Hooky Thingy

This hook thingy used to be hanging in my landing. It is actually a mirror but I had it hanging so high that no one could see into it and it wasn't reflecting anything but blank wall. Soooo, I took the mirror out and painted the back of it with chalkboard paint and put it back in place. Then I hung it right inside our garage entry. I'm hoping this will be an easy place for the boys to hang their backpacks and coats. Now if I could just find a way to wrangle all the papers they bring home! Actually, I have something in mind, but I have to find the proper pieces to make it work.

Back to school has been crazy! Everyone keeps asking me what I'm doing with all my time now that the boys are in school. Honestly, it hasn't felt like I've had a lot of free time. I try to be involved with their schools and several days have been spent working on projects for teachers, etc. I seem to manage to keep myself busy!

A few little projects

This is the amazingly, wonderful, beautiful flower arrangment that my sister put together for me. I got the planter at Michaels for $5.00 (75% off) and I already had most of the flowers from an old arrangement. I really love it!

For a long time, I have wanted to make a window treatment for the sliding glass doors in my living room. I gathered fabric samples and tried to figure out which would look best. I knew which one was my favorite, but I thought it might be too light. I finally asked my sister for her opinion and she voted on my favorite one. So I waited for it to go on sale at Hancock Fabrics for 50% off. And last Saturday, it did! So the boys and I headed off to Champaign (about and hour away) and I was crushed--really, I felt like crying--because they didn't have my fabric! And it was a one day sale. And I really love it. So today I traveled to Springfield (about and hour away) and went to their Hancock and they did have it for 40% off. I wasn't taking any chances so I bought some. I also bought some cute pom pom fringe that was on clearance for $.80 a yard. Whoohoo! I came home and got to work on my project and I am quite pleased with my mistreatment. I only used one yard of fabric which I cut in half length-wise and bonded it together with Stitch Witch. I also "hemmed the side edges with Stitch Witch. I attached the fringe with fabric glue and managed to put that puppy up all by myself! I'm thinking the whole project cost about $25.00 and $20 of that was fabric. The board was an old beat up salvaged piece from my dad and the brackets were less than a dollar each.

First Day Blues

This second grader was up and at 'em and ready for the first day of school.

Wondering when the bus is going to get here.

This kindergartner is NOT ready for school and would rather not go.
He also did not want the paparazzi taking his picture.
This is the kindergartner on the first "real" day of school. He looks happy now.


Uh oh. Not quite as happy now that we are at the bus stop.

So it seems that Jack is fine with school, but he hate, hate, HATES the bus. I hated it too when I was a kid. I'm hoping that once our confused bus drivers figure out the system, Jack will feel more confident. (Our school district is experiencing some mighty big bus problems right now.) Meanwhile, I am trying to keep busy so I don't notice my quiet, lonely empty nest.

Parker' Egypt Party

Here is the birthday boy. This Egyptian theme ended up being a whole lot easier than I thought it would be! Thank goodness for web sites like http://www.birthdaypartyideas.com/ and my friend Michelle who give me great ideas! My friend Angie came over and took pictures for me. It is so, so helpful to have someone other than yourself taking pictures. It doesn't hurt if they have an awesome camera too!
Michelle told me about the website: http://www.cakesandthings.com/ . They have chocolate molds in every conceivable shape. It was a fun little touch to add to the party. The only problem I had is that Decatur was completely out of royal blue and yellow candy melts so I had to go with navy and white. Did Maroa/Forsyth have some big event I didn't know about!? (local high school)

The party was late so we could do flashlight tag. The flashlights are from the Dollar Tree and they were the kids party favor. I wrote their names on them and painted the little diamond shapes that were already on them. Of course, all the "D" batteries cost way more than the flashlights themselves.

These little pyramid boxes were from the Dollar Tree and they held the treasures that the boys had to dig for....you will see them in a minute.

All these golden doo-dads are leftover from Parker's Indiana Jones party last year. I bought them on 90% off clearance at Hobby Lobby. The urn and the bowl are from a garage sale and that golden cake plate is an old candle holder with a gold plastic plate taped on top. Classy, I know. The papyrus picture was an antique store find when my parents took the boys antiquing one day.

Michelle found the recipe to make dinosaur eggs so I converted it to make a glob with a skeleton inside. It is dirt, sand, flour, salt and water. It took way too long for them to dry so I put them in the oven at 200 for hours and hours. I just hoped it would melt the skeleton and it didn't. I gave the boys a popsicle stick to excavate whatever might be in the glob. This was a big hit. As you can see, Jack will never be an archeologist....not much finesse here.

I do NOT make cakes but our family friend, Cindy, does and, like Parker said, "It wouldn't be a party without a Cindy cake." I totally agree.

Each of those little pyramid boxes held a set of these treasures. Each boy took a turn finding their treasures. When they had them all, they could go find the clue. When the clues were all together, they said, "The mummy is waiting in the garage." I used chicken feed instead of sand because the texture makes it a little harder to find the treasures. It is also very dusty and very hard on cuticles. And makes a big mess that mice will surely love to come and find on my deck and surrounding grass.

They went to the garage where the sarcophagus was waiting. I had some blacklights and painted the box with white paint hoping for the glowing effect....I even borrowed a smoke machine from a friend, BUT, the lights didn't put off enough light and the boys pretty much couldn't see anything. Oh well. The anticipation was fun.

Parker wanted Tut's death mask so he and my dad made this one. Pretty darn good, don't you think!? You see that I come by my craftiness naturally.

Then we played the good-old mummy wrap game. I bought rolls of crepe paper and they each took a turn wrapping and being wrapped. It was very funny and the boys had a ball.

Then it was time for flashlight tag. We never really could figure out the actual rules for flashlight tag, so they just ran around the cul-de-sac chasing each other and freaking each other out.

Somebody thought a ghost story was in order.

And then we brought out the sparklers. Is there a boy alive who doesn't like fire?

I know Parker had a great time and I'm pretty sure his friends did too. Still can't believe he's EIGHT though!

On our way to Eqypt

CRAZY week! Parker's birthday party was Wednesday night and I have a ton of pictures to post but I just need a little time to sit down and do it! Bear with me......here is a little peak at our Egyptian theme.

There is much more to see! Look at that happy little face...he loved it and that always makes all the effort totally worth it!

Master Bedroom

How about a master bedroom sneak peek?

This was going to be my "summer" look for the bedroom but now that summer is almost over, I guess it will be my fall/winter look too.
The boys go back to school on August 19th at which point I am throwing myself into all my home improvement projects. There is much to be done and I'm pretty excited to get some of this long overdue stuff done!