Renovation updates...Grandma's Hutch!!

This crew has been making our way around the house doing updates.  There is a big post coming on the boys room. In the meantime...here's one we recently made.

First up...Grandma's Ethan Allen Hutch

My Grandma has been wanting to see her hutch make it's way to our house for years.  After some renovations at her house that required furniture be moved out, the hutch came here to find a new home. It sat untouched for several months because of all that we had going on with the boys room renovations.  But we finally got to updating the way I wanted!  And it turned out even better than I pictured!

The whole process took two days and about $150 for paint, hardware and the liner in the drawers. Hardware was the most expensive part. But I could not love it more.  And the best part for me is that it's a family piece brought back to life.  And I finally have a beautiful place to display my pottery (all which my grandma bought for me!).  It's sentimental and special! My only regret was that it took so long to do it!  We've even discussed installing some lighting.  I think this would be a wonderful finishing touch!

Some before and in-progress:

We used a primer called Gripper. It allows you to paint things like glass, plastic and wood without having to do any major sanding.  This saved us time, sweat and honestly from ruining the smooth finish of the wood.

Here it is all painted and filled, but no hardware.  We made a special trip to Home Depot for this and the result was awesome!!

Hardware in place.

 I also lined the drawers with a shelf liner I found at Target.

 Some details:

We also painted our buffet to match.  Hardware matches as well.  A touch I am so happy we decided on.  The room flows together better now!

A Friday Night Play Date!

We kicked off the month of May with a play date at the house!  Uncle Jonnie and Daddy took off to see a movie...so Aunt April and Isabel joined us for some fun :)  I had purchased this baking pan that allows you to make stick cookies...and I couldn't wait to try it out!  We had giant cookies on sticks and a decorat-your-own-cookie bar that night.  The fun lasted about 5 minutes and Isabel was the biggest fan of the cookie...but everyone had fun :)  And Aunt Jessie enjoyed buying pink icing for a girlie touch.  Thanks for the fun evening guys!  Can't wait to do it again!

A Forgotten Winter Fun Day

My hubby is creative in ways I am not.  And it's a good thing we have him around to assemble tracks and all the fun boy things we have to play with.  Don't get me wrong.  I can hold my own with boy toys and cars and trains and such...but I would never come up with this! And honestly I can't put together the Track Master Tracks from Thomas the train to save my life.

Anyway...on a cold, boring February afternoon he created a wonderland for the boys.  They played for hours!  

Holiday Crafting...take 2.

I mentioned a Thanksgiving holiday craft here.  Well recently we sat down to do a little winter/Christmas crafting...it was pretty hilarious!

This is what four year olds do when you sit them down and craft with them:

This is what two year olds do:

As a side note, he also ended with marshmallow everywhere.  His chair, his tush, his face, his hands.  We went for the bathtub right after this and he managed to slide his marshmallow butt in between the tub and toilet...the side of my toilet was coated with sticky marshmallow goo.

Ahhhh such is my life! I should know by now that crafting with kids is no neat affair.  Especially where Cooper is concerned.

Despite a little bit of a mess...the finished product was adorable and Owen asked us to put them up on the mantle to add to our decorations.  I couldn't think of a more perfect place to display them :)  I love his little holiday spirit.  It's clear he already has the same enthusiasm I do for the holidays!!  And Cooper begs to go see the Christmas trees at Target every time we are there!  Another holiday-love taking shape before my eyes!

Just one of the million reasons I love this time of year...and having kids to enjoy it with makes it all the more sweet!

First Official Christmas Festivity!!

As we were about to celebrate our first Thanksgiving gathering, we got an awesome invite to see Santa when he arrived at the mall the same day!!  Santa read the boys the story, If you Give a Mouse a Cookie. We met the Mouse from the book.  We took a train ride and wrapped up the whole event with a stop for cookies-on-a-stick from Cookie Factory!! Thank you Aunt April for a perfectly unexpected Saturday morning play date...much fun was had by this crew!!

Monthly Surprises!!

A few months back, Steff sent me a link to Citrus Lane.  It was such a fun and cute idea!! I signed us up immediately!  However, after a few months of boxes and some discussions with Steff, we ended up canceling our monthly subscription and going a different route.

For the last two months we have been creating our own boxes....and taken to calling them our surprises for the kiddos!  We shop for each others kiddos and swap the surprises on the 15th of the month!  I thoroughly enjoy both sides of this activity!  And cannot wait to continue this awesomely fun tradition!!

Here's a few pics from the past two deliveries:

Turkeys with my Turkeys!!

The boys and I were in need of some creative fun...Pinterest to the rescue :)

Everything Halloween the 2013 Edition

Now for a Halloween holiday run down for 2013...

First we spent a little time getting crafty and creative :)

When we lit the pumpkins, Cooper started singing Happy Birthday...every single time.  It was hilarious!

Then we took off on a trick-or-treat adventure!!  The first stop on our adventure took our characters to Gigi's house:

Then we visited Grandpa and Grandma's house...who greeted us with full size candy bars in the boys favorite kinds of treats and lots of hugs and snuggles!

Next up was Uncle Josh...he had to work Halloween...boo...so we stopped by and cheered up his midnight shift!!  Cooper loved meeting Joe the tank farm dog...and Owen was mesmerized by the computers and lights in the operator room!

After seeing Uncle Josh, we hit Aunt Katie for a quick stop in...and we owe Aunt Katie an apology b/c photos were not taken...the boys were too excited by seeing her and getting treats and making a run around their loop at the house to stop for a photo!!

After that, we ventured to our final destination. Trick of Treating with our Linley crew.  We met Aunt Jackie, Uncle Paul, Uncle Jonnie, Aunt April and Grandma!  All who spoiled the boys with fun treat bags of goodies!  These kids are loved!!  We also happen to meet up with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle and Sofia the 1st!  

It was a rainy, but unseasonably warm night and we couldn't pass up wandering a few blocks of streets before calling it a night.

We arrived home soaked, hungry and wiped out.  But scored lots of great loot!!  Owen even developed a love for a candy besides Hershey's chocolate ;)  A boy with a heart like his Momma's, tootsie rolls are a new fave!

Thanks Halloween, for kicking off our holiday season with a bang!  And for a hubby who enjoys spending his birthday with a couple dressed up kiddos and a crazy, but fun schedule of places and wonderful people to visit!