He is Risen!

We had a fabulous Easter weekend in Wichita!
Shaun sang his heart out 3 nights in a row at the
Living Pictures of Easter...(it was amazing)
And then we had a wonderful visit with Uncle Ernie
and Aunt Barbara!

This was an attempt to get an Easter Sunday
picture of the boys!

Parker was excited to receive a gift from
Kip and Cherie.

Turner loved his cars and animals from Kip and Cherie!

We loved visiting with Kip and Cherie!

This was the Easter cake that Aunt Barbara made...yummy!

These are the Easter cookies we enjoyed!

And...here is Shaun and Uncle Ernie!

Speaking of family resemblance,
someone came up to Uncle Ernie after the
production and told him they really enjoyed his solos!! LOL

I had to take a picture of the Easter Spread!

And, we loved the pork tenderloin!

These are a few more of Aunt Barbara's homemade cookies!

We always have a family puzzle to work on...this one
was just a little too tough!

Here we are looking for Easter eggs on the back 99 acres!

I was so happy to see the daffodils
in bloom!
What a wonderful weekend!
Thank you God for a vacation and sweet family!

The Indiana Jones Birthday Party!

I cannot believe that my son is SEVEN-YEARS-OLD!
I love planning parties, and this one was a blast!
Parker wanted an Indiana Jones Party...
so, we started with a classic lego invite.

The kids were divided into teams and then
had a timed Scavenger Hunt in the backyard.
Each team took off with their hats looking for
golden coins and the famous jewels!

This was the most delicious chocolate cake made by my
sweet sister-in-law Stephanie!!
She really went over the top and the
kids all went crazy!

Parker could not keep his hands off the cake!

The group photo with the
hats on!

All serious!

Loving the gigantic candles!

The kids loved their wax lips and mustaches!

And Turner had a great time carrying the whip
all afternoon!

Happy 7th Birthday Parker!

I love Santa!

So we started our wonderful

Saturday with a trip to see

Santa at the Southlands!

The boys were so excited!!

And much happier than years past..

this is Turner's first picture with

Santa!!

Parker insisted on wearing the scarf that Santa

gave him last year, and

of course we had to bring our list!

Santa was so kind and read through

each and every request!

We even got to meet Mrs. Claus!!

What a treat!

And what a fun Saturday for

the McClellans.

Turner turns Three!

Happy 3rd Birthday Turner!!

I was so impressed when my sister-in-law Stephanie arrived at

our house with the most amazing Mickey Mouse cake!

Turner was so excited to wear his shin guards and kick the

soccer ball through the house.

He smiled all day and all night!

He even found a new "side smile"

he has been sporting!

Parker sang his solo of "Happy Birthday" to Turner!

Yippee!

Now...onto the next holiday!

My new goal is to try and get our Christmas Cards out

by the first week of December...(is that too much to ask? ..maybe)

But I have had so much fun with the

cards and stamps this year, and I wanted to share!

I have discovered the joy of creating my own stamps!

I have ordered sheets and sheets of them!

It really is the easiest thing to do...photostamps.com

You even get to pick your colors!

And for those of you who know me, you know a Christmas card is

not complete without a family label!

We each get to pick the hairstyle and color that we think represents us!

Thanks familylabels.com!

Happy Holidays...

now off to the shopping!!

Garnet Garland!

My family is starting the decorating early this year! We love Christmas!

So grant me the joy of sharing with you the

Garnet Hill Advent Calendars this year!

(I love this magazine:)

My favorite is the picture of the elves with pockets (see above)...

wouldn't this be easy to make?

Garland Mittens with numbers!

Buckets O' Garland

And of course...Advent Chocolates!

Have fun decorating!

I heart Crate and Barrel!

I am so excited for the holidays!

I have recently received a holiday Crate and Barrel magazine..

I am in love with the patchwork ornaments!

How creative!

Aren't these the cutest birds?

Couldn't I make these?

How easy would the roosters be to knit?
(for someone who knows how to knit..)

I am imagining an entire tree of homemade knit ornaments...

do you see one in your mind??

Stenciled!

I love Halloween, I know I say that about every holiday,

but I have a special place in my heart for any

celebration lets everyone get

hopped up on sugar and act completely silly.

So with the date rapidly approaching and I ran across this great tutorial

at Better Homes and Gardens on how to stencil a pumpkin.

It looks so easy to do and the results are absolutely fantastic!

The Pumpkin Man is back!

Wow, it has been months since I have blogged!

Many things have kept me busy,...let's see...

moving home to Colorado,

unpacking, working,

and creating a home I love.

I have Fall on the mind!

I love the seasons changing, the colors on the trees are amazing right now!

My son wants me to build a scarecrow...which may be my project this week.

I love celebrating, I love parties and dressing up..so maybe we will have another one this year.

This is a Halloween postcard I found online from 1944.

Supposively the pumpkin man is emerging from the cake!

This is a photo of the 40 foot pumpkin man someone created!

Creative!



And then the Disneyland parade of Pumpkin Men is always worth mentioning.


So light your pumpkin spice candles,
open the screen doors and listen to
John Denver...does it get any better? No way.

As John says, "Hey, it's good to be back home again"....