The Boys' Bedroom

The boys' room is far from finished but I keep posting about all thae painting that is getting done around here & thought I'd share some photos of what it looks like so far.

I also ended up cleaning their rooms this week & it took me about an hr. per each room so I thought I'd snap some photos before it looks like a pig sty again:(

The map I'd like to get a wide wooden frame made for it in a dark stain. The antlers are 2 of the( probably 100) that my husband has stored in the basement,well maybe not that many,but close. Dawson wants his daddy to make them wall hooks out of some of the antlers that haven't been mounted yet(that will be a project for this winter when everything slows down a bit.

I see now that the rug would look much better if I would of placed it sideways but here is the view of their beds. The comforters were a steal I found at Wal-mart for 12.00 each.I made the green pillows & sewed the 1st letter of each of their names on the front.

Weston still needs a bedsides table & I'd like to find them each an old trunk to place at the end of their beds to put all their treasures in:)

the color scheme i'm going for in their room is charcoal gray,grass green & some brown/tan wood tones. Weston also still needs a chest of drawers to call his own...high-time to go flea-marketing/garage-saling for furniture for the rooms upstairs!

The upstairs bedrooms still need to be trimmed out & carpeting put down but I am just so thrilled that the children have been able to spread out into 3 different bedrooms that if the those 2 things don't get done for awhile it's fine by me.

each room also has one of these little dormer nooks. I'd like to eventually hang a rod across the top of the wall & hang curtains from floor to ceiling so they have a quiet little reading/playing nook with comfy chairs or oversised floor pillows & possibly little crate-like baskets mounted to the wall for their books.( had some images that I pinned of how I want it to look but for some reason I can't get them to upload to my blog.....NETTIE,little sis needs your help!

And the closet space...long pause in thankfulness for all the closet space that I've gained  by having finall finished out the upstairs....

O.K.,where was I? O yes, the closet space. once upon a time,there were 3 small children who all shared a TINY bedroom & a TINY closet that wasn't near large enough for any one of them to use alone but somehow I managed to fit all their belongings into one space. I will be forever grateful for the 3 closets that are upstairs & a room entirely made for toys(that post will be coming soon).

well that is all for the Boys' room,when it is completed exactly to my liking I will post another entry...until then.

 

 



The last hoorah of the Summer...

This Summer we've been doing quite a few things with the Hilty & Raber families & some activities with our church group, but we hadn't done anything that was just our little family. We left it up to the children, what they wanted to do. They were all in agreement that they wanted to spend the night at a Hotel to swim & sleep,then go to the Zoo the next day, so that is exactly what we did.

This little guy turned into a wild child after we got to the Hotel,(too much sitting for too long,in a car-seat). jumping up & down on the beds,tackling his brothers & sister...

This one had no fear of the water at all! He jumped off the sides of the pool for daddy to catch him & screamed when daddy hung on too tightly,he wanted dipped & caught & spun around in the water:)

The others preferred the hot tub, it was warmer & they felt safer in an area where they could touch the bottom. They swam for about 2hrs. then I took Aalyvia & River upstairs to get started on baths.

    We weren't upstairs more than about 15min when I heard a terrible goings-on outside in the hallway. It sounded like some parents screaming at their kids so we opened the door to see what was going on, only to be told to quickly get back inside by Hotel staff, but I had seen enough to know that we didn't want to leave our room till things settled down,there were 2 men & a very unsteady,uncooperative woman...Police were called & about 20min. later things settled down again. We found out later it was domestic violence & lots of drinking involved.(there had been a wedding at the Hotel earlier that eve.)

That night I was wishing for my own bed,in the country, where I felt safe & sound! there wasn't much sleeping for this mama that night!

these kiddos slept amazing though,for which I was very grateful! wasn't expecting them to because there were loud,drunk people roaming the halls till about 3:00 in the morning followed by banging Hotel room doors.

    The next day we were off to the Zoo...

Sleepy Koala-Sleepy Baby

by the time we got to the Northern treck of the Zoo, we had one very tired baby & an exhausted mama, when we found out that the tram for the Northern treck was no longer running, I quickly decided it would be a good idea for me & the little guy to stay at the bottom & let him sleep while the others took off on another adventure. Which turned out to be a VERY good idea because when they got back down & we got through the rainforest I was dead on my feet. 6hrs of walking, uphill & down,carrying along a 6month belly & pushing a stroller...lets just say,this hiney was ready for a sit down!

what have you done this Summer with your families?



Birthday Girl

Birthday Girl blowing out her candles as quickly as she can so her garland doesn't burn:)...she barely made it in time.

after the many stresses that I put myself through making our son's Lego cake I decided to keep it nice & simple for this birthday,I love how it turned out.

