Homeschool Field Trip

Yesterday was a very fun, but very long day. Our homeschool group took our kids to the Denver Mint. We got a later start then planned, so we quickly stopped at Costco along the way & ate our lunch in the back of the van before walking over for our tour time. It was so cool seeing all the money made, and also checking out the HUGE sculptures along the way.Afterwards we stopped at IKEA, dropped our kids off at the FREE childcare & got to shop around the store a bit un-interrupted. It was a lot of fun hanging out with the gal that went down with us. I ended up getting random things, like more coat hooks & this glazing paint to make another set of coat hooks. And now, I'm off to continue feeling sick as a dog today and using this tutorial to try and make this wreath. Let's hope it's finished by tomorrow!

Boys Room -Coat Hooks-

I saw something on PBKids that got my mind whirring about fun storage ideas for the boys room. We actually bought enough rulers ($0.69 each from Lowe's) to make two sets of coat racks (since there are three boys in the room & the weather here is always so cold, we needed a lot of hooks!). I had my husband cut a 1x4 and then cut it down to 35" so that the wood wouldn't show thru behind the rulers. Then we stained the rulers with some stain we already had on-hand. Once it was dry, we glued them onto the 1x4 (I didn't worry about staples, since the coat hooks would hold them in place). I decided since the coat hooks ($1 each from IKEA) were so long, we put 6 hooks on each ruler to optimize the storage. Then we simply attached the coat hooks and voila! :) To make it easier to keep attached to the wall with four little boys, we decided to drill holes into the ruler board so that it would be in the studs of the wall. My 2 yo & 4 yo would DEFINITELY have a hayday ripping them out of the wall if we didn't follow this step! Look at how nice it looks on the wall now too ... which eliminated the bucket on the floor that previously was holding all their jackets and hoodies. :)

Total Cost: Less than $16! :)

Random Thursday

So yesterday's high was 48 degrees ... wait, I didn't quite hear the gasp of horror from the universe ... FORTY-EIGHT degrees was as WARM as it got yesterday. It was windy, foggy and a light drizzle all day ... good news for my grass ... what happened to fall-ish weather to me though. It supposedly snowed last night while we were sleeping ... which means I lost the bet on the first day of snow fall this year ... I was betting on September 21st (the first day of fall).

When I read that on Tuesday night (via the weather channel), I went into overdrive filling up donation bags of clothing that didn't fit my boys, hanging all of the coats, hats & gloves in the laundry room and pulling out the next size up for some of the kids. Buying ahead ALWAYS is a good thing ... I pre-bought a TON of snow shoes a year and a half ago at $5 a pair, so Jax & Colton were thrilled with their new snow boots, and Jax is lovin' his new coat as well. :)

As a result, I got a chance to spend a little time last night cutting up the next girls' night craft (I already had all the fabric, felt & hot glue on-hand (so of course I decided to make three ... and put two aside for gifts for my Mom & Grandma next year ... lol), and got working on some other stuff I'm hoping to share tomorrow. Ryan also worked on one of the honey-do's I've been asking him to do for quite some time ... completely random post I know, but just wait until you see all the finished projects in the next couple of days! :)

Easy & Semi-Fast Blankets

So I have two new nephews. And I wanted to send them each something homemade, so I whipped up these blankets and did a simple tying & regular binding, I finally finished them this weekend and Ryan just mailed them out for me (along with a Christmas gift for his Mom & Dad). Nothing fancy, but both fabrics were really special to me (the horse one I got from my great-Grandmother before she passed away), so I really liked them. Each one took about 3 1/2 hours from start to finish ... I just love homemade baby things! :)

Girls Craft Night

We have designated Friday nights as craft nights. Just Savannah & I, the boys went downstairs and watched TV. So, trying to come up with a fun craft for us, I thought of the tu-tu's. We made one for Lizzie for an upcoming family photo shoot, and also a yellow/black one for Lizzie's halloween costume (a bumble bee). She had fun, and now wants to invite all her friends from church over to enjoy a craft night with us! :)

