Grateful Sunday

I'm grateful for:

• Someone else cooked dinner for us tonight and it was beyond delicious
• Tom spent the week home last week - working in the backyard. We now have drainage pipes and sprinklers installed. I really really liked having him around.
• My daughters matched at church today. I swore I wouldn't do that, but I. likes it so much, she changed to match her sister. I don't know why I didn't like it in the past, because today I thought it was cute.
• We beat our Bolder Boulder time from last year by 2 1/2 minutes - not bad for 6 miles.
• I have a really really comfy bed and Tom will run his fingers through my hair as I read at night.

Have a great week

Laurel

Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest

Over at The Shabby Nest, Wendy is hosting a Frugal Friday Linky Party! I missed it last time, but loved looking around. I thought I would join it this time around.

Many many years ago, Pottery Barn featured some drapes that I loved - for a little boy. At the time, only I. was born, but I never forgot them. When G. was born, of course, PB didn't carry them anymore. I looked everywhere and couldn't find them. So, I copied them:

They are denim tab top drapes, with overall buckles. Aren't overalls to boys what pigtails are to girls? Now that I said that, I don't think I've ever dressed G. in overalls - but oh well. I saved up coupons for Joanns until I had enough. I used gold stitching - you know, just trying to replicate PB in every way. I've loved them, and used them in the playroom in our Phoenix room and now in G's bedroom. You can get denim pretty cheap if you watch for it to go on sale!

Also, in G's room, there are a lot of pillows. I love pillows and seem to always be making more. SOOOOO easy to make and BIG difference, in my opinion.

He has a denim pillow made from drapery leftovers. I ironed heat n bond onto a ribbon and trimmed it out. I left the selvedge out - I love the ratty edge for Mr. G. Then I used the ribbon on a corduroy pillow - made from leftovers from the giant overstuffed beanbags I made them for Christmas a couple years ago(I also copied them from PB). The headboard is a fabric/batting covered piece of MDF. The fabric is a railroad ticking - I know that's not the official name, but can you picture an engineer in striped overalls? I used the corduroy and same ribbon for the bedskirt to tie everything in.Hard to take crisp clean pictures when your babe keeps grabbing for the camera. Oh well. .

Go check Wendy's blog. Be prepared to spend some time there - she sucks you in!

Bock Bock?

After weeks of debating between I. and I, we finally came to an agreement. I. is in a play, and is cast as Chicken Little. She was a little deflated when she got the part, because Chicken Little is a boy. She wanted a very girly costume and was very specific - no feathers, white, no big bags like Miley had to wear on Hannah Montana , and on and on. After procrastinating this costume for long enough, this is what we came up with:

I think it meets all the criteria, although I wouldn't look at it and say cluck cluck. I used a regular pattern and on the skirt I put layers of ruffled tulle. Each strip is cut 3"wide, ran a gathering stitch in the middle of it, and gathered it to fit the skirt. Then I just sewed it down the middle. Kind of fun.

She has little orange leggings to wear under it. She will let me make her a headband to wear, but only if it has a bow on it - nothing chicken like.

When she tried it on last night, Tom said she needed a beak. She broke down saying NO WAY!

So. . . the girl should become a lawyer with all her negotiations!

PS - Did you know that "lonk" is another word for "long"? That's how G. went to bed - super important to tell me. He even used it in a sentence - you have lonk legs, mommy (I tell him that, not an observation he made on his own. I gotta get the compliments however I can, folks). I love my life

Grateful Sunday

Happy Memorial Day - I love this time of year!
I'm grateful for:

• 2 well behaved kids at church today. I. is sick and Tom stayed home with her. My 2 little ones were awesome and despite my crabby mood I woke up in, church was fine.
• M. is in nursery. I go in and help during snack time to make sure no one is feeding her something that will send us to the hospital, but she is fine there - a lot happier than having to be quiet in adult classes.
• Kris won American Idol, even though I think I might get disowned from my father for liking him over Adam
• a fun baby shower at my home yesterday. The food was delicious, the company was great, and it was a nice excuse to have some fun in the middle of a Saturday.
• Tom's volleyball is over for the season - yeah we get our Thursdays back.
• I got to run OUTSIDE 3 times this week.
• Tom's taking the whole week off next week to work in our backyard (of course, the weather says it's going to rain, so we'll see if it really happens)

Have a great week. Kristi and I are off to run the Bolder Boulder tomorrow and try not embarrass ourselves around all the speedy runners we'll be surrounded by. Yeah!

The Crayon Roll

I love the crayon roll. There are tons of tutorials for it, you can usually make it with left over scraps, it sews up super quick, and there are tons of variations you can make. One of G's best friends had a birthday, so we made one for her to put in our gift. I thought I'd get all-original and monogram her name.

Do you see a problem?
When you tie it, the ribbon covers her name. So. . . where is a better place to put the name? If I put it on the pocket, then the lines will cut through it when I sew the pockets for the crayons. What do you think?

Busy Season

It's that time of year - super, super busy!

Just a sample of what's on the agenda in the next few weeks:

• 
  the Bolder Boulder to run
• an animal project to help finish
• a baby shower to throw
• 3 birthday parties to go to and get/make gifts for
• an art show which I.'s in
• a couple of performances of a play
• a costume to sew for the above play
• teacher gift to get put together
• last day of school t-shirts
• swimming lessons
• Mother's Day gifts to finally get shipped off (slap my hands, I know I know).
• a toy room to totally revamp before school gets out
• Piano lessons to wrap up for the summer

I seriously could go on and on. That's just seasonal stuff. The laundry still needs to be done, kitchen swept, toilets scrubbed, etc. Please bear with me, posting might be spotty until I can catch up and feel in control again! At least Tom doesn't have any plans to go out of town for another month.

