A Texan Odyssey

Well look at me, blogging two days in a row! :P In February Sean and I made a Cheep Cheep (the cute little fish from Super Mario) Valentine's day "box" out of a plastic fish bowl and it was a big hit! He won most creative in his age group at our homeschool group's Valentine's party, but more importantly we had a lot of fun making it together! In true procrastinating-perfectionist behavior, I waited until the night before the party to buy the supplies, and then kept working on it until satisfied. ( Source ) This is the Cheep Cheep Sean chose to model his "box" after. He liked the mohawk/fin! We already had the plastic fish bowl, and only needed a few inexpensive items from Michael's to complete our task. We bought a few acrylic craft paints, chenille wire stems for the yellow fins, and sticky-back felt squares for the white fins. Please excuse the blurry cell photo, it's the only one I got while we worked. Oops. Sean painted the body red, ...

Robot Lego Party Commence! I made Mr. Robot Man from tissue paper and wrapping paper. The kids had fun posing with him! For the robot containers I just covered cylindrical tissue holders with tape and then decorated them with pom poms for eyes, pipe cleaners for arms, and card stock designs for the front panels. I used a few rubber bands as well to separate the different parts of the robot. Sean helped and now they're being used to hold his paint brushes. Waste not, want not! We had a variety of snacks available, (junk food and healthy options) and a bunch of pizza, plus favor bags filled with an assortment of twizzlers for the kids to take home. I made the banner and Ryan, Sean and I worked on the big lego robots. And to continue in the tradition of last year's birthday post , here are some of Sean's favorite things at age 5: Favorite color:  "Uh, black. Actually I think I don't like black, I like blue." Favorite  number: ...

After looking at the last post I just wasn't satisfied with the layout of the room...so I went back to the drawing board! I've been liking the look of desks next to the bed lately, so I thought I would try it out in my own space. Tried it, loved it!! I know it's silly to get so excited about moving a piece of furniture...but something about this arrangement just feels right. I already used it for devotions and to do my makeup yesterday. I foresee myself getting lots of use out of it in this location. Plus I get to watch Sean playing outside! Removing the clunky old computer from the desk freed up the space for writing, drawing, etc, and when we get a laptop soon it will fit just fine. (Anyone have any good laptop recommendations?) I saw a picture of this room from almost two years ago and got inspired to bring the same artwork and bedspread back in. The blue comforter from the last post got the boot! Next Sean and I got to work painting an abstract piece for tha...

I recently made a few small changes to our master bedroom to spruce things up a bit without spending any money. We have yet to buy a new bed frame after our last one broke, and I was tired of looking at our mattresses sitting directly on the floor. They're still on the floor, but with the addition of a bedskirt and a larger comforter (that we already owned), it's not quite as obvious! I also pulled out the leather part of our old headboard and propped it up behind the mattress. It's comfortable to lean back on, but it's just a temporary fix since they're not attached to anything. Eventually we'll buy a nice new bed, but in the meantime this will do the trick! I swapped out the two tree pictures for an old frame full of my son's artwork too. It's nice to add a personal touch to the space, even though I'd prefer one large piece of his work rather than several small papers in the frame. That's something I can switch out later after I find the r...

We have been busy bees over here lately! I've been at the new place almost every day working on getting everything move-in-ready. My mom has been a huge help, and other friends and family have pitched in as well. Check out these before and after pics from the kitchen and bathroom of the A-Frame. We'll be moving in later this month and the days have just been flying by! I hope we can get everything done in time! Before: After: Before: After: Both spaces are still works in progress of course. We are lacking some sort of window covering in the kitchen (not to mention all of our stuff moved in as well), and still need to put decorative accents, towels, etc. in the bathroom. I knew I wanted a beachy, light feel to the house so I painted the cabinets in both rooms white, put some creamy taupe on the walls (Sandstorm by Valspar in the kitchen and Arabian Sands by Behr in the bathroom), and spray-painted the hardware silver. Both rooms got new faucets, and in the bathr...