Kids day out and a steal of a deal!

Today we had a kids day out--where daddy and Kaden had time together and Jenna and mommy had time together. And as for Spencer, he was up with us both all night, so for this time that's gonna have to count. :)

I signed Kaden up for the Lowe's free building clinic, and he and Brandon went together to make a car. Here he is before...excited for his day with dad.
And here he is after...(there are no in between pictures because "someone" forgot to take the camera into Lowes) :) a-okay though.

Doesn't he look like such a big boy?!?! So grown up with his little construction apron and badge! The project this time was making a cute racecar. He was so happy with it.

And the cute dad and son together...

When the boys came home, it was time for the ladies of the house to go out. We made a quick stop by a consignment store first to browse and see if there were any treasures...and then we were on our way to Cookie Cutters to get Jenna's hair cut.

We love the playground inside where kids can run and have fun before their haircut.

And we REALLY love the cute little cars they have for you to sit in while you watch a movie and get your hair cut. Luxury, huh?

This is Jenna and her stylist talking after the haircut. They always give us a cute hair clip, a sucker, and a balloon.

After cutting hair, we picked up a quick bite to eat and then headed shopping. As soon as we walked into Old Navy, Jenna ran up to this group of manequins. See her?

NOW do you see her?

It was pretty cute. Didn't buy anything there, but found some fun stuff at TJ MAxx, next door. We were in line and Jenna was asking to buy something else that I didn't feel we needed. Long story short, after a warning that we would walk out if she kept asking, we left the store with her SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER. It was humiliating. But that is just behavior that is NOT okay...and I am sure that most parents will have this kind of situation at some point in their lives (at least I am telling myself that so I don't feel so bad about it).

After she got a talkin' to, we tried to salvage our day and stopped by another thrift store. I had seen something there last week that I wanted to check on--it's been on my mind all week. We made our way to the back of the store and there was my prized item, beaming and ready to find a new home.

I saw SUCH potential when I saw this sewing table--but it was priced at $25, which was more than I was willing to pay (I know, call me cheap!) After some checking and wheeling and dealing, I paid my total and loaded my car. TOTAL PRICE??

$6.00 with TAX! (not $60. not $16. YES, $6)

Seriously, for $6.00 I couldn't leave it there! :) I know it's kind of ugly right now, but the bones are good and it was the right size. I am excited about having a space just for my sewing--I have big plans for this piece of furniture. Some sanding and painting, and changing out the dated shutter front on the cabinets. I HOPE it will look great when I am through...HOPE!

Love the cabinet part. If I want, my sewing machine will fit right in there and I can lock the doors so the kids will stay out! :) But when it's in use, I just flip the front piece up and my sewing machine pedal goes there!

The best, BEST part of this is that is also has a folding table for the days I have time to really work on projects!

AWESOME, huh??

Anyway, we had a fun day overall--good time with the kids, who went to bed right at 7 p.m. leaving Brandon and I to finally have some time to spend together without worrying about studying and tests.

Lovin' this spring break stuff already!

Steak n' Shake on a Friday night.

There is a restuarant here called Steak n' Shake that we have never been to. It has become pretty much tradition that the last day of finals we always celebrate by going out to eat. Maybe because I am completely out of steam and we would probably end up eating Ramen noodles. :) We had some coupons to go here and decided to give it a try. We actually thought it was just a fast food place. But it ended up being a pretty fun sit down place with cheap food. :)

When we were seated they gave us these great little car kits to put together, complete with stickers. It really made for great entertaining while we waited for our food.

Of course, Jenna's was pink. Always pink, pink, pink. :)

The food was really just pretty okay. But the MILKSHAKE was SOOO DELICIOUS! WOW! We decided that we probably won't eat there again, but we will DEFINITELY go back back for a shake sometime. :)

Who knew one shake could go so far? We all shared it...

And I had to put a picture of Brandon, since we were celebrating HIM...but he just gave me a surprised look.

The kids were so funny with their cars. During dinner, I put the cars on the window ledge so they weren't in the way. The kids immediately put their little toys (that we always seem to have with us) in them like they were driving. Pretty smart kiddies, I would say. :)

Was a fun night...especially since we didn't have to cook or clean up. :) So glad it's Friday.

Let the fun begin

Ladies and Gentlemen...Boys and Girls....blog subscribers and blog browsers...

The studying has paid off! I am super proud of my husband who finished midterms with an A on his last test. We made it through the week...the grueling study hours, the lack of sleep...and as of 10:34 a.m. on Febraury 27, Brandon is officially on Spring Break. HOORAY!!!!

LET THE FUN BEGIN!!!!

Ever feel?

Ever feel like you are just completely worn out?

Ever feel like you have no desire to do anything but sit and watch TV?

Ever feel like you would feel GUILTY just sitting and watching TV and not doing anything else at the same time?

Ever feel so excited that your kids are in bed and dinner is put away and the day is over?

Ever feel like you shouldn't have eaten that Reeces that was sitting in your freezer because you still want to munch on something else and it was basically wasted calories?

{Sigh}

Getting over the guilt and gonna watch me some TV while the kids are fast asleep and Brandon is away studying...and I am going to try to not feel bad about it.

Window valance = cute shirt

During naptime worked on Jenna's shirt that I made out of the window valance I picked up at the thrift store the other day. I love the vintage, fun feel of this valance...
I didn't feel like it was going to be long enough, so I added a layer of fabric underneath. Then I took some scrap fabric and made straps.

This was really easy since the valance was already gathered and ruffled.

And there ya have it. From window covering to body covering in a matter of minutes. For all of you who are doubting your skills, I assure you it doesn't require many. Just a little faith in yourself and determination. :) And if you mess up, you trade the couple bucks you spent for experiece, right??

