Snow Fence Chic

I'm expecting Better Homes and Gardens to be here any day to take photos for their Decorating with Snow Fencing article.  😉

Our house is going to get a lot easier to navigate when Audrey gets old enough that we can finally take down all the baby gates.

Home Improvements

First we got two new shade trees planted in the back yard.

Then we tore the decking and railings and stairs off our deck...

...and with the help of my very kind, generous and talented parents we re-built it in a nicer, more sturdy, less splintery fashion.

Elliot and Audrey geared up to be on the decking crew as well.

Then I turned my attention inside, and decided it was high time to find an easy, flexible way to hang photos and art work in the living room.

Lastly we adopted a pet falcon to sit on the corner of our nice new deck.  We plan to train him to dive bomb the children whenever they dump sand out of the sandbox.

(Or maybe the falcon just happened to come visit us one day.)

June is Here and the Garden is Still Alive!!!

This is highly unusual.  Normally I have managed to kill the garden before anything (other than weeds) actually grows.  This year I have real, live fruit and vegetable plants growing: swiss chard, beets, green beans, zucchini, green peppers and cantaloupe!!

A Haiku

Underpants where now?
Left in the sensory tub.
I hope they are clean.

Spencer Gets a New "Room"

Okay, it's actually our walk-in closet.  Room sharing was not going well and everyone was getting grumpy with sleep deprivation, so desperate times and all that jazz.  ;)

And Then That Happened

We bought a new oven for my early birthday present.  The next day I turned the oven on for the first time to cook pizza for dinner.  I opened the door to take out the pizza and...

So, that happened.  Obviously, it is going back.

Color Coding Food for Fun and Safety!!

Wednesdays are speech therapy days; we get home about 20 minutes before Spencer needs to go down for a nap, so I need to get lunch on the table ASAP.  To that end, I tend to have the boys' lunches pre-packed in the fridge ready to go.

Sandwiches are easy to make ahead of time, but since most gluten free breads are expensive and not all that good, I've had to find alternative, often less convenient, options.

Enter "GLUTEN FREE BREAD-FOR-ONE IN LESS THAN 90 SECONDS!".  It is simple, fast and produces really good, soft (slightly sticky) bread that can be used in a multitude of ways.  I've also had good luck making regular wheat bread with that recipe for the non-allergic boys.

The only problem is making 100% sure that I keep track of which bread is wheat-free for Elliot.  I LOVE that Elliot is able to eat something that is "the same" as his brothers', but I also need to make sure it is different enough to safely keep track of what I am serving to whom.

So I dyed it.  Actually, I added different food coloring (the boys' favorite colors) to all the breads so they would be clearly identifiable.

Then I sliced the breads, made them into sandwiches and packed the boys lunches.  They all thought colored sandwiches were very cool.

Peter's New Room

It is a brave new world.  Peter and Spencer are sharing a room.

New Kitchen Counter

Before:

After:

I love it!!

Our New Time Line

This weekend Doug helped me hang our new time line.  It wraps around the hallway and foyer to give me 500 inches of time line space.  Right now we are focusing on our family history covering 4 generations (my grandparents through my children).  I am hoping this will help the kids visualize how generations work.  We will be slowly adding significant events onto the time line.

Our New Basement Loft Play Area

In preparation for a long, cold winter with three active little boys...

BEFORE:

MATERIALS:

CONSTRUCTION:

AFTER:

Prepping for Preschool

Everyone always says to simplify mornings by picking out an outfit the night before.  I decided to expand on that a bit and pick out outfits for a week at a time.  Now the boys can grab their own clothes from the closet each morning.  It is also nice to keep several outfits ready for Spencer so I don't have to run upstairs every time he covers himself in spit up.

I used these cheap shoe hangers from Target and cut off the bottom few cubbies that would have hung too low.

Elliot's New Art Gallery

Many moons ago Peter made Elliot a picture with dinosaur stickers and we crudely hung it in Elliot's room with some blue painters' tape.  Since then, every time I walked into that room I would cringe and think that there must be a better way to hang art work.  A way that would be safe (no poster tack for Elliot to eat, no push pins for him to play with), and cheap and easy to change the art work.

Over the weekend we hung some clips (http://www.target.com/p/soft-touch-clips-6-pk/-/A-11740819) that I hope will meet our needs.

Here the boys are making a few of the masterpieces:

Our New Tent

And I put it up all by myself!! 

April 25th

Peter's "New" Room

It's not really that new...he has been in the "new" room for a few months.  But, I'm just now getting around to taking pictures for posterity.

His submarine wall with water-themed curtain...

His big boy radio and color changing clock...

His fish pillow cases, kid clinic aprons and wall o' books...

And, currently, his birthday countdown chain.  13 more days...

Soon Elliot will be moving to his new big boy room and I will start getting the nursery ready for its new occupant.