Thrift Finds!

Last Thursday, Jeremy told me I could have the whole day to myself! He watched the kids and I got to run around the city. I stopped at few thrift stores and found some treasures. I always look in the children's book section, I'm pretty picky about what books I bring home and have learned my lesson to make sure there are no missing pages.  I learned that lesson the hard way.  Ahem.

I plan on using the floral curtain for a spring project and that pyrex loaf pan had my dreaming of baking a some of my mom's banana bread.  How have we gone this long without owning a copy of Where the Wild Things Are?  Our family loves the classic Winnie the Pooh stories-so much humor for us old folks to enjoy and Lincoln loves the little size of these books.

Our spring break is over and Jeremy's break is just beginning. We never made it to the botanical gardens, but we did end our week off from school with a picnic at Tower Grove Park, complete with friends, fried chicken and coleslaw. I'm wishing there were leftovers for today!

Stella's Unicorn Party

Way back in September, Stella turned 5, we waited to celebrate with a friend party until after we moved into our current apartment.  The new place was mostly settled and the birthday girl was happy to invite her friends into her new home.

The party was right after school on the day that I nannied away from home, so everything had to be set up the night before and the morning of the party. It was a little bit crazy that day, but I like to think it added to the excitement.

Stella is a girl who knows what she wants and she had some very specific requests and plans for the party.

-go on a hunt for something, unicorn-ish, like our last party

-snap a group photo of her and her friends: both smiling and silly photos

-play a game

-serve cupcakes in a jar with pink frosting

-include colored pictures (made by her) for all of her guests in the favors

-display her hand drawn unicorns as decorations on the day of the party

For the hunt, I made little Unicorn hair clips for all the girls, inspired by these.

The girls played "Pin the Horn on the Unicorn" (or "Pin the Corn on the Uni" as Jeremy liked to call it. "Shouldn't it be called a Unihorn?  I mean, that thing on its head isn't a corn, right? Pretty sure it's a horn" he says.).  I painted the unicorn and then cut horns out of felt.

It was simple. I wish I had snapped a photo of the table, but I'll blame that on the party being right after school and my being away from home before hand. That photo wasn't one of the birthday girl's requests anyways. ;)

We keep our parties pretty simple and try to pull off something memorable and special for the kids while keeping things under a very small budget, Jeremy is in school after all, so our whole life is under a very small budget.  Sometimes having such a small budget can be frustrating, but other times it stretches my creativity and I wouldn't trade that for anything.

One more thing:  the banner in the first photo above has become a part of all the parties we throw. That project and the finished bag I shared in my post yesterday are projects from this sewing e-course. The bag and the banner along with this are some of my favorite things I've sewed and I can't wait to start my next project, a sewing machine cover, maybe I can start that one this afternoon.

If you need me, I'll be in the studio,
Diane 

tuesday

We woke up around 3 am this morning to the sounds of tornado sirens, hail and rain. Thankfully it was a false alarm for us and after a little while we were able to get back into our warm cozy beds.  This morning, we all overslept and have been walking around blurry eyed and in need of a constant cup of coffee in hand to help us get through the day.  It's the perfect day for staying in pj's and coloring on the floor if that's what suits you, and for Lincoln it seems too.

I am so tired and at the same time I feel so energized, like a creative surge has come over me. I think it's because for the first time in my life I have a studio (and its finally set up!) and because I got to spend two nights in a row talking with another momma and creative soul.  Times like that are so good for my soul;  I need them and I am learning to savor them and run with the energy I gain from those opportunities.

Room Tour: three kids in one little space

Hey Friends!

We are a family deeply affected by our surroundings.  Which is one of the reasons we decided to move to South City (part of St. Louis) in the middle of the semester!  Not the best timing for sure, but we sure did need this change.  Now that we are all feeling a bit more like ourselves I feel like I can spend some time back here again.

I have one last little room tour from the old place.  We are not quite settled in the new place yet, but once we are I will give a little tour.   In our old place the kids room was pretty small but we really wanted all three in the room together.  The girls got bunk beds and we tried to use every inch of the the space without  it feeling too crowded.

So here you go:

We store toys in bins under their beds, on the bottom of the bookshelf and also in the closet.  More dress up items are in a basket next to the dollhouse.  The metal book shelf with the lamp on it is from Ikea and only $15!  We have five of them, so we are pretty big fans. I can't wait to show you how we used them in the new apartment!

Have a lovely night!

get up and go

These two had their first day of school last week. It was so fun having them around the house this summer and I can tell Lincoln is learning to adjust to their absence during the day.  He is SO very happy to reunite with them each afternoon.  Their school (which started last year) has doubled in size in it's second year and we are so happy for it's success. 

Something about September makes me want to curl up on the vintage sofa ;) and watch Gilmore Girls.  There hasn't been much time for curling up on the sofa, but Gilmore Girls has been on in the background while I work on projects around the house.  Lincoln seems be quite taken with the show as well and I have found him plopped on the couch with his milk in hand watching the tv a few times this week.  

Jeremy's semester began this week and with all of this getting up early to get the girls school and then study before class we've been needing a bit more coffee in our system while we adjust to the new schedule. We're not morning people over here.

