A Large Helping of Life

One bite at a time……

Just Like Daddy May 23, 2012

For the last few days the children and I have had the pleasure of having Shane work from home.

I love having him close and getting to spend time with him.

It is a nice break from him being gone so often.

So this week he was welding in the drive way but with 3 sons running around he struggled to get much work done.

They all wanted to be right by his side.

He loves that, but if they were going to be watching him and be near him they needed the proper attire.

So he suited them up!

After Faith saw that the boys were playing “dress-up” she wanted to play too.

It is a good thing that Shane has so many hoods and shirts.

Now they were ready to watch daddy.

After finally getting ready to watch daddy both Jude and Faith decided they did not want to anymore.

Imagine that…..

So the 2 older boys went to help daddy.

A few hours later Shane came in and told me to come outside and bring the camera.

The boys were going to weld!

Shane had been helping them learn how to weld.

I should have known something was up since neither of them had come in tired of “watching” daddy.

This is Jonah underneath the hood here.

He was ready to show mom what he had learned.

Daddy only helps a little.

Ready……set……..

 

Go!!!!

I adore these pictures.

There really is something so special about a daddy teaching his son.

In between the white lines is where Jonah welded with help and after the white is without help.

I was so proud of him!

How cute is this little man!

 

Dirty from a hard days work.

 

Now it was Jacob’s turn to shine.

Get it “shine”….cause it’s bright…..never mind.

 

See it’s bright………told ya.

 

 

These pictures just make me smile.

So I had to have some fun with the editing process of them.

I love this in a vintage edit.

 

And this one in a cutout edit.

Kinda looks like a paint by numbers.

Sweet!

Here is Jacob’s work.

He is so handsome!

Both of the boys did great!

Welding is not easy.

Now granted their daddy was right there to help but it takes courage to get behind a welding gun and let sparks fly at you.

It did not seem to bother them though.

They are tough like their daddy.

I am so glad that they have such an amazing father who seeks to invest his time and efforts to teach his sons to be men.

The boys may never be welders.

And that’s ok.

They can be what they want to be.

But for now, they are learning new skills and learning how to work hard.

And most importantly……

How to be men.

 

Girls Trip! May 10, 2012

Some time has passed since my trip but it really has taken me this long to find a few moments to tell you about it.

When the weather turns warm I swear the clock moves faster.

Anyways, I had the pleasure of going to Denver last month with my mother and sisters.

My little sister Savanah lives in Virginia and I had not seen her since August of last year.

Since moving back to Wyoming I have seen my mom and older sister Mandy often but it was time to take a few days and just be a sister and daughter.

I love my children very very much but it is so nice to get away sometimes and just have grown-up time.

Though when I am with my sisters I am not sure you can call it that.

We of course had to take a cheesy hat picture in the middle of the store.

We get a little silly when we are all together.

I am sure my mom feels like she has three toddlers again but hey we are all potty trained so there is a plus!

We did a lot of fun things in Denver.

I will share the highlights with you.

Savanah had never been to a zoo (that she remembered.)

So we took her to the zoo.

She was excited.

We saw a cute baby monkey.

Playful seals.

A sun worshiping turtle. I swear we stared at this turtle for 5 minutes and he did not move.

He was either posing for pictures or was mesmerized by his light.

And we saw the giraffes up close!

They were awesome.

 

Then we went to the Hard Rock Cafe.

Mandy had to pose with a Stevie Nicks dress.

Now the highlight of this whole trip was the chance to go and see the broadway play WICKED.

I just have to take a moment to tell you how amazing this show is.

It was by far the best play I have ever seen.

Great story, great acting, great sets,  amazing songs and amazing singers and performers.

It was amazing!

Here we are right before the show.

We all dressed up for the occasion.

Then we propped the camera up on the hotel bed post and said cheese before heading out the door.

That was a wonderful night.

Did I mention the play was awesome?

