Me and My Peeps

We  apparently had a rough time getting situated for this

photoshoot.

We just kept switcherooing...

we couldnt all look in the same direction

at the same time either....

It was a rough afternoon...

not sure we got any "blower uppers"

if ya know what i mean...

well...that is except for the one above!  lol

Me and my big sis....

We married  boys that were brothers...

and our daughters were born 5 months apart.

We all have lots of fun!!!

My girl is Lou lou(left)

becca's daughter is Boo ( right)

awwww...young love

lol

young my butt ..

it's our 10 year anniversary this month.

weve been together for almost 13 years.

all the girlsin the Hawker/Coon family.

how precious are they!

**take special note how my cutie sister

put pearls on my niece's boot!  YUM YUM

xoxo  shell

Chaos...just part of my day.

so....

i am  like most of you...

busy.busy.busy.

I cannot find a slow day to catch my breath!

and.....

as i'm sure you well know....

when life gets put on high speed....

an angry lil' , unpleasent, monster shows his face...

Chaos  

is his name.

and

making me wanna run and cry ...

is his game.

Here's an example for ya:

Rushing Lou to school on thursday

after a very late night of homework on wednesday

thanks to 5 trips to the dance studio, 4 trips to my sisters,

volunteer reading at the oldest's school for 2 hours,

taking kade to afternoon preschool,

a 2 hour Dr.s appt for me, then picking up youngest

from my M.i.l.  (at a department store)

rushing  to get the oldest on time from school...

then 5 minutes to get kade from preschool before i owe the 

teacher for getting there late......!!!!!!

then here is where the 5 trips to dance comes in.

The last being at 9:20 pm...then home for homework.

(i'm not in a homework mood at this point.)

(neither is the 2nd grader that is suppose to be doing it)

**so in comes rushing lou to school thursday morning**

then i'm off to sisters for a part of kade's costume.

He is in a play today. It's his school Pow Wow.

Thanksgiving celebration.

Did i mention i have 2 hours to shower myself and bathe

2 children, get together face paints (im painting 35 kids faces at the party)  and blankies for the lawn and

 get said boy's costume together....

Oh yah! 

and ...

i forgot to order the cheese cube platters.

and i need apple cider ...lots of apple cider.

head to the store to see what i can pull

together...

CHEESE CURDS!

with cute tooth picks in them of course!

i buy about $30 bucks worth and

then $16 worth of apple cider.

Jump in the car and head straight to the party...

opening cheese curd bags in the car on the way over...

SLAM on the breaks (idiot driver at 12 oclock) :)

$20 of cheese curd  FLIES into the air.

and lands on the dirty floor.

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

(i choose not to cry)

(cuz my eye makeup looks really great today)

but i can't hold back a couple of choice words....

NICE.

hope that 50 people don't mind sharing 12

tiny chunks of  cheese curd.

Upon arriving...

I step in a large pile of

DOG CRAP!

(dont mind that they dont even own a dog)

I'm just that lucky.

before reallizing i stepped in the poo...

i walked ALL THE WAY THROUGH THE CARPETED

PRESCHOOL!

It was not pretty.

It stunk bad too.

It could be smelled throughout the entire

Pow wow party.

Race off to pick up Lou.

Head home to BREATHE.

OOPS_ Parent teacher conferences!

back out the door!

*** so here is the question;****

How does one run a home and run errands without

running AMUCK????

HELP!

XOXO  SHELL

BOO belated

Happy

Belated

Trick or treat!

 

Mad hatter Me!

My neice madison

the Genie!

My Vampire daughter LOU lou on the right.

and madisons neighbor friend on the left..

(cant remember her name sorry cute girl)

Sally.  I mean my sister becca.

Dressed like Sally from

Nightmare before christmas

Spooky treats!

Spider webs!

...and candlelight

We had so much fun with the family at

our annual Halloween party.

My big sista has been such a "doll"

(no pun intended)

She knows how much i LOVE Halloween

And how important our annual party is to me.

This year we  dont have a home of our own.

Becca wasnt about to let my tradition die.

She worked her butt off to host this for us!

Love you long time becca!

xoxo  shell



Fashion Savvy Youngstas

Lou Lou had a sleep over

this weekend.

The girls decided they wanted to be fashion designers.



They wanted to make a real dress!

(so guess who got to make a dress.....hmmmm)

:)

We took an existing tank top and hand sewed it

to the pink and black polka dot fabric.

