scrappy garland for the teepee and found kids' chairs makeover

These pictures are from back in August... days before the big yard sale.  The kids and I began setting up their teepee in the front every day because there was no wind and sometimes it's fun to play in the front instead of the back!  I also did a spontaneous mini yard sale for 3 half days... trying desperately to sell some big things that were taking up a lot of space in the garage where I was trying to organize for the BIG sale.  It worked!

I wanted to add some cuteness over by the teepee and so I made a garland- consisting of bright colored scraps I had in my fabric stash.  We loved it!  I have since made many more of these and they are currently being sold at Unglued in downtown Fargo.  The ones there are about 3yds long.

My next project this particular day was recovering these adorable kids' chairs I found during junk week a couple years ago.  They were both covered with that red fabric when I found them.  (dirty)  I ripped the first one off that same night and found a fantastic 70s oilcloth underneath!  I was so excited until I ripped the 2nd one off and found a huge gash that someone then tried to fix with a lot of glue or something weird.  It was gross- it's had to describe...  You can kind of make it out in the picture below.

Well, I remembered that I had some cute pink oilcloth that I had bought last year and tried to make a booster cushion for MB with(didn't work so good) so I unscrewed the cushions, pried out the gross glue stuff, filled in the hole with some batting, and stapled on the new oilcloth.

We LOVED how they turned out!

This table(below) was also a junk week find on the side of the road.  It's a children's folding table.  The top is uncovered so I just throw on one of my vintage tablecloths for them.  They love to color and do projects on it.  And so do their friends!  Oh and don't worry, that silver can is not a beer- it's a Arnold Palmer(half lemonade/ half ice tea) and it was mine. :)

If you are wondering about the other cute little chairs... the pink one was yet another free find that I painted pink and kept the original contact paper on.  The other 2 fantastic chairs were only $2 at a yard sale a couple years ago!  They are my favorite.

I thought I'd close with this- 3 of the 5 gorgeous, vintage blankets my friends from Minot brought me on this particular weekend.  I will show you the other two soon!  The yellow doll one is now residing on Mary Beth's bed by the way.  She LOVES it.

science-y kinda day

 

 

 

 

 

Jeffrey wanted to do science experiments all day... so he did!  Isn't homeschool great??

backyard camping & zoo day {july 28}

These pictures are actually from July 28th but I forgot to post them back then!  I will put them here for now and then move them back where they belong later...(I like to keep things in chronological order).
The kids had Emma and Norah over for a backyard campout.  John made waffles in the morning and they lounged around and played until afternoon.

 

These kids have the best times together... never fight, love playing all the same things... they've been best buddies for 5 years now.  We are lucky to have them so close.  I hope we get to watch them all grow up together for a lot longer. :)

Boo got tired after all the excitement and snuggled in to the tent for a morning nap.  She's so cute when she isn't terrorizing people, isn't she?

 

Somehow they all ended up on the roof of the garage while John was working on something.  They were pretty pleased with themselves! :)

Meanwhile, I was busy spray painting this awesome wooden highchair I scored for only $5 at a yard sale the day before.  It is pretty big and very sturdy.  I think it will be perfect for the new baby!  I'll show you how it turns out.

That afternoon we went to the zoo.  The weather was perfect. 

This cow's tongue was crazy!!  Jeffrey kept wanting to feed him but didn't want it to touch him.

 

 

The other highlight of this zoo visit was that the sloth was moving around.  It is a rare sighting.  Sloths are one of Jeffrey's favorite animals and so he was ecstatic!

I-800A Approval!!! {adoption update}

We couldn't be happier today- because after 70 days(which is WAY longer than we had expected it would take- and actually if you go by their receipt date it was technically 66 days) we finally received this envelope:

