Pinterest Inspired Craft

My inspiration found on Pinterest (from Land of Nod)

My finished project!

I saw the above wall hanging a while back on Pinterest and followed it back to it's source which was the store Land of Nod. I can't remember the exact amount it was selling for but it was around $50-60. I thought it looked easy enough to make and it was!

Here's how I did it in case you are interested:

I bought the frame at a Re-store for $4 and painted it white with paint I already had.
I hot glued white fabric to the cardboard back
I cut out the letters from fabric I already had.
I used spray adhesive that I use for quilting to attach the letters to the white fabric background.
That's it! Easy! and done in 1 day!

If you wanted it for a boy room you could do blues and greens and for a girl pinks, yellows, and reds. That's what the store was selling, a boy and girl version. I made mine gender neutral since my boy and girl twins share a room.

Now I just have to hang it. 

Minor house improvements

 Ok, I can't get these pictures in order and I'm not going to keep getting frustrated trying! I think you'll figure out which is the old and which is the new. Enjoy!

Hair

Honestly, this is exactly how his hair is EVERY day. I don't do anything to it...seriously! Also, love these faces. I'm glad I captured these pictures so I can always remember how funny his hair stood up. I LOVE it. It is actually starting to lay down a bit more. I'll be sad when it's no longer his baby hair look.

To NY and Back

I just spent the last week in NY with my family. My sister-in-law and I borrowed a 12 passenger van and drove out through the night with our 6 kids under the age of 7. It was a memory for sure. The week was a blast but exhausting! Late nights, early mornings, super packed days. It was so great to see family and friends I don't get to see very often. We had camp fires, went swimming/tubing, went out to eat, celebrated the 4th and celebrated a dedication to a war memorial my grandpa helped raise money for.

Pictures to prove it...

 Tubing with Lily

 Campfire on the beach

 All of our family on my mom's side that was in NY. All 10 great grandkids, 9 of the 11 grandkids (that's where I fit in) plus spouses, all 4 of my grandparents children plus spouses, and my grandparents.

 Happy 4th!

At the dedication service for the war memorial. Everyone from my immediate family that was able to be there. My grandpa was a WWII vet.

I'm glad I'm back with Kurt. I missed his company daily and his help with the twins when it got a little crazy. Life is quieter here in MI. I'm excited to start developing some relationships with girls I met before leaving. I kept saying since we moved here, "as soon as I get back from NY I'll start on the house projects I want to do and start having people over for dinner". I think life will start to feel more normal here these next few weeks.

2 Fun Things

A long time ago when we were first starting to talk about residency and where we might like to go, I said "somewhere where there is a place to swim and it has to have a Dunkin Donuts". After I thought it through some more I came up with some more important wants, but that's besides the point. Well, I am happy to tell you that today my first 2 wants were granted! Kurt got off early from orientation and so we went to a local beach people kept telling us to check out. It's less then 15 minutes from our house.  AND the one and only Dunkin Donuts in Kalamazoo just opened today less then 5 minutes from our house! My new friend called me to let me know that DD had opened and everything was on the house due to training!  I'll be going back tomorrow and the next day and the next. Every day actually until Sunday when I drive a 12 passenger van with my sister in law and our 6 kids under the age of 7 on a 12 hour drive through the night to NY. I'm sure I'll have plenty to blog about with that trip!

 We bought a pass for the season! I can take as many people will fit into our van so come visit!!!!!!!!!!

 Ordering at our new DD just down the street a bit.

This picture makes me laugh. And my iced coffee looks and tasted a lot like milk with a spoonful of coffee in it. Not complaining though, it was free and the workers are still learning.

Actual Birthday

You probably saw my earlier post about the party we threw for the twins while we were still in Blacksburg, however the twins had their ACTUAL birthday this past Friday. Kurt had the day off so we headed up to WI to celebrate with my family. Luke was falling apart as we were trying to have lunch, open presents, and eat cake, hence why he is not in some of the pictures. I'm really thankful we are living close enough to my brothers and their families to be able to spend time with them more often.On our way back to MI we stopped in Chicago and had brunch with John and Kristin at my brother's restaurant, Old Town Social. If you are ever in Chicago, you should go, it's amazing!

Anyways, can't believe a year has gone by! Can't believe how much I have learned about myself since being a mom! Can't believe how much our babies have grown! Can't believe how much I am loving being their mom and getting to spend every day with them. Can't wait for this next year!

 

Party people minus Luke (in bed) and my brother John (he arrived shortly after the picture)

Lots of help to open presents!

We LOVE cousins!

State Park

I am taking a break from posting from our super busy week/moving to tell you what we did in our new state yesterday. Just a little break. I still have things to catch up on.

Yesterday we headed to Lake Michigan. We went to Van Buren State Park as our first of many different beaches to try out. When we got our MI license plates for the car they asked if we wanted a pass to the state parks for a small extra fee and we accepted. I think instead of being like "wanna go to a state park? oh wait we have to pay, never mind" we'll be like "let's go to a state park today and it's free!" (not actually free since we paid the fee upfront, but feels free since when we pull up to the guard shed we just get passed right on through) Anyways, we geared up, packed up, loaded up, and drove a little less then an hour and arrived at a beautiful sandy beach with FREEZING cold water and small waves. Because of the effort it took to get there I made us stay for at least 1.5 hours. Babies did great! After the beach we drove about 5 minutes north to a REALLY cute town called South Haven. Mae was already asleep in that short amount of time so we just drove around a bit to see what it was like. Looking forward to going back there to explore some. This was our second trip to the beach with the twins, the first being the ocean, and we have come to 2 conclusions...

1. Luke is a water baby. He's not afraid. Loves to dig in the sand, walk in the water, have the waves hit him, even eat handful of rocky sand without crying, over and over again! The bucket is covering his first fist full. Since I was taking pictures I was too late to stop him.

 2. Mae is more a sit on your towel way far away from the water and observe kind of girl. She's not a big fan of the water, cries actually, and doesn't like her feet in the sand. She is perfectly content to sit on the blanket and play with whatever she can get her hands on. I think she looks pretty prissy in this picture.Prissy, but pretty.

It will be interesting to see if this observations stick.