First Installment

Okay, so I've been working on our boys room, and these are the first little changes we've made....

We found this headboard and footboard at a garage sale for $15 (yay!) and brought it home, sanded it, and painted it. LOVE IT! Now... if only I could find another that somewhat matches it for Seth.

On top of the bed is a duvet cover I made for Seth (Yes, it is Sam's bed with Seth's blanket). Seth wanted a red cover, but Sam wanted blue (which I've not yet started on). Sooo, we just borrowed it for the sake of the photo. Sam's blanket will look just like this {only in blue}.... and Seth's bed will (hopefully) look somewhat like this {only in blue}. Hope that's not confusing you - because I am totally confused just writing it :)

Next are the silhouettes (my favorite part!). I made them out of fabric (because I want them to last a long time and paper seems to fade a lot more) and did the iron-on stuff, which was super easy. And, I got the frames at a garage sale for $2 for all 4... woohoo! And of course, I just painted them. :) So... the grand total for the sihouettes and boat picture = $8. Can't beat that!

There are still a few more things in the works, but that's really all I have to show for now... I've been working on some things for the baby girl room too. But, that's for another post.

Movin On!

Yay for Sam! He's movin' on... to 1st Grade! I am very proud of him. He has learned so much this year. I think he really enjoyed each subject... except for handwriting. His favorites were math and phonics. He graduated last Saturday, along with 3 other homeschool kindergarteners at our church. They got up and said Psalm 118:1 and told us what each was thankful for. Sam was thankful that his Mom was his teacher. Then they repeated Colossians 23:12 (I think) and then told us what they would like to be when they grow up. Sam would like to be a policeman and an artist. Hmmm... we'll see what he says next month :) I love how they constantly come up with something new. Finally, they recited a poem about growing and learning. It was very cute and I was so proud of Sam for memorizing it so well. I think we really underestimate the abilities of a child.

Anyway, for now we are just enjoying our summer... doing very little handwriting, and loving it!

Sorry about the pictures... it was pretty dark in the auditorium so I wasn't able to get very good ones.

Holy Hill

We went on a little adventure this evening.... to Holy Hill. We need to use up some gas (from our car) so we decided to pack up some dinner and take a drive. We are having some problems with our gas sensor (or something like that?) so we're getting it fixed on Friday, but in order to do that it has to be pretty close to empty. Anyways, there's this huge church about a half hour north of us that is set on a hill... yes, a hill in Wisconsin! Several people have told us that we just had to see this place, so we thought we'd check it out. It was neat, but not really my thing I guess. The drive made it worth it. It was a very pretty drive up a windy, hilly road... sorta reminded me of home... of course the elevation was probably a couple thousand feet lower at least and it was very green :).

Just north of Holy Hill is a small part of the Kettle Moraine State Park. We did a little wading in the lake, playing at the playground, chasing a turtle, eating (of course!), and throwing rocks into the lake (double of course! how could we not with 3 boys!). It was so fun to get out and enjoy some beautiful, cool evening weather. We still have half a tank of gas, so we just might have to do this again tomorrow.

34/4

Today I am 34 weeks + 4 days... so close! Only 38 days till my due date. I'm not sure that I am completely ready for this, but I do know that I am definitely ready to lose this belly. I am in that very huge and awkward, uncomfortable stage. Baby girl is very active, much more so than any of the 3 boys. I just love every kick and movement, letting me know she's there and getting ready to come out and meet us all. Can't wait!

This has been a good weekend. I love long weekends. We didn't really do anything special, just worked around the house. I bought a dresser and desk set for baby girl off Craigslist, so I began sanding that down to fix it up. I also worked on some sewing projects for the boys' room. Adam worked on some weeding, mowing, de-squeaking all our doors, and cleaning up the basement. It was super hot so we spent most of our time indoors and only emerged in the evenings when it was somewhat cool. The boys tried to sneak out several times to play, but would soon come back inside all red-cheeked and soggy-haired. It's amazing the difference between 80 degrees in Reno versus 80 degrees in Milwaukee. The humidity here just takes it to a whole new level. We've been eating mostly cold subs, veggies and dip and basically anything that doesn't require cooking... unless we're grilling of course.

