Family Reunion: The Indian Adventure

All the grandkids.

Our family reunion this year was so much fun. It's been a tradition for three or four years now that my mom picks a theme, we think about and plan around it for months and months, then we dedicate a whole day to the festivities. This year the theme was Indians. Everyone had an indian name, including the adults (I named Jeff 'Passing Wind') We did Indian-ish crafts, Mom made teepees, we had face painting, a cook out and we all went to ice-cream decked out in full gear. (We go to the same small town ice-cream shop every year. We've been Pirates, Knights and now Indians. It makes quite an impression, considering there's about 25 of us.) We had a blast! My sisters and mom.

We walked around window shopping and eating ice-cream with full war-paint. After a while you forget that your face is painted and you start to wonder why everyone is giving you weird looks.

Blue Stallion, Honey Bee, Flying Arrow, and Dancing Bird

Our Indian village down in mom and dad's back yard.







Golden Sunset and Dancing Bird

Honey Bee's face painting.

Tiger Lily, Dancing Bird, Silver Wolf and Golden Sunset.

My brother Red Paw made these awesome loin clothes for the boys complete with built-in undies, just in case they wanted to go commando :) The girls had Cheetah print skirts.

Lining up for war paint :)

Carter's Hair Adventures

Pomade...it's a great thing. You put a little dab on your finger and it really goes a long way. Well-if you hide behind your mom's bed and gouge out a ginormous scoop with your fingers and smear it all over your head-it works MIRACLES!! The possibilities were literally endless. Here are some of our favorite Carter Hair Sculptures. Enjoy :)

Little Devil

"Evil Anakin"

Darth Maul

The Mayor of Munchkin Town

Home Alone

Grant and Lauryn and I had some great belly laughs and Carter was happy to oblige.

Some Random Moments at our House...

I've been giving Elise a little haircut. It's really fun to give this little person a big person hair-do.

The other benefit is that it's super easy to fix and keep out of her eyes.

Of course, other days it results in some pretty awesome bedhead :)

This is the fantabulous result of my idea for us all to share fabric and make matching dresses for the girls. It's definitely going to be a bright and colorful day when they wear them :)

I was cleaning out the car and turned around to find this: Elise had gotten a garden glove and gone to my newly planted annual bed. She was helping me garden by plucking off all the flowers. Notice the conspicuous empty spot right in the middle of the planter!

Cutting out Lauryn's dress.

Carter-Bear snorkling in the tub.

Things I tell my kids...

My sister posted a challenge she got from a friend. It was to think of what we want our kids to remember us "always saying". She sent that challenge my way and I am still thinking on what I WANT them to remember me saying, but in the meantime, there are three things I actually do say a lot, that I hope they'll remember. They aren't the most profound transforming wisdom, but nevertheless, they do come out of my mouth a lot.

#1 Whether you believe you can, or whether you believe you can't-either way-you're right.

#2 A lie has speed, but the truth has endurance! (Used this one tonight)

#3 Be good to your brothers and sisters, they are the only friends you'll have for your whole life! (This one I believe with all my heart)

Dressing Up

Elise was helping me clean out her room and she had a great time putting on the clothes. It was so much fun to watch her play dress up! :)

I love this face. I just have to laugh when I see it. It's her "aren't I so funny?!" look.

Swiss Family Easter Eggs

As kids we made Easter eggs a little different than most people do these days. My mom told us that our method was a Swiss tradition that came from my Grandma's side of the family. This year, since the kids are older, I finally got brave enough to try them. My sister Kari posted a description of how to make them on her blog. We did ours just as she describes, except we used nylon stocking instead of thread to hold the flowers on. You can check out her blog if you want more details :) The designs came from dandelions, evergreen sprigs and clovers from our yard. Ah, the rare and beautiful picture of all four children looking at the camera AND smiling!

I thought they came out really pretty and the kids were amazed by them.

Great Grandma's Visit

Smoke follows beauty :)

Great Grandma Shirley came to St. Louis for a month to stay with my mom. We went down to see them and also got to see our family from Chicago. It was so fantastic to spend time together playing, reading stories and making fun memories.

Great Grandmas are a nice place to take a nap.