You can do it...if I can, you definitely can!! :)

I just couldn't wait to post this!

I just whipped up this little creation. And I am pretty darn proud of it! While I was at the thrift store the other day, I saw this skirt. It is SUCH a fun pattern. As soon as I saw it, I envisioned what it COULD be...and so I paid the $1.99 and took it home. I was SO excited to see my vision in action.
Haven't had much time to sew this week, but tonight I ran upstairs to change it up. This was SOOOO easy. Seriously, I just cut about an inch and a half off each side (this was a woman's size 10 skirt to start with) and then sewed up the new side seams. I folded the edges of the newly cut off fabric pieces and made straps and then sewed the straps into the (now) jumper. SOOOOO pleased! Jenna is going to LOVE this!

The nicest part is that this skirt already had a zipper in it--so I could do the bodice part more fitted and she can still get in and out--without all the work of installing my own zipper.

I am going to be on the lookout for skirts now as I browse the thriftstore racks...this was such an easy, fun project! I have a cute shirt I am making out of a window valance that I hope to finish this week too...and will post that later.

Oh, how I love sewing...

Oh, what beautiful weather!

This winter has been a long, cold one--at least compared to last winter. But I am beginning to have hope that Spring will be in no time at all! We have had such beautiful weather the past few days. It's a welcome change to shed the long sleeves and jackets (minus the fact that I realize my clothes are dirtier than I thought when I don't get to wear a jacket to cover myself up!

We absolutely HAD to take advantage of the sunshine, so we went to a park close by our house. We ran and played to our hearts content. My kids are so beautiful in the sunshine...so full of life and laughter. It made my heart so happy to see them run around like crazy!
I know the following picture isn't necessarily "correct" or "beautiful", but I actually love this picture because of the way it makes me feel...

The boys LOVED, LOVED, LOVED swinging. Kaden is talking more and more and his little voice pleading for me to "push" over and over just melted my heart! Spencer just giggled and giggled...

Jenna's imagination comes even more to life than normal when she is outside--wow is she a funny girl.

One question...where on earth did my baby boys go???

What a wonderful afternoon...it felt good to fill our lungs with fresh air and get all the wiggles out. :) I am sure this is short lived for now...and we will probably see snow again. But I will all the sunshine I can get and be grateful for it!

We had the missionaries over for dinner and tried a tasty new recipe. While they were here Jenna talked and talked and talked and makes up the funniest stories, etc. (this has become a dinnertime issue lately! She talks so much that we all finish eating before she even starts!) And then she said some pretty humiliating things...and I am not so sure how I feel about her sharing our lives details and airing our dirty laundry, so to speak. :) I kind of liked when the kids didn't understand anything and certainly couldn't repeat it!

Brandon is gone studying now and I think I am going to park myself in front of the sewing machine and work on some projects! :) HOORAY!

Because you asked about patterns--

I have had so many people ask about if I used patterns. I DID, in fact. And I forgot to put the pattern numbers when I posted the projects. So, here they are.

This is the link to the shirt I made Jenna. (I bought this pattern at the Joanns $1.00 pattern sale)
http://simplicity.com/dv1_v4.cfm?design=4252

And the pattern for the apron is from here: http://www.butterick.com/item/B5125.htm?search=b5125&page=1

If anyone else gets these and uses them, I would love to see how yours turn out too!

Prehistoric things!

We finally took some time and went to our Natural history museum today. We left at such a weird time in the day that by the time we got there, it was almost lunch. So we went to pick up some lunch first--which ended up being the only place I could find with parking available. And it just so happened to be a middle eastern restaurant. I decided to play it safe and just order 2 burgers for me and the kids to share. But apparently their burgers are cooked on the same grill their other food is, and I got a taste of all sorts of spices throughout my burger. Not a place I will go again, but it filled us up and we were on our way to the museum.

Spencer thought he was SUCH hot stuff!

And my little Kaden was oh so cute with these magnetic animals. So adorable!

Jenna immediately took interest in being a paleontologist and doing a bone dig.

Spencer jumped in to help eventually...

There were so many really great hands on displays and toys. I am excited to go back--even just to play in the discovery room.

But, today we toured a lot of the museum. We saw tons of great stuff--where was this museum when I was in college?? It had tons of great info--and I will be honest, I am a hands on learner for sure!

I have had to pick only a small handful of the pictures I took--it's getting late and I want to get this posted. But my favorite part of the museum was walking into the grand room where the fossil exhibits were. I felt a sense of awe as we stood so small under their towering presence.

Jenna's all time favorite part of the dinosaur museum was the Otter. They have an exhibit where you can see all sorts of animals that are native to Ohio, and it happened to be an awesome, sunny day. It was wonderful to take a walk outside and get some fresh air. The otter WAS pretty funny though. Diving, swimming, playing with his spectaters.

Jenna kept saying, "that silly little otter! He sure is a great little swimmer!!"

It was a nice day out. The time passed quickly and I felt like we all really enjoyed ourselves...

Brandon was home early this afternoon since he finished his test. This meant I finally got to stock up on groceries...whew! Relief!! We were getting pretty bare bones, but I just hadn't made a good list and planned our meals out. So after making my list this morning, and getting it all bought, it feels great to know we have a ton of stuff for meals, ready to be made!

Can't believe the week if halfway over. So excited. Spring break starts Friday. 10 days OF PURE BLISS, having Brandon home and doing loads of fun things as a family.

That's the plan.

Yeah for Wednesday...(insert confetti)

Good-bye Tuesday!! (blow kazoo)

Friday, here we come! (happy dance)

Good night.