The Good Life. On A Stick.

I love the Nebraska State Fair's new slogan:  The Good Life.  On a Stick.  It just cracks me up!  Plus, most things on a stick are really yummy.

We decided to visit the State Fair again this year - it's really pretty cool.  We went on a discount day (is it just me, or was last year's discount day only $1? This year was $5.) so that helped our money go further :)  I also packed a lunch for the kids knowing that I didn't want to pay inflated prices for them! 

Katy enjoyed it when I let her walk!  She is starting to grasp the concept of staying with the group.  Lane was pretty much fascinated by everything going on - so much to look at from animals, farm equipment, food vendors, and strange people!  :)

It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to eat for lunch.  Curtis got a turkey leg and I finally settled for the pork nachos.  They were good!  Curtis didn't like the pairing of barbecued pork and nacho cheese, but I thought it was pretty yummy.  And, I just had to try the pineapple on a stick.  Very good.  Almost like a pineapple pie, if there is such a thing.  There were lots of yummy-looking things I wanted to try, but I ran out of money and room in my tummy :)

Lane had fun climbing on all the equipment, including a "payloader with forks".  (That's all he wants for Christmas.)   We also watched a little bit of team roping - I told Lane that his Grandpa Jost used to do that.  I don't think he quite understood what was going on.  Katy liked seeing the fast horses though!

We visited all the animal barns and got to pet baby pigs. 

Katy really wasn't too sure and wouldn't touch it, but Lane sure got a kick out of it!  Lane also enjoyed seeing a sheep get sheared and then the wool was made into yarn.  He finally got to see in real life what he was pretending several months ago.

We spent a lot of time in the Kid Zone where Katy enjoyed getting soapy with bubbles (and almost burping bubbles after swallowing it!) and Lane liked the sand box and "gathering" eggs.

It's fun to go - we probably should have spent more time there, but Curtis wanted to visit his grandma in Harvard before it was supper time, so we were only there for a few hours.  It's fun to see everything through the kids' eyes!

Pacifier Dilemma

Katelyn has been a pacifier baby since almost day one.  Eating always hurt (due to reflux) but sucking on a pacifier felt good.  In those early days, she spent alot of time swaddled really tight in her bouncer with a pacifier.

As she got older, she typically only used it at night and naps.  I didn't mind - when she woke up at night, I would stick the pacifier back in and often get a couple more hours of sleep.  If she was still crying, I knew that she was actually hungry.  She kinda liked it during the day, but wouldn't notice if it wasn't around.

Around Katy's first birthday, I decided it was time to really be strict about only using it during naps and bedtime.  Somehow she caught on to what I was doing and whined and whined until I finally gave in.

And now, we're to this:

A toddler with a pacifier.  It bugs me.  Babies who can walk and "talk" should not have something in their mouth constantly.  But...I'm not sure what to do.  She LOVES the thing. 

I was even fine with nighttime use - until - she started waking up because she can't find it.  Usually it has fallen under the crib or she is just laying on it.  But it still requires me to wake up and hand it to her.  Somehow, even though she was sleeping through the night just a few short weeks ago, she is now up 2-3 times EVERY night.  Sigh.

So...do I take it away?  Just during the day?  All the time?  Quit cold turkey or gradually?  Or just deal with it for now and wait until she's older?

The other night I put six of them in her crib.  It kinda worked - Katy was only up once.  When she woke the next morning, she had to gather them all up before getting out of the crib, then toddled off.  She laid the little pile on a chair, then grinned and made a sound like "hehehe".  Yep, she loves them.

Before and After - Master Bathroom

The master bathroom has been finished for awhile (well, except for the baseboards, but Curtis is busy on the family room so I'm not going to distract him!), but I just had to get new towels before I posted pics!  Besides, Curtis and I were forever arguing about who was using which color of towel.  New towels solved the problem: me, pink; him, brown.

