a couple cute kids-a couple cute projects

hello friends. It has been forever since I have updated my blog. I have no excuse. Just a lack of motivation. And in the end, to get over this hurtle, I'm having to just skip over my entire trip to St. Joseph. I bet I'll come back and do it later. But right now I just can't look through those 1000+ photos and begin to pick and choose! So, this post is just a few cute pictures of the kids in the last month or so and a big crafty project I've been working on this last week.
This first picture shows how divine the weather has been in Oak Harbor since my return. I think we've had 1 day of rain and the rest have been sunny and beautiful.
This is Levi's neighbor girl. I don't know if I've mentioned her on here before but, she is Levi's love/hon. So says Levi. They have been in love since pretty much the day she moved in sometime this last spring. Levi talks of her non-stop; they play together every day; and they both refer to their future wedding every day. Levi also has told on himself a couple times for kissing her on the lips. I've got troubles ahead, ya'll. However, as Levi will have to deal with often in his life, she is moving away soon.

I bought this gorgeous skirt for Gracie at Target a couple weeks ago and I am just in love with it. I'm terrified of the day it gets destroyed by dirt or food. I imagine I'll do more official photo shoots with it soon. She also has a poofy tutu that needs to be documented. She's so beautiful. Even with her larger than life hair.
If girls are Levi's first love, then karate is his second. well...karate tied with costumes. He discovered Power Rangers a few weeks ago and he is just in awe. And I think if he knew to he would say "where have you been my whole life?" These pictures were taken the day that Papa sent him a Red Ranger costume in the mail. Heaven.


This is how Gracie kept herself entertained one morning as I was getting ready. Works for me. Except that I had to stop getting ready and capture her adorable-ness.
I'm starting to put her hair in actual pony tails! It's so exciting. I love her face.

I know this sounds crazy, but The Power Rangers have improved Levi's physical abilities. He is doing "moves" he's never done before because he's inspired by the martial arts that fill up his new favorite show.
And this is what he does when he can't control his facial expression. He's trying to convince me that he just got hurt in his landing. But he can't stop smiling. He actually does this most often when he is supposed to be getting in trouble for doing something (usually to Gracie). And clearly, he's not feeling the guilt of the situation.
Papa sent us some presents from his travels recently. This precious little Hello Kitty backpack came from Japan. She looks SO very cute wearing it.

Now we get to the "project" portion of this update. A few weeks ago I bought some art digital downloads off of Etsy.com and they inspired me to redecorate. I really wanted to print them out onto something antique and cool. I searched in stores and online for printer paper but nothing would do it justice. I asked my crafty sister to help me find something and she sent me directions on hot to stain paper and how to run burlap through your own printer! That was above and beyond what I was planning to do, but I decided to go for it. And I'm glad I did.

So this is a before shot of my bedroom.Bam! this is after my several days of super craftiness. Hee hee! If you can't tell, I'm pretty proud of myself. Sad right? Doesn't take too much.
Like I said, the drawings came from a seller on etsy.com. I bought a couple yards of burlap and some freezer paper from good ol' walmart. Then it was pretty simple, actually. Cut the burlap, iron the freezer paper on, then put it through the printer. If anyone is interested I can email you the link to the crafty blog that has step by step directions and example pictures.

I knew I didn't want to trap the burlap pictures in a frame, but I also didn't want to just pin them to the white wall. So I decided to buy some rad material and use it as the backdrop. I would like to make actual panels. As in buy some wood or cork bored or something and wrap the fabric around them. But for now, I just put the material up as is.
I'd say I'm pretty pleased. There are a couple things I could change or improve. And I might in time. But for now, in preparation for my beautiful hubby's return, I'm pleased.
This is also something I put together. I super heart this "happy at home" plaque that I found at Target. So I attached it onto this wall box shelf to give is some bang!
It's perfect for my little family. For when we are all together, we are perfectly happy and content to be home, hanging together. I can't even express how utterly excited I am that Nathan's return is nigh. Per command instructions, I can not say the date of his return. But it's soon enough that I am just a ball of jitters and on the edge of my seat all day long. Scratch that...I'm not even in a seat! I'm pacing and doing anything I can think of to pass the time. Scrubbing carpets, organizing closets, redecorating my bedroom, scrubbing floors....the list goes on. Sleeping isn't even easy at this point. I'm just a big ol stomach of butterflies waiting for my prince charming to come.