Missing Mom

When I pulled out my Easter decorations a couple of weeks back, I unwrapped this carefully packed rabbit and blown egg.  It is special to me and my eight year old, because we decorated the egg together about six years ago for his nanny, my mother.  Nanny died about four and half years ago, so this little treasure is ever so special to us.  My mom had it in a curio cabinet year round, not worried that it wasn't "in season" with the decor.  She displayed it because she knew little hands made it for her with love.  We miss you mom!  I wish you were here to see my little guys in their Easter outfits and to meet my two little ones that you never got to hold.  I bet Easter is great in Heaven!

A Hopping Deal

 

Can you say TJ Maxx is awesome?  I love searching their clearance racks.  When they have a good deal, they really have a good deal!  I found a great Easter Banner last year in the "after Easter" clearance area for $1.00.  Yea!

 

Easter Greetings to you and your family!  I'd love to hear about a bargain you have discovered lately! 

Shoo shoes!

Our family of five has fifty toes, ten feet, and million pair of shoes!  It is as if all the shoes have gotten together and decided to go through mitosis.  We have shoes under the beds, by the front and back doors, in the "shoe closet", in the regular closets, by the couch, hanging from the ceiling fan, in the microwave.  Okay, maybe not the last two locations, but it seems that they are everywhere!  This weekend, my faithful helper, Ryan & Cannon, gathered just the shoes out of the shoe closet and lined them up.  I made the task into a matching game for them and they loved it!  I went through the shoes that didn't fit those every growing little boy feet and tucked them away for little brother.  Here are just a few of the shoe matches.  I'd say this is about 1/4 of the shoes that live in our house.  We need to let go of our packratting ways and get rid of more shoes! 

But, BUTTS are so funny...

I have to admit I still giggle or make a little toot sound with my mouth (thank goodness it's only my mouth) whenever I hear the word "butt." So immature, I know...but, BUTTS are so funny!

I guess it is a good thing I can find humor with butts, being the mother of three boys it is often a topic of conversation!  One such occasion was a few days ago when Cannon, my four year old said, "Hey, mom!  Our forks have butts on the end of them."  Sure enough when you turn them upside done, there is a nice round bottom.  Wow, leave it to a four year old little boy to see that.  Funny guy! 

Last week, Cannon told Ryan, his eight year old brother, that he "broke his butt."  Ryan said, "I know, it has a crack in it!"  Ahahaha! 

Poor Baby

I think I might get the baby Parker's room done in time for him to go off to college. Ha! He is almost five months old and I just started painting his room this past weekend. Wow! I had my other two boy's rooms done months in advance. Poor Parker... The room is going to be very cute once I finish. I'm trying to squeeze in time here and there to work on it. I have a vintage cowboy scene baby bedding and full bedding set. I'm debating on whether or not to even put a crib in the room since he always sleeps with his mommy and daddy. I'll post the progress of the room along the way. So far, the bright red accent wall and light carmel brown walls are looking pretty good. Bold, but good. The colors match the bedding perfectly. Wish me luck!

A Messy Cook...

I am a messy cook. I can't help it. I'm not happy unless every bowl is out and all my spoons are dirty. Whether it is cookies, cupcakes, or potroast, I create a diaster. I like to think that the messier the cook = the yummier the dish!

I have a great husband that will often come in after my culinary messiness and straighten up. He's a good man!

Here is a link to a super messy/yummy creation my two older boys and I made. http://www.cookiemadness.net/?p=5953 These are called Compost Cookies. You clean out your pantry and turn it all into a cookie! The boys had a great time rounding up sugar cones, marshmallows, pretzels, cocoa puffs, cinnamon toast crunch, chocolate chips, and fritos for our compost. I wonder what ingredients will you find in your pantry? I've started a ziploc bag in my pantry to dump the last bits of cereal in a box, crackers, etc. for the next batch of cookies.

Enjoy!

Free and Fantastic!

When I was pregnant with my second little boy, I went out on a search for a dresser to hold all the sweet baby clothes and serve as a changing table. Being the penny pincher that I am, I searched all over town in every thrift store and antique mall in town. Right about when I was about to pop that baby out, I visited a thrift store "one last time" to see if there was a dresser there for my baby. As I pulled out up to the store, I saw a lady unloading the perfect dresser...well almost perfect. It had little pink bows and dirt dobber nests all over it. Another woman's junk quickly became my treasure! I ran (more like waddled very slowly) up to the nice man working on unloading it and carrying it inside and asked how much was he going to price it for. He took one look at me and my enormous belly and said, "for you, free!" I must have really looked pitiful. I said I wanted to pay, but he said the only payment he would take was for me to bring my new baby by for a visit once he arrived. He loaded it up and away I went. I have paid him back many times with visits to the thrift store with my little "baby" that is now four!

I painted the dresser a creamy white and sanded the edges showing the brown wood grain. I used cheap acrylic paints on the edges and lettering. The paiter's tape I used didn't prevent the paint bleeds as I had hoped, but I actually liked it better with the imperfect edges of the lines. The theme for the room was rabbits. I found great rabbit head drawer pulls on a clearance rack at Lowe's for a quarter each! It was really hopping now. I painted the phrase "Chasing Rabbits" on the front to match a wall hanging above the crib that said, "Little boys dream of chasing rabbits."

Cowboy Cake Stand

For my son's 4th birthday party, I needed a western themed cake stand with vintage style. I searched around the house, determined to create the cake stand w/o buying ANYTHING. Here is what I found: three silver plates (each one about an inch smaller than the other), nine mason jars, hot glue gun, bandana and cow print material, & jute rope.

Take four mason jars and hot glue around each rim and glue to the bottom of the biggest plate. Next take three mason jars and glue the bottoms to the top of the biggest plate. Then hot glue around the rims of the three and place the medium size plate on top. Finally glue the bottoms of two jars to the top of the medium size plate and glue the small plate to the rims.

Once the jars have all been secured to the plates, decorate the edges as you please. I chose to tear the bandana material into strips and hot glue to the edges of the plates. Every three inches, I glued the jute rope. On the center plate, I glued triangluar pieces of the cow print material. The final step is to add a super cute cake and cupcakes. I made chocolate and white icing cupcakes on the bottom two tiers and a double layer cake for the topper. Check out the "Birthday Parties" tab on the right to find out how to make the decorative chocolate pieces on the cake.