Family home evening fun

This past Tuesday we had FHE and did a lesson on obedience and why we obey. We talked about who we obey and why and how it makes our Heavenly Father happy when we obey etc. and to go along with the theme we made some boy and girl stick puppets.
Craft projects are always the highlight of our family nights! It makes me happy. Here are the kids with their stick puppets.

The Green Thumb Itch

A few weeks ago I had the itch to do some planting. Sure I had the garden in already but what good is the nice weather if you aren't out enjoying it? So Emma and I headed to the store and bought 2 big planters, some potting soil, and a bunch of flowers. We brought them home and made a couple of these to sit on the back patio/deck. They are still doing awesome and have filled out much more since this picture was taken. The other pot has some white petunias and some pink and purple flowers with more tall grass in the middle.  I just love spring and summer time!

Enjoying the Warm Sunshine

 

I love this picture! We've been having a good run of warm nice weather lately and I hope it continues!

Emma and I have been enjoying our mornings together Monday-Wednesday while Ethan is at preschool. That is when we run our errands to the store, the post office, or clean out the car while Emma pretends to be the driver etc. But it's also when we do some watering of the garden and flower beds. Emma loves her job of helping mommy carry the hose from plant to plant and will get upset if mommy tries to do it on her own. She is very protective of her jobs and is constantly saying "I do it, I do it!" But I don't really mind. It is fun to watch her grow and I love the chance she and I have to spend time together one on one.

Look who lost another tooth!

Look who lost another tooth! It has been awhile since she lost it but I need to get a pic of it in here so I can always treasure that toothless grin. Can't wait til the other one goes too so we can sing "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth"

 

The tooth fairy was so cool this time around too because the night Kiera lost it, mommy forgot to send an e-mail to the tooth fairy to let her know, and then the next night we weren't home so Kiera had to wait two extra nights. So to make it up to Kiera, the tooth fairy left a personal note behind and a bit of "real" fairy dust in a plastic baggie. It was so cool. Kiera loved it too because the fairy dust made the paper airplane her daddy made her the night before fly even higher than before. 

Or so she says. :)

Now to stop the meanies at her school that keep telling her that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the tooth fairy aren't real! Sheesh, kids these days! But for now I just tell her that she can believe in what she wants and if the kids at school don't want to believe in magic that is their problem.

Diorama Fun

So we have been busy busy busy and amongst all the to's and fro's I have taken a photo or two and just thought I'd share what the kids and I did the other day.

Ethan had a dinosaur habitat homework assignment for preschool so while Emma was napping the other day he and I worked on his project. He had so much fun doing and was one proud little boy when it was all done. And I'll have to admit I was pretty proud myself. It turned out pretty cool. But when it came time to finding some toy dinosaurs to go in his habitat I learned a disturbing thing. What boy at the age of 5 only has two lousy dinosaur toys? Something is wrong with this picture. We'll have to work on that one. But here's my proud little man and his first ever diorama.

 

And of course when Kiera got home from school she was jealous and so she decided she had to make a diorama of her own. And what's better than a "My Little Pony" habitat? Love it! And since then She has added some more grassy meadows and fluffy white clouds that hang in the background. Don't know how long but I imagine these two masterpieces will be gracing my kitchen table for awhile. And I am ok with that.

 

Tulip Festival Outing

Its that time of year when the flowers and sunshine make their appearance and we are loving every minute! We might even go out for a family bike ride tonight after Dan gets home from work.

I just wanted to share some fun pictures we had taken (courtesy of "uncle" Ben May) while we went out Tuesday evening for a family night trip to the Tulip Festival in Mount Vernon. The weather was perfect and the temperature was just right and we loved it. We were a bit disappointed when the farmers market that we pass coming home wasn't open. We usually stop there for GIANT ice cream cones. But I guess that's what happens when you go on a week day instead of the weekend.

Here are some of my favorite shots from the trip...

I love outings like this. There isn't much planning involved, they aren't super expensive or extravagant, but they are what the best memories are made of. I'm looking forward to many more outings like this one since the weather is warming up and it is time to play outside a lot more.

Coffee Table Makeover

Oh my goodness has it actually been 12 days since my last post! WOW! Just shows you how busy it has gotten around here. My birthday was on the 2nd and we went out to The Olive Garden (my all time favorite place to eat) with our friends Ben and Kara. We had conference weekend on the 6th and 7th,  and the in-laws came for a visit. But in between all that I've started a new hobby/business opportunity for myself. I am planning on using the extra money to pay for the built ins I want to make around our fireplace in our living room. I've got BIG plans! and I can't wait to get started.

I have taken up furniture refinishing. and my first victim was this $7.00 coffee table I found at my local thrift store. It wasn't too bad but it was missing a couple corner pieces and had its share of scuffs and scratches. But I knew I could add some new corner pieces and the scuffs and dings in the wood didn't worry me since I'd be sanding them off.

 So the first thing I did was sand off the sticky stuff and gunk that was baked on the top and then applied some paint/finish stripper. I worked in small sections because if the solution dries too much it won't come off. I used Jasco's spray paint and epoxy remover just to see how I liked it but I'd recommend the old fashioned paint on with a brush kind. It didn't remove the finish as evenly unless you used up a TON of the spray and it was much cheaper and effective going the other way.

after the stripper sits for the suggested amount of time I took a putty knife (metal works best just be careful not to gouge the wood) and scraped all the stuff off. It was a long process but it was well worth the effort!

After it was all dry I went over the whole table with my sander and then wiped everything off. I was almost temped to stop here and just apply my polyurethane finish. The wood looked so pretty! But no, I had plans for this baby!

I got some frog tape at Lowe's (and I'll just say this stuff is amazing!!!) It was on the spendy side for what I am used to paying for tape but worth EVERY PENNY! I needed something that wouldn't let anything seep under the tape. Next, I spent a good 2-3 hours taping off my checker design on the table top. (I had Dan help carry the table inside to our living room so I could tape it off while we watched some shows on Hulu late at night. Dan was fast asleep by the time I was finished but if you know me I have to keep going until I reach a good stopping point. I think I was finished about 2:00 in the morning. I thought it even looked good with the green tape! :) just kidding

Next the table went back in the garage and I masked the rest of the table off with some kitchen trash bags that I cut open and some masking paper. I wanted to be sure I didn't drip any stain outside of where my checkers would be.

Then it was time for the fun part!! I love staining! I did 3 coats of stain (with drying time and light sanding with steel wool inbetween coats) until I got the color I wanted which was to match the drawers on the front of the table. (I didn't strip the drawers because they weren't made out of real wood and I didn't want to try and stain pressed board when they were already in pretty good shape).
This is a picture after just one coat.

The table is just about done. I'm just waiting to do 2 more coats of polyurethane but I'm waiting on my hubby for that because we just got a new toy! We bought a sprayer to hook up to our air compressor and he's going to show me how it works first. I just need to get the right quick release coupler for the hose. I am so excited and am so happy with how it is turning out! I especially love it with the one coat of poly I've already brushed on because it turns the wood a bit of an amber color that is so yummy!

 

I plan on reselling the table for at least $200 but we'll see what happens.