Kid's Bathroom Re-Do

This summer, I have a lot of projects that I want to do.  One of the bigger projects, which ended up becoming huge, was the kid's bathroom.  I wanted to change it from a "baby" bathroom to a "kid" bathroom.  Why I don't have pictures of the bathroom before I changed it, I don't know.  The wallpaper in the bathroom was kind of a leopard print, but it was kakhi and very neutral.  I really liked it, but the wallpaper was starting to fall off the walls and I did not like that!  So, one day I just started pulling on the wallpaper and decided I could definitely take it all down.  And then I realized that there was another layer of paper (the stuff that makes it stick to the wall) underneath.  I read that I could just get it wet and it would come right off, which it did!  Yay!  It took a couple of days to get it all down, but it was not hard at all and didn't require any tools, other than the nail I used to poke it and then tear down the strips of paper!  Super-easy!  I had picked out a fabric that I loved and was going to make the new shower curtain out of, but the fabric was really heavy and I didn't know if I was ready to sew something that thick.  Plus, Madelyn's curtains in her room are the same thickness and they are super heavy.  So, I opted for this fabric.  It gave me a lot of options for color in the room too.  Jason and I ended up deciding on blue.

Here is one of the only pictures that I took of the process.  This is what the room looked like after I got all of the wallpaper down.  Jason and I painted the room ourself and it didn't turn out half bad.  The worst part was when we realized that I forgot to grab a paintbrush to touch up the spots that the roller and edger couldn't get!  Oops!

I have been trying to enhance my sewing skills this summer.  I sewed these shower curtains myself!  I was really proud.  I learned to make a double weighted hem.  I didn't do anything fancy with the top, just a small hem and hung it with the clips.

I had this hanging on the wall above the toilet and this is where I ended up always hanging the kid's towels instead of on the towel rack that was on the wall.  I had some cute monogrammed towels on the wall, but I decided that I would rather have something more functional that the kids could use.  So, I switched the rack.  I hung some buckets on it for the kid's stuff.  I plan to put their names on them, but haven't done that just yet.

Here is another view of the room.  I really like the way it turned out.  It's a lot different than it was before.  I think it changes the whole feel of the room.

I needed something to decorate the one wall above the toilet.  I got some frames and cut some coordinating fabric and framed it.  I really like the way that it turned out too.  Easy decorations!  Plus, I can change them out if I want to!

Here is one last view of the bathroom.

So, my biggest project of the summer...so far...is complete!  More updates to come!

....And then, I found IKEA!

So, the last time I blogged I was trying to get my house somewhat organized.  That was August.  Now it's May.  I fell into an organizational rut.  I had good ideas, but just couldn't get things together and things got really busy and chaotic at work and I fell farther behind and the organization was going no where fast.  And then, I found IKEA!  Wow!  Jason and I went to San Francisco in April and we stopped at an IKEA while we were there.  I was in organization heaven!  There were shelving units, storage boxes, picture frames (that's for another post!), and other amazing tools that I discovered.  I ended up shipping two large boxes back home from California, but that was just a tease!  I needed the shelves.  The shelves arrived yesterday and I was pretty much giddy with organizational happiness!  I got right to work and built the shelves (6, to be exact).  This afternoon, I finally finished the playroom.  I am pretty sure that I have re-done our playroom at least 6 times in the last 5 years.  But, I have finally gotten it right. Note:  It will probably never look like this again. 



 This thing is a-maze-ing!  It hangs from the ceiling and is perfect for storing all of those stuffed animals that, and I now retract the statement, "I will never buy."  It's mesh and it's long and it holds them all.  I mean, what could be better?  


Well, these wall shelves.  That's what.  These things create some fabulous storage.  The difficult thing with our playroom is that it's not big and the walls are short, because it is open to the living area downstairs.  This causes a problem, because the kids can reach every single toy, any time they want.  When I found these, I was thrilled.  I was even more thrilled that they were only $24.99!  They mount to the wall and are super-sturdy.

This one holds puzzles, games, and some other small toys.

This one holds all of the Legos that I spent hours sorting by color.  Sidenote:  Andrew loves the organization of his Legos and has done an awesome job keeping them in the right place.

For this one, I ordered the bins that fit in the shelf (yes, it has bins that slide in and out.  And they are fantastic!).  I have art supplies in this one.  Madelyn has a bad habit of using scissors and glue and paint for purposes other than artwork, so they are now out of her reach.  On top of this shelf are my jigsaw puzzles.  I took them out of the paper boxes that just tear up and got these cd storage cases for $.97 at Wal-Mart.  They stack and the puzzles fit perfect.  I cut out the picture of the puzzle and put it in the box too.

