My Laundry Room

Long before Pinterest, and Facebook, and most other social media sites, there were the old school blogs.  In my newlywed days I would read blogs on home improvement, decor, DIY art projects, and more.  I would mentally store away ideas to use for later.  (Remember, no Pinterest board to pin them to!)

One of the ideas I saw one time was a cutesy laundry room.  Of course, I would plan our future home ideas in my head, and I knew one day I would have a "cute" laundry room.  Our laundry room in our condo was in the unfinished part of the basement, so not so cute.  From there we went to an apartment, then to a house with it once again in the unfinished part of the basement.  

We are finally in a house with a laundry room!  The house itself is small, so the laundry room isn't anything over the top spectacular, but it is a room! with finished walls!

So for the last 13 months I have slowly been working on making it "cute".

I used a mix of items I already had, items bought on sale at Hobby Lobby, clearance items from Target (love that candle!), and a few things from Home Goods.  It took me 13 months, because I collected the things little at a time when I found a good deal. It wasn't a priority when it came to house stuff, so it was slow moving.

My theme kind of started with that elephant picture.  I saw it, and thought it was so cute.  But of course it fit no where in my house.  So I just thought, you know what, I can hang it in my laundry room.  Why not?

Laundry is a never ending chore!  We all spend hours a week doing it (unless you have someone do it for you).  So what not enjoy the space?

We all know that I can't handle visual clutter, so I have those baskets and totes up there to hide all the ugly things that are usually in a laundry room... my iron, cleaning supplies, magic erasers, rags, etc.

The top shelf was already there, and it was painted the color of the room.  We bought a ten foot piece of wood from Home Depot, and had them cut it in half.  Then I stained it myself, and we bought cheap mounts to hold it up.  The whole shelf and installation was under $10, but it adds so much!

I need a picture for my frame.  The ones I have printed of the kids are horizontal instead of vertical.  The fish bowl with clothes pins is something I had from my classroom days.  The anchor is a symbol of hope, which is my word for the year.  So I thought it was fitting.

It's simple and budget friendly, but it makes me happy.

Let's do some laundry!

Frisco Art Festival

Last weekend there was an art festival in the Frisco square.  I decided to take Olivia on a mommy/daughter date and check it out.

Obviously she loves art, and we are always trying to show her that there are different ways to do art.  That what she views as "right" or "correct" is not the only way. That art is subjective, and that she doesn't have to always like it or appreciate it, but she has to be respectful to the artist.  (Example:  she gets bothered when little kids at MOPS color someones face purple on a coloring sheet, because it's not "right")

When she found out we were going to an art festival, she decided she needed to draw something to bring along.  She started at home, and then she finished in the car on the way there.  Then she went around trying to show everyone and tell them she's an artist too. She kills me! ;)

She had no issues talking with the artists at each tent.  She would tell them she liked their work.  Or pick out favorites.  One lady asked her if she liked art, and she responded with "Of course. I am an artist, after all".  then the lady asked her what kind of art she liked to do... paint or color.  She responded with, "I like all kinds of art."

We stopped in at Dimples for a cupcake!  These are the cupcakes we use to use for her monthly pictures.  She was a fan!

Mommy and Olivia with the tents behind us.  She said she was surprised that the tents were white.  When I told her we were going to an art festival, she was expecting the tents to be colorful or painted as well.

Playing around

A visit to the square wouldn't be complete without as top at the fountain.  She's loved these since she was a baby.

And since we had a little extra time before we had to pick the boys up for church, we walked over to the library.  We read a few books, and she put on a puppet show for me.  An artist, indeed.

April Goals

Apparently I need to make it a goal to have my monthly goals post up before the 4th of the month. ;)  It's not that I wasn't thinking about it.  I just didn't have time to sit down and write it out.

1. water- I did pretty good with this!  Of course, I already confessed that I didn't do it the first week.  But other than that, I stuck with it for most of the month.

2. crafts-If you read my blog, then you know that we knocked this one out of the park.  We did the shaving cream art turned sensory time, painted the stepping stones, did the window cross art, made the Easter banner, dyed eggs, and painted on a canvas.

3. dentist appointments- I failed at this.  Partly because I put it off until the very last day of the month, and then when I called insurance to make sure the dentists I chose were covered, they said it wasn't covered on that insurance. We do have dental insurance.  There was just some confusion on which card/plan it is under.  So... yeah.

4. gym class- I did this! We went the first Sunday of the month, and I talked Michael into doing a Tabata class with me.  Y'all.  I could not walk normal or sit down with ease until Friday.  And that is not an exaggeration.  I had intentions of trying out some other classes, but I haven't yet.  Michael has been going though, and taking the kids some of the time.

5. cleaning schedule- Fail!  Not that I didn't clean my house all month.  I did.  I just cannot seem to keep with my schedule.  I guess it's not that big of a deal.  As long as it gets done.  My goal with a schedule was to simplify my life, but I think the schedule was just adding unnecessary stress.  So I'm just going to keep on doing my Monday laundry days, and grocery shopping on pay day, and the rest will get done when it gets done.

(source)

1. Clean out my car! Yikes!  It gets messy with the kids.  I was going to wait until May so that it was ready for our trip, but it couldn't wait.  And actually, my sweet husband has already knocked this one off of my list. Logan needed a new car seat, so Michael spent Saturday morning cleaning out my car--vacuuming and wiping it down included. Then he installed the new car seat.  Win!

