Friday Food #12

Sorry about last week.  The stomach bug hit our house and lets be honest I was not thinking about food while tending to a sick kid.  But she is better now and we are back.  Next week will be peaceful.  Most of the kids will be gone so food planning is much easier.  I basically picked stuff that I know Adam and I will like.  Also next week Adam is off work on Monday so we have an extra day, yay!!

Saturday – We are going out to eat with my sister, brother in law, niece and cousin for my sister’s 21st birthday.

Sunday & Monday – We are going to smoke and grill some ribs and chicken and grill some veggies.  I figured since it would just be me and Adam and Bradley that we could cook something that we could basically eat for two days.  Since it is Memorial Day and I am trying to get back to shopping based on what is on sale I went with ribs and whole chicken.  Also I selected a bunch of fresh veggies that are on sale including zuchinni, squash, carrots and onions.  We are also having sweet potatoes and rolls.

Tuesday – I have been wanting a good hamburger this week so I thought hamburgers sounds good.  When I worked in the office I use to eat at a little mom and pop store all the time called Our Place and they have the best hamburgers and I have been craving it.  So we are going to have hamburgers and fries.

Wednesday – We are going to have BLT, pasta salad and chips.  Summer always means a good BLT so I am ready for some good tomatoes.  Last time I made the pasta salad I used a box that came with seasoning but instead of the water and oil I used Italian dressing.  This time I am going to add cucumbers and tomatoes.

Thursday – We decided we will eat leftovers.  Since it will just be us we will easily be able to pull together some leftovers and have plenty to eat.

Beach Buckets

On my Tuesday To Do post I previous talked about these buckets I bought from Wal-Mart during Easter.  Well, this past weekend was the weekend of UFO.  I got a lot of them off my list including these buckets.  I am not sure why I put off doing this for so long.  I guess because honestly I am not a fan of vinyl.  I love the way it looks but I do not like working with it.

At first I was going to put their name on the buckets like I did the water bottles, but then I decided I would just put their initial on them like I did the bags.  I thought it helped to tie them all together in coordinating.  Also to help the coordinating I decided I would put a heart on the girls’ and a star on the boys’ like I did the water bottles.

I had previously bought some toys for playing in the sand.  A few weeks ago the kids and I got a pool to get ready for summer and when we bought it we also got each of them some new goggles and some new pool toys.  I had put them up so I filled their buckets up with the sand and pool toys.

Summer 2013

Last summer I started a blog to capture the summer with the kids.  Basically since I rarely have time to scrapbook I decided to make a blog that I can have printed into a book instead of a scrapbook.  Now that summer has rolled around again I have decided to do the same thing again.  Make sure you check it out at asantbsummer2013.wordpress.com.

Summer Totes

One of the things I said I wanted to make for each of the kids for summer was a bag to carry their stuff in.  I found these really cute bags at Dollar Tree and I couldn’t resist them especially for a dollar.

Originally I wanted to monogram the bags the same way I did Alyssa’s shirt, but I had issues hooping the bags.  For some reason I couldn’t get the bag to hoop.

Taylor and I went to Hobby Lobby to find some fabric for their initials for the bags.  I told her I wanted some fabric that would look good on all four bags.  I wanted it to be the same fabric so all four bags would coordinate.  I also told her it couldn’t be too girlie.  At first she told me everything was too girlie then she found this fabric that was the prefect match.  It has all the different colors and its not girlie.

I used heat bond on the back of the fabric then I used my Cricut to cut out each child’s initial.  Using the heat bond I was able to easily iron the initial onto the bags and it looks great.  All the kids love them. Also they match the kids’ water bottles that I made them. I used the same font with my Cricut for these that I used for the water bottles.

Tuesday To Do #3

I had all these plans the other night of getting some post ready and my Internet was acting up so instead of being prepared for today I wasn’t.  I knew what I wanted to write about but actually sitting down and blogging didn’t work out for me.

As you know I am auditioning for S.Y.T.Y.C.  Voting is up this week so make sure you head on over there and vote for your favorite projects.  I so wish I could tell you which one is mine but I am really excited about the fact that it truly is a competition based on the project and not popularity.  Also I am really excited because my blogging buddy Janiene from A Bunch of Bishops is also auditioning.  I can’t wait to see how her and I do.

I am in the process of redecorating all three of the big kids’ rooms.  As you know from my recent post Good-bye Pink Wall, Alyssa and Noah share a room.  For three years now Noah has wanted his room decorated in under water.  Alyssa changes her mind daily and Taylor isn’t much better.  Right now Noah’s room is a big to do list I am working on so hopefully this will help me remember everything.

Most of the stuff left in Noah’s room are things I am making and painting.  This past weekend Adam painted the pink wall a bluish green color(I’ll check the can later to see the exact color but its from Valspar).  We thought it had enough coats but after looking at it we have decided it needs one more.  So this upcoming weekend after Alyssa and Noah leave for their vacation with their father we are going to put another color of paint on the wall.