9/11

Yesterday I had an unfortunate job to do ... explaining 9/11 to my son. We pulled up videos, pictures and really discussed it. I couldn't help but cry as I re-watched it all over again.And also a bit for the realization of how much our world changed because of it ... he already knew who Osama Bin Laden was, the war on terror and we know several families whose husbands serve in the military. He asked a lot of questions, and wanted to know our own personal story of the events. And then, because it was Sunday & our Sabbath, we turned it off and told him we would spend more time on it today, which I'm about to do. I know I won't forget, but what I appreciated most about the time afterwards, was the unity I felt in our nation, how prominent God became in so many people's lives and the display of the American flags, everywhere. God bless America, and the troops serving to help protect our families and God bless those who lost loved ones that day.

Homeschool News

So this week was a very busy week for us over here! I have loved pinterest, it's helped to really organize and not lose out on some fun ideas! We played coin wars with Savannah and this time around the coins & their values seems to really be sticking! :) Also, I had my first turn teaching Geography to the homeschool group we've created, so we used this idea on focusing on their personal geography (planet, continent, country, state, county, city & home address). Definitely loved doing this & I just kept quizzing the kids the whole time on the name of our president, governor and mayor. It's been a great start to the year already! :)

Boys Room - Hunter's Pillow -

So after making a pillow for Jaxson, which was stolen and now claimed by Colton, Hunter is feeling a little left out, without his own special pillow ... but it has to be "cool" enough for an 8, almost 9 year old. So we looked for a lot of different ideas, and I wanted it to be travel themed ... but it's a throw pillow ... and so much of the room already doesn't really fit within the theme idea ... so I let him decide what he wanted ... and he decided on ... a mario mushroom. I tried to explain how Mario and video games didn't really fit with my theme ... but that boy has me wrapped around his little finger and could just say a little "please?" and the next thing I know ... now onto Colton's pillow!

Girls Room - The Dresser -

I love this little dresser and the color green I painted it! I want to get some pink crystal knobs, but I'm waiting until they go on sale at Hobby Lobby (at $6 a pop, I gotta get them on sale!), now I'm keeping my eye out at the auction for a little vanity ... here's hoping one comes up soon! Butterfly blogged about here.

Girls Room - Sisters Sign -

Happy Labor Day weekend! The weekend was pretty chilly compared to a week ago, highs in the mid-60's and lows at 40 degrees ... the kids had a camp out with Daddy last night, and today is supposed to be warmer, so we're thinking we'll go somewhere to roast marshmallows & hot dogs. Should be fun!
In the meantime, here's the other thing I did with the scraps leftover from the bunting. Just mod-podged them all over this board from our garage in a really random way (my friend in Vegas had done this & I *LOVED* the way it came out!). I just wish I had picked a better accent color for the actual sign, but it works. It says, "Heaven made us SISTERS, but LOVE made us FRIENDS" ... let's hope the idea sticks!

Girls Craft Night

So, my daughter is the second child ... which means I think she feels lost sometimes. She's also surrounded by three brothers and a tiny baby ... so I've been trying to find ways to make her feel more special ... and I can't believe what a difference the idea of craft nights has made for her. So I am trying to think of something fun we can do together ... most of the time she tells me she isn't interested in doing "my crafts" but wants to do something of her own. But, I think when I show her that "our" craft will go on the front door she will be more excited. So I'm trying to make up my mind what kind of fall wreath to do ... I've pinned a bunch on pinterest, which to choose though???

Girls Room - Art Frame -

Some of the scrapbook paper bits from the bunting were used to mod podge onto clothespins for the room.When we moved, both of the frames with the finished cross-stitches I made for the kids got broken. So I kept trying to think of ways to use them, and finally had an idea! I painted, polka-dotted and mod-podged one for Savannah's room, then used some of the left-over chicken wire from the bathroom frame. Savannah is always making things and this gave her artwork a new home, for free!