(fun kind of) busy

We had a great (fast) weekend!

I got to meet Alisa for breakfast at Smokey Row with NO kids. I mean, I love our kids, but it's fun to have lots of uninterrupted time to talk. We hit up a really fun estate sale also, and then she had to leave. It was fun! RJ went camping with some buddies from our Acts group so I met Jenn at Smokey Row for supper since we were single moms that night. Smokey Row twice in one day? Yeah, it was good. I was so glad to have RJ back yesterday afternoon and I immediately put him to work. :) Well, after a little snooze, but then he finished the basement. Wa-hoo! I'll try and get some photos up later. So we have a busy week, but I am excited!

Lots of fun stuff to get done.

*******side note*******

Anyways, here's how we spend lots of our time lately.

Looking for Harper!

Where is she?

Upstairs?

On top of the table?

Grabbing handfuls of pumpkin bar and shoving them into her mouth in the kitchen?

I'm sure it's just normal baby behavior, but Henry was always so cautious and concerned about being clean that I didn't have to worry about leaving him alone for a second.
Harper. Oh, Harper. You're a different story.

This little girl loves to color.

With her left hand!

I'm sure I've mentioned this 20 times before, but I'm about 95% sure she's a lefty.

Our "golden child". :)

My (lefty) mom has waited and waited for another lefty.

After watching her siblings have lefty children, but none of her own, finally...grandbaby #8 is a lefty!

******random-ness over******

I had painted our front door when we painted our house.

So, like 3 years ago??

And, like many things, had never finished it.

It was in major need of touch-ups so I finally did it and added little white checks.

Everything is better with little white checks, right? And it makes me front door look so much more inviting!

I also (finally!) finished the mural in our entry way. I had done this probably 2 1/2 years ago and never finished the very top because...well, I don't know why, but it's done now. Finally!

 

RJ sanded down my sofa table to the bone.

I don't paint furniture much anymore because it never stays nice.

This time, I am taking all the steps.

I put a thin coat of black on it and will paint my design on that and then will poly, sand, poly, sand, poly, sand. I've never bothered with that last step, but I think that will make the difference and make this table something that will last. Or so I'm hoping!

I've got my sketches and designs all ready to go:

So really, if you will be around this weekend and want to head to a great craft sale this weekend, shoot me an email for the directions. There will be lots to buy on the spot and also lots of fun raffle drawings for big prizes. It will be in Ankeny from 9-3, and the proceeds will be going to a very sweet couple...Cory and Calli. Cory is undergoing chemo treatments for cancer and they will shortly be going to Iowa City for a longer stay full of intense treatments. Please pray for them!

Alright, I need to get busy. Happy Monday!

Gearing Up

I needed to get to Hobby Lobby today to check out some prices for an up-coming project. Christmas ornaments to be exact. How fun does that sound?!

Naturally, while there, I found other things to look at.

What is with that place? Next to Target, it is the biggest place of temptation for me!

I love their clearance aisles (who doesn't?) and today they had a bunch of VBS crafts for way cheap.

So I decided to gear up for winter and load up on projects.

I got all of the above for $6.50! And a couple of the packs have "30" projects inside.

It was one of those times where I was trying not to go overboard and then get home and wonder why I didn't just get more.

*might go back tomorrow*

And it will be fun to paint little surfer dudes in the dead-cold of winter. Or so I'm hoping.

Or it might be completely maddening.

I baked pumpkin bars last night.

I am loving this weather.

I love having the windows open.

I am READY for fall!

First

First set of piggies!

Totally crooked, but totally cute. :)

Things

Things I'm excited about:

1. Basement. Almost done! Just have to finish painting the floor. Maybe I'll show you a picture, but it's just not so impressive without a before picture...

2. I got a perfect sofa table off of Craigslist yesterday for $5!! I'll be painting it (heavily Sticks-influenced) to be raffled off at a fundraiser next weekend. More details to come, but if you live close, get excited! There will be  pampered chef, jewelry, a mural :), photography, a cleaning service (hands off, this one is MINE), cookies!, and more. All will be raffled off and the funds going to a sweet couple in our church who will be in Iowa City soon for Cancer treatments. 

