Chairs, Door and Such

We all survived the first day back to school.  I did forget to make Drew do his homework before bed but we had plenty of time in the morning so it got done, whew!  See, it's hard being back into the routine. And I like to leave at 9:00 every day, this morning it was 9:04 and yesterday was 9:02.  School doesn't start until 9:15 and its literally 2 minutes away but I hate feeling rushed so the goal is 9:00.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow!  And Ethan forgot his tennis shoes at school.  Maybe this isn't going so well after all...

Yesterdays crafts included...

I am loving this one.  I like having wreaths on the front door but when there isn't a holiday in sight the door is plain so I found this on Pinterest.  All you do is take a picture frame than wrap 2 different colors of yarn around it, I choose blue and brown and than I painted the "B" brown and you wrap it in and hang.  Cute!

And we bought some new fabric to reupholster the chairs.  After 5 years and 3 kids they were looking a little shabby, or gross is another word I would use!  So we found some great fabric and a 40% off coupon, score! 

Old fabric on the left, new FUN fabric on the right!  Isn't it awesome?  It's a shared project with Matt & I.  He takes the staples out, I cut the fabric to fit and than he staples the new stuff on.  I guess he doesn't trust me with power tools although I should mention that he shot a staple out in the middle of the room accidentally yesterday, luckily it didn't hit any of us! 

Speaking of my darling husband I also forgot to mention his little mistake last week.  After painting the trim in the bathroom he called me in to take a look.  As we stood in there admiring his work Brady wandered into the office.  Apparently Matt didn't put the lid on the paint because the next thing you know I turn around and that little stinker was painting the office carpet white.  Whoops!  Luckily it came out pretty easily and Matt knows to not leave paint unattended (right baby???) No harm no foul, part of having kids. 

We always go to bed watching the Food Network channel, which is a bad idea I might add.  We sit there licking our lips wanting to try everything they make.  Last night it was apple pies.  So this morning Brady and I went to the store to buy the ingredients and right now it just finished baking and the house is smelling oh so delicious, can't wait to eat it tonight!

And no Grandma, I did not make the crust!  But Pillsbury makes ready to bake crusts so really, why make more work for myself if I would use their recipe anyway?  So it's a semi home made apple pie, but I bet its still delicious! And I even bought vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, the boys will be so excited when they see this!

Back to School

Sniff, sniff, winter break is over:( Some (most?) parents are excited for their kids to go back to school, not me.  I love having everyone home where I know they are safe and we can enjoy lots of time together.  We had a nice break, didn't do much of anything except lots of family time, just like we wanted.  I used to run the boys all over town, The Jump Yard, Amazone, Chuck E Cheese, here there and everywhere.  Since having Brady it is harder because he naps midday and by the time everyone wakes up and eats and is ready to go it doesn't leave much time to get out of the house.  But ya know what, no one cares!  They don't mind staying home, we craft, play games, watch movies, just spend time together and there isn't much better than that.  So I am sad those days are over and now it's back to routines and bedtimes and homework and packing lunches and rush rush out the door every morning.  I can't wait for Spring Break!

The last few days have been spent shopping, eating out and crafting.  Yep, more Pinterest fun for me that means!

Cute hand soap, easiest one yet.  Bath and Body Works soap, took off the label and found a "B" gemstone from Hobby Lobby.  And I also found how to make foam soap on Pinterest so we can reuse forever, woohoo!

I had a few ideas on this one and than remembered I already had a canvas here so I went that route.  Bought some wooden letters, traced them on the canvas and than hand painted them on.  The numbers are just stickers. 

Today is my brother Mike's 25th Birthday - Happy Birthday Mike!!!  After dropping the boys off at school Brady and I picked Mike up and took him out to breakfast.  After we stopped at Pat Catan's where soon there will be more crafts to show.  I was never the crafty type, I can't even sew a button on (I make a pile for Gram C.) but I am really  having so much fun with all of this.  Everyone should have a hobby, really they should!  I am glad I found something that I like to do, it passes the time and our house is slowly coming together and not so boring looking anymore. 

New Years Eve

These are out of order but it doesn't matter much.  Anyway, last night we had our friends Andy & Beki and their 3 kids and also Stephen & Tiffany and their son Dylan over.  We normally go to my Mary & Johnny's (SIL/BIL) but since Brady goes to bed so early we decided staying home made more sense this year.  We decided on a Mexican theme, yum!  Beki made guacamole, chicken fajitas and margaritas.  I made tacos, corn and tomato salsa and bought Sangria.  Tiffany makes delicious chocolate treats so she brought chocolate covered pretzels and nuts.  We ate SO much food and it was so worth it.  Everything was so yummy! The kids played in the basement and were all so well behaved, not once did we have to say a word to any of them.  The adults all hung out upstairs and ate, drank and chatted.  It was a nice night and everyone was gone by 9:00, hey we have kids darn it!  We let the boys stay up until 10:00 and we went outside and shot off their poppers that Papa Bud got them for Christmas, they loved that!  Than we were all sound asleep well before midnight as usual.  I did hear fireworks going off a little after midnight so I woke Matt up, gave him a quick kiss and passed right back out.  He woke up with Brady this morning and I slept in until 8:30 and than I made a nice big Sunday breakfast which is our usual weekend ritual.  Eggs, toast, pancakes, hashed browns and turkey bacon.  Great way to start the day!  And the best part of it all, Matt has the day off tomorrow so we are looking forward to spending the day with him.   

