Friday Project - Girls' Room

My wonderful mom and marvelous Aunt Renee came to visit last month with plans to help me out around the house and get me all caught up. It is always such a blessing to have either or both of them here! This trip we tackled the very large project of setting up DD#1's new bed so that her old bed could be given to DD#3 and we could finally move DD#4 into the crib. In the process we also got shelves and artwork hung that I just haven't found time myself to manage. The big girls also both got new comforters. Here is Eve's new bed and shelf:

Here is Naomi's new shelf:

Here are the ballet plates that used to hang in my room as a little girl and now are finally in my own girls' room:

And the piece de resistance - This amazing curtain Mom and Renee made after they left, thinking how fun it would be for the girls. I finally got it hung up on Friday and those little ladies are delighted. You can see Eve peeking out the left window.

The curtain is made from a white sheet. The window frames are yellow ribbon and the panes are vinyl. The flower boxes, stems, and grass are painted on and the flowers themselves are layered felt and attached with Velcro so I can pull them off for easy washing. Yay for a big project tackled, finished, and bonuses thrown in! Katie

Friday Project - Maternity Clothes Out!

Oh yeah! You read that right! I know it's not much of a project, but I am so very happy to say goodbye to my maternity clothes. I finally am to my pre-baby #4 weight and I have rewarded myself with my old clothes. Yahoo!

Anybody need maternity clothes? A few mediums, a few larges, and lots of extra large. Mostly summer season.

Katie

Friday Project - Business Bookkeeping 2010

Bookkeeping may not sound exciting to you, but I am so relieved to be all caught up!

I spent the better parts of Thursday and Friday this week doing five months of bookkeeping for our at-home business and 'closing the books' on 2010. Now I'm ready to file the business tax return. I still have to prepare forms W-2, W-3, and 944 (all related to payroll), but those are all quick and I can do them in about half hour now that all the bookkeeping is finished. I am hoping to get everything wrapped up this weekend.

BTW, It is not a coincidence that DD#4 was born four and a half months ago.

Katie

Friday Project - Craft Room

This Friday project was completely back before Thanksgiving, but I might as well show you the pictures . . .

We moved our office upstairs to the formal dining room over a year ago when we had some water issues in our daylight basement. There was room to put a kids' table in here, too which I was excited to get into the house. It had been in the garage for over a year where it sat waiting for me to repaint it. I finally got over that unrealistic expectation of myself and brought it in.

Little did I know the havoc a craft table could create! Have a look at this photo (that's DD3 showing off her mess-making prowess).

I expressed to DH my great frustration with this room and how embarassing it was going to be when his family came to visit on Thanksgiving. I also told him how I hoped to contain the mess. I went out that weekend for my regular time away and came home to this sparkling gem!

Hooray! It was very nearly perfect. The horrible, messy craft supplies were packed into their clear, lidded shoeboxes and put out of the kids' reach (foam stickers, ribbons, stamps, glue-on gems). The less messy things were put in the bookshelves where the kids could access them independently (like markers and scratch paper). The kids have to ask for the messier supplies and I make sure they get put away quickly, so it's working out well so far. We also moved an old CD player into this room and all the kid music so they have their own place for tunes.

Huge thanks to Ed, my dear, dear, DH.

On a craft-related note, has anyone discovered a good glue for kids that isn't too messy? I thought I had found a hit in O-Glue, but they keep leaving the lid off and drying out the sponge tip.

Katie