jingle bells

Look at all those jingle bells! 

Ella's night time routine has been something we have been working on for some time now. She has always been a night owl just like me. She is also a sleeper just like me too. I'm pretty sure that kid would stay up all night if I let her and then sleep in till noon. Before having McKenna and having any kind of school schedule for Ella, we really didn't have a set bedtime for Ella. We would always try to push for sometime before 10 but it was pretty whatever. When we moved into this house a year ago we put Ella into her big girl bed. She did awesome with it and I was shocked how smoothly it was. Then we started to make the move of a more age appropriate bed time for her. Bob's schedule became more and more crazy and 9 times out of 10 he was in bed before her. Ella would go to sleep at 8-8:30ish no problem BUT Bob or I had to lay down with her till she fell asleep. I don't remember how this cycle started but it would only take her a little bit to fall asleep so we would just think it was easier to just lay down with her rather than fight her about not wanting to go to bed. Then after months of one of us going to lay down with her and then falling asleep ourselves we began to think of a plan B. 

The Good Girl Jars are still a HUGE hit around here but some nights she would give up the jingle bell just to have mom or dad lay down with her. Her reward jar was lacking some jingle…

After our AC drama that ruined McKenna's carpet, we moved McKenna into Ella's room. It was something I never would have even thought about if we hadn't had to move everything out of McKenna's room anyway. When Bob threw the idea out I just laughed. After a few trail runs with a pack and play we made the big move! It has truly been so wonderful and I can't imagine them not sharing a room now. Having McKenna in the same room has made Ella go to sleep all by herself. We lay them down at the same time and they just fall asleep. It still amazes me every night and I love hearing them whisper and giggle together. Ella's reward jar is overflowing with jingle bells now and we are all so proud of her!

It's a tight fit but it works!

polka dot playroom

First off, how adorable and fun did the twins bicycle party look?! Kristen did an amazing job! (like always!) We were SO sad that we couldn't be there! Ella was still in recovery mode from her surgery so we couldn't travel. Good news is that she is finally feeling better and pretty much fully recovered!

Ok, back to the polka dot playroom. About a month ago we moved McKenna into Ella's room. We have now turned McKenna's old room into a playroom/movie room/craft room.

The polka dot wall tutorial and a fabulous polka dot quilt Kristen made is featured on Kojodesign's color your summer series today! So head over there to see our tutorials on how to dot your own wall and sew a summer quilt. We are beyond thrilled that they asked us to be apart of their fun summer series!

I have always dreamed of my own little craft area but there just wasn't any space for it in this house. Until… McKenna's closet became free! It was absolutely the perfect little nook and lucky for me, I married Bob the Builder! He removed the super cool sliding mirror doors and built me a desk and self in the closet space. He even installed some lighting under the shelf. It is life changing! I just love it so much! Being able to craft while the girls play or watch a movie is the best! 

I painted the desk and shelf with chalkboard paint. 

I bought this outdoor planter from Home depot to hold my projects that are in the works.

I'm always the worst at knowing what to put on walls and then where and how to hang them. I have to search for something on pinterest to straight up copy or call my uber talented friend Morgan for advice.  

I saw this DIY photo canvas on pinterest and couldn't believe how cheap and easy it was. Take your photo to Staples (or any office max type place) and ask for an engineer print. I think you can get it in color but to do it the cheaper way it only comes in black and white. The sizes of an engineer print are 18x24, 24x36, or 36x48. I got the 18x24 and cropped them to fit an 18x18 square canvas. I just used some spray adhesive to stick the photo to the canvas. So easy!

Now that I have my own craft nook, hopefully I'll be back with some fun projects to share!

teaching my kids to conquer mountains

one load at a time. 

Laundry is my weak spot. (obviously) It's the putting clothes away part that I just dread, which makes me not even want to start the washing process knowing what is coming. When Bob and I first got married he soon began to realize my hate for laundry. I wanted to love it and be the wife that stayed on top of the wash but I'm just not. Sweet Bob has been so patient with me through this ever going learning process and has even gotten creative with ways to help me. It's a pretty funny story actually. 

During our first year of marriage I was still taking classes so I had a lot of free time during the days. In my free time I would just sit on the coach with the computer in my lap for hours. I was still recovering from my accident at this time but still no excuse to not get off my lazy bum and do the laundry. One day I woke up and of course went straight for the computer but could not find the laptop anywhere. When Bob got home from work that evening I asked him if he knew where the computer was. He just grinned and asked me if I had done any laundry that day. Well of course not Bob! I spent the day looking for the computer. He then walked me over to the laundry basket and lifted up some clothes. There it was! He hid the laptop in the laundry basket in hopes that I would do some wash if I didn't have the computer to play on. I love my husband. 

Well the laundry might not be done yet but my Granny's chairs finally are! 

After months of sanding, priming, painting. sanding, and glazing I am so happy to be done. I found this grey fabric at Hancocks and used a staple gun and a little help from Ella to recover the cushions. I love how they turned out.

Our neighbor was having a garage sale this afternoon so I walked over to check it out. I saw this cute little chair/ottoman thing for 5 dollars and thought the girls might like it. It had some tears in the fabric so I busted out my staple gun and ikea fabric. 

The girls did love it and enjoyed some sour straws on their new chair.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

friends, tables and chairs...oh my!