Next up, the Art Center.  I have moved this table everywhere and finally saw on Pinterest where someone had it in a corner and put the IKEA rod with cups that connect along either side of the wall. Love!  Plus, the orange container that stores a bazillion crayons.  It's a perfect little space and it's out of the way of the main play area.

The dress up clothes were another battle that I kept losing.  I had them in the kid's closets or in bins in their bedroom, but they just kept gettin all messed up.  Some of them were in the playroom on hooks and they never stayed on the hook.  One of the teachers did this in her classroom and I copied the idea.  I got a clothes rack and just didn't add the bars that make it tall, so it's the perfect height.  All the dress up clothes are hung up and they don't have to dig through boxes to find the certain outfit.  The accessories are in the boxes next to it.

These shelves are another IKEA find.  They have the connectors to for the tubs, like the wall shelves, but I had these colored storage bins that I love and decided to just use those instead of buying new ones.  They have all kinds of different toys in them.

Organizning their books was a task.  I was going to sort them by topic, but that just wasn't going to work.  I needed more boxes and, come on, it's not my classroom.  They don't have to be perfectly arranged by topic, author, etc.  (I say that more for myself than for you.) I hung some book shelves on the wall to display some current favorites and plan to rotate the books for holidays, seasons, etc.  Just to keep it fun!  They also have book shelves in their rooms too.  We like reading around here!

Here is a vies of the playroom.  Underneath the window will be another IKEA shelf, it just hasn't been ordered yet.  I wanted to make sure I liked them first!  I do!  We've also got Andrew's train table for the kids to use to play on and Madelyn's kitchen set in there.  

I was in a hurry to get this done (I go home and clean during my lunch break since the kids aren't there) and so I didn't finish this wall.  These are cork circles that I found at IKEA.  I plan to get some big push pins for them to display photos and artwork on those.  

And a final view of the playroom.  I forgot to mention earlier, we ripped out the carpet and had wood floors put in.  My grandmother got us a super-cute alphabet rug too.  I am so happy with the way that it has turned out!  I think the kids are really going to enjoy destroying it!

Now that I've finally gotten out of my "organizational block" I am ready to tackle more projects.  Jason says that I start too many projects at once and don't finish them.  Boo!  I just get excited.  That's what the problem is.  I plan to do more posting again soon.  

The Summer of Amy

 So, every summer I create a giant to-do list of all the things I am going to accomplish during the summer and every summer I do like three things on the giant, overwhelming list.  This year was no different, except for the fact that I was determined to accomplish EVERYTHING that was on the list.  I divided the list into two colums- work and home- and got to work.  I am proud to say that I have accomplished everything on the list...and there were FIFTY things on this list!  This is a major accomplishment for me and I will probably have to do multiple posts on the projects I did.  These are in no particular order.

I blame/thank Pinterest for all the ideas too!  One thing I had to get down was get the artwork/keepsakes/random stuff the kids have made organized.  I saw the crate idea on Pinterest, as well as the scanning the artwork into the computer and make a photo book idea.  I scanned one million pieces of work and saved some to (if it had a handprint, fingerprint, or picture that was for sure saved).  I filed everything by year and even used the binder rings to put all the cards together!  They have an organized keepsake crate with artwork in their closets and I also have a box to put all artwork in until I have the opportunity to go thru it.



The next thing I did was tackle the kid's closets (and bedrooms, but I am waiting on furniture to arrive so that will be a later post).  I have cleaned these things out a million times, but never to my liking.  This time I got them completely organized.  I ordered the hanging racks from Land of Nod and I have to say, I love them! I went through closets, drawers, the attic, etc. and got rid of anything that didn't fit.  I saved a few of the special things, but have consigned or donated anything else.  Everything in their closet fits and they play with.  Ahh, I love it!



One of my most challenging projects was the playroom.  The space is interesting and I could never get it right or get the toys organized in a way that I thought would work.  I love that they have a playroom, but honestly they never used it.  Since I got it organized this summer, they have played up there everyday! 

The dress up clothes needed some sort of organization, so I got two racks from Land of Nod and hung the clothes up and then hung buckets to put the accessories in.  I moved Madelyn's kitchen upstairs too, because they both love to play with it.

I had this wooden frame that I painted white and hung, then used chalk paint to make the board.  I hung the bucket of chalk using an old curtain hood.  I love to diplay the kids artwork, so I got some clips to hang it on the wall.  I saw the sideways bookself with baskets idea on Pinterest too.