3. Craigslist! Today, you are on my good list. 

4. That Henry doesn't have to start school yet. Sorry, moms. :(

We are working on letters though and it's fun when I can actually get him to sit still long enough to listen!

5. That it's already Wednesday!

6. The weather yesterday. I am SO ready for fall!

Not so excited about:

1. Henry waking up at 5:30 this morning. He hasn't done that for a while so I suppose that's okay.

2. The kids have had colds for weeks. It's never ending! Nothing major, just gross noses.

3. Needing sleep and then not wanting to get out of bed in the morning. There's just too much to do in the next couple of weeks...why is sleep so necessary?

Maybe some more exciting posts later this week. Maybe even pictures!

Projects

I am on project overload all of a sudden.

Lots and lots of paintings and stuff to get done.

Our basement clean-out is coming along nicely and hopefully we can get it mostly done, except for the floor paint, this weekend so I can start the rest of my paintings. I've got some really fun orders right now!

Here's a little sneak peak into dungeon:

The rest of it really isn't exciting, but thought that maybe this would make
me excited to get down there and do my laundry......
if only it were that easy!

Happy Weekend!

State Fair!

Our family headed to the fair on Thursday.

We went right away when it opened = less crowded, not as hot.

Bonus!

9:00 (on a weekday) (the day after school started for a lot of kids) is THEE time to go to the fair!

*remember this for next year*

.check.

But first, I had a plan to eat breakfast at La Mie. 

I thought, though fun and greasy and fatty, fair food isn't technically good.

So why not get some good food and not have to buy any at the fair?

(If you live in this city and have NOT been to La Mie.....well, what are you doing?? It's seriously, hands-down the best cafe/bakery.)

***(oh, and this plan totally failed. I mean, how can you not buy the salted nut roll or corn dog???)***

The kids approved.

We ate a delicious strawberry pastry, followed by an apricot pastry, followed by my absolute favorite:

The Ham and Cheese Croissant

Even writing that out makes me want one.

NOW.

Lucky for me, it's only about 10 blocks away!

Then off to the fair!!

First thing:

Henry and I went on the sky glider.

He was totally not scared!

I even got a little bit nervous. Probably because at any given moment I had my plan on how I would need to protect Henry is our cart were to fall. 

But I was able to relax and enjoy it too. Since we were there so early, we only passed 1 cart that had people on it so it felt like we had the ride to ourselves.

The sun was a little bright.

The main thing we wanted to do this year was the Little Hands on the Farm.

So cute!! We hadn't done it before and now I can't wait to do it again.

Then the butter cow, of course!

Henry was way excited about the free hard boiled egg.

His face doesn't show it, but he does love a good egg.

Then played in the water.

And that was pretty much it. Seriously. We didn't even go see the animals! Harper seems to strongly dislike animals so we didn't even feel like trying it and want to get home for some good naps so we could get to work on our basement. 

It was a really good, short trip to the fair!

Hope you all have a lovely Friday and a fab weekend!

Maybe...

Maybe....

I'll get Harper's ears pierced.

Come on! You've got to admit it. Earrings on a little baby girl is adorable.

I just don't know if I have the guts to do it.

And I know the Mr. doesn't have the guts to do it.

Maybe when she's 5?

Maybe.....

We'll go the fair tomorrow and have a blast!

I actually am pretty excited for it.

Most years I think I'm really excited for it and then we get there and I wonder why I was so excited to be in a crowded, hot, environment.

Not this year.

I've vowed to try and have lots and lots of fun.

Maybe I'll even post some pictures!

Maybe.....

we have some (100% NOT pregnancy or other baby related) news to share

in a few weeks.

Maybe.

Or maybe not.

Who knows?

Are you maybe a little bit intrigued?

Maybe.....

I'm excited to have a weekend at home with not much to do after a few weekends running around like crazy.

Super maybe!!

Maybe....

I'll come up with something better to write tomorrow.

Maybe (but better not) get your hopes up.

Monday!

*******

We had a great last few days!

A day trip to see a friend.

A date!! (Drake Diner and Stam. Perfect.)

A trip to my parent's house. Fun!

A day recovering at home. Good.

