WA

We got home last Sunday night from a great visit to WA to visit Jeremiah's family. We had the best time! The thing that got us to spend 22 hours in the car each way was a big 80th birthday party for Jeremiah's Grandma McCombs! Out of the 33 grandchildren only 2 were unable to be there. In all there were 75 members of the Pete McCombs family at the party, plus several other relatives like Grandma's siblings, sibling-in-laws, nieces, etc. The party was on Friday (the 24th) and we had dinner (pulled pork sandwiches, tons of different salads, & chips), cake & had a little entertainment. My super talented SIL Richelle sang a song for Grandma & another cousin(s?)(was this a solo piece Ryan?) wrote a tribute song & played the guitar while 2 of his sisters sang it. It was really good too! As a side note, the McCombs family is the kind of family who has talent shows at their reunions. Seriously! There is a LOT of talent in the family! Anyway, it was really a great party with delicious food & great company. It was wonderful catching up with our family members. I say our because Jeremiah's family is really amazing & from day one made me feel like I was one of them & I don't just think of them as "Jeremiah's family" - I love them all too! On Saturday morning all the men got up (and a few of the women) and headed to Grandma's for a work party. It was construction work & there were lots of younger children that needed tending so not everyone could do the work.

Besides the birthday party we spent our time there relaxing, quading, visiting, snacking, and playing: card games, pickle ball, & ninja. We also floated the river with almost all the family that was at the birthday party. It was quite the site to see so many of us going down the river! And of course no trip to Colville would ever be complete without a visit {or 2} to Ronnie D's where you can get the best french fries ever! We had a blast!

Our family with Grandma McCombs

At Jeremiah's Parent's house - in their yard!

Jeremiah's dad & uncle Jim helping Justin put on some drywalling stilts. Just trying them out for fun!

Our cute nieces & nephew



Check out Jack's face in these pictures! We were trying to line up the kids for a picture & Katelyn & Callie are trying to hold it all together while Jack is off in his own little world! LOL




3 cousins & some cup o' noodles!

Ellie's Pinkalicious room!

Well I'm to the point in Ellie's & Callie's rooms that they're about as good as they're gonna get. I might eventally add a vinyl phrase above the closets, but any more than that would be overkill. So here's Ellie's room. I'll have to remember to take pictures of Callie's room sometime. Jack's room is pretty much done too, although we still haven't added closet doors to his closet! It's on Jeremiah's very long honey-do list! :)



In the middle bottom picture Ellie has a binky in her mouth. Every time I change her & she doesn't have a binky she gets upset & tries to grab the one in the picture! I think I'll have to change the picture when we take the binky away!

This banner is from Byrdie Graphics' Etsy Shop - I LOVE it!







Each of the kids has {and LOVES} a Classic Pooh animal. Ellie loves her Piglet from Aunt Tara!

Jack has an obsession with this flower mobile & it makes me SO mad! He batted it down with a stick one day & there were flowers all over the room! I was really upset but I had a calm talk with him about it & explained why he couldn't do it. He also had a long time out. 2 days later he did it again! I was furious! He had to sit in time out for a bit while I fixed it & I told him no tv/computer for 5 days. Yes, he's only 3! They don't even use the computer every day & some days no tv, some days 1-2 hours. But I figured that would be a more painful punishment since he's not too attached to any one particular toy. He hated not being able to watch tv for so long or play on the computer if Callie had a turn. The day after he was ungrounded he pulled the mobile apart again! I gave him 2 more days of no tv/computer & he said, "well that's not so many." I added one & he said it still wasn't so many. After I added another one he quit. So after another 4 days of being grounded he did it AGAIN! He spent a long time in time out that time while I fixed it yet again & glued the strings on the wires & when Jeremiah got home & I told him about it Jack got a spanking. Let me just say that we rarely spank our children. I just don't think it's usually the answer. For me anyway. Some people might think we're terrible for ever spanking at all & some people might spank a lot, but anyway, since we rarely spank I think it did the trick for Jack - he hasn't touched it again. It's been a week so hopefully he's over it!

Our {4th} of July!

A good day was had by all. Jeremiah went prairie dog shooting in the morning, but I won't show you those pictures! :) We went to the Hualapai Mountains (a whopping 12 min drive) to enjoy the cooler weather & let the kids play at the playground in one of the rec areas. Back at home we bbqed sausages & did poppers & confetti guns. The kids watched the fireworks with Aunt Kayleigh & Grandpa/ma & we rounded out the night with a great game of Settlers, a renewed favorite! It was a good day!

Gymbucks

I have $25 in Gymbucks I'm not going to use if any of you want it. It has to be used by this weekend - the 26th. Email/leave a comment/call me if you want it!

*** Update: they were gone in 40! ***

{Fancy Nancy} Birthday Party Extravaganza!