Nothing too exciting to blog about, just some random happenings and what not. 

Bob used some of his vacation time at the end of October and took a week off. It was wonderful! We didn't go on vacation anywhere, we just stayed home and loved every minute of having Bob here with us. By the end of the first day Bob had told me more than once that I had too many projects. So true but I think I like it that way. Some days I do wish I had hours and hours of uninterrupted craft time so I could actually finish one, but don't we all...

I don't think I actually finished any of my ongoing projects while Bob had the week off but we did get a couple things accomplished. The table we had been using in our kitchen was way too big for the area and it drove me kinda crazy. Bob told me to start looking on Craigs list for something smaller and I stumbled upon this little table and four chairs that sounded like the perfect size. Bob went out to make the deal and bring it home. You can never really tell what you are gonna get from a craigs list picture...

Turns out the top of the table was not really wood. It was like the tables that used to be in my school cafeterias, rubber molding around the edges and all. So, I decided to paint the top white to match the chairs and legs. But of course the whites didn't match...

So then I thought WWKD (what would kristen do) and I busted out the chalk board paint! I love the way it turned out and Ella loves getting to color all over her kitchen table.

How small is this table?! We cracked up when we saw just how tiny it was but it is so great to be able to walk around in the kitchen now. It teaches good manners too, when we all eat dinner it's elbows down or else you bump elbows with your neighbor. 

Here is a pic of our old table that was too big. I guess I should have started with this pic, I'm kinda going backwards. Anyways, the highchair we had been using for Kenna attached to the table because we didn't have any room for the standing one.

With the big table gone, we brought back in the wooden highchair we had used with Ella. Speaking of projects that never get finished, this highchair should top the list. I originally bought it in raw wood when I was pregnant with Ella. We have these orange and pink striped bar stools that I wanted to match the high chair to so I hauled one of the huge bar stools to a paint store when I was prego with Ella to get the paints matched. The highchair stayed raw wood until Ella was almost one, and by then I had only gotten the orange color painted on it. I never got around to the pink stripes and now those cute bar stools are in our attic at this house because there is no room for them. I guess the moral of that story is that Bob is right, I have too many projects. 

Of course the second Bob brought the highchair in the house I had the immediate urge to finish this 4 year project and add the pink stripes. Only to find out that we left the pink paint in our old house in lubbock... So I mixed up about 10 different paint colors I had for screen printing and taped off a few stripes on the top of highchair. 

Then I ran an electric sander over it. I think I can say I'm finally done with this project.

Other things that happen when dad doesn't have work is lots of fun outside time and super cool tea parties.

Tea party fort designed by dad himself.

 In other exciting news, we had some VERY fun visitors come stay with us this weekend! Jordan, Brittany and Cooper!

I didn't get very many pictures (brittany has some very cute ones on her camera that I will have to share later) but it was just the best weekend. We cracked up at McKenna constantly attacking Cooper with kisses and Ella couldn't get enough of Jordan and Brittany.

I bought these chalk markers from Hobby Lobby that Brittany and Ella had fun with.

A little tip if you ever use these chalk markers is that they don't completely come off like normal chalk does. I had to use the magic eraser (my go to for many things) to clean the table, but it all wiped off very fast with it.

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!

cabin fever

 We are on day 9 of McKenna's tummy bug and it has been a long 9 days...

She has finally begun to improve each day but still not 100%. My mom came in town Friday to help me out for a couple days and it was so nice to have her here. Unfortunately she now has the tummy bug. Sorry mom.

While my mom was here I started working on Ella's halloween costume. I don't have it all finished to show you yet but it involves a dress with patches sewed on, two mismatched knee high socks, brown boots,  orange hair spray, two braids and a coat hanger:) 

Some other inside activities that I have attempted (and failed at) over the last 9 days are perfecting my chocolate chip cookies and crocheting. 

Thank y'all so much for the tips on my flat cookies! I wish I could say they worked. I think it's me, not the ingredients. I have bought all fresh ingredients and even put my dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes before baking them and still my result is always the same. flat as a board. After seeing this cookie recipe on pinterest I really thought my luck was about to change. The caption under the picture said "fluffiest, chewiest, most amazing chocolate chip cookies." The recipe called for cornstarch which was supposed to be the magical ingredient that made them so fluffy. I don't doubt the recipe at all. I am sure that 99.9% percent of people that make these cookies have full success. I am that .1%. Next time Kristen and I get together she is going to stand over my shoulder while I bake. I am not giving up on this.

Then I watched youtube videos for hours learning how to crochet bows and flowers. Once again I need Kristen standing over my shoulder. She's a pro.

Maybe next time I should make the big and chunky one for my big girl and the small and dainty one for my baby. 

You guys remember my Granny's chairs that have been on my to-do list for months now?

I still have to paint them and recover the cushions but I at least got them sanded down and ready for the next step. 

My plan was to paint them a very light grey (or is it gray? I never know how to spell it) but because I already own a bucket of white paint in the garage that just sounds easier so they will probably end up white just like I did the dining room table.

I have no idea what fabric to recover the cushions with. I already had this navy and white stripe fabric from ikea but it might be a little bold for the chair. 

I don't know, I will have to see what it looks like when the chairs are white.

Anyways, hope everyone is having a great week and staying well!