Pinteresting...

I have a few projects to share!  I'll not bore you with words...just pictures!

 So, I have been kind of obsessed with pallets lately.  I found a bookshelf I wanted to make here, so I nagged Jared until he brought me home some from work!  I didn't take a picture of the 'before', but this is basically what we started with...

After a little sawing, prying and hammering, A LOT of sanding (I mean A LOT, like sanding with a grinder), a coat or 2 of paint we ended up with this!

Ethan was so excited about it!

A place for his books!

It's amazing what people come up with to do with pallets!  Total cost...$5, for clearance paint at WalMart.

This next project was a garbage day find!  I opened the garage door on trash day only to get super excited about what I saw across the street!

 I've been looking for something for our front porch!  I'm sure I looked crazy dragging, literally dragging, this thing across the street with a Ethan standing in our driveway next to Nora in the stroller watching.  I was really hoping there weren't any neighbors looking out their windows, but oh well.

I started by taking the iron backs off and scrubbing!  It was pretty disgusting.  I sanded it just a little and then started painting.  I used the same FREE Ace Hardware gray paint that I used on the entry way table.  And spray painted the iron black.  We needed to get some new screws to hold those in since several were missing.  

I have foam and fabric to make a cushion, but I'm not sure when I'll get to it.  I'll post a pic, if I ever get it done.  Until then, we will enjoy our new, old front porch bench!

Perfect fit!

A cushion would make the look...someday!

Photo Friday...Week 3

I love this week's picture.  Nora is becoming quite adept at pulling up to everything, especially me.  I got this photo of her wanting me to pick her up :).

A Child at My Feet, Wanting to be Held

Visit to the Park

After nap today, I thought we would make a quick trip through the zoo.  So, we got loaded up and when we got there it was closed.  Boo!  According to the sign on the door, it was supposed to be open, but oh well.  It's a good thing there is a very nice playground just outside the zoo.  So, we spent our time there, enjoying this fall-like weather!

Ethan and Nora in the tunnel

Coming through the train

She loves the swing.  She laughed and smiled, I just couldn't seem to get those on camera...

The ground is rubberized, which means I can let Nora down without fear of her eating mulch.

Pretty girl, playing at the park

Ethan at School

Today was my first time to help out in Ethan's school.  So, I did what any crazy, picture mom does...I took my camera!  We were both really looking forward to it.  My mom got up and left  her house at the crack of dawn to make it here by 8:30 so she could stay with Nora.  Thanks Mom!
There are 18 kids in his class and each day has 2 parent helpers and the teacher.  They start the day off sitting in their proper spot on the carpet and talk about the weather.  There is a song for everything!  They 'dress' a frog on the bulletin board in the right clothing for the weather.  Then they move onto the day of the week, the letter of the day and the number of the day.  With several songs thrown in.  It was cute and fun to see the kids getting into it.  After 'carpet' time comes 'centers'.  There are snack, math, writing, art and play centers.  I was assigned to the art center, where we made an 'M' mouse (M was the letter today).  I busted out the camera when I could, so here are a few pictures of Ethan in school.

Math Center with Mrs. McDevitt.  They wrote the number '1' today :)

Art Center with me!  Being very precise putting the eyes on the M mouse.

After they finish with the art project for the day, they are allowed to move to the sensory table.  They all love this.  It's a big table filled with rice!

Writing center.  They practiced writing lowercase m's. 

Photo Friday...Week 2

Nora is our sensitive child.  She can just barely bump into something and you would think she has broken a limb!  She is getting better with age, but she can still tear up quickly.  #37 on the list...

Giving a Child Comfort

Rock Springs

The weather is B-E-A-Utiful!!  After nap, we decided to venture out to Rock Springs Nature Center.  The actual center was closed, but as Ethan said "I'm glad the whole place wasn't closed."  This was our first visit, and we had no clue where to go or what to do, but we had fun!  We kind of meandered around, found some trails, a playground, a prairie house with a cute little garden and some more trails.  

Gorgeous Day!

Ethan in the garden

She only wants to be down and exploring when we're outside

We tried the front carrier with Nora...she wasn't a fan.  

Goofy boy!  He ran and ran.

My 2 Favorite Boys!

Me and my favorite girl!

Ethan's Memory Verse

We got home from church tonight and, totally unprompted, Ethan stood up on the stool and said his memory verse for the month!  We grabbed the camera, and he (surprisingly) did it again for us.

