Drum roll please.....The Playroom

First I must thank my in-laws for helping us SO MUCH with this project! Secondly, thanks to all of you that have given us advice on how to accomplish this. Listening to other people's initial thoughts on design projects helps me make decisions, even if I don't head that direction I at least know of another way to go! I can't believe I put up with white walls upstairs as long as I did, but I guess patience has paid off, we are very pleased with the turn out.


Some of these pictures were taken by my friend Sarah and used on her wonderful blog, http://restorativeliving.blogspot.com/2011/05/home-tour-my-decor-mentor.html, which featured some of my decorating:) You will notice that the wall color changes from picture to picture...I would say that the picture that captures it most accurately is #3 and #4. It is an aqua with a slight turquise tent, it was both Kevin and I's first choice out of the samples we got. So that choice was easy!
The wall vinyl came from etsy, I felt a bit bad for not designing it myself, but we were crunched for time and I was very pleased with the way the artist drew the swirls. The huge foam bags have soft microsuede covers that are machine washable! And when they arrived at our front door they were in the tiniest boxes which worried me, but then we found out they were vaccum sealed and we got to watch them grow which was very cool.

All right the art area is my favorite part of the room. I love how balanced it is:) The pencils were made by my father-in-law and we added the knobs for the hanging art bags that I am in the process of making. The sheet metal for displaying art was my friend Lauren's idea and it is perfect. No tacks to worry about and the kids can hang their pictures all on their own.

Remember the old primary colored table and chairs? Not me, I have blocked that from my memory:) A little paint and some super easy stool covers and waaalaaa.

We talked about built in storage cabinets down the long wall, but decided it would be smarter to put money into something that we can take with us when we leave this house. Also, the padded leather bench is very kid friendly because it doesn't smash fingers. I am in love with that bench and I'm so glad Kevin let me get it:)

Well, I hope you guys enjoyed the tour! I need a big fun rug, but I'm finding them to be so pricey! This rug is made out of gumball size balls and I want one pretty bad but they are charging an arm and leg.........I guess it takes many hours to string one together and the balls are expensive. I looked into making one myself, but still doesn't make sense. Anyway, check it out:

http://www.edelynn.com/panelsandrugs.html

Look at me posting twice this month.........I feel like I just did an extra credit project:)

Blog Slacker.

Here's Texas weather for ya, we were in swimsuits Saturday and on Sunday we had hail that didn't melt off all day because it was so cold.

Klaire looks so grown up in this picture!

Rain Forrest Cafe for Landon's Birthday dinner.

Singing him happy birthday, Liam is wondering if he gets icecream too. Haha

Before we went to Rain Forrest we went to Legoland also for Landon's birthday.

After the ride, he decided he wasn't a big fan!

Legoland had a pink room that the girls enjoyed. They want to be like Landon and Liam so much!

Our big seven year old...........what!!!!!!!!! Oh and everything in this room is made out of legos. Amazing.

Liam showing us his punch move. He told me the other day if he ran into a real bear in the woods he would try to fight it instead of running away. Unfortunately, I believe him!!!!!!

So I made headbands for the girls for Easter that turned well, but got a little lazy on the dresses and as you can see I pinned on some flowers instead of sewing them:) But look at that hair! They let me curl it!

Venture Easter Egg Drop. Our church had eggs dropped from a helicopter which was so awesome I forgot to snap a picture! Oh and I had all four of them by myself which usually plays a factor in how many pictures I take:) But it was a great outreach to the community and the kids had a great time.

A new found love. And let me say that every family needs a set of corn cob holders, your kids will think they are the coolest.

I have to admit it, I am not the blogger I used to be. I posted 62 times in 2008......and I have posted 4 this year. And I heard through the grapevine that my blog is getting boring and well I guess you are right....................................oh and I know who you are;) heheheehee

Well, I guess I am going to have to spice it up to make up for the lack of frequency!! So I am going to try to do better! Ya'll stay tuned for the playroom finished results and my latest embarassing grocery store story.............

Ski Trip. With no munchkins!

We spent four days up at the cabin with some friends a couple weeks ago. And let me tell you, it was AMAZING. I missed the kids worse each day we were gone and couldn't wait to get home the last day, but I needed that break so much and I came back feeling refreshed and ready for anything they were going to throw at me!!!!!!!!!!

Kevin and I both grew up skiing but have never in our ten years of togetherness been able to go. So we were like giddy little school girls and thankfully skiing is like riding a bike and you pick it right up where you left off (except we both have more brains and less dare devil in us than we used to!!!!:).

Rachael (cousin to Misty's Hubby), Misty (one of my dearest friend's who I grew up with), and Me!

The ladies and day two.

I think he just fell for fun. I by the way, didn't fall.....................heheheheeheheeheheeee

Misty and I conquering an icy blue.

