Carly turned 5 in June and she had requested a rainbow birthday party. So of course, she got a rainbow birthday party!  Here are her friends that came, a couple couldn't make it and we missed them!  Here is Lyv, Lacie, Carly, Kai, Kiana, Kailyn and Ava.

 We played pin the cloud on the rainbow, Kai had to get in on the action! He only had one melt down during the party... (argh!)

 Here are the yummy cupcakes I made, they took a while to get them to look like this, but SOOO worth it! I loved them!

Here are the table decorations, I made the blocks with her name and they now sit in her room, she loves to move them around and have me try to sound it out, lol!  I found giant lollipops and put the girls names on them, I put them in a "pot-o-gold" filled with rolos. We had a bunch of glass jars filled with different colors of candy and pink lemonade.

 My mom and I made this rainbow using LOTS of tulle and an arch, the girls went thru it into the party. We also did a treasure hunt where the girls had to find a picture to match the color on a card they each had, when they found each one around the yard they got a goodie to go in their goodie bag, bracelets, rings, candy. I didn't get any pictures of this, but trust me, it was cute! ha!

 I found flip flops at walmart months ago, for $1 each, I bought a bunch of them (as in way too many), I got material that was each color of the rainbow, Brandi and Kendra saved me by tearing it into strips, because I had totally forgotten it! we cut the strips and tied them to the flipflops!

The party turned out great and Carly had a blast! Thank you to all the girls who came and their mommies that helped! I love you guys!

I Love my Carlybug so much! Happy Birthday baby!

new project!

I have an unfinished basement with AMAZING potential. So now that Lyv's room is done, I want to create a playhouse for the kids downstairs with a shabby chic look.  I went to DI today and found something awesome for $2!!!!!

Isn't it beautiful?  I love it!  

 Here is a wreath that I have had for years, it is my "inspiration piece" for my colors!

Now the extra fun part! The furniture I found to put in the playhouse, I got this cedar chest at DI for $12!  (have I ever told you how I love DI?) I am going to refinish it, not sure exactly how yet...

I got this night stand for $5 at DI and there is a stamp on the back that says it was made in the USA in 1942! how fun is that? It is solid oak, I can't wait to refinish it! I want to use a crackle paint, but am slightly intimidated by it.  I think I can... I think I can...

My MIL gave me this for my kids for Christmas, it is child sized, she has been hauling it around for years! I want to paint it ivory and then a darker stain over it and wipe it off, give it a fun antique look!

And here is the hard work part! lol! the room I want to finish...  

I have since gotten a rose colored piece of carpet from DI :) (Golden, you rock!!) That is scheduled to be cleaned next week and we will have officially started! I am so excited about this project! Fairly often i have a herd of little girls at my house and they would all love a fun playhouse!  If anyone has any ideas or suggestions, please share! Wish me luck!!

What are our kids learning?

K, you know those awesome dollar racks Target has when you walk into the store?  Well I LOVE them! I was there on Saturday and bought some 'Disney Princess' flash cards for my girls.  Three to be exact.  One is just number recognition, the other two are addition and subtraction. My mom was doing the addition cards with Lyv and came across this...

Ok, we all know this one right?  It's easy right?.... Five and nothing is Five right.... RIGHT!?!

um....

Really Belle? Really!?!   Oh, well... At least Barbie isn't stupid...

Who Loves digital scrapbooking?

ME ME ME!!!!   I did this today (from scratch, as in no template), that's about all I've done... but that doesn't matter, because it's cute right?!?! (nodding enthusiastically)  I knew you would agree! :)  

Current thoughts

I love blog land. I love reading about peoples lives and thoughts, i love seeing where they've been and how fast their kids are growing up.  I REALLY love tutorials on craft blogs and seeing how someone can turn a rat trap into a beautiful picture holder, or an old shirt into an amazing scarf.  My point is, that I want to have a blog that is me. I want an identity. I also want to put some things up for sale in my Etsy shop. So i am starting with a vent, so get comfy :)  I love Carly. 

She is my challenge in life, I have most likely told you this already.  I don't understand the things she does, like when she gets naked at preschool and convinces others to do the same or when she's bawling because she ran into a wall, but tells me that Kai hit her. Right now I'm eating an entire Caramello while she sits in time out.  I have really considered tying a rope around her waist and attaching it to my ankle.  Though there are other times that I feel such a fierce love for her that it's crippling.  I fear her teenage years, and am often told that I should.  Other days I can't wait to see her grow up and mature.  She is a frequent liar, but also tells amazing stories.  She knows every button of everyone in our house, yet people are drawn to her.  She has an evil grin comparable to the Grinch (cartoon version), but her smile will melt your heart.  Every day is a new day with her. Thanks, I'm feeling better...

Moving on.  For New Years weekend we went up to Salt Lake and stayed with Joey's Sister.  His entire family was there staying under one roof, we had a good time. 

 

We also got to see our friends Kevin and Tenille, they adopted a baby girl about two months ago and I made her a blanket, she is a BEAUTIFUL little girl, we are so happy for them!

I just read over my post and it's all over the place, true to form? :)

fun projects!

so, I have decided that I love to sew! We'll see how long it lasts! lol! I saw a tutorial for making a puff quilt at honeybearlane.blogspot.com and I had to try it! One of my kids drew out Colton's name (my brand new nephew) for Christmas, so this is what I made for him!

