A day of fun

The family took the day off from life yesterday to enjoy some time together. The kids didn't have school so the parents took the day off and we road tripped to a nearby waterpark. It was nice. (said in a relaxed and reflective voice with a deep sigh of relief at the end). We even topped it off by coming home and doing nothing more than chillin' out in front of the fire!

Boys in moms toys

What happens when the youngest of our brood is innocently playing with my Stampin' Up scraps....


And then big brother and daddy get home....


And daddy gets ahold of the camera!


That's right - mommy takes the pictures and posts them on the blog so the whole world can see!!

Inside Igloo

What is that you see behind the head of our youngest child? Can you tell? That's right....it's the tops of many many many milk jugs. This is what our very creative pre-school teacher has been building with the kids at school. An indoor, milk jug igloo.


The first time we saw one of these was when our middle child was at this same preschool with this same creative teacher. We are just as impressed this time around as we were last time around. They use this as a "reading retreat" and I am almost inspired enough to want to build one at home to read in (not quite - just almost)


As you can see, it's big enough for more than one child or child and adult. What a great little hide-a-way for reading a good book. Or so moms and the teachers think. It's not quite done - but there was another good pile of jugs to use after todays classes.

Now - some of our friends might think this would make a great ice fishing hut. Jeremy - no stealing from the preschool - ok!!! Not to mention I hear the ice is a little thin -right Josh?

A little pick-me-up

As if the sun shining isn't enough to make me smile
As if the good sermon on faith this morning, isn't enough to give endless hope
As if the prospect of spring around the corner doesn't spread the grin far enough
As if the kids laughing doesn't warm me up from the inside out

This little guy - manages to great me with such enthusiasm and excitement each time I walk in the house. This little hairy monster can make me smile....



And he can even make me laugh when you consider he can look so sappy and sad in moments like these....



Isn't he just pitiful and hilarious all at one time. My brother might even say "It's like a burning clown - funny and sad all at once". Sorry Andy - had to quote you on this occassion!

Hope you at least got a giggle from our poor puppy's pitiful pictures!

Some Assembly Required

Although we still need to put furniture back in and more or less bring the room together, the walls are officially done.

Wall Color is done - accents and decor to go

Although I do have one more coat of white on the all white wall - this will give you an idea of color. The walls are done. Just detail paiting left - like the colorful music theme that will be handpainted around the room on the white walls.

Priming a black room

Even though there will still be some black in the room when all is said and done, a person must prime a highly muraled room before painting it. So - the entire room was primed in this steel grey color. M1 snapped a few pix for me - but these two will sum up what the room looked like primed!

Here is the contrast of the black and white to the primer grey.



Then you have - an entire room that looks like this....

The Moon Room

Ok - so I am in the process of transforming this bedroom from the "Moon Room" to a musicians paradise.

This bedroom was themed to resemble the surface of the moon when we bought the house. The lady who lived here was an artist and this room is clearly a testament to her artistic talents. The wall with the dresser/closet door was a wallpaper mural and the entire rest of the room was hand-painted to be the surface of the moon. Lots of black and lots of layers. Oh - and a few suprises when we removed the mural.

So - here is where we started (sorry I didn't get pictures before I started tearing into things). You get the idea of where we started though, right?

You enter the room through the white door that is open here


You then look down this wall on your right. (This will be the home of the bed I think)


This is straight ahead and to the left when you walk in



This is where the bed was - that will be changing.

And now - I feel like this -

A tired dog - flat on its back.

24 of these

Close Up


Tag in


Tag Out

24 of these for the preschool! I don't think it helped when my dear and ever-so-helpful husband pointed out how quickly the little fingers were going to tear apart my hours of cutting, and his hours of folding, and my hours of stamping and stuffing. Oh well...again...time with the whole family at the table to make these babies happen and worth every minute together!!!

22 of these

The pile all done!

For the Girls

For the Boys


So - do you think kids really appreciate the work that goes into personalizing or even making their valentine's? Doubt it. But - do I do this to be appreciated or because it provided time at the table with the kids? Memories....that's what was made.

22 of these for his 1st grade class.

When you care enough to send the very best...

And...you have a thing for glitter - that makes for a great and quick gift for a fellow Mt.Dew addict. Our friend had a birthday yesterday and in honor of his special day, I threw together a quick, yet very personal gift for him!



Like it??

Spiritually Bankrupt

Now there is a term one might not consider uplifting and full of warm fuzzies! Our small group is doing a study on the Beattitudes and the first study mentioned the need for us all to be Spiritually Bankrupt in order to inherit the Kingdom of Heaven.

Think I am going to have to think and pray on this one! That is some pretty deep thinking for this simple and happy mind. And here I had been avoiding Sunday School because I thought Romans was deep!

Wow - someone up above is having a good laugh on me and how challenged I have been in his word lately!

Stampin' Club card #1

Here is one of the cards that we made for the Stampin' Club. This card is made from Sahara Sand, Bella Rose DS paper, the top note die in any "in color" and the tag in an "in color" with the message stamped in RH Red on white. The stamp set is Bugs and Kisses and the inks are all "in color" colors. You should be able to click on the picture for a larger view!

It's a little dry here in the Midwest!

Turn up the volume if you want to HEAR the static coming off the dog!!! This poor puppy takes the brunt of the winter dryness. You should see him under the comforter - he's like a "plasma ball" with bolts of lightening shooting from his every tip of hair!

Defying Gravity

OK - so someone might want to let M2 know he does not live on the moon or that jumping UP is much more difficult than falling down.

In an attempt to go from the bottom bunk to the top, using increasingly larger jumps, M2 managed to injure himself resulting in a blood curdling scream heard throughout our 3 story house.

With daddy to the resue to hold him, little brother assisting with an ice pack and big sis and mom aside with cameras in hand, M2 will live. But - he sure does have a nice battle wound to prove that no matter how hard he tries, he cannot jump from the bottom bunk to the top!