! 

Last weekend I needed to make a trip to pick up some ceramic supplies, so we packed up the fam and off to Orange County we went.  Great weekend to go… the studio was having a big event… lots of sales, demos, and free bbq!!   Of course while we are in the area we have a couple other stops to make… Ikea and the beach!!

Rylan has had this recent obsession with water! Every time he sees a running sprinkler or the little canal on our way to take sis to school all I hear is “water, water, water!!” Even when he goes potty he calls that water!! Since he has never seen the ocean before I was really looking forward to his excitement when he saw the BIG water!!  After we scored the perfect parking spot right next to the beach access area, the big moment I was waiting for….

This was NOT the reaction I was expecting! I think it was all just too BIG and loud!!  Brooksie on the other hand was more than excited to be at the beach!!

Maybe he just needed a little pep-talk from mom…

and some guidance from dad and sis…

It wasn’t long before he was chasing birds….

 

and eating seaweed…

That doesn’t taste so good… BLEH!!!

And splashing with big sis!!!

Another beautiful day in sunny California with my family!!!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM!!!

Even though Brooksie’s birthday celebration was our trip to the zoo last month, we decided to let her have a little, low key get together… just to invite over a few friends and have some ice cream. Now, for someone who loves to party plan and entertain a ‘low key get together’ is bound to become a full blown shin-dig!!

Trying to find a party idea that’s different from the many parties we attend is no easy task so the ice cream party was perfect (yes, we’ve upgraded from low key ‘get together’ to a ‘party’!!) I found lots of super cute ice cream party ideas online… pink, fluffy, foo-foo ice cream party ideas!! Anyone who knows Brooksie knows she’s no girly-girl and hates pink!! How do I make this a party for and about her….? I’ve got it… make it gross!! Which, to Brooksie, was a totally awesome idea!!!

Our toppings became items such as worms (gummy worms), dirt (crushed oreos), snail eggs (m&m’s), rainbow rocks (nerds), bear bits (teddy grahams), monkey brains (banannas), and no ice cream is complete without a bull’s eye (cherry) on top!!

It was a perfect “Brooksie” style party!!

Come on in….

topping table…

Ice cream cake pops, inspired by Bakerella…

Brooksie with the “snot” (aka dyed marshmallow cream)

The kids LOVED piling on their own topping!

This is how you do it… an ice cream in each hand!!!

Thanks for coming, don’t forget your goodie bag!!

Pops, pops, and more pops…

I’ve been very busy in the cake pop department lately!! I made some fun ice cream cone cake pops for Brooksie’s ice cream party, Jared asked me to make some for their work staff meeting, and I was asked to make some for 2 baby showers!!

(cell photo)

School Days…

I can’t believe summer is finally over!!  (I just wish Mother Nature would follow suit, I’m done with this heat!!)  As summer comes to an end a new school year begins… welcome to 2nd grade!!

It seems like we were just starting kindergarten, where is the time going?!

Brooksie and Rylan became really good buddies over summer… I was worried about how Rylan would adjust to his sister not being home.  So far, it’s been ok.  He would cry a little when we would drop her off at school, but it wouldn’t last too long.  He still asks for her as soon as he wakes up from his nap.  It’s definitely become more challenging keeping him occupied without Brooksie around to help entertain him.  Maybe we need to start a gymnastics class or something!

Purple Belt…

So Brooksie has been in taekwondo for a while now and surprise she SILL loves it!!! We weren’t too sure how well a 3 year commitment in black belt club was going to go after our disaster with only 1 season of soccer (which she also begged to do)! Last week she had a test for her purple belt, her 4th belt. She did awesome!!! She was really excited to have Granddaddy, Uncle Jesse, Aunt Kathy, and cousin Jesse there to watch!! I’m so proud of how hard she works and how great she is doing!!

great kick!!

Such focus!!

Breaking a board!!

Goodbye orange belt, hello purple!!!