Claire

Last weekends baby shower went great.  There were about 30 people that came, and the only problem that we had was that the house was burning up!  Out here in the Pacific Northwest it only gets hot enough to need air conditioning about 1 week out of the year, we needed one on Sunday.

I baked a lot of yummy stuff for the shower.  My favorite was pudding cookies.  I will share the recipe later.

At the shower Doug and Mary wanted to reveal the name that they had decided on for their little girl and I was happy to help out.  I painted a canvas with the name on it and they opened it at the shower for all their friends and family to see.

I started with the name (Which I went over a dozen time trying to make it perfect) and worked my way out from there…

Here is the finished product (I probably perfected the letters one or two more times after this picture was taken)…

Everyone loved the name and I am happy that they let me be apart of the surprise.

A lot harder than it looks!!!

A few weeks ago I went to a friends baby shower.  I love giving gifts that are monogrammed or have the baby’s name on it, but because I procrastinated I didn’t have time to order something off line.  I decided I would try my hand at painting a canvas with the baby’s name on it to be hung possibly over the crib.  I bought the paint, brushes, and canvas at JoAnne’s and started on my little project.  I started on the name first because I thought the letters would be the hardest and I painted out from the name after that.  Painting is a lot more difficult than drawing or coloring because it tended to go places that I didn’t want it to go.  Even though Doug told me that it “didn’t look professional”…I still think it turned out pretty good.  I am working on one more and when it is finished I will post it.  Hopefully it will turn out a little better.

Not too shabby for a beginner!

Slave Driver

I wasn’t sure how much help I would be getting out of Doug this weekend, but I was happily surprised.  He marked a few things off his honey do list and also helped me in the yard.  I had let the backyard and the side of the house get taken over by weeds and I have always hated the bark that was in the flower bed.  I made it my mission to take back the backyard and side of the house this weekend.

We trimmed the shrubs in the front yard.

Before….

After…

The last time that I trimmed this tree Ellen was here to help me.  I wish that Ellen was here this time to tell me which branch to cut because I think I got a little happy with the clippers.

Before…

After with some cute purple flowers under it…

The backyard taken over by weeds…

After with no weeds, pruned trees, new mulch, and new flowers.

We rented a power washer and Doug power washed the house.  The back of the house was looking really gross.

I am so glad that Doug did it…it looks so much better.

I don’t have any after pictures of the house…just imagine it without all the mildew