Remodel Saturday

On Saturday we had some fun remodeling the ugly glass doors in our kitchen and put in this nice door. Courtesy of our awesome friend Troy who got the doors for free and then helped us put them up. It was pretty nerve racking since we had to replace the beam as you can see and find out our doors are not standard size. It isn't done yet so this is our temporary fix. Like the red duct tape? Its keeping out the draft until we can do another day of trim, insulation, dry wall, etc. I rigged these curtains up for some privacy.


It has a nice dead bolt now instead of a cheap lock and a stick. I will post more pictures when it is all done and completed.

Creative Play

Emily and I finished her clothes pin dolls she got from her great-grandma for her birthday. She has been very creative in creating her people. Its actually been quite fun to see what she could make with them.

The guy with the yarn all over him is "King Tritan" for the mermaids. Emily wasn't sure how to make him so he is kind of like an octopus.

The other day Emily and Lindsey pulled all of their Barbie furniture out of their room and their doll house and set it up in the living room. It was like that for a couple days because it was very cute and creative to watch them set up house and play Barbies. Finally it had to be put back, but I did get a picture taken before.

I love the "living room" behind the hideous chair (one day it will be gone and there will be better ones in its place).

Bean Demise

In our homeschool we have been doing experiments. We had a lovely stalactite experiment that was finally doing what it was supposed to be. It was wonderful, but before even taking a picture we studied it and then got rid of it. It was clogging my counter and taking 2 much needed glasses from the cupboard. The other experiment was "the bean". We took our bean, put it in a glass (another glass we couldn't use) and put in a wet paper towel and stuck it in the window for some sunshine. It grew and was looking awesome and the girls asked every day to "check on our bean". Then for Easter I was hit hard with the worst cold ever. Another reason there are no Easter pictures. We did do something small, but I spent most of the day in bed and was out of it for about a week. This caused our poor bean to feel very neglected and it can't live without water. The girls were sad that their bean was dried up and dead. I made it up to them by getting a couple flower growing pots and now they ask about those every day. When they reach a good size we will transport them outside.

Consignment Sale Stuff

I have blogged about this consignment sale before and the awesome stuff I usually bring home. Well, it was another good spring/summer season. The next one is in the fall for the winter season and at that time I will have a newborn baby. And this sale will be even more important when I am trying to outfit 3 kids. I volunteer my time for this sale and that is what gets me the most "goods" is the pre-sale for the volunteers. But there isn't a way I will be able to volunteer next year with a breast feeding baby.

My sister-in-law does this as well and is having her 4th child soon after me. We are both having boys and are very excited since last time we both had girls 2 weeks apart. Her little one will be even younger than mine. She came up with a great idea of volunteering our husbands so we can still shop the pre-sale. They are both saying they will do it because they know how this helps our families stay in our clothing budgets.

This season though, we worked even with our large expanding bellies and it was very worth it! Here are some of the spoils I got for Lindsey and the baby. Emily didn't need near as much since she still fits a lot of her good clothes from last year. She didn't have much to pass down to her sister at this age though since she was very hard on her clothes that year. I only got a few "must have" items for the baby and the boppy pillow over there with washable cover was $3 so I am happy about that. I am missing the awesome sandals I got for the girls in these pictures. I put those away since they were being tripped over.

Believe it or not but there are still a few items missing from here that were in the wash. Probably missing about 5 outfits total. Oh and 2 adorable dresses.

Emily's stash. I really like a lot of the shirts I found for her. She SO didn't need capri's or shorts. She isn't lacking in that area. And she didn't need any spring or summer dresses either.

Lindsey is really excited for her bike that was $18. The training wheels are in a bag just waiting to be put on. Now I need to pump up Emily's tires and Lindsey's and they can go riding together. They are really happy about this.

We stopped by DI after wards and found my favorite item. The maternity shirt was from the sale and the shoes were a DI find. They are adorable and brand new Nordstrom wedges with the price tag still on them reading originally $88, marked down to $58 and I got them for a killer price of $8. Course after 3 days of the crazy sale my feet are too swollen to wear them now, but later on... Total amount for all I got, 5 pairs of sandals for the girls, top for me, red shoes, bike, countless clothes: $160. That to me is a steal!