I have had these shelves and bins since Andrew was tiny, but they never stayed organized and they took up more space in the playroom than I liked.  I moved them to the landing area upstairs, where our desk used to be (more on that in a later post!) and it works out well.  I labeled each bin with a tag that has the picture of what goes in it.

I had made bookshelves using rain gutters, but my kids would rip them out of the wall, so I splurged for new book racks!  I cut the rain gutters and moved them up higher on the wall and use it for stuffed animal storage.  I have artwork framed with painters tape on the walls.  Genius, pinterest! 

I got these shelves and bins from Land of Nod.  I love how colorful they are!  I labeled them too.  I realized that the majority of the kid's toys were downstairs and the toys they don't ever play with were upstairs, so I got rid of the stuff they don't play with and moved what they do play with upstairs. Plus, I left some room for new toys- as Christmas and Birthdays are coming soon!  I did get a new table for them too.  I needed something cute, that matched, and they couldn't break!  This is a view of the entire playroom.  I think it's completely done!

I started this project in the fall, but just got it done over the summer.  We have a weird hallway that I just couldn't get fixed right.  I had pictures hanging, but the frames didn't match and it just was irritating to me (yeah, I know how it sounds).  We had family pictures done in October and I still hadn't ordered them, because I wanted to have all of them.  I love the Bloom frames, but come on, I can't frame 15 pictures with those prices!  I used a link from Pinterest for a guy that makes them.  All of these frames were less than one of the large Bloom frames.  The quality is great, I just had to paint them, but I actually enjoyed doing that!  The largest frame holds a 20x24 and the smallest holds a 5x7.  I had everything printed on matboard so I didn't have to buy glass.  I know we aren't going to have fancy family photos taken every year, so I love that I can display all of the pictures. I have a couple in the dining room, but I can't decide if I like that yet!  The dining room wasn't on my summer list!

So that covers just a few things on my list, but The Summer of Amy will be continued!  



Great Wolf Lodge

We took the kids to Great Wolf Lodge in Dallas last month.  We had a wonderful time!  It had a huge indoor and outdoor water park, so we spent most of our time there.  They also have tons of kids activities inside the resort.  We stayed for two days, which was the perfect amount of time.  Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

It took Madelyn a little while to decide she enjoyed the water.  I think there was just so much to do and so many people that she was a little nervous.  She loved this though, you turned the wheel and the water would spray.  She kept saying "I want to go shooting!"

 Andrew, on the other hand, had no problem adjusting!  He loves the water!

Madelyn enjoyed the water sprayers.  That thing behind her is a small mountain with a wolf on top.  When the wolf howls, the mountain becomes a huge waterfall.  Everytime that wolf would howl, Madelyn would run out of the water!

 Family pic.  I honestly think this is the only family picture that we have taken all year!

 The indoor water park  was awesome!  They had so many different activities.  The little kid area was great.  They both enjoyed riding the wave runners and shooting the water.

Madelyn having some fun!

 The Great Wolf characters, Wiley and Violet.  We went to breakfast with them one morning.  The kids really liked them!

 Just chatting with Wiley and eating a giant do-nut!

 We went to the Rainforest Cafe on night.  The kids were scared to death of the animals!

 They really didn't want me to take this picture, but I thought it would be cute.  They were a little cold after being in the pool all day!

 Having fun with Dad.

 Snow cone break.  Andrew later spilt the melted snow cone all over the concrete.  Some poor worker spent forever trying to clean it up. 

 Andrew with Wiley and Violet.  Madelyn didn't want to get her picture made with them!

 Andrew and the frog at Rainforest Cafe

 The water park is the perfect place for Andrew.  He can run and be as loud as he wants!

There were several big water slides that Andrew went down.  Jason and I went with him, because he was not quite ready to do them by himself.  He loved it!

We had a great trip!  The kids keep asking when we are going to go back to Great Wolf Lodge.  I am hoping that we get to do it again soon!

Here We Go Again!

 It's been a while since our last post.  A LONG while!  And I don't really even know where to begin.  So here are a few significant events:  There was Thanksgiving and we were thankful and ate a lot of turkey. Jason and I took a adult only trip to NYC.  Christmas came and went in all it's glittery glory- while not forgetting the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate with all that glitter anyway!  We rang in 2012...in our sleep!  We wished for snow days that never came.  Madelyn became a regular at the many baby showers we've attended this spring.  Andrew has strutted his stuff on the soccer field.  I graduated my THIRD class of Pre-K 4 kiddos.  Jason continues doing things the "Wal-Mart Way." We welcomed summer and have offically become pool bums.  And everytime I think that we have almost achieved this "work-life-balance" thing...I wake up and realize it's only a dream!