Aalyvia was so excited for her shades of pink,birthday cake!

This year we decided to keep the children's birthdays more simple & let each one have their own special day. due to the fact that we have 2 children born in January & 2 in July,we had one big party & combined the birthdays. This year I wanted to make it special for each one.

2 of Aalyvia's favorite little girlfriends...they don't see each-other often but when they do she always hates to see them leave again.

time for presents! always a favorite at our house:) & if you have ever read,The 5 love languages for children,(I have & it's a really good book to read if you have children). getting gifts is Aalyvia's primary love language so it's always fun to see what we can come up with for a gift for her...I think I've discovered what each of our children's love languages are except River so far & if I remember to speak each child's love language,consistently...it's amazing how they blossom right before your eyes. but now I'm starting to ramble so I shall say...until next time...

Baby's Layette,made by me

I have had so much fun getting ready for the arrival of our little guy!

This time I've been making a lot of the items myself or putting my personal touch on an original item.

A lot of my ideas have come from Pinterest, where else?:)

Where was Pinterest when I had our 4 other children?!

This is what I've been working on so far. I'm sure there will be more later,but this is what I have right now.

The blanket I crocheted myself, It took me a few weeks but I love how it turned out!

I also made a matching newsboys hat...

I did NOT go by a pattern to make this hat, I tried & I simply cannot make sense of any crochet pattern. I'm more of a 'just wing it" kind of person & if it's a flop I ask someone else to make it for me:)...(the main reason I suck at tutorials!)

I can't wait to see our little guy all snuggled up in his hat & blanket.

Aalyvia's doll has been a model for most of the things I've made because it fits most 0-3month clothing items,& that seems like a good guide to go by.

The long-sleeved onesies I purchased at Kohl's& added the embellishments. The fabric for the tie I purchased at JoAnn fabrics for .62,cut out a tie shape & sewed it on. It has an iron-on backing to keep it from fraying. The football threads I made just for daddy,cuz he loves football. I just used a white knit fabric from an old t-shirt,cut out the shape of a football thread,backed it with an iron-on fabric & sewed it on.

The little white hat,(I used an old hospital infant's hat to use as a guide for how big to cut it),used a white t-shirt that I no longer use, used the bottom edge of the t-shirt for the bottom edge of the hat,(no hemming),cut around the hospital hat & cut a little point at the top so I could knot it after it was sewn together. And now he has a cute little hat to wear at the hospital instead of those ugly blue & pink ones.

Like I said, I suck at tutorials,but if you do want to make any of these items& you need patterns or directions on how to make them, you are welcome to visit my pinboards. Most of these are pinned onto sewing,make it, or baby boy

Canning & Preserving

This is the time of year where things get a little crazy in my kitchen, it's canning & freezing time...

Yesterday  was one of those days,there were lots of apples & tomatoes to preserve & only 1 ME.

This is what my kitchen island looked like at 6:30am when I dragged my hiney out of bed & got started with it all. It's something I always dread a little bit, getting started, but then it gives me a little bit of rush knowing how much $ I will save on my grocery bill if I fill the cellar with foods that I preserve myself. There's also the satisfaction of knowing what is going into our food, no un-pronouncable ingredients going into my food!

I got 11qt.Spaghetti sauce

16pint Pizza sauce &

9qt.Tomato juice from the pile of tomatoes 

& my only cost was the Tomato Paste that went into the sauces, which cost me 2.72!

The spices I already had in my cupboard & the veggies that went into it came from my garden....you could buy about 2jars of sauce for that price at the supermarket.

The apples I purchased at a local Farmers Market for 31.50. 

I use the Ginger Gold, they are a very sweet apple that doesn't require adding any sugar.(cheaper for me that way.)Since I bought them I've learned from another source that I can get the same apples at Sunny Slope Orchard for 9.00 a bushel, if I get the 2nds, which only means they may be a little smaller that the 1sts. I will definitely be getting my apples there next year. I gave 21.00 a bushel for mine this year & I got a bushel & a half, which still came out to about .50per pint & a 1.00 per qt...& that's not bad.

I got 43pint & 10qt.from that bushel & a half of apples.

That's A LOT of food=)!

Any-who...that was my day yesterday, I did have a young girl here to help keep the kiddos entertained, but the canning was all me,myself, & I! I got done w/ all the cold-packing & clean-up by around 7:00pm...it was a VERY long day, but oh so worth it!

If anyone is interested in recipes or how-to ??? just leave a comment & I'll try to answer those on a later post,all out of time for today...