Big Boy Bed

We're getting very close to Charlie having to be moved to a big boy bed. I've already caught him trying to crawl out of his crib. Baby overboard + wood floors = disaster

As much as I would like to keep him caged in his crib, I'm excited for the next big step for him. We are planning on building a bed. Charlie's aunt generously donated a twin bed, so we are one step closer.

As much as I would like completely re-do his room to look like the above, I need to be realistic. So, the only thing to really do is bedding.  Finding bedding that goes with his room shouldn't be a huge problem, his colors are light blue, cherry red and white. Here is a reminder of his nursery:

(I have never, ever been able to take a good picture of his nursery- the light sucks in there)

Bedding 2 by molliedivine on Polyvore

New Haven Quilt Set / Jordan Bedding Superset / Northern Plaid Quilts / Charles Quilt Set, 100% Cotton / Apt. 9 Ivy Quilted Coverlet - Twin

The only thing I am positive about is wanting a quilt/coverlet instead of a comforter.  Ethan has a quilt and it's great.  They are comfortable, warm, and washable.  I find the washable comforters get so pilly they look terrible after a short amount of time.  Ethan has had his quilt forever and it looks great. 

I love the top right, but doesn't really work in his room. The plaids are cute and I think with the right wall art and sheets they can look more preppy than country.  Or, I could do preppy plaid sheets and a plain quilt.  Or these ADORABLE Tommy sheets that I've been slightly obsessed with for a while....

Well, whatever I decide, it's going to come down to cost.  Seems like the plainer the cheaper, but the dark plaids would sure be good for a messy, dirty boy over the long haul...I mean what's the point of doing all this when he's probably just going to pee and puke all over them?  I mean really, he's two

I do know that when we get the big boy bed we are getting one of these.  Whomever came up with this idea is a genius.  I'm lucky Charlie is a late sleeper, but this lets them know by color when it's time to get up.  5:30 am?  Nope, unless you are on fire, get your butt back in bed until at least 7 am....or 9.  Mamma & Pappa like their sleep.

found here

Updated She's Crafty

I learned a new trick (how to make a picture a link) so I re-did my crafty page.  Take a look!

How much cuter would this picture be without the shampoo bottle?  Or should I send it in so he can be the next Dove baby model?
Oh Charlie, I love your little face.

What is this??? Update! It's a Goblin Egg Gourd

We have this vine that self-planted along the fence by the greenhouse.  At first we thought it was pumpkin, but we didn't plant pumpkin this year, where and how did it seed?  These are definitely squash blossoms

Then the fruit started to come in and we were just mystified at what this was.  (Sorry for the blurry photo)

Then we saw this and knew exactly what it was.  Last year, Matt found a million of these along the riverbank where he hunts.  He brought one home, we cut it open.  It was a squash, you could tell by the seeds, but they only get about as big a golf ball and they are hard as a rock.  That means, Matt threw it out back and it grew from that- crazy.

You can see where it began to grow.  It sprouted out of the gravel and Matt tied it up along the fence with string to see what it would do.

Here is one cut open.  This one is way under ripe, when we get a ripe one, I'll taste it and see what it is.  I tried just a lick of this one and it was the most bitter, awful thing I've ever tasted.  I told Matt to take me to the hospital if I collapsed, I felt like I had been poisoned.  I could not get the taste out of my mouth to save my life.  It was horrible.  So, we'll wait for a ripe one and I'll subject myself again....

They are Goblin Egg Gourds!  Thanks Uncle Don and Katie-  now what to do with them all....

Lounging

Charlie has been sick all week.  We've watched a lot of netflix.  Have you seen Shaun the Sheep?  It had Matt and I laughing out loud and Charlie loved it.  So nice after sitting through creepy Thomas the Train and Leapfrog videos.  He crawled into the laundry basket, so I put a pillow in there for him, then I grabbed a blanket for him, then he went to get his blankie from his room. 

Doodle Buddy


 

Made on Doodle Buddy App for Ipad- free and so much fun for Charlie Matt.  Matt was home with Charlie while he was sick and sent this to me at work.  I have no idea why, but I love it. 

Charlie-isms

Three short videos- careful, for some reason when the video is over, it will play another one, so stop it at the end.  I can't figure out how to fix it


He has no problem with the consonant 'd', but for some reason, diapers are biapers. And just like calling trains cars, it's stuck in his head and his stubborn little brain won't correct it until he's darn tootin' ready



Charlie saying Jayhawk.....this one is a problem




And this is another one. All liquid is milk. Water is milk, milk is milk, the water in the dog bowl is milk,lakes are milk....

And again boat is doat, but diaper is biaper, how does that work???

Things I want him to know

Plus, things I want my step-kids, nieces, nephews, friend’s children…and quite a few adults to know, even myself sometimes 

Permission granted and courtesy of motherhoodwtf.com. Probably one of the greatest motherhood blogs out there

• Befriend the nerds, the geeks, the weirdos. When everyone grows up, these are the people great husbands, wives, and best friends are made of.

• Don’t be scared of the bullies. Mean people are everywhere and they feed off fear. Be the kid who stands up. Be the kid who protects the little guy.

• Don’t exchange what you know in your heart for what you think others will find cool.

• Know who your real friends are.

• Peer pressure is stupid, and anyone applying it to you is not worth your worry.

• Whatever it is that is breaking your heart today, I promise that it’s not that important. Let it go and move on.

• Your life is so long ahead of you, all of this daily drama is small in the big picture.

• Don’t let yourself be labelled or pigeon-holed. People will try. You can be as many different things as you want to be, and you can always change.

• It’s OK to be different.

• It’s OK to be popular. It’s OK not to be.

• It’s OK to be into sports or theater or music or math.

