My project - the girls room

I decided that for Christmas this year I was going to try and avoid getting a lot of toys for the kids and wanted to do something different.  We have millions of toys floating around our house that the kids don't really play with that much anymore so I wanted to get away from that if possible.  So I thought that it would be fun to redo the girls' room and see what I could do to spice it up a little bit.  I knew I wanted to put a dresser in there for them and maybe do some painting and change bedding etc.  I figured I could do it pretty cheap if I had enough time to find the right things.  So I was on the lookout for a few months.  

I finally ran across these beauties at the DI one day.  I found a dresser and 2 matching nightstands.  I know they don't look like much now but I knew they had potential.  They were very sturdy and well made and I knew I could do a little work and get them to be just right.  I also found a small church pew there that would be a perfect addition to the room.  So I bought them all and ended up spending $95 total.  Pretty good for 4 good pieces of furniture.  I also got some picture frames from mom that she was getting rid of and thought those would be good to add to the mix.  

So a few weeks before Christmas I got to work.  I bought some fabric to recover the bench, bought some spray paint for the picture frames and bought a very costly gallon of white paint that matched the white in their room for the dresser and nightstands.  The bench used to be this ugly pink velour fabric and I knew that had to go.  Hayley, mom and I raided Hobby Lobby one day and found this cute paisley patterned fabric that had just the right colors.  So I bought the last piece of it that they had and used it to recover the bench.  I took off all the handles from the nightstands and dresser and sanded it all then primed it.  

 I bought a bunch of cute, colorful knobs to go on the dresser and nightstands and decided to try getting all different shapes, sizes and colors.  I wasn't sure how it would look but went for it anyway.  Once everything was painted, the fun part was putting on the knobs and seeing how it all looked.  I think they turned out pretty cute!

 2 days before Christmas I put the room all together and this is the final product.  New bedding from Target that is white with gold polka dots.  The pillows I got from Barnes and Noble when they were having their clearance sale.  They were each $2!  Can't beat that!  

 I got a poster sized print of the girls together and didn't frame it, just hung it as it was.  It looks cute and different next to the pink frame.  

 Overall I think the room turned out really cute and I'm so excited to show the girls and see what they think.  They have been banned from their room for the past week while I finished up so they know something is happening.  They're pretty excited to see what is going on and I can't wait to see their reaction!

Letters to Santa

The kids each wrote letters to Santa and also were able to sit on his lap and tell him everything they wanted for Christmas.  Hopefully it's a happy year for them!

Becker

Our little Beck is not so little anymore.  He just grew up into a little boy and he is so fun!  Here are a few new things he's up to...

Beck has an ear-piercing squeal that he lets out at random moments during the day.  He recently figured out that he can plug his ears at the same time he screams and it's not quite so loud.  He does it over and over.

He has also become an expert at folding his arms during prayers.  He is usually the first one ready for the prayer when we call everyone together.

Liev and Keen got Ninja Turtle stuff and Beck wanted his turn at the mask.

 Cutest turtle I ever met!

 We love our Beck who is growing up too fast!

Watching the snow

We had a pretty good snow storm last night and the kids decided they wanted to eat their breakfast by the window today to look at all the new snow we got.  Plus it's the warmest spot in the room sitting right over the vent.  These kids are so excited for winter to be here in full swing!

Merry Christmas!

Mom and her boys

I get to spend a lot of time with the boys since the girls are at school all day.  We get to do lots of fun things together, but mostly we just love hanging out and taking it easy.  Here are a few pics of my sweet boys and they funny things they do!

Candy Day

We held our annual Candy Day again this year and it's a day that we all look forward too.  We had a little bit smaller crowd this year - it was just our family and dad came over to help for a few hours.  Greg was a lifesaver and came a took all the little boys (except Beck) to the movie and lunch.  They were gone for a few hours and we had some very productive hours while they were gone.  It worked out perfectly!  We made the traditionals: turtles, caramel pretzels, peanut butter cups, peanut clusters and oreos.  We added homemade twix bars to the list this year and I think they turned out good.  Overall, it was a great day and the girls and dad were a ton of help!  We love getting the holidays started with this yummy tradition!

Christmas Tree

We love going to look for a Christmas tree and finding the perfect one on the lot.  This year there were lots of different colored ones that the kids thought were pretty cool, but we settled on this tall skinny one instead.

 We got it home and the girls helped me put the lights on and then everyone helped with the decorations.

 And we had to hang our stockings too!

 This is the final product of all the kids' hard work today!  We're so excited it's Christmas time!

