Bulliten Board with Portrait Gallery

This turned out to be my very favorite of all the recent decorating projects we've tackled around here. It was easy, cheap, and turned out cute! It looks perfect in the playroom above the glider, and is already full of Cadence's coloring and glueing projects.

I bought a cheap , large bulliten board from Hobby Lobby, and four 4X6 picture frames from the dollar store. The ribbon and paper I already had, and the pictures I just quickly printed.

First I spray painted everything white.

Then I relpaced the mats in the frames with bright colored cardstock to match the playroom.

Last I attached ribbon to the bulliten board (I just used plain old staples), and hung everything up. The bulliten board is not actually supported by that red ribbon, it's purely decorative. I didn't figure one lonely, measly ribbon would hold up well in a play room!

Total cost:

Bulliten board (40% off) - $7

Frames - $4

Cardstock, ink for pictures - $1

Ribbon (full spools, obviously I used a very small fraction) - $2

Spray Paint - $2

Some of My Favorites

I was pulling some of my favorite pictures from the last few months to use in a project (pictures of that to come soon!), and thought I would share, since they were conveniently in one folder. On a random side note, the kids' rooms are finished being decorated!!!! We do plan to paint Cadence's favorite storybook characters on her wall this fall... but for now they are done! Yay! Anyway, here you go.

Never Play Pirates...

...with a sypathetic, bossy three year old.

None of the pirates have to walk the plank. They all get to slide gently down, while we yell "Whee!" so they won't be scared.

The sharks don't eat people. They are nice pink sharks, and you have to help them up the ladder into the pirate ship.

PLUS, I couldn't even be Braid Beard. "Braid Beard is a BIG pirate, Mommy - you are a LITTLE pirate! Don't be sad (lifting my chin up to pat my cheek)... little pirates can have fun too!"

See those kids? They're ornery. And they've discovered the joys of sibling tag-team. It makes me smile.

From Cadence's Journal Today

One of your favorite songs is "Are you sleeping, are you sleeping, brother John, brother John, Morning bells are ringing, morning bells are ringing, ding dang dong, ding dang dong."

You also sing it in *Ahem, cough, cough* "French": "Very jacta, very jacta, do lay vou, do lay vou! Peanut peanut butter, peanut peanut butter, Ding dang dong, ding dang dong!"

A Meme - I Finally Know What They Are!

So. A little behind the times techie wise, eh? Ah, well, such is life!

I was tagged by the bestest sister in the whole wide world, Kristina at Freedom Lover's Academy. Here are the rules:
*Tell 11 facts about yourself.
*Answer 11 questions asked by the person who tagged you.
*Tag 11 people to answer 11 questions you ask them.

I will do the first two... unfortunately, the only two people I know in the blogging world right now have already been tagged! So, I will come up with eleven questions, and if you stumble across this and want to answer in the comments, my nosy self would love to read your answers! Or, consider yourself tagged and leave a link to your blog :)

Facts:

1. I am tired. I try not to let this fact dominate my life, and I certainly try not to complain about it too much. I happen to be one of those annoying people who need about ten hours of sleep to bop out of bed happy and rested - and at this point in my life, my sleep is not in my own hands. Thankfully, God has given abundant energy for all I need to do around here. And, hopefully, I haven't been too grumpy... you'll have to ask Tony!

2. I love to read. Pretty much anything. Tonight I am excited because I unpacked my Madeline Brent books, as well as Sawdust in His Shoes. Time for some rereading!

3. I have been studying and seeking the Holy Spirit in my life. I am so blessed God has given me a thirst for Him! This has been a major victory for me spiritually, and I know it is only through God's blessings and grace!

4. Our bedroom is a wreck, for the first time ever, because I have been bringing in boxes from the garage to unpack in the airconditioning. It is driving me insane. Our room has always been our sanctuary from the mess, so I am looking forward to being done with this project.

5. I love to travel. I like wandering through airports, flying, driving, seeing new things, exploring new places.

6. I really miss hiking. The climbing, the exploring, the being out in the woods by myself. I miss the dinky little Collinsville lake where we use to spend time wandering through the trees and underbrush and finding little crevices to cram ourselves in.

7. I can't decide how I want to decorate the kitchen/dining room/living room. I know some details I want to incorporate, but I'm having a hard time tying them all together. So if you come visit, be warned, it's not decorated, and won't be for a while, because I'm giving myself time to think about it and mull it over. So there.

