Happy Birthday Richard!

My little tiger turned 7 yesterday. He has been excited for weeks and the day finally came. Richard awoke to a fun decorated table. Hannah got to stay up late helping me with the surprise.

Here are the cupcakes we made to take to school.

I let him open one gift before school since Grandma Taggart was going to call. I wanted him to be able to thank her and give him a chance to play with it before school. He was so excited and Hannah played with it all day while Richard was gone.

 Richard asked for a smiley faced pancake for breakfast. This is my half-hearted attempt.

Hannah and I went to lunch with Richard and we were there early so we read a couple of stories in the library. She loved this chair!

And then I let her take a few pictures of me.

I send lunch to school with Richard so I can control what he is eating and I know what has gone to school and I know what has come back. Besides, I am all about saving money! But Richard has been begging to get a tray at school. Chris and I discussed it and let him have school lunch for his birthday. Hannah got one too.

Here is his yummy cake. I am not like Chris and do not do the over the top cakes. I like things more simple and delicious. And as long as it is chocolate Richard does not care what it looks like. Who knows, maybe one day I will take a chance. :)

I found this great desk for him to do his reading and school work as well as art. I will have to take a picture of how Richard has arranged his things on it. It looks great and I hope he will enjoy it and get good use out of it.

Richard told me numerous times what a great day it had been, nothing had gone wrong. Except I found out that Hannah told Richard that he was getting a new Woody toy. That really upset me especially because she told him in order to ask for his old one. Oh well, he had a great day and I am happy that he is happy. We love you Richard!

Family Bowling

Richard's 7th birthday is tomorrow. Since Chris has to work late we opted to have a special family time on Monday when Richard got home from school. We told him he could choose an activity or to go to dinner. Richard wanted to go to Red Lobster but the closest is about 3-4 hours away. So, plan B was to go bowling. And it was a great option. We had a lot of fun. This is the first time both Richard and Hannah did not use the bowling ramp or bumpers. They did a pretty good job and we all had a lot of fun.

You can see how much fun they are having. Hannah has mentioned in every prayer since how thankful she is that we were able to go bowling as a family.

Richard was SHOCKED that he knocked down 9 pins. Look at his cute little face!

It was a lot of fun and great to do something different as a family. Since we moved from Arkansas we have not been able to do as many fun things together. And it is always great to celebrated my little Richard's birth! We love you bud!



Getting ready for Valentine's Day

This is my new Valentine's wreath. I have looked all over Helena, three stores, and there is NO heart shaped wreath form in sight. So I went to round and added my "Love" sign. I really like how it turned out and the kids have each requested one in different colors. I think I will do one in Easter colors for Easter.

Experiments & Projects

We found an ice cream machine at the thrift store for $5, but it was 50% off day...so we got it, in perfect condition, for $2.50. I found a recipe from Alton Brown on Food Network and got to work. It was so amazing that it was gone before I could take a picture.

Then I made this apron for a special young man. I cannot mention his name since he has not received it yet.

Last night I found a darling diaper pattern for dolls and this morning I found this adorbale dress pattern. I put my scraps to use as I tried them out. I still have to figure out the fastening (buttons, velcro, I don't know) but I am pretty happy with my first try.

Although I love my new sewing area, I was not totally happy with it. Hannah helped me pick out the papers and Richard helped with the pattern (which paper on which drawer). I used Mod Podge to seal everything in nicely. I am really happy with it now and cannot wait to Mod Podge our new kitchen step stool, another thrift store find!

Thank you Pinterest for all of your inspiration!

60 degree January (in Montana)

Much like the rest of the nation, Montana has been experiencing a rather mild winter. We even hit 60 degrees this month. This reminds me of a post I did last January when it was 80 in Arkansas in January. Since Chris had more flexible hours he was able to fish much more. We went with him to Lake Helena one afternoon. Richard was proud to show off his fries that we stopped off for on the way there.

Hannah was thrilled to do some digging in the dirt, one of her favorite past times.

And then the little adventure seekers pretended to be paleontologists digging for dinosaur bones. They have great imaginations!

We saw these insane guys ice fishing with half the water not frozen...nuts!

Then I got to spend 20 minutes in awe at the incredible sunset. It was beautiful!

It was a lovely day and so much fun to do the things we have not been able to do for a few months.

Family projects

During Christmas break I had a lot of time on my hands since I was in between classes. I have also been finding project inspiration on Pinterest which I LOVE! Richard was jealous of Hannah's new Barbie house and decided he wanted a super hero house. We decided to convert this drawer into his super hero house.

We began by taking the drawers out and removing the handles and fronts of the drawers. One of the drawers I inverted and nailed to the bottom. This created a little extra height and the super heroes now have a garage for their vehicles, very important in maintaining anonymity.

I put the kids to work painting, actually they would NOT let me touch it. When they were finished painting the painting was complete, period.

When the paint was dried I installed flooring and made bedding. On the roof is a landing pad for Spider Man's helicopter. (I am sorry that these pictures are not great!)

We put in a bean bag chair and a bed downstairs. A tv and couch were discussed but I do not know if the contractor, Richard, has made a final decision.

Upstairs in the training roomm the Super Hero Club. The Captain America shields are used as targets for Spider Man to aim his webs, Batman to test his tools' accuracy, Iron Man to practive laser blasts, and Wolverine to sharpen his claws. We have also installed punching bags and are working on jump ropes while we debate the option of a boxing/wrestling ring.

There are still some finishing touches to be made, but this was mostly done in one bored afternoon. Actually, I had other things planned but once we got started there was no turning back. Richard is not the most patient of children. My little contractor kept me busy and we had a lot of fun!

The next project is this lovely, yellow sewing desk. I had spotted it at the thrift store prior to Christmas for $20. I passed it up because we were focused on Christmas projects. Besides, it was an awful antiqued dark green. Then we found out the days that the thrift store offers a 50% discount. I could not pass this up for $10 so we loaded up on January 2nd to bring it home.

I do not have a before picture because Chris had it sanded within 15 minutes of brining it home. (I should have taken a picture of Chris, he had dark greenish gray sanding dust all over him, his hair, eyebrows, etc. His right arm looked as though he had a partial sleeve on. Funny. ) Then I painted it and we found a home for it last night. I have sewing piling up...Chris wants things, Richard needs things repaired, and there are projects I have not completed. I am really excited about this one!

I decided to make chicken alfredo pizza the other night. I though it was really good. The kids are used to red pizza sauce with their usual toppings, but I had cooked chicken to use up so I wipped up some wheat dough and alfredo sauce. We had olives, spinach, green peppers, and a tomato on hand that I added. It was fun, delicious, and pretty healthy. I made it all from scratch so I know each ingredient that we were consumming.

Here is Hannah cooking while Richard and I deconstructred the drawers. She is so funny.

Then Hannah insisted upon taking my picture. 



I never thought I would be a thrifter but it has been so much fun doing these projects. I have always enjoyed being crafty but never done repurposing. It does take a lot of creative thinking and ingenuity. I am very new at all of this so there is much room to grow. I look forward to that. :)