OK....where was I? & 1st Day of Preschool

I've been gone a while, lots going on over here but good news............

Today was the kids first day of preschool!

That's right "kids" as in plural as in they all went to school today!
They are so excited about going to school you just don't even KNOW how excited I am, I mean they are!!!!

Here are the twins on the front row of the mega stroller.
It looks like they just rode the roller coaster at Six Flags!

This picture is actually from meet the teacher day last week but they had the same expression when we dropped them off this morning.
Good times.
Dad helped me get the kids to school since it was raining.
Otherwise I have to get this bunch to school all by myself. Weee!!!!We met their new teachers last week.
Lu with Ms. JenToday when we dropped her off she was so eager to go and play with her new friends that I almost didn't get a picture of her.
The look says, "OK mom, you can go now."
I remember when she used to cling to my leg when we would go to play dates and now she's all independent and stuff.
OK Lu, you can stop growing up so fast now. Okay?
(sniff, sniff)
You can see the boys teachers in the reflection of the window.
(Well, kinda sort of, a little.)Making friends at the fire hydrant.
I hope they're having a good day today.
So what will I be doing today?

Oh, I'm so glad you asked. Well, first, I'm turning on the radio and listening to real music with real lyrics instead of toddler tunes, not that there's anything wrong with toddler tunes but it's just that I get tired of "wheels on the bus go 'round and"......well you know the rest.

And then I will be starting what I call the "laundry marathon".
That is where the washer and dryer don't stop until I leave to get the kids.

Oh and finishing up a few home improvements that we've started over here but haven't finished.
Would you like to see what we're working on right now?
Here's a pic of the ukly (that's my new work for ugly oak) built-in bookcases that flank the fireplace.
Please excuse my attempt to accessorize my mantle.
Do you like the new color?
It's Herbal Wash from Sherwin Williams.
Hopefully the glass shelves will go up today and the new mantle.
It's going to be fabulous especially when we move that stinkin' ugly swing out of there!!gotta run, the dryer just beeped!
~Beth

T-Shirts

It's been soooo hot here lately that we've been spending a lot of time indoors.

So to keep us entertained, we've been having craft days!

The other day we made t-shirts.
Here are a few pics of what we made.Big Boy Tie Shirts
"Freeze! Put your hands up!
You're under arrest for being so stinkin' cute!"Practicing good dental hygiene while having our picture taken.Lu with her giant flower shirt.
I plan on making her a skirt to go with it but that's another day and another post! And here's my t-shirt.
In case you can't read it, it says
"I had a mind once. Now I have small children."



I love making t-shirts for my kiddos so if you have any good (and easy) ideas, just let me know!!

My baby turned 4!

My little girl turned 4!
When did this happen, I mean it feels like she should be 2?!

Here's the Little Mermaid cake my friend made!
Isn't it awesome?
She's sooo talented!
Happy Birthday my little mermaid!

Happy 1st Birthday Boys!

I can't believe it.
They're one.
The twins.
They turned ONE.

I feel like they're still 6 months old. Where does the time go?
I feel like I've aged years but it's only been one.

We had a Dr. Seuss Cat in the Hat party. They were Thing 1 and Thing 2. Yeah, I made their t-shirts because I'm crafty like that. Pshhh.
I had HUGE plans as far as decorating goes but ran out of time. I was going to make a gazillion tissue paper pom poms like Martha and hang them from the ceiling AND get a million balloons and put them everywhere AND have huge cutouts of Thing 1 and Thing 2 and the Cat in the Hat and put them on every wall AND have goldfish bowls with Goldfish crackers in them with blue fur around the tops AND AND..and well I ran out of time. Oh well.

One thing we did that was a huge success was a candy bar.

We provided gift bags and they helped themselves to the candy and other party favors.
My inspiration came from fellow bloggers like Heather who had a Thing 1 and 2 party for her twin boys. And Jeannette did the same theme for her son.

My sister made the cake, isn't it adorable. She is so stinkin' talented. She drove over an hour with that ginormous cake in the car!


AND she made the boys smash cakes with their faces on them! Soooo cute!! She took their pictures to Walmart and they scanned the image onto sugar paper. How smart is that! I didn't even know you could do that!
Thanks sis, you rock!!!We had a great time visiting with everyone.
We had...

Babies!
Cousins!Grandma!I call her the "baby whisperer". Every baby she holds passes out.
I wish I had that gift!

The Family

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY BOYS!
WE LOVE YOU!!

LOL at the Thrift Store

I spotted this fridge magnet at the thrift store the other day and thought it was hilarious.
It caught me off guard so I laughed out loud and well...um...snort laughed. Really. Loud.
The lady at the register heard me and looked at me like I was some crazy person.
Yeah, well maybe I am. Snort snort. :)

Repurposed Skirt turned Toddler Dress

I found a pretty skirt at a thrift store and thought it would make a cute halter dress for my daughter.

It started out as a sort of broom skirt with smocking at the top. Hmmm, maybe it was a strapless sundress?? Hey....that would have been cute on me! Oh well too late now. Besides, it's much cuter on my model!

It was so easy to make anyone can do this even if you don't know how to sew. You can use hemming tape instead of thread.
Want a tutorial?
1) cut out section of skirt in desired length
2) hem sides
3) cut strips of excess fabric for the straps and sew them to the underside at the top (sorry no pic)
4) have cutie patootie daughter model it for you next to the fence in 100 degree temps
5) bribe model by giving her your bracelets so she will let you take lots of pics (most important!)

I'm linking up to Trash To Treasure Tuesday. My first linky, hope I can do this right!!!


Peace out,
Beth

The Gallery Wall is Finished!

I finally finished the stinkin' gallery wall in my entryway. It took several weeks and lots of input from family, friends any my neighbor. I waaaaayyy over thought it and tried to make it "perfect" by measuring out all the frames and doing a mock trial layout with brown paper on the wall. AND I still couldn't get it right. I was so frustrated over it that I just started hanging frames up and you know what, it was sooo much easier!! I'm so glad it's over with. I'm still looking at it and tweaking it in my mind but I'm not touching it for a while. Oh except to straighten the frames on a daily basis because they won't stay straight. Because you know I have all the time in the world to be straightening frames. Not.

Here's the before shot with a cute baby off to the left.

And after:



Is it exactly what I had in mind? Um no.
Do I have a gazillion holes in the wall from this wonderful project? Yep.
Do I smile every time I walk past it because it has pictures of my favorite people on it? You betcha!

Tip: If you want to do a gallery wall, don’t do what I did and do what Kate did.
She's way smarter than I. Or is it me?

Peace Out!

Beth