To calm me down, here's some beautiful pictures, which I may or may not have already posted:

Yahoo - some awards

Centsation Girl - who is really just too cool and super talented, just gave me this award:




Also, I just received this from Gwen at The Evans Family:



I have to pass each award on, so here's some great reads that deserve either award. Take your pick, and pass it on!

• Arizona Lewis
• Harried Mom of Four
• Living With Lindsay
• Momedy
• Clean and Classic Interiors
• NewlyWoodwards
• Create Studio
• Tatertots and Jello
• Reinvented
• Cherry Tree Lane

Have a great weekend. The boys are out camping and it's just the girls and me!

The Wet Bag

This spring, I signed G. up for swimming lessons - he hates it and cries the majority of the time. That is all besides the point. After lessons are over, he changes clothes and we run some errands. I usually wrap his trunks in his towel and go. Then I saw this tutorial, and knew I needed it.It is a glorified zippered pouch - super simple to make and there are tutorials everywhere for them. I used vinyl as the liner, embroidered the front, and stitched it up while the water was boiling for pasta.

Now, I can toss his trunks in here and go. When we get home, I can just wipe of the inside and it should be good to go. If it makes the cut and works like I want it to, I might have more to make! Chlorine is horrible for little M.'s skin, so we have to wash it off as soon as we get out of the pool. I might just need to make one to hold her soaps and lotions in.

Eat This. . . Not That

Just thought I would give a shout-out for this book. I just picked this book up at Costco and love it. Perfect for shoppers like me - the just grab and go type. I don't have time to read labels, but I know I should.

Some of the facts were amazing to me. I.'s oatmeal that she begs for every morning - has the same amount of sugar as 3 bowls of Froot Loops! The lemonade that I let them get at Sonic has the same amount of sugar as 6 ice cream sandwiches! I love that it gives alternates - so my kids don't have to give up their favorites altogether.

I know there is a kids version, that I might just have to get, also.

Grateful Sunday

Today I am grateful that I am a mother. It's a blessing I take for granted, way too often. I've never had any problems carrying babies, making babies, or not being in a total partnership with my husband. These are trials I can't even begin to imagine. All my babies are in good health; they're beautiful, intelligent and good people.

There's a song I. and G. sing that they learned in Church. It has a line that says "God gave us families to help us become what he wants us to be." I would not be the person I am now without my children. It has forced me to make changes that I wouldn't naturally do by myself - but changes that are necessary to become a better person. I'm extremely blessed to have my children, to be their mother - and I tell them that often. This is a great day.

I'm grateful for my mother. Without getting too sappy and making serious things seem superficial, I can't imagine who I would be without her.

While The Husband is Away. . .

the wife will play?

So, Tom has been at a conference all week. Perfect time for me to finally paint my bedroom. There are times I simply don't want his feedback, which I am assured to get if he's around. Is that mean of me?

My bedroom is a project that I'm working on while Tom is working on the backyard. It will take me awhile to get it how I want it, but I'm patient. I have a window that faces east. It's shaped like a house, so I've had a hard time figuring out what to do with it. I do know that I will not have another summer without it covered though - our room is as bright as day at 5am (which, Tom reminds me, is the time I should wake up most mornings if I want a run. Sweet, isn't he?). Before I can get those drapes up, I needed to paint, so paint I did.

The color is called Cinderblock, from Ralph Lauren. Our home builder has an account with Sherwin Williams, so they color matched it. I love it. I also switched out the bedding, took down our ugly headboard and matching mirror. I'd rather have nothing than something I hate.

Tom got home late last night, but I didn't want to fall asleep in my bed until he saw it. He walked in the room and commented on why the windows were open. Then he noticed the whole room was painted, then he said "wow, I can't believe you did that yourself. I sure hope you like it if for all the effort it took." And that was that.

I don't know how all of you paint with little ones around so quickly. This was a pain! Moving furniture, only painting at night without the best lighting, etc. etc.

I love doing projects while Tom is away.  I've worked on G's room and I'd love to him a bunk bed.  It's OK to have bunk beds when there is only one little guy, isn't it?  Then his sister can sleep in his room if she wants!  Maybe that can be worked into some of the stuff I do while Tom is away!

PS - Thanks Kirsty for featuring me on your blog! Good to know I've fooled you all into thinking I have it all together. Check our her blog!

Backyard Progress

Slowly, but surely . . . it's coming along. With rain or snow on just about every Saturday for the past 6 weeks, I feel like Mother Nature is working against us. She's teasing us with nice 70 degrees weather during the week, then rats, bad weather just in time for the weekend! Still, my husband persists. Bestill my beating heart.

Let's see, what have we done this past month?

All the bricks are in place - yeah! We need to fill them with dirt and cap them.

A LONG time ago, we started saving our pennies for a trampoline. Remember? Well, Tom said he didn't want to finish the wall until he had the trampoline to make sure it fit just perfectly. So, we got it. It stayed in our garage for about a month while it snowed, but on Saturday we got it up. Love it. Love that it is huge and we can all jump on it. Love that I can trap the kiddos in it while I help Tom.

So, weather permitting, our next step is dealing with drainage. When we dug out the dirt, we hit ground water. Then, it's been so wet out there. At least I married the geotechnical engineer who knows a little bit about this kind of stuff. Hopefully, next month we'll have more to show.