New Bed Reveal!

I hinted a while back at a project that I was excited to complete. It started out super easy and ended with my dad welding extentions onto the bed frame so we could fit the mattress between the headboard and footboard. Thanks Dad!!

Before:

 

 

 During:

After:

 

 

Here's wishing you sweet dreams!



What a GORGEOUS fall weekend!

I love the fall. What more can you ask for: weather in the low 70's, cloudy skies, windows open and fun times with friends and family. This weekend was just awesome, I sure hope this fall weather sticks around for a long time.

This is the lovely view out of my dining room windows and off the back deck. The trees are just starting to change colors, which makes these views even better!

I started my weekend off running my first 5K with my friend Courtney. Our time wasn't too bad, and we didn't finish last (which was the ultimate goal), but I was a little disappointed in the amount of walking I needed to do. I thought for sure I would be able to run a lot longer stretches than I was able to. Oh well, I guess that means I just need to keep trying.

Amost done with the first mile.

Getting ready to cross the finish line.

The boys got a basketball goal this weekend from a friend who didn't need theirs anymore. They have been anxiously awaiting their chance to get out and test it out, once it warmed up a little on Sunday they were out the door.

Here are a couple of hints as to what the next project on my list is. I can't wait to get this one done and show you all the finished product.

Here's to gorgeous weather that gets you up and moving with your friends and family!

Another Pinterest Project Done

We have finally completed another Pinterest inspired project, our pallet table. The original idea (found here) used full sized pallets, we opted for the smaller ones and I think it fits our space better. Kevin and my dad worked together on this one and I stained it the same color as the deck. I think it turned out nicely and is a great addition to the patio area.

Here's to cozying up outside and enjoying those long summer nights with the ones you love.

Flowers from The Henrys' Plant Farm

Last weekend we ventured out to The Henrys' Plant Farm to get some flowers for our sad, empty flower pots. I decided this year to pretty much (within reason) let the boys pick whatever flowers they thought I would like best. We got some of my favorites, Lantana and Alyssum, the boys insisted that I needed pink Impatients and purple Pansies, and we are trying out a few new ones as well, Gazania and Sanvitalia. I think they all turned out nicely, I am hoping they last through the summer!

Julian with Franny the Frog (she was part of his Kindergarten class journaling project, more on that later), getting the supplies ready.

Here's wishing you a beautiful spring!

Spring is in the Air

One of my very favorties, Red Tulips.

Ok, call me a liar, I know that it really seems to be more summer like right now than spring. After all it has been 90 degrees the last two days. But with a few nice rainshowers and this lovely weather my flowers are starting to bloom like crazy. (Even the ever popular "Dandy Flowers" as Kaleb calls them are in bloom, but we are keeping those picked because they are apparently mommy's favorites!)

Everyday we have something new blooming, I can't wait to get out to The Henrys' Plant Farm and get some of my empty flower pots filled. Be on the lookout for the in process and finished pictures of our lovely creations. By the way, if you live around here you should take the kids out to Henry's. They not only have beautiful flower gardens to walk through and beautiful flowers to buy, but they also have all kinds of farms animals for the kids to check out.

One of my MANY bouquets of "Dandy Flowers".

Tulips, Iris, Daffodils and Lilies

Blue and Purple Windflowers

Azalea bush full of blooms.

Here's wishing you a spring (or summer!) that is just as delightful to the soul as it is to the eyes.

Know It All

In my endless search for organization I came across the idea for a family binder that keeps all of our important information all together in one place. Unsure what to title my new creation, I came up with the "Know It All Binder".

The beauty of it is that it is super flexible with the information that you want to include, and you call continue to add to it as your family needs. Below are the sections that I created in mine to get started:

Family Medical Information, Important Phone Numbers, Important Dates, Work Schedule, Sports Shedules (room for each person have thier own pages), Planning (extras printed for future use), Christmas Card List, and Gift Purchase List. Most of these I printed from this website and I use PowerPoint to create the others.

I left plenty of room to be added to later and the front of the 3 ring binder holds short-term and upcoming school information. I am hoping that this helps us stay organized as the summer will be here soon keeping us busy!


Here's wishing you and your family a quick and easy way to get and stay organized before your spring and summer get to busy!

