Cameron's new wall art.

Slowly but surely, Cameron's old nursery is being brought up to date with new furniture (no more changing table!) and some new wall art (no more watercolor animals!). I'm working on a small budget, so I'm making almost everything myself, and shopping other rooms in the house for items to be repurposed for his new room.
I wanted to pop in and share a special project I've been working on for him that will hang on the wall once the room is finished. A few months ago while browsing CB2 online, I saw this giant abacus in the wall art section. When I saw it, I knew I wanted it for his room, but the price was, well... pricey. Too pricey for use in a budget kids bedroom, anyway. Immediately I began studying it, trying to figure out a way I could re-create the piece for less. I bought a couple of small wood planks, 8 dowel rods, and 80 wooden toy car wheels that I hand painted (yep, all 80!) to use as the beads. After a few hours of work (except for the beads- that took a few days) the abacus is complete!

Still drying at this point!

Apologies for the cruddy pictures taken from the garage! That's where the abacus sits until I'm ready to hang it. Regardless, Cameron still plays with it all the time!

Painting all those beads was a little time consuming- but I couldn't find beads I liked that would also slide across the dowels easily. I love the way these turned out, and glad I took the time to do it. I'll post instructions soon (in case anyone is interested), but I ran into a problem because the frame of the abacus was a little wobbly. I tried to fix that problem by drilling a couple of too-big screws into the wood, and unfortunately split the wood on one of the planks in the process. I've actually decided to re-do the frame, and use much smaller screws to make it sturdy since it's going to get played with pretty frequently. No worries though, crafting the frame was SO simple and quick (unlike painting all those darn beads). And even after purchasing more wood for round 2 of the frame, the total cost for the supplies was just under $40.
I can't wait to get it hung in his new room! I'll definitely take better pictures. I'm going to build him a tall bookshelf from plans on the Knock-off Wood blog, and then the room will be complete!

Snippets.

I've decided I'm putting myself on a spending freeze. I have spent SO much money this year- on clothes, make-up, random stuff from Target, etc... it's gotten a little out of hand, so I've decided that I'm absolutely not purchasing anything for myself until July. That's 3 months. I'll decide then if I want to extend it.

I've also decided that I'm starting a hardwood floor fund. My dream is to someday have a home full of beautiful hardwood floors. It's one of the first things I'd like to do once we move into a new home, and I'd love to be able to completely (or mostly) pay with cash. If the home already had them, the money could go toward something else! I love these:

source: houzz

Lately when Cameron gets "hurt" or bonks his big head (which is um, all the time), we have been kissing the spot to "make it feel better" in attempt to avoid a meltdown. Cameron has definitely caught on to the attention and will sometimes bonk his head (lightly) on something on purpose to receive kisses. I LOVE IT! hee!

I have complained for many years now about our washer and dryer set being so small- that I can't wash a king size comforter in it (I always take it to the laundromat) or wash more than 2 pairs of Jon's jeans and a few shirts at one time in it. Though the set is about 15 years old, it still works, so I suppose there wasn't really a need for a newer set. Well, all my complaining really paid off (ha!) because my husband said we could look for a new set if we sold our current set on craigslist. I'm so happy! Soon, I'll be able to get all of our laundry done in about 3 loads as opposed to 6 or 7! This doesn't really count toward my spending freeze, does it?

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Weekend Recap

*I realize it's now Tuesday- I meant to post this on Sunday evening, but fell asleep at my laptop before I uploaded the pictures. Monday came and went...*

If I were to request a perfect day for an outdoor wedding, I would ask for plentiful sun, a very light breeze, and a temperature of about 70 degrees. Saturday's weather was just that- so it worked out perfect that my friend could tie the knot under those very conditions. April weather in Kansas can bring snow, rain, thunderstorms and very unpleasant winds (as we have experienced for about 2 weeks straight), so an outdoor wedding can really be a gamble. In my opinion, Saturday was the most perfect day we've had all year.
It was such a fun weekend- and I am just now starting to feel like I am caught back up from the festivities. Cameron attended the wedding, but we took him to Grandma's to stay the night (his first night away from us!) so that we could enjoy ourselves and not have to chase after a toddler all evening. Here's a few pictures (out of about 100+ I took)from the wedding!
Congrats Carly and Branden!

It is finished!

I finally finished building the little picnic table for Cameron! For awhile now, we've been thinking we wanted to purchase him a little outdoor table- we BBQ and eat outdoors almost everyday during the summer. So when I saw these plans from Knock off Wood, I knew I wanted to make it! It was pretty easy with all the right tools- and I cut the wood, stained it and made it myself (I only needed Jon for an extra hand leveling a few times). I love love love it! And the best part is that it only cost about $20 dollars in lumber- I already had the outdoor deck stain, nails and tools. That's less than half of a lot of other tables we were looking at for him.


I definitely have plans to build other things- I'm going to be building him a tall bookshelf for his room very soon. What do you think? Have you checked out the Knock off Wood's blog yet?

Home sweet home.

This weekend we took a little road trip up to Nebraska to see some of my family. My grandpa recently moved there to a care home, and I hadn't seen him in several years (since my wedding, maybe?) , so I wanted to make a trip there to see him.

me, my grandpa, and my tired, crabby boy.

Saturday we went to the Omaha Zoo- which was really awesome. We have a very nice zoo here in Wichita, but the Omaha Zoo is on a whole different level. The attention to detail in each of the exhibits is outstanding. We got to the zoo right after opening, and by lunch time, it felt like Disney World because the Zoo was so crowded. It was so much fun (even though I only have a few pictures to show for it!)

Cameron and I battled colds all weekend, so needless to say, he was crabby for the majority of the weekend. We actually had one of the worst nights on Friday since he was a newborn; he was awake from 1:00am to about 5:45, tossing around the bed and wanting to play. I'm sure it was hard for him being in an unfamiliar place, sleeping in a pack and play that he's too big for, and being sick. We had a great time this weekend, but I'm sure glad we're home (especially after running out of gas just 8 miles from our house). I'm ready to take some Sudafed and call it a night!

Easter Sunday!

Happy Easter everyone! I hope everyone had a great, relaxing weekend- I know I sure did. The weather couldn't be more perfect here (which is good- last Easter I froze in my dress!). Anyway, we started off at church, and the kids got to hunt for Easter eggs before we headed over to Jon's parents house for lunch with the whole family. I'm still recovering from a food induced coma, per usual after we eat there! It's hard to put the fork down when there's good home cooking. Here's a few pictures from our day:

It's usually Easter and Christmastime when I really wish I had a girl to dress up. All those cute frilly dresses and hats leave me so disappointed when I move to the boys side in search for something half way decent. 95% of dressy boy sets aren't very cute, have weird colors, or have a huge teddy bear on it. I needed a nice little suit for Cameron, and one that wasn't 50 dollars. I walked into Burlington Coat Factory and found this cute linen suit set (pants, shirt, coat and tie) for just $20. I couldn't believe how adorable it was, and it was so cheap! He was the cutest kid at church, if I do say so myself! =)
Cameron sure does love splashing in water. He kept saying "Bath!! Bath!!" and tried to climb in a dozen times.