Projects, Projects Everywhere

 I can`t find my camera AND my phone seems to be taking worse pictures than usual (It isn`t smart any more.) Todays pictures are therefore not a great quality, but I really wanted to show off my new closet. I`m hoping by my next post I will have be taking amazing picture, it`s tax time and I will finally get a new camera. I`ve been lusting for one for a while. Yay!

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Closet
So, we`ve lived in this house for almost 2 years, I got the walk in closet and Micah has an armoir in our bedroom for his clothes. (I know it isn`t fair, but I have a lot of stuff.) The closet itself was fine, though made of that metal wire shelving, which sucks. And finally almost all of it had come crashing down. After many modification, my husband decided it was time for an over-haul.
This is the before (at it`s worst, I barely even used it at all anymore)

Crazy, righ?. And that was only half of my stuff. Ah! so we took everything out, painted, and then my super, awesome, handy & handsome husband made me this:

5: 5'x 20" shelves, floor to ceiling, a new rod, another shelf over the rod, and this weekend The very top shelf will be extended to go around the whole room.
Needless to say, I love being in there now.

So does Bender, we actually had to put a door on it now. (It used to have a bamboo curtain.)

There was also originally a white cabinet inside of my closet, it has been moved and now used for crafts:

YARN. I love crocheting.

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I`ve had trouble sleeping the past few days, weird, because I usually sleep like a rock.

The lego thing is getting to be a lot of fun for me. Last night (at like, 2 in the morning) I got an itch to try making my own. I`ve made quite a few now, so I kind of know the structure process to make it work.

Nothing special, but I was proud of it. It will most likely go with the pirates of the carribean lego sets.

The large turret in the midle spins!

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Last but not least:
Something fun and yummy for the kiddos in your life. (ages 3+)

I don`t know about your kids, but mine are not big fans of buns, and almost all types of bread. So when they ask for a hot dog, it`s always kind of plain, cubed, sliced, etc.

Here is what we do (light turkey hot dogs were used)

OCTOPUS

Cut the hot dog in half, then slice each side halfway up. (imagine it is squared) Then, make another slice into each 'leg'.

Do both sides, lay flat a microwave until the legs start to slightly curl. (about 30-45 seconds)
Take them out and they can then easily be set up like this:

Be sure to let them cool off!! Those tentacles are hot, hot, hot!

To add a little extra cute-ness, dip a tooth pick into ketchup and make little eyes on your octo-friends.

Hope your kids like these as much as mine.

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Have a great weekend!!

xoxo,

Melli

A Foodie Post

Lately we`ve just been doing a whole overload of the house, a lot of cleaning a lot of organizing. It`s looking pretty good if I do say so myself =D Also finding so much awesome stuff that no one remembered we had.  It`s like finding treasure.
Like: My baking/cooking closet, a small thing that has been needing to be organized for a while, looks so nice now. I can actually find things again!

It has also gotten pretty chilly (for South Carolina anyway), so other than playing in our back yard, we`ve been in the house for part of the week :/

We had fun on our Kid-dates this past weekend (Sunday). I don`t have any pictures of Micah and Joey, but here is one I took of Billy after a quick stop at the dollar tree.

We also went a few others places, it was a great day.

Today we had my parents & brother over for dinner, it has been a looong time since the last time. Bad of me, but I plan on inviting my parents and Micah`s Mama over for dinner more often from now on! It`s fun and a chance to catch up. (And for me to try out recipes on others!) :)
Here is what I made tonight:

(click to enlarge all pics)

After we were done with dinner, I helped, well, I built the new lego set that came in the mail. Billy had saved up for it, and it sure took it`s sweet time getting here. Well worth the wait though. It was so much bigger than I thought (we got it 40% off at the Lego store, woohoo)

That was our day, cooking, cleaning, dinner, lego. After all that I started a project I`m working on, but thats a secret for now, since I don`t know how it will pan out just yet. :) Wish me luck!

Anyway! Here is another meal I made the other day that turned out particularily awesome:

And a look at the kids lunch. (I usually don`t take pictures of their lunch, but this one turned out pretty:

Well thats about it, I should be getting to bed, but I had a little too much caffeine tonight 0_0 So I might be sleeping just yet, haha.

-Melli

Big post catch up~

Wed, Jan. 11, 2012

It was pretty rainy out and the kids and I had a really fun time just in the house and playing. When we did go out we saw the biggest Anole (garden lizard) ever, he was a big grandpa lizard of something, they pictures we took don`t give him justice. They also got a quick visit from their Grandma. Good day :)

And heres a picture Billy drew. I love the fact that he game his man teeth!