*******

We started cleaning out/organizing our basement.

I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I probably would have been to

embarrassed to show you.

It's a big job and will feel SO good when it's done.

A lot of the stuff is still from our apartment that we never used here, and

if that's the case, it's getting tossed or donated.

I'm talking bags and bags and bags of garbage/Goodwill.

Can't wait til it's done!

********

We're going to the fair on Thursday!!

********

The kids and I have colds!!

*********

I'm going to be on the Internet WAY less this week!!!

*********

Happy Monday!

el Favorito

When my friend told me she was going to paint her daughter's room lavender and said she wanted me to paint a red tree, I thought she was a little cri-zay.

Turns out, it's a wonderful, funk-a-licious combination and my new favorite mural.

I had painted a white tree in little Clara's room before and it was one of my first real murals. Henry was just a baby and he stayed on the bed while I painted. He couldn't even roll yet!

Since there were so many sentimental feelings towards that sweet white tree, I basically painted the same things again in red and added some new, fun touches.

And here it is!

Seriously, how fun is this room? What a lucky little (almost) 5 yr old little girl with her funky decorating momma.

Some close ups of the funky birds.

Funky, and maybe a little creepy, owl.

Peacock!

Hope you all have a lovely Wednesday!

Thee Weekend

We had a great, full weekend!

Starting off the fun we went to our friend's lake house.

Friday was such a gorgeous day. Sunny, but not too hot.

We spent the day lounging in the sun, riding the boat, and playing with all their toys.

Henry was really brave this year so it made it even more fun!

Harper was a little too brave.
She kept reaching over the edge of the kayak to touch the water and would stand up.

I'm sure she would have tried to jump in.

SO different from Henry boy.

It was so hilarious to watch them on the trampoline. Henry did really well and Harper could barely stay up for more than 2 seconds but kept getting right back up.

( I know, I can't believe we didn't have her life jacket on!)

Saturday we went up to celebrate RJ's grandpa's 81st birthday. It was a really nice party and so good to see everyone.

Sunday we met up with my sister and her family and ate lunch and went shopping.

It was a fun weekend full of fun family!

Now we're back to a normal ol' week.

Hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying this day!

Well, fine....I suppose I will blog this week. I know you all are just dying to know what we've been up to, right? Besides all the crying and screaming, things are going great! Really, I can not wait for the day my children get along instead of fighting all day long. The other day I was getting supper ready and had 10 minutes of quiet. They were in the same room. Playing close to one another. And not screaming. It was practically miraculous!!

I'm taking Henry on a date tonight. Just mommy and boy. He's had a rough week and I'm wondering if he just needs some alone time. I'm looking forward to it!

So, in honor of our almost 5 year anniversary of living here, I'm going to show off our "new" dining room. Finally, after 5 years this place is becoming how I want it. We're slow movers. Or is it more that I change things around too much?

So here she is:

We got this table for super cheap at IKEA. The chairs were so cheap we got 8 of them and just keep our 4 at a time. This is the first dining room set we've picked out since we've been married.

 Hand-me-downs...see ya!

I didn't take a before picture, but we rearranged the room for the first time since we first lugged in our absolutely beautiful buffet. It gives us so much more space!

If you peek in the corner you can see the chair and table. I plan on recovering the chair and painting it. Suggestions? I don't want both the table AND chair to be black, but not sure what to do. And I repainted my mirror/frame combo and got new fabric for it. When I bought it, they were both white. Then I painted them black. Now they're white again. When I was done I wondered if I should have just left them black. Then I shut my mouth.

I painted these fruit paintings years ago and never hung them. Now they have a perfect spot!

And.....

if I turn exactly 180 degrees, I see this:

Woah. I can't believe I just showed you that.

It's for real, people.

So I have some more rearranging and painting to do, but it's been really fun.

Just took 5 years to get there!

Our house will turn the big 1-0-0 in 2011.

You know I'm throwing a party.

You know it will require costumes.

You know it will be full of fun foods.

You know I can't wait!

**Henry story**

"Is daddy going to work?"

"yup"

"do you have to go to work?"

"no, I get to stay home with you!"

"but sometimes you work and go shopping."

Busted.