Happy New Year

This is the time where you reflect on last year, what you did and didn't accomplish and how you want to improve on all aspects of your life.  Every year I think hard on what I want to do, how can I change, how can I be better and what matters most.  Each year I always go back to the same thoughts.  Eat healthier (duh), exercise more (or at all!), be a better person (who doesn't want to do that?) give back (always) and be happy (I got that one right!)

It's hard to go through a whole year and keep all those things at the front of your thoughts.  I mean some are easy, you don't have to work that hard to be happy, at least I don't.  I have a great husband, awesome kids, it's hard not to be happy around here.  And giving back whether that means to family, friends, community, people in general - we always do that, donate things we don't need anymore, adopt a family at Christmas, make meals for those in need.  Eating healthy, not always an easy thing but I will work on it, incorporate more fruits and veggies, cook healthier.  Exercise, oh boy, that's a tough one.  I don't enjoy it, I just don't.  And it's hard because I watch Matt get up 5 - 6 days a week, well I don't watch him I more smack him once the alarm goes off and roll back over to sleep but I know he does it and enjoys it.  And than he drinks his protein shake, doesn't eat fast food and is really disciplined with the whole thing.  Than there is me.  I will work out (and I use that term loosely) for 3 days and than I am bored.  I know I need to tough it out and will be happy once I see results but I just haven't gotten there yet.  But that's the nice part about the New Year right?  You can start over and if you fail, you can start over anytime you want, it doesn't have to be January 1st to want to make improvements in your life.

So that leaves me with be a better person.  Matt has always told me that I know right and wrong more than anyone he has ever met.  The problem with that, I feel the need to tell everyone when they are wrong.  And I do.  I just can't help it!  It's hard for me to let things go as I am sure some of you have experienced a time or two (or twenty).  And it's hard for me not to speak my mind when people make me angry/sad/irritated/fill in the blank with whatever emotion I am feeling.  But I know it's not always a good thing, a fault of mine that I need to work on.  I think a lot of why I do this is protection mode.  I feel the need to protect myself, Matt and the boys. Oh, and I don't like nonsense, that's another reason.  But I can't fix the world, I am not a superhero and it isn't my job.  But I can fix how I choose to deal with problems.  So maybe this year I bite my tongue more? Or choose my words more wisely?  Or shut my family off from the rest of the world?  Or just realize that I can only change my reaction to people and can't change their actions?

We all need to improve, but its a choice one must make. Are YOU going to choose it? I hope you do!

Brotherly love

I just have to share these 2 pictures.  Brady loves loves loves his brothers and the feeling is mutual.  This is his new thing, hugging them over and over and we finally captured a picture.

Seriously, don't you want to eat them up?  Me too!

Bathroom Renovations

Ok, so now I can post the pictures of the updated bathroom.  This has been a work in progress for a few months.  We have gone back and forth on if we should just update the shower or if we needed to redo the whole thing.  Once the shower was done it just didn't seem right so we decided to update the rest of it.  So we bought all new hardware, paint, fixtures, sink, cupboard and mirror.  I am really happy with how it all turned out.

Here is the old tile, yuck!  Our house is from 1977 or something like that, clearly this was still the original tile and needed to go.

Here is the old color on the walls, green.  And the old white cabinet. There was also a white medicine cabinet and a hideous light fixture made out of gold, oh boy!  Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't get a picture before Matt ripped it out.

Wowza!  Isn't it awesome?  I mean, what a difference! My Dad did most of the tile work (thanks again Dad!) and Matt finished it up.  I really love how it turned out, fancy schmancy!

Nice!  Now it's painted latte, nice neutral color, the new mirror and cabinet and hey look, there's my picture! 

So you can see the rest of the cabinet, don't mind the toilet it's a small bathroom.

It's just SO nice!  Love the whole thing.  Matt and my Dad did such a nice job!

Pinterest Crafts

This post was supposed to be about the updated bathroom but I want to show the picture I made which than made me want to go back to the last couple months and show you all the fun stuff I have found on Pinterest and made. So here it goes. 

This is what started it all.  A cute little ghost and pumpkin made from used wine bottles.  You just prime than spray paint and draw faces.  Super cute!

A witches hat snack that I took in for the kids Halloween parties.  A fudge stripe cookie turned upside down and than add a hershey kiss and some orange frosting. Easy peasy!

Wine bottles that spelled out Thanks on one side and Giving on the other.  Again, primer, spray paint and than I bought some cardboard letters, painted and glued them on. 

Turkey cookies that I took in for Ethan's birthday since it's so close to Thanksgiving.  Sugar cookie, candy corn, chocolate chips and frosting.  Super cute!

Red candles, double sided tape and glitter. Some striped candles for Christmas decor.

More wine bottles, no we don't have a problem;)  Primer, spray paint and some fun inserts from Pat Catan's. 

Teacher gifts, personalized hand sanitizers, perfect for elementary school teachers.  Take off the labels, asked the teachers their favorite colors and added some cute stickers.

Snowmen snacks that I took in for the kids Christmas Parties at school.  Powdered donuts, upside down mini chocolate chips, candy corn and gel.

Used to be the centerpiece for Christmas, now can be a centerpiece anytime.  Put some yarn around a vase, spray paint and remove, just a fun little design.  There is another one still drying. 

Buy a canvas.  Put some tape on in any design you wish.  Spray paint and remove the tape.  You have wall art!