8. I really love slightly sweet iced tea. It makes every day a little brighter.

9. The last three months have been really great for me. Stressful at times, crazy busy, and challenging, but also fun, productive, and full of energy. It's great.

10. I'm not ready to have another kid yet, but I don't think I would be completely horrified if we would up with another soon.

11. We finally went and bought stuff to work on the kids rooms, so my summer to-do list is growing!

And now the questions:

1. How are you preparing for the zombie apocalypse? Well, zombies scare me, so I try not to think about them. I am, however, putting together my own version of a 72 hour kit. Four of them, in fact. One in our closet for tornadoes, one in the garage for ice storms, one to grab in case of fire, and one for general evacuation emergencies. I've been using this website for ideas.
2. Do you remember your dreams? If so, what do you dream about the most? Oh gracious, yes. Vividly. I dream about anything and everything, some wildly unreal, some all too realistic. The dream I hate the most, and unfortunately have rather often, is one where Papa is alive but we find out he is dying. Or he has already died, but for some reason he shows up and we get to spend time with him, but we know it won't last. The details of this dream vary greatly, but that's the general theme. I use to have 'running away' dreams all the time - running away from fires, volcanoes, explosions, etc. Hmmmm.... I wonder if these dreams have anything to do with fact number 1??? I do often have good dreams too, but they don't stay with me as strongly. The main good one involves being a spy. A secret spy. Like, so secret, not even the government of the country I work for knows I exsist.
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, assuming teleportation was available and cheap, so that visiting friends and relatives in far off places would be easy, where would it be? Ok, this is kind of pathetic, but I would live in Collinsville, or someplace similar. Country landscape, freedom to run wild and barefoot, small-but-great-actively-involved-in-the-community-library, and close access to suburb shopping and big city music and plays.
4. Did you ever want to be a pioneer to settle other planets? Mmmmm. Maybe. It would depend on who was going and how much interaction I would have to have with them.
5. Cake or pie? Yuck. Cookie all the way!!!! Although, my recently discovered favorite cookie (Mind you, I have lots of favorite cookies) is made with a cake mix. (I like it with Craisins instead of raisins.)
6. If you could pick one chore, and never have to do it again, what would it be? Cleaning out the van!!!!!! Will someone please come clean out my van for me? It is pleading for help!
7. City or country mouse? City mouse. I know, I know, I will always be country in my roots, but I just love the convenience of city. See number 3.
8. Shoes or no shoes? No shoes. Ever.
9. Would you accept your invitation to Hogwarts? Um. Probably. I would rather accept my invitation to a top secret spy academy.
10. What do you like in your smoothies? Bananas. Strawberries. Nothing with seeds.
11. What is your favorite form of exercise? Swimming. Basketball with small teams. Hiking. Running in circles around the living room singing nursery rhymes rates pretty high too.

My questions for you:

1. Are you are reader? If so, do you read one book straight through with no interruptions, or do you have multiple books going right now?
2. What do you stay calm and cool and collected about that most people seem to worry/freak out about?
3. Are you afraid of the dark?
4. What do you do to relax?
5. What kind of music do you like?
6. Target, Wal-Mart, or avoid them like the plague?
7. Does it irritate you to go to a grocery store and not have your groceries taken to your vehicle?
8. Kids, babies, pets, all of the above, or none of the above?
9. Cooking or eating out?
10. Do you take a lot of pictures?
11. Do you follow the news?

Shabby Shoppe Challenge

Here is a link to my favorite challenge :)

Aaaack! - And a video for Gramma :)

Aaack! Who is this beautiful girl? When did she grow up? This was on the way to the dentist last month  - at this rate she'll be on her way to college next month!

This is for Gramma, since she hasn't seen James clap yet. It is his very favorite thing to do - by far!

Finished!

Wait. You mean... it's done? As in, all the boxes are unpacked, everything is put away, the bed is made, the clock is hung, the books are shelved nice and neat, the closet is full of bags of projects, and the mess that exploded downstairs as a result of unpacking upstairs in put away?! YES!!!!! Celebrate! This calls for dancing in the streets - confetti - a piece of chocolate cake that I stole shared with Cadence - a nice glass of iced tea... Ok, all but the dancing in the streets and the confetti.

Obviously it's not decorated (neither is the rest of the house), and things probably won't stay where they are for too overly long. But everything is out of boxes! The boxes you see are photographs on the shelf above the chair) and toys that need to be sorted for our toy rotation (under the table).