What I've Been Working On

Now that I am caught up with Christmas posts I can now start focusing on what has been happening in 2013! I just compiled last years posts and submitted them to Blog2Print to have them all put into a hard bound book for our 2012 family yearbook. Feels good to be done with that and on top of things!

I've been keeping busy with other projects lately too. One has been a furniture refinish project. I just love those! A friend of ours and his wife recently moved up here, and to help them with their home decor I took on the task of refinishing a dining room table his wife and I found at Goodwill (funny story on that table too!) for $20 and I am now fixing their 3 dining room chairs to match. I love how the table turned out and the chairs are looking fantabulous as well!

Here's what the table top looked like from the store. 

after a little sanding

 

And WHA LA!

I love how it turned out. And I just love how the little knob on the little side drawer stands out. The Table legs were kinda fun too. I put them on my lathe and sanded and painted them while they were spinning. Talk about FUN! And perfect finish! 

Now the funny thing about this table is that my friend and I found it at Goodwill for $20. Well that parts not so funny, but here's the kicker. It used to be my BEST FRIEND'S table! You may remember me telling you about Marie O'Neil once or twice. Well, she moved to Germany back in November (still broken hearted about that) and she had sold the table to her neighbor before she moved. They must have moved since then too or found something else. But as soon as I saw the little red marker streaks and blue pen markings on that table top I "knew" this table. I had seen it time and time again at the one place I used to spend hours talking with my bestie. Eating mac n cheese with 8 lil kiddos around and making messes. So for me this wasn't just any furniture makeover. It was a reminder of my BFF and many memories! sniffle sniffle.

After the table top was finished it was time to make my friends dining room chairs match. They we in need of a makeover and I was just the person to do it. Dan had been in the Philippines again and I needed a project to keep me busy. It just happened to be that I didn't get around to this part til he got back :)

Here are the chairs after I gave them a light sanding to get rid of the old finish and make it so the paint would stick. I totally spaced taking a "before" picture.  I got to work as soon as these babies got to my house. You can see in the white bucket the fabric that used to cover the seat cushions. Lovely vegetable print! It was time for an update!

 

And here are the new seat cushions are prettied up again

 

Side by side before and after. Awh much better!

Two chairs down just one more to go!

I am also working on a couple quilts. Yes, I said a couple! My little sister is expecting her first baby and I am taking this auntie thing to niece or nephew#2 very seriously. But since I don't know what the sex of the baby is going to be I decided to go ahead and make a quilt for both sexes just to cover all possibilities. Call me crazy! I love my sister! And in the end I'll have another awesome quilt to gift to someone else since babies are happening everywhere it seems.

I've finished up all the quilt blocks so far and now just need to sew them together to make the quilt top. I am thinking of doing one with a purple border and one with an orange border. What do you think?

 

And while I am at it, I thought I'd share this picture too. This is what I found as I was leaving to go pick my oldest daughter Kiera from the bus stop. And when I got back it was still going on. I just had to get a picture. Just melts my heart!

 

Christmas Jumble #2

The week before Christmas Dan left for the Philippines and so the kids and I spent a lot of time together. I was a rough week but we survived. Part of the reason I survived was because of the help I recieved from friends and family. A huge help was that Dan's Dad rode the train/bus up to Seattle so that I didn't have to make the drive back to Oregon City on my own with the kids in tow. In fact he drove the entire way! Thanks Grandpa! It was nice to have a couple days to relax and unwind before all the festivities started, and I even got to do it without Dan there! Now those are some super in-laws if I do say so myself!
Dan's parents and I would stay up late and play card games, eat Christmas candy, and visit after the kids went down. And Grandpa Glenn set up a train for the kids while Emma was down for a nap one day while we were there. The kids had fun putting Grandma's Christmas figurines on the train as it ran underneath the kitchen table. 

 

Another day before Christmas Eve Grandma and Grandpa treated the kids and I to a new aquarium that opened up close by. The kids had so much fun touching the fish and splashing in the water. It was quite an impressive little place for having previously been a steakhouse restaurant. 

This is probably my favorite picture from the aquarium. Ethan got to feed the parrots and once the food was in his hands it seemed like every bird in the enclosure knew it. This picture was taken seconds before that happy face turned to pure horror when that bird landed on his head. Arms and shoulders were ok, but heads...NO WAY!

