The kids are doing great, learning and growing and driving each other bonkers each day. They love to play outside and run around like crazy kidlets. they also enjoy seeing who can make the biggest mess in the house; to me its all a tie ;) Marley is 3 turning 13 (we call her our threenager because its all drama queen and tantrums-haha) She does say funny things on the daily and I try to remember all the funny things. The hardest part is disciplining her while she says something funny-keeping a straight face is a new game for me and I still cant win! Corbi is our little short guy. He looks like he is the size of a 12 month old but is so crazy adventurous! He loves to jump and fall off things (we are so lucky he has no broken bones!!!-*knock on wood*) He is starting to talk so much now, he is learning new words every minute. My favorite is when he calls for Marley. He really loves his big sister :)
Our Sunday walks on our nature walk way by our house. The kids love the go play in the water and throw rocks. They have such an amazing dad who loves to play with them!
Playing in our Utah down-pour. Splashing in puddles that were bigger than them. They loved it!
Enjoying outside in the sun. But seriously, this kid gets herself dressed and the things she puts together.
This girl LOVES Darth Vader. She had a Vader birthday party and got this outfit. Its great because she pairs it with high heels and a purse.
Overalls are so stinking cute and without shirts...how could I resist!
Handsome boy crashed after church. Thanks 9AM!
I love this kid. He is getting better at letting me take pictures of him. McKenzies mom was able to get this one and he was such a ham!
They love going on "neighborhood" walks and their babies. They are obsessed with babies right now. Thanks Daniel Tiger.
I took this past year to work on me. I started a weight loss journey to feel better about myself. I was focused this time on being more confident in myself. I was in a pretty low place and not happy. PPD hit and I just wanted to feel better about me. I put on so much weight after having two babies back-to-back and nursing that I wanted at least a year that was dedicated to me. So that is what I did. I started working out daily and eating better and watching my portions. It took some time but I finally got to a point that I was happy weight wise. I lost over 40 pounds! But even better is I gained so much confidence in myself. I cut off weight and majority of my hair. I went for the spunky fun mom that I wanted to be. I also got to the point of wearing pants all the time and I hardly ever stay in yoga pants. I just feel so good about myself right now, so its a really good feeling! I have since felt good enough to stop taking meds for PPD and sometimes its still a struggle but I just remember to work on myself and it seems to help. I always try to find time in the day for me. And I look forward to it when I am having a rough spot. It also rocks because my kids love to work out with me- it is super cute watching them participate and just want to spend time with me!
Like I said, I cut my hair. And I am wearing PURPLE lipstick. I got real spunk.
This was me in January, March(?), April (?), And August
TJ has had a life change! haha, his story is way cooler than any of us. He has started going to school again and decided to do a job change as well that would work better for going to school. So he goes to school Monday-Thursday and works those days as well. He is going to school and work full time and still be a dad as well. We are just starting this journey but I am so proud of him and his hard work and dedication to our family!!!
Okay, so here is the main part of this blog post. With the news of school and work out of the way, we have decided we are going to be staying in our tiny two bedroom apartment for awhile (probably the duration of school). So we decided since we cant move and get more space, we would make the most of it! We did a 'grown-up' remodel of our place so we felt more at home and not like our place was taken over by toddlers!
Next was our room. We wanted to change things up so we could have more room for a computer desk so TJ could do his homework in a quiet space that wasn't taken over by children. So we did a little remodel but that is for another day. THat project is still not complete. (Sorry El, more patience)
Okay, so now what the moment I have been waiting for. I have been wanting a new table SO badly!!!! If you know me, you know I HATE the table we have right now. I hated the chairs, I hated the added drawings on the table. I just HATE the table and have wanted a new one since forever. Well, I was trying to think of ways we could get one with our budget. Nothing I liked was in our range! (go figure) So I did the next best thing. I took matters in to my own hands and I decided to redo our chairs.
Yup, you heard right. I decided to suck it up and use what I had. SO now I am going to walk through the how-to process. This took about two days and it was not all that hard, but our hands sure hurt from all the hard work!
I hated the covers we had. They were hard to clean and just looked awful! (the colors blended in with the floor so it was just gross). I was thinking of what I could use that would be easy to clean and still look nice. Then I remembered my wonderful mom LOVES to buy lots of fabric. LOTS. So I went scrimmaging in the forest of bins of fabric! I found 6 pieces I thought would look nice and brought them home for TJ to see. He aprroved so we got to work. So far I have spent 0$ on our project. Winning!
Now the next step. I knew that the thin fabric would not approve of a chair, we needed something to be strong and durable, easy to clean with having two little ones that make messes easily. I looked up clear vinyl. As silly as it looks, I was looking more for practicality. Like I said, two young messy toddlers and I like clean.
I googled prices for vinyl and the cheapest I could find was at Jo-Anns for 4.99 a yard. I had NO idea how much that would cover, and I needed to cover 6 chairs. So I did some thinking while at home Depot picking up staples. What about a shower curtian? It is clear and vinyl, and its big enough to cover at least 4 chairs! So we tested it out, and by golly it worked!!!!! Guys, I spent less than 9 bucks on vinyl going the shower curtian route than picking some out at Jo-Anns. (I am guessing I would have needed about 3-4 yards. that could have easily been 20$)
Anyways, we got to work removing staples from the chairs from the previous remodel job (this was tough work and our hands are still sore). Then we put the fabric over the chair and the vinyl on top of that. Then for the bottom we added a different color to give it more fun!
We ended up hair-drying the chair to shrink the extra vinyl down, so that was a......fun.....process. I felt my dryer was going to quit on me!
But in all the days work I find this a success story and really like how they turned out. Our next project is to stain the table and possibly the chairs but again, a project for another day. I do have a few more projects for the Fall season so be on the watch out!
Pictures of our project!
*shudder* hideous chair cover. You can kind of see the floor matching the chairs.
My kids know how to make a mess of anything! markers, food, I think blood too, maybe? Its a gamble.
This was the 'fun' process of removing a gazillion staples from each chair. Seriously, the people before us used so many staples to make sure they didn't budge.
Tada!!!!! one chair down (purple is Marleys fav color so she gets the purple chair. The long process of drying the vinyl to shrink. *LOOOONNNNNGGGG*
Hidden pop of color on the bottom to cover the bottom piece of wood
And the final product!! I used all matching designs just in different shades (Thanks to my mom for her quilting days and getting matching fabrics in all sorts of colors)
Okay guys, that is it! All in all I spent 9 bucks on shower curtian vinyl and 3 bucks on staples. The next step is to stain so if anyone has helpful tips on staining a table.....I am dreading that already because I have little patience to get little details and have it not show. Help a sista out!!!
