You're off to Great Places!

What a beautiful morning it was to send our sweet girls off to big-kid school for the very first time.



Everyone was happy and not a tear was shed.



The dress I finished for Allison last night. With one of my favoirte lines from the book "Oh the Places You'll Go!"



I hope she has a terrific first day today. I can't wait to hear all about it over lunch.



Emily was a little bit timid about it, but we answered all of her questions and reassured her that she'll do great.



This little guy's excitement is from hearing the choo-choo trains off in the distance. Of course I'd like to think he's also excited about all the one-on-one time he'll get with me while the girls are off learning. ;)



They look so ready for their big day.



Their backpacks have lots of room for all this year with bring home.



Special Daddy snuggles just before heading to the bus stop which is just across the street. ;)



This pose is all Sam's doing. He can't wait for his turn.





We have a very busy stop!



Neighborhood friends.



And then it came.



And this is the best shot I got of them getting on. They couldn't hear us yelling to turn around. I'm sure they were very focused on what to do next. And I didn't have time to change my camera settings. :(



Whew...they found a seat together. And David said he could see Emily already talking to a friend across the isle, as they drove away.



Shouldn't looking for new mail always be this fun?



Can't wait to see you ladies in just 2 more hours!

Falling in love with my house again. One curtain at a time.

How can our days not start out sunny with these new curtains?

I dare someone to stay crabby over their bowl of oatmeal.

I found these fun curtains at Ikea a while back and have been dreaming about them for a long time. But I'll admit I was pretty worried they would be too over-the-top with such a bold graphic print. It also helped to see them in Edie's home too. ;) Having lived with floral and toile curtains for 12 years I was ready to go all white in the whole house. But my heart was really saying "Do it!" And I'm so glad that when Amy came over she said "Do it!" too. I love them even more now that they are hung.

So here is how I hung them up...

I didn't know this until I opened them, but these have gathering tape already attached to the back and are lined too. I'm sure by next spring I'll need to add black out lining too since this west side of our house gets super hot from 4-7pm. But since fall is here we don't need that so much in the winter and I'm ready to move on to another project.

Back to the curtains. I used these little metal hooks and placed them at the height that looked good once they were hanging. But I also made sure that that was below some extra stitching. On our last curtains I made them from scratch and reinforced the stitching along that line. But even with that some of the stitching pulled out from all the opening and closing these get to control light throughout the year.

(Please note that the two hooks in the middle are just there to show you what they look like.)

I used nine hooks per panel. Just make sure you use an odd number so all you have to do is keep finding the middle. No measuring. Gotta love that!



Next I pulled on the gathering strings to shorten the width of the panels to the size needed.



I still need to shorten them so I just left them to puddle on the floor until tomorrow.

So...what do you think? Am I a little nuts for loving these?

We will be replacing our table and chairs this week with my mom's set. It's in perfect condition, unlike ours that is falling apart. It's oak like our floor, oval with a double pedestal base and has 3 leaves that store inside it. At it's smallest size, it's the same length but 6" wider. The chairs are very similar but the legs are straight instead of turned. We'll place it in the opposite direction and I'm no longer adding a buffet below the mirror.

Now to decide what color to paint the table and chairs. Black or white?

And what color to paint the mirror frame next to it. Red or aqua?

One piece down,

and four more to go.



I thought David's nightstand could use a more masculine look. Well, as much as french provincial can look masculine that is. ;) I even scraped all the white paint off of the drawer pull for him. I had originally painted this when i was in high school and you can see {here} what it looked like before.

I watched these tutorials {here} and {here}. I used black semi-gloss spray paint, decided not to distress it and then used SC Johnson's paste wax which I found in the cleaning isle at Home Depot. It looks great in person.

I'm almost done with our tv stand and should be able to show that off on Monday. David walked into the garage and said "Wow! That looks like something from a blog." Why yes, yes it does...and pretty soon it will be something from my blog. ;)

Linking to Miss Mustard Seed and Primitive and Proper.

This is the BESt birthday EVER!

We heard that quite a bit today. The girls started their 6th year off right. Cinnamon roles and OJ for breakfast. A bath and then I curled their hair, which didn't last long because of the humidity. Then we picked up Daddy from work at 11am. Next it was off to lunch at Five Guys.

We had no idea that they cook their fries in peanut oil until after about his 10th fry, we noticed Sam scratching his blotchy face (you can see it starting on his cheek below). I of course freaked out, knowing that each exposure could mean a more severe reaction for someone with a peanut allergy. Don't think we'll be going back there again. He was pretty traumatized when we had to tell him he couldn't have any more fries. He sure loves french fries.



Next, we headed to the Zoo.



And enjoyed the new penguin exhibit.





And the farm. We hadn't been here for about a year. Now that we've renewed our membership I plan to take the kids after school at least once a month. We are finally stroller free at the zoo!















Doesn't he make the cutest little chicken? He loves to say "I speak Chicken. Bok, bok, bok..."



Proof that I was there. ;)



The tiger was hot too. We thought it was supposed to be a cool day, but it was still 79*.



Then dinner at Rainforest.



And time for the BIG surprise. The girls have been making their beds every day and showing us they know how to take care of their dolls by keeping their Barbie's hair in good condition. So...it was time for American Girl Dolls. They have been asking for them for about a year now. We opted to get them each their favorite doll in lieu of a friend birthday party this year.

Finding out.







Woo hoo!



Let's go!





I missed it, but when I walked inside, the girls were hugging each other and jumping up and down.



Kanani is Allison's favorite.



And Emily is Emily's favorite. ;)









Back home for cake and more presents. And Daddy played Happy Birthday on the guitar.







It was the BEST birthday EVER! And I think they will be very busy tomorrow while we finish painting the living room. ;)

Move over Craigslist!

I found the dresser and hutch of my dreams at the Goodwill for just $30. Doesn't this look like it could be the perfect addition to my sewing area, in the perfect shade of aqua? But I've always wanted it for my kitchen in black. Decisions, decisions...



And here is the $15 dresser I bought at auction that we are turning into our new tv stand. I'll put a wicker basket underneath it to hold all the cords that are necessary behind. We are also considering mounting the tv on the wall instead of just setting it on the dresser. The top has been sanded and is ready for a dark walnut stain and the bottom will be painted Benjamin Moore's White Dove, then distressed and waxed. we turned the top two drawer spots into shelves to house the components. They will fit perfectly! That meant I was able to swap hardware around and have 4 working handles and 2 metal key plates for the 2 drawers that are left. It needs a few nails to keep the bottom together and some glue behind some of the veneer. But I can see it finished and pretty in my head already.



And here are some more projects we are working on. Bunk beds for the girls soon to be painted white and my sweet husband is building me an Adirondack chair. Love that guy! Next summer I plan to order 4 more from him. ;)