This is a picture Ethan took of me. My surprised look was due to the fact that I now had a bird turning the hood of my coat into its nest. 

 

 

Christmas Eve finally came and my husband came home! He flew into Seattle and then took the train to Oregon City. I was so happy to have him home again. Christmas Eve was spent at Dan's Aunt Carol's House. We love going and seeing his cousins and extended family members. And every year The Christmas story is read from the special book that used to be read by Shellie's Brother Scott but is now read by his son Dayne.
I miss spending Christmas time at home but it is fun to take part in Dan's families traditions too. 

This is a picture of Emma chillin' on the floor while the Christmas story was read. She was poking holes in a CD cover page and saying "Ouch!" every time the pencil went through. I don't think anyone was able to listen to Dayne's telling of the story. It was pretty funny though.

We had a delicious dinner, family talent show with games. the famous dessert table gorging, and then finished it off with singing Christmas carols around the piano, and exchanging gifts. 

The next morning was Christmas!

Rather than give a play-by-play here are some pictures from Christmas morning. 

 

Santa also visited our house while we were at Grandma and Grandpas so as soon as we unloaded the van the kids enjoyed their second Christmas morning night.

Christmas Jumble #1

Ok so I'm not doing so well with catching this blog up from Christmas and New Years. So today I decided I am going to do a Christmas Jumble. I'm not sure exactly what that'll consist of but we'll give it a go.

We went to the Lights of Christmas for a family night in Early December. It was the second time we've gone and it has become a family tradition. We go to see the talking Christmas tree, eat cinnamon glazed almonds, elephant ears, and chili dogs. The kids also go to see Santa this time. Last year Santa was "out Feeding the Reindeer" so we didn't get so see him. Clad we got to this time even if Emma didn't want anything to do with him.

 Another tradition we have is writing our letters to Santa. We love our little town because they set up a mailbox specifically for letters to the North Pole. And the kids receive a response letter too! It is so fun!

Ethan with his letter

Ethan mailing it to Santa

Kiera with her letter

Kiera mailing hers to Santa

Our little group of excited kiddos. Emma doesn't look that excited I know. We should have had her do one this year too.

In between festivities the kids had fun getting into the playclothes. After Halloween each year their costumes (most of them anyway) get put into the bin of playclothes so that they can be worn more than just the one night of Halloween. I even purchase clearanced costumes on occasion just to add to their collection.
On this particular day Emma and Ethan were lions, and Kiera was Snow White. I love that my kids play together well and use their imaginations. Not having a TV or Netflicks etc can be rough sometimes but its things like this that make it worth it.

 

 Another Christmas Jumble Post Coming soon. I just have to go through all the photos from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Time Came and Went SO FAST!

Wow! 2012 is over?! That was fast. It is now a week into the new year and I still haven't written about our Christmas Festivities. I guess it goes to show you that we've been busy and have been enjoying it. (for the most part anyway...but that's another story).

The kids start school again this coming Monday and this mama is soooo ready! It will be nice for the kids to have that daily routine and structure back. And it will be good for this mommy to have some down time without having to find a new activity after new activity after new activity. We've done a lot of playing with play dough, coloring, making necklaces, or some other kind busy work to keep the kids entertained. You can only say, "go color" or "go play in your room with your toys" so many times before nothing suits them anymore. I don't think I have an ounce of brain power left to come up with anything else.

The weather hasn't helped much either. I would LOVE LOVE LOVE for it to dump snow on us so I could send the kids out to play in it! We did go sledding a few days ago; however, we had to drive an hour to find the snow to go sledding on, but we did do it.

Kiera the dalmatian and Ethan the tiger taking a break

Daddy playing like the big kid he is

Go Kiera!

Family shot just as we were leaving. Nice hat hair mom!

Emma's not to sure about this

One happy little boy

 As we were leaving Ethan said, "I wish we could stay there forever!" then Kiera said, "it's not fair, I wish it would be like this at our house." Sorry kiddos. At our house we have had nothing but rain and wet with a day or two with some sunshine. It's kinda hard to play outside when you're wet and freezing all the time. So... here's to watching the movie "Brave" for the umpteenth time! (Thanks Santa, we really appreciate it. we really do!). Gonna milk that new movie for all its worth!

I will try and get some more pictures up of our Christmas festivities once the kids are back in school and I have some time to sit down and write about it. Until then....