By Royal Proclamation

Hear ye, hear ye!

I can hardly believe that my baby girl turned 7 last week. We thought we'd enjoy the chance to celebrate in high style while we have the room, so we threw a "royal ball" and invited guests to come dressed in their majestic best. What an awesome day it turned out to be. Lots of wonderful family and friends attended and the little princess just had a royally good time, surrounded my most of her favorite people! Here are some shots I captured and was able to upload this week:

The Princess Herself

The Royal Family

Heir to the Throne

Fairy Godmothers

Men in Capes

Ladies in Red

Sunny & Cory

Mindy & Wes

Tie dye all across the land

Cape training

A Cupcake Feast!

Lucky number seven

In the Kingdom of Yum

The Royal Taste Test

The Royal Paige and her Pot of Potatoes

The Belles of the Ball

It's Good to Be King (of the barbeque)

So Sweet

Wheeeeeeeee!

That's all for now...

My camera went missing before the wrapping paper started flying, and all those photos are on my phone, still waiting to be downloaded. She made out like a real princess, spoiled with everything a little princess could ever wish for, including her very own chariot (courtesy of Grandpa George and Jack), a Princess-adorned battery-operated FJ cruiser.

Obviously not Kenna, but the stock photo will have to do.  She and Caleb ride ALL over the ranch in this thing, going about their business, and I'm pretty impressed with how well it handles the hills and rocky pathways around here.  She's lucky it's hot pink, or Daddy might turn it into a utility vehicle for ranch chores!  :)  She also has her days (and hands) full with the Easy Bake Oven, Paper-roni, Littlest Pet Shop, dress-up clothes, stick-on tattoos, makeup, and more.  She scored enough cash and gift cards to clear out the toy department at Walmart, most of which has gone to acquiring the entire cast of Toy Story for her collection.  She was so grateful for the gifts, but mostly excited for the awesome day she had, complete with a sleepover with friends.  I'm glad she enjoyed it so much, 'cuz there goes her sweet 16! ;)

Trying not to suffocate...

The heat has arrived at The Ranch ... and it hasn't come gently, either.

I've been spending most days waiting impatiently for about 7 p.m., when the breeze picks up a little and it's cool enough to hang out on the porch, where I steal a few moments on my patio daybed, staring up at the birds and the top of those majestic trees... soaking it all in, and trying desperately to swat away the mosquitos and other teensy winged creatures.  The rest of the time, I'm cursing the stillness of the heat and the heavy air that seems to suffocate, willing the living room fan to spin faster, as the blades seem to simply cut through the heat, unable to move the stubborn air -- no breeze to be found.  It's an amazingly beautiful time of year to be here -- the brightness mixed up periodically with summer lightning storms zig-zagging across the landscape.  On those stormy days, the sunsets are simply unbeatable -- pink and purple ribbons jutting through the thunderheads, painting an expanse of playful hues. 

We're still making progress around here, even in the heat, little by little.  Got the lodge reorganized a little better with regard to all the furniture making its home here (we refer to this room often as "the place old furniture goes to die", simply because there's not really anywhere else to store it all).  I spent a few hours, too, revamping the guest bedroom ("Kenna's room") into a breezy, cottagey space strewn with white accents to take the focus off the wood paneling in there.  After all, no one likes sleeping in a pine box -- right?

Without further ado... a couple more photos (for some reason, the blog is cutting all the pictures off, so click on each to enlarge to the full photo).  The lodge photos are as best as I can get them -- the lighting in the room is so bad that my lil' camera can't do much better without looking like a wood washout.  Hopefully this is better than nothing.



































That's all for now. Stay cool out there, wherever you are!

A few more pictures...

"Kenna's" room

A few more shots of the pool room/bunk room with better (day) light ...

All four beds

Master bedroom... my favorite! Such a peaceful space.

Just made those "his" and "hers" wall hangings today out of twenty cent boards from the Builder's Warehouse. Not bad for twenty cents and about five minutes. So happy with how they came out! Click the picture to enlarge for a better look.

That's all for now... off to do some work outside while it's still light out. More pictures to come later this weekend. Fishing derby tomorrow, and then Father's Day, so we'll see if I can find time to get a few more shots uploaded.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Pictures, Pictures, Lots of Random Pictures

Some random pics of the house as it is now. Click on the photos to enlarge...

Living Room/Dining Room

Office/Front Porch, currently being used as my office/studio AND a playroom (gotta keep the kiddos busy while I try and get some work done).

Pool Room = Now the "Bunk Room" -- there are 2 full size beds and two twins in here, so this offers a lot of sleeping space.

Egg Room = Now the Cowboy Room -- thought we'd capitalize on this hallway-ish space by making it another bedroom/sleeping space.

Master bathroom

Front porch

Loft - boy side

Loft

Loft - girl side

Kitchen

This photo was taken before, this fridge fried in one of the power surges, so we now have a stainless/black fridge in there that looks great with the black and metal of the stove.

That's it for now. More to come as we finish cleaning, organizing, and storing/tossing excess clutter around here. Hope everyone likes the updating... I look forward to showing you the cute seating and dining areas we made around the outside porches and patio, the guest houses that will look ready to vacation in, and the lodge displaying all it's ranch charm when we finish those things up in the next few days. Stay tuned...

If life ever slows down, maybe I'll find time for some before/afters just for the fun of it. We'll see...