A Valentine Tea and a Snowy Treat

Makenna planned a "Fancy Nancy" tea party for her cousins, brothers, and some friends. If you don't know about Fancy Nancy, she likes to dress super (tacky) fancy, and make some fancy food and drinks. Makenna got a Fancy Nancy Tea Party book for Christmas and wanted to make some recipes out of it.

Her lollipop centerpiece...

Banana Parfaits (Splits) with all the fixins. Each kid added their own toppings and they piled them high!

God sent us a gift during the party and 5 inches later, it looked like this!

A snowy seat for two...


This is not our house, but one that I admire every time I go by it.


My three snow bunnies.

My valentine! I love you honey! We had so much fun sledding!

Bryce was doing some snow boarding. I even tried it and made it almost all the way down.

Here is me and Bryce on the sled. It was a great day with lots of fun memories!

The clawfoot tub I've dreamed of is in!

She finally made it in from the garage and man, she is a beauty! It was worth the wait. I should have turned on the light for the picture, but oh well. She is not totally hooked up yet, so I have not been able to dive in yet...
The feet are so graceful and lovely in white!

I went vintage on the faucet in shiny chrome and I just love that stopper drain!

It was not easy getting her in, but they did it with no dings or scratches and we did not have to take any door molding off. Whew!

Brayden was the first one to try it out. He liked watching the ball roll around in it.

You can see the wallpaper I chose for the toilet closet in the back. My mom put it up for me and I love it! It is the one pop of bold color and pattern in the room. Thanks Mom! My dad was even pitching in and installed the toilet. Thanks Dad! I know that was not a fun job!

I put up a roller shade from Home Depot over this window for nightime privacy. It only cost $14 and I will be adding some fabric to it and maybe some trim to gussy it up a bit. Stay tuned...

My little girl's new do!

My little Makenna decided she wanted a big girl do now that she is five. She brought me the movie Kit Kitredge-an American Girl and said she wanted her hair like that. We went to my neighbor's house to get her new do.

She cut it a little shorter than planned so we could donate it to Locks of Love. Mommy cried after this step. I was surprised at myself!

Here is her ponytail packed up to be sent away and she brought her movie to show her desired hairdo.

Here she is a little lighter. I have to admit, it is a cute haircut.

I snapped this on the sunny walk home. This is right before she ran and then fell and skinned both knees and hands. I had to carry her the rest of the way.

A $6 beam and a $5 light fixture

Thanks to my handy brother-in-law, the beam is up and so is the last light fixture in the master bathroom. This is the $5 brass light fixture (I forgot to take a before picture) that I got from a garage sale. I spray painted it white, added some crystals from Home Depot (you can also buy vintage ones), and decopaged scrapbook paper to the candle sleeves and glittered them up a bit. I am also going to add a crystal garland to give it a bit more **bling**. It turned out great and is coming along....Thanks Tim!

We have some molding and lights!

We are still working on our master bath and I wanted to share some progress....
Here is our little bathtub alcove BEFORE we started the molding.



I recruited some (cute) help and we got this job rolling.Here is the cute help's assistant. They worked great together!The lighting is bad here, but this is the almost finished project. I just love how this project turned out! It was actually pretty simple and my non DIYer hubby did great! I also did the "stained glass" window with a kit I bought to create some privacy and add interest. It will still need a shade over the window though. This is the new light outside of the shower. I got it from Ikea for $29.99. You can see a peak of the door I painted black too. Here are the other lights that will be above the vanities. I got them off ebay and both the glass globes broke in shipment, so I have to get replacements. Of course, I also have some sheetrock patching to do...I found this today that will make the job SO much easier!
The below picture is not my house, but an inspiration picture of what I want to do on the ceiling. I will just have one beam in the bathroom, but I love the look of these!

After checking some prices, those beams are over $100 each, so I am making my own. I bought this 2x6 at Home Depot for $6.00I then bought this gel stain in Walnut color. I love this stuff, by the way! Here is my beam with one coat of stain. I probably will do another one and then me and hubby will attempt to hang it. It will screw into the wood roof truss at the peak of the ceiling. Can't wait to show you the completed $6 beam! Stay tuned...

Moms Love PRACTICAL birthday gifts!

At least I do anyway...a kid can only have so many toys and they will eventually end up in the bottom of the toybox anyway. My friend's son turned two yesterday so I made him this "boo-boo bucket". It will come in handy time and time again (unfortunately) when he gets boo-boos.

It started as this coffee can that I got at a garage sale for 25 cents. I drilled two small holes on either side for the handle.

I decoupaged scrapbook paper around the can. It took two pieces. I then lined it with burlap, added some rebar (from Home Depot) for the handle, and added some twine and a tag.
I filled it with some cold packs, wound cleansing bubbles (non-stinging), Neosporin, After Bite, Bandaids, stickers, and suckers. My son added a little tractor because he said the gift was a bit boring...I made one of these this summer for each of my kids and they love it. Believe it or not, it makes getting a boo-boo a little more fun! I would love to hear from you if you end up making one of these. Send me pics of your creation...

Our LONG Master Bath Reno

I have learned a whole bunch since the start of this project back in earlyNovember. Renos always take much longer and cost more than you expect. Both of these have proven to be very true. Also, when hubby has no desire to do projects and the mere sight of the bathroom raises his blood pressure along with having a very active 1 yr. old. These are also factors that slow the process down a bit.

Here is where it all began

These pics are before we moved in. This was my least favorite room in the house because of the outdated floral wallpaper and gigantic tub that leaked because of broken jets. The long vanity 9 feet to be exact) also did not speak good things to me. I did love the french door though.

The tile floor was a handmade job and had grout smeared all over the tile.Here is after the demo. of the tub. We had a leak so I had to caulk and replace the insulation. And yes, that is a real bird on the window sill. He got in through a hole in the floor along with a chipmunk or two. Hubs took these pics before he bravely rescued this cute little bird and led him out the window back out to his world.
Another great shot of that wallpaper (and the bird).He does not like his new home...

We finally have a floor! I originally wanted wood, but after the leak we discovered and some research, I decided to go with tile. I found this "wood look" tile on line and ordered it. It turned out beautifully. I need to sponge off the grout again. There is a film over it still. I just love the rustic look it has. I removed the wallpaper and painted the walls "Filmy Green" by Sherwin Williams. It looks more blue to me. I love the color!

Here is where the clawfoot tub will go. See the plumbing? That was a big headache getting to that point. I can't wait to see the tub here. I have wanted one since I was a little girl. Around the tub will be some molding inspired here. I just love her blog!

The long vanity went bye bye and the plumbing has been moved and is waiting for two new farmhouse style freestanding vanities. I still have to paint those.

Some new light fixtures were also in store. This one will be replaced with a $5 garage sale find. I can't wait to show you! Once we make some more progress, I will post some more pics. Be patient though. We work a bit SLOWLY!