Magic Eraser Saves the Day

Or I guess I should have titled this "Magic Eraser Saves Will." sigh. This child. Thanks goodness he's as cute as they come because trust me, it saves his life.

So yesterday, at church, apparently Will was a naughty boy. The nursery worked told me he had been doing lots of hitting. Then when I went to pick him up, he had a sucker in his mouth. She then told me that he climbed onto the shelf, stole some suckers and then gave them to the kids. Hey, at least he shared, right? sigh. Then in sacrament meeting, he was all over the place. We've started taking him out but holding him still in the hallway. We are trying to show that the hall isn't as much fun as the chapel (which has the toys/coloring books/snacks that we bring). He did ok, after several trips in and out. But then, I guess he decided he'd had enough of his pants and took them off. I was mortified.

I can't keep pants on this kid! I guess I should be glad that at least he keeps his diaper on, right?? The real kicker was that our Bishop was giving a 'special talk' on Reverance in Sacrament meeting. I'm shocked he didn't call us by name.

Then this morning, I came in our room, only to find Will with a permanent marker (never a good sign) and my desk all colored. I was ok with that because I'm going to repaint it eventually, but then I saw the computer screen was also all colored. Ahhhhh!!!! Oh my goodness. He's killing me.

I tried a few things, and thankfully the magic eraser did just the trick. I'm learning that with little boys- you need to have a stock pile of magic erasers!!!

On Saturday, Lee got whatever disease was floating around here. He had a slight fever and mostly slept all day. Let me tell you- I am actually hoping I get whatever sickness it is, JUST so I can sleep all day too! But alas, I didn't get it. Well, with Lee down, I was on kid patrol all day again. I was already exhausted (from a rough night with one of them. I can't remember which one now) so it was a long day. I finally took Amy and Will outside and just let them play with the hose. Lee had found some buckets on clearance the day before and they turned out to be the perfect thing. Oh- and Amy found a grasshopper. Actually, I found it and let her catch it. She kept it in a jar until the evening and let it go. (Thankfully, Lee was better by the evening)

We have the nicest neighbors. One guy, Mike, loves to mow everyone's lawn. I think he was thrilled when we said he could mow ours too. So every week he comes by on his riding mower and mows the lawn for us. HOW nice is that??? So generous! On Saturday he also brought by some freshly picked corn. He's just so kind. I need to bake him something!

Other than that, we've just been hanging around. I quickly read a book last week, only to realize I had read the wrong one. (It was for book club and was due back at the library) So I over the weekend, I sped-read the correct one. I'd say that 2 books in 5 days isn't too shabby. I went to the library and got a few more. Then got home and remembered that we watch the Olympics every night. Oh well. We have a few more things planned for the rest of the week, hopefully all will go according to plan!  

Somewhat Under the Weather

The kids have all been sick for awhile now. Well, since before we went to GA. Just runny noses and congestion. Nothing major, no fevers or anything just general "snottiness." Lovely, huh? We rarely get sick, so when we do, I get very tired of it, very quickly. On Monday I was tired of it all. I had a humidifier going, as well as water boiling all day on the stove. I washed everyone's bedding and anything else I could think of. Tuesday I played with the kids outside, trying to get some "sunshine healing" and Vitamin D into their systems. Last night, Will and Tyler didn't sleep much. (Thankfully, Amy did). I finally got Will down around 3am, just in time for Tyler to wake up. The poor thing had a hard time breathing. So I set myself up in the living room, got the humidifier going again and lathered him in Vicks vapor rub. I hated using it (it has petroleum in it) but desperate times call for desperate measures. He can't get better if he can't breathe! Thankfully, he fell sound asleep and so did I! These lazyboys are a dream! They may not look like much but they are as comfortable as can be. And at this point, I'm more out for comfort. For 2 days, Tyler screamed and cried a LOT. Nothing would console him. Well, in all the crying, he made himself hoarse. So when he cries, you never really know he's crying, because you can't hear him. It's actually kind of funny. I've never had a hoarse baby before! haha. It's pretty cute.

