Back to School is coming...

The other day Naomi and I made this really cute chain to countdown to the first day of school.  She really needs a visual to help her understand when school starts. The picture was taken a few days ago and we are now down to 4 links.  I found the idea on Pinterest and she had fun making it. 

Then on each side of the bus we hung their letters they received from their teachers.  Naomi's is on the right and the purple one is Jacob's on the left.  Naomi's 1st grade teacher is Mrs. Lusier and she has been teaching for 32 years!  Jacob's 5th grade teacher is Ms. Baker.

Yesterday we went back to school shopping.  Darrick had the day off which was a huge help.  We had a bunch of supplies to get and also new socks and underwear for everyone.  It took us a couple of hours and we got it all done.

We have also been working on cleaning up and clearing out our garage.  It has been sadly neglected since we moved in 2 years ago.  It became a dumping ground for all the stuff we didn't know where to put.  Last week Micah and I worked really hard going through all the stuff and cleaning everything up and organizing it to surprise Darrick.

He was really happy.  Now he is doing his part organizing all of his "stuff"-mostly tools.  I will post pictures when he is done!

Reading Nook

It is now 3 weeks post surgery and I am feeling pretty good.  During my time of inactivity I made a huge list of projects that I wanted to accomplish.  For 8 months or so, because of my health,  I have been letting things in the house slide.  And when that happens things pile up, get stuffed, get lost and get cluttered.

As I am feeling better I have slowly been checking things off my giant to-do list.  One of those was to put some vinyl on a wall in Naomi's room.  I have a Silhouette, which is a craft cutting machine.  With this machine I am able to pick my color and design my own vinyl.

Here is the area where I wanted to put the vinyl:

We are setting up this area in Naomi's room to be a Reading area.  I found a really cute font online, with hearts, and designed it and had the vinyl cut.  Then this morning I placed it on her wall.  I love how it turned out!  What do you think?

 Here is a close up of the letters:

P.S. I made all those adorable pillows!

Projects

I love to work on projects, when I get the time, which isn't always a lot!  Here is what I have been working on!

After the boys saw the pillows I made for Naomi's room, they asked me to make them each a pillow too.  Micah found some fabric one day when we were at the craft store so I made his.  Jacob is still searching!

We have had this bird cage picture holder in our kitchen for a few months.  It came with clothespins to hang up the pictures.  I knew I wanted to add glitter to them to give them some sparkle!

We also have another picture holder on our kitchen that was originally white but since it sits on a white window sill with a white curtain it was getting lost.  So I gave it a pop of color with some spray paint.

I added glitter to this frame just to liven it up! 

4215 & Chickens

 When we moved into our house 2 years ago we found this large rock near the garage.  But I did not just see a rock, I saw an art project!  There was one side that was pretty flat so I thought it would be perfect to paint our house numbers on.  Now that we are having some sunny days I thought it would be a good idea to get started on my project.  The first thing I did was to wash the rock with dish soap and water and then let the sun dry it.

After it was completely dry I painted a base coat of white.  Then I sat down to sketch out my ideas.

 I decided on painting our three chickens: Oreo, Lily and Buttercup around the house number.  To add a bit more detail I added hearts and little chicken foot prints. Then I started the painting.  I did a few coats on everything to make it dark and make it stand out.  I used acrylic paints.

How do you think it tuned out?

My first sewing project

 I am learning to sew!  I have sewn little projects here and there throughout my life but I have never owned my own sewing machine or been able to call myself a sewer.  My goal is to make 2 quilts for the girls bedroom but that is for another time.  I will talk more about my machine and set up in another post but today it is about a pillow.  The girls room is going to have a reading nook in it.  I thought it would be awesome to make pillows to put in the space.  I found this tutorial online to make a "Super Easy Removable Pillow Cover".

Naomi helped me pick these fabrics- I love the cherries!

I am not sure what I did here-opps...

Much Better!

All done!  FRONT

BACK

SIDE

Spring

I made this wreath for our front door for Spring.  A $5 vine wreath and silk flowers from Michaels, and hot glue was all I used!

Easter Craft

As you can see our Easter Crafts filled in very nicely with grass.  They were such a fun project!

My new hobby

These I made for my friend Jenn Timmermans for her birthday.  They can be put in a garden or displayed somewhere in your home!

Some Organization

Here are two ideas I have incorporated into our family lately. I found these cool colored cube boxes at Target. Micah is blue, Jake is green and Naomi is purple. As I am picking up through out the day, if I find anything that belongs to the kids I put it into their cube. They are responsible to put the stuff in their cube away by the end of the day. It has been working awesome and saves me a lot of picking up. Naomi's is always the fullest.

Second idea is cups. I cannot tell you how many cups the kids go through a day. It seems like every time they want a drink they get a new cup. We found these cool cups at Bartell Drugs. They are BPA Free and have straws and lids. The only down side is they cannot go in the dishwasher. They each have a color and they use that cup all day. Then I wash them at the end of the day and they are ready to go again for the next day.

School Supply Storage

Since we started Homeschooling, I feel at times, that our house has been overtaken by school supplies!!! I have tried many different ways of storing them but this one seems to be working the best.

I took a glass platter I have and put it in the center of our table. Then I took different sized glass jars and arranged them on the platter. Then I filled them up with the supplies we use most: colored pencils of various sizes, twistable crayons, markers, scissors and pencils.

For some reason we have always stored everything point up except our pencils. So I put some dried peas in the bottom of the jar to prevent the tips breaking off when the kids drop them back in the jar. Plus I think it looks cute.

You could get really creative and decorate the jars but this is what I have time for right now!

Our Chore System

As a parent, I am always looking for new and creative ideas to incorporate into our family. So I wanted to share what we use in our family for chores. We have tried many different systems but this one is working the best. We have two different ways of carrying it out, one way for the boys and one way for Naomi.

I found a pocket chart at the $1 bins at Target at the beginning of the school year. I wrote each child's name on an index card and then had them decorate them. I then wrote down on other index cards all the chores. I glued them onto cardstock, cut them out and then brought them to Staples to be laminated.

Every morning, well Monday-Saturday we take Sunday off, I put out the cards of what chores I want to have done and place them under the name of who will do them.

After they complete a chore they remove it and put it in the holder above the chart. It is a magnetic organizer. That way they can feel a sense of accomplishment and I can see what still needs to be done.

Naomi has picture chore cards since she cannot read yet.

Chores are almost done for today!

Everyday their chore chart needs to be empty. They like to do them in the morning, but they have all day to complete them. If they did all their chores everyday then on Saturday they get an allowance. The boys each get $5 and Naomi gets $1.