So, at the ages the kids are now-2.5 and 4.5- it's hard to do the milestone thing, because they really don't hit those like they did when they were really little.  Maybe that's why I haven't blogged in so long, because my kids are not babies anymore.  So I have decided to do the top ten things that Andrew and Madelyn are up to these days.

 They have a really sweet brother/sister relationship!  She adores her "dudu."  That's right, she calls him "dudu" and we do too.  It's hystarical and he has no idea that it means poop.

 We are officially "pool people." We've been there everyday since it opened. 

 All About Andrew at Age 4.5

1. He is really, really, really, really into superheros.  This all started with the boys in his class at school.  He introduces himself to people with this...in all seriousness, "My name is Andrew Batman Robin.  But people call me Joker." 

2. He definitely has my coordination.  I've seen him on multiple occasions get his feet stuck in the soccer goal and trip and fall.  (Yes, I laugh at him.)

3. He is kind of bossy and likes to let us know when Madelyn needs a spanking (and just how many she should get).

4. He is not into the fine motor development, alphabet learning, letter/sound/number/color recognition.  He can do it- when asked by the right person, at the right time, and if he has nothing better to do.  Otherwise, A is occasionally Q, J, P or 6.  Even though he knows that is the first letter in his name and he can write it.  It drives this former kindergarten teacher CrAzY!

5. He is still very much into cars and trains.  He also likes building with his legos.  He is very imaginative when he plays.  Always coming up with something elaborate.

6. The boy NEVER.STOPS.TALKING.  I mean, never!  He just keeps going and going and going and going.

7.  He is friendly.  He will introduce himself to whomever he meets and will strike up a conversation with you (only if you are interesting, of course)

8. His arm is a lazer and he knows how to use it.  We really are working on controlling our lazer and only using it when absolutely necessary.  Not on random old men in Wal=Mart.

9. He makes me laugh constantly.  Which is good, because I like to laugh.  Example:  Tonight we're at the pool and he says "Mom, I'm all tuckered out."  That's right...he said he was tuckered out. 

10, He has the sweetest little heart.  He cares for others and wants to make sure people are not hurt or scared.  He tries to do the right thing and wants to make people happy.  He genuanly feels bad when he does something wrong.  (not that it always stops him, he is still only 4).  I love this little boy so much!  

Miss Madelyn at 2.5

1. She is a Momma's girl.  She picks me over anyone (even Mimi) 90% of the time.  Problem is, I allow this behavior and so she's a little bit rotten because of it.

2, She loves shoes.  Loves to try on other people's shoes, loves to change shoes throughout the day, loves to match and line up her shoes.  Currently her shoes of choice are Andrew's pirate flip-flops (which he hasn't had a chance to wear) and her hot pink Build-a-Bear sandals. 

3.  She has a tender heart for animals.  She loves our dog and cats, loves Mimi's dogs too.  She walks around saying "Ally loves me, Gracey loves me, Bear Bear loves me." 

4. She is really coming into her own when it comes to talking.  I can understand about 75% of what she has to say.  She also talks nonstop, but isn't as friendly as Andrew.  She is a bit shy.

5. She has good corditation when it comes to throwing, catching, and kicking.  I'm anxious to see what she does with that talent.

6. She doesn't eat much, but when she does, she eats a TON!  She also is like her momma in that she'd rather snack throughout the day then eat a big meal. 

7, She is SO observant.  It's funny, really.  (She gets this from me, because I have a weird memory.  In that I remember names, faces, clothes, and I see trends).  The other night at dinner they played the National Anthem and everyone put their hand over their heart.  When it finished a few seconds passed and another song came on.  Madelyn looked at me and said "like this" and put her hand over her heart.  Funny how she noticed that!

8. She can do everything ALL.BY.HERSELF. she can dress herself, buckle her seat belt, feed herself, pick out her own clothes, etc.  I like that she is showing her independance, but don't like the fit that is thrown before she gets to exert said independence.

9. She has been having a difficult time transitioning to her own bed at night.  Which is weird, because she never had a problem until recently.  She says "I want to sleep with you guys" and will cry and cry until we get her out of her bed and put her in ours.  She falls asleep within minutes and then goes back, but it's a weird phase for her, I think.

10. She is so happy!  She just has a good attitude most of time time and is smiley and she likes to make you smile.  She also knows what she wants and will do what it takes to get it.  Sweet and Sassy all at the same time!

I am going to attempt to do better at this.  I have been doing a lot of work around the house, although there is not a finished project yet!  I am working at work a lot too, trying to get our quality accreditation done and refuel for next year, as well as our summr program that starts next week.  Life is busy!  But I don't think that's going to change for a little while.  So I am going to give this blogging thing another go!