Teagan's room

I spent a couple (seriously at least 3) hours in Teagan's room the other day. It seems like twice a year I have to do a complete overhaul and take all toys back to the basement and sort through her clothes. For one beautiful day it was clean. I decided to add the pictures to the blog so I could remember that it was once clean. Good thing because by yesterday there were clothes all over and toys on the floor!! Arg!

Her desk. The magazine holders were from the $1 bin at Target. They are super cute. The lamp was one thing I bought at full price about a year and a half ago when I did her "big girl" room. It matches the bedspread and it is on all night every night. Getting my monies worth on that one!
Usually this is covered in hair ties and barrettes. The jewelry box was clearance at Target. And you have to throw in Hannah, of course. That picture is Teagan at about 2 weeks old. It will always be in her room no matter how old she gets. The white box is her "treasure" box she made at school. They took it on a field trip to Iowa Lake and it has a deer bone inside. Gross!! But she is so proud of it so we keep it (lid on of course!)
We have a lot of books and Teagan is starting to pick out some of her own that she is learning to read. Those stay in her room (away from the page tearing little brother!) The rest are knick-knacks.

I bought this rug and used it as the inspiriation for her room. It has all the great girl colors and isn't really age specific.

I wanted pictures for her wall, but couldn't find ones that matched, so I made some. I used oil pastels and then had the guy at the art store cover them. I think the total for all 6 was like $12 (using school art supplies for free of course!)

I used the yellow paint from my kitchenette project on this nightstand. It has been sitting in our basement for years. You can never have too many drawers to hide stuff in!

Teagan decided she wanted flower handles like on her bedspread. They aren't amazing, but she likes them and that is all that matters. Gotta love puffy paint - haven't used that stuff in awhile.

The mismatch of blankets and pillows kind of drives me crazy, but they are all speciall in some way and that is what its all about. At least it is still my little girls room. Soon enough I am sure it will be covered in posters and the princesses and flowers will be gone.

Kickin It Old School!

Both my mom and I added stuff to my Grandma's garage sale last weekend, but there were some things I just couldn't part with. You might have seen my blog about my old kitchenette the other day, but these are some items that are just fine on their own.

How could she get rid of this? Not to mention she had like $ .10 on it!! I remember carrying this with me everywhere. There is no price on those memories. Geez mom!!

So I'm not sure that I even have a tape player anywhere in my house, but I also couldn't part with these gems. You may be laughing, but these were classics and I know some of you even owned these!! And yep - those 3 in the middle are singles. You owned those too!!

And how many of you had this? I love it and I know my kids will too! Lost the salt and pepper shaker somewhere along the way - too bad. I did leave some pieces of my childhood to be sold to the highest bidder - my My Little Pony roller skates, just about every Happy Meal toy I ever got, and my Barbie pool. There are only so many things I can keep for my kids without overloading my own house. I am more than willing to share my memories with some lucky little kid - at least thats what I keep telling myself!!

Progress

I actually got most things on my list done today. I started with the one thing I really wanted to do. That was to refurbish this beauty!

My Grandpa made this for me about 25 years ago and as you can tell it has seen its better days. For the past 15 years(ish) it has been in my parent's "junk room" and it had horrible contact paper on the backsplash, but when my mom offered it to me I couldn't let it go. So, I set off this morning and got to work.
As you can tell the green was pretty bright and I decided I needed a primer. I used some I already had (free), but it took forever!! It is made of particle board and I used a brush to get the paint to "stick".
I found a quart of $2.50 paint at the Lumber store (and used less than half). I only had to roll 2 coats and it went way faster.

I added handles from Tate's room (again, free) and a couple extra hooks from the bathroom and ...viola!! I love it and I think the kids will have a great time plaing with it. It is missing the oven door, but I don't know if I am going to replace it. Not bad for less than $3, huh? Let the summer projects begin!

While Brad and I played in a golf tournament on Sunday the kids hung out with Gene, Carla, and the rest of the Schaefer/Van Zee clan.

Gene bought this ginormous slide and it is awesome!! I am actually a little jealous. Teagan went down about 150 times (according to Grandpa).
Tate and the girls.

Eating sundaes. I heard that Aunt Lindsay brought every possible topping along. These girls are spoiled rotten!

Tate had a blast and loves eating popsicles!! What a ham!

Teagan and Grandma.

Monday to-do list

After getting the kids to bed and drenching my legs in Aloe Vera (thank you golf!) - I started making my to-do list for tomorrow. All I can think is "there aren't enough hours in the day!" Not to mention only one of these things is something I want to do. Is this how everyone else's days off go too?


