Chillin' Out At Beaver's Bend

This last weekend we went camping to celebrate Nick's birthday, and hopefully the soon coming end to summer. One of our favorite places to visit is Beaver's Bend State Park near Broken Bow, Oklahoma. We went along with Nick's cousin and family and had a wonderful, relaxing time watching the kids play and admiring God's creation.

 

Taking the canoe down to the river. The kids couldn't wait to climb inside.

 

 

Ryder's first time on a canoe!

 

 

Sabrina enjoying her camping pancakes.

 

 

The deer were everywhere, and seemingly unafraid of our presence. Until you got within 20 feet of them.

 

 

We did venture out of the woods long enough to go to our favorite restaurant, The Grateful Head. Good pizza, good beer, and good music if you're there late enough which we weren't (bummer).

 

 

Time for ice cream!

 

 

Sabrina's sharing. I love how she opens her mouth too.

 

 

The cousins!

 

 

Later that evening we decided to take a dip in the (very cold) river.

 

 

I took the plunge off the canoe first.

 

 

Nick came next.

 

 

This was Ryder's reaction to being suddenly left alone on the canoe.

 

 

Brrr! Let's go to shore.

 

 

Watching the adults being stupid enough to get in the water.

 

 

Nadia and Sabrina!

 

 

Doing a quick river scrub.

 

 

Loving the coffee on a Saturday morning.

 

 

 

Morning canoeload of kids.

 

 

Fish for lunch!

 

 

Bringing wood for the fire. Such a happy expression.

 

 

Afternoon dip.

 

 

Performing a little for the kids.

 

 

Happy birthday Nick! Enjoyed a little bit of sweets in honor of this man!

 

 

We took a little nature walk in the late afternoon. Found a good spot for wading in the water.

 

 

Or you know, jumping in!

 

 

Daddy's so funny getting that cold water!

 

 

On our way home we stopped to eat. Sabrina was really loving her yogurt!

 

 

Intently reading while resting her finger in her nose.

 

 

The trip was wonderful. We love going to Beaver's Bend because it's so close and has everything you need or would want to do in the area. We might have just started an annual event!

 

 

Fancy Floral Lamp Redo

If you have a room with a bed in it, you might a need a lamp.

 

The next installment for my little girl's room is a bedside lamp.

 

 

Look familiar? It's a similar concept to another piece I did for her room a while back.

 

 

Floral Initial Frame.

 

 

Anyway, I started out with this old ginger jar lamp from my local thrift shop that I paid probably less than $2 for. Yes it is pink, no it is not the right color of pink. Time to paint! First prime the surface with a good spray primer. I warn you, follow the instructions on your paint container. And paint in light coats to prevent drips; the curved surface of the lamp is prone to drips. After you prime, paint your color. After you're happy with the paint color, you do a coat of clear gloss spray paint to give it that final shine.

 

 

Now for the lamp shade. I got this shade at a yard sale, and was so happy because it is just the right size for the lamp. However, the fabric does not match her room.

 

 

I decided I wanted to do the flowers, but instead of gluing the flowers straight to the lampshade, I made a cover for the shade. This way I can reuse the shade in the future and also because you will see the shade peek through the flowers, so better that it's something you would like.

 

 

I used a tutorial for covering lamp shades I found on Pinterest. I wouldn't use the cover alone, it isn't tight enough, but it's fine since I covered it up.

 

 

Now time to glue the flowers on! I'll tell you now, there are not enough flowers for this project in this picture. This wasn't even enough for half. I had to start over and buy more flowers. So just make sure you have a lot or can get more if you try this project. I used hot glue because it is fast drying.

 

 

Cover the whole shade with flowers and voila!

The lamp turned out great and the shade goes perfectly!

 

 

Shine!

 

 

It looks fantastic in her room!

 

 



Capes & Wings: Super Hero & Tinkerbell Fairy Birthday Party!

My kids share a birthday. So every year (this is only the second time), we have to come up with a birthday party theme that suits both. This year, it was a little less creative in the theme choice, but none the less we pulled off a really cool party that showed off what both kids are interested in.

 

This year's theme: Capes & Wings.

 

 

The invitation came together better than I would have expected with such differing themes.

 

 

Keep in mind, we usually have their party out at a lake lot, so we keep things simple. Each theme has its own table, and they mesh in the middle.

 

 

Ryder's side: Super Heroes. Most of our decorations for this side came from my mom; she made them for the local library's summer reading program.

 

 

A close up of Superman.

 

 

The menu consisted of Wonder Dogs, Pop!corn, and Crunch! chips.

 

 

Ryder got all the Avengers action figures for his birthday, so we used them to decorate. A few of them held signs for the food.

 

 

They meet in the middle at the cupcake tower.

 

 

Superman and Tinkerbell at the top!

 

 

Close up of the super hero cupcakes.

 

 

Close up of the fairy cupcakes. I tried out a new raspberry cake recipe.

 

 

Sabrina's Tinkerbell side.

 

 

We used the logs to make lifts for the food. Just a note about the logs; you must seal them with clear spray paint because there will be bugs if you don't. We were going to use more pieces but these were the only ones sealed and without bugs.

 

 

Fairy Fruit Harvest. Mom made kiwi and raspberry flowers and I made strawberry and marshmallow toadstools.

 

 

Bunny Food, and Pixie Dust pixie sticks in the background.

 

 

Fairy house made out of a bird feeder.

 

 

The kids taking it all in. They were very excited about all their favorite characters!



 

They had a great time at their party, and we had and awesome time getting it ready!