2. Take vitamins regularly. I'm pretty good about giving the kids their vitamins, probiotics, and elderberry when needed.  But I don't take them myself.  Partly because I have to take my thyroid medication first thing in the morning, and you can't mix it with iron or calcium.  Then I forget later in the day.  But I need to start taking them.  Of course, it's the 4th and I haven't taken one yet....

3. Clean up the back yard.  There were toys left out, things that needed scrubbed off, etc.  This is another one that actually already got taken care of.  We went to Saturday night church, so we spent time outside on Sunday morning cleaning and organizing.  We still need some patio chairs for the table that we got on clearance at the end of last year's summer season.  But it's coming together.  The kids played and we cleaned and it looks a million times better.

4. Spring clean.  I've gone through all of the clothes in the house, and I've gotten rid of some of the obvious baby toys or baby items.  But I want to go through each room one at a time and clean, organize, declutter, and finish up any tasks that have been ignored or left for "later".

5. Get up early.  I have felt convicted for a little while now that I really need to be getting up earlier than my kids and have some quiet time.  It keeps popping up, and I figured I better get this figured out before we add homeschooling into the mix.  I'll be honest.  This is going to be hard for me.  I don't do well on little sleep, and I'm already not getting enough.  But I'm hoping that the good will outweigh the bad here.  Starting tomorrow.... ;)

March Photo Dump

What else have we been up to this month?

Michael tries to keep the kids active at night.  If the weather is nice, they sometimes go to the park.  They've also been going swimming at the gym.  Of course, the kids love both of these options!

Typical Logan--snowman headband, pink bib, and a wagon full of fun.

Basketball anyone?

Ariel? Is that you?

Batman and Olivia

Posing

This kid.

He loves blankets.  Sometimes, he likes to use rugs as a blanket.  He's a weird one. ;)

Logan has taken to these two little friends.  The bear was given to Olivia by my dad years ago.  It's now Logan's favorite little friend.  He sleeps with him every night.  And the frog use to be Little Man's.  He gave it to Olivia, and now Logan has confiscated that as well.

We didn't have anything going on one weekend, and we needed out of the house.  So we tried out a new little neighborhood restaurant.

and then we walked around Cabela's.  The kids loved looking at the animals, checking out the boats and 4 wheels, and Olivia likes to shoot the bow and arrow (like Merida!).  Free entertainment!

Olivia got a small set of magnatiles for Christmas. They are very popular, but also very expensive.  So we started small to see how they would like them.  They didn't show much interest at first, but now they are a favorite toy around here.  Logan especially likes to build with them.  Open ended toys for the win!

We are getting to the point where we can spend more time outside.  Both of our camp chairs broke (they were old and worn), so I bought this old school lawn chair to have a place to sit while the kids play.  They thought it was the best thing ever and fought over sitting in it.

Cutie!

Every spring MOPS does a meeting called Tea and Testimony.  They send out formal invitations, have the meal catered in, and everyone is suppose to dress up.  The mentor moms decorate the tables all nice and fancy.  Then 3 of the moms from the group share their own personal testimony.  It is always a favorite meeting.  Here are most of the girls from my table!

Olivia usually only gets her kindle during Logan's nap.  She has some game apps that we've bought her in the past, but her current favorite is Starfall.com which is free and educational!  She doesn't always choose to use her kindle during rest time. Sometimes she spends all of her time coloring and drawing.  This is one of those days where Logan chose not to nap, but I let her play anyway.  She was teaching Logan how to use it.

He set his friends up at the table with him to have some breakfast.  Sweet boy!

Drawing fruits and vegetables

:)

More magnatile fun!

This kids and his shirt... I found him like this again this month.

(Don't mind the protruding ribs. He eats. I promise.)

If you are on Facebook,  then you saw this.  We were doing the little egg hunt at our church, and he was pouting because he had to wait. 

and then this! There were golden eggs that had special prizes in them. This is Michael telling her that is not a golden egg. LOL!

She's getting adventurous in her eating!  Michael and I had a salad for dinner one night and she decided that she wanted one.  So this is her eating her first ever salad.  She talked about it for a full day until it was dinner time!

Helping make homemade biscuits.

Note: Apparently I only take pictures when my kids are in their pajamas.  Geez.

"I'm an artist, after all"

Saturday morning was the first day to register for our local VBS.  So while I was thinking of summer, I started researching classes and mini camps.  Olivia has been begging to take some type of art class. ANY type of art class.  She always says, "I'm an artist, after all.  What am I suppose to do?"  Ha ha!

So after looking at some options, I got inspired to let her be a little artist in our kitchen.

I brought in our easel, and I had an extra canvas for her to use.

I put some paint on a paper plate and explained how artists used a palette.

and, of course, what one does the other must do...

If you've read for any length of time, then you know she is all about primary colors and secondary colors.  She knows if you mix red and blue you get purple.  Or if you mix red and yellow you get orange.  But some of the more odd mixtures throws her off.  So I told her the only way to know would be to actually mix paints.

They were so cute.  Olivia would come over and look at Logan's painting and tell him how good it was, and that he was a little artist too.  Then later, after Logan got down, he went over and looked at hers and said, "Wow! Good job!".  My little encouragers! They melted my heart.  They are getting closer and closer as Logan grows, and it is so fun to watch.

I think parents are doing a disservice by telling their kids they can do anything or be anything.  Then enrolling them in every little thing possible.  We don't want our kids to think that they can be good at everything (hello, participation trophies).  They can't be good at everything.  BUT, they can be great at something!  And if art is her something, then I am going encourage and help her grow that to the best of my ability.

My little artists

The finished product

She sat down to admire her work. Ha!  And then promptly told me to take a picture and send it to Boppa.  Her biggest cheerleader! ;)