Before:

After:

Since the previous owners redid most of the bathroom (looks like the probably gutted it and started over) there wasn't a whole lot that we did.  The major changes were a new vanity and a couple of storage solutions.  I'm glad that they did as much as they did - we would never be this far along if they hadn't!  It's definitely not my dream bathroom - I would love to have a bathroom with black walls, white vanity with dark granite top, brushed nickel accessories, gleaming white tub/shower, and dark tile on the floor.  Oh, and a chandelier hanging from the ceiling.  I don't think that's up to code though, unfortunately :(.  Anyway, that was way off topic!

Budget Breakdown:

Vanity from Lowes: $249 (on sale and with free delivery!)
Mirror from Lowes: $58 (on sale)
Faucet from Home Depot: $96 (after we installed it, we saw Menards had it for $77 on sale!)
Towel cupboard: free from my mom
Towel rack/shelves from Target: $14ish
Vase with flowers: spray-painted a vase I already had, $4 flowers
Toothbrush holder, soap dispenser, & jar from Target: $30
4 towels, 4 wash cloths, 2 hand towels from Walmart: $28.80
Storage totes (there are also 2 inside the vanity) from Target: $25ish


So, $504.80 isn't too bad!  (And this is the first time I've been adding things up room-by-room.  Quite enlightening! Surprisingly, I can remember most of the prices off the top of my head.  Obsessed much?)

I really want to change out the light above the vanity.  Curtis thinks it is fine.  Any other opinions out there?

And this is our plan for a bathroom door:

Probably not in yellow.  Or maybe??

Before and After - Katy's Room

I finally have one room "finished" in this house!  To me, "finished" means that the room is at a point where I can live with it for quite awhile.  Katy's room was probably the easiest room to decorate.  I was basically starting from scratch in her room since I completely changed the color scheme.  Her old nursery was pink and brown (as you can tell by her sheets - I'm not buying new sheets until she's in a twin bed!) and this room is purple, green and blue.

Before:

After:

Quite a change!  The white curtains were the last thing I bought and really look good.  I'm happy with how it turned out! 

*I just remembered that we have to put outlet and vent covers on yet.  Ooops.  That's a job for Curtis.  Mostly because I don't know where they are. 

In my opinion, her room was done pretty cheaply, especially since I really had no ideas beyond the wall colors!

Budget Breakdown:

2 gallons and 1 quart of paint from Ace: $40
Wall letters 50% off at Hobby Lobby: $6 (painted with the quart of paint)
Flower stick-ons from Bed Bath & Beyond: $20
Mirror from garage sale: $1.50 (painted with the quart of paint)
Picture frame: free from Mom's basement
Clock from Home Depot: $10
Lamp from Target: $16
Tissue paper ball: $1ish for the paper?
Curtains from Walmart: $17
Furniture: my bedroom set from when I was at home
Crib: borrowed from my brother-in-law
Of course, we put in new carpet throughout the whole house, but I don't know the room-by-room breakdown!

So, for $111.50, Katy's room sure looks a whole lot better than it did when we bought the house! Love it!

Did I really just think that?

As I was lying in bed last night, I thought to myself, "I kinda miss our old house."  Then I caught myself and thought "Why in the world did I just think that?!?!"

Then I realized that while I DO NOT miss that house, I do miss some of the memories and stuff we would do while there!

I miss:

Lane sleeping in his closet.
An oven high enough off the ground that little hands can't reach.
A closet right by the back door for all of Curtis' junk.
A finished basement (by the way, Curtis is working on ours now and his completion goal is Labor Day!).
Lane running down the driveway and Whisky going on "high alert" when he went past a certain point.
Living on a farm - always farm equipment and construction equipment going by!
No neighbors.
Lane being able to watch for Daddy and see him coming a mile away.

I don't miss:
Small rooms.
The garbage situation.
No backyard.
Everything breaking.
Katy's room being right next to ours.
Sharing a bathroom with the kids.
Not having a house of our own :)

I think I'll get over "missing" our old house!