Projects:

• Painting – The blue wall needs another coat and the white walls need to be painted once I decide on a color.  All three kids will have one accent wall and then white walls so I want to use the same white for all three kids but we have white baseboards and the girls’ furniture is white so I want it to be a little different but look good with the accent walls.

• Fish Stand – Growing up I had this huge fish aquarium and after Noah decided he wanted a fish room my parents said I could have it but it leaked.  Adam re-caulked it and now I am going to paint the stand.  When I got the paint for Noah’s wall I picked out a lighter coordinating color to match.  I am going to paint the fish stand this color.

• Frames – You make remember the fish frame I made a while back for Create with 8.  I don’t really love it.  I have decided I am going to take the fish off and re-paint the frame the same color as the fish stand.  Also I am going to paint a “N” on the corkboard.  Then I am going to put the fish back on.  Hopefully I can take them off without messing them up but if not I guess I’ll have to redo them.  I am going to get another frame from Hobby Lobby and paint it the same color but that is all I have decided so far about how I am going to do it.

• Lego Area – I decided to make the top of Noah’s bookcase into a Lego area which is prefect since his Lego’s are stored in baskets in the lower part of his bookcase.  The lower part is going to have a seat and the higher part will have a Lego table.  I have to pick out the fabric, sew the cushion, purchase Lego board and attach it to the bookcase.

• Fish – Noah said he wants fish on his blue wall.  We talked about what would be the best way to go about this.  We talked about painting it but seriously that would be hard.  I finally decided vinyl would be the best decision.  I thought about using my Cricut and making them myself but to buy all the different color of vinyl I would end up spending more than if I just found something and bought it.  So now I have to find a shark and some salt water fish for his wall.

I have one other project for his room but I plan on using it for one of my weeks on S.Y.T.Y.C.  Once that week has been posted and closed I will post about it here and let ya’ll know all about it.  One good thing it will be completed too.  I have been working on it and had a lot of failures in the process so I’ll have lots to tell.

Monday Memories #12

Sorry I missed on posting my Friday Food post on Friday.  Taylor came home on Thursday with the stomach bug and it threw a kink in all my plans.  Oh well, she is feeling better now and I have several days worth of stuff planned for ya’ll.  For those of you who don’t know I am auditioning for So You Think You’re Crafty.  The auditions will go up today so make sure you click on over there and vote for your favorite one.  Can you guess which one is mine??  Check back next week and I’ll give you all the details on my project for the audition.  I am super excited about it and really nervous at the same time.

Last week was so pretty.  Bradley and I spent time outside two days in a row.  He loved it for the most part.  He doesn’t like the grass touching his legs or feet.  Hopefully by the end of summer he will be over that.

Friday we had to go to Winn-Dixie and they had the buggie that has the seat for small children with the steering wheel so we used and Bradley had a blast.  He loved it!  Hopefully its available every time we go.

Good-Bye Pink Wall

Last summer we decided to decorate our girls’ room in hot pink, lime green and bright orange.  We got one wall painted pink before things changed.  Our daughters do NOT get along.  You see one has to talk 24/7 and the other has to have quiet time.  The one who needs quiet time couldn’t go in her bedroom and have that time because she was sharing a room with the other one who even in a room all alone is talking.  Our oldest son is also like our oldest daughter and he also needs quiet time so they can both go in the same bedroom and have quiet time and everything be ok.  On a spur of the moment decision we did some rearranging and this ended with our oldest son sleeping next to a hot pink wall.  But he is so selfless that he said “that’s ok”.  He knew his sisters needed this rearrange sooner rather than later and that as soon as we could the hot pink wall would be gone.

Several months have gone by since this rearrange.  It has been one thing after another and timing has not worked out well for us on painting the hot pink wall.  This past week I went to Lowe’s and got a bunch of different paint chips, spreaded them out all over his bed and decided on two colors.  I needed a wall color and a contracting color for some of the stuff in his room.  I am so glad I did it this a way too instead of just picking colors on impulse because if I had of well, we would have ended having to repaint the wall again because the original color I picked was not the final color I picked.

Most people who know Noah knows he is color blind or red/green color deficient is actually the proper term for it.  He can see colors but he can’t pick them out and he doesn’t see them the same as most people.  Green is orange, orange is green, blue is purple, purple is blue, lots of different shades are all a tan color and so on.  Noah has done a wonderful job adapting to this and it has not affecting him in school at all.  When he tells me something is a color and I correct him he doesn’t get mad.  He simply says, “Well, you know I’m color blind.”  Noah is really a trooper.  So while he says he likes the color his room will be I am not actually sure that he knows what color it will be.

His room is decorated underseas.  His bedspread is brown will bluish/green, tan, etc circles on it.  He wants sharks and ocean fish on his wall.  So I picked the color on his bedspread that looks the most like underseas for his accent wall color.  Since him and Alyssa are sharing a room we have set up their furniture so that it divides the room and we are in the process of making a divider for the room too but painting the walls is the first task to complete.  Hopefully we will get that done soon but its taking much longer than expected because I am redecorating three kids’ bedrooms at the same time and trying to pick colors is not the easiest.  Each child has an accent wall and I’m trying to pick a neutral color that will work for the other walls for all three kids.

