Before and After...

I started with this.... goodwill 2 bucks

then this.... hobby lobby 6 bucks

( could be cheaper if you have a coupon or sale)

now it is this... cute trendy chalkboard jars

the will go in my pantry filled with easy to reach snacks for the kids

which still looks like this .....

another before and after

coming soon ; )

Belated Valentine's ....

Just a re-cap on our Valentine's week....

better late than never

here's Avery making Valentine's for her class...

heart shaped cards stuck to suckers

( i forgot to take a picture of them with the suckers )

Dawson made a V-day box for all his cards

looking cute in her outfit...

And...last but not least, we surprised the kids with

heart shaped breakfast for

Valentines day.

So, that's our update

stay tuned for a

"before and after"

Like mother like daughter.......

Love seeing Avery using her new sewing machine

and being like her mommy ; )

AND, speaking of sewing.... here I made a hooded towel for Avery.
I used white terry cloth and Cotton fabric that Avery picked out and used a
towel that she already had as my pattern.

I wish the hood was bigger,

but...

as you can see she likes it anyway.

Catch Up......

In pictures......

I hope everyone is having a Happy New Year !

Advent...

What a fun thing to do with the kids...counting down the days 'till we celebrate the birth of Jesus.

I found one like this on flikr...it was a perfect way for me to use up my stash of Christmas scrapbook paper.

You could make it much cuter but I was in a hurry

(given I waited the day before Dec. to start it)

so I just slapped some old stickers on it and hung it up with jute ribbon I had.

And there ya go....

I have been putting little treats and notes in them each day.

One of the notes was that they get to make a gingerbread house...which they had to find according to the note.

(the scavenger hunt idea was from my friend Heather)

It was a BIG hit!

Sweet Surprise...

Found this in my drawer the other night. Not sure when he wrote it but it definitely was a "Sweet surprise" !

Halloween pictures...

Hmmmm...what to say, what to say?

Guess I am just sharing pictures

that's all I got...for now.

Pumpkin patch, movie night, and outdoor decor....

Just some reasons why I have been MIA.

Dawson and Avery have been out for fall break the past 2 weeks.

The first week we had a wonderful time at the beach and this past week we tried to get out as much as we could.

Unfortunately, the weather here has been FREEZING cold and rainy everyday!

Here we are at Jackson's orchard in BG with some friends.

Like I said, it was cold and rainy but, we still had fun.

Friday night we had our family movie night.

We watched Monsters vs. Aliens.

Our treat was "my version" of Bob the blob in the movie.

Such a cute movie!

Last, I finally decorated my front porch for fall.

I have been dying to make a pumpkin topiary and finally did.

I love how it turned out!

For the pillow, I used fabric I had and stamped fall and the pumpkin on it.

Well, that is all for now.

I hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

We're back....

back to reality....that is.

we had a FABulous time!

good weather

good food

good fun

and ALOT of sun!

we even had several friends from MJ there!

...back soon to share more pics

4,3,2,1....

Counting down the days until we leave for the beach!

We will be staying HERE

Can't wait!

Around the house....

just wanted to post some pics....be back soon ; )

At the Zoo...

Just a quick post....b/c I hate when I go over a week with out posting SOMEthing. So, I am sharing our zoo trip today in pictures.....

Hopefully, I will be back (and in full action) next week.... ;~)

Hope everyone has a LOVELY weekend!

Scored.....

On some goodwill finds for my pantry project!

I was inspired by this pantry in the Lowe's Creative Idea mag.

I love the chalk board doors and signs, and all the baskets.

Our pantry is quite small and can get unorganized pretty quickly.

On top of that, we tend to leave the door open most of the time.

All the more reason to make it look pretty!

So, stay tuned for before and after pictures.

And the final reveal of my new and improved pantry!!

( I'm hoping by posting this it will motivate me to finish...we'll see)

** Fall Fever **

My favorite time of the year...is almost here!!

New project....

I have been loving these crayon and notepad organizers for so long!

After seeing one like this online that is made of felt,

I thought it would be perfect for my first one!

Not allot of cutting or measuring (my kind of project).

This will be great for the car, restaurants, waiting rooms, pretty much anywhere on the go!

My kids are always entertained by coloring or drawing something.

So, perfect for them...and me! ;)

Our trip...

The first night we went to the game. Avery got to wear her new dress and her rally monkey!

It was a great time....we had hot-dogs, peanuts, and ( instead of cracker-jacks ) we had ice cream : )

The next day we headed to six flags and stayed ALL day!

As soon as we got through the gates Dawson wanted to go to the roller coasters.

We rode rides, went to the water park, rode some more rides, then at the end of the day they had a glow in the dark parade.

On the last day, we went to the Arch. Eddie and Dawson went up, Avery and I didn't care to...I did it once already and Avery wasn't ready yet.

Dawson LOVED it! He even said it was his favorite. Which made up (a little) for the fact that Avery and I had to sit out in the Freezing rain.

Not only because it was raining but, also because it took almost all day to go up the arch we weren't able to go to the zoo like planned.

Last, here is a picture of our hotel we stayed at Union Station.

It was So beautiful inside and out....Avery called it her princess castle : )

Well, that was our trip!

Next is our beach trip in the fall...can't wait!

Summer Re-Cap....

Swim lessons...

reading....believe it or not, my kids did Allot of reading this summer! (well, one of them...the other one I did allot of reading to ).

Dawson's favorite books are the Bone books and Diary of a Wimpy kid.

crafts.... the kids had fun making their own pottery.

playground fun...

We also had basketball camp, VBS (twice), YMCA day camp, and finally a trip to St. Louis!

It's hard to believe that it is already over.

Now it's back to school!

My big 2nd grader!