Snow, Dinner and Party

Finn took advantage of the foot of snow by making an igloo.  He worked in the snow for hours.

 

And Miles got his turn with a dinner date with his Daddy.  They got nachos and ice cream.  The tie was Miles' choice and I let him wear it!  :)

And, to celebrate Lucy turning 6 yesterday, we had a party after school today, complete with birdhouse-painting, pinata-breaking and brownies and ice-cream-eating.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lucy said, "That was the bestest party ever!"  I am glad she liked it.  The girls were very sweet and things only got chaotic at the end.  Finn kept pestering the girls and I had to remind him over and over, erstwhile managing the party, that he needed to quit it.  I got the house cleaned up, the broken pinata put away, the girls taken home, the dishes done, dinner fed and cleaned up, and now it's time for some rest!

Master Bedroom Curtains

I made some new curtains for our bedroom over the past couple days.

For the first time, I lined them with actual lining that I bought and not pieced together fabric remnants!  It was so nice!

I got the fabric and lining at Home Decorator Fabrics in Boise, my new source for great deals on upholstery/drapery/home decor fabrics.  I am pleased with how they turned out, although my room is starting to feel very "fabric-y" with all this fabric in it.  Maybe I am just not used to it.  I still think the room needs some pattern mixed in with all the neutrals.

New Carpet

This past weekend we had greige cut-pile carpet installed in our closet, bedroom and Lucy's bedroom.

We've been living with bare wood floors in the bedrooms and outdated linoleum in our closet for the past year and a half, so it feels so nice to walk on something soft!

I love the smell of new carpet too.  While we had the shelves taken down, I painted the closet beige to match the rest of the house.  It feels like a totally different room now.

Homemade Upholstered Headboard

We needed a headboard after I went on a selling spree a couple weeks ago and sold our old one.

I wanted something soft, yet visually strong, so I decided I'd try making an upholstered one.

I had most of the materials and got a good deal on some greyish-brown wool fabric, so it was just a matter of focusing and getting it done.

I think it turned out fine.  I am not used to having such a tall headboard, but I can always cut it down if I want to.

(Sidenote: you can see the curtains I made yesterday hanging in the picture below).

I'm debating on whether to hang this painting above the bed...

...or on the wall opposite the bed (the first wall you see when you walk in the door).

Any thoughts either way?

Lucy's Invitations

Yesterday Lucy made her own birthday party invitations.

I cut out flowers and tied bows, which she sewed onto construction paper cards.

Then she and I wrote on the cards to invite her friends to her party next week.  I like how playful and simple they are.  I like that almost-six-year-old too!

30 cent Cabinet

I got around to putting several coats of Danish oil and some knobs on the faux cabinet I made last weekend.

I figured it cost me 30 cents to make it (the knobs were 10 cents each) because I already had everything else and the wood was free.

Not bad for a non-functioning cabinet for the front room!  :)

 And, yes, I know Travis looks like he's about to fight somebody, but he's really not mad, I promise.  This was right before he and Lucy went out for dinner Saturday night.  She was thrilled, as you can see, so much so that she pulled her socks up over her leggings as high as they could go.  Love those two!

Reminiscing

I finally found a picture of our home before we bought it.

 

I love looking at before and after pictures.  In these photos, it's almost like playing the "what's different" game because the differences are so subtle.  For those that don't like playing games (or find the differences a little too subtle!), I'll just give a recap of what we changed about the exterior of the house:

• put on shutters on front windows
• removed planting area and blocks near mailbox
• planted plants around entire foundation, added mulch and black edging
• planted grass along sides and back of house
• put in railroad ties along driveway
• took out partial brick walkway on opposite side of house, put in full gravel walkway
• took down satellite dish and other attachment on front of house
• removed peeling paint all along foundation
• patched all along foundation, painted over that
• put in basement egress window

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but at least you get the idea.  We spent hours and hours getting those above-mentioned items done and it seems so basic to just list them because each one took so much time to complete.

Here's to a new year full of projects, hopefully none involving gravel, railroad ties and/or dirt!

Holed Up for the Holidays

What I wouldn't give for some of the chocolate scotcheroos from this plate now!  (This is one of the 25 or so plates we gave out this year).

Henry in his favorite accessory- Batman underwear over his pants (he still wears diapers, so they're a pretty tight fit).

Our garage with a slippery sheath of snow.

Sick Henry, constantly needing his Mama lately, who is also sick.

Lucy and Henry (behind the bear) perched on the table, aka the dance stage.

Trying to cure my cabin fever, I cut some branches from a tree behind our house yesterday and put them in a vase on the entry table.  I like the brown tones together.

I also made this cabinet this morning, in another attempt at curing cabin fever.

I cut down paneling and trim I got for free at the ReStore in Redmond a while ago.  It isn't functional (the doors don't open), but it's to hide some electrical outlets and anchor the picture on the wall.

I just can't decide if I should leave it natural, stain it, or maybe just put a clear coat on it.  Any thoughts?

 

And here are the youngest three playing trains on the first day of 2013.

Happy New Year!

Drawer Pulls

So the drawer pulls finally came and now the kitchen hardware installation is complete!

Above: in the dining room.

Above: my favorite view is this stack of drawers with pulls.

And Henry wanted some face time on the blog too.

 

I am happy with how it turned out.  And, I got a great deal on everything.  The pulls and knobs were around $1.50 each, which is a steal if you've ever priced cabinet hardware.  I got them here.

Winter Update

We had our first snow that stuck last week.  Henry insisted on going out in it with the older siblings and lasted about 4 minutes before he tromped back into the house in a huff.  (Truth be told, I knew he wouldn't stay out long, but I wanted to see him all bundled up).

Yes, we did the unthinkable and let our kids open presents 10 days early.  Our reasoning: we weren't going to be here on Christmas Day and we didn't want to take the presents with us, plus it was the last weekend we had before leaving.

When I put an apron on, Lucy put hers on, which led Henry to want one on too.  Domino effect.

Finn's Christmas Lego helicopter.

Lucy carefully building her Lego campervan.

 

And here's Miles with his Star Wars ship.  He hasn't taken off those pajamas since he got them, save to bathe.

Merry Christmas season from our crazy house to yours!