My husband grilled up a fantastic dinner this evening... Beef Kabobs with red potatoes, onions, zucchini, and mushrooms in a sun dried tomato marinade. DELICIOUS! This isn't really helping with the big belly issue. No wonder I can't bend over these days :)

Craft Week

Okay, so our first week of summer vacation was a busy one... lots of cleaning, playing, napping (even me!) and CRAFTING!!! I plan to keep up with a little bit of school related stuff... just so Sam doesn't forget everything we've worked so hard to learn. We'll probably do some reading each day... along with a different topic: coin counting, special phonics sounds, math flashcards, etc. for just a few minutes. It is summer vacation after all. BUT this week we took a break, a much needed one since I was feeling a bit under the weather for much of it. We did a few fun little projects instead.

The first project we tackled was the diamond weaving thing (not really sure what it's called). Sam did great at it, and requested yarn crafts for the next 70 days. Funny kid!!! Sooo, the next day we made woven flowers. This time Seth and I worked on one as well. I was very impressed that Seth was able to do it. I had to help start the string with each new color, but after that the boys were able to do it completely on their own. In fact, I actually like the boys' much better than my own... theirs have much more texture and color. After we finished the woven centers, we markered the petals. I found the idea off some random blog I was reading... I could probably find it if anybody wants good instructions. Finally, our project for today was tissue paper collages. (No yarn today... if anybody has any fun yarn craft ideas fit for kids... about 70 of them... please let me know) I didn't have any tissue paper on hand, but I remembered some tissue confetti I bought at some party store for a quarter (clearance!)a couple years ago -- because you just never know when such things will come in handy. I got this idea off a different blog actually... surprise!


So anyway, it's been a good week BUT I am very glad it's the weekend. Yay! I just love having my hubby home! And this is a 3 day weekend... double YAY!!!

Room Redo

I am crazy, I know, for blogging at this crazy hour (it's midnight!), but I have always been a night person.... but tonight especially. It's Adam's first overnight call (here we go again!) and I've never been able to get to sleep very easily when he is gone. I better get used to it though, cuz it's about to start happening quite frequently. We have been so blessed to have him around so much this past year. It's the most we've seen of him since he started this journey 6 years ago, and we've really loved every moment of it.

Anyway, on to my post...

One of my projects for the summer includes a redoing a room... the boy's room. It's really lacking in personality and... well, it's just lacking in everything really. So my goal for this summer is to make it a fun place to be. It's the biggest room in the house so we have lots of space to play around with - a good thing, too, since Aaron will soon be moving up to join the big boys. My plan is to dress it up in a nautical/patriotic theme. There are lots of ideas floating around in my head, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens... I do tend to change my mind over and over again. I'll keep you updated on all the fun stuff. I am guessing it will be a long process since I don't really have the energy (or budget) to do it all right away.

SO... here are the four corners of said room as it is right now... BORING!

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And, I just can't get enough of this kid.... not only is he absolutely adorable, but he also has the sweetest, funniest personality. Of course, I might just be a little bit biased :)

(before and after photos)

We recently cut his hair (for the 4th time already!!!). I guess you could say he needed it. I kinda liked his wild and crazy do, but it was getting a little hard to comb, especially with his eating habits. It's amazing how fast this little guy's hair grows. Sam and Seth hadn't even gotten their first haircuts at this age.

That's not his only big news... In the past couple weeks he's gotten 3 new teeth - his final bottom front tooth as well as 2 bottom molars.

The Finished Product

We finally got around to finishing Sam's masterpiece... yay! He's been asking each day since he built it so I finally caved today and got out the paints. Actually, it worked out perfectly because yesterday we went garage saling and found this really cool wooden drafting table.... for $5!!! And, a little chair to go with it... for $2!!! I just can't tell you how excited I was. We put it to work right away this morning. Seth was a little jealous that he didn't have a project to paint so I sent him upstairs to find Daddy and see what they could whip up in the garage. Not long after, Seth came rushing in (beaming from ear to ear) with his "speeder boat that's really speedy." Both boys did a great job painting and had a little lesson in patience... since they had to wait for the paint to dry between coats. Sam can't wait to hang his up in his room just like Grandpa hangs his airplanes :)

By the way, we used some leftover paint that we had from our little kitchen makeover... they are sample paints from either Home Depot or Lowes (can't remember, but the both do them). They are a great option for kid's projects because they come in smaller amounts for a smaller price ($3) but have better coverage than kid's paints.... plus you can choose from tons of colors and shades. And sometimes you can find sample-sized cans on the mis-matched cart for only 50 cents. Can't beat that!

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And some more yummy food that my husband made me for dinner.... just another reason it's great to be married to him! I'm so spoiled!