• It’s OK to work hard and do well.

• It’s OK to struggle.

• It’s OK to be embarrassed once in a while.

• It’s OK to have friends in different cliques.

• It’s OK to have a lot of friends. It’s OK to have a few.

• It’s OK to do and be whatever it is you want.

My Boys...

Charlie's Ten Favorite Things

I used to post Charlie's ten favorite things as he hit milestones as a baby.  Well, I'm going to do it again, but now I can do it in one picture.  If you've read this blog at all, you know he's obsessed with 'choo-choos' (at least he's not still calling them cars anymore) SO here is Charlie's favorite things...

T-Bones

I usually don't let him take George places, only when he's sick or having a bad day.  He's a bedtime/story monkey only.  I snuck him in the backpack to the game and this was his reaction when I pulled it out.  Have you ever seen anything like it?  He was ecstatic.  Charlie is always a hit at the game, but everyone was just laughing at Charlie and his George.  He does this every morning too, points to his monkey, say's 'Geeowege', gives him a squeeze and a kiss like he's saying bye for the day.

After the game, they let the kids run the bases.  I wasn't sure if he was going to get it, but he ran and jumped on every base!

These were a lot cuter in person, just picture Charlie doing his little toddler waddle/strut

Book Rest

Matt made this for me for Mother's Day but because of our hectic lives, we just now finally got it together.  He made it out of mahogany.  There is no stain on this, the wood is just that gorgeous 

I had originally seen it on one of A Cup of Jo's gift lists and I was obsessed.

What I didn't know was how elaborate it would be to make, he worked really hard on this thing

And Matt, being Matt, wouldn't let me follow him around to do a tutorial, so you'll just have to get your own amazingly handy, creative and handsome husband of your own if you would like one.

Update:  Matt will be making these and I'm going to sell them for him on etsy and craigslist.  If you would like one, contact me for pricing and options- thanks!

New Kitchen Table

First, our other table.  it looks very similar to the new one but is very small.  We had a hard time, all five of us, even fitting around it.  And company was out of the question.  The lighting in this picture is terrible, but you get the general idea.  We'll be keeping this table somewhere, it will make a great first apartment table for B or one of the other kids.

tsk, tsk, Matt's dad didn't take a picture of the original, but here is a picture of it all stripped and sanded

God bless my father-in-law for doing the hard part!

I have to say, and I know you will read this Pat, my favorite part was getting to spend some one-on-one time with my father-in-law.  I had such a good time with him and learned a lot.  Love you to pieces Pat.

I picked out this stain

And it was bright red!  This picture does not show how truly red this stain was!

We ended up putting two coats of this one over the red and it turned it into a beautiful, rich red/orange color that I loved, thank goodness

Much better....

Paint for the bottom half

I had this paint already.  I have no idea what I bought it for.  It's exterior which I thought would be good for table legs.

I loved this blue, but it was, WOW, bright blue.  So I needed to tone it down.  I took the Early American stain and rubbed it on the paint

Pretty heavy like this, and then wiped it off really well.  It didn't really change the color, just took it down a notch.  The best way I can describe it was that it looked like a shadow was on the paint.

The one in front doesn't have the stain.  I took 15 pictures trying to show the difference between the stain and the non-stain.  This is the best I got and you still can't really tell.

Put 3 coats of this on the blue and 4 on the top, rubbing it down with steel wool in between layers.  It worked really well.  Thanks to the hard work of Pat, the top feels like butter

Screwing the bottom back on, almost done!

In the garage, ready to get on the truck to go to it's new home

This project took a week, but most of the time was used letting coats dry and cure completely.  Charlie was in heaven getting to go see Grandma and Grandpa almost every day

The boys getting it in the truck- this thing is heavy!

Toddler Bomb

I've written before of my hatred for these chairs, but they will work for now.  We are headed to Mayberry to see Matt's sister for the 60 mile garage sale.  Hoping to find some new chairs and Matt will probably make a bench for one side

It can easily seat 6 and if we do get a bench, three kids could fit comfortably on one side. Thoughts?  I would love to know your opinion on it

Haircut

Charlie's hair had officially gotten out of control.  I had hopes of growing it out, but it just wasn't working.  He has some natural curl, but not as much as I have, so the style I had in my head isn't going to work.  I think I've realized this for a while, but I was waiting for school to start to miss the rush.  Aunt Michelle usually cuts his shag, but she has five kids, and with school starting, I just ran him up to Great Clips. I haven't been in a Great Clips in a million years.  They were nice, the place was super-duper clean and we got in quick.  The guy that cut his hair went on and on about what a good boy he was, it was nice to hear.  Aunt Michelle trained him well that getting a haircut isn't a scary thing, I'm so glad she did it the first few times.  He wouldn't sit on the booster chair, so he sat in my lap and we made mooney faces towards eachother and played with my phone for 10 minutes.

I took about 18 pictures to get these three.  Blurry, blurry, blurry, the kid does not like to sit still.  And you can see, he just had a glass of water and spilled it all down the front of him.  I finally took some while he ate, I figured, he can't move while in his high chair, right?  Wrong- wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.  He kinda looks a bit dorky now and he has a massive cowlick that it's short, but overall, I'm so happy to have it gone!

Kitchen Art

This is not a great picture, but I bet these are adorable Etsy Store

I've posted this one before- I think this one is the winner.  I love it.  You should check out this store, so much cute stuff! Etsy Store

Iced Tea Metal Sign- an hommage to the ridiculous amounts of tea Matt and I drink? Retroplanet

Not really art, but how cute are these? Gee, only $28 each -boo Source



and I love this idea of painting the window trim Source

Table should be done this weekend- hoping to have the post up Sunday!