An Attempt at Summer Productivity

I have realized that I barely keep up with the blog during the school year...

during the summer? yeah right :)

But we haven't been sitting around doing nothing...we also haven't gotten done my wonderful, well planned and thought out summer plans for fun.

Here's a sneak peak into some of our summer stuff this month:

To make hairstyle choices easier, I printed picture of hairstyles to make a "menu" with a $1 photo album.

(We don't do fancy hair every day - most days it's a pony tail, but when I have time/energy, they love to pick one from the book or request a new one from their own head or online.)

 My youngest wanted to make butterflies to hang from her ceiling. (At 3, I was impressed she could come up with her own idea for crafting. But in the end, we found cute butterflies at the dollar tree and hung those.)
I do have a limit to my how much kid-craft I decorate my house with.

My older girls (8 and 6) did make some of the same style with me (nylon over wire) - like the ones we bought with mostly supplies we already had - I only spent $1 on a pair of pantyhose.

 Cute - but they're not hanging from the girls' bedroom ceiling. :) What should we do with them?
(note - If you do this you need REALLY strong craft wire - flimsy wire does not hold its shape very well...hence the reason our nylons are not stretched tight)

In the end, I consider it a success because I learned how to dye tights with food coloring - a useful Halloween skill. :)

How to: dye tights with food coloring

I also made an attempt at a swim top. It was also a success (it's cute), but there are a few things I learned in the process that will make next time (yes, there will be a next time) :) a little smoother going.

Most of my tips for figuring it out came from here (lots of tips)

and here (bra cups)

and here (video for sewing in elastic)

My son has been working on his artist badge  (and various others all summer) for Webelos

 And my husband armed the 8 year old with a hand saw to make my request for bathroom drawer dividers

 (I'll post the complete details later...maybe...) :)

 And I just liked this picture from our beach trip of a random bird on the beach. :)

Happy summer! Enjoy the kids. 

(and save the great ideas for the school year) :)

Playroom redo

I promised I would show the before/after playroom re-do, but I haven't gotten around to it. (I was hoping to just copy the post from our family blog without the added work of re-posting here, but I couldn't figure that out.)

So, finally, here it is -

THE BEFORE

 I did clean up before I took those pictures - the flash hides all the marks on the walls and the stains on the carpet - and about half the toys were put into the storage unit (we were on the market for these pictures).
I really think it looks better, even with more stuff in the room, being decorated and coordinated!
What do you think....?

And THE AFTER

 no more smudged rub marks and 'murals' - just nice scrub-able paint and a place for art...the only problem is keeping the art to a reasonable amount!

I am going to add another shelf at table height to hold the drawers/crayons that stay low...and that dora table - that might get redone soon - who needs dora? :)

What? You don't keep a plastic doll crib in your office? Well, we don't either anymore - now there's a horse there! Yeah, it's not perfect, but it's as close as it's going to get for now.

 The messiest toys are in the closet (too bad the door is a pocket door and difficult to shut - otherwise, I'd just shut it every day so I don't have to look at the mess until the weekly major closet cleaning).

My attempt at panoramas for the two longest walls:

(Please disregard the inconsistencies in moulding, etc :) it's not the room - it's the photographer!