Volcano!

The past couple years the elementary school has put on an art night. Last year was lots of fun so when Zach's teacher asked me if I could help with the second grade's project I was excited to do it. (plus I thought it'd give me a mental vacation from blue and gold) In the beginning it was supposed to look like a 2nd grade volcano worksheet on the wall where they label all the parts of the volcano.

No problem I thought. Paper on the wall with 4 other parents to help. We'll be done in no time! The next week came and the location for the volcano changed. Now it was to be half in the library and half in the hall. Oh okay I thought. We can do that. It will be a little bit different but we can do that. Then I heard about this dragon they had built and the kids had made all the scales for it, cool idea I thought.....then I saw the dragon.



and then I started to freak out! On to plan B C D and F. All that Friday I worried and I stewed and then I figured it out! Wait until Josh gets home and the kids are in bed and then he'll help me figure it out! So figure it out we did.

We built us a little frame....


covered it with chicken wire and filled the chicken wire with plastic grocery bags and then brown bulletin board paper, construction paper hands, and crate paper.....



Did the other side so they could label it....



and there you have a half of a volcano that is worthy of such a dragon!

Summer!

Okay so seriously were have I been all summer besides hanging out with Mater? Well let me tell you!

The last week of school so that was the first week in June, My mom came and spent a week with us. She came to spend some time at the DIY Bed and Breakfast aka. my basement. Really it was to give Josh and I our birthday presents. We asked for some manual labor to get some started projects done that we just couldn't seem to do between church callings, family get togethers, and helpful kids :) So we decided to finish muding and texturing the ceiling. Then we decided to paint... The entire basement! Well except for the toy room. So every morning we'd get up and have breakfast. I'd get Zach ready for school and then we'd ride bikes there leaving Mom to start working on the basement. For three days that's what she did but by the end the basement looked at 100 times better! Here's some before and afters ... Later I'll post about the decorating!
Okay so this is the only decent before picture and it's when we had to tear apart the wall to fix the drain pipe from my kitchen sink down.. way fun.. So anyway imagine that the wall is fixed and love seats (affectionately named Red and Wilma) are against the wall. There is just sheet rock on the ceiling and the wall is just patched but not painted.

Now here's with it all ready to decorate.




So really it's lots better huh. Thanks Mom! Hopefully the next post will come a little faster then the last few.

A Bathroom Makeover (on a small scale) and a Furniture Build

We've had a warm spell here and it's been like in the 50's so I've gotten spring fever! I decided that it was time to paint my bathroom cabinet. It's original to the house and has seen lots of use and "love". Of course I was so excited that I forgot to take a before I started picture but here's one before I painted.



Next time maybe I should clean out under the sink before I take a picture :)

Then I primed and painted the first coat on one day and then the next day I did the other sides of the cabinet doors.. That's the bummer about doors you have to do both sides. Then I glazed them just like my kitchen cabinets. Then we put polyurethane on them and waited for them to dry. It was really stinky and I should have probably waited until we really had good weather but it was worth it! Here's how it turned out!


We've also been working on nightstands. We've been using a round side table and a square side table for a few years and they worked pretty good. The thing I didn't like was I didn't have a place to hide all my stuff like scriptures, journal, church manual, and normal stuff. So We've been big fan of Ana White over at and found these farmhouse nightstands. We really liked them and were excited to try them out. Josh and Zach built these together and then Josh stained and finished them. They turned out so good don't you think?

(I'll put a picture in soon... Forgot to take one lol!)

A simple Project!

A while ago I was given this bench by a friend. I didn't know quite what to do with it and it eventually ended up here in my bedroom.

Then I got this bright idea that I was going to make this duvet cover designed by Heather Bailey but couldn't find 19 different fabrics that coordinated that I loved enough to live with in my room. Then one day I went to DI and found three throw pillows that match the curtains that I bought on clearance at target.

So I put one of the pillows on the chair. It looked pretty good.... Then I remembered my duvet fabric stash.... Then all it took was about 20 minutes and I had recovered the seat of the bench.

Here's what it looks like now! I love it!

A little creative outlet

It seems like I always have to start a project in December just to add to the fun of the season. Let me explain... The year I was pregnant with Sam I started painting an accent wall in the living room. It was only painted about 3 or 4 feet high when Christmas rolled around! See that lovely green color behind Josh? That was Christmas morning!

Maybe I've learned a little bit since my project wasn't as ambitious as that one was. I was given a jelly cabinet that goes perfectly by my front door. It has two drawers and then a two door cabinet underneath it. It gives me more space for our gloves and stuff then the old microwave cart did. The only problem with this cabinet was that it was the wrong color green. I liked the color but it didn't go with my living room. Here is a before picture with my helper! I was really excited to get into my project that I forgot to take a really good before picture.


And here is an after picture...

The cabinet is painted the same color as my accent wall and then I put stain that matches the railings. I'm so excited about how it turned out!

I moved the microwave cart downstairs at the bottom of the stairs and the kids found a new use for it. Take a look!

Both Zach and Sam crawl into the bottom of it and then they fight over who's turn it is... Well I'm glad I could provide a great hiding spot for them!

I've been up to things!

So here are a few of the highlights that I (we've) been up to.

First up I've been busy playing in the snow! Here are a few pictures from our trip up to Aspen Grove... which was fabulous! I highly recommend it! The food and the accommodations where great!




Those are some icicles! Oh and we went snow shoeing on 5 feet of snow!
I'm raising Super Heroes and here's proof!




We Built this shelf for the toy room! I'll have to post a completed photo later :) But it was a family affair!



Zach started the 6th set of Baggy Books!


Next up I grew a beard!



Okay rest of the story! For Blue and Gold for our Cub Scouts we had a Circus theme and I was the bearded lady. It was pretty fun! A lot of work but worth it for the boys!

And finally one last picture!

I think I better teach my little super hero that underwear goes under the costume and not on our heads!

Projects!

So remember that post I did for my friend Mandy? Well let me catch you up on our progress!
Remember this picture of this old closet door?


And look at it now!

My bedroom isn't ready for it's debut to the blogging world :) I think it turned out great! When I get things how I want them in my room I'll post pictures of it all pretty.

So this is our currant project. I think the pictures day it all :)
Here's a before shot of the kitchen courtesy of Zach.

Here is the pantry after all the shelves were taken out.


Here are some demo pictures wahoo!

Even Zach got in on all the fun!

So what are we doing besides making a huge mess everywhere? Well you see we have really nice family who got new kitchen cabinets and gave us their old ones (Thanks Aaron and Andrea) So we can tear down our old pantry that had an abyss where if you wanted something back there you had to send your first born in to get it out for you. Plus the consturction wasn't very well thought out and I was afraid that it was going to fall down eventually anyway. So we're moving the fridge onto the other wall and adding more counterspace next to the dishwasher and stove. It should be great! Plus we'll get new counter tops too! So slow and steady wins the race and we'll have a new kitchen... I'll keep you updated on the progress :)