Valentine Treats

Today the kids had their Valentine's Day parties at school so of course we had to do something special. I always like to find something unique for them to take instead of just buying a box of premade cards and being done with it. (Although I usually wish that's what I would have done when I'm finally finished!)

Last year we made these airplanes and they were so cute! (An idea from family fun)

Another year Julia made these flower valentine cards from family fun.

This year we made rice krispie treats that were wrapped like lollipops. It was a variation of an idea Lindsey posted about that I thought was way too cute to pass up.

We did big ones for all the teachers and staff and smaller ones for friends.

And since I didn't buy enough marshmallows (oops!) we did bags of hershey kisses with a Yoda tag for John David. He was totally impressed with my ability to make something Star Wars related on my own.

Of course there has to be a pretty basket to carry all of the treats to school.

Where do you find ideas for Valentine treats? Any great websites?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

Recent Thrift Store Purchases

I love lamps. LOVE them. The soft light they fill my house with makes me very happy. My husband likes lots of very bright overhead light. We're different that way. He affectionately calls me a "child of darkness". I can't help it in this house though - there isn't much overhead light on the main level. So I win.

Even though we have many lamps (my father-in-law thought I was a crazy, obsessed, lamp collecting pschyco when he helped us move), it hasn't been quite enough. Have you priced lamps though? They aren't cheap. Even the tiny, ugly ones are at least $10 plus more for a shade. So I was happy to find this cute little thing at Goodwill for only $2. I brought him home and plugged him in on my kitchen chest. (Yes, I have a chest in my kitchen. I'm neat like that.) The way he lights my kitchen is so warm and happy.

The next lamp was $3, plus I paid around $12 for a new shade I think. This sad thing was ugly brown wood, but I brought him home and introduced him to my can of creamy heirloom white spray paint. And we all lived happily ever after.

Don't forget about Goodwill and other thrift stores when you need a new lamp. And keep in mind that spray paint and/or a new shade can work wonders.

Speaking of thrift stores, I picked up this dresser last weekend at a resale shop and I have lovely plans in mind for it.


I love the idea of all the extra storage right in our den. So far, the only thing in it is the box of hair brushing "equipment" for the kids. I got tired of lugging it upstairs and downstairs every day and we really only use it downstairs. (Because I got smart years ago and learned that if you want your litle girl to have pretty hair then it takes a few minutes and if you want your little girl to sit very still for a few minutes then you should park them in front of a cartoon. I also bought a second tooth brush and extra toothpaste and we keep it downstairs for the get to school rush. It's great to not go up and down the stairs over and over. Seriously guys, I'm smart.)

So now if only I can find the time to refinish and paint it. Until then, I love it anyway!

Dining Room Curtains (on the cheap!)

I've been wanting some curtains in a ba-a-a-a-ad way.

I measured and went to the fabric stores in search of the perfect thing.

The perfect thing is Expensive (with a capital "E").

I was already well educated in the Nester's ways of window mistreatments, which saves a lot of money but still requires fabric. And then I considered what I had previously dismissed (and probably even rolled my eyes at, truth be told).

But first, I give you the very first "before" picture when the previous owners still lived here:

And then it looked like this (which was no small thing if you remember this horrific painting adventure):

And here it is today:

Do you know how I made these curtains?

And what I made them with?

If you travel around blogland much then you may have seen this idea. These are "dropcloth curtains" - as in painters dropcloths! They are, what I like to call, "poor man's linen".

I bought one 6x9 dropcloth for $9.48 for each panel. I washed them with plenty of softener since they're so stiff at first. Of course then they had to be ironed too. While I had the iron out, I used some stitchwitch (less than $2 for 20 yards at Walmart) to make seams on the sides. (The top and bottom already had seams.) Supposedly, there are some dropcloths that are finished on all sides, but this is what Lowe's had.

I used ring clips to hang the cloths on the rods once all of the nonfun stuff was done. I folded and clipped and kind of puffed them up at the top, but I may change that later. I can't decide. My inspiration photo below would be another look to try.

Here was the main picture I used for inspiration (from The Lettered Cottage, I believe):

And here's a Pottery Barn picture. Those long panels cost around $90 each!

It's not cheap to buy such long curtains. But I think $9.48 a panel is pretty good! I'm even thinking of doing something similar, but with some pretty fabric sewn on the bottom portion for the front living room. We'll see.....

So there you have it - my version of dropcloth curtains. What do you think?
Do you have any creative curtain methods?

You Know How Some People Get New TVs Just In Time For the Superbowl?

We prefer to have little kids throw toys at ours and break it just in time.

In honor of Lost, that's one of the first scenes showing on our flatscreen in the basement. Our beautiful, six month old, biggest tv we've ever owned, watch it while sitting on our amazing Lazyboy leather reclining sofa we scored off of craigslist, want to grow up and marry it and have its babies kind of flatscreen.