Mt. Sopris in the background. Misty's husband took most of these and we never took an all guy picture, but there were two couples with us:)

:)

Two year old twinkies

The girls turned two at the end of December, but we just celebrated last weekend!!! Sickness and travel delayed our plans....but they didn't know the difference:)

The last year seems like it was as much of a blur as their first.....will it ever slow down!?!?

Anyway, here's what the girls are up to lately:

Talking. Way too much talking around here:) Some of my favorite phrases are....."That's annoying Mommy." ......"Miss you Daddy"....."Where is my Daddy?"....."Sissy did it."....."You come here right now Mommy."...."Mommy Staples"...."I burped that" !!!!!!

Dancing. The girls and I dance all the time. Klaire can really bust a move. Kallie can too, but Klaire really tries to mimic my moves.

Singing. Jingle Bells is still being sung around here along with Jesus Loves Me and Itsy Bitsy Spider and the ABC's

Wearing panties! We started trainging them a month ago and it was a real challenge at first but we are glad we hung in there. They are doing great and they look adorable in their panties:)

Playing dress up. Between the four of them we almost always have someone in costume!!

Never-ending energy! The girls have so much fuel that some days I can hardly keep up with them. They just go from one end of the house to the other making quite a trail behind them. I am going to write a post just about the things they get into one of these days....they really are like little monkeys sometimes!! They get so hyper after dinner too. They run around squealing (with the boys) trying to pounce on each other and it is quite a sight!!

One of Kevin and I's favorite things that they do right now is call the boys down for dinner. I need to get it on video.....it is the cutest thing. They both make a bee-line for the stairs hollering the whole way......"LANDON!! LIAM!! Dinnerz weady! Landon Staples.....Liam Reed....come down!!!!! Dinnerz weady!! Boooyyyzzz!!!"

Double and Trouble. Tornado and Hurricane. Seek and Destroy. :)

Kallie aka Lil Pip, Pip-ers, Kallie Layne

Klaire aka Squeekers and Klaire Bear

Presents from Gamma and Ganddad:)Hooray for dizziness!!!Daddy picked this out. As you can see below, Klaire approves!!

Nanna doesn't need to pay a hair stylist anymore:)

Klaire.Lyndi made the cupcakes of course. I am spoiled. I told her to just throw some cute sprinkles on them, but she made them ridiculously adorable anyway.

Kallie.

Landon's deep thoughts for the day

The other day Landon was pestering me about eating some candy (for the second time at least) and I had to have the 'limit your sugar talk' for the hundredth time........I tell ya that kid and his sweet tooth. You would think that we only give them sugar once a year the way our kids devour it!!! And anyway, I said that there are consequences to eating too many treats and he said, "Yeah God makes us get fat." I said "Well, God made our bodies work the way they do, but we choose how to take care of them so really we decide our own consequences." He didn't like that answer and argued until he got teared up because I was challenging his concept of God not asserting His power over individual will and choices and suffering coming from an imperfect world. So he ended up having a little calm down time and then we had a really great talk and he then accepted and understood what I was trying to explain to him. We started back at Adam and Eve and went from there, but I thought afterwards.....Gee....did I really just have that talk with my six year old.....I struggle with my own understanding of all this!!! Landon oh Landon I think you are going to do some special things for the kingdom. God please help me raise this child!!

Then he says a little later, "Mom did you know that if God hadn't created Antarctica that the world would be covered in water? Think of it like this mom, Camels have a huge tummy that lets them hold tons of water without flooding their body, it's the same way with Antarctica." I asked him if he learned that at school and he smiled and said, "I learned about Antarctica from my globe, but I wanted to help you remember it so I thought the camel story would help you mom."

Some things about me. just me.

As many of you can imagine, things aren't about me very often. And they haven't been for a while. And...I like it that way (most of the time:).
So I occasionally want to post about something that is on my mind or something that I'm passionate about and I don't b/c 1) I don't post often 2) I'm not as interesting as my children 3) Because the main purpose of this blog is to keep people connected to us, especially the kids. BUT...I don't have the time or desire to start an all about Laura blog so I guess you are occasionally going to have to put up with an all about me post!!!!
That being said, I better get started because I have like ten posts that I need to fit into one!!

1) First, I always want to post about cooking and recipes. Yes, the kids make cooking difficult at times, mostly the girls, but we adapt and somehow we manage to rarely eat out. I love the days when Kevin takes all the kids upstairs and I get to cook by myself. It is amazing how much faster I am without distractions and less frazzled by the time I get my creation to the table! I am going to brave a piece of meat that I have always been intimitated by (and never want to buy:), filet mignon, for one of our holiday dinners. I will have to let you know how it goes!!!

Now I know I should have used a bigger bowl! I was whipping cream:)

Here is my Grandma's fudge recipe for all of you thinking Christmas goodies!
1 lb. Hershey bar
2 c. semi choc. chips
1 lg jar marshmellow cream
3 c. chopped pecans
41/2 c. sugar
1 lg. can evap. milk
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

Mix sugar and milk together in a large roasting pot. Stirring constantly bring to a roiling boil and keep stirring for 6 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Hershey and choc. chips till melted then add marshmellow cream stir till smooth. Add in the rest of ingredients and mix well. Spoon out onto parchment paper or wax paper.P.S. I break up Hershey bar, open c. chips, marshmellow cream, butter and vanilla and measure nuts all ahead of time because once you get it off the heat you need to move fast. It’s also very helpful to have two people spooning it out. Be careful not to scorch the sugar and milk.

