a hometown visit

Kit and Bob came this past weekend for a visit. We had a fabulous time and the kids were absolutely spoiled by them. I can already hear them next summer-When are Aunt Jen , Aunt Kit and the cousins coming? Aunt Kit and the neighborhood gang out for some fun on Saturday night

My sister is one of the most generous people I know. Not only were the kids spoiled with fun toys and lots of love and attention, she always bring gifts for the tired neglected mom :) My favorites are the hand me downs from her closet. I can't wait to inherit the shirt she has on :) She always makes me feel special, and she always asks me how I am feeling which I appreciate because well...I sometimes feel a little forgotten in my household.

We had some trouble getting Uncle Bob off the motorcycle! I'm pretty sure he is shopping for one back home as I type.

ok-here is the table. I am really bothered at how you can see the cord from the lamp on the floor, so I have to get that hidden some how.

I like how the platter turned out. I think it will be cute for dinner parties-you know how I have those all the time :)

Please...as if I could stop at just the table. I antiqued an old wood mirror I had been ready to give to Goodwill. Glad I didn't because I love it. Just a little left over green paint from my laundry room, glaze and it has a new life in the guest room.

9 weeks, 16lbs 9oz, 24 3/4inches, lots of fun!

A How To

I had never "antiqued" anything before so I was excited to read about it on a few blogs and take action on my B.A. white table. It was super fun and easy-you'll need to find something to antique soon :) First I sanded the edges with 150 grit sandpaper. I got a little crazy in a few places(*note-never day dream while sanding), but you can be as conservative or liberal as you like.

On several blogs I read that people like Behr brand Faux Glaze, but I was at Lowes so I picked up what they had. The glaze is clear and takes on the color that you add to it. On the directions it said to add latex paint, but I had acrylic left over from a previous project. The color is coffee bean from Michaels. I think this color looks good over lighter painted pieces, darker painted furniture would probably need a deeper brown.

Here is what it looks like mixed. It said 4 parts glaze to 1 part paint-no measuring for me- I just winged it

I put the glaze on with a damp paper towel. I just glopped it on randomly. I quickly learned you really can't mess it up. I glopped a small area with glaze, waited maybe a few minutes for it to dry a bit and them wiped some of it off with another damp paper towel. In some areas I did that two or three times. I let the gaze collect in the corners and along the edges as much as possible.

It turned out to be a soft antiqued affect(click on the picture to get a better look). I really like it and guess what-I want to antique every white surface in my house now :) I'll post a picture of it in my bedroom soon, along with some other finished projects.

A small motherhood dream of mine has come true. Holden is able to ride his bike along with me while I walk my three mile loop. This is something I have been looking forward to for a long time. For a while I have just felt like the police/chauffeur/chef etc.. and walking along while he rides and goofs around on his bike seems like it has opened up a new chapter in our relationship. In his eyes we are on an adventure exploring areas he has only driven by, and for me it is sharing something with him that I love to do and having some distance to appreciate the boy he has became. Kindergarten is just around the corner for Holden and I have always said I will be dancing in the streets. I understand those mothers crying at the bus stop-it won't be me-but I had my bittersweet moment with him while walking down NW 70th street. He is a strong, confident and enthusiastic boy who will need me less and less. Our relationship will change and he will want different things from me I am excited to change right along with him.

I meant to put a picture up with my last post of one of my three favorite projects ever. This one I have been working on for nearly 11 months and I am so proud with how it is turning out. *Note I said project, if Holden's baby picture was up here I would be using the word experiment*
Sloan will be eight weeks old on Thursday and I had to post a picture quick before my mom goes crazy. He is huge. My neighbor Kerry calls him "The Hulk". We call him all sorts of things other than his name(we have a strange way of doing that in this family). We call him SooBe, SoSo, Bubbs and Flea. But mostly I just call him sugar bugar because I am crazy in love :)

more junk!

The Junk Gods were shining down on me this weekend and I couldn't feel more blessed to have even more junk than I had before! All it took was three quick trips to the B.A.(on Sunday the cashier asked if he had seen me there yesterday-Yes, do not tell my husband you recognize me from my many trips, he already accuses me of having too close of a relationship with the guy at the Benjamin Moore paint store). So now I have projects galore, which is a good thing considering I am a little more house bound than before. So I want to share my latest projects with you :)

Making this little gem into a chalk board(you know my obsession with chalk board paint, ranks right up there with tags!). Planning on putting it on the kitchen counter, still needs a little better polish. I'll post after pics.

This rusty junk(behind my beautiful Asher) got my heart racing with excitement. I love finding something better than what you were even hoping to find.

The bedside table was one I found at the B.A, when my mom was visiting. It was in pretty rough shape, but a little paint and some new knobs and viola-I love it!

Another bedside table that needs just some TLC and I'm trying a faux glaze paint treatment to antique it. Totally excited to do something other than just straight paint.


The last fun thing I have all the supplies for, but just need to work up the nerve to actually do is this-as seen on http://oursuburbancottage.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Cottage I am crazy about it and really hope I don't screw it up on our door, as Todd will have no sympathy for me and I will be stuck repainting the whole door if it looks bad.

catching up

Not finding a lot of time to blog lately....hmmm...I wonder why? Todd has been traveling a ton and that has made time to myself impossible. We are getting along pretty well considering, although there have been a few touch and go moments-a certain five year old knows what I am referring to-uggg! We did survive this past week quite nicely while Todd was in Texas and Alabama(my mom called a lot to make sure I hadn't lost my marbles and I had to resort to a "good boy"/bribery chart-what ever works right), so here's what we've been up to. The kids and I headed to the Panorama on Thursday for the 4th. I know you can't tell, but this is Holden going a million miles an hour tubing across the lake. His need for speed is at a whole new level this year-I was just a wee bit scared watching from the deck.

What can I say-I'm in love. Sloan has started giving us little smiles and dreamy silly looks along with lots of coos and sometimes even a giggle. These are all after he is feeling fat and happy, and this kid never misses a meal. I actually think this guy ate my newborn baby-he looks like a three month old for goodness sakes. Look at those hands! If he was a puppy and those were paws I would be scared at how big he was going to be :)

Asher's need for speed has yet to reach absurd levels. He is pretty satisfied to watch and he prefers to stay on land. Uncle Matt and Aunt Lisa were down from Minni. Asher was impressed with Uncle Matt's wake board, but his real love is Papa's John Deer in the background.

The neighborhood has been exciting thanks to this water slide. We went in with a couple of neighbors on the Bonsai slide and it has really taken the pressure off me to do to the water parks, which everyone agrees would be hard with a newborn. The boys are bronze and look and smell like summer pretty much 24/7.

Oh no you didn't! This picture falls into one of my favorite categories in raising children. The "I really didn't know they didn't know this" category. At some point in their lives I said don't color on the walls, I know I said to stay on the paper when coloring at the table-silly me-I forgot to tell them not to color on the carpet(Holden!). This is a good lesson for when they are 16 and start to drive. I guess they don't take note of the obvious.