A cute little puff quilt! (here's hoping Amy doesn't read this post)  I have also been working on aprons for little girls to sell on Etsy, I will post a link as soon as those are up!  Brandi and I also made bead spiders that we copied from Keri who copied from her sister who copied from someone else... (see how this craft thing works?)  I am going to attach them to hair clips! I can't wait for October to put a bunch of these is Lyv's hair for school! So Cute!!!

Love the shadow!!

Kendra's Birthday was last weekend, but she's in Hawaii for the week, so here is her birthday present!

It's a pin cushion bracelet! the inside fabric is minky, so it's nice and soft for her wrist!  I saw this on someones blog and decided to make one for myself, but it's not as pretty as this one. There is cardboard inside so the pins can't go through! She sews a lot, so I hope this helps her!

 I also want to try my hand at a tutorial, so I am getting one together for a clip quilt using old denim jeans! I have enjoyed sewing so much! my goal is for Olyvia and Carly to WANT me to sew their prom dresses, I want to be that good! good thing I have 10 years to practice! LOL!

Summer's end

Here are some fun things that we have done the last few weeks! After Lyv's birthday party she had TONS of tissue paper from the gifts, so she got creative and went through an entire roll of tape! Look how cute! She did this entirely by herself!

two weeks ago I got a call from Kendra saying that they needed more leaders for their Youth Conference, and was wondering if I could go, well miracles do happen! I got to do with my old ward to their Youth Conference, I basically got a 3 day vacation with my friends!  We left on a Thursday, drove to Castledale and went to their pageant, amazing! Friday we went to the Jordan River temple and did baptisms, then on to Lagoon for hours of FUN!! I had a blast! Kendra and I were with a group of 7 girls and we went on tons of rides! Saturday we went to Temple Square for some great tours then on to Ochre (?) Mountain temple for more baptisms, then dinner at Golden Corral, then home! THANK YOU BISHOP, DANIELA AND KENDRA!! I love you guys for thinking of me!!

We found Spongebob dying on the side of the road... Say cheese!!

This is our entire group, awesome kids!

This is a gecko

Olyvia started school Wednesday! She loves it!

After lyv's first day of school we ditched the back to school night (thanks Echo!) and went to the County Fair!  The kids got their faces painted and got to hold bunnies!! Lyv is SUCH an animal lover!

Uhhh... That's a.... peacock, yeah a peacock!!!

Kai would NOT get off this 4-wheeler, we had to drag him away from it, later we were looking at a booth and totally lost Kai! I took off one direction, my mom in the other... guess where he was?  YUP! on the 4-wheelers! clear at the other end of the barn (big barn).

Aren't they cute?

 this pic is out of order for some reason, it is Lyv in front of her classroom!

It's finally coming together!!

I am finally feeling like Lyv's room will actually some day be finished! yay!!  here are some of the things I have done for it.  I found this lamp (sans shade) at DI for $1, and the shade at Tai Pan for (i think) $3.

I painted the base white, used the left-over zebra fabric from Lyv's chair, and got 1 yard of the beaded ribbon from walmart for a few dollars.  here's how it turned out!

One of the first things we found for Lyv's new room was the bench that goes to this set at DI, it had a dirty white cloth top, so I reupholstered it and covered it in vinyl, 2 weeks later at DI my mom found the rest of the vanity! SO LUCKY!! I don't know how that worked out, but it did!  so this is pretty close to how the vanity looked when we first got it, the bench was $10 and the Vanity was $15 at DI.

This took me a long time, but so worth it!! I love how this turned out! the wall behind the vanity will eventually be a light pink, NOT BLUE!! (so just imagine it for now, K?) There's a hint of the bedspread in the mirror, but that will come later, like, when the bed is actually put together ;) notice the big jewel pull? One of my favorite parts of the whole room!

When I was cruising the web for ideas for furniture for said room, i came across this! I LOVE this!! i love the hidden pink in the drawers! It is also what made me decide that every surface in the room had to be "high gloss" my poor mom is probably sick of hearing me say "but it has to be high gloss!!"

So... we found this night stand at DI for $10, sanded it, painted it, sanded it, painted it (yep, again), and then put a couple coats of polyurethane on it, this piece took the longest, but I am so happy with the results!!

Closed!

 that's all for now!  I will keep posting the projects until I have them all, and then I will do the entire room! we revealed all that we have to lyv on Saturday, she LOVES it!! when we first started talking to her about doing her room for her birthday she wanted me to do it in "ladybugs"...... um.... NO!!! so i coaxed her into this... so glad I did!

What Colony Wants!!

First a little background... I am doing a total makeover in Lyv's room for her birthday. (after all, she is now a mature 6!)  It has been a lot more work that I thought it would be, but I am having a blast and learning a lot! I vowed in the beginning to only use furniture from thrift stores/ yard sales. I must say, we have done really well!  I will post more about it soon. After all, a girl can only do so much! :) Now back to the show.

What Colony Wants! (a lot!)

anyone have $300 hanging around?  yeah... Me either. 

I have been coveting this for months! So today I went to DI to get some sheets to make pioneer dresses out of for the girls for Pioneer day and Lo and Behold I find........

THIS!!!!!!!

do you see the potential?!?!?!  I mean, do you really SEE it!?!?!  I see beauty beyond measure!! I see the crowning jewel of the room I have been  Lyv has been dreaming of for months! And it only cost $10!! The best $10 dollars I have ever spent!!  SQUEAL!!!!!  *pant, pant*

(composing self)

So... stay tuned and I promise I will post the outcome!