In it contained ONE piece of paper stating that the Department of Homeland Security has approved our home study and we may proceed with our adoption of a little girl from China!  YAY!!!!!!
We were at a complete standstill until this arrived.  So now what?
Well, now we put a copy of this in with 12 other important documents(birth certificates, marriage certificate, police clearances, our home study, employment verification letters, ect.) and mail it to Bismarck to the office of the Secretary of State.  After they look over it and "Seal" the documents, then it will all get mailed back to us and we will send it off to a service that will walk it to the Embassy in Washington DC to be certified there.  THEN it will be sent back to us AGAIN and we will add a few things like pictures of our family and reference letters and then mail it all to our placing agency in CA.  From there it will go to China!!!
And then we can finally wait for a match.
Paperwork, paperwork, wait, wait, wait... it can be crazy, frustrating, and stressful but it will all pay off in the end- and we'll probably forget how bananas this year was.  Like childbirth, right? :)
Stay tuned... we'll keep you posted.  More good things to come!!

front yard tree swing {best thing EVER}

So, we've been wanting to do this forever- about 5 years!  And today it was going to happen- I was deteremined!  I will spare you the ugly details of the events leading up to the sucessful installation but let me just say there were:  tall ladders teetering precariously against the tree, organic bags of beans and wheat berries exploding all over the ground, a roof rake, threats, and some grumpy words being exchanged.  We almost gave up several times until a combination of all of the above finally worked.

And boy, was it ever worth it.  This is SO FUN!!  The kids are in love.

 

Some friends stopped over to give it a whirl and they all had a blast.
I have to be sure to get pictures of the boys on it next time!
A special thank you to dear, sweet husband/daddy for risking life and limb for the kiddos happiness today.  You are the best!

good things

I was long overdue bring my sweet friend, Wendy her birthday present.  You see, I had it in my head that I wanted to stamp her birthdate on the tag with my library stamp but I couldn't find it anywhere... for days!!!  I became obsessed and would not give it to her without finding it.  Lucky for her it only took about 2 weeks!  Ugh...  Oh well, maybe the cuteness of the wrapping made up for it??

I used a recycled dessert box from the grocery store and cut up some old book pages for the fluff at the bottom.  Then I wrapped up a vintage tea towel, some of her favorite tea, and a tiny ceramic tea spoon from Crate and Barrel.  I wrapped the outside with a strip of vintage Holly Hobby fabric and some cute tags I bought from the gals at Modern Textiles a long time ago.  I've been waiting to use them.  The top tag I recycled from a used one I had and covered up the writing with scrapbook paper and washi tape.  And of course, we cannot forget the added touch of her birthdate stamped on it!  Ha!
I kind of like this cute packaging thing... my mom is the master at it, as I've mentioned and shown you here before.  I will have to keep thinking of new things to try out in the future!

I wanted to share this too- I stopped at a yard sale yesterday after picking up Mary Beth from Art, lunch and recess... and spotted these beauties!  The chair was only $5 and it just needs some piping added around the edges of the fabric.  And behold!  Vintage sheets!!  I've been collecting these to use for the crafts I'm making to sell at Unglued and the Junk Market coming up next weekend.  You won't believe it but the really nice gal who was having the sale GAVE these to me for free!  We got to talking and I found out she is from The White House Boutique(love their stuff by the way!) and she told me she had wanted to come to our sale but didn't make it so to consider this a donation.  How sweet is she??  I know I can make good money with these items in the future- I'm so excited and blown away by the kindness of others once again.  But that's not all!!  She also offered to sell the vintage jewelry I have left from the sale at her booth at Junk Market!   Yay!!!

And in closing, a shot of the sunflowers Jeffrey planted at the community garden- they let him cut some to bring home last night.  Gorgeous!

Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion {Rollag- 2013}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So fun here!!  If you've never been and you live around Rollag- please go next year.  It was really fun.  I just wish it had been about 20 degrees warmer!
The day before was HOT and then it was FA-REEZING... this area has the silliest weather I tell ya!
Steam Threshers is so inexpensive by the way- 50 cents for a box of popcorn and the same for a big cup of hot apple cider(which really came in handy!)- and the bestest thing:  $2 GIANT ice cream cones!  The kids were so excited- they each got their own big cones!  Normally we share things to save money.... but they had participated in a treasure hunt(digging around in sawdust for coins and prize tokens) and found enough money for 2 cones!  And MB won a train whistle. :)
The train ride was free, as well as the kids admission and everything else there besides the food.
We will definitely be making this an annual tradition- the kids loved the playground(see-saws!) and towards the end of the day we discovered the best part:  old-fashioned Main Street!  Story of our life...