Shutter Displays

I love having a way to display the boys' artwork in their rooms and for a while we have been using a length of twine and clothes pins to hold the masterpieces. They were due for an upgrade and I was trying to find a way to add pops of color to their rooms to give them more personality. Thanks to Pinterest an idea was sparked to use old shutters as an organized display.

I found the shutters at the Habitiat for Humanity ReStore in the area for $3.25 each (Do a Google search to find one in your area, you can find some amazing items there, and help support a great cause.), we gave the boys free reign in the spray paint aisle at Home Depot to pick whatever color they wanted, and we used S hooks and small binder clips to hold the art.

Below is the work in progress and finshed products:

Shutters - Before getting sanded down

After a coat of paint - Kaleb opted for bright blue, Julian opted for bright yellow

No picture hangers? Just use the tabs off of soda cans!

"S" hook and binder clip 

Finished product before artwork is added.

Finished product with artwork.

 This was a very easy project to complete with the boys, and really was quite inexpensive. Here's to many more projects to brighten up our home and hopefully inspiration to tackle a project or two of your own.

My name is Stephanie, and I have an addiction

I am totally addicted to Pinterest. If you don't know what it is, it is site that allows you to create virtual "pinboards" that you can spend endless hours pinning great ideas to. You shoud totally check it out, let me know if you decide you need an invite, I would be more than happy to enable your addiction.

I have countless recipe ideas, many of which I will be putting to use for Christmas. Not to mention ideas for next year's Christmas gifts. I started late in the holiday season to make very many gifts, I did make two from an idea I found, but you will have to wait until after Christmas for me to post how they turned out. I have also found great ideas for things for the boys to do and too many art projects and DIY ideas to keep me (and Kevin) busy for months. Keep an eye on here for photos of the projects that I get completed. For now here are the ones that I am hoping to get done in the near future:






Here's to a new year of crafting and getting the creative juices flowing!

Mark these off the to-do list

I have found that owning a house and making it your home creates what seems to be, at least for me, a never-ending and ever-growing to-do list. I am a list maker, I make lists for everything: groceries, what to do today, what to do this weekend, what to clean, what to fix, books to read...you get the idea. I was very happy to see some of the items on my perpetual to-do list finally get marked off in the last month or so.

Here is my list of what I accomplished (in no particular order):

1. Clean and re-stain the deck - This was what I thought was going to be a weekend project, not so much. With the help of my mom (Thanks Mom!!) I think we got this completely accomplished in 2 weeks. There is only so much that you can do when you have to work around work, the weather, kids and the fact that it was getting dark not long after 6pm. But, now that it is done I will say the deck looks fabulous!

2. Get the tile floor fixed in the kitchen and dining room - This has been a headache since we moved into our house. The builder did not do a very good job laying the floor and we had him correct the middle section of the floor not log after we moved in. We had on-going issues getting him to come back and finish the job right, so we ending up having someone else come in to fix it. Huge Thank You goes out to Justin's Flooring for fixing us up and doing a great job (let me know if you need to have any flooring work done, we recommend him and will pass along his information if you want it).

  

3. Reorganize the dining room craft area - We like to keep a supply of craft/art/play-doh items in the dining room for the boys. This gives them easy access and it is easy to keep an eye on them while they are creating their masterpieces. We had been using only the pie safe, storage in the benches and clear tubs under the benches around the table, but I was growing tired of the tubs and we needed better storage options. So off to Target I went and found 2 desk top shelving organizers, bins to go inside and basket for the top. Now the crayons, markers, stickers, glue, scissors, etc. all have their own bins, the (obscene amount of) play-doh is now neatly stored in the pie safe. Plastic flower pots from the Target clearance section now hold all of the play-doh molds and cutters. And learning and activity books are conveniently kept on the bottom shelf. A supply of paper is, not so neatly, stored in a fabric tote, we haven't found a completely neat and easily accessible way to store the boys paper supply.

 

  

We also finally got a new laptop, the old one was probably 8 or 9 years old, we were due for an upgrade! I think that had been on the list for quite a while and we finally did it. That's all for now, I have to get back to making my lists and hopefully marking some more off!