This morning everyone feels ok, but they are still congested. Coughs, snot, wonderful. At least there hasn't been much whining. It must be "fort" day as each kid made their own. Will took a book and a blanket into his clothes hamper and had a great time.

Lee had to make a few more 'dead bodies' for his class. So he cut more heads and limbs out of this box. Then Amy took the remains and made herself a "spa." Thanks to Aunt Donna's gift last week and a few make-up additions from Mommy- her spa was complete. I know kids love boxes, but who would have thought that one box could be dead body parts AND a spa!

And me? I'm feeling fine. Luckily I've been able to sleep in lately, thanks to Lee's later schedule, and I'm sure that's helped me from getting sick. I'm also downing vitamin C like crazy and just taking it easy. I'm starting to wonder if the kids really just have allergies. Though I wonder what could be aggravating that this time of year. Hmmm.....

Cornice Boards, Check!

Today I finally made/hung my cornice boards! I actually had no idea what they even were, until I saw that my friend Jennifer hung a great one in her daughter's room. Then I was in love. I've been toying with what to do with the kitchen windows. I didn't want curtains, and I'm not a super "valance" fan, but this, well this seemed like the perfect solution.

I couldn't find a more recent "before" picture, but the 3 windows still looked like this. Naked, bare and begging for some attention. I also had to do something that coordinated with the living room since the rooms are attached.

Low and behold, I found an old tablecloth that was the perfect color combination. Take that, with Jenn's great idea and this was born....

The extra best part? It was free! Jenn's husband was SOOO kind to write down instructions for me that involved MDF board. I was all for it, until last weekend at mom and dad's. I was at their old house and saw a huge sheet of foam insulation not being used. I asked Dad if he was going to use it and if I could have it. He had no need for it and was nice enough to even cut it down to the sizes I needed. He suggested I use caulking to attach the foam. Well, I didn't have any and in an effort to get this project done today, I challenged myself to be creative and only use what I had on hand. No caulking, but I had hot glue! Worked like a charm. 

I didn't have any batting either, so I cut up an old blanket. Again, worked like a charm. I wrapped the blanket and the cut up table cloth around the foam. Now I had to figure out how to keep it wrapped. The staple gun didn't work, the staples kept coming out. After a little research and a thought process, I decided to use sewing pins. Yep, those ball topped pins. They worked great!

Lee and I attached them to the walls with L brackets and voila! Completion. Gosh I love a FREE project that actually works out.

In other news- Amy was up again all night last night. This girl is killing us. (She also did this the night before we went to GA) Because she didn't get any sleep, she was "sick" today. We had a church activity this morning and I went all by myself. Ok, I love being with my family, no doubt, but WOW- it was a different world being able to talk to everyone without any children! Craziness!

Actually, I spent most of the time cooking pancakes. I'm now the Relief Society Secretary (as of a few weeks ago) and the RS was in charge of cooking the pancakes. So me and the RS President, Sila, went at it. Funny thing was, there wasn't a table that would reach the plug. So we sat on the ground. Eventually some men ran to the church to get us a table, that was nice. But before that we were doing it "polynesian style." (Sila is Samoan) I love her and it was fun to spend that much time chatting and laughing.

Also- I need to publicly thank Grandma for the new silverware. Apparently my old stuff was not quite up to par. Grandma gave it to us for our wedding but apparently was always diappointed in the quality. Mom started making comments the last time she was here. So I said, "Well, it works, I figured it was fine. How do you tell the difference between good and bad silverware?" Mom said, "Well, if you scoop out ice cream with a spoon, the spoon shouldn't bend in half." Oh. haha! Anyhow- thank you Grandma, we love the new stuff. It's so shiny and fancy looking. And heavy! Good quality for sure! It passed the ice cream test. :)

3 Months and New Play stuff

Guess who is 3 months today! Tyler, that's who!

