Some Afters

You may ask what I'm going to do with this eight foot piece of galvanized steel....well I had a plan!

I've been dying to redo Jake's room since Avery moved out to share a room with Grace. Well this last weekend it was finally the time! I had seen this idea of putting metal on the wall from "Tater Tots and Jello" blog and thought I could do this!


A before....

Holes spackled from the old cloud shelves.


Jake was inspecting. Things got a whole lot messier before they got better. Isn't that always the way.

Jake helping with the paint. I think I was hyperventilating the whole time he had the paint brush in his hand. But I couldn't not let him help paint his own room. Thankfully, his friends were playing outside and he tired of it really soon.

Some of the Afters. The magnetic board.

Jake's proud expression on his bed. I still have a bookcase to paint blue for his bedroom, but that will take a few weeks and I wanted to get these on here.

Jake loves his new room.

Magnetic!!! And even a place to store little lego guys.

And here are a few of the finished office. I've already done some before and afters of this, these are just some finishing touches.

The entrance:

Still need some curtains. Haven't found the perfect one's yet.

My new peg board. I recovered Jake's old one with my fave fabric.

Shelving left over from our built in by the fireplace. I just bought some 8$ brackets from Home Depot and painted them white.

Another shot of the whole room.

I'm sitting in that chair right now listening to Kid Cudi and Mazzy Star on Itunes. And I can't even tell you how much I love this space!

To the Dump

Avery is so talented at art. She loves to do anything Art related. For Christmas her Aunt Hill got her a screen printing kit. How cool is that? Well she finally put it to use.

She had this done before I could even ask what she was doing.


If you notice the design, it's the recycling logo. The stencil must have come with the kit.



I was so proud of her, and asked if she was going to wear it to school in the morning...... she said No, that she was only going to wear it to the DUMP with her Dad. I kind of chuckled and thought that she thought it was 'trash' or not very good. Then I realized the reason she would only wear it to the dump, was because it was a Recycling shirt!

Kids are funny.

Quote

While watching some soldiers on the news this morning:

Jake: " I don't care what our soldiers look like, I still love them."

I thought it was simple and profound.....

Then he proceeded to torment his sisters for the morning :)

The timer is set

We got a piano!

Brian's cousin so generously gave us a piano that was not being used at their house. It arrived today and the kids were thrilled. Yes I had to break out the timer already. The fighting began about 3.2 seconds after they walked through the door from school and saw it.

I think it is just beautiful

Avery and Grace. Grace is wearing a pair of Avery's old glasses.

Avery has already put on 2 recitals.

All three in front of the new piano.

You can see some 'music' that Jake wrote on that white piece of paper sitting on the piano.

This should be loud, oh I mean fun.

I am famous

I had lunch with one of my Favorite Bloggers Today!!!

About a week ago Kiran called to let us know that she was coming to Portland (sans children)!!! I had the idea that we should e-mail our favorite Cute Day blogger and see if she would meet us for lunch.......and she accepted. Mind you this is just on the heals of Kiran meeting Joel McHale, and let me tell you HACD did not disappoint!! We had lunch down town and talked, asked questions and laughed.

Her blog has seriously inspired me have a cute day! I cannot do it justice in how it has prompted me to take an active roll in looking and feeling cuter.


Hill, Me, Kjrsten, Kiran

See the ruffles, Kjrsten inspired those...

Seriously fun, and what a gracious person....Cute on the inside and cute on the out.

B's

Grace loves her binkis!! We refer to them here as "B's". In the picture below she has one in her mouth and FOUR in her hands. I usually store them in that green pot on the counter. I will find them laying around, in drawers, or in purses and I will just go put them in there. Well today she climbed on the counter, spotted all the "B's" in there and exclaimed to herself, "I LOVE YOU B'S" and then proceeded to take them all out .....

***Maggie, if you see this post, note the beautiful calender under the glass. I think of you whenever I am doing dishes :)

3,2,1.....Blast Off

The Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum:

You can't actually make it out from the picture, but the wing span of the Spruce Goose takes up the entire glass portion of the building.



The Srpuce Goose is behind Bri and the kids. We've seen this a few times now, but the size is still just as impressive. Gigantic!! The wing span is longer than a football field.



Jake out front with the tanks, the camo is very appropriate.

A replica of a parachuter jumping on D-day.

The Museum also had an impressive firearms collection.

Planes everywhere:

An old fairgrounds shooting game.

The view inside the Spruce Goose. I know my photo skills are amazing!

The Museum also had a lot of interactive toys and activities for the kids.

Grace:

Avery:

Engines lined up:

This was my favorite plane, why? because I liked the way it looked.....shiny.

A statue of Captain Michael King Smith. The museum is dedicated to the life and memory of him, son of Evergreen International Aviation's founder Mr. Delford M. Smith.

The Institute's mission is to inspire and educate, to promote and preserve aviation and space history, to honor the patriotic service of our veterans. ( It truly does this )

With only 20 minutes left till closing we decided to run over to the Space Museum Building. I wish we had planned our time a little better....because we could have spent another hour there!

Avery in front of a picture of the first crew in space.

After Avery got her picture taken, Grace demanded that she get her picture taken too. She went in front of this exhibit and put on her usual face. After the picture was snapped, she put on her smile and said, "I want to see the picture!" She was quite proud of it????

They are supposed to be getting a Space Shuttle soon.

The entrance at the Space Museum:

A replica of a Moon walker. There was an actual piece of the moon there to touch also!

This place is a great arena to inpire learning and gratitude for those who have gone before us.

They also have plans for a future water park.....That will be interesting.

New Year's Resolutions

I've never been one for New Year's Resolutions, although I do love to set goals. I set them all the time.....I've just never used New Year's to do it. My sister Hill had a great blog post on Resolutions, and my other sister and I were discussing it. When I asked Kiran if she had made any, she replied that she had not, I replied the same....

So I thought a little about what I really wanted this year. And the thing that I came up with the most was having a happier family. You see I feel like I've been really stressed being a mother for say.... the last two and a half years. I see everything as a check list, homework, bath times, practices, 10 minutes of reading, laundry, feeding the dog, getting kids down for naps, doing piggy tails, packing lunches. And I feel as if I've been just checking off this list. Not enjoying the process.....

So my New Years Resolution is to be a happier Mom. To sit down and relax more with the children, talk more to them and not just at them, to listen to their words and not cut them off in the middle of a sentence with something they need to be doing.

So in my effort this evening (with Bri working late) I thought we would make chocolate chip cookies together. I gave each one a job (usually I do it all because it's cleaner and quicker, getting my list checked) and they worked together.

We sat on the couch and read a book they got for Christmas (thanks Mom) while they were baking (I didn't fold the laundry, pick up toys, or get the folders ready for school for tomorrow) I just sat and read.

When the cookies were done they each got one.....

Then when Jake was not looking, Grace took a huge bite of his cookie, Avery went running and everyone else started screaming like they had broken a bone. Grace wouldn't say she was sorry and that landed her in her room, with Jake still crying like a baby.

How's that for a Happier Family???? Well at least I tried!