DIY Mirror Frame

While I was in Houston I was talking with my SIL and I was trying to decide what to put in my living room over my couch. The room is already pretty busy with a boot cubby, built in book shelves and a photo collage wall, so I wanted something big but simple. She suggested a mirror and I was sold.  I started looking online to find something I liked and everything ranged from $100 - $300. Seriously?! I knew I could do it for cheaper. 

This was one of those projects that was super simple... but everything went wrong. I found the mirror online for $20. It was a bit more than I wanted to spend but it was a good size at 30"x 40". I then went to Home Depot to figure out exactly how I wanted to frame it. I was pretty decided on trim until I realized that it would be about $50 to get enough trim to frame the mirror and by that time I may as well have bought the mirror at IKEA for $100. So I bought two 1x4's for $5, grabbed some mirror hooks and came home. I wanted it to look farm house-ish so I opted for straight edges instead of framing the corners at 45 degree angles. 

 I originally had my heart set on distressing the wood so I started with a layer of stain. 

 Then I lightly painted on a layer of white very unevenly.

 Once that was dry, I went to town with the sander. 

Using the Kreg Drill I drilled some pocket holes and this is where things started going crazy. I tested out a 2 1/2" screw in a test board and it went in beautifully. Went to screw my frame together, first screw poked right through the front! Thankfully it wasn't too bad and I could fix it with a clamp and some wood glue. I then used 1 1/4" screws to attach the frame together which worked wonderfully! 

 

 I placed the mirror face down onto the frame and ran into my second problem. The screws were too long and would poke out the front. I could have used a hack saw to shorten them but instead we just bought shorter screws. 

 I then realized that my mirror was TOO THICK for my mirror hooks. SERIOUSLY?! I just couldn't catch a break. So back to Home Depot Jakob went this time so I didn't look like a baboon. 

 I drilled pilot holes into the frame and screwed the new mirror hooks with the short screws to the frame attaching the mirror. 

 That evening Jakob and I went to hang up the finished product. We realized that this mirror was ridiculously  heavy and unless we found a stud (or 6) to hang it into it would fall. Plus if anyone one have bumped it we may also run the risk of it falling down. SO we took the mirror off the frame and attached it directly to the wall. Then we hung the frame over the mirror. It was time consuming but it is much sturdier!

 I took a step back to admire my work.... and I hated it. It just looked home made and that bothered me like no other. The white looked more grey and it just wasn't what I was looking for. So I took the frame off the wall, since the mirror and the frame were conveniently separate. I sanded off all of the white paint. Added a bit more stain. Sanded it again and......

 So much better!!

 I love the distressed look. Dark Walnut is my favorite stain ever! 

It really finishes off the space and while it isn't perfect... I love it. Thank you so much for the suggestion Janet! I'm glad to have this project checked off of my list!

Baby Blanket

Being that this is baby number three and that we already have so many boy things, we don't really need much of anything. But I wanted this little man to feel special all wrapped up in something that Mama made. Plus I have decided that the nursery will be "outdoors" themed with grey and navy. Super simple, and clean! 

So I bought the fabric to make a baby quilt. I never know how much fabric to buy and always end up with WAY too much. So this time around we went with 1/4 yrd per color and It was still too much! I honestly could have gotten two regular sized baby quilts out of this! I also wanted to try self binding the blanket which was fun but I shouldn't have done my first attempt with minky.

Even with pinning literally every 1/2" it still stretched. Such a pain in the bootie!

But in the end I am happy with it. It is warm and snuggly and best of all it's pretty big which is super nice especially at the stage Duke and E are in and their "baby" blankets no longer cover thier toes at night because they are so tall.

I had left over fabric so I decided to make a little lap quilt for the car seat. I was super happy with the grey but then I went to a different Jo-Ann's and found the navy minky and I love it SO. MUCH. MORE! It just adds a richness to the blanket. 

All in all it was a fun and super quick project. It took about 36 hours from start to finish for both quilts. Not to shabby. Can't wait to wrap our little man up in them!

Our Little Sunbeam!

 Duke Manfred is officially in SUNBEAMS!!! I can hardly believe that we no longer have any little ones in nursery (for now.) Duke was super excited to go to Sunbeams and he sat with his class well. His first week in Sunbeams Duke was asked to give a talk. I literally laughed out loud when I saw the assignment. While his vocabulary has grown leaps and bounds, I still thought a talk was a bit out of reach. But we decided to give it a shot. He stood up there while I whispered in his ear. I was trying to get him to say "Jesus gave us agency" but he just stared at me, eye brows furrowed, not having it. 45 seconds passed and I asked him if he could say Amen. He said it quietly. I pointed to the microphone and he shouted "AMEN!"