Pictures

Okay, I am not very good about going and having professional pictures taken of my girls. Most of the time I just try and create a good photo myself and use that. Sometimes they turn out, sometimes not. Its a lot of work to get the girls ready and dressed and not ruin their hair and clothes on the way to get the pictures. Some how though, before Easter, my sister-in-law Lori and I managed to take our kids to get pictures taken for the grand parents. Unfortunately I don't have her kids pictures up with my kids, but they turned out beautifully. Emily got a few more pictures than Lindsey did because Lindsey was starting to melt down and not cooperate for many of them. But the ones she did get were so cute!


Beautiful smile!


Angelic isn't she?




I think they turned out really well.

Messes and Playtime

Lindsey is at the lovely age of 3. The age that can be so cute, sweet and funny and then at the same time be tired, crabby and destructive. After a very long day the day before I was tired and swamped with messy house. I worked all morning to get the kitchen looking nice and then in the afternoon was met with this disaster. Emily helping Lindsey with strawberry Quick and Lindsey wanting so desperately to "look inside" when it toppled over onto everything! Being already tired, frustrated and largely pregnant, it took a lot to hold in the anger. I didn't make it without a scream or two, but kept my sanity enough to take pictures. Lindsey promptly was sent off to a nap.

The "dust" on her nose is the first evidence of the crime that took place.

There is more...

And there it is. A whole can of strawberry Quick on the floor and counter. The vacuum was pulled out and the lady with the giant goiter- I mean sweet baby bump- vacuumed it up.

After nap time, there was guilt when the little one came to snuggle and sit in my lap for stories. We read and discussed the things in her books that interested her. The cuteness came back and then so did the humor when she showed me how she too knows how to wear my bra around her waist. I laughed a lot and then pulled out the play-dough.

There is good mess and there is playing mess. I like this one so much better!

Emily's Lost Tooth

Emily feels all grown up! She has lost her first tooth. Her cousins and friends are a year older than her and have all lost teeth. She was trying hard not to be jealous, but its difficult being the only one without a lost tooth and money from the *cough* tooth fairy. (Emily knows its mom) She was so excited when it began to wiggle and as it got more and more loose she decided it was time to pull it out. She went to the bathroom and did it herself. She jumped up and down and put it in a plastic bag for the mom-fairy to place some money under her pillow.

Fantastic Thrift Finds on a Saturday

I went to the thrift store (DI) on Saturday and found some awesome things! I love going when everyone is de-cluttering their homes of the things they never used, can't use or have gotten sick of. It means more awesome stuff for me!

Cute framed saying, brand new with the tag still on so originally $15. I got it for $3.

Plant holder, not sure where to put it or what to do with it, but I like it a lot. $2. Small can of light green paint in the clearance section of Wal-mart for $3.50.

I got the white milk jug on the left for $2 awhile back at DI and have loved it. It looks even better when it is filled with something. I found the second one for $2. The other one is slightly different, but not by enough that they don't look like a pair to me. $4 for the set, awesome!

The tall red vase was brand new with the tag on. Originally $25, I got it for $5. I love yard sales, garage finds and thrift store finds. They really make me feel like I get my very own treasure hunt.

Beautiful Spring and A Sandwich

Spring is here! Well, at least some of the time it is. The girls were really good and we decided to have a day out at the park. They chose this tiny park with monkey bars, swings and graffiti and not much else. They had a good time having their daddy push them so high I was afraid they would get whiplash. I was the mom off to the side saying "Be careful! Robert, be careful!"



I have found a gluten-free and yeast-free bread recipe. I do miss that yeasty flavor that bread normally has, but the texture is the same. And the best part is it is a really simple recipe with few ingredients. That is an A++ recipe to me! And it is fantastic as sandwich bread. I have even toasted it with cheese and tuna fish. I feel like I have died and gone back to food heaven. Have I mentioned that this bread is good?