DIY Day!

Today is Kimba's DIY day! I am really happy with the two quick projects that I got done this week. I forgot to take before pictures this time.

The first one is a little chair that I painted. I LOVE this chair it belonged to my beloved Aunt who passed away in 2000. She was a Nun, so she didn't have any kids of her own, my sister Shelby and I were like her children. She was SO MUCH fun she always doing fun and crazy stuff with us when we were growing up. When Graig and I got engaged at the top of the arch in St. Louis she organized my whole family to be waiting for us at the bottom with signs and balloons! Anyway, she gave me this chair that was hers when she was little. It has been in our basement forever because I was never quite sure what to do with it. I loved the chair because it belonged to her but it didn't really go with anything in my house. I finally decided to paint it and add new cushion fabric and I am SO happy with the way it turned out.




I painted this frame that I got for free at a yardsale earlier this summer. I added burlap to the frame and hotglued a monogram in the center. I really like the way this turned out too!

More paint!!

I feel like I am ALWAYS painting something!! Seriously, if you come over to my house you will always find paint on the kitchen counter and paint brushes in a cup near the sink. Graig thinks I have an addiction-ha ha! Anyway, I have had this cabinet sitting in my garage for over a year and I have always wanted to re-do it.




A few weeks ago I was reading Kimba's blog (love it!!) about this paint that she used to redo a dresser for her dining room. It's the Distressed for Success Kit from Caromal Colours. I thought this would be a perfect solution for the old cabinet in my garage. I went online and bought the bayberry color. Which is a green , I think it will look great in our Sunroom with our dark red walls.




Country Living redid a room and they used this painting technique on an old headboard. Isn't this the perfect color?? I LOVE this color and how great it looks in this room!



I think that it will be a fun weekend project for me to work on and I can't wait to get started!! I will show you the finished product when it's all done.
Have a great Wednesday everyone!

Weekend recap!!

Ok I know it's Tuesday...but today is MY Monday because yesterday we were driving back from our Vermont weekend getaway. Graig, Brock, Ava and I had SUCH a wonderful time this weekend visiting with our friends Jim and Donna and their two kids at their cabin in Vermont.

I can sum up our trip in two words:
1. swimming
2. eating

We all took a little break from all of our electronic devices (cell phone, laptops, TV, ipods, game boys, etc) when we got to Vermont to enjoy time as a family. Since we NEVER do that it was really nice just to be together as a family, without all the everyday stuff that gets in the way of quality family time. OK I confess, I still checked my iphone in the morning and at night to catch up on my email, twitter and blogs but most of the time it was OFF-ha ha!

The cabin we stayed in was very woodsy (is that a word?) but it did have electricity and running water. I left ALL of my make-up and hair products at home, I didn't want to be bothered bringing all of that stuff with me since we were going to be in the woods all weekend, and I didn't think make-up was a necessary accessory.

My Dad did send us two great weekend bags that arrived on Friday so we were able to use those for the trip! Thanks Dad perfect timing :)

All day Saturday and Sunday we were in the lake, it was so hot and a little humid so they were both PERFECT days to be in the water. We went swimming, kayaking, canoeing, and the boys went fishing while us girls floated around the lake on floats. It was wonderful. We packed lunches and ate by the lake and we had wonderful dinners in the cabin at night (Saturday night we had steak and Sunday night we had Chicken Cordon Blue)

I didn't take a single picture! Thank goodness my friend Donna took lots of pics, I will have to get some from her :)

Yesterday, we drove home and got a ton of stuff done around the house to get ready for the week ahead. I took Brock and Ava to the library to get books for the summer reading program and I got The American Wife for myself. It's loosely based on Laura Bush's life.




I am a little nervous today because Brock's middle school orientation is this morning. He is going to get his schedule, meet with his teachers, get his locker and school supply list and find out about fall sports. I will let you know how it went tomorrow!

Happy Tuesday everyone!

We're headed to Vermont!!

We are headed to Vermont this afternoon to spend a long weekend with our friends!! I am SO excited!! It will be so nice to get away and relax before the college students come back next week and work is crazy busy again. Our friends, Jim and Donna rent a cabin on a lake and go every summer for two weeks. They invited us to come up and hang out with them this weekend. I have never been to Vermont and I have heard it's beautiful and I can't wait to go and enjoy the weekend with them!

Their kids are close in age to Brock and Ava so they will all have a good time together. I am not taking my laptop to Vermont, so no blogging for me :( I am taking a stack of magazines that I haven't read yet and a few good books so I will have fun just hanging out by the lake. We are also going to go hiking and grill out. It will be a VERY outdoorsy weekend for us.

Have a great weekend everyone!!

DIY Day!