2) Books!!! Oh Reading 'for fun' why have I denied you for so long!?!? Hummm....could it be because I was forced to read for so long and then went straight into baby bonanza during college and then started a business in the middle of the craziness......yes I think so!!!!! But the reading drought is over and I am hooked. Here are some books 'for fun' that I highly reccommend. By the way, Kevin and I had a really neat night last week....we both just picked up our books after we got the kids in bed and sat down on the couch and just read.....never turned on the tv and didn't miss it. Then we both completed our books within minutes of each other! How's that for good timing?? Anyway, we both just read The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins(a three book series) and it was fabulous.

3) Parenting. This is my full-time, non-stop, super exhausting, always challenging, but very rewarding job. For me, it is the purpose of my life right now. I have an opportunity to influence these four precious souls more than anyone else and if one of our kids decides to love the world instead of God when they are grown, I will be heart broken and crushed. So I am giving it my all and messing up plenty a long the way. But I am pleading to God for more wisdom and patience and endurance and begging Him to forgive me for constantly failing. Parenting is the most humbling experience I have ever had. I feel like I continuely need my own 'little talk'!! I do want to share a book that has greatly impacted the way we strive to parent, Shepparding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, I wish I would have read when we firsted started this adventure. I just bought two on Amazon for twelve bucks, I am giving them away right and left in hopes that other people will read it and be blessed from it as we have.

4) P90X. Okay I have been wanting to share my experience and opinion on this program for a year and it's pretty ironic that I talking about when I haven't done it months, but oh well! I mentioned in a post last fall that Kevin and I were doing the program and I've had several people ask about it. The program is 12 weeks long and you work out 6 days a week for an hour to an hour and half. A diet is also included which basically consisted of shedding weight the first month with lowfat protein and then they start adding in more carbs the second month and by the third you are eating tons of carbs. Anyway, that's how your are supposed to do it!!!! We did the diet for one week:) We did the program for a solid six weeks and then off and on for two weeks. Then I decided to just do it once or twice a week from then on and I haven't done it lately but hope to start again in January. So what did we think? Kevin hated it because it took up our entire down time (8pm-10pm) in the evenings. It takes a few minutes to set up the weights and pull up bar and we used a mat to protect our carpet and then you have to shower afterwards so it was nearly a two hour ordeal. We did decide the second month that we would stop at one hour even if that meant stopping in the middle of the workout (we would just skip forward to the cool down) and that helped. But to me the results were worth the effort. I was having trouble loosing the last ten pounds of baby weight (it had been 10 months) and I was able to loose that ten pounds in about 4 to 5 weeks with out changing my diet much. And Kevin used to have planters fasciitis (foot trouble:) and after all the stretching during the program it went away. And I loved the endurance that I gained back. I hated feeling like I couldn't go climb a mountain to to say (not that I could climb a very big one:)! I want to always feel like I can go for a hike with my dad in Colorado and keep up or go for a mile run without having to walk. And by the end of the six weeks I could do two real chin-ups by myself which is a good feeling ya know! So is the program killer.........oh yes most definetely......but it gets the job done!!

5) Decorating the play room! I have this blank canvas and we are planning on turning into something special for the kids this spring. Any ideas????

I really want to do a toy storage unit with a padded bench in the middle down this long wall. But I'm having trouble deciding whether or not to paint the angled wall btw. the regular wall and ceiling....does that make sense?? I am leaning towards yes to make the room look taller....but then it leaves us with one small strip of unpainted ceiling, so then I've thought about doing a different color on the ceiling and angled walls. But also don't know what color to do! I hate primary colors and it has to be gender nuetral....so I'm thinking light lime green or something in the aque family? Any other suggestions??
My mom found this great little table and chairs at a garage sale and I think I am going to paint the whole thing expresso and then make cushions in a fun fabric for the stools. The covers I am envisioning will have elastic around the bottom to secure under the lip of the stools and will be washable!!
This little nook is going to be the art area and the new home for the table and chairs. I'm thinking the reading area will be where the table currently is. As for the nook, I am going to have to put down some sort of rug down I think because I want the boys to be able to paint occationally. I am going to do a little curtain in the window....have no idea what kind..!! And here's my idea for the art supply storage or should I say Pottery Barn's idea:)See the big pink pockets!! I want to do those in fun fabric to match the stools and label them for all the art stuff. I want one down each wall in the nook with a way to display their art above it! Any ideas on how to display their art? Any other ideas on the playroom? Furniture, colors, storage, wall art????? Some cute wall vinyls???

That's all for now folks.......I don't want to be in the spot light too long!!!