baby giggles

Shortly after we put Addie to bed last night we heard baby giggles coming from her room. I peaked in the door to find this.
She was so tickled with herself and her newest trick!

first day of school, 2010-2011

We survived the first day of school! barely, but we survived. Right now it is mandatory quiet time for all the kids, 2 are sleeping, one crafting and the other two playing Legos.

We debated back and forth all summer weather or not to send Tallulah back for another year of preschool, especially since she will be doing CC with the rest of the kids and that would mean going out 4 days a week. In the end we decided to send her back and today was conformation that we made the right choice. You see, Preschool does not start for another week, so she was hear with us this morning while I tried to juggle school work for the other 3 kids. Remember that crazy Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes? I think Tallulah must be a direct descendant of his. Case in point, this (more or less) is what our "schoolroom" looked like before we started school this morning.

And this is it after
Such joyful students I have :)
Well, I guess you can imagine what I am doing with the rest of my day! If I can dig myself out of this mess hopefully I will be back with more posts this week, wish me luck!

sewing class

We finished our last sewing class today and I am so proud of the girls, they did such a great job and I will miss having them all here each week!

Our first class was a 4 week hand sewing class where we made a softie owl and embroidered a t-shirt. I wish I had take pictures of all their projects, but I just plain forget! Anyway, here are my example projects so you get the idea.

We took the month of July off and came back in August for 4 weeks of machine sewing. I had a total of 5 students ages 7-11. We started off with machine basics (how to thread the machine, fill your bobbin, straight stitch, back stitch etc.) then we moved on to our first project, a tote bag. In this project they learned how to make a french seam, how to sew and turn handles, and how to make boxed corners.

I made the initial appliques before hand and stitched them onto the fabric for them to go back and hand embroider (around the circle) later.

And our final project was a pillow cover. I pre-cut the squares because that would have taken a whole other 4 weeks I think with 5 girls trying to choose and cut their own but they sewed them all together today and did such an awesome job!
I think they are all very proud of all their hard work- I know I am!

proof of miricles and a finished sewing project

I finished up Regan's bean bag chair (the sewing project I referred to yesterday) last night before heading to bed. I am really happy with the results, and I think Regan is too, even though (heaven forbid) there are some pink dots on it .

I used this tutorial (adult size), only we used a little more than two, 100 liter bags of pellets. I bought three bags and plan to use the rest in a child sized chair, one of these days :)

And here is the documented miracle... Regan's room is CLEAN!
I had to take pictures because I knew it would not last and chances are it will never look this good again, but I least I have these pictures to remind me how nice it can look.
Back to cleaning- tomorrow is our last sewing class and I will try and remember to take some pictures to post of the girls and their awesome sewing! TTFN!

savoring every last moment

One lazy summer afternoon + some new perler bead supplies= many hours of beading fun and some cool new designs on our BIG perler boards!
This is just a sampling of the very best ones that were made in the last 3 days- there have been many more. Hours of endless fun and mommy not getting very much done b/c I've been beading too :)

I've got more to post about, but I'm a bit crazed right now (since I spent the last 3 hours helping make the dragon and farm, plus cook lunch and entertain a crawling baby and 2 neighbor kids)! If I can finish the sewing project I started last night and get the house cleaned I should be back with another post tomorrow. Wish me luck!

new room in an afternoon

The boys finally got their makeover today! It is amazing how transforming one coat of paint can be. The room went from this, to this all in the hours between lunch and dinner!
I've been promising for 8 months now to paint over those flowers and when we had almost a full gallon of both green and blue paint left after re-painting Regan's stripes (I guess I overestimated how much paint it would take to cover the pink!) we figured now was the time!

We also did a little rearranging that gives the boys a little more room to move around, since their room does double as the play room too.

I got their new covers on clearance at Target last week (when I got Regan's).
Can you tell they are excited about their new room? These boys rarely smile for photos!

Courtney, there is one of the pink headboards from Regan's (old) room. I plan to paint it green as soon as I get a chance- it is acting as a back to a wire shelf in the "laundry/pantry" area of the room.
I want to say that we are done with painting for awhile, but the truth is, I am itching to do board and batten and paint the kitchen- got my colors picked out and everything- currently I think the paint budget is empty though, so we just might get a break after all!

i give up!

I really wanted to show you a clean and completed room, but "clean" just isn't in Regan's blood and I just have not been able to get it all done as quickly as I had wanted. So, for better or worse, this is how Regan's room looks right now. In case you've forgotten, this is what the room used to look like, but Regan decided about a year ago that she does NOT like pink!

When she was choosing her colors, she decided she liked the strips and wanted to keep them, so I re-taped the white and painted over with blue and green. That part was easy, but because the walls are textured it is impossible to not have some seepage of the colors under the tape. In case you are wondering, it took me about 3 hours with a teeny paint brush to touch up the white stripes.
The curtains are the top sheet from her sheet set ($15 with coupon at Bed Bath and Beyond, not bad for 100% cotton curtains and sheets). I have not put top sheets on the kids beds for years because they just kick them down the the end of the bed and never use them! We found the quilt on clearance at Target yesterday and did not realize until we got home that some of the circles have the same green with white polka-dot pattern that her curtains and sheets do!

The built in book shelf used to be a dark stain, we decided to paint it white to help brighten up a dark room (only one window with a large tree just outside it) and I think it makes the room feel a bit bigger too. The closet curtain is a $3 Walmart sheet. Took me about 10 minutes to make a pocket for the tension curtain rod that holds it up. Oh, and the blank canvas (above the fan) will eventually have a USA map.
The ribbon I used on this lamp was the inspiration for the colors Regan chose.

This dresser used to have a dark cherry stain, I sanded it down and painted it Caterpillar green (sorry dad!), yowzers that's bright, but I think it is Regan's favorite part of the make-over! We hand painted the knobs together with the colors of the wall and bed frame.

Eventually there will be a BIG bean bag chair in this corner (I just ordered the bean bag fill today)! And hopefully one of these days the room will be clean enough for me to do a real reveal with all projects complete and everything put back where it belongs!
Next up? Painting over those flowers in the boys room!