Marathon of Fun!

After our Memorial Day weekend of fun (all of the pictures on are my mom's camera so I won't be posting them) we headed to my aunt's house for a few days. My sister, her kids, and my kids along with my grandparents and my mom all invaded my aunt Dot-Dean and Uncle Raymond's house. Great aunts and more cousins dropped in leading to an impromptu family reunion.

Although the kids loved swimming in the pool, I think fishing takes the cake as everyone's favorite memory from our trip. The younger kids seems to enjoy playing with the caught fish in the bucket more than catching them. Archer hovered over the bucket saying "pish, pish, pish, pish, pish..."



Before our trip my little man had made up his mind that he did not like water of any kind unless it was served as a beverage. This just would not do. We are warm-weather, water-loving people. His uncle Jeff tried to persuade him with a boat ride. We could hear him screaming from the other side of the lake.



Patience won out and eventually he settled down. Now LOVES boats, swimming, lakes, ponds, swimming pools, sprinklers, and anything else wet. This boy does nothing half way. It's all or nothing.



Our main goal while fishing with the kiddos was to keep them from falling in. You can imagine with all those little ones how ambitious we were with such a goal (all little ones are not pictured below. There were many.) Notice Ella in the far right hand corner trying to fall in at the same time Archer is trying to escape in a different direction?



Here is Savannah and my cousin Jeff fishing. I don't know where Savannah gets her competitiveness ;) but she wanted to catch the biggest fish every time. She dropped her bait lower and patiently waited for the big ones and was successful. She got a little hard core about it. The other kids would leave to swim and Savannah would hold her post. She even upgraded to a real rod and reel instead of a barbie pole.






This is my cousin's son Caden's first fish ever (my little cousin Justin's kid for those of you who remember him). His expression is adorable in this picture with his Grammy that he calls Mimi.



Mom, Dawn, and I took a sunset paddle boat ride. It's rare the 3 of us get a moment together without the kids.



Next up (as if we need more excitement than swimming, fishing, boat rides, grandparents, great grandparents, cousins, and farm animals) 4 wheeler and mule rides with cousin Jeff.



And then we all came inside and crashed. I do not think it would have been possible to squeeze one more fun thing in. We had such a great time that we decided to make it a yearly event. Luckily my aunt and uncle agreed!

Good Times

Almost three weeks ago I picked Savannah up from her last day of school (which I cried like a baby with the teacher because we will be moving on to a new school next year) on our way out of town. And we have been on a Grand Tour ever since.

Ample photographs have been taken to document this marathon of fun but I have no idea if I will ever have time to post them (our marathon of fun has yet to end!). So here is a brief recap.

Say goodbye to friends, teachers, and school, cry all the way to Dallas (me, not Savannah) visit with family, cousins, siblings, limo rides, fancy dinner, shopping, giggles, cooking, cooking, and more cooking (lot's of folks means lots of food) kids playing, kids crying, swimming, date night, still out of town at this point but moving on to next location, mini family reunion, swimming, fishing, extended cousins, grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts and uncles, 4 wheelers, laughter, visiting, sewing with my grandmother, learning from my elders, kids crying, cousins sharing (notice sleep is not listed), say goodbye, drive to family reunion for Mark's side, camping, more cousins, dirty happy kids, farm living, swimming in a pond, fishing, sun, 4 wheelers (Archer's favorite), good friends, relaxing, lawn chairs, and then home for 36 hours.

Back to Dallas, more visiting with family (we are on week 2 at this point), sister shopping, fun with Cindy, late night chats, up early with Arch, swimming, cooking, kids playing with cousins, my sister and I get our business up and running, wean Archer (sniff sniff), visit with more family, and then back home. Wedding an 1 1/2 hours away, lot's of family, good times, back home, birthday party, decorate for vacation bible school, (we are on week 3 now) then a week of teaching crafts for 150 kiddos, set up new business for myself (I have an office for private counseling now! woohoo!).

I think that brings us up to date. Did you catch all that? If not here is a summary: lot's of fun and visiting with cherished friends and family, no sleep.

Sisters at Play

For as long as I can remember my sister and I have wanted to into business together. We dreamed of opening up various shops, restaurants, tea rooms, and bed and breakfasts. But childhood dreams seems unreasonable once we became adults and over 2,000 miles separated us.

Amongst the mounds of laundry and dirty diapers that this stage of family life brings my sister and I found ourselves in desperate need of a creative outlet, time together, and a chance to use our brain for more than schedule planning. So Sisters at Play was born and we now have a shop on etsy.com.

As of right now we have sun catchers for sale but we have other products made and in the works that will be added later this summer. If you haven't heard of sun catchers you should check them out. They can be used in a sunny window or as yard art. I love them because they are fun, whimsical and unexpected no matter where you put them.

My friend and graphic artist, Rachel Maples created our logo, tags, and business cards which we are very happy with. She is also the creator the banners on my other site, eatingthegoodlifewithchristinapeteet.com.

Here are a couple of examples of our work. To view our store and learn more about our products click here.



You cannot imagine how gorgeous this amber stone looks in sun light. I kind of hope this one doesn't sell so I can keep it!



Handcrafted with a dose of nostalgic style and a touch of modern whimsy.