Zentangled MaryJanes

I drew on these newborn Mary-Janes last night for my friend's baby shower this week.  

I think I may have a new hobby. :) 

I've Been Cursed!

I woke up this morning to little fingers pressing on my forehead.  As I began to open my eyes I saw my Penelope looking down on  me with concern.  In her cute little deep voice she whispered, "Shhhh mommy. Sorry.  You now have a curse."  I guess KRS spells curse.  hahaha  Oh and yes, that is yesterday's makeup not washed off. :)

Our Thankful Tree

One morning, last week, I had this idea come to me and I decided to make this Thankful Tree in our downstairs entryway hallway.  For the month of November we are writing what we are thankful for on leaves (packages of 30 for a dollar at JoAnns) and attaching them to the tree and wall.  We've got a great start, but I have at least 300 more leaves we could write on.  I'm excited to see the progress.  Pip is learning to write and most of hers are hard to understand until you sound it out phonetically, but she spelled "foot" right!  I'm so happy she is thankful for her foot.  I wonder which one she is thankful for. :)

DR. WHO Themed Halloween

DON'T BLINK!

Here's the costumes we made and pulled together this year for Halloween.  Makenzie was the 10th Doctor, Kendyl was the TARDIS (she painted that herself), and Pip was a Weeping Angel of course.  :)  We hope you had a great Halloween too!

Happy Halloween!

These are the cards we sent out this year.  The photo is from last year's Halloween costumes.  We are having our big "Hippen House of Horrors Film Festival" tonight!  I'm so excited!  There are 15 entries- most from here in this town, but at least 5 from other places in the U.S. of friends that we've had as we've moved along the way with Seth's career.  People are coming for the film festival at 8, or they can come earlier and join us for trick-or-treating or dinner (I'm making a bunch of soups).  I love Halloween!  Did you know?  haha

My Number One Favorite Dress!

Do you see this adorable picture of my parents from the 70's?  I loved my mom's dress in it (she bought it to wear to her brother's wedding). My mom use to let me wear it in high school in the 90's.  Guess what she surprised us with in her luggage when they got here? That same dress as a gift for my girls!  My number one favorite dress!  I can't believe she still has it!  I cried seeing Kenzie try it on.  She's wearing it to church today.  I'm so happy!  :)

Why I Come Alive Every Autumn

I took these photos yesterday on my morning walk through my neighborhood with my walking buddies.  Believe it or not I did not use a filter or alter these photos in any way.  The sky was just beginning to burst with light through stormy morning clouds and it was breathtakingly beautiful!  These still couldn't capture how vibrant the colors are here!  This is why I come alive every autumn.  Every time I look out my window and see this beauty I know it's my Father's way of telling me he loves me.  <3 p="">

POLTERGEIST :)

I have a strange daughter... after watching "Poltergeist" with us a few weeks ago, Makenzie decided she wanted her closet to feel like the kids' closet in the movie and she put a soft box light in there so it would glow around the door edges. Haha. Seth posed fun for this pic. Coincidentally she hasn't slept in there since (sleeping in the guest room/art studio). She just wants us to have a haunted closet as every good Halloween home should. I'm a lame mom and don't let her run that expensive light through the night especially in a room that no one is using. Lol

Magic Only Pip Could Provide

My new favorite photo. Yesterday after church the woods behind the parking lot called to us for an adventure. Pip said that once we crossed the little stone wall we'd receive powers! ... So of course we had to cross even though she saw goblins and trolls guarding it and we had to duck twice and hide behind a tree once. There was a little break in the wall that we jumped and instantly grew powers. Pip could turn invisible and defeat any bad guy and she said I could fly and shoot fire balls. I snapped this picture of her when I sat down on a rock and she said there was a troll behind me that she needed to defeat.  When we crossed the wall again to go home we had to give up most of our powers, but the good news is that next time we go we'll get new powers of farming and raking leaves. Hahaha. I love her imagination!

Here's a photo of the rock wall.  You'd never know such magic lay just beyond, would you?  :)  I think I'll make my whole family jump over it the next time if it will give them all powers to rake leaves.  I love the beauty of all the trees around us, but raking is my personal dragon to slay every fall.  

After posting the little story and picture of Pip on my facebook page I had a relative send me this photo of her that he tweaked in Photoshop.  You should have seen how happy it made her when I showed her this.  It's just what she was picturing!  I actually took a picture of her seeing it.  I'll post that below.  

Her reaction to Kyle's special effects!  Completely priceless.  I love her magic!

Dr. Who in Washington DC

This last week the girls and I decided to make a quick trip to Washington DC to meet up with some old friends we knew would be visiting here. Old friends, as in we have been friends since college.  The husband was my old swing dance partner in college and his wife is from my hometown and one of the dearest relationships of my life.  Her dad and my dad had been old college pals as well.  She inspires me and brings out the best in me.  Our kids are the same ages and we've lived in several states at the same time creating many memories along the way.  They are like family.  We love them dearly!  Just before leaving DC I got down on my stomach in a field between the White House and the Washington Monument, put the little TARDIS thing my sister and I made close-ish to the camera and had Phillip and Makenzie pretend to be The Dr. and his companion running in a field far away to look like they were running for the TARDIS. He even had on a vest and bow tie! The little TARDIS is only 6 inches tall or so, but with how we lined them up I think it turned out perfect.  The very last thing we did before driving off was get out our guitars and sit on a monument and play and record us singing and playing like we always do.  I am so blessed to have friendships like these!  Here are a few more of my favorite pics from the trip....