  

Crafting on the fly with Emma and Stella

This summer I made a loose schedule for me and the kids.  I say loose because I  am not the best at sticking with a schedule, so I need some flexibility.  Part of our routine each week includes a craft time with Emma and Stella, after lunch, while Lincoln is napping.  Sometimes, actually most of the time,  I have no idea what we are going to make until moments before craft time officially begins.  So I quickly look through our stash of supplies hoping for an idea, using things we already have for a craft on the fly.

Craft on the fly: Sticker books

Emma and Stella love stickers and needed a cute place to put them.  First, we cut rectangles for the pages and the cover.  Then I helped the girls bind their books on my sewing machine. They sat in my lap and I showed them which buttons to press, then we pushed the paper through while sewing down the middle of the rectangle.  After the pages were sewn in they decorated the covers.

Then they filled their pages up with stickers.  They LOVE stickers! 

 Craft on the fly: Paper Chains

 I found leftover paper strips from Emma's party in our stash so we made paper chains.

The paper was already cut so that was easy.  We didn't have any scotch tape and rather than messing with a gluestick I found some double-sided adhesive tabs in my scrapbooking stash.

I think part of the excitement with this craft was the presentation. It took me about 5 minutes to set it up, but I think it made the craft time feel more official for Emma and Stella.  I put some strips of paper and a strip of the adhesive tabs in an empty cigar box and set it on the table in front of their chair.  Then I did a little demonstration of how to make the chains and was ready to assist if they needed me. 

What crafts have you made with your kids this summer? I would love some more ideas!

There was a 12 hour window last Friday where the whole house was completely clean. It was the first time since we moved in last August that this little apartment was in ship shape. It felt so good to have the laundry in all of the appropriate places, the beds made with fresh, clean sheets and both the pantry and the fridge full of fresh food.  There is nothing wrong with having or wanting a clean house. But sometimes it feels too important, and I have to remind myself that the messes we make on the table, in the kitchen and on the floor mean that life and love are happening here in our home with the people that I love. Baking cookies, painting pictures or sewing something from pretty fabric are all a mess worth making.

p.s. Most of the time in that twelve hour window when the apartment was clean, Jeremy and I were sleeping! Ha!

a little Old Navy and a lot Little House on the Prairie

someone had a birthday last month

A couple of years ago, Emma and I were reading through her Highlights High Five magazine a few weeks before her birthday. We read a recipe for Banana Split breakfast and Emma requested it for breakfast on her upcoming birthday. It was a hit that year and has been ever since.  Keeping with tradition we started out her day with a festive table and her very special banana split breakfast.

It was a school day so she went off to school and patiently waited all day for a trip to The Magic House after school.  The kids LOVE this place!

After The Magic House we headed home for our Friday night tradition: family movie night, homemade pizza and this time birthday cake.

A few weeks later we had a birthday party with her friends from school. Emma's had a few requests for her party: eating cupcakes in a jar, weaving placemats and hunting for real teacups that her friends could quote "take home and keep forever...or until they break." :)

Below the girls are peaking out the window and waiting for their friends to arrive!

The streamers were made by taping a bunch of strips of receipt paper to a yard stick that Jeremy hung above the table. The blue cake plate was found at Homegoods a while back.  I found some vintage plates and candle holders at the Goodwill outlet and made the small cake plates that night before the party.

First we weaved place mats!

Then we went on a teacup hunt.  I found more than enough vintage teacups at the Goodwill Outlet and payed under $3 for all of them!  I wrapped them up in a brown paper bag and secured it with a cute paper straw.

After the teacup hunt, we had our tea party! Our "tea" was apple juice b/c we're bigger fans of the tea party idea and not so much the actual flavor of tea. The girls used their newly woven place mats and drank out of their very own teacups.

The party came together pretty easily and under a small budget. I sent Evites rather than a paper invitations and most of the decorations and the table linens were items we already had.  We only purchase a few things for the party which included teacups for the hunt (those were their favors too) paper to weave place mats, jars for the cupcakes (those will be put to use again) and we couldn't resist picking up some cute paper straws to make drinking water a bit more festive.

it's time to catch up

Let's start with June.

Remember this photo from their first day?  It's one of my most favorite photos of those two.

I took this photo on the morning of their last day of school.  I snapped them before they walked into the building. They are standing in front of the school butterfly garden.  My how they've grown!

The weather chart in Stella's classroom. She made one just like it at home.

I love this word list in Emma's class. Now I know why a glockenspiel was on her birthday list. ;)

and our big surprise when they got home!  Hooray! School's out for Summer!



They each had their own stacks of brand new books waiting for them, even Lincoln.  We finished most of them within the first few weeks. Now all of the new stories sit alongside the rest of the books on the shelves ready to picked up and enjoyed even more. Our kids love books and we are so happy that they do.  Thanks grandparents for encouraging your grandkids' reading habits!

This post was just a smidgen of all we have been up to around here. I have lots more photos to share  from our adventures...and I need to post the rest of the photos from the Waco house.

P.S.  The banner hanging from the tents is a project I made from the Home Ec sewing class. It's a fun one. We use that banner for all kinds of things around here. Tent tutorial found here.