Thanksgiving in Iowa

We decided to take a road trip to Iowa this year for Thanksgiving.  Josh's sister Dixie and her family live there and it's been so long since we've been out there.  The kids were excited to go even though it meant a 14 hour drive to get there.  But Josh is a pro at driving through the night so we packed up and left Tuesday night after dinner.  The kids watched a couple movies then we all fell asleep until the next morning.  When we woke up Josh told us we were 45 minutes away!  Just like that we were almost there.  It worked out perfect.  We got to Dixie's and had breakfast and put Josh right to bed.  Scott and Dixie live on a farm and have 950 acres of land all around them.  It was so fun for the kids to be able to get out and run around in the open space.  They helped feed the chickens, gather eggs, feed the cows and all those farm life chores.  They thought it was awesome. 

Liev made fast friends with Nolan and was so excited to learn to shoot the bow and arrow.  He was a pro right from the start and that's all he wanted to do the rest of the week.

Thanksgiving Day was great.  Robin, Guy and their kids also drove out for the week and Andy flew in to be with the family too.  It was a great gathering of loved ones.  

All the cousins at one table - looks like too much fun!

 Rease and Rhen organized "I'm thankful for..." decorations.  They had everyone write down what they were thankful for and hung them up all over the house.  It was so cute and turned out to be the perfect thing for this Thanksgiving Day.

 Before we started for home I had to get a couple pictures of Keen and the animals that he fell in love with in Iowa.  He is an animal lover and could not get enough of the kitties and the dog.  He played in the garage all day everyday that we were there.  

 A picture of all the cousins.

 There was an ice storm the day before we left and this is what our van looked like as we were trying to pack it up.  It was so cold that the ice never really did melt until we were well on our way home.  

 And this happy camper made it all the way there and back without much of a squeak at all.  He was the best boy and actually so were the rest of the kids.  It was a great trip overall and we are so glad we got to go see Scott and Dixie and spend Thanksgiving with family!

Little Fire Chief

I'm not sure where we got this hat, but since it showed up at our house Beck can't stop wearing it.  He looks so darling though I can't resist those chubby cheeks!

Urinal

Josh took the boys to the bathroom at Costco and they thought these toilets were the coolest.  I love seeing these little buns peeking out at us!

New haircut

Keen's showing off his new haircut and how handsome he looks.  I was pretty sad to cut off his long hair, but it is actually a great change.  And he looks so cute with his shorter hair!  Perfect cut for the winter months!

Josh's ankle

Josh plays on an indoor soccer league with Andy.  They've been playing for about 6 months now but just recently they've had a string of injuries that makes me wonder if they should keep playing.  The latest one happened this week in a late night game.  When Josh was leaving the house I told him to try not to get hurt.  When he got home this is what his ankle looked like.  

 And this is what it looked like after 2 days.  Poor guy had sprained it so bad that the bruising and swelling went all the way up his calf and down to his toes.  We got some crutches for him and he's been getting around on them pretty good.  Oh how I wish he would just listen to me!  Here's to a quick recovery...

Muscle man haircut

Josh just gave Liev a haircut then had him pose in the mirror.  He is the skinniest boy with his ribs showing and underwear hanging off him!  But we love him showing off the muscles he has and his new haircut!

Rease's report card

Rease's teacher Miss Buker told us that she loves having Rease in her 3rd grade class.  She is a great leader and helps so much around the classroom.  She is also in the School of Rock for reading and the Monster Math group.  We are so proud of Rease and the good student she is!

Rhen's report card

We had parent teacher conference and Rhen's teacher Mrs. Woolley had only good things to say about her.  She said she is a great student and is becoming such a good reader.  She also says she is very respectful and fun to have in class.  She challenged her to get to level J reading so that she can join the School of Rock for reading.  Rhen is totally motivated to get working on that now!  We're so proud of her and her good grades!

Rease's piano recital

Rease has had such a good year with piano.  They had their year end recital tonight and she got to play a Harry Potter song "Hedwig's Theme."  She has been working very hard and even though it was a hard piece, she did really great!  I am so proud of her and all her hard work!

The Big Sock

Keen is pretty good at getting himself dressed in the mornings.  Besides the occasional inside out underwear and pants on backwards, he does good.  Today he put his sock on both feet and said, "look mom I got a big sock on!"

Volleyball

Rease played in her first volleyball league this year.  She was so excited to be old enough to play.  She had a fun little team and a great coach that was really positive and good with the girls.  He taught them each to serve overhand and Rease got to love setting the ball.  It was a fun season for her and I look forward to many more ahead.  I think she could be a great player with her height! 

The kids all loved going to watch her play too and were so excited to go every Saturday morning to her games.  Keen lovingly called it her "volleybally" games!

James Bond

Greg got us tickets to see the premier of the new James Bond.  The boys had to pose just like James and act like they were just as cool.  

Liev's school work

Liev loves his preschool class and teacher Miss Melanie.  He comes home almost every day with some sort of artwork or project he's done in class.  It is right up his alley because he loves to color and draw.  Here is some of his best work, including his name that he has recently learned to write on his own.  What a kid!