My favorite quote of the trip was when we were sitting infront of the Lincoln Memorial. There was a noisy tour group passing by and I overheard Makenzie say to Phillip as he was telling her story, "Wait. Stop. I can't hear you above the sound of all this freedom."  'Merica!  :)  hahaha  What a funny kid.

Thinking of Nana

I've been thinking of my Nana (Great Grandma) a lot lately and the exquisite creations she could make through tatting.  I wanted to make a drawing that felt like tatted lace.  I wish I had a piece of something that she made, but my memories of her are infinitely more valuable.  Being able to grow up near my grandparents and great grandparents was such a blessing.  We can't always give everything we want to our kids- like how hard it is to be so far from our family.  I find peace and am thankful that families are forever!

A New Sketchbook

This week I finally finished filling my sketchbook that I've had since my last year of college!  It's been fun to start drawing in the black paper sketchbook my sister gave me when I was visiting her last month.  It's super groovy to doodle in brightly colored gel pens.  She knows me so well!

A Little Doodle of a Dandelion Me

Much different than my messy, sharp, chaotic doodle of last week- definitely feeling more peace. I started this on Tuesday and had fun just seeing what my pen would create- it's a dandelion self-portrait of sorts. :)  I love making zentangles and how they reflect my mood and how you can't erase or mess up.

Visiting My Sister and making PEG DOLLS

I've been visiting my sister and her family all week. Being with my sister means I've got someone to sing along with me to "oldies" the way I do- all harmonies and instruments.  smile emoticon
Being with my sis means staying up most the night laughing over dumb things thinking that in the morning we'll realize how unfunny they were, to find we laugh just as hard the next day. Being with my sis means being with someone else who is as crazy as me about creating stuff. We got through a season of a show we like while crafting and painting inbetween all the other fun stuff and into the night. (I'm so gonna crash when I get home). Here are some pics of the frame we painted to go with the print she gave me and the peg dolls I painted to look like the 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctor Who, a Weeping Angel, and a Dalek. Krisser cut the wood for the TARDIS and we put it together and I painted it. My kids are going to flip being able to play with these. I love you KrisserBugs.

Spring Has Sprung!

I wake each morning and come down the stairs straight to this window, and each morning I can see even more green in the world from the day before.smile emoticon Here is this week's zentangle doodle in my sketchbook- Spring Has Sprung!

Our Dewdrop Princess

Complete and utter adoration! smile emoticon We are so proud of our little Dew Drop Princess, but no one was more proud than a little sis! She was perfectly princessly up there on stage. She was even more on cloud 9 as soon as she got out of the school and was running up and down the hill in the foggy lamp light holding her hoop skirt - dress billowing behind her like Cinderella. All us moms watching, grabbed our hearts in one collective sigh imagining how fun that must feel to do. Lol Man alive how I want to sew one for me now! Hahaha Afterwards we had friends over for a banana split bar/glow stick dance party/foosball tournament. A great night, but now I'm ready to rest!  Below are more pics of the dress.  :) It's basically the pattern of Belle's dress from Beauty and the Beast, with a few alterations and sewn in turquoise of course. :)

Spring Time Bulletin Board

 We all contribute in our own way. I may not be the most organized leader in our Young Women's Presidency at church, but I've got a heart that won't quit and can design a spring time bulletin board. 
smile emoticon (Pip helped paint the little wood birds and frames.)

A close up of my cute girly!  :)

Easter Dresses and Crafts

These are regular old white lights with cute flowers cut from cupcake wrappers around each light making a pretty flower.  It's been fun to make these with my kids, the sister missionaries, and the girls at church.

I saw this idea online and had to make them!  You put a candy in a balloon and blow it up.  Then I dangled the balloons on yarn from a broom stick balanced between the backs of two chairs.  I laid newspaper underneath it and made a paste of water and flower.  I dipped colored embroidery floss in the mixture and wrapped it around each balloon in different patterns and let them set up to dry for a few days.  Then, I popped each balloon and slid them out from under the strings.   It was a little tricky separating them from the candy and strings, but they still turned out fabulously.  :)  I sent them in packages to missionaries that have served in this area and used the rest for lunches and Easter decorations around the house.  

NOW ON TO THE EASTER DRESSES AND HAIRSTYLES!  :)

Here are my girls in their fun dresses.  I actually made my oldest's dress a month or two early.  My daughter in pink drew up the design she wanted and picked out the fabric she wanted and helped sew it.  So fun!  Pip wanted to use fabric from my stashes upstairs in my sewing room.  She loves going through the bins and draping herself in material making a complete mess whenever I'm working in there, so she knew just what fabric she wanted.  Here are some close ups...

I took these pics of Kenz a few weeks ago when I finished her dress. 

Here is how I did her hair today:

My mom sent beautiful vintage flowers from Victorian bonnets to add to our Easter fun.  I put these flowers in each girl's hair today.   Below is Kendyl's hair.  I'm always amazed with how thick and beautiful her hair is.  I'm lucky when I get to do anything with it.  She's more of a rough and tumble girl so Easter is a special treat for me.  :)

Here's her cute dress that she designed and helped sew. 

And here she is working away. :)

 Here's Pip's hair.  I was instructed (by her) to put the biggest flower I could in her hair. hahaha

And here is Pip's dress...  such a mischievous little fairy.  :)

After church we had a bunch of people over for dinner and egg hunts in the front and back yard.  It was a wonderful day.  It's so fun having traditions with such special holidays.