Backyard Makeover

Over the last couple of months we've been redoing the backyard.  It's finally finished!!!  At least all the big jobs are finished.  There's still some trimming and stuff we need to do.

 

BEFORE...

AFTER...

 



 

Side yard before...

 

 

Side yard REALLY before.  This pic is from when we bought the house.  I'm including it because I never got a chance to take a before pic that showed the awful, wavy brick sidewalk!

 



 

 

Side yard after...

 Ignore the pile of bricks by the fence. 

That was the old sidewalk and my plan is to put it on the other side of the house for a garden area.

 

Back porch before...





 

 

Back porch after...





 

 

 



A little bit of the past...

My decorating style is rather ecclectic.  I really like to use meaningful things to decorate my home...pictures from a vacation or an interesting item we picked up while traveling, for example.  Recently, I've added some things from the past.

My dad collects antiques and has had this little cast iron stove for many years.  I've always loved it.  My mother always hated it.  So, when we moved into this house and had room for it they gave it to me.  It was in rough, rusty condition at first, but my husband cleaned it up and polished it.  He began doing that without me knowing so I didn't get a chance to take a before picture of it.  Here are the after pictures though.  We are using it as a side table in our library.

Another little project I started last summer was to frame some old black and white family photos from both my family and my husband's.  I went to a local thrift store and bought a bunch of frames.  I think I spent around $12 total!  I brought them home and spray painted them black.  I framed the pictures and hung them in our guest room.  I think they turned out nice.

 

 

Frames before...

and after...



I love that the pictures are relatives...some we knew, some we didn't.  The frames are all very different.  Most were cheap plastic or metal frames, but when you spray paint them all the same color they really work well together.


What's your decorating style?  Do you have any interesting items that have a good story behind them?

Lenten Project

Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.  I had a last minute idea...a way to involve our whole family.  We had this cross leftover from a St. Helena costume from All Saints Day a couple years ago.  I nailed 40 nails in it.  We, as a family, are going to try to remove the nails during the 40 days of lent. 

They can only be removed by one of us doing an act of kindness for another person.  The rule is that you can't really be getting anything in return for the act.  For example, my son mows the neighbor lady's yard, but she pays him so that wouldn't count.  Doing things you are supposed to do anyway doesn't count either...daily chores, behaving in school, etc.  We are trying to focus on just being kind to others.

Yesterday, three of us managed to do something kind for another so we have already removed 3 nails!

You can't see the nails very well in the picture, but I used small picture hanging kind of nails and I didn't hammer them in too far so that we'd be able to just pull them out without a hammer.

Catching up!

Wow, I have totally been neglecting my blog this year!!!  We were all sick after Christmas, then I was busy planning the NYE party and then we started school again.  And then there was my birthday and Nathan's birthday.  We are also right in the middle of Claire's gymnastic season...she's already had 2 meets and has another this weekend.  She's doing great on Sr. Team.  She was ranked a Jr. Prep level 4 at her first meet and moved up to a Jr. Prep level 5 at her second meet.  I'm still learning what all of that means!!  In her first real meet she placed in the top 10 in every event and won 1st in beam.  She is still excited about that!!

She's been battling terrible allergies this week so I hope she's feeling better by Saturday for her next meet.  Here are a couple pics from the last meet....

 

And here's my 15 year old!!!!

I do not know where the time has gone.  It seems like just yesterday he was a baby!

 



20 easy Elf on the Shelf ideas

This was our first year to have an Elf on the Shelf.  My daughter LOVED it!  I must admit, it was pretty fun for me too!  I have seen some crazy stuff on the internet that people do with their elves, but there was no head shaving or undecorating the Christmas tree at our house.  Our elf was cute and mischievious, but not messy or bad.  Here are 15 of the easiest things we did with him...fun the easy way...just my style!

1.  Reading a book ('twas the night before Christmas)

 



 

2.  In the car...

 

3.  In the bathroom wrapped up in a little toilet paper.  If you enjoy cleaning up messes, he could toilet paper a whole room!

 



4.  On top of the cake plate trying to steal the cookies...

 



 

 

5.  Making paper snowflakes...



 

6.  We homeschool and have a big white board, but he could leave a message on any white board you might have.

 

7.  Turned the milk green in the fridge...

8.  putting a puzzle together...

9.  playing a game of Candyland with friends...



10.  He drew a picture of himself and put it on Claire's bulletin board...

 

11.  He decorated a house plant....

 

12.  Having a tea party with friends...



13.  under the tree among the presents....

14.  helping with homework?  Claire left her handwriting book out and he practiced writing his name in cursive...

15.  Playing with toys...he just happened to be playing with zoo animals the day we were going to the zoo!

16.  This is Pete with my daughter's camera.  When she looked at the pictures on it, she found pictures of him...in the Christmas tree, with the cat, etc.



 

17.  We have had an unusually warm December this year so when we got a cold front Pete was ready with the hot chocolate ingredients...

 

18.  He ate a cookie out of the cookie jar...

 

 

19.  He climbed the Jesse Tree.  If you don't have a Jesse tree, he could climb the Christmas tree or a house plant instead.

 

 

20.  One night Pete made a sugar molecule.  Now, this got included in the "easy" post because I needed 1 more easy thing to make 20.  :)

However, this could be done easier if you don't have a molecule kit.  We just happened to have bought one because we were studying molecules that week.  He could also draw the sugar molecule or print it off from the internet.

Jesse Tree Part 2

Claire is still really enjoying the Jesse tree and I think she's learning a lot too.  She's heard all these stories before, but I think they are really sticking with her this time.  And she loves making the ornaments!

Day 4:  Abraham..

"Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can. Just so shall your descendants be."

Day 5:  Abraham & Isaac

Used a cardboard coaster for this one too.  Those free coasters we got at the state fair are really coming in handy!

 

Day 6:  Jacob's ladder



Day 7:  Joseph's coat of many colors

I traced a coat pattern that I got off the internet onto a piece of stiff felt and Claire added different colored ribbon.

Day 8:  Baby Moses

We used a half of a walnut shell, glued some cotton in it and glued a little plastic baby on the cotton.  I have a whole package of these little babies left over from the King Cake I made for Mardi Gras.



Day 9:  The Passover

I just printed out a sheep pattern from the internet and Claire glued on pieces of cotton balls and a wiggly eye.



If you want to see Days 1-3 click Part 1.

Elf on the Shelf (Wordful Wednesday)

I caved and got my daughter an elf on the shelf this year.  She's 10 and know the "truth" about Christmas, but she likes to pretend she doesn't.  And you know what?  I like to pretend she doesn't either so that's why I was suckered into paying 30 bucks for this thing.  (Shhh!!  No one tell my husband what it cost!)  Anyway, we've been doing it for 2 days now and it's a lot of fun...and apparantly we got a really smart elf because we've found him reading and writing so far...maybe his educational diligence will rub off on Claire!

This is "Pete."  I have no idea why she named him Pete.  I wanted to name him Elfred...because he's a red elf and if you switch the words you get Elf-red.  Claire was not amused by that and named him Pete. :)

I'm linking up with Parenting by Dummies today for WW.  Stop by and join in the fun!