"playroom" redo {before & after}

I FINALLY got around to putting my latest crafts on the wall upstairs. The only thing that's left to do is possibly find a replacement "toy box" or some sort of storage for the mounds of toys my five year old has accumulated in her little life. {my dad made one for ava's 1st birthday...it takes up a TON of space, is EXTREMELY heavy, & the lid is falling apart. awesome.}

So far, I'm pretty happy with the way the wall has turned out!!

{before}

kinda drab & not so kid friendly decor.

{after}

i must say. i'm proud of myself for redecorating the kids' play area upstairs. and. all for about $15! [gome!] i moved the off-white stars onto this weird wall between the bathroom door & grayson's bedroom. and the big swirly star thing is now on the weird wall next to the hvac unit. i'm still debating on if i want to revamp the stars with a little bit of paint.

**on a side note....my mom wanted me to make a koozie for one of her friends! apparently, her saying is "just one more" when they're out or having a get together! when you use that black fluffy stuff...spray it with a little bit of hairspray....it keeps it from going EVERYWHERE!!!**

my sweet surprise

Is now an official kindergartner. We ALL {hubby & brother included} survived sending her off to school!! I can't wait to hear how her first day went!! 2:30 seems so far away!!!

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so excited to get to school!!

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 ready to head into the school!!!

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 big girl at her desk!!

I can honestly say, that if we did not send her to daycare or preschool today would have been a TON harder. I am so so excited for my sweet surprise & this new chapter in our lives!!!

"playroom" redo {update #1}

I can officially knock 1 1/2 projects off of my list for the kids "playroom" upstairs. I finished their monograms on canvas and got the board almost done to hang their artwork on. 

I say ALMOST done because the board that I ORIGINALLY wanted to do didn't turn out quite the way I had envisioned it to. {okay....NOTHING like what i had envisioned} When I wrote "Masterpieces" on it, in  my head it it looked awesome. Totally not the case when I held it up & actually looked at it. The letters first half of the word were nice & big & fairly even. But, as the word went on, the letters got smaller & smaller & somehow started to angle towards the top of the board. I tried sanding the letters off.....that was a mess. Oh, and, some of the clips i glued on fell off. BUMMER! Needless to say, it was a complete fail in the crafting department. I was ready to toss the board......

My mom gave me the idea to attach some string to the wall & use mini-clothespins to hang up their art. So, we ventured out to Hobby Lobby for some ideas. So, I got some plain wooden knob looking things & the mini-clothespins to paint. I'm still not 100% sure how I'm going to attach the knob thingies on the wall, but I'll figure it out! I plan on using either yarn or some black hemp cord stuff to string between the two knobs. I looked for something to hang above this....but couldn't find anything. 

Then it hit me. At 10:30 last night. I scrounged up some scrapbook paper that I had in my craft drawer & mod podged it onto the crappy looking board. Then, printed out the word "Masterpieces" in a cute font & TRACED it onto the dried board with a sharpie. The outline of the letters was a little sketchy, but gave me a good idea of where all the letters were supposed to be & they were all the same size & lined up neatly! I went over them with a black calligraphy paint pen. And I must say, I really like the way it turned out. Only one problem.........the notch in the back of the board is on the BOTTOM. I totally wrote on it upside-down. Seriously!? So. It looks like I'll be using on the of extra knobs & a little bit of ribbon to hang this sucker up. 

Now, I just need to figure out what color ribbon i want to use to hang it. I'm thinking either black or white. But that can wait until I get the knobs & clothespins done! I'm pretty happy with how everything has turned out so far!! Fingers crossed it all looks as good as I'm imagining it to!!

Hopefully my next crafty post will be of everything up on the wall! Fingers crossed for a cooperative Grayson!!

my baby {no more}

My sweet baby girl starts kindergarten on Monday. How did this happen?? I still don't understand where the past 5 years have gone! Seriously, it needs to slow down!!! 

"playroom" redo {on the cheap}

I've fallen back into the grips of Pinterest. I was doing good at not spending hours on end looking at random things. And then my sister in law sent me a picture of a monogram that she made for her & my brother. Stupid me asked where she found it. I was then hooked. I am now wanting to decorate my house for fall & totally redecorate (and organize) the loft area upstairs. Getting back on Pinterest also made me want to go to Hobby Lobby. 

So. I've gotten a few ideas on what I want to do upstairs for the kids. There isn't very much space up there......but it's big enough for a few of G's bigger toys & A's massive toy box that my dad built. I hate the wall decor that I have up there now. Okay. I take that back. HATE is a strong word....I'm starting to "dislike" them. I want something that is kid friendly & gender neutral. 

{see. very BLAH. it looked good when the hubs desk was there. now...not so much!}

Here's what I've come up with : 

~ Canvas Monogram for each of them with their birth dates.

{So far I have the pages printed, mod podge, & blank 8 x 10 canvases. All that I need to do is attach the paper to the canvas & they'll be done! Easy Peasy!!}

~ Canvas Photo of each of them when they're around the same age. They both got AMAZING photos done when they were around 4-5 months old. So, I think I'm going to tackle making my own!!!

~ New toy storage.

~ Display for some of their art work. I LOVE this one.......

but don't really love the price ($57!!!). So, I decided to make my own. It's going to be my first project for the play area!        

       

I braved the lovely WalMart with both kids & picked up a few supplies. I spent UNDER $10! I already have an old wooden sign that I don't really like anymore & have tons of craft paint. So all I really needed was sandpaper, a paint marker, & the little clippy things. I didn't like that ones that were in the photo above because they didn't look like they would be easy to attach. Instead, I got the smaller ones that are attached to a magnet. I figured a little super glue or even hot glue would do the trick! 

My plan is to get started on this little project tomorrow. Along with the monograms! Fingers crossed it goes the way I want it to!!! I will post photos once they're done!

finally.....we have a new family photo!

I mean really. It only took 3 years!! Not to mention a new addition to the family! While we were at the beach, we took total advantage that our travel buddy was also an amazing photographer! Thanks to Jenny, we are now able to update some of our photos around the house.....mainly the family picture we got done when Ava was maybe two! 

Here's a look at what Jenny was able to get!! Grayson was less than cooperative the morning we decided to do our pictures......so that's why we only have maybe 4 good pictures of all of us together!! Ava didn't mind though....she's a bit of a camera hog!!

But for real, if you live in the Madison/Huntsville/Athens, Alabama area.....check out JennyLynn Photography. She's AMAZING!!!!

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and here's the BEST picture from the ENTIRE shoot!!!

oh how i love grayson!!!!

..panama city beach 2012..

A few weeks ago, we FINALLY had our family summer vacation. And it was AMAZING!!! (and very much needed!!!) I was able to convince our favorite family (the Fitts) to join us! I was amazed at how great everyone got along.....kids AND adults! We're already wanting to plan an "adults only" trip & our vacation for next year!!

Here's a few pics of our week at the beach!!!!

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the car was all packed & ready to go AHEAD of schedule!!
(go me!!)

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grayson's first glimpse of the beach!!

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my sweet loves ready for pictures.....but.....the rain changed those plans!!

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love this girl!

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grayson!

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love these kids!!!

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 ava & kenzie enjoying a "girls only" morning on the beach!

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"skinnydipping" by bethenny frankel + frozen starbucks + beach = complete relaxation

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ava was a fish this entire trip!

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 daddy asked to be buried in the sand......

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gray finally learned to love the sand on our last beach day!

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totally heartbroken that daddy didn't take him in the water!

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building a sand castle!

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my little fish!

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so in love with my family!