Keep an eye out for more projects going on in Noah’s room over the next few weeks.  I have four other projects that I hope to get done and be close to having his room done.  The girls keep changing their minds on how they want their rooms decorated so Noah’s projects are more on top of the list to complete.  Also I am auditioning for So You Think You’re Crafty next week and I have several projects I am working on for this contest.  Make sure you check it out Monday and vote for your favorite project.  Fingers crossed I make the audition cut.

Paper Mache B

One of the things on my to do list for Bradley’s room was a paper mache B to hang on the wall in his room to replace a picture that was previously hanging in his room.  The previous picture was an animal picture that matched his bouncy seat, play mat and jumperoo.  Since he no longer uses these things I plan on getting rid of them and that made the picture not really match anymore.

I started out with a plain paper mache B that I found at JoAnn’s Fabric.

First I painted it baby blue.  I used the Americana baby blue acrylic paint from Hobby Lobby and a foam brush.

Then I used a round sponge brush and Americana traditional burnt umber acrylic paint to put polka dots on it.  I couldn’t find anything good for a pattern so I decided to just eyeball it.  I was pleased with how they turned out since I just eye balled it.

I had a hard time deciding what ribbon I wanted to use to hang it.  I finally decided to use the same ribbon I used on his wreath.  I thought that made it match pretty well since each one is hanging in his room on either side of his window.

First Shirt

Recently I was at my grandmother’s house and we were cleaning some stuff out of her storage building and she gave me a bunch of fabric. I found some really cute turquoise and brown fabric in all of it and knew I wanted to make something with it but I wasn’t sure what. I finally decided I wanted to make something for myself with this fabric. You see turquoise is mine and Adam’s color so it was more me than the girls.

I decided to make a pillowcase type shirt.  I have seen tons of tutorials on a pillowcase dress but instead of a dress for a child I decided I’d make a shirt for myself. I have made many shirts but I usually start with a basic plain shirt and I embellish it so this was new for me. I know of a few things I will do different next time but all and all I am pleased with it. I actually still have a good bit of fabric left and plan on making both girls a shirt to match mine. Then all three of us will have matching shirts.

Right after I finished this shirt one of my friends contacted me about a photo shoot. I was nominated as a Mom who deserved a day of pampering. There were four of us women. We all got make overs and a photo shoot. Our make up was done by Beth Posey and our photo shoot was done by Brandy from Tyler Treasures Photography. Both women did a wonderful job and were so much fun to spend an afternoon with. Thanks again ladies!! The photos in this post are from the photo shoot so you can see their work.

Tuesday To Do #2

Last week on Tuesday To Do I talked about Bradley’s room.  Since then I have done a lot of shopping, planning and preparing, but I was in the office all week last week, our hot water heater busted, it was Mother’s Day and lets face it after that week I was too exhausted to do any crafting.  So I haven’t gotten anything marked off that list yet.

This week I am going to talk about summer.  When Adam and I did our shopping for Easter basket goodies I found several things that I wanted but it wouldn’t all fit in the baskets.  Actually it ended up that I bought different baskets and decided to use the baskets I had originally bought for something else.  Now here we are months later and no, I still haven’t completely those projects either.  Since school is going to be out in less than two weeks I decided it was time to get on it.

Originally I wanted to do a summer themed Easter baskets but I ran out of time for my projects, so I ended up saving that stuff for summer.

I have these projects:

• Monogram the bag.  These bags are actually why I was doing what I was doing in my Learn to Embroidery post.  I still haven’t found a font that I “love” for the boys yet so I need to get on that.  I found these bags at Dollar Tree earlier in the year and thought they were the prefect size for the kids to carry their stuff in to the pool.  I got pink, purple, blue, and green.
• Water bottles.  CHECK!!!  I have marked this project off my list.  The kids have already seen the water bottles and they LOVE them!  As you can see the water bottles match the colors of the bags.
• Monogrammed hoodied towels.  This year I decided I wanted to make each child a hoodied towel with their name on it for the pool.  I previously looked at some towels and I was not impressed with them.  I’ve got to keep looking around to find some that are what I want so I can add the hood and name to them.
• Monogram the buckets.  I bought these buckets from Wal-Mart during Easter.  They were in with all the Easter baskets.  I thought they would be good for Easter baskets and then afterwards the kids could use them at the beach.

I have this shopping:

• Swimsuits.  CHECK!!!  I finally found swimsuits that I like.  I had been looking for months and I had debated on attempting to make some for the girls myself.  I am still throwing around the idea of making some for the girls but at least we have one for starting summer.
• Sand toys.  Partially check!  I have already bought some toys for the kids to use to play with in the sand but I want to get a few more things to go in them.  Now I have to look back and see what I have already bought before I buy anything else because I can’t remember what I bought already.