DIY dinosaur eggs

I have never met someone who loves eggs more than Ben. His imagination with them is so fun to watch and cracks me up every time. (haha! pun intended) 

 Ella has an empty egg carton in her play store with some wooden eggs and every time he has come over that is the first thing he goes for. I don't think he ever let them leave his hands during McKenna's birthday party. I love that kid.

Last time he was over he would hide them under a pillow and have me come sit with him as we waited for them to "hatch." I feel like Ben and I have bonded over some good egg watching:)

I knew exactly what to do for his birthday this year. 

His very own carton of dinosaur eggs!

I just printed off a label, laminated it with packing tape and glued it onto an old egg carton.

I bought these eggs from Hobby Lobby for 34 cents a piece and painted them.

I tried to give them a hatched look with some crackle paint but it would never work. My favorite kind of paint was this Snow-Tex that I found at hobby lobby. It gave them a cool texture and a very dinosaurish look, whatever that is.

Happy hatching Ben! 

polka dot playroom

First off, how adorable and fun did the twins bicycle party look?! Kristen did an amazing job! (like always!) We were SO sad that we couldn't be there! Ella was still in recovery mode from her surgery so we couldn't travel. Good news is that she is finally feeling better and pretty much fully recovered!

Ok, back to the polka dot playroom. About a month ago we moved McKenna into Ella's room. We have now turned McKenna's old room into a playroom/movie room/craft room.

The polka dot wall tutorial and a fabulous polka dot quilt Kristen made is featured on Kojodesign's color your summer series today! So head over there to see our tutorials on how to dot your own wall and sew a summer quilt. We are beyond thrilled that they asked us to be apart of their fun summer series!

I have always dreamed of my own little craft area but there just wasn't any space for it in this house. Until… McKenna's closet became free! It was absolutely the perfect little nook and lucky for me, I married Bob the Builder! He removed the super cool sliding mirror doors and built me a desk and self in the closet space. He even installed some lighting under the shelf. It is life changing! I just love it so much! Being able to craft while the girls play or watch a movie is the best! 

I painted the desk and shelf with chalkboard paint. 

I bought this outdoor planter from Home depot to hold my projects that are in the works.

I'm always the worst at knowing what to put on walls and then where and how to hang them. I have to search for something on pinterest to straight up copy or call my uber talented friend Morgan for advice.  

I saw this DIY photo canvas on pinterest and couldn't believe how cheap and easy it was. Take your photo to Staples (or any office max type place) and ask for an engineer print. I think you can get it in color but to do it the cheaper way it only comes in black and white. The sizes of an engineer print are 18x24, 24x36, or 36x48. I got the 18x24 and cropped them to fit an 18x18 square canvas. I just used some spray adhesive to stick the photo to the canvas. So easy!

Now that I have my own craft nook, hopefully I'll be back with some fun projects to share!

Bicycle Party built for Two

The twins 4th birthday was this weekend and it was a total blast.  It was just so so much fun.  Thank you everyone who came and celebrated with us!  We just have the best friends and family.
Sorry for the large amounts of pics...I just got a little excited.

We set it up in the front yard and just let the kids run around and play in the street since our street is safe to ride on.

I made these streamers (like bike streamers.  some may say tassels but I think streamers is a little more appropriate :) out of scrap fabric and hung them very unevenly...


and bike flags lined the walk way.




Ben had to pump up his tires before the party.




For the party favors I ordered baskets from this amazing wholesale place and put velcro and straps on the back so they could attach them to their bikes.  My mom got some horns for the kids to put on their bikes and we made some water bottles that they could put in the baskets (to rehydrate after all their long rides).  We also had some spoke decorations that they could put on their bikes.


Julie emailed me some bike washes that she had seen on pinterest and I just loved that idea so much! (that girl is so creative)  I put jeff on it and he made a fantastic bike wash that the kids just loved.










I was beyond excited to have kinley at my house! she has the sweetest demeanor and just so kind and beautiful.  love you kinley gay.

and then they had to get in in their clothes?



I had seen this cake on pinterest and thought it looked decently easy (I was so wrong.  I was really not very good at the detail parts AT ALL) but it was super fun.  I made it into a tandem bike and they loved it even though it looked so ghetto.  They were so sweet about it and it just makes me want to make ghetto cakes for them every year :)


(one twin is more comfortable being sung too and blowing out the candles than the other)



but she was excited about her piece.
Julie made these amazing wheel cookies that were not only cute but delish.


Clay, our neighbor, brought over his shwinn twin bike and it was a HUGE hit!

Everyone took a turn and had a blast riding it around the neighborhood!






My friends and family are so beautiful.  I really have monopolized the beautiful friend corner of the world.
They are all so sweet too.  My brothers and sister in law rented bikes to drive with!! (I mean, it was BYOB) And so many other  friends, family and neighbors brought their bikes and their kids.  It was just SO much fun.  Thank y'all so much for coming and celebrating with bikes and all.








Ty's cuteness really just kills me.


and almost all my babies were in one place. I think it was heaven.

Thank you so much for coming ryker.  how did you get so big!



oh isla grace.  i could not love that face more.
we love our matching shoes!


i love you ladies.  thank you so much for all y'all do. and for your beyond gorgeous girls.










Thanks again everyone for all your help, support, for coming out and playing, driving for forever and just being our friends (or your family or neighbors and are stuck with us- sorry for you guys!) to our bike party built for two!  We love y'all SO much!
We missed ella and al and kenna and bob SO MUCH! So sad for those tonsils and cant wait to see them soon.  Just hate missing each others parties this year.  Next year, though.  We are on it.