On our last day in Denver I took everybody to Hammond’s Candies for a tour.

It is a candy factory that has been open since the 1920′s.

We enjoyed ourselves…

I love my sisters!

They gave us these hats to wear right before the tour.

And yes, we rocked them the whole time.

After the tour we went to the Hammond candy store.

We bought a ……few things.

Ok, ok, we bought a lot but hey it was our vacation!

We did a lot of other fun things but these were pretty much the highlights.

We had a blast together.

We laughed until we cried (or peed), we talked, we shopped, we ate, we saw a show, we went to the zoo, we enjoyed each others company.

My sisters and my mother are my best friends in the world and I had such a great time with them.

Oh and Denver was pretty fun too.

 

 

 

 

 

Award! April 25, 2012

I just recently returned from my vacation with my sisters and Mother.

(I will post about that soon)

When I returned home I noticed a wonderful comment on my blog.

Another fellow blogger had been so kind as to give me a sunshine award!!

I was so excited!

My first ever blog award.

Now this does not mean I win any sort of prize or get any sort of national recognition.

What it does mean is that another blogger has read and enjoyed my blog.

That means so much to me!

More than any prize.

I love that my silly kids and personal photographs and ramblings are enjoyed by others.

So I want to say thank you to Lynnette from http://rantravewrite.com your award is so much appreciated!

Now the rules for this particular award are that I must answer some questions about myself and post them.

So here goes….

1. Favorite color- ummmm, so hard to choose just one! I would say my current favorite color is….sea foam green.

2. Favorite Animal-  honestly, no idea! I like a lot of animals. At the zoo this weekend my favorites were the giraffes and seals.

3. Favorite number- 5

4. Favorite non-alcoholic drink- That would be a salted caramel mocha from Starbucks.

5. Facebook or twitter- Facebook for my real life friends and twitter for my electronic ones (stole this answer from rantravewrite because she said it perfectly!)

6. My Passion- My husband and children for sure!

7. Getting or giving presents- Giving for sure! I love to watch the faces of children as they open a gift.

8. Favorite Pattern- Winter, spring, summer, fall.

9. Favorite day of the week- Any day that my husband gets to be home with us.

10. Favorite flower- Tulips (too bad they wilt so quickly)

So that’s a few tidbits about me!

I want to thank all my readers and I really do appreciate you stopping by and reading my posts.

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing!

Thank you!

P.S. – You can check out rantravewrite’s post here http://rantravewrite.com/awards/ She shares about herself and has a list of 10 blogs (including mine!) that also got the sunshine award.

 

Faith’s 3rd Birthday! April 10, 2012

Wow, where has the time gone?

I have not written a post in almost 2 weeks!!

So sorry my friends but you know how life can be.

Crazy, crazy, suck every minute out of everyday crazy.

I am so glad to be posting again and it could not be for better reason.

Faith turned 3!

She is such a big girl now.

Such a lively little girl God has given me.

Full of character and joy.

Such a blessing to my life.

Is that not one of the cutest faces you have ever seen.

We had Faith’s party on Saturday afternoon. Her actual birthday was Monday the 9th but my sister and her family came to visit and I thought it would be fun to do it when they were here.

Cousins are the best.

Faith enjoyed spending her special day with her cousin Sophie.

All the boys went with the daddies to go shooting.

So us girls got the party ready.

Faith and Sophie helped with the cookies.

They were working hard to make cute strawberry cookies.

My niece Sophie.

She is so adorable!

 Love that girl.

Concentration at its cutest.

Faith’s and Sophie’s masterpieces.

Faith’s is on the left. I helped her put her green leaves on.

Sophie did hers all by herself.

They did such a good job.

So now the cookies were made and the cake was all done.

It was time to set up her cake table.

Strawberry shortcake was a favorite of mine as a child and I think it is neat that now my daughter enjoys the show too.

Her party was simple but fun and sweet.