Thurs, Jan. 12, 2012

Went Grocery shopping and then later on had a mini date with Joey while Bill & Dad stayed home. We went to the video store and Goodwill. Found some cool stuff at Goodwill, like... a Star Wars R2D2 case for Billy, a discontinued older line Thomas set, some hats (Including a giant vintage Sombrero.) And some mangas. Score!

Joey`s hat (also vintage) He loves it, he has actually worn it out a few times, and he never wears hats!

The somrero:

We got a new copy of Cars (1)

I lost count of how many times we have watched it by now (Sunday)

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Some cute bedtime pictures of the kids

We finished putting all Billy`s cool stuff on his shelf!

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Friday, Jan. 13, 2012

Not much going on, but here is the dinner we had that night, haha.

Saturday, Jan 14, 2012

Went for a walk with the kids & puppies down by the local bike/walking trails. We walked 3 miles (we brought the stroller for when the kids got tired, but they rarely used it), and it felt so good to be out in the fresh air. The dogs were especially happy, it`s been a while since we`ve taken them out by car. :)

Billy would walk with June, he did really well! (Also: June is a sweetheart who rarely pulls)

Later that night I got up the gusto, and painted our laundry room! back wall is solid color, the others I free hand painted on. I love it, it looks quirky.

This is the room walking into it.

And this is the opposite wall (when you are standing inside.):::

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And now, it is Sunday, still kind of early, just got done eating lunch. Today is fun day :) I will take out Billy and do something fun with him, and Micah will do the same with Joey.

hmm.. What to do? We`ll see!

Thanks for reading,

XOXO,

Melli

Just a quick one...

Kids are feeling all better, Bill woke up once late last night, but went back to bed, then woke up again at 6:30.. @_@... I`m a lucky mama though, I made him some food and set him up in bed with some shows, and he told me to go back to bed since he was feeling all better. So I did get a little bit more sleep.

Joey also felt better(?) He never really felt bad.. but both seemed 100% healthy today. Thank Goodness :)

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Playing with Lincoln Logs

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A page from a Rohl Dahl book, (Matilda) that I love.

xoxo

-Melli

Tummy troubles and fevers, oh my!

Kiddos Caught a Bug.

We had a good weekend, and I hope everyone else did too. After a full Saturday of playing, a birthday party Sunday and cleaning out the garage <(an impressive feat), it was quite a productive weekend... Then, today, it started out as a regular day at home, went out and played for a while and then later went to go have dinner at their Grandma-marys` house. Billy was cranky on the way, but I didn`t think too much of it, there was a ton of traffic and he was bored.

Well, we get to Grandmas house, and for a while everything is fine, they recieved a belated Christmas gift from they Great Aunt & Uncle from Florida and were super excited. Money! Yay, haha.

Right before dinner Billy said he was tired, so he laid down on the couch for a while.

But right after I took these he got really "sick" to his stomache :(

So, we left soon after. He said he felt better on the way home, but he fell asleep only about an hour after getting home, with a head ache, my poor baby.

 AHHHH!

Joey is feeling fine, running around and quirky as usual... but he is also running a low grade fever now. He isn`t showing any signs of sickness otherwise, so I`m hoping he won`t get as sick as Billy.

A good nights rest will help. They are both sleeping with Daddy in our bed, and that always makes them feel better.

Otherwise, today:

I cleaned out our laundry room last night, and I wanted to do a slight bit of decorating (a mural) But discovered the dogs wrecked the very matte walls. No ammount of scrubbing will make them cleaner, so I guess I will have to paint it first.

On another note, since we cleaned out our gararge, I was finally able to get out and clean my huge, vintage laundry cart:

Isn`t it lovely? Right now though it is stuffed to the brim.. I can`t ever catch up fully, but what can you expect from three boys and a girl with way too many clothes? Yeah, not too much.

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Back to the laundry room decor (this I`m hoping will also motivate me to keep it empty and clean)

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I made some sillouette Paper dolls with clothing (and 2 pups and 3 kitties of course) They turned out really cute, here are pictures:

before cutting them out

&

After

Each Person has two "outfits", they are hung from string on plain wooden hangers.

I made these to hang from the ceiling in the laundry room, but decided I liked them too much, and put them in the hallway. They will probably go in after a while, since they are themed for it, but I want to enjoy them first.

Anyway, everyone has been a sleep for a while, I should go too. I know I`m getting up very early tomorrow. (xfingers-crossedx for good health tomorrow)

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XOXO

-Melli