What We Have Been Up To...

We have had a busy week this week..hence the lack of posting. Mr. E learned to ride his bike on Monday. He was so proud of himself:o) He came running in the house yelling, "Mommy! I did it. I can ride my bike without training wheels because I believed in myself!"

He's so sweet!

 This is what he learned on..it's called a Joey. It's small, wooden and doesn't have pedals. 

 It took 2 days on the Joey for him to get the whole balancing act down.

 We also had a field trip at the Botanical Gardens.

 They have a butterfly house at the gardens. E almost got one on his finger:o)

 Last night we went to the circus. This was the line into the door. There were people everywhere.

 Some strange and very dangerous looking sculpture outside of the arena.

 National Anthem Elephant

 This part scared me to death. Some of the females were a little temperamental. I said a little prayer for the lion tamer...I just knew he was going to be an evening snack.

We didn't stay for the whole circus. S.R. fell asleep, and the intermission was at 9 p.m. We heard it still had another hour after the intermission. 

Anywho, tomorrow I will be running in a half marathon with some friends. It's my first one, and I am really nervous...mostly of how much I will be hurting afterwards:o)

I am missing out on some super neighborhood yard sales tomorrow morning b/c of the race...BOO! I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Say a little prayer for me;o)

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Getting Side Tracked....

This is what happens when...

these come in the mail:o)

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End Tables

Good morning to you all! I am so happy to be able to sit upright in front of a computer right now:o) What a week we have had around here. E has a double ear infection and I have fluid on both of my ears..I tell ya, I feel a little more sympathy for my poor children when they end up with ear pain.

Today is the first day that I have felt like being up and moving around without needing to sit back down immediately for fear of passing out. 

So since I had a little bit of energy, I was able to finish these end tables I found at a yard sale last weekend.

 I didn't take any before pictures. But they were a cherry finish and in very good condition...just a few scrapes and bumps in a few areas..but REAL wood! I got a fantastic price on them. I had the paint on hand and all the other materials, so I didn't have to put too much money into them, thankfully.

 A little sanding, a little painting, a little more sanding, and some wax, and I'll have to say I am very pleased with the results. I wish that I had room for them in my living room, but I am a tad attached to the ones we are currently using:o)

 So, I have them for sale on a yard sale Facebook page...hopefully I can get a little out of them, so I can find more treasures this weekend;o)

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Saw this on Facebook...

I just saw this on Facebook, and I died laughing...

...sorry if this isn't you type of humor;o)

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Lamp Revamp

Yesterday I picked up a pair of lamps from our local Facebook yard sale page for $5. They were brass, and not all that attractive, but they had a good shape, and were still in good working condition.

Since I am not a huge fan of brass, I knew that spray painting would be the best treatment for this pair.

I had been looking for matching lamps to go on either side of my couch since I had done some furniture rearranging recently.

So this is what they started out as. Basic brass lamps.

 I used my Cricut to cut out a vinyl design that I thought would work well with the decor of the living room, and attached it to the lamp base. I applied 3 coats of Krylon satin Ivory.

  Brass doesn't accept spray paint all that well, so I distressed a few areas on the lamps to camouflage any thin spots.

 And in case you are wondering, the lamp shades were purchased at Walmart. They were just under $10 a piece.

I am so happy with how these lamps turned out, and I got 100% approval from the hubs:o)

Yard sale season is in full swing now, so I will be hitting a couple of sales tomorrow morning. If you venture out, I hope you have great luck in finding treasures!

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What I Am Pinning...

I have been completely clueless as to what to do with our bonus room for 2 and 1/2 years now. I think I am finally pulling some ideas together, and I wanted to show you some DIY built-ins out in blog-land that I am really digging.

Source: centsationalgirl.com via Crystal on Pinterest

Source: bit.ly via Crystal on Pinterest

Source: apartmenttherapy.com via Crystal on Pinterest

I also really like this little sofa table...

Source: takethesidestreet.com via Crystal on Pinterest

The hubs is sure to be excited when he hears what I want to do(comment dripping with sarcasm) Who knows, maybe I can put something together like this by myself;o)

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A Tour of Our Backyard

Last year, I shared with you all these wonderful screens that the hubs put together. They were put there because we had absolutely no privacy in our backyard. We have really enjoyed having them. We knew that after those were put in, we would want to do something with all of that grass.

 Back in the fall, the hubs and a few other guys helped strip out all the grass in this area to get it ready to turn into flower beds.

And after a ton of work during the winter, this is what became of it.

 He designed everything back here.

