Off To Westport!

Our family (meaning our family (6) plus Mike's siblings(4), their husbands(2) and children(3), his parents(2), his sister's in-laws(2) and her sister-in-law and her family(3), and my mom(1) =23) is hitting the road for our annual trip to Westport, Washington. Westport is on the ocean so the guys will surf, the kids will play and the ladies will, well...hang out! Stay tuned for the pictures sometime around next Wednesday:) Westport 2007

Extreme makeover: Blankie Edition!

Madison's blankie has been with us since Maddie was born. I made it for her before she came along. I wrapped her in it when she was brand new. I put her to sleep with it faithfully for the first many months until it became a necessary part of her bedtime routine. Maddie was a blankie baby through and through.

Now she is 4 and still loving her blankie. I am okay with it, it's a security for her...I am not speaking for the other adult in my house:) (Mike has politely asked me to stop referring to blankie as a "her"!!)

Anyways, Maddie cut a hole in her blankie a few months ago (a semi-accident) and since then poor blankie has been going downhill fast! Somehow I convinced Maddie that blankie needed an extreme makeover. We found some gorgeous lavendar silky fabric to replace the tattered waffle fabric.

In major need of a makeover!

When Maddie saw this photo of her blankie in two, she cried!

Sewing on a new binding...will the little lady approve?

She loves it!

Still loving the blankie:)

Gretch and Erin- The waffle fabric is gone...I was thinking about you guys!! :)

So Great to Have Grandma Here!

We are having so much fun with my mom "Grandma Bev"! The kids are all competing for attention and keeping Grandma hopping! These photos are outside chuch:)

The 3 younger ones posed on these steps without being asked, I had to ask Mikayla to join them...she did it but she was not happy about it as I am sure you can tell!!

Lil Maddie

Sunday Morning

I love this picture of our kiddos this past Sunday on the steps of the church. They all have outfits that suit their personalities!

Mikayla-School girl, follow the rules, stick with the plan, wear what I know Mommy would want me to wear.

Mailee-Fancy is best, silky, shiny, delicate cycle only, I know these shoes are 2 sizes too small but they are my only fancy ones.

Maidosn- Bold and bright, make a statement without saying a word, I know I look cute in this dress so I'll offer for Mom to get my picture.

Caleb- Cool dude, only son, Daddy dresses me and all my clothes go together so he can't really get it wrong!

Lovliness

These shoes made me extremely happy the other day...I did not have the pleasure of taking them home, but for a moment they were on my feet and they were AWESOME!!

VBS

The girls had a fun week at VBS at one of the churches in town. Maddie was not so sure but she warmed up and had a great time. I am so proud of her, this is the first thing she has done without me being present!! Here is a cute picture of Mailee with some of the girls in her group, they are also her friends from school.

Face lift for the Waterpark!

We took in the City Park Water park for the first time this summer on the weekend. The water park has undergone a major face lift and we were impressed. Things we noticed:

-pooh bear was gone (this is a good thing)

-new cute red and white polka dotted mushroom

-better water guns

-a cool dumping bucket

I think they secretly like to pose all together, they do it so willingly!

Mikayla, such a big girl now!! Always thinking, always looking for more fun, helpful and responsible.

Dainty little Mailee! Creative and sensitive, caring, cautious and delicate.

Maddie the rebel- going down the slide on her tummy! Loud and confident yet attached at the hip to me in an unfamiliar crowd.

Whee! Baby Caleb, expressive, committed, stubborn and sure.

Fun in Peachland

Yesterday we went to Peachland for the day. We ate lunch at the Gasthaus and took the kids for a bike ride and then went for a swim in the lake. It was fun to relax and hang out together!

You can't see it, but the lake is right out those windows behind the kids. It is so beautiful!

Caleb is loving this scooter. Thanks Dad!

Lotsa ice cream!! The girls got to have 2 scoops- first time!!

Lil Lickers

Great day for a dip!

Wedding Weekend

This weekend has been crazy and it's only Saturday!! Fig & Ruby had tons of jobs for three different brides this weekend. I have not gotten to bed before 1am for about 4 nights now. Wow. We got a few jobs at the last minute...won't be doing that again! I just got up from a huge nap so I am officially back on track. I work for Stage Right doing set ups for weddings some weekends so I spent all day yesterday out at Summerhill setting up a lime and cream wedding- it was gorgeous! I even got to drop the flowers off at the bride's hotel room!

Here are a few photos, I wish I had gotten more!! I love weddings:)

Me and some awesome flowers in the elevator on the way up to the bride.

All the kid buckets and the favors for one of the weekend weddings.

There were actually 22 buckets.

Wedding programs for a different bride- too cute!

Just to give you an idea of the AMAZINGNESS that Stage Right comes up with, here is a photo of one of the other weddings they created this weekend!! I just popped by to see it, I was blown away!

Fig & Ruby favors on the tables...so fun!!

Summer Fun

I SO want to post photos tonight.....

Yeah, looks like Blogger is not into letting me upload tonight. BOO! I have some great photos of the kids at Grandma and Grandpa's pool and also some fun extended family shots as well as new golf themed cupcakes...

