Services Rendered

A friend from school needed some flower girl dresses made at the last minute. I was able to help her out. They turned out cute, although not as perfect as I'd like. I didn't have much to work with though so it turned out pretty good I'd say. I made the dresses without seeing the little girls they were going to fit and we were modifying the pattern too. But they're done! Yay!

It isn't always greener on the other side...

A few weeks ago my yard started out looking like this:

By day's end it looked like this:

Neil worked long and hard that Friday to get everything finished. I tried to help but I was pretty much useless as the sod was too heavy for me to move. We had already put in the irrigation last year and Neil's been working all winter to drop the grade below the level of the fieldstone so that the grass would be even with it in the end. So that morning he moved more dirt, added sand, peat moss, sulfur, phosphorus, and gypsum, then rototilled the whole yard. After he leveled it off and passed the lawn roller over it a few times, he started laying down the sod. I helped trim and cut pieces around the fieldstone, trees, etc. I became very good at sawing through sod! I also helped water down the 1000 sq ft of sod sitting on our driveway. At the end of the day Neil was exhausted and I think we practically fell into bed. But now our backyard is green!

Nursery Tour

I've been searching high and low for new furniture. I love planning new rooms. It's just so exciting! Handsome Face is over two years old now so I think it's about time he had a new bed. I've got a few months to plan the perfect space so it should be fun.

I officially finished decorating my baby nursery a few months ago (just in time for my baby to move out). Here are some belated pictures.

The centerpiece of this room is the crib of course. Grandma Crapo bought this for us when Cute Girl was born. The walls are are Skipping Stones green and Baby Bee Yellow from Disney. Unfortunately I could never find great lighting so the color is hard to see. I plan on using this room for all of my babes and I wanted it to be gender neutral.I am a firm believer that if you have something, you should use it. Keepsakes, heirlooms, souvenirs, etc. are useless if they are packed away in boxes and attics. They become junk and clutter. So here I used baby pictures of my husband and I for nursery artwork. I spray painted white frames from Target to match other artwork in the room. The Greg Olsen print came from an old calendar that I've cut up and framed.I LOVE these paper globes. I found the pattern at Hello, My Name is Heather. They weren't too hard to make once I started using a punch instead of cutting the circles by hand. Handsome Face loves them. They're a fun variation on nursery mobiles.I made the curtains and bed skirt myself. I originally wanted to use this fabric but The Rocket Scientist picked out the fabric on sale at Jo-Anns. He called it a Pride and Prejudice print (i.e. calico - a tan flower print on light green) and it is very pretty. I still like my first one and I'm sometimes sad I didn't use it but I love it when he helps pick things out for the kids rooms. He usually has great opinions and ideas. Plus, his fabric was a fraction of the cost. The book box is from Michael's and I spray painted it to match the frames. The shelves hold more personal items: Dr. Seuss book from Aunt Heather, doll cradle from my grandfather, pillow-case doll my great-grandmother crocheted, and my childhood teddy bear.A quilt rack from Craig's List holds my and my husband's baby quilts and afghans crocheted by my two grandmothers.

The artwork is from art.com. It's pretty generic but I used it to pull the color scheme for the room (not that you can see the colors in these awful pictures). Plus, the kids like it and that is what's important. Handsome Face points out what he sees while laying on the changing table.

I'm seeing stripes

This is what I have been doing for the past week. Painting stripes is no fun. It takes lots and lots of time. But now I know how to do it so it's a shame I don't have more stripes to paint.
And if you'll be painting soon, and you ask the lady if your primer needs to be tinted because the label says "Tintable Primer" and the lady says no, don't believe her. She's wrong and it does need to be tinted.
This is currently the toy room but will some day become Handsome Face's room when he moves out of the nursery. I've been toying around with what I want in here but I had no plans to paint anytime soon. Then my sister came into town and the idea just sort of popped into my head. Gotta get those projects done while the free baby-sitter is here and I can hijack her car. Here's the Rocket Scientist looking like he did all the work. He didn't. He just came to help finish the red stripes and take off the tape because I said I wasn't coming out of that room until it was finished and he's bored at home without me.

Does this remind anyone of fruit stripe gum?

Notions

This is what I've been doing all afternoon. My back hurts. This is the barrette his sister stuck in his hair.
Here's the sneaking into unfinished Halloween costume. Again.

Need a Handyman?

Cause I got a real cute one right here. Here's what my husband (and a whole lot o' other husbands from the ward) did this weekend.


I now have a beautiful extension to my patio. Pouring concrete took about 4-5 hours. I was exhausted by the time the day was over and all I did was make lunch! On to the next stage of backyard landscaping.
And a Kool-Aid stained Cute Girl.

Look what I found!

Ok, I'm a day late. But here's my beautiful new table from Craig's List. It's solid wood, only two years old, has very little scratches to the finish, and only cost me $200. I love when I find something that perfectly fits my vision for my home and is also within budget. The color is just so pretty and the inlay on top is beautiful. I love it!

This table sits under the chandelier in the "library." Next I want to get two wing back chairs to sit behind it and there will be shelves under the windows and up the wall.

Help!!!

I need to know all the best design blogs/websites, where you shop online for totally awesome home accessories, and what stores you've bought your favorite furniture. I'm about to tackle decorating the room that is to be Handsome Face's. Oh, and I'm still finishing Cute Girl's. I just can't find a bed I like and I'm trying to hunt up an old kitchen hutch to repurpose. But anyway, send me all your hints and tips. I need them. And tune in tomorrow for my latest Craig's List purchase. Gorgeous!