“Faith how old are you?” “THREEEEE!!!”

 Faith had strawberry cookies and a white cake with chocolate mousse and strawberry filling with a cream cheese frosting.

It was yummy!

 The kids played musical chairs a few times.

That game is very fun for the children and extremely entertaining for the adults to watch.

The kids were dancing around like the little goof balls they are.

Faith did not win but she sure tried hard.

After musical chairs it was time to dive into the cake.

My favorite part.

First Faith had to blow out her candles.

 Success!

Within about half a second of blowing out her candles she had already pulled one out of the cake to lick it.

That’s my girl!

After that we all enjoyed cake and watched her open her gifts.

She was spoiled as usual.

She enjoyed all the attention very much.

It was a fun time for us all.

I am glad that I am home in Wyoming and get to have family be apart of my children’s special days.

But most of all I am glad to have a daughter whom I have gotten to enjoy for 3 years.

I look forward to all the years to come.

Praise God for such a wonderful blessing.

My Daughter.

 

To Do or Teux Deux March 29, 2012

 

I have been a proud owner of an IPad for 5 months now.

Let me just get this out there now….

I love my Ipad!

Now I am not going to go into vast details as to why I love it but I do want to share a great app I found that I use everyday.

Before I tell you the name of this magnificent app I want to give you a little information about me.

1. I am a very organized person.

2. I have a scatter brain and a bad memory.

3. To help both of these traits work together…..I make lists.

I make lists for everything.

Grocery lists, menu lists, bills lists, baking lists, order lists, school lists, picture lists, activities lists, vacation packing lists, cleaning lists and the list goes on.

Now the most important list I make everyday is my

TO DO LIST.

I make one every morning.

Without fail.

If I don’t my day goes all haywire.

Lists help me get everything out of my head and in order on paper.

I must have order.

It’s my thing.

So back to this amazing app I found.

Can you guess what this app might do?

Yep, it makes TO DO lists!!

How cool is that!

The app is cleverly named Teux Deux.

I adore this app because it is so easy to use.

I know there are other apps that help make lists but a lot of them have too many bells and whistles.

I like to keep it simple.

Almost as simple as paper and pencil.

When you open up the app it looks like this.

It opens on the days date and shows you your list.

Now if you are a list maker like myself your favorite thing to do is to cross off something when it is done.

For this app you just touch the task you have completed and it crosses it off.

Love that!

Say you did not get everything done that day.

(Sorry Scotty! I have to make the cookies before I can send them.)

Shout out to Scotty my brother-in-law who is serving overseas in the Navy! Thank you for your service brother!

Well the cool thing is that the task you did not cross off or delete just automatically moves to the next day!

That is just one less thing I have to remember to add-on the next day.

This app also has the someday list.

I love the someday list.

It doesn’t have to happen today or this year but just someday.

I put “shampoo couch before children move out” on my someday list.

A simple but very wonderful app to keep all the little things straight.

So that is my awesome app find.

More to come?

Maybe….

 I’ll put it on my list.

 

The Park March 24, 2012

As many of you know I tend to take pictures of anything.

I was going to say I take pictures of anything that moves but that would be a lie.

I am not a t-rex I will still snap you even if you hold still.

I guess what I am saying is…..your never safe from my camera!!

So our first trip to the park since warm weather set in was a good reason to snap some pictures of my sweeties.

This is Hope’s first time at a park where she could walk around.

Last year she sat on blankets in the grass but now she has a whole big world to explore.

We started with the swing.

She really likes the swing.

I really like her.

As all the children scrambled out of the car when we arrived Hope and I went to the swings

Faith had her shoes off in a blink of an eye and went straight for the sand.

And Jonah found something tall to climb.

Imagine that.

He showed his brothers how to get up there too.

Lovely.

How cute is he!?

I felt a little better about them being up in this higher place because at least it was enclosed.

Or maybe not.

Faith was really enjoying the swings.

