Little Bathroom Project

This little project was for a little bathroom in our home. I've been on the hunt for over a year for an inexpensive, but good-looking, cabinet we could install over the toilet for the bare necessities, but had come up with nothing. So I needed to come up with Plan B. In this case, brackets and a shelf for non-concealed storage.

I didn't take a before picture because I think we can all envision just a blank wall. Here is the finished project.

Components:
2 IKEA brackets - $5
pre-cut finish grade board from Lowe's - $8
paint - on hand
hardware - on hand
installation - my good husband

I love projects like this that are finished quickly, cheap and yet provide lots of functionality with a little bit of style. I did resist the urge to first paint the whole bathroom before hanging the shelf. That is a project for another day. Who says beige can't be beautiful?

Because a Girl Just Needs to Accessorize

A few months a friend sent me a link to this doable Martha Stewart craft that held the promise of corralling all kinds of girlie things for my daughter. We modified to what we had available, but it turned out well and has helped (notice I didn't say "cured") the problem of having these items laying all about the house.

What we used:
unfinished 9 x 12" frame - free from an auction box stash my mom had
wood cutout - $.25
paints - on hand from previous projects
paint applicator - for such a small project, I found that facial foam rounds work well, we had some around but they would be inexpensive in the cosmetics section of Walmart/Target
ribbon - on hand
hot glue and gun to secure ribbon - on hand
good quality hooks - $2 at Walmart for way more than we needed for this

The only unfortunate thing is that she could really fill at least another full frame like this with all the stuff she has.

BIG Summer Trip '09

a.k.a. 60 Hours Together Enjoying North America's Highways!

Tons of photos ahead, but actual text does follow the images.
















In June we took our first ever road trip (with children) to visit my husband's family. The kids did great with most of those 60 hours in the van. We put in 4 long days, partly due to limited vacation time and partly to save lodging and on-the-road dining expenses. But every mile was worth it to be able to visit a few different parts of the family, in the places they call home, and to see old friends from university, too. We were away 2 weeks and logged over 3500 miles. And now the kids seem to really understand just how far it is to Grandma and Grandpa's house. Flying again is looking better and better.

The number of photos in this post could be likened to an infamous vacation slide show, but really, this is just a small sampling. We enjoyed beaches, splash parks, beautiful family gardens, finding ladybugs, reading books, celebrating Smiley's birthday on multiple occasions, going to a great indoor aquatic center, seeing extended family, attending a BBQ at the home of friends, getting out for a date with friends to The Keg, visiting a historic site in the vicinity, croquet, letting the kids run free in the big backyard and visiting friends at their homes, among many other things. Oh, and hauling home 200 lbs. of wheat berries from Wheat Montana in Three Forks, MT.

Some things that helped make this possible:
- Our van's DVD player. We were always the type that resisted them, but when it was included with the van, well, we put it to use. The kids watched 3 movies on the way out and 3 movies on the way home, so the movies weren't on all the time, but something they had to look forward to as the days were dragging on.
- Packing meals for the road on the way to our destination. We crossed the border into British Columbia after 2 days of driving with only $20 of dining out expenses...and that was only because ham sandwiches were getting a bit old. We did not do as well on the way home, but find it is just easier to have food with us and stop at a park or rest area during the time we are not moving forward to let the kids play and refresh all of us. And we had lots of snacks in the car along the way, too.
- Welcoming family who warmly host us in their homes.
- The summer season with lots of daylight to drive by. A trip of this length during the winter would take several more days.

After a shorter trip over a much shorter distance over the 4th of July, we are happily home for the rest of the summer.

Happy Canada Day!

We squeezed in a little Canadian festivity today in celebration of Canada Day. The kids are loving their new shirts and pinwheels from Grandma and seem to have a good affection toward Canada, as it should be.

The boy on the right cracks me up! He really does live life in a "full speed ahead" mode.
Happy Canada Day!

Already 3!

I can't believe our baby has already turned 3! The years just keep getting faster and faster it seems. We love this boy to pieces and are so thankful for his own unique personality. Smiley lives life fully and holds nothing back, seems to have no fear, shows lots of love and affection, is ready with a smile most of the time (and sometimes to save himself from a bad situation he has gotten himself into), laughs a lot, loves to sing songs at bedtime, holds his own with his big brother and sister, and is really a pleasant and happy child! We thank God for him and celebrate his 3 full years of life!

We had a party with friends the week before heading out on a big trip. It turned out to be a smaller group than we had planned for, but we enjoyed having time to really catch up with the parents while the kids played in the backyard. We had a lunch of hot dogs and sloppy joes and fixings to match. We sort of had a farm/John Deere theme so I had some green gingham, toy tractors, blue enamelware and fresh flowers to decorate and John Deere fruit snacks to send home with guests. For dessert we had green frosted cupcakes and dirt and worms, the latter being a huge hit, at least with our kids. Who can go wrong with a mixture of candy, cookies, pudding and cool whip? For entertainment, the kids played in the yard with bubbles, on the trampoline and with some outdoor toys. It was a low-key, but fun party.

Year-End School Events

Our family really benefited from the combination of homeschooling and sending Sportster to a charter academy homeschool program a couple times a week this past year. He loved the interaction with his class and his teacher and the fun things that I may neglect or not find feasible in a one-on-one setting here at home.

With the end of the school year, there was a flurry of activity which was great fun. But I also felt relief when the school year was over. Here is a little recap of things that were squeezed into about 2 weeks in May.

Field Trip to a nature center in town
My dear husband took a morning off so I could be one of the drivers and go along with Sportster's class which I really enjoyed.

Field Day with lots of fun activities for the kids

Keeping this young one out of the action was a challenge!

Patriotic Program
Sportster's teacher did a great job of putting this all together and I'm glad he is now familiar with many patriotic songs and parts of speeches and written documents. At the end of the program, his teacher also showed a DVD of photos from the year set to music. I don't think there was a dry eye left by the time that presentation had ended. Next up: a summer of fun and First Grade in the fall.

Where to begin again?

I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, but life has been really busy and I haven't been juggling it all well enough to do even basic posts to keep the grandmas up to date on the kiddos. And now that it has been so long, I don't know where to begin....just leave a huge activity gap and go from the present or work at catching up. It likely doesn't matter to you all, so I do the latter, for the sake of far-off family.

My blogging, or lack thereof, is just a reflection of the state of my life right now. I really need to get it together. But I also don't want to fall into the trap of equating who I am with what I produce. Ah, such a balance!

I hope you have all been well. More to come later!