Awesome Art Project

Say it with me... Thank you Pinterest for such wonderful ideas! I can be crafty but I'm not always original. I'm fine with that as I am gaining tons of personalized, adorable items that make a house a home! I love this one!

In the projects I found, most used tape to create the child's name/initial. Well, how am I supposed to make an "S" out of masking tape?! So, I used contact paper that has been sitting in one of our cabinets, traced out the letters, and stuck them to the canvas board. We have accumulated quite the array of paints and paint brushes already, so for less than $15, I have two very personalized pieces of child art! The kids went to town painting away. Well, Ashton did and Violet needed some encouragement as she kept telling me to "wash hands" every time paint got on her! I finally convinced her to just spread the paint around with her hands but that lead to her wanting a bath! Sheesh!

Painter Ashton dives into painting quickly

Violet was a little more ginger

Step 2 - let the paint dry (Ashton if you look closely)

And Violet's ... I had to help her finish the top part. 

Pull the contact paper off and let it finish drying

I can't wait to hang these up in their rooms! Poor Tim doesn't have one though.

Pinterest menu board project

I love it! Totally unnecessary but super cute and will help me organize and plan our meals better. I have about 4 weeks of meals and will rotate them once they are used. Have I said that I like pinterest yet?!

Love

My photo session started with trying to take Timothy's 7 month picture but that always ends up with the big kids trying to get into the shot. Of course! So this is what I caught!

I love this picture of the boys! 

This is pure luck - catching brotherly love

As good as it gets with the little ones

My future photographer?

The story of my life this winter... snotty noses! Ick!

Watch Timothy Grow

Wow! 7 months have flown by but yet gone by so slow! Does that make sense? Tim is growing so quickly but the time has gone by slow as in... I haven't had an entire night's sleep in 7 months! Ugh! Tim has yet to crawl, or even get up on all fours but I'm sure it will happen soon. He has started rolling over quite a bit which is funny because neither Ashton nor Violet did that. We continue to introduce new foods but he prefers his sweet potatoes still! He loves the Gerber puffs and has a great pincer grab! While he does not sleep through the night yet, he does take predictable naps twice a day! Let's see... what else can he do? He can sit up but isn't quite reliable. Like if you walk away, he's likely to fall backwards and bang his head on the ground. He loves to smile and laugh. You can easily get him to laugh by laughing at him or doing anything funny. He loves his baths and can stay in there until all wrinkly. We have a doctor's appointment next week, so let's hope he's gained some weight!

Cabinet Transformations!

Wow! For the bargain price of $74.99 plus a 10% military discount at Home Depot, we have transformed our master bathroom and downstairs half bathroom into a much more updated look! Good-bye 1990s basic builder cabinets... hello modern updated look! What is their motto... no stripping, no sanding, no priming! I simply applied a "deglosser," waited a couple of hours, then applied the "bond coat" which I compare to paint, waited overnight and applied the "protective coat." Love love love the results! I was a little freaked out about the protective coat leaving a white layer but it dried beautifully!

Before master bathroom cabinets...

After...

Amazing "transformation" for only $75!

And now the downstairs half bath before...

Boring and blah cheap white paint

Awesome and modern!

Even though I got the small kit, I still have plenty of materials to complete the kid's bathroom, laundry room, and hallway cabinets!

Cute pictures of the kids

Well, it started with Ashton wanting to match Timothy's shirt. Thanks to a great sale at Crazy 8, and Timothy outgrowing Ashton's old clothes quickly, I was able to snag some cute matching clothes for the boys. Put Violet in a plain shirt and bam... they all match! So, what's a matching outfit day without some quick pictures!

I got 3 shots off with all 3 kids before one or more abandoned ship... this is the best one that isn't fuzzy.

Do you like Violet's "cheese," Tim's concerned look, and Ashton is Mr. Poser!

Then of course, I tried to get the brothers together... this is what I got! Most of the pictures were blurry. So much for me trying to use my camera off of auto mode! I need to learn how to do the face swap method and maybe I can get one awesome picture!

Big hugs from big bro Ashton

Cute smile from Tim and Ashton must have been saying something

I did get some really cute pictures of Ashton and Violet

Super cute

Big hugs

Ashton gives Violet a kiss

Eric Carle's Art Project

Thanks to another Pinterest idea! I recreated Eric Carle's Hungry Caterpillar using Violet's hands the The Busy Spider using Ashton's! Super cute idea worthy of framing and displaying in their rooms! I did have to help out with adding the eyes, nose, mouth and ears after everything dried. Super impressed!

The Busy Spider by Ashton

The Hungry Caterpillar - ignore the tail - but it's still cute!