my little guy turned 5.

sniff, sniff. :(

Brody is five and i feel like i will never have a baby in my arms again. sigh.  i should be glad to finally have time for me but i'm not....atleast not at this moment.  he is sooooo eager to start kindergarten this fall it's not even funny.

this is the first year i have decided to keep the kiddo's parties "low key".  i've never had a party for any of my children without balloons....until now.  i'm sure i will go all out again but my mindset for this year is to not go overboard but enjoy the moments.  Brody requested a Transformer cake so that is what he got.  i made it using a kit i bought from the bakery dept.

he was insistant on cutting the cake.  more proof of his independance that i am not ready to see. sigh.

every birthday i run a series of photos of my kiddos on the tv...through the wii.  everyone loves looking at random photos of the birthday kiddo. =]

he recieved great gifts such as zhu zhu pets, clothing, money, lego sets, tattoos, view master slides and more.  happy birthday sweet boy...don't rush to grow.
  
 

say hello to my newest niece, Eleecya!

this is the third for my younger sister and the first that i was NOT there for when they were born...bittersweet.  i'm hoping to get to visit them in the next couple months.  they live about 6 hours from me and it's just not in the cards right now to take a trip away from home. :(

 

chair facelift

i don't know what it is but the new year has brought out the desires to 'freshin' things up around my home.  i've moved a few things and have even given some things new purposes.  a task i took on TWO days before Christmas is my fave so far....

i have this dinning set that my grandmother had given me about 15 yrs ago and it's hard to say how long she had it before that.  it's a sentimental thing as i love my grandmother to pieces and it reminds me of her often.  BUT...it's looking a little rough with having three kiddos use and abuse them, the chairs needed something.  so, i took the seats off...recovered them with some discount fabric.  off to the garage to sand the chairs down (i usually do a project while hubby is gone so i can dig through his tools and experiment without him standing over me questioning my logic. lol  i managed to sand them down, paint them a couple coats of coalmine black paint and rough up some of the edges for the distressed look.  after they were air blown off (love that hubby has oodles of tools, lol) i sprayed them with a clear coat, kind of a kid protection, if you will. lol  screwed the newly covered seat cushions back on and they were good to go.  now, i always keep a table cloth on my table so i plan to just refinish the table legs soon.  

before:

(notice the marker at the front of the chair wood trim part....nice. not.)

there were soooo many dints and dings in them that they desperately needed SOMETHING.

after:

sorry not the best of photos but i gave up after several tries one evening.  i know, i know...should take them during the daylight. lol

thanks for looking...hope this inspires someone to give something a facelift. :)

2010 Scrapperie Design Team

wanted to give a shout out to all the talented girls who will inspire everyone over at Scrapperie this year.  i'm luck to get to work with them all.  if you haven't been to Scrapperie ever (or in awhile) you should definitely start coming around as there are fabulous new challenges starting up and they are daily so you will never run out of inspiration!

Yay! the NEW year is here!!!

can you tell i'm excited about 2010?  i just want to put 2009 behind me as it was a trying time (financial wise) and although i am greatful to have made it through and learned a lot i am looking forward to the plans that were put on hold over this past year....like more house reno and business ventures. =]

i want to jump back a few weeks and express how much i enjoyed my holidays.  aside from being tired of eating holiday foods, i am thankful for the time spent with family and friends.  it seems that Christmas morning changes every year as the kiddos get older and their excitement isn't as obvious (well, Brody still squealed, lol).  i think they enjoyed their gifts but they looked more like zombies than wide-eyed young-ins. lol

THEN...

the new year's day brought my daughter's 14th birthday.  i just can not believe every year when my kiddos get older.  i can't help but be flooded with memories of when they were smaller.  this year's party was VERY low-key.  if anyone knows me there has not been a birthday party for my children that DID NOT include balloons and other party decor but this year, my sweet Syd was just surrounded by a few distant relatives and a fun cake.  i have promised her a day at the mall with a friend.  she has saved her money from the holidays and her birthday so she has PLENTY to spend. =]

well, i'm sure i will be sharing much more creative decor ideas, home renovations and the crazy things my family does throughout this 2010 year.  stay tuned. lol

repurposing

i have yet to really share many of the things i have repurosed (with MAJOR help from the hubby of course) on this blog.  i had wanted to start a seperate blog for just that purpose but i just want to share this now and hope for the new blog to start in the new year.  this old child's size dresser was sitting in my mother inlaws garage for awhile and they were intending to just dispose of it.  being that hubby is a master-woodcraftsman, i quickly had ideas for it.  we've done a few before too but this one i had a plan for, the others we sold after refurbishing them.

 

hubby took it completely apart and sanded it all down.  then he added a covering (to make it a shelf) for the bottom of where that last drawer was to go.  he could have doctored up the broken drawer but i love the look of some open space. 

 

(don't mind the books...i was moving some things around and stuck them there to get them off the floor, lol)

after a few coats of black satin paint (hand brushed on) i was ready to use this piece in my front room.  it will display my 'Cocoa Station' that i will be sharing soon with you all.  right now it holds mags and books and would even work well backed up to my sofa that sits out in the center of the room.  for now i need it near a plug for my hot water source for the hot cocoa. =]

have you repurposed anything?

more festive decor

just thought i would share a few more peeks at some things i've put up around the house.

here is the wreath that adorns the front entry of our home.  the blue coordinates with the blue lights that outlines our house roofline and the blue ribbons that go down our step railing {future updating project, lol} and the red berries coordinate what red is 'going on' in the front living room (see previous post).

i found some fun goodies while "thrifting" at my local goodwill/salvation army stores.  this red hurricane style lamp is about 10" tall and has a battery powered light that reflects the snowflake designs around the outter cover and it casts them on the wall and table (sure wish i knew how to take a photo of that detail, sigh).  i snagged this for $1.00! 

i can not tell you how giddy i was to run across this box of ribbon candy at my cvs.  it brought back a flood of memories of my grandmother and how she use to always have three tiered candy dishes on her tables with oodles of ribbon candy and other hard candies that i just loved to sample.

each color/design has a different flavor and the best part, they are FAT FREE! =]