First Day of School

Lane has been so excited to start preschool and today was finally the big day!  He woke up and immediately asked to put on his "school" clothes and go.

I tried to get a good "first day of school" photo, but he was being so goofy!

Katy and I took him to school (me on my bike, Katy in the bike seat, and Lane in the bike trailer - we make quite a scene!) and walked him to his classroom.  He's already been there a few times - a couple of speech appointments and preschool orientation last week - so he felt really comfortable and just dived right in to start playing!  I don't think he even noticed that I left.

I've had a lot of people ask if I'm sad about him starting school.  I'm not!  I'm excited for him (he loves situations like that!) and I'm excited to start a new phase in our life.  I did get a little teary-eyed walking in to the school today, but that was more from nostalgia than anything.  My dad went to that school, I went to that school (had first grade in the classroom Lane is in now!) and now Lane gets to go. 

Katy and I had a good first morning without Lane around - she was pretty crabby from lack of sleep - but I would much rather deal with one crabby toddler than two of them ;)  We didn't do much - cleaned a little, caught up on laundry, and then went for a walk to the post office (the long way around).  We had a little adventure when we watched the city workers put a snapping turtle back in the lake.  When we got home, Katy wanted to ride the bike, so we rode my bike all around town. 

Lane was very excited to ride the school bus home.  It was so cute to see him get off!

He told me all about his day - he played in the block house with Trenton, got to swing on the swings, had a snack with chocolate milk, blew bubbles, bounced on a green ball, never took Little Deer out of his backpack, drew pictures, went potty by himself (and covered his ears when it flushed since it was loud), and got to ride the bus home.  Whew - busy day for a 3-year-old!

I think he will enjoy the year - it's already off to a great start!

Fun uses for Initials Inc products

In honor of the open house on Friday featuring my mom's Close to My Heart and my Initials, Inc. products - here are some of my favorite items and ways to put them to use in your house!

Big Bin - Fun for ball storage, laundry, blankets & pillows.

Happy Bucket - These are so fun!  The handle is a ribbon (you get to choose what style ribbon you want!).  Great for storing toys (label each so your kid knows what to put where!), diapers and wipes, small pool toys, candy at Halloween, magazines or toilet paper in the bathroom!

Mini-Magnetic Pocket - Magnets on the back so you can stick it to a fridge, steel door, filing cabinet, whatever!  Use for mail, coupons, menus, as a locker organizer.  One cute idea is to get one for each member of the family and use as an "inbox" for homework, notes, chores, etc.

Sort-It-All-Out: 3 bins in one!  Handy as a gift wrap station, sorting laundry, or as a catch-all for all those toys!

Take-Along Caddy:  Such a cute little tote!  Perfect for snacks at ball games, sewing/craft supplies, or as a "catch-all" in the car (I think that's what I'm going to use mine for!).

Party Tub: Great insulated tub!  Use for keeping drinks cool or even putting a hot large casserole dish in to take out to the field during harvest.  Even has an attached bottle opener (which came in handy when I bought root beer in bottles for Katy's party!).

And...here are just a few of my favorite products:

Tech Pouch:  Love this thing!  I carry it everywhere - my cell phone fits in the back outside pocket, my credit cards, change, lip gloss and miscellaneous stuff fit inside, and I keep my keys in the outside clear pocket.  Great for tossing in whatever bag I'm using at the moment.  Even has a wrist strap!  (And no magnets, so no worries about your debit card getting messed up!)

It's a Cinch:  Super cute purse...I don't have one yet, but I really like the style and the new fall colors!

Resort Box Cooler:  I use mine all the time when I make trips to the grocery store...and I will probably be using it alot during harvest!

The Dish:  I've been needing an insulated casserole carrier, so I was so happy when I saw this one!

As always, (almost) everything can be personalized with up to 14 characters...and it's FREE!

