knitting, creating, and loving life in the Midwest
Holy painted tables, Batman! The wonderful Traci from Beneath My Heart featured my little green table as one of the best DIY in July projects! Yayness!
You really couldn’t find a sweeter lady than Traci out there in blogland, and she’s crazy talented, too, so I am very psyched to have been featured on her blog.
I got a new project my husband and I (and my oldest) worked on these past few days, so I’ll tell you all about it soon – have a great Tuesday!
Here are some of my favorite moments in the past month:
My handsome men worked on projects around the house, we saw friends and family and celebrated the Peruvian team’s victory in the America Cup, were happy to have family always nearby, and my youngest turned 5.
My youngest turned 5 on Sunday – I can’t believe it, it seems just yesterday I had my sweet new little bundle in my arms, so tiny and pink, peeking out into his new world:
Now he’s going into kindergarten and is such a joy in our household:
He adores his big brother, whatever he likes, Alex will like, it’s so sweet.
I wish for my sweet Alexander a life full of joy, may he always wake up smiling and go to bed gently like he does now, and may we be blessed with many years to see him grow and learn much more. I love you, Alexander!!!
Every couple of months I try to head up to Paper Source – I am lucky enough to have one 20 minutes away, and I just love their array of delicious papers for all sorts of paper crafts.
I’ve used their peacock paper on the back of my office tower, used it as artwork in my bathroom, and made tons of scrapbook pages and cards with it.
I recently got this notebook for my purse. We keep our calendar online but when we’re out and about and need to schedule something, this will certainly come in handy.
I love everything lavender and these will be great to freshen up with during the hot days of late summer.
I call my youngest my little monkey, and he needs a new backpack for kindergarten 😀
A new water bottle for my oldest to take to school?
I’ll keep you updated on what I end up getting!
I was generously given a coffee table by my dear friend K. She was reconfiguring her living room and I happily took it off her hands. I forgot to take a picture of it before I took off the hardware and started sanding it, but it was pretty close to this one.
Here she is after some sanding:
As you can see the center drawer is pretty wide and there are drawers on both sides, which I loved for all the storage possibilities.
I gave her a new coat of paint in Valspar’s Meadowlands. One of the knobs was missing so I got a cheap ORB set from Tarjay (it was 14.99 in the store):
But it didn’t look right.
So I spray painted them Heirloom White:
But still, I wanted something more vibrant because I knew what I wanted this table for.
So in came my friend Bauhaus Gold et voila!
It was exactly what I wanted. I added some number stickers in black, to pop off the golden yellow knobs.
My oldest approved:
And immediately started to set up a Godzilla monsters battle on top:
My plan, however, was to make this a homework/craft table for the boys – the storage is great for all their workbooks, paints, stencils, crayons, markers, etc. 
And the height is also perfect for them – the table is bright and cheerful, and a great addition to my kids’ playroom.
I am very happy with the finished result – it is my first time re-doing a piece of furniture and now I have plans for my youngest’s dresser. You know how it is, the first step is the hardest and now I am off, running in search of furniture to paint.
Hope you enjoyed my super-secret project!
Loving the strawberries and peas we are getting from our backyard –
we’re getting about 15-20 sweet, juicy strawberries a week, and about the same number of peas. I would have included the blueberries here but some squirrelly monkeys ate them all before I could take the picture.
Yesterday was the last day of school for my kindergartener. He was sick since last Sunday so he didn’t get to say goodbye to his teacher and classmates (my little one was sick the previous week so he didn’t say goodbye to preschool, either). I made up little business cards with my contact info and a note from him saying he wanted to stay in touch during the summer, and asked the teacher to stick them in his friends’ backpacks.
Every Thursday this past school year I went into my oldest’s classroom and did the packets to take home. It didn’t take me more than an hour or an hour and a half but it was lovely to see him in his classroom setting, interacting with new friends. He had a wonderful teacher, and I am glad she is staying on at the school at this time of budget cuts and layoffs.
Here are some moments from Aidan’s kinder year:
The last photo was taken at a breakfast tea the school staff hosted for parents and guardians who had helped out throughout the year. I qualified because of my Thursdays spent at school and it was a lovely morning.
Every achievement, every new photo of Aidan at school brought me both joy and sadness. Joy at seeing my son thrive in a new environment, and sadness that my dad wasn’t here to share in these moments. He would have been so damn proud of you, Aidan, I know we are!
Congratulations on moving on to first grade, my sweet boy!!!
I am stealing this idea from the lovely Rebecca at Simple as That, and participating in her May 2011 photo collage party. I love the idea of highlighting some pics from the month – thanks for the idea, Rebecca!
First, a happy birthday to my mommy today!
Recently my husband had the idea of framing some of the many (believe me when I say many) pictures we have taken. He wanted a large-scale gallery wall, with 18×18 photos surrounding our TV.
We had recently purchased a new console for all the TV components and really liked the look, but wanted some more color = photos!
We had the photos enlarged and printed at FedEx Office and then we trimmed them down to size and matted them on laminated backerboard.
We used large velcro dots to mount them on the wall so we can easily switch them out when needed. I chose some of my favorites – 
On the right side there are two pics of our youngest, with me in all his bald-headed glory, and below in what we call his “Blue Steel” pose.
On the left is my oldest – the top photo is his first time at the beach with daddy, and below is a fairly recent shot that I just adore.
It was really tough to choose just a few shots of my boys, there are so many that I love!
The top center shots were taken during our first (and so far, only) cruise last year.
The left is the shore in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the right is one of the islands we visited. Lovely memories.
Our plan is to print out new pics for fall/winter and swap them out as we like. I love seeing my favorite faces every day – not just in real life, but also up on my wall 😀
This is truly the best zoo I have ever been to, not just because of the sheer amount variety of animals they have but also for the way it was set up: tons of benches all over, lots of shade, and lots of interactive things for the boys:
My oldest pretending to be a ferocious bear.
Godzilla was a very important part of our trip.
Don’t leave home without him!
The elephant statue was a favorite:
We had to drag the boys away so other kids could have their pics taken.
I’m lifting my oldest here:
so both boys could be in the picture ;D
I loved this little guy:
And this one!
Lots of good memories from the San Diego zoo, that’s for sure!
Casa de Berry 