The only other tv we have is an old 19" tv in our den that has constant rolling lines on it and every 6 or 7 seconds totally messes up. It's a sad little thing, really. I already had plans to replace it with a better tv I saw at Salvation Army the other day.

I feel sick about it. And I feel bad that I feel this bad, but other than our cars and our house, it's the nicest thing we own. I guess that'll teach us to own nice things!

I guess I'm just very glad we decided to not host a superbowl party.......

Just Being Honest

I quit drinking Dr. Pepper cold turkey a little over 4 weeks ago.

It was really hard at first. Really hard. But I did it.

Lately I haven't even missed it for the most part. Every once in awhile I would have a very strong craving for a big DP though. Like the kind of craving that literally leaves me drooling. Not pretty, I tell you.

Today I took the babies to Chick Fil A for lunch and play time in the middle of errands (okay, not "errands" - more like a day of thrifting. Woohoo!). We had the calendar coupon for a free large drink and my Dr Pepper craving was definitely there.

I thought about it and changed my mind a number of times, but as you can tell from the picture above, I got my Dr Pepper.

And you know what? I'm so glad I did! I realized that I don't even like it that much any more! I'm pretty sure that my cravings won't be a problem either.

(In case you didn't see my tweet or facebook status a few weeks ago, you should know that I lost 5 pounds after one week of not drinking sweet tea and Dr Pepper.)

Aulora Needs Her Privacy

P.S. Don't be jealous of our pink bathroom. You know you want one too.....

Winter Time Wagon Rides

Summer In February

As soon as we got home from school, the girls ran upstairs and put on their swimsuits. No, I do not know why....

Sadly, this isn't uncommon in our house.....

And just so you know, I did NOT overreact when I hollered, "It touched me! It touched me!" My husband and son laughed hysterically when they heard me shrieking as I fished it out carefully (not carefully enough though) out of the potty with plastic bags over my hands. Gross!

Houston, We Have a Problem.....

I looked down in church this morning and saw that my sweet man was wearing ankle socks. I'm happy to report that his jeans were not actually hiked that high until he lifted them a little more for the picture, but the ankle socks were indeed showing. Isn't this a fashion crime? Somebody PLEASE tell him that it is. He won't listen to me!

Salvation Army Table

Here's the table I got for $10 at Salvation Army. It hasn't been painted, the lamp cord is showing, the picture in the frame is really old, and the walls in this room still aren't painted. I don't care. I have a side table with a lamp! The living rooms in this house don't have any overhead lighting so lamps are a big deal. Now that there's a lamp beside this couch, we can actually read right there. It's the little things that make me the happiest......

Teach Them Young and Let Them Lead the Way

Thanks Uncle Maka and Aunt Kara!

Uncle Maka and Aunt Kara got the kids a sled for Christmas.

Thank you!

Joshua's Birthday Celebration

We celebrated Joshua's birthday at home with our family. Nothing fancy. Who needs fancy when you have a cupcake with big candles?

In my effort to get a good picture, Joshua almost burned his finger! I do love this picture though.

I can't tell you how many times we relit his candles so he could blow them out again. He had to have help for awhile, but around the 6th time or so I think he figured it out.



Isn't the hillbilly/farmerboy kind of look just so great? I wasn't thinking ahead when I dressed him in the morning. We were dressed for a play at home kind of day.

My parents sent a "birthday party in a box" package and there were Diego and Dora masks inside. Oh. My. Goodness. They loved them!!!

Julia and Aulora made great Doras.


When Joshua saw Aulora with the Dora mask on, he didn't know what to think. He just kept staring and following her around. When he saw himself in the mirror he said, "Hi Diego!"

Then Diego wanted to kiss Dora.

Awww........

Joshua is Always Sad to See Daddy Go

Third Grade Drama

I guess you can see from the date on the paper below that this happened back in October, but now that I have a scanner I just had to post this.

It's a little hard to read since it was written in pencil, but it's just so darn cute and third grade-ish! I found this on a clipboard and I knew right away that it was the same paper I had seen John David hunkered over a little earlier. At the time, he was madly "in like" with a girl named Caris in his class. Kyler, another girl, was going to help him in his attempts to woo her. As fate would have it, he is now "arch enemies" with Caris and head over heels for Kyler. =)

Then we have this paper which is much more recent. The back story is that a 4th grade girl had been chasing John David and Braeden all during recess. So the two boys decided they would leave the following note on her coat hook.

Too bad she took the note home and her parents saw it. They took it seriously (which I can assure you - it wasn't anything serious!) and the boys went to the principal's office. A warning note was sent home and we had the obligatory talk with John David explaining why you can't write notes like that. Then we sent him to bed and had a good laugh.....