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. :)

Christmas 2011

This has been a pretty good year. Although we had to move again we are thankful to closer to "home" and family and very thankful for gainful employment. Christmas has been a wonderful ending to the year.

I had every intention of having 3 gifts a piece for the kids this year to help us focus more on the true meaning of Christmas. I had the kids involved in the giving tree locally and we really worked on giving to those around us rather than asking for more, more, more. And I heard once that Jesus received 3 gifts so we should follow that example. Well, that is truly how it started out, but then it got a little out of control as Chris and I, and Santa, were just having so much fun with anticipation in surprising the kiddies and showing our love for them.

This little gem is made up of trinkets from the thrift store. Chris bought and created it in the last few days. A lot of love, creativity, time, thought, and energy were put into it. Richard has not been able to take his hands off of his new work bench. He has been working all day and playing with new toys on his breaks.

I fully intended to save this for Hannah's birthday because a lot of work needed to be done. I found this shelf at the thrift store and thought it would be perfect for a Barbie house. Chris had to putty some spots and sanded it for me. Then he painted it yesterday so we decided to go ahead and finish it up last night in time for Christmas. Luckily I had been shopping around to find furniture and made some bed spreads, pillows, and a bean bag chair out of scraps last night. Chris made two beds from 2x4's and we used samples of flooring from The Home Depot as the flooring. I love how it turned out, but I'm a little bummed that Hannah does not appreciate the time, creativity, and love that went into it. I think I like it more than she does.

This morning the kids were up before the sun, as is normal on Christmas. But when Santa's elves are working in the workshop past midnight then they are sluggish getting up to open presents. We did it anyway because we love these monkeys.

Grandma Kia gave them these darling animal pillows/blankets and they are really so excited. They are really soft and I want to take a nap with them. ha, ha

Richard got this cool Mater play house that he gets to color and decorate, a wall-mounted Hot Wheels track, an Air Hog helicopter, Cars Squinkies, and a Harry Potter Legos set. I think he is pretty happy about everything he got. 

Hannah got a princess castle, a tea set, a kids Singer sewing machine, a tea set, and a trunk of Tinkerbell dress up clothes.

The kids also got these cool glow in the dark solar systems and digital cameras.

Richard made this great tie rack for Chris today with his new tool bench. You cannot see it but he even wrote "Tis for Dad" next to the ties. So cute!

Santa also brought us an old school Nintendo with 6 games. This is a big step for Santa because he is not in favor of video games in this house, but Mrs. Claus has a differing opinion. Needless to say, it was a big surprise and I have felt like a kid again today. We have had a nice day. I am exhausted from putting all the things together and helping the kids with their new goodies.

Thank goodness Chris took over our turkey dinner and much of the clean up. Otherwise I would have served cold cereal tonight. lol

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas this year.

Yesterday the kids and I made some goodies for Santa: sugar cookies (with cookie cutters of course), yogurt pretzels, and caramel/chocolate pretzels. Buzz snuck a pretzel off the plate and Richard nabbed a picture.

Teacher Gift..

We are trying to be more creative and resourceful this year. I found this great project for teachers and gave it a try for Richard's school teacher. I am happy with how it turned out. It is not perfect but really cute. I hope Mrs. Burnett enjoys it and that she does not receive anything else like it. We are so thankful for all that she does for our little Richard.

Flipping for Christmas

Our house has been buzzing with Christmas excitement. Here are a few pictures which depict the excitement we see daily.

School Christmas Program

I was so proud of Richard. The first time they did this program he stood there frozen in fear. Later that night we got these darling videos...and he did a great job.

Birthday surprise

For my birthday I chose to go to The Nutcracker as a family this weekend so I was surprised to wake up to this...

Chris even let me sleep in while he took Richard to school and cleaned the kitchen while I lazily lay in bed. Thank you, honey for the wonderful day and making me feel so special! I love you!

Graham Cracker Houses

All of the first graders in Richard's school made graham cracker gingerbread houses today and Hannah was able to join in on the fun. We had a really fun, very messy, time. And it was great to see Richard while he was at school. Hannah misses him desperately when he is gone.