Recycled Mirror

I bought this mirror 4 years ago at DI for $15. It was originally brown and was SUPER heavy, but I needed a large mirror for our dining room and I couldn't beat $15!  I painted it black, distressed it just a bit and the mirror worked well for the dining room, even after the makeover.

Well, 2 weeks ago we had to take it down because we were renovating our master bath. With the hammering and knocking down of the opposite wall, we were worried this monster would come crashing down. So with it leaning against the wall for 2 weeks, I started to get ideas...

Aaron really helped me with this one and we decided to take out the extra heavy glass mirror. (Those are Jonah's handprints above. Go figure.)  The backing was a thick, smooth backer board, so Aaron cut it down to size to fit in the frame and I painted it with a couple coats of chalk board paint. I painted the frame white, of course, the same white as our kitchen cabinets. And up it went on the kitchen wall.

I love mirrors, especially in this house ,because it brings in more light and gives the illusion of more space.  I did find another fabulous DI mirror for $10 that I refinished but I like it best on the mantel.  I'll get pictures of that as soon as I figure out all the do-da's that will go with it.

I'll be rearranging a few mirrors from other walls because the bare one in the dining room is really missing something. But I love this one as a chalkboard better.   What do you think?

Whitewash

I've been doing a lot of projects lately. Spray paint has been flying & sewing machines whirling. And I've found my go-to color is white, almost every time. I know, lots of people think white=boring. But my house has been filled with dark colors and now I find I just want light. There's some color thrown in for accents here and there but I'm really liking the white.


Here's one project I am happy to be finished with. It took a lot longer than I thought it would but turned out 100x better than I could have imagined. I'd get frustrated and walk away for day, then get re inspired and I would take it on again. I found instructions online but basically you fit the fabric to your furniture, pin, cut and sew. Some seams don't match up and it hangs funny in some places but I was going for that shabby chic look, right?
My parents bought us this wonderful rocker for us years ago and it's been a favorite of mine. So comfy and perfect for rocking babies. But it was time for a makeover. I could not find a slip cover that fit its dimensions anywhere and I didn't want to take on recovering the whole thing. I don't know if the slip cover was easier but since it's white, I can remove it and wash it easily. A definite plus.









It's a nice addition to our family room.
I know the pictures aren't great due to lack of natural light but I guess I take what I can get.

One great thing about daddies...

 ...their handlebars.

Jonah sure lo-o-ves his daddy.

Trombone Territory

Yep, we decided to go there. Since band or orchestra is basically part of the 5th grade curriculum and Lucas was beyond excited, we thought, Why not?  Let's see how the year goes. 

And he loves it.

If only Jonah didn't love it so much as well, practicing would be a lot simpler.

Here's a "Grandparent Video," a video only grandparents would appreciate. Then again, maybe even they wouldn't.   But it's Lucas truly rockin' his first song on the trombone.  Oooh, yeah.

Lucas has his own sense of style and picked out, and paid for most of, that hat himself.  He wears it almost everyday and specifically wanted it because it was different.  I love it on him and loves that he has his own style.

Of course Aaron couldn't be outdone and had to show his prowess on the great instrument. :)

Yes. I know. My boys can rock.

Why we joined the "Y"

Its child care & horsey-free workout.

Resigned

I've been denying it for weeks but I guess fall is here to stay.  And even though I have resigned myself to the cold and rain, I will probably continue to whine about it until next June when the sun comes out again  Sorry.   

I am trying to list all the wonderful things about fall, like the holidays, fires in the fireplace, hot chocolate (even if I drink that year round), black boots and cozy scarves.  And in reality I do love fall, it's the winter grey & rain for months on end I don't really enjoy.  Yes, I live in Seattle. Get over it already.

So to help ring in the new season, we went to Remlinger farms for the first time ever and The Farm out in Snohomish that we have gone to every year since Lucas was Jonah's age.

One Friday Lukey had school off, so Aaron took the afternoon from work and we drove out to Carnation.  We rode on the train where JB sat with his head over the side like a dog with his face in the wind the whole time.  This kid LOVES trains.

 

We played in the tree house, ran around in the hay maze rode all the carnival rides and had a picnic lunch.


Here's where my pride almost made me lose my lunch. Lucas convinced me to go as fast as we could, and to be The Cool Mom I decided to go all out. Which was super fun for the first 60 seconds, but then the whole rest of the ride I yelled at Lucas to stop because I was 3 spins away from losing it all over him. Yeah, he was not impressed.

I love The Farm.   Hay mazes, petting zoo, tractor rides, etc.  All you would want in a pumpkin farm.  We got to go with some friends and the kids enjoyed playing together.

Picking out his own pumpkin.

Plus they get a Popsicle before they go home.

So fun and a perfect way to welcome, although begrudgingy, the Fall.

Happy Halloween!

I decided to go ahead and post Halloween. At my rate if I tried to catch up, I wouldn't be posting Halloween until New Years. So here we go...

Lucas and Kyle (one of his best friends)wanted to dress up together but had a difficult time agreeing on the same look at the same time. It went from mimes to hippies to hobos and back around again a few times before we found these hats that led to The Blues Brothers. Neither of them know who the Blues Brothers are but as soon as they saw the hats and found out they could wear sunglasses and black ties, they were hooked.


And our little garden gnome....



Happy Halloween!