I was trying to teach her to pump her legs back and forth but she just kept them straight the whole time.

Silly, adorable girl.

I love how this picture turned out.

The air moving through her hair and her little smile.

Did I mention I like pictures?

Now as I was involved with trying to get a cute shot of Faith I kept hearing Jacob saying rather loudly, “no, no, no, no, no!!!!”

I turned to see this…

He told me he was pretending that he was holding onto a cliff and was trying not to fall.

Well, he fell.

When I asked him why he was playing that he said “I don’t know, cause I am silly I guess.”

I love that answer!

Now I was hearing more squeals from the swings…

It was the overall boy.

Jude.

Cowboy boots and overalls with twisted straps.

Classic boy outfit.

We had a great time playing at the park.

So happy to welcome spring!

It makes it harder to get school done but it makes the days oh so sweet.

I hope you are all enjoying the warmer weather too!

 

A Day For Fishing March 19, 2012

A few days ago my family and I decided to go fishing.

(It may or may not have happened because of small adorable children begging to go.)

It has been a long time since we were able to go so this was a very fun event for us all.

Did I mention I love to fish!

I am not very good at it but I have always loved it.

I especially love it now because I get to share in the fun with my husband and children.

The river runs right through our lovely town here so that is where we went on the bright bright bright sunshiny day.

(you’re humming that song now aren’t you.)

Now there was a bit of snow but it was still very warm.

Shane got the poles ready.

 It seems like all he did the whole day was replace hooks and worms.

I am not even sure he got to fish at all come to think of it.

I helped the kids cast their lines out and get them unstuck.

Here fishy, fishy, fishy!

My cute little fisherman.

Jonah worked hard at learning to cast all by himself.

All the boys were trying really hard.

They did not want mom to have to do it for them.

Jude got the hang of it really quick!

He could not get the cast out very far but he sure gave it his all.

To help is his casting efforts he would give out a hefty ”HI-YAAAH.”

I kept a watchful eye and camera on the kids to make sure no one decided to take a swim.

I was a bit surprised when I realized that I could now go fishing because my kiddos are getting older.

It is great for things like this but on the other hand it makes me a little sad.

Babies no more.

Wow!

I blinked and it happened.

Daddy fixing a pole again.

Hope and Faith were there too.

Shane and I took turns watching the girls and helping the boys.

I actually got a few cute pictures of Hope.

Such a big girl walking around and exploring.

We also sat in the grass and played.

I couldn’t help myself.

I snapped about 50 pictures or more of my sweetie.

No worries, I wont show you them all.

Jude was very certain that the fish were not hungry.

So he decided it was best to just cast out an empty hook.

So once again daddy had to put on another hook after a line snapping snag.

Surprised?

I was not.

I was not too surprised by this considering the average cast distance was 4 feet from the bank.

It did not matter though.

The boys learned how to cast.

I remembered how to put on hooks.

Shane became very proficient at untangling line.

And all of us brushed up on our ability to free a caught-up line.

It was a successful day!

Fishing fundamentals.

Now next time I would like to cover how to actually catch a fish.

But since this is what it looks like outside today…….

Have a great day everyone!!

 

Giveaway Winner! March 17, 2012

First off I want to thank all of my wonderful friends who took a moment to check out my etsy shop and leave me a comment.

I really am so grateful that you all come here to read my ramblings and take a peek at my photos.

This giveaway has been a great way to showcase my shop and to thank all my readers.

So…. THANK YOU!!!

I love you all!

And because I love you all I decided that I would give more of you a chance to win a prize!

So instead of 1 winner I am choosing 4!

Well, not me exactly but my children drew the names this morning. (so please look past all the bed head going on)

Let’s see who the luck of the Irish landed on today.

The winners are……

1. Cindy A.- “The Jelly Pockets would be my first choice,

but I honestly would be thrilled to try any of your treats.

