Taylee the Teen!!!

Taylee said to me one day, "Mom, I wish I had pictures of all my friends." 

I said, "Well, why don't you plan a day to go to the park and take pictures of one another?"

 Then a light bulb went off... "Why don't we do it for your birthday?!" 

So a very quick invitation was made and an impromptu birthday party was thrown together. ---The plan; meet at the park, take lots of fun/weird/cute photos, eat munchies & play games.  

Party favor..gum attached.

Taylee's favorite color is orange. 

We put an orange flower balloon out, to designate where to meet us in the park. 

 We fought the wind, cooler weather and almost another park goer (a little story in it's self), but I think the girls had fun.

 Micaela & Taylee

 Alyssa &Taylee

 Kristen & Taylee

 Bella & Taylee

 We started off with a few props and a few friends...

 Sage & Taylee

...then more friends showed up, so we did more photos.

 Ahhh... my eyes...the sun is too bright!

Sorry, bad idea.

 Kylee & Taylee

 Beach Beauties

Kristin-Sage-Rachel-Micaela-Taylee-Kaylee

Bella & Alyssa

 Rachel & Taylee

 Oh, you're all so cute!

 We didn't bring a candle, so Taylee used a jellybean and we sang Happy Birthday to her.

 Munchie time.

 Gift time.

 We LOVE you Taylee!!!

 She received so many fun/cute gifts;  fingernail polish/accessories, craft supplies, scrapbook paper/stickers, cute shirt, ice cream sandwich maker/cookie dough mix, candy, friendship bracelet, lip gloss, blue mascara and make-up bag.

 One of Taylee's favorite gifts was this cool bird/cage necklace.

 The next day, she celebrated with our family. 

Happy 13th Birthday Taylee!!!

We LOVE you.

Another Ison Chick Chat

We gathered at Grandma Ison's house for another session of Ison Chick Chat.

Megan-Candice 

The inspiration for the gathering was having the Wilson sisters in town. 

Megan was moving across the country and Martha came to visit from Ohio. As a part of their sister time together, they decided to come to Idaho to see Grandma Ison and hang out with us. We wanted to get in as much chat time, before everyone went their separate ways.

 Me-Amber

 Shegay-Martha-Grandma Ison

I had so much fun chatting and snacking I didn't get many quality pictures... just enough to document. :)

 Jana-Me

 Megan-Shegay-Martha

Liz-Annette-Rachel

 Wilson Sisters

We went around the room and shared what we've been doing, what's new and what's on the horizon. It was so fun to get together and be with one another...to the tune of 2am! 

We LOVE our cousins... and Ison Chick Chats!

PS-I went back for a second round of cousin chat the next evening. Martha and I found a quiet bench, in the hotel lobby they were staying in, and chatted each other up until WAY late...2,3,4am?...I can't remember.

Happy Birthday Grandma!

We invited Grandma McKinley over for dinner, to celebrate her birthday.

We had orange chicken with stir-fry veggies and a Jello poke cake for dessert.

To make up for the lack of chocolate in the cake (actually no chocolate) we gave her a BIG Symphony bar. :)

After dinner we played games and enjoyed being with one another.

Happy Birthday Grandma/Mom!

We LOVE you!

Happy Easter!

For Easter, we had our annual Jerusalem dinner.

Of course the highly anticipated goat cheese was there along with something new... pita chips and hummus. The kids opened the eggs, while Jason read the scripture references, then we watched He Is Risen.

Happy Easter!

April Fools!

When it comes to April Fool's type jokes, I'm pretty mild. Generally I think they are kind of mean. Guess I don't have a very good sense of humor in that way. So when I saw a KFC April Fool's dinner on Pinterest, I knew it would fit my non-mean, cute type of April Fool's joke.

"Fried chicken, corn on the cob and baked beans".

The chicken bones were made from a pretzel rod and 2 mini marshmallows, dipped in white chocolate.
The chicken meat was Rice Crispy treats formed and shaped onto the bone. Then I slathered them with a peanut butter white chocolate combo and then dipped and patted bran flakes onto them for the crispy fried skin look.

The corn on the cob was a Twinkie that I frosted and then placed Jelly Belly (buttered popcorn) jellybeans onto, in rows. The butter pat was a lemon Starburst.

The baked beans were chocolate and vanilla pudding mixed with some orange and red food coloring then chocolate covered raisins stirred in. The original post suggested Sugar Babies, but I didn't find any at the store. My baked beans didn't look as authentic as the original, but they did the trick.

For dinner... oh, I mean dessert we had "cupcakes".

Meatloaf frosted with pink mashed potatoes.

I invited the family to come in for dinner. They knew we weren't really having KFC (it was a Sunday), but they couldn't figure out what exactly they WERE having for dinner.

Jason (and I) still being on the "no sweets" wellness challenge, just kind of sat there not knowing what was safe and what was "off limits" to eat. I assured him that he could have these cupcakes, but probably should wait on the other things. :)

A mixed up kind of dinner...

April Fools!

Dean confided later that he had the opportunity to have some live chickens given to him. He had wanted to put them in his innocent, unsuspecting siblings homes, through their back doors for an April Fool's joke. He didn't do it...but he wished he had.

How would you react to a live chicken roaming your home?