I Think I Need An Intervention

I have much to blog about but I've been overtaken by an obsession with crafting.

Friday night I stopped by JoAnn's to pick up a couple little things to finish a baby shower project. They were having a sale. And I had a 40% off coupon. And I discovered that "embroidery floss" (which sounds fancy and intimidating) is simply the string I used to make friendship bracelets out of! Who knew?

So since then I've been embellishing onesies, burp cloths and kitchen hand towels. And I have plans and supplies to start making Christmas stockings for our family. I'm having so much fun!

I think my husband is concerned for me.

He knew something odd was going on when I stayed up until 2 am the other night and even busted out our iron (which rarely sees the light of day outside the laundry room cabinet) to work on some projects.

He laughed a little when I finished up some stiching in bed wearing a spelunker's head lamp.

But when I attemped to work on some embroidery in the car on the way to church he knew I was in deep.

Help!

Confessing My Unnatural Love For Paint

Have I ever mentioned what a difference a little paint can make?

This weekend Jeff and I partook of some more DIY madness. I found these cute little chairs (and a matching table) at an unfinished furniture store in Plano a few weeks ago. From the moment I saw them there was no doubt in my mind that a little paint would take them from cute to FAN-freaking-TASTIC.

Saturday was the day. We put on a coat of primer outside while Bennett played. And then after the B Boy was down for the count Saturday night hubby and I put on a movie and got to painting. This is the first time I've seen the playroom color scheme all together (other than tiny paint swatches). I'm really happy with the results!



I might end up painting something (words? polka dots?) on the table top but I think that they are going to be perfect for our playroom art/puzzle corner just as they are.

I LOVE paint!

Time For Plan B

It seems that my simple "keep the doors locked" proposal for ensuring that my child does not leave the house unattended and take up playing in the street is no longer going to be effective.

Watching "Wawal" With PapaJ

A Votin' We Did Go

Well, I thought I had failed to get registered to vote since moving but when I went to find Jeff's voter's registration card this morning I found mine instead. Turns out that I had everything lined up to do my civic duty but he did not.

So first thing after breakfast I stuck my pajama clad boy in the stroller and walked across the street to our neighborhood elementary school. How convenient! Bennett was content with his snack trap of Cheerios and book for ten minutes or so but after that he wanted OUT. He was very interested in all the "baba" goals in the gym and desperately wanted to get out and try to make a basket.

Fortunately our wait was not much longer. B also desired to help me submit my vote on the fancy touch-screen computer. Just a few more years and you'll get your turn, little one.

I'll have you know I planned on having a stranger take our picture at the polling location but my phone battery needed charging and I felt a little silly hauling the big camera out for such a photo op. Oh well.

On the way home, concerned with the lack of appropriate election-day kids songs, I made up my own.

A votin' we will go
A votin' we will go
It's our duty, don't you know
A votin' we will go!

I topped it off with a moving rendition of God Bless America.

I think Bennett was inspired.

In The Gutter

If you follow the Thomas Family blog this will look awfully familiar.

Last night Haley and I got handy with the power tools and transformed some plastic gutters into book displays. I'm so happy with our results! (Forgive the poor quality phone picture and the Legos.) This little corner is well on it's way to being a cozy reading nook. I'm so excited!

I had been searching for some toddler-friendly book storage solutions. Sadly, our answer had been a haphazard pile in the corner of the playroom. I looked at shelves like these that you find in preschools and church nurseries but they seemed awfully large, not particularly charming and a bit expensive.

I love this and this from Pottery Barn Kids (but, truly, what don't I love from Pottery Barn Kids?). Charming? Absolutely. Pricey? Of course.

I considered having my sister help me build something like this.

But then from the wonderful blog world I came across the perfect solution (scroll down on the page to see her example). So simple. So inspired. So cheap!

We're still working on the great playroom transformation and it is coming along. I can't wait to be able to share the finished product with you!

It's Just Tradition

Growing up my siblings and I would spend the day before (or sometimes day of) Halloween digging through our dress up clothes to determine what we would be. We were never ones to purchase Care Bear or Cinderella costumes with plastic masks (remember those plastic masks? If you had two friends dressed up as the same character there was no way to tell them apart.). Nor were we the kids decked out in original costumes lovingly hand-made by mom in the late-night hours leading up to the big day.

Oh no, if it couldn't be found in the dress up box, mom and dad's closet or garage it wasn't a part of our costumes. Here's a run-down of a few of my last-minute masterpieces that come to mind:
* Chinese Lady - sarong and sandals a friend had brought us after an overseas trip
* unspecified "Bible Woman" - a bedsheet robe with waist tie and head scarf made from scrap material
* Fancy Lady - purple, ruffled, garage sale find bridesmaid dress, lipstick and heels
* Mom - at about 10 years old I thought it was funny to wear a robe and slippers, curlers in my hair, paint dark circles under my eyes and carry a coffee cup. I'm sure my mom was thrilled with my interpretation of motherhood.


The last minute scramble just added to the excitement. I remember waiting impatiently for the glitter paint to dry on the cardboard crown that would transform my flower girl dress into the perfect princess costume. Once we glued a googly eye from the craft box to my sister's forehead to transform her black-sweatsuited self into an alien. It is just the way things were done at the Jackson household.

Therefore, I simply claim that I was upholding tradition as I left the house at 4:30 Halloween afternoon to try to find something at Target to turn Bennett into a baseball player. Granted, I'd had the idea in my head for a few weeks and had even gone so far as to purchase an adorable, tiny baseball glove more than a week in advance. But beyond that I had done nothing to prepare.

At one point I'd envisioned buying matching baseball tees for our family and using iron-on letters to make little "Team Parker" jerseys with our names and stuff on them. But that didn't happen.

Thanks to some help from my mom we took a Cubs hat, Ranger's shirt, little girl's tights, too-small sweatpants, some construction paper and a sharpie to make a fairly respectable baseball player out of my little boy. And a pretty stinking cute one too. At least I think so.

Bennett didn't quite get the whole "trick or treat" experience. After some practice he would hold out his gloved hand to recieve treats and offer a "tanks" when prompted to show his appreciation. But he was truly more interested in greeting people's dogs and poking their pumpkins than collecting candy. Once he got that first Tootsie Roll pop in his mouth he was in hog heaven and found little need to continue knocking on strangers' doors.

We visited a few of our close neighbors and then met up with the Thomases on their side of the neighborhood to snag a few more houses. The best part of the night was hanging out on our own front porch and visiting with the neighborhood kiddos and parents as they came by.

Here are a few more pictures of our evening.

My mom ("Gran") transforms a pair of tights into some very manly baseball socks.

So it's not exactly matching family jerseys but do you see the baseball theme?


My boys. I love them.


Bennett trying to understand this whole trick or treat thing.

Knock, knock. Is anybody home?

Baseball Guy, Batman, Ariel (The Little Mermaid) and Robin. Aren't they adorable??

An overly tired little baseball player with PapaJ and Gran.