I am joining Kimba's DIY Day party!! I cannot wait to go through all of the DIY projects tonight when I get home from work!! Graig is having poker night at our house and Brock and Ava are with Grandma Jan and I will have a night all to myself!! It will be fun to see what other people have done. I LOVE getting ideas home decorating ideas from other people, I love to decorate BUT I am SO not creative when it comes to thinking of ideas on my own.

My DIY project that I did this week came from an idea that I got from Carrie at Buzzings of a Queen Bee. I LOVE her blog, she has a beautiful home and always does the best projects. Anyway, she posted this idea a long time ago and I have always wanted to try it. You can go here to read her post about this window project.




I got my windows at a garage sale for $3 each! I like them because I have never seen a window like this, usually they are 6 panes. Anyway. I painted the whole window black (they were blue when I bought them) and I left the glass in and just painted all the wood. After the paint dried I just taped scrapbook paper on the glass. It was that simple!! I just finished both of them last night, the whole project took less than an hour.

I just propped one up on our fireplace and put one in sunroom just so I can see what they are going to look like. I LOVE the way this project turned out! It is so simple and it's a great way to cover a lot of wall space without spending a lot of $$.

American Girl

Saturday while Graig and Brock went to the Yankee game, Ava and I went to the American Girl doll store. It was SO MUCH fun, we both loved it!! We spent about 4 hours in the store and had dinner there on Saturday night.

I am so glad that Ava loves American Girl doll things. I think we are going to have a lot of fun collecting things for her collection. American Girl is all about promoting self esteem, girl power and helping girls believe in themselves.

The store is beautiful and they have SO MANY wonderful things. I set a budget for Ava before we went into the store so she would know how much money she could spend. I wanted her to have a good time but I wanted her to know what the limit was. She ended up picking out a new doll ( a girl bitty baby with blond hair), earrings and a t-shirt.

Ava right outside the store


Before dinner Allison (Ava's American girl doll) got her hair done! Here is Allison in the chair.



The girl that did Allison's hair was so sweet, she explained to Ava how she should care for her hair and skin.


In the bathrooms they have doll hangers where you hang up your doll while you go to the bathroom. I thought it was such a cute idea and I had to take a picture of it.



Before dinner we had to wait upstairs in the Bitty Baby area. They didn't have any chairs for us to sit in so Ava sat on the floor to fix her dolls hair for dinner.




Dinner was the BEST thing at the store. If you ever go you need to go to a meal at the store. They have bruch, lunch, afternoon tea and dinner. We were there at dinner time so I chose dinner. You have to make reservations for meals before you go, so if you go make sure you do it because it's SO worth it!! I took a ton of pictures during dinner because everything was so cute and I wanted us to be able to remember everything.

The tables were so adorable!! Everything in the dining room is hot pink, white and black, it's adorable!! The napkin holders are actually pony tail holders that the girls get to take home with them. I thought that was a cute touch. The present in the middle of the table is called "Table Talkers" they are questions that you can talk about while you eat. I thought these were so cute so I got us a set for our house.


Ava with her dolls before dinner. They give the dolls these seats that fit right on the table. Ava LOVED these seats so I let her get one to take home.



Ava giving her doll some tea. You can also see a little bit of our appetizer in this picture.


Our main dishes, I got tortellini and Ava got chicken fingers and fries.




Our dessert was the best part of the whole meal!




We had a great day at the American Girl doll store, we will go again soon!

Weekend getaway!

This weekend we went on a little family vaca to visit our friends, Mary and Greg, who moved to PA two years ago. Greg was Graig's boss for two years when Graig worked as Dir. of Res. Life at Hartwick College. Mary and I went to the same church and taught Sunday School together. It was so fun to catch up with them!

They have 5 kids!! 4 girls and one boy, their oldest daughter starts College next month and their youngest daughter starts kindergarten next year. Their daughter Lucy was in the same class as Brock when they lived here. We got to visit with all their kids except for their son Zach, who was away at a soccer camp.

They live 5 minutes away from Hershey Park so they took us to Hershey Park on Friday. I took a ton of pictures at the park, here are some pictures from our time with them.
Greg and Graig


me and Mary


Bridget, Mary and Greg's youngest daughter
Clare, Brock and Lucy

Bridget and Ava on the Frogger Ride


Brock and Graig


Greg, Graig and all the kids


Friday night we went to a festival and Mary and Greg's church. We ate dinner there, they had music, kids games and BINGO!! We played Bingo for an hour it was so much fun. They also had a bounce house that Brock LOVED!! It was so funny because he was my far the oldest kid in the bounce house.

I took his picture because it will probably be the last time that he plays in one...since he's 12 :)




When we got to Mary and Greg's house after the festival we celebrated Brock's 12th birthday! Here is a picture of Brock with his birthday cake.


