The Big Reveal!

This project has been in the works for the last few months. I devoted just about every nap time and spare minute toward completing this room. And I am happy to say it is finished! (Or at least, almost finished.)

It all started back before summer began when my friend Becca and I discussed how we both needed bunk beds for our kids. Then my friend, Caren, told me about this web site where you can get great furniture plans for free called knock-offwood.com (it's now called ana-white.com). I went and checked it out and found a bunk bed design that was exactly what I was looking for and the website estimated that it would take about $200 to build. I had never built anything that large so I enlisted the help of my good friend Kjell (he built his own house) to help construct the bed(s). Yes, beds. Becca and her husband Ben loved the design also, so we had a building party! Kjell, Ben, and I got together over about 4 weekends throughout the summer to assemble the beds. Ben and I were thankful for Kjell's expertise because without him I think they probably would have looked more like a 3D Picasso masterpiece (okay maybe not that bad, but you get the picture).

After the beds were built, then I spent just about every free minute sanding, filling holes, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, sanding and painting some more. Along the way I came up with the design for the girls' new room and put it together. Ever since we moved into this house, Jenna has asked for a purple room, and that's what she got! Hope you enjoy the tour below...

The new bed!

With scraps from the bed I was able to construct the cool book shelves that hang next to each bed.

And my masterpiece wall! I borrowed a transparency projector from the church to project a silhouette of the Oakland Temple on the wall that I traced and painted. I picked Oakland mainly because I thought its silhouette was sort of castle-like. Above the silhouette I put a vinyl word art I found at Hobby Lobby that says, "PRINCESS, Daughter of a Heavenly King."

BTW, I learned the secret to getting crisp paint lines the first time when doing stripes and such. If you want to know how, let me know.

I painted each of these silhouettes onto canvas. No, I didn't do it by hand. I took pictures of their profiles and then made stencils of them using stencil plastic and a stencil cutter. The rest of the pattern was taken from a Princess Aurora pattern I found online (found here).

This dresser was a craigslist find that used to be an ugly 70s dark wood with hideous drawer pulls, but with several coats of paint and new hardware it has been revived! (I'm still thinking about either a picture collage or a nice framed picture of Christ for the space to the left of the lamp.)

Curtains from Target.

And all this results in happy girls! Olivia wanted me to take her picture because she was there when I was taking the pics. Once it was completely together, Jenna came up to me three times that night and gave me a hug saying, "Thanks Mommy, my room is exactly the way I wanted it!"

And the final detail is still in debate. Robby thinks the little beads on this lamp make it look, too cheesy. I love it. Should we keep it, or take it back? What do you think?

Halloween Preview

Last night we had our ward trunk-or-treat. It was an "oh, so pleasant" 37 degrees outside with wind from the WNW at 20mph and gusts of 33mph -- perfect for an Iowa trunk-or-treat! Obviously, I'm not a true Iowan because I really wished we had moved inside the building. Unfortunately, we got caught in a last minute miscommunication that the event was moving indoors, so we didn't bring coats for the kids since we were in a hurry. The crowd changed their minds before we got there and decided that it was tradition to do the trunk-or-treat with trunks, so we arrived and were surprised to see everyone outside. You can see below how our kids were dressed. They made very cute popsicles while daddy quickly ran back home to retrieve the coats!

At least Jenna had long sleeves and tights!

Olivia, on the other hand, was dressed for a warm indoor ballroom.

But of course, all had fun because candy makes everyone happy (even through chattering teeth)!

Robby was probably the warmest dressed of the bunch since he had two long sleeved shirts...

and a cloak.

I now have to take a moment to mention the temporary insanity that had overcome me earlier in the day. Two days ago, Robby finally told me what he wanted to be... Frodo Baggins from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. He showed me a picture of Frodo from the movie and expected me to pull a costume out of thin air. I looked at several stores, and couldn't find anything close, and even told him he was going to have to come up with something else. So the afternoon of the trunk-or-treat, I was overcome with temporary insanity, and I found myself standing in the fabric store searching the remnants table for cheap fabric. Once he got home from school, I cut up one of his old shirts to use as a pattern, and quick as I could whipped up a vest, shirt, and crafted a cloak from a throw blanket we already owned and a few safety pins. This was my first time putting in sleeves and I finally succeed after putting the first one in three times (inside out, upside down, and correctly). I am now waiting for Robby to submit my name to the Mother-of-the-Year award committee. At least, he did tell me that I was the best mother he ever had.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Jenna's First Day of School

PREFACE: Almost two weeks ago, I wrote this post and put it on Jenna's adoption blog, I thought I had copied it and pasted it to this blog. For the last two weeks I have been surprised that NO ONE commented. I was beginning to think, "Man, I really am out of the loop on this blogging thing... No one is even checking my blog anymore!" Alas today, I understood why since I inadvertently loaded this post twice to Jenna's blog instead of once on each blog. Oops! Without further ado, here is Jenna's First Day of School.