*After reading over my post - yes, they have more color options than just gray!  Lately, gray has been my favorite color...can you tell?

DIY Sidewalk Paint

With all this cooler weather, the kids have been spending a lot more time outside.  Lane could spend hours digging in his sandbox or dirt, but Katy doesn't quite get the appeal of that yet :)  She loves to be outside, but lately her usual toys (water table, push toy, the cat) get boring after awhile.

On Friday we decided to make sidewalk paint.  Both kids love "painting" and chalk so it was the perfect activity to keep them occupied for almost a half hour!

I found the "recipe" on Pinterest -

2 T water
2 T cornstarch
5 drops of food coloring

So easy (and cheap)!  And, best of all, easily washable!  I definitely plan to do this one again.

Katy ended up getting it all over herself, but I loved all the little stripes and splatters she made!

Sunshine & Summertime, Part 2

My garden is actually growing!  I think that this is the first year my garden has produced anything worth talking about :)  Every year around May, I get ambitious and plant a garden....but then life takes over.  The past several summers I have either been pregnant or had a little baby - neither of which is very condusive to gardening.

Now, FINALLY, I could get a little bit of a garden growing (plus we actually had space for an actual garden, not just garden boxes!) and I've been able to keep it up!  I planted cucumbers, green beans, spaghetti squash, green peppers, habenero peppers, cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes.

Katy and Lane love to pick the cherry tomatoes...and I caught Katy eating one this afternoon!  Maybe she takes after her grandma?  I hate tomatoes!

I hope to have enough regular tomatoes to can some salsa and some plain diced to use in recipes.  I've been giving Bret and Laura all my cherry tomatoes...I didn't mean to plant them and I really have no use for them as we don't eat them and since they only produce a handful at a time, not worth it to make anything!

But - I've been making good use of our cucumbers (refrigerator pickles) and green peppers (dicing and freezing them).  Yum!

Perfect?

Today was one of those rare days that seemed, well, almost perfect.  Why?

-showering without a little girl trying to climb in.
-kids playing nicely together...for once.
-keeping the kitchen spotless all day (the rest of the house was a mess, but who cares?).
-gorgeous weather outside!
-2.5 hour naps for both kids...at the same time.
-rollerblading around the lake (which I haven't done for 5 years...I'm going to be sore tomorrow!)

I tried to enjoy it....since yesterday sure wasn't perfect and I'm positive that tomorrow won't be either!

Sunshine & Summertime

Almost every Wednesday, Casey and I take our kids over to play at Grandma's.  Lately it's been almost to hot to play outside, so we usually end up inside (and usually back in the "kid's bedroom" since that's where all the toys are!), but this time we got out a little splash pool.  I think they had fun!

Brooks is getting better about playing with his cousins, and Katy is getting better about not hitting him every time she sees him.  Lane and Brooks just wanted to drink the water, while Katy was more interested in the smoothie I was eating.

Our sweet corn was finally ready!  It didn't seem to do so well this year - especially because raccoons ended up eating 2 rows of it.  Good thing I wasn't planning on freezing any! 

We have eaten some for a few suppers - yum!  It just tastes like summer!

I finally caved and bought the handles for sweet corn - Curtis grew up with them, I didn't.  I thought it was only for weenies who don't like to get their hands messy.  Ummm...now I like them :)

Menu Plan 8/1

I'm trying to get even better about planning out our meals - this last time I even planned out lunches and snacks!  It made grocery shopping much easier (I wasn't standing in the cracker/cookie/cereal aisle for 10 minutes trying to figure out what would be good/somewhat healthy) and, even though I didn't always stick to the plan, I didn't really have to think during the day about what we're going to eat.  So here's what we've been eating/will eat for the past week and the next couple of days. 

