happy birthday, part 3

the actual birthday-day started out with a trip to the zoo with both sets of grandparents, plus an aunt & uncle!

 

 

 

 

 

the rest of the day, we just hung out at home, opened presents, and had another monster-ish cake:

 

 

 

 

 

happy birthday, part 2

birthdays usually mean that there's more family around, and this day we had fun workin' on the railroad with papaw.

 

 

papaw got this train for thing 1 before we even moved to oklahoma, and it's embarrassing to say that we're just now enjoying it.  but, enjoying it we ARE!  since we added some bar stools at the kitchen counter, the dining room table was up for grabs for something just like this.

 

 

 

 

the expressions are priceless :)

a huge thank you, papaw!

happy birthday, thing 1!

 

these are glitter glue slime favors.  lil guy wanted a monster theme, with a focus on eyeballs.  he helped me search pinterest one afternoon, and we came up with some things he could giggle about.

 

i wasn't sure how excited he really was until he asked multiple times a day if today was "eyeball cake day."

 

a foam monster craft - making monsters on popsicles sticks

 

kinda tricky to get many pictures of the actual party when the mamas are so outnumbered, but thing 1 was thrilled by it all.  daddy and mamaw helped a ton beforehand, and lil guy loved it!  happy 5th birthday, buddy!!

the right way to wear minnie mouse glasses

while we were out shopping for birthday presents for big bro, someone scored a new pair of minnie mouse glasses and a matching purse.  probably had something to do with mamaw being along...

happy 30th, b!

her hubby planned a fun surprise party, and we got to host!

she thought she was just coming over for dinner.

cake by kara - isn't it awesome?

happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you...

 

the real reason these kiddos came to the party!

 

she certainly had plenty of gifts to open.

guess that's what happens when you're thirty?

 

 

some gifts were more "interesting" than others, that's for sure.

orange you glad we painted a wall?

we had yet to get any sort of system going for an entryway, and at times the piles could get a little out of hand near this door.  (just to the left is the garage door that we use most.)

yes, it's technically part of the kitchen and not any sort of entryway, but it's the best space we had to work with (as our true entryway is across the house and not really used as such).  so, first up - some bright orange paint!

i had to look and look for a shelf that would do the trick, and we considered several DIY options too.  the main criteria:  at least 4 ft long, sturdy, not too sticky-outy since we walk thru the area, and hold all our junk while looking nice.  we ended up with this one from pottery barn.  i have a love/hate relationship with them - love their stuff, hate their prices.  anyway, i forked over the cash this time and have to admit i quite like how it's working out.

this is just a piece of pine wood that we painted "pencil" yellow.  the little test containers work awesome for this kind of thing, but i wouldn't really recommend the glidden brand.  it was super runny, and i had to do several coats.

 

added some door pull knobs for spots to hang bags, jackets, whatever, and attached it to the wall beneath the shelf.

 

wa-lah!  love that there's some color in the room now, and that there's a place to keep stuff somewhat organized as it comes into the house.

 

 

the shoe rack is something we've had for a while from IKEA, and it has stood up to being sat on (haha) by 2 little munchkins.

 

like everything in our house, i'm sure there'll be tweaks here and there - but for now, i'm completely happy with this arrangement and i'm loving having some color in the kitchen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

tennessee trip

didn't take any pics while we were actually there, but i borrowed a couple from facebook.  we did take a few before leaving & a few in the car, tho....

lil miss was a big help packing.  apparently the pile i made wasn't a good choice, and a curvy line was a much better option while they waited to go into a bag!

random distractions from packing are always welcome  :)

a fun night in a memphis hotel on the way

family time!

thanks for the pics, leah and stacy!

 

stopped at the casey jones museum at lunchtime on the way home, and couldn't leave without a couple new train books.  they've been a welcome addition to the family, and were certainly a help with entertainment the rest of the drive home.

 

 

a new hat!

 

it's always a good day when a package arrives, and this day it was a new hat from mamaw!  ta-da!

 

mama was a little slow on the picture-taking-during-the-package-opening, but there were squeals and shouts of delight.  lil miss had tried that hat on at mamaw's house in its unfinished state, so she was quite excited to have it to wear.

 

"thank you, mamaw.  i yuv oo."

therapy for mama

it was super fun to get together with girlfriends and work on this painting a few weeks ago, but it just wasn't something i loved... and, this picture:

kept coming to mind that i had pinned for a future project day. there's no link to the original source from pinterest.  i tried to find it, but no luck.  i did, however, find another blogger that posted a pic of her version:

  

and funny enough, she was unable to find the original source either. 

 

anyway, back to the therapy discussion:  canvas in hand, a few leftover bottles of craft paint, and some fun paper at a scrapbook retreat for a couple of days...

 

this is one of the first things i worked on while i was there.  just painted over the phone booth and went to work on this guy.

 

 

i punched a large circle out of printed paper for the center and then made a template for the petals that i loosely followed.

 

the pieces are all adhered with mod podge, which goes on white like this:

 

and then dries clear like this:

 

once it dried, i trimmed the pieces sticking off the edges and coated the whole thing again with mod podge - so the sheen would all be the same, plus i wanted it nice and sealed.  added a few little rhinestones to the polka dotted paper and called it done!

 

 

it's in its happy little home on my kitchen counter now.  and i love it!