Saturday morning we got up early and drove to NYC so Graig and Brock could go to the Yankee Game. Brock LOVES the Yankees and he was so excited to go to the game with Graig. While they were at the game Ava and I went to the American Girl Doll store and shopped and had dinner. I will post our NYC pictures tomorrow.

Today we drove home and Graig took Brock and Ava to Grandma Jan's for the week. She is off from work this week and Graig and I have to work, I am sure they will have a blast!! She always plans lots of fun things for them to do. While they are gone we have a ton of things to get done around the house so Graig and I will be busy this week too!

Happy Birthday Brock!!

Today is Brock's 12th Birthday!!! I can't believe he's 12 already!! Brock is THE BEST son, we are so proud of him. He is going into Middle School next year and he wants to play soccer, basketball and baseball so we will be super busy!! We are celebrating this weekend by going to Hershey Park today and tomorrow Graig and Brock are going to the Yankees Game in NYC. It should be a fun birthday weekend for him!

Happy Birthday Brock, we love you



Brock with his friend Theo

Wednesday

Day 3 of my vaca from work. I can sum up my vaca time with two words BASEBALL and SWIMMING

Last night was Brock's last little league all-star game. His team WON the tournament they were in!! Yeah!! I am happy that the season is finally over but I am a little sad at the same time. Brock LOVES playing and I LOVE going to the games and hanging out with the other families and Graig LOVES coaching. We have about one month off from baseball until his next baseball season begins.

Every afternoon Brock, Ava and I go to the pool to hang out. They absolutely love swimming and we always see people there we know so it's always fun!! Today instead of going to the pool we went to a Water Park. We had a GREAT time! We left super early and got there as soon as it opened, the first hour we pretty much had the whole place to ourselves which was fun! We stayed all day and got home right before dinner. Speaking of dinner we got to eat as a FAMILY and at home!! Graig grilled steak and we had corn, salt potatoes, and salad. It was SO yummy!!

Tomorrow we are leaving to go on a little vacation. We are going to PA to stay with some friends tomorrow night and then Friday we are going to Hershey Park, Saturday we are going to NYC. Brock and Graig are going to the Yankee vs. Red Sox game and Ava and I are going to the American Girl Doll store. It should be a fun weekend get away!

Happy Birthday Shelby!!!

Today is my sister's birthday!! Shelby is 31 today!! I don't think she will mind me telling her age-ha ha!! She has been married to her college sweetheart for 8 years and last year they moved to Iowa and they both began working at the University of Iowa. My sister is so sweet, talented and kind. She is the BEST Aunt to Brock and Ava!! I am so lucky to have a wonderful sister like her.
Happy Birthday Shelby!! We love you!!

Weekend update!

This weekend (like usual) has been super busy for us! I love the summer and I feel like it's going by SOOO fast!! I can't believe it's already August!!

Here's a brief update of what's been happening with us this weekend.

Friday
I worked until noon and Ava went to gymnastics camp in the morning. She LOVED it!! I watched her show on Friday and it was really cute the girls did a routine to "Under the Sea" and Ava got the "stick it" award for sticking her landings! She was so proud!!

In the afternoon Ava and I went with our friends Sabrina and Eliza to get Eliza's 1 year old pictures taken. I also got Ava's pictures taken, they turned out really good!! Ava LOVES having her pictures taken and she changed outfits four times. It took about 3 hours to get both girls pictures done! I am going to frame the pictures we had taken and give them away to our family as part of their Christmas presents.

While we were at the mall we also went to Sephora (love that store!!) and I stocked up on Bare Minerals and we went to a new store called Crazy 8. It's really cute, it's owned by Gymboree but the prices are a little cheaper. I got Ava some new fall clothes. Ava also picked out her backpack for 2nd grade at LL Bean and we got it monnogrammed. I think after all of our shopping she's all set for 2nd grade!!

Friday night we went to a baseball party for Brock's baseball team. One of the families who live out in the country had the whole team over for a cookout. It was fun!!

Saturday
Brock was in a baseball tournament, he pitched and his team won 14-2!! Saturday night we went over to our friends house for a pizza party. We sat outside on their deck the whole night while the kids went in the Hot Tub. It was such a relaxing evening!!

Sunday
Brock had another baseball game today for his tournament. His team won again 9-2!! I spent the whole afternoon cleaning up our house and tonight we had a quiet dinner at home!! Because of baseball season we haven't been eating at home a lot, so it was nice to sit down at the table and enjoy dinner at home.

Tonight Brock is spending the night with Grandma Jan and Graig and Ava went for a bike ride. I am going to start to read Cesar's Way: The Natural, Everyday Guide to Understanding and Correcting Common Dog Problems . My friend gave it to me I hope it will help with our dogs!!



I am off from work all week and Thursday night we are leaving for a mini-vacation! I can't wait to go!!