I know... how in the world did Jenna get big enough to go to school?! She was SO excited! For months we had been listening to her talk about "when fall comes, I'm going to go to school!" And for months the time seemed so far away! But it arrived, and all too soon for me. Yes, I will admit that I got teary-eyed when she board the big yellow bus just down the street from our house, but I had to hold it together till we got home because there were about eight other parents at the bus stop that morning. When I got home, I did cry. Now it's just Olivia and me, and I will admit we miss Jenna. But, aside from all that, Jenna is having a blast at school. Everyday she comes home with something new to tell me and she likes to sit down and rattle through everything that happened. The girl loves to talk! The other day she was so proud of herself because the teacher had brought her popcorn and a certificate for already knowing all 31 "popcorn" words (simple sight words that the class is learning this year). Another day she told me that they were visited by a dolphin in class (of the stuffed variety) and that he comes to teach them manners.

I'm sure you want to see pics from her first day at school...

Anxious to get out the door to the school bus. She says the school bus is the best part of going to school because she doesn't have to sit in a car seat!

What a smile!

Waiting with her friends (Josey - 1st grade and Jaycee - kindergarten) at the bus stop.

Her teacher emailed all the parents pictures at lunch time on their first day. I wasn't surprised to see Jenna sitting front and center with a huge smile on her face.

Olivia was so excited to meet Jenna at the bus stop after school!

And this is the second day of school for Jenna and Robby's first day (he was recovering from a fever the first day).

Jello Pie

I had some extra time on our trip to Texas, so I made Jello Pie! (my own invention) I wrote up a recipie for use by Jello lovers. Here it is!

Robby's Jello Pie

This pie is filled with fruit and Jello. It takes a little while to make it, but it's worth it.

Ingredients:

• 
  
  1 1/4 cups flour


• 
  
  1/2 shortening


• 
  
  Ice water


• 
  
  1/4 teaspoon salt


• 
  
  2 cups water


• 
  
  One Jello packet


• 
  
  1 1/2 cups fruit

The crust: (A pre-made pie crust will work and would be easier.)

1. 
   
   Whisk the flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl.


2. 
   
   Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.


3. 
   
   Drizzle ice water a little bit at a time until the crumbs start to clump together. Gather the crumbs into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill it for 30 minutes


4. 
   
   Roll out the dough and put into a pie plate.


5. 
   
   Put a piece of wax paper over the crust and put uncooked beans or rice on top of the wax paper until it goes into the crust. (This acts like a filling and prevents bubbling) Cut off excess paper and place in the oven.


6. 
   
   Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees, then remove.


7. 
   
   Take out the beans and wax paper, then put aluminum foil around the edges.


8. 
   
   Bake for another 5 minutes or until the bottom is baked and looks like the edges.


9. 
   
   Take the crust out, remove the aluminum foil, and let it cool.

The filling:

1. 
   
   Prepare the Jello as directed on the box, and chill it until it starts to set (DO NOT let it set all the way).


2. 
   
   Cut up the fruit into small chunks. (Do not use pineapple, kiwi, gingerroot, papaya, figs, or guava, as the gelatin will not set).

To finish:

1. 
   
   Once the Jello has started to set, arrange the fruit on the bottom of the crust. Pour in the Jello.


2. 
   
   Place in the fridge for four hours, or overnight.


3. 
   
   Once the Jello has set all the way, top with Cool Whip or Reddi Whip, cut, and enjoy!

Victory is MINE!!!

This is a shout of triumph! "Why?" you ask. Because Li'l Robby and I just successfully dissected a Wii, diagnosed the problem, and fixed it!

Last month we were given a free big screen projection TV, that we decided to put in our basement. We then discussed where the family Wii should be... in the main floor family room or in the basement playroom. I actually didn't want to send it down stairs, but more for selfish reasons... I watch streaming Netflix movies on the Wii while folding clothes. (Hey, it motivates me to actually get my work done, especially since I can watch a whole bunch of BBC romantic TV series.) I was certain that I didn't want to carry the laundry down another flight of stairs just to fold it and walk it back up two flights.