 Eventually the arborvitae will grow together, and there will be complete privacy.

 This is our little fire pit area. I need some new cushions for these chairs. Waiting for them to go on sale:o) And we are still trying to figure out what to do with all of that brick that is stacked up against the house...any ideas? And no, we are not doing a fireplace...too expensive:o)

 The kids love running across this little path. It's their "track" to run "super fast" on;o)

 This little stone patio was a splurge, but we really love it.

 The fluff of a dog sunning on my rug that I got for Christmas.

 The hubs put this cute little fence up around my garden a couple of weeks ago. This was supposed to be a project for next year, but a certain ball of fluff decided he wanted to eat the broccoli that I had planted in the garden...5 minutes after I had planted it!!

The fence will be painted white when the fall rolls around. 

I plan on putting some really pretty cascading flowers in the planters when the threat of frost is over.

 Last weekend we put in some netting for the peas to run up. I hope they do well. I plan to can them.

 This is our next area of the backyard to tackle...just down right ugly if you ask me. And this is the first thing you see when you walk into the back yard. We have plans, though...Oh yes, we have plans:o)

We really love our backyard and I hoped you enjoyed the tour:o)

Happy Tuesday!

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Mr. Sock Bunny

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. Ours was a bit uneventful. Both of the kids had kind of a down weekend. E had a fever all day Saturday..have no idea why. And S.R. has had a bad cough and runny nose. We just hung out at the house all day while they tried to feel better. 

So while they were recovering, I needed something to do with my hands. 

I grabbed a pair of socks that were too big for S.R. and transformed them into a little bunny.

 An arm-less bunny, but he's still a bunny. E saw his little tail and said, "aw look, he's got a powder puff." Too cute;o)

I'm hoping to make a few more of these as soon as I find some more socks;o)...and they will have arms!!!

Happy Monday to you all!!

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Words That Really Matter

John 20:29

Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." 

I hope you all have a wonderful Easter!

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Easter Printable

Last year, I made these printables so that E could pass out favors to his class mates. Each little favor had two Peeps inside of a sandwich bag with this tag attached.

Both kids will be making these and taking them to their friends at school.

To print these out, go

HERE

I'll share the finished bags with you all tomorrow.

Have a great Wednesday!

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50th Birthday Celebration

This past weekend, we celebrated my mother's 50th birthday. It was supposed to be a surprise, but you really can't pull the wool over my mother's eyes...she knows all:o)

Anyway, we put on a party to honor her. I was in charge of the decorations, and as most of you know, that is one of my favorite parts of a party:o)

We had a "memory table" with pictures of her when she was younger.

Here is the birthday banner I made that was supposed to be hanging. Unfortunately, the twine I was going to use to hang the banner was left at home..2 and a half hours away....doh!

 This was a dress my mother wore when she was a little girl. You can see her in it in the picture frame. **Back Story of the Dress**My grandmother made this dress for her. My great-grandmother used to work in a dress factory and she would bring the scrap fabric home. My grandmother pieced this dress together, and everywhere you see the black lace, that is where a seam was, joining the scrap pieces together.

 The gift table

Here my parents are walking into the festivities as we are singing Happy Birthday to my mother.

 My mother and me...

As part of the fun, we had a photo booth... 

My parents...being good sports:o)

The party food...gluten free and sugar free(except for the sugar cookies) My mother is a gluten intolerant diabetic, so a regular birthday cake wasn't part of the plan. The cake I made her, made with almond flour and agave, was a huge hit. I intended for her to be the only one eating it, hence the itty bitty size...but everyone had a taste, and were raving over it. Had I known it was going to be such a hit, I would have made a much bigger one:o)

 For the tables, I sewed 12 foot long table runners, and we laid them over the top of plastic table covers. I really try to stay away from those things, but because we had so many tables to cover, we needed something very inexpensive...thank goodness for the Dollar Tree:o) For the centerpieces, we had mason jars with pink and green glass beads, with a tea light inside, and twine wrapped around the mouth of the jars. The flower arrangements were in large pink goblets. 

There was a playground outside of the community center where we had the party, so all of the kids were out there running around...can you tell that it was unseasonably warm?:o)

As the guests left, they were to take home a packet of flower seeds.

Since it's very rare that we are all in the same place, and dressed nicely with camera in tow, we made time to get a quick shot of the five of us. My poor brother was doing his very best to stand upright. He threw his back out last week, and had been hunched over like an old man. He was a really good sport:o)

Everyone seem to have a great time, and we really enjoyed putting together a great party for our wonderful mother..

Happy Birthday Moma!

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