Trip Planning

We are driving, yes, driving, to Missouri in two weeks for a family wedding. I am impatient to get going. I'm dreading - ok, I'm terrified - the 22 hour car trip with two little ones and so I just want to get it started and over with it. I've been trying to prepare for the trip in the past few days but other than research and list-making, I haven't gotten very far. But I did just receive these in the mail today.

You can find them here. My mother-in-law had one and I fell in love with it and just had to have my own. This evening the Rocket Scientist informed me that we'll have to get more when we have more kids because otherwise everyone will just be jealous. They're that cool. And super soft. Handsome Face thinks it is fun to cuddle up in them.

And to get ready for our packing, Cute Girl and I covered diaper boxes in paper and decorated them. It served no practical purpose, but made me feel like I was doing something for the trip and let her color and get marker on her clothes. Everybody's happy.

My Treasures

Let me introduce you to the newest treasure in my house - this antique desk! I LOVE it! I got if off of Craig's List. It almost wasn't mine, but people backed out and my home teacher carted it home in his Jeep for me. I haven't decided how I'm going to finish it yet. I'm rethinking all of my design plans for the house. The desk may end up in my room, the family room, or a kitchen in a future house.
And my most important treasures are, of course, my kids! Today I wanted to just mention Handsome Face a bit. He's just so grown up and yet baby-ish that I just can't get over it!
First of all, he's almost standing! He practices all the time. My husband got to see it for the first time last night (he always practices while Dad's at work). He's stayed up for 5-7 seconds on his own I'd guess and he can get up from a bent position by himself. He thinks it's so fun and giggles while his Dad cheers him on.
Handsome Face loves fruit. It's really funny. Lots of kids love fruit more than other foods but I've never seen anyone go nuts like him. We can't get any sort of fruit out before he's finished his other food or it's all over. He'll refuse to eat anything else and goes nuts until he gets his share. Strawberries send him over the top. He'll gorge himself on strawberries. And he screams and bangs his tray when they're gone. Too funny.
And now for the cutest thing of all. Last Monday or Tuesday the kiddos were in the tub when the Rocket Scientist came home and surprisingly, everyone was happy. The kids were so excited to see Daddy and I wasn't stressed and work had gone well so it turned into a pleasant evening. So we all happily parked ourselves in Cute Girl's room for the pajama-ing. I was sitting on the bed with Handsome Face when Cute Girl ran in wrapped in her towel. She came up to fuss over her cute lil' brother as usual and he got all excited. He then grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her in, nestling his little face into her neck for a hug. He then pushed her away and then did the whole thing over again several times. They were the cutest little hugs I've ever seen!

Building, Digging, Swinging

(Notice the dirt in the smile wrinkles.)
(She's not a prissy girl, is she?)

The Rocket Scientist builds a playground

Last week our playground was delivered and the boys started putting it together on Boo's birthday. The Rocket Scientist was a little over-confident and thought they could knock it out in a day. I just laughed.

Here are some pictures from the construction thus far. First day at work.This is Fritz. He came with the help.

Here's the Rocket Scientist. Can you believe they trust him to make things that blow up? Oh, and that other guy is the help. He's our home teacher.

The other night Cute Girl helped her dad put up the climbing wall. She looks very handy, don't you think?

I realized this afternoon that I hadn't posted all week. But we haven't really had anything to post about.
The Rocket Scientist has been doing training all week which is nice because it means he stays home with us until 9:30 or so. He does internet training from home then goes into work for a training class - something about how to make missiles to make things blow up. It's all very technical, I'm sure, and all ends in big clouds of smoke.
Because he's been home during the mornings, I've gotten a lot done. If he's sitting on the couch the kids are content to play among themselves. If I'm sitting on the couch they're climbing up my legs. If he gets up, they don't notice. If I get up, they run/crawl after me. So not fair.
Since I have no new pics of the kids, I'm posting recently finished projects. These are from Cute Girl's room.
Here is a picture that Grandma gave her at Christmas. It has a cute bug and flower border that fits the theme of her room. A month ago, Grandma also sent the stickers to decorate a picture frame to fit her room. So, I finally got a frame to complete the project. Cute Girl didn't like my ideas of spacing so I left her to her own devices. This is what she came up with.

And I finally finished the last magnet board. Hurray! I only bought them in Utah in September, had one finished by Thanksgiving, the other started right after Christmas, and finished just two weeks ago. What can I say, I'm lazy.

Project Picture Frames: Completed

First of all, because it's his room, we'll show a picture of Handsome Face.

Now, on to projects! Here is the first of many projects being completed this week. This one has been in the works for over a year. The idea was to use baby pictures of my husband and me to decorate the nursery. I had my pictures, but it took awhile to find baby pictures of the Rocket Scientist. Then I had to find the frames. Man, I hate shopping for picture frames. They're so expensive and I can never find what I want. I'm still looking for 6x6 frames for Boo's room. After months and months of searching I finally found these cheap white frames at Target. And they're cheap. Hopefully they don't fall apart anytime soon.
I wanted some colored frames but they're impossible to find. I got some once at Target, took them home, and then realized that they only had easels on the back. So back to Target they did go. I finally decided I would just spray paint white ones when I found them. So I did. I chose colors that were in the animal pictures on another wall. I thought they looked nice. I wish the green was a little different, but I painted that board in Utah, long before this room was ever conceived of.
Here's the Rocket Scientist. Isn't he cute?
That's me. My old pictures were 3x5 snapshots, so I got some flowery paisley paper to use as a mat. You can't find 3x5 frames.
And just for good measure, this is the mess on Handsome Face's floor.