FROZEN

Did I mention that we decided to do a

VERY

uncharacteristic thing

the day after

THANKSGIVING?

We braved a LARGE crowd to see the new Disney movie...

FROZEN.

I am the type that will wait a couple of weeks to see a "new" movie so that I can enjoy it later...

without a crowd,

and with an almost empty theater!

But we decided to be MORE fun than usual...

and because our sweet grand-kids wanted us to go too,

we stood in line for over an hour,

and then waited in the theater for 45 minutes...

to watch this cute new movie!

 Rachel and Katie kept the younger kids entertained with games and activities.

I was so GRATEFUL that they were with us...

as this is the day I started my

third week and counting COLD and FLU!

 Remember the fun game we played as kids...

"BUBBLE GUM"?

So glad Rachel got this game started!

 Or Rachel who let the kids climb ALL over her!

 Or snuggle with her!

 Baby Harper had the "right" idea...

a nap would have been a REALLY good idea!

 We took up an entire row with our crew!

Since then my children have sung,

listened too,

watched on YouTube

the amazing music from this movie.

Without embarrassing my son Christopher,

he loved the story so much...

he might have even shed a tear or two!

Bottom line...

this has become my kids

FAVORITE

new movie and musical soundtrack.

They have asked to go see the movie again and again

and I keep wondering...

will this be like when they were 4 years old and watched

CARS

every day...twice a day

or when they were 6 years old and watched

HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

every single chance they got?

P.S. One of my children even enjoyed High School Musical over the weekend!!  Some movies never go out of style!

*******************

Decor update:

Right before Ron had surgery he finished Jacob's window in his room.  I promised pictures but wanted to wait

until it was painted!

It's not the BEST picture...

but I absolutely LOVE how it turned out!

I love how he managed to make the two off-centered windows look like one custom window!

He doesn't know it yet...

but when he feels better I've got it on his list of

"Honey-do's"

to do the other two windows in the house like this!

(Love ya honey!)

 

Catching Up

I've spent so much time playing

CATCH UP

since I got home from our vacation that I realized I haven't even posted about

HALLOWEEN

and pretty much anything else since October.

With our kids being "older",

Ron and I made the decision last year that we were done...

TRICK-OR-TREATING!

(poor Jacob...he's the last child!)

So instead we just stay at home and pass out candy with our neighbors and relax by a nice warm fire!

(Forgot to take a picture!)

But Katie enjoyed the night with a bunch of friends...

 but by the time they made it to "our" house she was down to Mikayla and Baylee!

She was having a "wardrobe malfunction" and was refusing to let me take her picture earlier when I had good light!

However, trying to get a 16-year old to cooperate...

wasn't any easier.

 Rachel tried to help Christopher "enjoy" the process...

but he wasn't having any of it!

 Just made me realize that once again we had made the right decision to stay home...

my kids are outgrowing Halloween!

There is a little sadness with that statement too.

Just means my kids are getting older...

boy, they grow up fast!

 So glad Rachel could get into the spirit of the day...

she made a perfect nerd pose!

Jacob wouldn't let me take any pictures either so this is all I have for this year!

Rachel also finished her Football Season of Cheer.

She is an amazing cheerleader and improved so much...

they do all kinds of stunting and her back handsprings are so close.

But the BEST thing that came out of cheer season was her

friend Sydney!

We sure love this special girl...

almost as much as we love our Rachel!

(Rachel will also cheer for basketball season...so stay tuned!)

One of the games she got to cheer at was a

VARSITY GAME

in which over 125 little girls got to cheer with them...

including our granddaughter

HAILEE!

 The support group!

 Rachel and Hailee are out there somewhere!

Hailee LOVED being a miniature RACHEL!

We will miss Football season...

and the excitement of being at all the games!

I also got to ENJOY several lunches including this one with

my BEST girls

Jamie and Deanna.

We have been doing these lunches since our oldest were only months old...over 16 years and still going strong!

Sure do LOVE these girls...as if they were my sisters!

We also spent a lunch with two of our favorite people:

Cameron and Chelsea!

Cameron had us all cracking up laughing with his best comment of the day...

"They should combine You-Tube, Twitter and Facebook and call it 'YouTwitFace'.

 Sounds like a great idea to me!

I'm also trying to "spruce" up my house with little to no money...

just because I need a little updating!

So thanks to one of the craftiest girls I know...

I received some cute fabric to make some of these adorable banners:

I started with a "little" one to go with our Packers memorabilia

and liked it so much I decided to make a BIGGER one

for our

magnet "BRAG" board.

 Ron also worked on "framing" out a couple of windows in Jacob's room but it still needs to be painted so will post a picture of that soon.

He also put some wood in place in our backyard for me to hang

Large Round Bulb lights...

for more romantic lighting for these nice, cool evenings we will be enjoying.

I just have to string the lights tomorrow and will post pictures soon!

In the meantime...

my BLOG BOOK came yesterday!

I'm absolutely in love with it!

One of my favorite pages!

It can join our other book...until I make even more!

Sorry for the long post...it was a busy end of October and a first half of November!

Best of the BEST redo

I'm so excited to have my latest furniture redo complete.

This is by far the best...

and I'm learning that the more "practice" I get

the better things LOOK!

I found this piece at 

GOODWILL

on my very first trip!

I loved the hardware detail on the doors as well as the slats!

I thought it would make for an interesting piece once all the stain got into all the knooks and crannies!

I could have waited and bought this for $12 as they have there once a month 50% off 2 days after I purchased this...

but I was so afraid it wouldn't be there that I snatched it up as quickly as possible!

I have to say I was GIDDY with excitement as this turned out to be and ETHAN ALLEN original

and the wood was sturdy and intact!

I forgot to take a BEFORE picture

until I had sanded off the top layer...

but you get the general idea!

I'm so excited to share the AFTER!!!!

 
Here is a closer up look at the detail...
I absolutely am thrilled with how beautiful this turned out.

I changed out the hardware except for the beautiful hinges on the doors and found the knobs on sale at Hobby Lobby for only $2 a piece!  

I bought the paint for $12 at Home Depot...

and already had the stain, wax and other supplies I needed from other projects

so this Ethan Allen original cost me only $48!!!

How great is that! 

Side note:  My wonderful hubby has made me two shelves to go with this so that I can create a front entry vignette.  However, one of the kids stepped on one of the shelves and he has to start over building a new shelf.  I'm hoping to have this done before my parents come into town in a few weeks for Jacob's baptism.  I can't wait to show you the entire finished project!

Being BLUE makes me happy....

I am so "giddy" over my new

CHOICE

of colors.

 TURQUOISE 

It has made me so happy as of late that I've decided to change up my LIVING ROOM

and create a piece that makes me happy to look at!

It may not make everyone as happy as it makes me...

and you might find it a little shocking at first,

but I am just downright

HAPPY

with it!

Here is what the table sort of looked like BEFORE...

(well not really because this is nicely painted and mine was a VERY used table)

Ron cut the legs down so I could have a coffee table for my front room.

After I painted it, sanded it and distressed it...

it now looks like this in my room.

 

 Of course I had to do a little shopping...

and find the perfect accessories,

and I still have a few more things to do...

but I'm so happy with it!

And I think I must like the word Happy today!

Originally I had only planned on only painting the legs

turquoise but when I stripped the black paint off the top of this pretty little table,

there was nothing there but ugly MDF board!

To me it is always fun to find what's hidden underneath and sometimes you get beautiful wood and 

other times ugly MDF or particle board.

But the exciting part is just taking the time to discover it and create a custom piece that just makes you

SMILE!