seize the day

Myself and the kids took a week long trip to Michigan to visit my father.In mid June. It was the first time I had driven so far alone with the kids. I'll admit I was nervous but all went well . Extremely well .  The day we got there , we rested a little. The kids ran a muck with my dad and loving on his beagle , Jack. The next day was Big brother's birthday. The big 5 . So , I decided last minute to get up early and take the older two to Cedar Point.  This was his first time here. It was Big Sister's 3rd time , but first time she was tall enough to ride the "big" rides.. She was thrilled as well . 

here is my big guy on his big day :) this was taken about half way through the day , I was worried he would get too tired and our day would come to an end sooner than we had all hoped. But he held up great , there was just so much going on , i dont think he had time to get tired.

He really believed he was driving this truck although it was on a track lol

He was even nice enough to give his Big sister a ride

Then she wanted to drive the pink one herself

This one is special to me , I have pictures of my brother and I on these ride with our Grandmother about 15-17 years ago <3

and they even had bumper cars in his size.. he was in Heaven

He loved the snoopy areas , where the rides were his size. It really made him feel like a big kid since he had to be a passenger on other rides or sit out while we waited for his sister to ride .  It was a fantastic and very tiring day , especially after driving 11 hours to Michigan from Tennessee , then another 3 hour drive to Sandusky , and back to Michigan after 10 hours at the park.. It was a great day.

just make it if you can't buy it

So , our middle son is about to be 5... with his little brother's birthday only 2 weeks after. We have been lucky for the last 2 years to be able to have a joint party , saving time and money.. Well , No such luck this year . He has requested his own birthday party this year .. That is fine. He went back and forth between the ideas of another Mario Brothers party or another popular game.. Angry Birds.. well , since we did Mario Brothers last year. Angry birds won.. As you may know , there aren't Angry Birds birthday decor for sale... SO... out comes the craftiness again ..starting with invitations : 

these started with precut cards ( just solid color cards ) from JoAnn's they came with coordinating envelopes the rest was made by me using cardstock , and foam sheeting ..and you get these , 15 were made and each one was different , those that do not have "you are invited" on the inside had it on the outside.

this is the envelopes that they came in , each childs name was put in there , hand stamped

Make it yourself

So , I know Im not here too often and all my followers ( HA ) are just going nuts with out me Im sure. School is almost out for the year and this will be the last summer before Gage starts school, So we have some pretty big summer plans this year , including my sisters wedding in July. 

But back to my title of this post.. I may have picked up yet another hobby.. it definatly was something fun to do .. since of all the things Ive done in the past , things Ive made etc.. I have never made functional furniture. Ive stacked some closetmaid shelves to make a larger shelf but never anything from raw lumber... Until Monday that is . I decided kinda last minute that I was going to make the leap into building the shelves Ive wanted for years, but was too cheap to buy the closet maid version and too scared to make them myself.

So without further ado.. here is my finished product and some progressive pictures of them as well :

The shelves are 2 shelves that are 63inches long and 30 inches high to span the length of the wall all the way except the last 22 inches . The last 22inches was filled in by the desk I build same height but instead of only the width of one board , it's made with two on the top. Stained in a dark walnut to match out coffee and end tables. I am loving it . I worried that it would make out akwardly long living room seem crowded but it actually made it look MUCH larger... go figure lol..  I cant wait to start another project . Im thinking a sofa table to go behind the love seat ( love seat has it's back to the "office' part of the living room ) or night stands for our room.. who know's I want to make them all .. just a matter of picking which one first.