Okay, maybe not extravaganza, but I think Callie got a pretty great party this year! I spent lots of time looking for other peoples' ideas on how to carry this out (I'm not real original, but I'm a great copycat!) and spent lots of time putting everything together, and I just loved planning this party! (Can you tell I'm practically gushing?!) Most of my party plans & stuff came straight from Peppers & Pollywogs & Martha Stewart.

The invite -


Once the girls all showed up Abby read them Fancy Nancy.




Afterwards lunch was served! We had little flower-shaped ham & cheese sandwiches, farfalle pasta salad, mini fruit kabobs, and punch. I wish I'd taken some detailed pictures of everything! I added rhinestones to the ends of the forks/spoons to make them extra fancy! That was about the only good idea I got from the new Fancy Nancy Tea Parties book btw (glad I didn't buy it)! Oh, & I also put little pink or purple flowers on each straw. So cute!



Kenadee showing me how fancy girls eat with their pinkies up!

There were 3 jars of pink candy in the middle of the table. The candies in this picture are Trolli Strawberry Puffs and I'm now addicted! I've bought more since the party. Love them!

After lunch we (my amazing team of fancy assistants) put makeup (blush, eye shadow & lip gloss) on the girls & also painted their nails/toenails. I even found cute tiny rhinestone-ish stickers for their cute little nails!

Ellie LOVED having all the girls around & thought it was so fun that they were getting their nails painted & makeup done. She kept coming up to me & holding her fingers out or she'd sit & put her toes up while I was painting other girls' nails. I didn't want to do her nails then, but I did do her makeup! I was amazed at how well my 15 month old mimicked the older girls! She closed her eyes for me to do her eyeshadow, she sat very still for me to do her lip gloss, and she giggled when I did her blush! She was hilarious looking around at the girls waiting for them to tell her she was pretty after she was all made-up!



After makeup & nails & some glitter hairspray we played pin the jewel on the tiara. The girls loved that just as much as they loved the nails & makeup. One little girl was so sweet - she had got a jewel right on one of the places to win a prize, a little pack of bracelets, and then she stood at the front of the line while the other girls played & if they didn't get a jewel in one of the possible spots she'd give them a consolation bracelet & tell them they still did a good job trying! How cute!

Pinkies up girlies!

After presents we had ice cream parfaits just like in the book. I got the pink parfait cups from Dollar Tree & they were fun to make the parfaits in. Tres chic! :) There were lots of toppings for the girls to make their parfaits from: oreos, mini m&ms, sprinkles, bananas, chocolate syrup, & of course whipped cream & cherries! It was really hectic when we got to the parfaits cause the girls weren't passing toppings very quickly & parents started showing up. I completely forgot to do candles for Callie & have the girls sing her Happy Birthday! And the fact that none of my friends reminded me shows that we were all seriously workin' this party! It didn't even cross my mind till about 6 that evening! I felt guilty but only because I'm a mom. I know Callie didn't care - she was having a great time! Fortunately we did candles & sang her Happy Birthday with breakfast that morning! :)

The favor bags, straight from Martha, had candy lipstick/jewelry, heart-shaped sunglasses, butterfly hairclips, pearl-ish necklaces, and lip gloss in them, with a boa/crown pen on the outside of the bag. The girls could also take home a pink feather boa. I got the sunglasses, clips, necklaces, & boas from Halo Heaven & they have some amazing prices in case you're looking for party stuff or a ton of other things! Check them out!

I saw this cute banner online & was going to buy it but the seller didn't get back to me in time, so a few days before the party my friend Jamie helped me with this banner! She hand-cut every single letter & circle/square. Just kidding - she has a Cricut! Jealous much?! I am! After she cut it all out I "borrowed" lots of ribbon from my mom & put it all together!

And finally here's my birthday girl with her besties (Corinne in the first pic, Kenadee in the second)!

I know this is gonna sound like I'm at an awards show, but thank you SO much Abby, Summer, & Mom for all your help! You guys are awesome & I seriously couldn't have pulled it off without your help before the party! Thanks for staying & helping too, and also Tana (and I still can't believe you drove your girls all the way here for the party - you rock!) & Kelly.

what we've been up to

Yes, I had fallen off the face of the planet, but now I'm back. Until next time.

Here's what's been going on in my happy little world:
{A couple more posts will not be too far off. Probably.}

A new pantry in our garage with the help of our all-time favorite handy-man Tim.

A self-portrait w/my new hair color.

A pants-off dance-off!


A little breakfast celebration!

A fancy [nancy] party for a fancy girl!

A night out with my sista (Tara). Awesome!!

A relaxing {4th of July} afternoon in the Hualapais.

A typical thrilling summer day at the Divis house!