He's such a good, sweet baby. He's always so happy and laid back. His laugh is hysterical and when he laughs, you just want him to keep laughing. Everyone says he looks like Lee. Even this past weekend, at Anna's shower, everyone took one glance and said, "oh, he looks just like Lee!" For the record, both Lee and I don't think any of our kids look like either one of us. I always tell people, "They don't look like us but they resemble us enough that I'm not in trouble."

We also got a package from Aunt Donna today. (Ok, Uncle Mike too, I know he likes me to mention him since he's 'blood,' haha) It came just in time for rest time. Which was wonderful because it gave Amy something to do. She likes to wander out of her room. Will was already asleep, so he opened his later.

They both got aprons- handmade from Aunt Donna! Amy's had a bunch of "hair salon" stuff in it. She went right to work on her animals! So cute! Also in the package was this package of mega button candy. I love button candy. So it was fun to see it so big!

Will was busy eating the candy, so Amy modeled his apron. His has trucks on it. It also had fun stuff like play money, stickers and books in the pockets.

Eating away!

Thanks Hiliger's! The kids love all of their fun new play stuff! (I didn't take any pictures of Amy's because when she was done playing with it, she put it all away. She's not great about keeping her room neat (neither am I!) and we cleaned it out the other night. Then we talked about how good a clean room makes you feel. So I didn't dare get her stuff back out when she had so diligently put it all away! But trust me, she LOVES it!)

'Nancy' is Organized

I don't think I ever posted this, but before we left for GA, Will and Amy got a fun surprise in the mail. A ball! And a pencil box! Our friends, Josh and Gladys (well, it was really Gladys) sent them to the kids. How fun! Who knew you could mail a ball??

As most of you know- Nancy Drew is my woman. I LOVE those books and devoured them as a child. I think I was in High School when Mom loving told me I needed to start reading something in a higher reading level. Of course, I love to read, but Nancy Drew wins my heart.

Over the years, it was my goal to collect all the original books. Mom and I searched high and low at all types of antique stores. We both had a list of the titles that we kept with us and would mark off each one as we found it. There were 56. Around the time that ebay first started (MANY years ago), I was able to get the remainder of my collection. I still remember getting money orders and mailing them out (I didn't have a credit card at this point and I don't think paypal was really around yet.) FINALLY I got them all.

But life changed, we moved several times and for many years, all my wonderful books were stored away in a box. I brought them back with me (from Mom's house) in February, but never knew how to display them. Mom and I talked about several ideas but none of them ever carried through. Then we moved again. This time, I was determined to display them. And in the new house, we had the perfect wall.

So boring and drab. I hate a bare wall

When Mom and I went to Ikea, we picked up the perfect shelves. They are actually similar to the ones I had made in the kids rooms, but these look much nicer. And it was way easier to buy them than build some more.

Ta-Da!  I wanted to display them face out so you could see all the cool covers.

Since only 21 of my 56 fit on the shelves, I added some to the top of the piano and my other bookcase. I plan on rotating them out as I see fit.  

Speaking of bookshelves, I finally finished my large one. I play around with it all the time. But so far, I like this arrangement best. Sorry the picture is so fuzzy. I think my camera is getting old.

So now here is what the living room looks like with everything in place. Eventually I'll replace the brown chair with a new chair- something with a fun print. But for now, the lazy boy is perfect with the baby. I also want to replace the lamp next to the chair.

I've also been working on my photo wall. I have several more pictures to add, I just have to get the frames. I'm definitely one that likes to make lots of holes in the wall! I think this drives Lee crazy, but he doesn't say anything. Hey, that's what putty is for! :)  I love the W's. Now that Nancy is done, I'm going to start collecting W's. So if you see a cool one at a yard sale or thrift shop- grab it for me.

I don't think I ever showed this project..... I took all of our names and wove them together with Scrabble letters. I love it.

It feels good to finally have the living room done. (well, except for making some pillows) I LOVE how it all turned out! It feels so homey in here now!