Cleaning Out the Camera Roll

Here are a few pics and vids I've overlooked in the last crazy month or so.

At Elannah's high school graduation, she sang a duet with her bestie, Chloe. I couldn't manage to upload the video of the actual performance, but I did have them practice in the car on the way to the ceremony.



Graduation day was rainy, so we had to take pictures in the stadium hallway, which was absolutely packed.

Elannah loves her sister.

I just love these two. 

Husband, Elannah, and I pose for the obligatory parent shot.

Elannah with my parents and my two youngest brothers, Aaron and Thomas (the bearded one)

Elannah and my in-laws

An experiment: I found two ugly vinyl-covered storage cubes and decided to paint them with chalk paint to see what would happen.

Behr chalk paint is about half the price of Annie Sloan chalk paint. The helpful Home Depot paint department employee recommended that I use a natural brush to apply the finishing wax and a good synthetic brush to apply the paint. 

After two good coats of paint, the storage cubes look a lot better. The vinyl is still perfectly supple. The finishing wax keeps the paint soft and cloth-like.

We ended up giving the painted storage cubes to Gabrielle and Raine, who needed more seating options in their sparsely furnished condo and who loved these.

Me and Tyler at Gabrielle's and Raine's condo. While everyone else was hauling stuff, I hung out with this dumpling.

Tyler with his great-grandma (my mom) during our Father's Day family get-together.

Thinking I would simply make a few flowers for Gabrielle's reception, I started watching YouTube videos and experimenting with coffee filter flowers. 

I tried dyeing some of the coffee filters red and making both large and small roses. I never actually used any of my finished products except the white flower balls at the reception, but now I am a pro at coffee filter flowers!

Gabrielle and Husband at the second reception. Gabrielle bought a lovely second-hand wedding dress from a thrift store for $80, but it was sleeveless and had a plunging neck- and backline. She was going to have it altered, but because she came down with such a terrible case of pneumonia, she never had time. She had to use a white tank top under the bodice and cover it with a white jacket, which was a shame because the dress fit so well and was so cute.

Little Gary with Raine's family's Newfie, Clem. Clem drools. A lot. But he's a big old teddy bear.

Sophia putting on the crown as Miss [Our City] one last time.

She's ready to do final interviews with the new contestants before the pageant tonight.

Sophia needed two formal gowns for the pageant. I insisted  she try this one on, and she ended up going with it, but we chose a crinoline underskirt instead of hoops, which poofed the skirt way out and made her look like a Southern belle of the 1800s. Even with platform shoes and the crinoline, the skirt is so long that she had to practice walking in it without looking like she was goose-stepping the hem out of the way with each step.

One of our summer projects has been removing the carpeting on the second floor in our house, laying down new laminate flooring, and repainting the walls. Husband has finished the hallway and Sophia's room, and this is Little Gary's room. We had to paint the subfloor with an odor-blocking paint (Kilz) because past cats had decided to use this room as a litter box on occasion. The walls will be washed and painted next week. Little Gary has decided to go with a rich blue on the walls.

I had to help Sophia with her costume changes for the pageant dress rehearsal and grabbed a few seconds of the evening gown bit. Sorry I didn't film sideways. I always forget.