Lunches:
Turkey sandwiches/chips/carrots
Peanut Butter & Jelly sandwiches/mac & cheese/fruit
Egg Salad sandwiches/chips/fruit
Hot Ham & Cheese/chips/fruit
Leftovers

Snacks:
Teddy Grahams (a favorite of Katy right now!)
String cheese & crackers
Watermelon
Honeycomb cereal (neither one will even try it so I'm left with a big box!)
Vanilla pudding & Oreos

Suppers:
Chicken Quesadillas with Pineapple Slaw
Orange-Pecan Salmon/rice/sweet corn
Country Chicken Cobbler/fruit
Thai Shrimp/rice/sweet corn
Four-Cheese Baked Ziti/bread/green beans

Since we ended up going to the fair and to Casey and Blake's house this weekend, I still have to make the salmon tomorrow night - hope it's good!

I have a busy week the next couple of weeks (and Katy is sick - maybe an ear infection?) so I think I'm going to go easy on myself and try a Kraft Foods "1 bag, 5 dinners" week...they don't look the healthiest or the most interesting, but at least my grocery list and menu is all made out for me already!  I hate grocery shopping with the two little ones, so quick and easy is the goal :)

A ride at the county fair...

At the last minute yesterday, we decided to go to the York County Fair.  When I told Lane we were going to the county fair, he said, "Oh yeah.  They have little baby kitties there."  Apparently that was the only thing he remembered from two years ago when we went!

Both Katy and Lane loved the FFA Petting Zoo.  They got to see lambs, ducks, chickens, baby chicks, a cow, a horse, mini horses, and of course, kittens.

Lane really liked holding the baby chick!  Katy tried to pet it, but she ended up hitting it on the head.

We also toured the animal barns - the kids just loved all the farm animals that they only see in their books!

We walked through all the exhibits - I always like seeing the veggies and the sewing projects; Curtis likes the woodworking and metal stuff; Lane likes the legos; and Katy decided she likes the photos (especially any of kitties!).

Then it was time for the rides - Lane was finally old enough to go on some by himself - he was so excited!

Both got to ride on the merry-go-round.  Lane held on so tight!  Katy didn't respond much while riding, but as soon as I tried to get her off, she cried!  She ended up riding again with Daddy :)

Lane also rode the trucks and the train - he enjoyed all of them!  But his eyes really lit up when Curtis said he would take Lane on the ferris wheel.  They had so much fun and I could see Lane up there rocking the car and laughing and pointing.  His eyes were so big when the ride was done - you could just tell that he loved it!

The county fair always reminds me of high school and meeting Curtis, Tim, and Sam there.  Only then we'd go to the demolition derby, ride all the *scary* rides, and stay out much later.  Not sure if I miss those days or not!

*Sorry for the bad pictures - I just took my little point-and-shoot camera with me since I didn't want to lug the Rebel around.  I sure missed my nice camera!

DIY Mason Jar Chandelier

One of the hottest things in home decor right now is mason jars (just google "diy" or "home decor" and "mason jars" and you'll see what I mean).  Even before we bought this house, I saw mason jar chandeliers everywhere and thought they were one of the cutest things ever!  When we realized that we had to change almost all the lights in the house, I started scrutinizing each one to see if I could redo it somehow.

It took awhile before I gave the stairwell light a second glance.  Doesn't look like it could be much different!

Plastic Tiffany-style lamp just wasn't the look I was going for. Then, I realized that if I just took the shade off, the lights underneath were actually in pretty good shape and very simple.

So, with a little spray paint, a few mason jars and a very handy husband who is not scared to climb a ladder and balance on the stair rail, I got this:

It's really hard to take good pictures of new lighting, especially in a dark stairwell with no natural light! 

I love it - even more so since it only cost $4 for some oil-rubbed bronze spray paint.  I basically just took apart the chandelier, painted it, cut holes in the jar lid with tin snips, then balanced the jars (found in my mom's basement - thanks mom!) on the "arms" (what would those things be called??).  One is a little off-balance, but as long as we don't swing it around, it will be fine :)

$4 for a chandelier makeover vs. $100+ for a new light?  Of course!