The girls each took turns puttin on the dress while

the other one added thier own touches to the design!

They loved learning how to sew by hand...

and i loved teachin em!

 

this is them at the end of their fashion show....

(....and this is how they normal look.....)

ha ha LOL...JK

It turned out pretty cute...

but then they started talking about who got to

wear it to church/school first......

HA HA HA

that was my Cue to leave the room.....

love those lil ladies!

xoxo  shell



Loves Polkadots.... Has Dumptruck

It's been a crazy ride....

this past year and a half.

It's funny to think that two years ago

i had my own online boutique.

Vintage frills and fabulous home decor...

that is what i sold.

I loved every second of it.

It felt good to contribute to the family finances...

(and i got to shop for inventory...guilt free)

good times.  good times.

In my plan...

(you know,  the plan we make for our life, the fabulous picture

we see in our minds)

i would just raise my lovely children, shop, and re~vamp old furniture...

It was a nice plan.

But it was not to be.

i closed up my shop....

packed away all the pretty stuff...

and now....

a year and a half later....

I am the crying .... proud owner of

Hawker Landscape Services...

yup.

thass right...

i run

A DUMP TRUCK COMPANY.

(you think i'm kidding dont you...)

No jokin ladies.

I take the calls and give quotes

for delivering topsoil, gravel, roadbase, boulders....etc

QUIT LAUGHING.

I'M SERIOUS.

I book out our dumptruck and B.S. with

Construction guys all day.

It's not what i pictured.

at  all.

ever...

never...

not

even

close!

but it is where i'm at right now.

I could get a part time job but....

let us just say....

i'm not so good with  customers in retail.

(history shows)

i may have mentioned the word "GUN".

loudly.

in a bank.

that i worked at.

and i may have got 5 customer complaints in ONE day

at the department store i worked at.

i am not big on..

"the customer is always right"

infact...

i believe the exact opposite is true most of the time....

SOOOO...

AS YOU CAN SEE:

i am not cut out for the retail world.

so i may fit in quite nicely among the

hard hat guys.

me and my polkadot boots!

just along for the ride,

xoxo  shell



The Little Ones Around You



I was once told .....

that a child won't likely remember all the lovely words

we told them.

BUT

they will remember that your eyes lit up

everytime they walked into the room!

xoxo  shell

visit Notes from a Cottage Industry for

more lovely words to live by.

Storybook Paper Lanterns

I sent my lil buddy to Preschool Last week....

He is the sweetest lil....cutest lil...

muffin ever!

and having him and Lou lou gone for a few hours

a day has caused a lil void in my day.

so i have been Crafting with my youngest, Kie!

fresh outta the bath!

These lil babies are so easy and fun!

I got the idea from my sister!

This is the stuff you will need!

*scrapbook paper

*2 types of ribbon or trim

*glue dots and a glue stick

*super cute yarn or string

*scissors

(preferrably pink)

cuz they work better.

...ok...not really...they are just CUTER!

*whimsical thrift store book

*and last but fo' sho'  not least....

Puppy Chow!

(the chocolate peanut butter and powder sugar crispix kind)

it's essential to the project.

i promise.

scouts honor.

********************************

1. rip out a page of the book....

I KNOW.  I KNOW.

for the sake of the project...

RIP IT OUT.

2.  fold it in half.

3.  Cut  along the folded edge about every inch.

4.  Open it up ...it should look like this  :)

5. pinch the edges together like sooo!

and GLUE with GLUE DOTS...( i used ZOTS)

on the top and bottom of the lantern.

6. cut strips of yummy scrapbook paper.

mine was cardstock for better form.

7.  roll the paper strips up to help it form

itself around the lantern.

9.  use glue stick to adhere one edge of strip

to top of the lantern.

10. wrap the strip around and overlap the strip on itself just a bit.

cut any excess.

GLUE in place WITH GLUE STICK!



10.   take a small strip of ribbon

about 4-5 inches....and glue dot it on each end

to the lantern.

11.  Finally, use your yarn to string

the lanterns along.  keep them in place with

the other ribbon or trim you chose.  tie the trim around the ribbon and yarn to lock in place on the garland!

These would be great for a birthday party or

a kid's bedroom..... or a

VINTAGE Camping trip!

OOOHHH  try hanging them on a string of christmas lights

for UMMMPH!

xoxo shell

P.S. now eat all the puppy chow.

You done good!