tissue paper tassel garland diy & the hunt

this last week was full of rushing and running and planning and hair pulling-my own of course.
my biggest little turned 18 a few weeks ago and then decided to go and graduate high school last week.
big. deep. breath.
i was fine until i woke up in the middle of the night and as i rose from a deep slumber i was suddenly jarred with this thought- "oh shit. i have an 18 year old."

whoever stole all these years and hit this fast forward button on my lil's childhood best be watchin their back coz i am huntin for ya! i am also deceivingly strong and surprisingly feisty. i have stories. trust that.

oh, graduation?
oh no, no worries life, i'm fine.
i'm trying to stay on balance as you smack me upside my head then bring it back around with a kick in my back.
but really, i'm fine.

saturday was her graduation bbq.
the hawaiian and i had different visions.
in my head i saw blankets layered all over the backyard with us all sipping out of ball jars with pretty striped straws, burgers, fluffy pink cupcakes, garlands, tassels and strings of white bulb lights with the toasting of late afternoon s'mores.
he had a luau in mind.
once he started pulling down all her old decorations from her very 1st birthday i had to just walk away. must i tear up at everything?!

well, i decided i was still gonna add some of my vision to this par-tay.  i have been long been admiring the look of tissue paper tassels and i love me a craft project.
this one is really easy but yes, i swore at least once while creating these. i think i burned myself with the glue gun, can't remember, anyone else swear while crafting? nobody? it happens. it's okay.

fold tissue paper in half

cut strips to whatever width you'd like leaving about 1-2" at the top where your fold is.

looks like this when you are finished with your strips.

pull one sheet off and open it laying it flat like this.

start to roll like shown.

once rolled you start to twist the center.

once twisted you will loop it as shown.

some people tape their loop, i hot glued it because i don't like the look of the tape as much-apparently i would rather burn myself with the glue gun. this is where you swear.

string your tassels through twine, string, ribbon or whatever you'd like. 

love how these turned out! might have to make some for father's day and hang them in the man cave-muuaahhhhaaaa!!

oh, before i forget, aloha friday y'all!

now off to find that sorry sucka father time. he's goin' down!!

let there be fireworks

initially my family was gonna have a very quiet stay at home 4th of july this year. this would be very different from any 4th we have ever celebrated but after coming home from a big vacation we welcomed the thought of lounging around the house, eating whenever and whatever with the possibility of maybe napping here or there.

everything changed when my good friend erin said, "hey, come over, let's swim, let's bbq, let's have fun."

she had me at 'hey'.

i'm easy.

so as i am generally crowned the 'dessert girl' (and i wear a crown well) i went to work making 4 dozen of the famous mini s'mores that always make their appearance right around this time of year.

i could probably just eat these all day.

i have been known.

i don't even feel shameful.

they are that good. <shrug>

as we celebrate with friends, eat, drink, swim, dance in a parking lot with strangers (it was maybe once or twice!) get sunburned, laugh, hug, love and cheer remember the true meaning of the day (oh no, here she goes, getting all 'mom" on us, trying to teach us again) and what it means to our great country.

the 4th of july is a celebration of our independence-the day the 13 colonies took legal separation from the kingdom of great britain.

well, actually that occurred on the 2nd and a team of 5 (john adams, thomas jefferson, benjamin frankin, roger sherman, and robert livingston) revised, approved and signed the declaration of independence on the 4th of july.

many historians believed it was signed almost a month later in august but what do they know?

i'm goin with what those 5 guys said. i think at this point-that's the safe bet.

okay, so a few cool facts then i'm out:

-adams and jefferson the only 2 other signers of the declaration of independence that went on to be presidents both died on the same day- july 4th, 1926. that was the 50th anniversary of the declaration. strange huh?

-i will be dancing in a parking lot later with fireworks over my head most likely to the tune of "baby you're a firework",by katy perry.

now go on with yo bad selves and 4th it up!

wait, take one of these with you too!

whose your daddy?!

fathers day this year was a little different for us.

shane and maile had gone to seattle for the week-end and didn't get home til about 6:30pm. i waited and waited and waited ALL DAY and when they got here it was a happy time for me.

i like all my lil chickens (and my rooster) all home here in the nest you see. not having them here all week-end was very strange. very quiet and incomplete.

thursday night was no biggie, i stretched out in the bed, had one less, "you brushed your teeth right?" reminder (that'd be for maile not shane) and slept in this awesome snore free zone that was not too shabby.

friday was fine too, i missed my girl on our evening bike ride but knew she was having a blast with her dad. i was getting lots of pictures sent to me and it looked fun!

saturday started to get a little ho-hum and i really started to miss them both something pretty big.

my son and i hung out and had a great one on one day (which is rare) but all of the sudden my bed seemed way too big and empty-oh wait, that's not true, remember that 17 year old that has the umbilical cord still attached? yeah, she was right there next to me every night, snuggled in.

but then sunday came-father's day-and i got my fathers day dinner bbq all together, got my house all cleaned and keala and i went to pick up the rest of our fam at the airport.

we had a lil food, lil desert (yep, that lush made her appearance), talked, laughed, broke out the mustaches..... ya know, normal stuff for round these parts.

the girl bbq'd

gifts for the best dads in our life

u dub bbq set. how is it we didn't already have one?

some day that may say 'craft cave'....

the villian and the carnie

 

finger sniffers!

we mustache you a question...but were shaving it for later

i don't think he looks pissed???

like father like daughter....

yep, i guess that old apple tree saying applies huh???