pencil cases

In celebration of a new school year I wanted to put together a pencil case filled with new pencils, stickers, scissors, glue, ect. for each of the kids. So off I went to Walmart (dragging Julianne with me!) to stock up on school supplies. But then we ended up in the fabric isle! When I saw all the fun prints they have I thought that it would be so much more fun to sew new pencil cases instead of buying them! The fabric is pretty thin though, so I used an iron on interfacing to stiffen it up a bit. With the exception of Bergen's they all turned out pretty cute. I will have to sew another 1 for him. It is tricky to find a fabric for a boy his age. It cannot be too "little boy" for him, and a girl can only take so much camo in her life after all. 

(Julianne, how does 1 go back to sewing with scissors after using a rotary blade!? I do not think it is possible!)

for Emma

for Noelle

for Tate

kid history

My sister-in-law Julianne e-mailed this to us this morning. There are no words. Just watch!

WARNING: Your 2 year old may begin to walk around the house saying, "That's nasty, Dude!"

the full McCullough family photo shoot

My sister-in-law, Shannon, came up a couple of weekends ago to take some photos of the whole McCullough clan for her parents. She is such an amazing photographer. As I watched her work I felt 2 things: first of all - I was in awe of her talent and ability to know what to do, where to stand, and every other thing that needs to be taken into consideration when shooting outside - wind, sun, shadows, bees! Secondly - I do not want her job! The seemingly simple task of taking a picture is not so simple. Trying to co-ordinate 12 children, to have then all smiling and looking at the camera at the same time, as Shannon sets the timer and runs back to join us for the picture, in the hopes that everyone will be looking ahead, hopefully smiling, but in the very least not crying, is about as chaotic as it sounds. She did it, as she always does, with patience and kindness and incredible crazy camera skills. Shannon, thank you! I feel like the luckiest mom, sister, daughter, auntie, and wife to have every single 1 of these people in my family! I love you all.

a september saturday