Romans 8:38,39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Photo Friday...Week 1

Curious George Makes Pancakes.  One of Ethan's favorite books, and he picked me to read it to him!

Reading him a favorite book

Happenings at Home

This week is a pretty busy one for us.  It's a week of beginnings, I suppose.  We began our small group on Monday.  Jared and I are the hosts and leaders/facilitators.  Ethan began school on Tuesday.  And we begin MOPS on Thursday, where I am a table leader.  So...today we have just been chilling out at home!  I've had my camera handy so I have a few photos to share.

First, last night was Fantasy Football draft night for Jared, so he was otherwise engaged for about an hour and a half with the computer...

It's serious stuff and requires lots of research...note all the papers ;)

And Nora is standing up every time I turn around.  She pulls up to anything!  And, as you will see, Ethan is usually close by to 'help' her.

In the baby food cabinet.

At the gate...

"Let me through!"

Under the table.

At the sliding door.

She's everywhere!
And Ethan has been painting quite a bit this morning...

Don't all great painters, paint pantless?!?

Happy Wednesday All!!

1st Day of Preschool

Today was Ethan's first day of Pre-K 1.  He has been counting down the number of  'sleeps' until school since last week.  We had his clothes laid out last night, his backpack ready, and his 'wrapper' (aka: folder, I'm not sure where wrapper came from) with his name on it in the backpack.  He was ready to leave the house an hour before it was time.  Needless to say...he was excited!

His first, 1st Day of School Photo.  *Tear*

Such a big kid with his backpack!

We went to orientation last week, so he knew where we were going and what it looked like.  His first task when getting to school, is washing his hands.  And then he is to find his name on one wall and take it to another wall to match it to his name over there.  He did great.  Jared met us there so he could see him for his first day also.  When we told him it was time for us to go, he didn't want us to leave...for about 3 seconds, and then was fine!

A few snapshots of our big pre-schooler!  

When I picked him up, he told me he had a great time.  His favorite thing was playing in the kitchen.  They learned about the letter "A", painted (without a paint brush!), played outside, had snack, played at the rice table and colored.  To celebrate his first day of school, I let him pick where we would have lunch and he chose McDonald's.  Jared met us there for a quick lunch and then Ethan played in the playplace.  It turned out that there were 2 other kids there from his class, so it was nice that he had someone to play with.  He will be going to school on Mondays and Tuesdays every week, so I'll be sure to keep the happenings updated :)!

Photo Friday's

Ok...so I'm taking a different spin off my sister's blog, where she has a themed weekly post.  I have found a 'Photo Checklist' on Pinterest (where else does one find fun, creative and interesting things??).  And I'm going to give it a go.  I am hoping to post a photo every Friday from this checklist.  There are 50, so, theoretically, this should take almost 1 year to do...we'll see how it goes.  I haven't even read all 50...but, oh well!  It will be fun to try.  Oh, and this is also about getting Mom in front of the camera, instead of always behind it, so you'll be seeing me soon :)!  Wish me luck!  And check back on Friday!

Weekend Visitors

We've had a good Labor Day weekend around here.  On Friday night Abby and Alex came up (with Moose) to spend a couple days with us.  They had hoped to go to Starved Rock State Park (a couple hours north of us), but hurricane/storm Isaac had different plans.  I think we got about 4 inches of rain this weekend.  So, we spent our time indoors.  Saturday we ventured over to Springfield to Scheels sporting goods store.  Ethan LOVES these kind of stores.  He could (and has) spend hours on the putting greens in the golf section.  This store has an indoor ferris wheel, so Abby, Ethan and I rode.

Big Brown Bear and Ethan

(First 2 photos are borrowed from Abby's instragram)

When we got back to the house, Abby and I decided to try a recipe claiming to be EXACTLY like Auntie Anne's pretzels.  They were delicious, but it also promised to be quick and easy...not so much.  It was very sticky and messy- with a lot of PAM spraying going on :).

I was the dough roller...

Abby was the pretzel twister :)

They were so tasty that they were gone before we could take any good 'after' photos!

Abby and Alex stayed until Sunday afternoon, and then headed home.  Sunday evening, Grandma Karen and Grandpa came up to have dinner with us and play with the kids.

Building a fire house

Such a cute kid 

Nora and Grandma Karen

The Whole Group of us!

 Thanks for coming up.  It was a great evening!!