Happy Birthday Little Miss - 5!!

I can't believe my baby girl is 5 years old. She is such a delight, and I love her big personality so much!! She is my little sidekick, and thankfully still loves to cuddle all the time. We are so blessed to have this little sunshine in our family, and wish her an amazing and great 5th year!! Happy Birthday Natalie!!

First Day 2012 - Daniel & Natalie

Daniel is now a 7th grader, yikes, where does the time go.  He is only 3 inches shorter than me, and 20 more lbs, and we'll weigh the same..eek.  He was excited to get back to school, and see all his friends, and get back into the routine.  I know this will be a great year for him.

Little miss is back at her beloved preschool for another year.  We tried pushing her forward into kindergarten even though her birthday is a week past the deadline.  The district said no, and I believe in my heart that really was the best decision.  She is super sassy with her hand on her hip all the time, and all pictures now include her favorite number 5.."cause that's my number now mom".

Summer in Instagram

So thought I would post some of my Instagram pics for family & friends that aren't using it (but really should!!) I've excluded pics from our 2 week vacay beach camping & bear lake, because those are coming soon in another post!!  So here ya go!!

4th of july fun!!

 

splash park

 

farmers market goodies



blue angels at seafair & hanging around




juanita beach



long beach for labor day weekend




jetty island for labor day

First Day 2012 - Josh & Caleb

Today school officially started in our district.  Because they like to do a staggered start, Daniel won't start till tomorrow, and Natalie will start preschool next week.

All four kids will be at four different schools this year..yikes!! Thank goodness for busses!!

Josh was accepted into an accelaerated program which is at another school in our district.  He will ride the bus each morning with Caleb, and then will take a shuttle to his new school.  We are excited that he will be challenged even more this year, and look forward to his progress in 4th grade.

Caleb will be starting 2nd grade, and is in a pioneer Montesorri program at his school.  We think this will be a perfect fit for him. 

Both are excited for this year, and what it holds, good luck boys!!

Antiqued Hutch & Buffet

As I mentioned in earlier post, I'm slowly filling our new home with treasures.  I really wanted a buffet and hutch, but when I surveyed the house I realized that we have gigantic windows covering every wall in the house.  The largest wall space I could find downstairs (unused by couches, tv's or the big farmhouse table) was only 48".  This really didn't give me much to work with, so I quickly surveyed building plans, and began tweaking them to fit my needed area. On a whim I pulled up my local craigslist, and started perusing through the offerings.  Most were way too big for my area, and then I found a little gem on Whidbey Island for a song.  As a family we had been dying to make a trip there and this was the perfect excuse (I'll post about our fun adventures soon!!)

After bringing home my new treasure, I removed all the hardware, and lightly sanded the entire piece. I then applied 3-4 coats of Behr Powdered Snow to the entire piece, sanding between each coat.  I then applied Ralph Lauren Tea-Stained Glaze to the entire piece to give it that antiqued look. I sealed it with Minwax Paste Wax.   I found the drawer pulls at Hobby Lobby, but no matching knobs. After trips to three different hardware stores, I finally found some rustic iron knobs that worked well with the pulls.

I just love how bright it is now, yet so vintage (which I adore)

Scout Day Camp 2012

Josh atteded Cub Scout Day Camp this past week at Silver Lake.  I was a den leader two of the four days, and my whole crew of kiddos joined in on the fun.  Natalie and Caleb attended Tag-Along camp, and Daniel was a Youth Helper for our den.  We needed the help as we had fifteen boys in our den!! 

Each day our schedule was filled with fun activities.  In Cooking they made dessert bananas, apple crisp, baked cones, and eggs and toast.  Can you guess which one wasn't a huge hit? They did archery each day which the boys seemed to really enjoy.  In Wood, they made periscopes, and piggy banks.  In Leather, they made nametags.  They also did fishing, knot tying, first aid, citizenship, crafts, and sports. 

I think Josh's favorite part was having his friend/neighbor Luke in his den.  They were great buddies, and had a great time together.  They were also the best behaved in the den!!  (Boy was I wiped out after two long days) I think he also really liked having Daniel help, and hang out with them.  Scout camp was a lot of fun, and I'm so glad Josh was able to go this year!!

Entryway Bench & Shelf

Slowly but surely I'm trying to fill empty walls, and spaces in our new home.  Our front entry way was lacking a place to hang visitors jackets, and a place to sit down take off those pesky muddy shoes.  I think this fit the bill quite nicely.

I found the bench plans here on Ana's site, and I had it built in under an hour.  I did make one change though to the plans.  I used (2) 2x6's instead of the 1x12 for the bench seat.  I think it gives it a sturdier feel, and I like the look with two pieces of wood.

The shelf was put together using some scraps from the garage, a 2x8 attached to a 2x10 cut 4 inches shorter.  I then used some moulding to add a decorative detail.  The hooks I found online at Amazon, and were delivered straight to my door.  I painted them all white, and then used glaze to give them an antique look. 

Now I just need some cute frames on the shelf, and a pop of color in some accents.