In other news...Fig & Ruby now has a BLOG!!! Please go check it out and bookmark us so that you can go back regularly to see the latest and the greatest in my creative world!

For those of you who are wondering what all the hype is about, here is a brief-ish introduction to Fig & Ruby:

I have had a passion for all things crafty and creative as long as I can remember. My mom and I made regular trips to Michael's or Ben Franklin's over the years. My mom threw me and my brother the best parties growing up (thanks mom!!). I got the party planning bug in high school when I planned many events in student government: (starting with the MORP...Gretch- got any pics of that??!! ) Proms, Formals, Homecoming, Rallies...this love spilled over into cheerleading with planned themed dinner nights. Next came a few rediculously fun planning sessions with my 4 best friends, halloween parties, birthdays for our moms, birthdays for us...Next thing I knew I was planning my wedding and throwing bridal showers for my friends which naturally lead into helping with details for their weddings. Paralell to the fun of the weddings and showers, I was discovering the pure BLISS of kid's parties!!! I remember obsessing for months about Mikayla's first birthday! By Mikayla's 3rd birthday, I decided to brave the world of cake decorating after my sweet Aunt Barbara gave me her doll pan. (thank you!!) That was 5 years ago and I have since made over 100 cakes for my kids, for family, for friends and now I get hired by people I do not know as well!! So that is me in a nutshell.

Enter Patricia...for a few years now, we have enjoyed discussing all the minute details of whatever party for one of our kids that was on the horizion. We naturally bounced ideas off of eachother and worked really well together on projects. Her sister got married in April of this year and I helped with some of the details. The wedding planners took notice and asked to hire Patricia. She and I talked and we decided to start a company. We work closely with Stage Right, providing fun items that their brides request. One of our big dreams is to plan parties...not weddings but kid's parties, 25th anniversaries, 30th birthdays, etc. The cake business of mine is now under the Fig & Ruby umbrella which seems like a perfect fit. Patricia is also gifted in administration which is such a blessing as anyone who knows me would agree, I am not!

We have officially thrown our first event, a 50's themed party. The pics are on our blog!

The name....

Everyone keeps asking about the name so here is my explanation:)

-We wanted a fun, fresh name, one that did not define us or put us in a box as we have so many areas of interest and we are still discovering what best suits us.
-Patricia suggested we zero in on finding a fruit and a color that sounded nice together!
-Proverbs 31:10-28 describes the "excellent wife" as having worth far above rubies. She works with eager hands, makes things and sells them, sees that her tradings are profitable, watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness...WOW! What an awesome example! Ruby seemed a perfect word to go in our name!
-Fig looks and sounds cute with Ruby!

Please go check out the blog! I am so thrilled to be on this adventure!!

Getting Patriotic

Typically, We like to be in the States for 4th of July. We have managed to make it down every year EXCEPT this one. We didn't let our location put a damper on our patriotism. We had a fun party at home. Check it out!

Look at that great banner the kids made! Mailee spent close to an hour taping the streamers to the bottom edge. It's amazing how much you can do with 2 dollars worth of streamers!

Grandma Bev sends the kids flag shirts from Old Navy every year. This year we made some star stamps out of potatoes and the kids embellished their flag shirts!

We also made these adorable headbands out of pipe cleaners and beads.

We saw this activity in a Family Fun magazine.

We taped streamers to the end of dowels so the kids had something to wave during their "parade". (They played Carrie Underwood's version of The National Anthem and marched around the house while singing.)

Grandma also outfitted the kids in these adorable outfits so we had a wardrobe change half way through our party!

The table was a project the kids completed the day before. They each made a place mat with their names on them and they cut out a bunch of stars to put on display and hang from the chandelier.

The cupcakes on display! The cake is vanilla pound cake and the icing in fresh whipping cream and real strawberries and blueberries.




The best part was the inside!

Did you know that you can color cake batter and when you pour it into the cup to bake, it does not separate? It's no lie. Isn't that great? Try it out!





We had a great day. The kids had so much fun getting ready for the party and participating in the parade. I can't wait for next year :)

Happy Fourth Of July!!!

Happy 4th of July! Hope you are all loving the fireworks and picnics...I am missing it for sure:)

New Cupcake Store!!

A cupcake store opened over the long weekend, Cupcasions is at Spall and Springfield. We just had to get in there for a taste test! Go try it out and tell me and the rest of the readers what you think! (being a bit of a "baker" myself, I feel it would be a quite biased review coming from me:)

Not to be outdone by the Banman-Stang family Canada Day cupcakes....The girls made them lovely and did a great job (with a little help and a teensy bit of what I like to call coaching but others might call bossing:)

Yes, look at that Canadian pride!!

Happy Canada Day!

This year we will be missing 4th of July...first time since we have been married, first time in my entire life actually...So the Canadian version of fireworks and patriotism will have to do for this year! It is not quite as big of a deal up here, not sure why cause Canadians are very proud of thier country...I guess they just aren't as in to the big displays of patriotism. i for one think they are missing out!! Oh well, I love Canada and all of my Canadian friends and family and today I am going to celebrate :)

This is Mikayla getting into the Canada Day spirit in 2001.

Happy Canada Day!