Trash to Treasure

My sister Nicole found this ottoman in someone's garbage and snatched it right up... She knew the bones of this ottoman were still good, and asked me to help her out and recover it. Please excuse the crappy quality of the following pictures...
 

It had a few tears on the corners, which was probably what caused the original owners to throw it out.

Once I tore it apart and started working on getting the new fabric on, the entire thing fell apart. So, with the assistance of Jacob, it was completely re-built and is now stronger than ever! I also added an additional 2 inches of foam on the seat part so it was a little cushier (is that a word?) since before, when you sat on it, it felt like you were going to fall through.

This was where it fell apart, none of the original nails were in straight

 The kids even enjoyed it!! Nicole picked out this gorgeous fabric to match her living room curtains - I hope it matches!

Done!

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween everyone! Here are a few pictures from our night with Aiden as Lightning McQueen (from Cars, the movie) and Ava as one of the cutest ducks ever!
I hope everyone else enjoyed their nights as much as we did!

She got tired...

 

 

Sorting by kind

Busy Couple of Weeks

I've had a bit of down time lately and have been struggling with finding something to keep me busy. Now if you saw my "to-do" list, you'd think I was crazy for calling this my down time. I've got several things to do, mostly for Christmas gifts, but again, not much motivation. We've had a lot going lately; some bad, some good... So this is going to be a long post.

Hang in there. It'll be worth it, I swear.

For one, Aiden had a field trip last week to Miller's Big Red Orchard. We went there last year also and were able to pick apples, but due to the unseasonably warm weather too early in the year, they didn't have any apples. So instead, we got to pick our own pumpkins. Aiden loved the hayride out to the pumpkin patch, and was Mr. Perfectionist when it came to picking out his own.

So proud!

 

 

We also enjoyed cider and doughnuts, and saw some animals. But Aiden's favorite part I think was the giant straw tower the kids were able to climb up. I'm glad there were some parents there to help him up that were braver (more brave?) than I am... there was NO WAY I was climbing up there.

Enjoying his doughnut

You can barely see him! (Red Coat)

Victory!

 

And??? Aiden turned 4 this past weekend!

I still can't believe I have a 4 year old... I'm in a bit of denial. He's my baby... He'll always be my baby, my first born.

Makes me feel so old...

Anyways, we worked SO hard on getting everything ready for the party. Cleaning the house, moving furniture, adding tables, food preparation, etc etc. Luckily my sister was able to come the morning of and help us out; I'm not sure we would've gotten everything done on time without her.

All in all, everything turned out great. We had awesome food, great family, and I know Aiden had a blast! We had a Cars movie themed party, although in the end, it turned into more of a general car theme; but Aiden didn't seem to care. I made cake pops (lemon, funfetti, and chocolate "tires"), Stoplight brownies, construction cone rice krispies treats, and of course a #4 cake for Aiden. Which was supposed to look totally different than it turned out... the original was a total disaster. Good thing I had extra M&Ms left over from the brownies...

 

 

 

 And even Jacob's co-workers were able to enjoy the treats since I made so many, he brought some to work yesterday... That was one lucky group of Engineers...

While I figure out what needs to be done next on my project list, I leave you with some party pictures. Hope you enjoy!!

What a crabby girl...

From Ugly to Elegant

So finally, I've gotten my act together and finished the project that's taken me a month (or more, I can't remember)...

My in-laws brought me this chair that they got (for $15!) and asked me to reupholster it for them. It seemed like every other chair I've done, so I said "of course!". Once I got the chance to tear off the old, I found I was in for a LONG project. There was a lot of hand sewing on this, more than I care to do. If I have the machine, I want to use the machine!

But alas, there were some parts that weren't able to be sewed until it was actually on the chair... hence the time consuming process of sewing by hand. In the end though, it was worth it. What once was ugly and stained (the old owners had pets... I had many sneezing attacks while working on this one), is now very elegant and clean! So I leave you with the "before" and "after", they speak for themselves:

I'm Still Here...

I feel like it's been a long time since I had the chance to post something on here, I've been working non-stop on a few projects, all at once. More on that hopefully in the coming week if I get my act together and actually pull the pictures off the camera. I've been lacking a very important trait in the past few weeks that has put a damper on the completion of these tasks.... motivation. I'm not sure what my problem is lately, it's hard for me to concentrate on anything.

And then this happened this week:

Aiden was bit on the face by a fellow student. Apparently according to his teacher (and Aiden himself), he was cleaning up the toys as he was told and the other boy didn't want Aiden to put once specific toy away. When Aiden wouldn't give it to him the toy because he was putting it away, he was bit. Luckily it didn't break the skin, but it did swell up and bruise for a few days. He told me it hurt a few days after, but he didn't seem to mind it otherwise. Hope it doesn't happen again, to anyone else in his class, and I'm glad it wasn't any worse.

We've also been preparing for Aiden's 4th birthday in a few weeks. I've been trying to make practice cakes and figure out exactly what we're serving. Not too easy without that motivation...

Damn motivation.

I did manage to pull a few pictures off my camera from this month, so I'll leave you with a few of those. They're a little Ava heavy since Aiden has been at school; however, some of those pictures are from waiting for Aiden to get home after school, Ava's new favorite time of the day.

Drinking from the sprinkler

Hanging out in Mom and Dad's bed watching a movie

While waiting for Aiden's bus

"I have a leaf!!"