HOUSE PAINTING

while being serenaded by a garage paint drum band is the best!
1!,2!, 3!,4!, bang, bangity, bang, bang!!
Painting our house was a family affair full of laughter, hard work, sibling bickering, sweat and sunburns....

We should be done this week with the trim and frosting the garage door glass.

We have also brought soil in for the front yard and have started adding few flowers.

We are really happy with how it's turning out.

Here's a sneak peek of our progress...

Drive by next weekend and we should be finished with this project and onto another.

We're having so much fun....

PREPPING....

I'm so excited for our humble abode to get a new coat of paint....

AUDREY

photo via here

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone."

- Audrey Hepburn

LOVE SHOOT

Here's a little sneak peek at Derek and Erica's photo shoot.

Did I tell you they're getting hitched August 14?

Did I tell you I'm super excited?

AN OUTDOOR SHOWER

has been added to the wish list for the house.....

via here

via here

via here

My favorite is the last one with the galvanized wall but we would for sure need an enclosure added.

Aren't these great?!

I'M AN ELVIS FAN

Always have been, always will....

In August, there is an Elvis is Alive 5K in Chicago that I would LOVE to run in.

It's an annual event, so maybe next year.....

IT WAS THE YAYA 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY

and we celebrated with a delicious bbq with our husbands.....

We played a hilarious rendition of The Newlywed Game, which Larry and I lost (I know - shocker! but the questions were silly) BUT we weren't bummed for long because we we won a night at the Gescher Lakehouse.

Yay for us!

Brenda prepared a Yaya quiz for the husbands, to see just how well they listen to us after our Yaya nights and how well they know all the Yaya sisters.

Charles and Todd hit that one out of the ball park - very impressive!

With full bellies and sore cheeks from laughter, our husbands felt the Yaya experience.

It was such a fun, fun, FUN evening!

FIRST AID

packaged just the way I like it.... I just added this baby to my wish list.
Isn't it Christmas in July?

I AM THE LUCKIEST WHEN IT COMES

to family.
I adore my man clan, I love my family, my in-laws are the best, I love my sister-in-law, she has a great family, my soon to be sister-in-law is fantastic and her family is amazing!

Our whole family was invited to dinner, (incredibly yummy btw) at the soon to be in-laws tonight and it was a blast!

One of the highlights of the evening was a few rounds of bingo that may have been a smidge competitive and may have had amazing prizes....

We were talking about what to call ourselves - in laws once removed, 2nd in laws, etc... We decided we aren't going to call ourselves anything but family.

One big happy family.

I'm so glad I'm such a lucky gal.....

THE WEE-EST OF THE WEE

was not digging the fireworks this year, so we spent most of the evening indoors watching a flick.
Although I was disappointed about not being able to experiment with firework photography, I was able to get a few I'm happy with.
But firework photography vs. snuggling, I'll take snuggling for sure!

My sister got some fun firework shots.

Our neighbors down the street had some illegals and her patience with timing paid off.

ARMED WITH THE HOLGA SETTING ON

my phone, I was able to capture some of our 4th of July fun....

I hope your celebration was fun and safe!

A FAMILY REUNION

is something my family has never done or if they have, we haven't gone to them.
I'm helping plan one for 2012 and I'm so excited and have ideas streaming through my head!
Not being familiar with the family reunion process, any tips or ideas you could pass on to me would be greatly appreciated!

Via Nicole's twitter, I saw this tree.
Each branch is a sibling and the leaves are all the children with their spouses and children.
LOVE IT!

via here

I love these fun and creative ideas for shirts via Angela...

via here

What are your favorite things to do at a reunion and best ideas to keep it fun and simple?