*Put laundry away - at least 3 loads worth, 1/2 folded, half not
*Clean up Teagan's closet - it is worse than a teenage girl's right now!
*Unload the dishwaser - if I remember to start it tonight
*Sort all the dirty clothes and start new loads - it is never ending!
*Vacuum out the car - Teagan did a decent job cleaning it out, just needs a little adult TLC
*Get some groceries - the usuals - mik, bread
*Get paint at Williamsburg Lumber
this is for the one project I want to do. My mom cleaned out her "junk room" last week and gave me my old kitchenette that my Grandpa made for me when I was little. It needs a little sanding, fresh paint, and a new oven door, but I am excited to make it usable for my kids. I noticed W'burg Lumber had some quarts of paint for $2.50. They had usuable colors so I need to pick some up. And you know me -- I will blog all about it!!

HAVE A GREAT WEEK!!!

Making G-pa Proud!

Teagan was being a great big sister yesterday and played farm with Tate. They made Grandpa VA proud!
Who says girls can't drive tractors?

Always have to get the animals in order

Schaefer field
After farm and supper the kids and I headed to the baseball game. I told you I started summer out with a bang! The kids had a great time together and were very entertaining. There were some baseball grandmas behind us who thought they were very funny. Now if only they would have ofered to take them home for a couple hours!

Not only are Tate and Carson buddies, they both discovered a mutual love of popcorn. They could both eat it until they explode!

If this doesn't spell trouble I don't know what does!

Next up - Jackson's birthday party, a wedding, and the mixed couples tournament. It will be a busy weekend. No fear though - the kids are going to daycare Monday and Tuesday and I hope to get a good start on some projects. We'll see.

Summer fun! And some other things.

As most of you know (mainly because I was shouting it from the rooftops yesterday!) today was my first official day of summer vacation. While I have a couple random days of work I am off for summer. The kids and I started in style - hanging out this morning doing puzzles, went to the library to pick out some books, and then after lunch it was off to the pool with our friends Lea and Luke.

The kids had a blast. It was a little tough getting all 3 of them to sit and take a picture together.

The pool is more fun now that Teagan can hang out with friends and doesn't need me near her all the time.

Tate loved it! He would walk into the water, sit down, get up and do it all over again. He was very good about keeping his hat on. He is so blonde I am scared of him getting fried!We saw a ton of friends today too! Including Jack and Cole.

MY CLEANING LADIES

Last night after golf we were talking about having people come and clean our houses. I was able to have someone come earlier in the year, but decided that was one expense I could cut, so I haven't had that luxury for awhile. But this afternoon I realized I have free help - now I know why people used to have so many kids. Their houses must have been spotless!!Teagan is always willing to help. Hopefully that continues through her teen years. Yeah right! Maybe I can get her to put those clothes away too!While helping Teagan with the vacuum I heard Tate say "I bacum (vacuum)!" I figured he got out the play one, but I soon discovered he had destroyed my dirt pile and was "helping" sweep.Here is some of the damage. The rest ended up scattered around the floor, worse than before. But, I can't be upset with free help!Unloading the dishwasher - and drying! Bonus!!Dusting the TV.

SOME LOSSES

I know this blog is getting long, but I needed to mention some important losses that we suffered yesterday and today.

Although I didn't know Coach Thomas personally I have heard him speak a couple times and I know how much he touched me just with his words. I can't imagine the sense of loss that the A-P family is feeling right now. Senseless - to everyone who knew him - I am sorry. Thanks for the picture Casey.We all knew this day was coming, but how he was going to die was up in the air. Cardiac arrest. This image is how I chose to remember him. That and Thriller. Rest is peace.
Anyone who has a hairstyle named after them has truly made their mark in society. And she fought a courageous battle against cancer. What an end to the week.

Say what?

I was able to watch some of my favorite shows last night and tonight. Tate's expression pretty much sums up how I felt!
All I can say is OMG!!! I could hardly watch the ending - I thought Danielle was going to be the one throwing tables, but to my surprise it was Teresa. So many things happened - new "bubbies", new cars for teenagers, pregnancies - whew!! These women never cease to amaze me. They really live this way? I am recording the extra footage show tonight. That may be my first official act of summer on Thursday!
I know I am not the only one who was curious enough to watch the show (and then again tonight), but it does make me sad when any family breaks up. Sad thing is - I will keep watching just to see how they do it!
I have like 5 episodes recorded that I need to catch up on, but they took the backseat. Thursday afternoon? I am going to love summer!!
I was reviewing the pictures on my camera only to find this....

and this. For those of you who know my husband and his "famous" poses - it looks like Teagan is following in his footsteps!And this might be Tate's contribution to the world. He loves singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Sky" and has now added playing to his repertoire (big word, I know - thanks hubby!)

Teagan had yet another tball game cancelled tonight because of weather (shes only had 3 out of the 8 scheduled). The best part (besides the obvious - no hot weather) is that we at least have family time. Teagan decided to cool off with her favorite treat of the summer - creamsicles!! As hot as it gets there are always popsicles!! Stay cool everyone!