Thank you so much for offering such a yummy and generous giveaway!”

2. Homemanager- “I think your Oatmeal Raisin Cookies look and sound delicious!”

3. Dr. Bob – “Pretty much ANYTHING CHOCOLATE.  The “pops” looked drool-worthy.”

And….

4. Jessica B.- ”I’m in Canada, can I enter? My favorite would be the toffee I think, but the cake pops look adorable and delicious as well.”

You lucky 4 will be sent the treat you mentioned in your comment.

(Winners please contact me through email within 48 hours to claim your prize. shaneandchelsey2003@gmail.com )

I hope you enjoy the treats as much as I enjoy having you as readers, commentors and friends.

Thank you to everyone who entered!

No worries if you were not picked this time.

There will be many more giveaways to come!

Much Love and Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

 

Sullivan Bakehouse Giveaway! March 10, 2012

It time!

A large helping of life’s first ever giveaway!!

It only seemed appropriate that my first giveaway be from my own Etsy store.

I have always wanted to own a bakery and now I do!

Now, I don’t have a cute little shop downtown or anything but I do have my online Etsy shop.

I will take what I can get.

I adore baking, I always have and over the years I have taken some recipes and tweaked them to be my own and to be what I think is more tasty.

One of my favorite recipes is my sugar cookie.

It is thick and soft and yummy.

Especially when you fill it with jelly!

This is my personal favorite from Sullivan Bakehouse.

I decided it was time to thank all of my wonderful blog followers by hosting a giveaway.

A chance to win your choice of 1 item from Sullivan Bakehouse.

That’s right!

Your choice!!!

So here are the rules…..pay attention……

TO ENTER:

Answer the following question in the comment section…….

What is your favorite item from Sullivan Bakehouse? (click here to look at what Sullivan Bakehouse has http://sullivanbakehouse.etsy.com )

That’s it!

Do that and your on your way to winning a yummy treat!

(Your answer will be your prize if you are the winner)

RULES:

Only one comment per person…….No cheating….Don’t make me get the spoon!

No comments after midnight on Friday the 16th.

Winner will be selected at random and announced on Saturday morning.

AND

There is one more way to enter!

As a thank you to my current subscribers and to my future subscribers I will add an additional entry.

If you already are a subscriber. Thank you! You automatically have an extra entry.

If you become a new subscriber you will also earn an extra entry.

(To subscribe just enter your email address on the right.)

Good luck to everyone!

Thanks to all my readers!

You’re the best!!!

 

The Much Needed Haircut! March 6, 2012

A few days ago all my sons were told that is was time.

Time for those dreaded haircuts!

Between 3 sons, 1 husband and hair that grows like well watered weeds, it seems like I am always having to cut someone’s hair.

Usually this is not a huge occasion.

It is a get in get out type of process.

I just thought that this time you would like to be included in the entertaining process that is cutting Jude’s hair.

This boy seriously needed a hair cut!

He was beginning to form some 70′s sideburns.

It was scary.

It had to go.

I told him it was time to cut his hair.

He was less than excited……..

This is his less than excited face.

Which is similar to his “I am a ham” face.

It was time to start but not without one more picture of his cute face and overgrown hair.

I was busy at work so Daddy took a picture of Jude.

Does he not look thrilled to be getting his hair cut?

The way I do a haircut is simple.

Step 1. Plug in clippers

Step 2. Sit child down

Step 3. Turn on clippers and tell said child to sit still

Step 4. Firmly grasp head of wiggly child (shown above)

Step 5. Buzz hair off until your heart is content……

Or until your son looks adorable. (shown above)

Now the hair cut was done and Jude was happy about that.

When Jude is happy silly faces happen.

Jude is never short of silly faces.

Ever.

Would you look at that!

No 70′s sideburns anymore.

Just a well groomed little ham.

P.S.- Stayed tuned because A Large Helping Of Life is having a giveaway soon!!!

 

 
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