So I was pondering how to solve this issue and thought about checking out craigslist. I was extremely excited when I found a Wii console, two wiimotes, a nunchuck, and an Energizer recharging station for cheap. (Here we go... RED FLAG #1) Then when I called and asked if she would take $25 less, and she willingly accepted. (RED FLAG #2) In fact, she was eager to meet me within the hour so she could get it off her hands. (RED FLAG #3) When we met I asked her why she was getting rid of it, and she said that she had given it for Christmas to her 3 boys, and they haven't played it much because they have an Xbox and a Playstation that they are more interested in. She told me the Wii hadn't been played in a while. (RED FLAG #4)

Yes, I'm blind to red flags. I bought the unit, and was sorely disappointed when we found out it was rejecting discs. I consoled myself in the fact that the two additional wiimotes, the nunchuck, the charging station, and the addition cords all by themselves were worth more than the amount I paid, so I had still gotten a deal.

I figured that since the unit was not worth much in it's present condition that it was worth a try fixing. I searched on the internet and found out Nintendo wanted $75 to fix it for me, and this other site had the FREE directions for a potential fix. Of course, I went with the free fix! Well, it wasn't entirely free. I did have to order a special tri-wing screw driver to open up the unit. The screwdriver cost a whopping $2 with free shipping all the way from Singapore.

So today, we dissembled the Wii with our new handy-dandy tri-wing screwdriver...

And after a little bit of work, we discovered that there was a small plastic piece (pictured below to the right of the wiimote) lodged in the disc drive.

I WIN! (and to that dishonest craigslist seller who lied to me - thanks for the cheap Wii - even if it wasn't a pleasure doing business with you. Actually, maybe I should be grateful to her for her dishonesty because I probably wouldn't have bought the unit if I had know there was a problem, and I definitely would not have found one as cheap as this one.)

A Badge (or two) and a Visit

This week Li'l Robby got his first awards at a Scout Court of Honor, so now he is a tenderfoot and has received his first merit badge (weather). I like our Scout Committee Chair's philosophy, boys should work to get their Eagle when they are 14 (or at latest 16). Hopefully, Chap can be most of the way by the time he is 14 because we all know life gets really busy in High School.

Our other excitement for the week was a visit by Uncle Wayne and his family. We got to enjoy an I-Cubs game in Des Moines in the evening with Uncle Wayne and his boys.

The best part of the evening was the fireworks show after the game. Maybe I should have taken pictures of the smiles plastered on all the kids' faces, although a picture wouldn't have truly captured it. We laughed as Jenna sat with wide eyes and covered ears smiling at the same time, while Olivia sat there repeating, "Fireworks!" and "Daddy, I not scared!"

Garden Time!

We have been very busy with a lot of things lately, and one of the biggest projects was getting our garden going. So I am happy (after a couple months of work) to present our new garden beds! We talked for a very long time about our biggest garden problem - rabbits. Yes, those fuzzy little cute balls of fluff. They were really fun to watch running around the yard last year... but not anymore. They are on my dislike list now. First of all, this winter they chewed the bark off our best tree in the front yard, and de-barked some of our bushes, too. Secondly, because of them our garden cost us a small fortune (mostly, because we were really bad at estimating cost of materials). But, the money is spent, and I'd like to see a bunny jump these fences and eat my fresh food!
The nifty part about our garden design is that the screens are removable to make working in the garden easy. We currently have two 12' x 4' raised beds, and next year we will add one more. We have only fenced one of the beds because the costs of all the materials were a bit much for this year's budget. In the end, we hope to have 3 fenced 12' x 4' garden beds.

Fresh produce here we come!

Robby's Recital

Even MORE videos!!

This is a shorter video, at 53 pictures .1 seconds in length. The video part is 5 seconds long. My friend helped me with this.

More Videos!

This video has 123 pictures at .1 seconds long. The video part is about 12 seconds long.

Lego Stop Motion Videos!!

I made this stop motion video today. It has 106 pictures and lasts about 10 seconds in the video part. Each picture is about .1 seconds long to create a moving effect.

If anyone is wondering why the person falls over, he trips. The other one gets shot, causing the walker to shoot the guy.

This is an older video. Its 63 pictures are .23 seconds long each, so it's a little jerky. The video part is 15 seconds long.

All these videos were made by me, Little Robby!

Fruit Salad, yummy, yummy

Fruit salad for Mother's Day!!

What we did yesterday!

Count yourself lucky because you are reading what we did yesterday, and I am actually posting it only 24 hours later! So here are our adventures at the Science Museum in Des Moines. I must admit, it's not nearly a cool as the Science Center of Arizona, but the kids still had a great time!

Yes, we're still alive!

No, we haven't frozen to death yet! We've just been extremely busy, and I've been really bad about neglecting the blog! So, this is your chance to catch up on our life because I know you have all been itching to know what we have been doing in this winter wonderland. Below is a picture summary of the last two months! (Click on the big picture to go to the next picture, or use the slider at the top to choose a picture to look at.)