Just a quick hello and some pics

We have been working away at the usual stuff but wanted to stop by with a few pictures.  We wish everyone a Very Happy Easter.  And although we can't be with you all we pray that your are able to be with loved ones and enjoy the true blessings of what this holiday means.  We will be spending the day with friends here at home and pictures will sure follow after.  Love to All!

A picture of our Spring/Easter Mantel

Paper rose ball was the one I made for Valentine's Day

The wreath the kids and I made out of Lima beans and spray paint.  Not my idea but can't remember where I found it.

A favorite Goodwill find - 2 vintage bottles in green and yellow for $1 each.  And a candle I wrapped in fabric.

A few dresses I made using some scrap fabric and T-shirts

On Gabriella's I added a little stenciling in fabric paint that says "All Natural" for fun

Here is Mia's dress that is almost like Gabriella's only I tried shirring for the first time on the top and then made it into a halter top.  She completely dressed herself this day for school.  I love how she paired her pretty dress with sparkly tennis shoes. This really fits her personality! A girly girl who's not afraid to get dirty and enjoy the outdoors!

I have had this bookshelf since Alex was about 5 years old (he is 19 yrs old now) and I purchased it super cheap from my Aunt Ida (it was my cousin Melody's).  It has held strong and is sturdy but it was looking a bit tired so it was time give it a little sprucing up. 

So a few contact paper rolls from the dollar bins at Michael's

and a few hours later I had this

I also found this large cork board at a garage sale a few weeks ago.  I'd been wanting to display the kids artwork in the playroom without having to poke a ton of holes in the wall.  I didn't want to spend the $20 it cost for these and was so happy when I found this for $3! I covered it in the same contact paper to match the bookshelf and now it is perfect!  And look at the beautiful artwork that Christian has made (2 large ones on top) at school.  The detail is incredible! The one on the right is a sunflower and the one on the right he says is the Japanese Foot Bridge.  I think I may have a little Picaso in my house!  The bottom two are Mia's and she loves to do handprints. 



While I was covering the bookshelf my two little Picaso's (Mia and Gabriella) were busy doing their own artwork....

ON MY WALLS!!!!!!!!

Lastly, here the kids are with daddy playing some baseball on a really nice day.  Gabriella has a habit of taking her pants off so that is why she is just in her cloth diaper.

Gabriella took off running all the way down the neighbor's yard so they all had to run after her.

HAPPY EASTER AND WE LOVE YOU ALL!
It get's awefully lonely here with no comments :(  We love to hear from you all!

Spring is here....or maybe it's not

The weather sure has been crazy around here lately.  We have gone from a cold rainy wintery day to a beautiful sunny day and it's reeking havoc on our little ones.  Christian caught a cold earlier in the week and was sent home from school and by the end of the week he had swollen lymph nodes on the side of his neck. The picture here is after he came home from the ER and it honestly is only about 1/3 of the size it was when he left. 

He is all better now so thank goodness!

Gabriella caught a stomach bug on Saturday and had a couple of those freaky projectile vomiting episodes. She was better by the evening but poor baby was quite hungry and we couldn't really give her much to eat since her stomach was so unsettled.  Calming a hungry child without food is no easy task. She was a trooper though and didn't fuss as much as she could have.  She is still not feeling herself and has had lots of diarrhea and a slight fever but we hope that it ends soon.  But she did have a wonderful playdate on Wednesday (while Mia was at school) with her friends and had a great time!

 She decided to go down head first and liked it so much she did it many more times

Mia today woke up with the same stomach bug as Gabriella so I spent most of the day dealing with Mia throwing up and Gabriella's diarrhea. Now that was fun! NOT! 

Shawn too caught the same cold as Christian (my two sicklings) so he wasn't feeling all that great all week.

On top of all of the illness we were getting ready for our spring garage sale.  It started with cleaning our garage last Sunday as it just was a total mess after Christmas and all the chaos. So cleaning and organizing it and our shed was an entire days task but well worth it.  I know I can always get a few extra hundred dollars by selling things we no longer use and it is always put towards our next vacation.  We used to be able to use our grandparents time share and that was a HUGE help and always great fun.  But they no longer have it and we have to save a lot more money for our vacations.  This year we are going to try to find a beach house and share the cost with another family that we are close too.  This will enable us to have a great time with great friends without having to spend a ton.  I think the kids will really have a great time at the beach even though most of you know I am not very fond of all that sand!

And finally I have still been crafting a lot and have found a new love for our local Goodwills.  I have found some amazing things there. The saying "One person's trash is another's treasure" is definitely true! And of course it's garage sale season and even though I didn't get to go out early Saturday, I was able to go out later in the morning.  Would you believe I found a ton of FREE stuff! Yes I did.  I got shoes for the kids from Land's End, Stride Right and a cute little pair of UGGS! Yes! I said UGGS for free! Well I'll show you pics of my free finds in the next post once I have had a chance to clean them up! 

Here are some pics from the last week.  Have a great one!

 I walked in her room one morning to find that she had dressed herself for gymnastics! What a big girl!

We had a thunderstorm so Mia decided to hide from the storm on the floor of her room and this is how I found her 

A few goodies I have been working on with some of the cutest little models!

Here is a better picturer of the St. Patrick's Day skirt

 I think I could make these all day long! I have so many other shirts ready for Gabriella to have a few of her own.  This is from Made by Dana

Gabriella's dress was my version of The Knotty Jumper by Moda


I have made several other dresses but haven't been able to take pictures of them all yet. I am trying to get pics of the girls wearing them on a nice sunny day so hopefully I am able to do that soon!