While this may seem like no big deal, for Duke this was huge. He stood up in front of people and did his thing and I couldn't have been more proud of him! 

Welcome to Sunbeams little man! Now time please slow down!

Smiles

I really haven't shared much about this pregnancy via this blog. We are currently 26 weeks along and I feel fabulous! I have some back pain due to little man sitting on my nerves which is uncomfortable but nothing major. This past week I was able to go for our anatomy ultrasound. I {love} ultrasounds and this one was no exception. They just make everything so real! Our little man (yes, still a man) was super active and flirtatious. He was sucking on his hands and toes and wiggling around like crazy. Hands down my favorite moment was catching his little smile! I mean how often does that happen?? He has pudgy little lips and I already love him so much! We are so excited for this little man to make his arrival and flip our worlds upside down.

Snow Days

E is 100% Canadian. She loves the cold. She is always saying she's too hot, even if it's -9°F. Once it snowed, she could hardly wait to get her gear on and head out the door to play!

Or in her case eat.

 After nap time she was ready for round 2! This time we added a few layers. I would like to say thank you to Oma for sending us all of E's winter gear from the great white north! They just do not make jackets the same way in KC! 

 Snow is more fun with friends!

 The next day we were happy to see that the snow had stayed. Emery had come over to play and so we got everyone dressed up and sent them outside. Good thing Duke isn't a fan of the cold, Emery wore all of his gear! Can you see their "snow castle" they built by E's feet?

BFF's

These are the days! This girl is so bright and silly and her love for the snow is contagious! I'm so glad we got to have a few snow days this year!

New Years Resolutions

 It's that time of year again. I know that you can resolve to start a change at anytime, it doesn't have to wait until the New Year, but I really like to take this time, once the rush of the holidays are over, to  take a minute to see what and where I want to improve. So here you have it, my goals for the year of 2017. 

1. Less Time on my Phone- I have realized that I am on my phone A LOT. It's funny how you go to check a text and then you realize somehow you have lost 20 minutes and have accomplished absolutely nothing. So I have decided to put my phone away. I now check in for 10 minutes while I get motivated to get out of bed. A 10 minute peek at lunch time and then before bed. Yes, I still answer texts, and Google the occasional thing but for the most part my phone is somewhere not so easily accessible. I have also decided to only have two days a week where I talk on the phone. I was finding that in my search for adult conversation (which is fine) I was ignoring my children, who really do need me. So now I am only permitted to talk on the phone twice a week and I have found that since I made this goal that I actually talk even less than that, or keep my conversations shorter.

Since I have started putting this into practice I find that I am way more productive! It's actually amazing! I have seen an improvement in communication with the kids and generally we are happier. 

Jakob and I have also committed to one day a week where we are totally unplugged (we chose Saturday). No phones, no shows for the adults or kids, no nothing. We are allowed to Skype and Google if necessary but our phones go into the cupboard and we are 100% focused on projects, playing with the kids and each other. Let me tell you.... GAME CHANGER!!! Daddy time is sacred and we need to capitalize on it more. 

2. More One on One Time with the Kids - This is a no brainer. I am a to-do person. I usually have a list that I want to get accomplished and if I don't, I get annoyed. Because of this I was putting my kids on the back burner. Them being in school for 2 1/2 hours four days a week really helps me be able to get what I need to done in the morning and then be able to focus on them more in the afternoon. But I need to still work at taking the time to play Barbies, or make that craft with E, or build train tracks or work on words with Duke. Time is flying and I find myself wondering why I didn't enjoy each stage more while I had it. 

To accomplish this goal I want to spend at least 20 minutes PLAYING with my children 100% focused on them. Not folding laundry beside them, or planning out dinner but actually engaged in what they are doing. I want them to know that their Mama is here and wants to be with them. This doesn't mean that they will get me all the time. They need to learn to play independently too but I want to say yes more. 

3. Improve my Relationship with the Savior - Seriously, I just so suck at this. While I have a testimony and I know the church is true and I love this gospel, if you asked me if I knew my Savior I would have to say no. I put literally zero effort into my spiritual self, and I know that is horrible. As I have thought about my Dad and how much I long to talk to him I do think about my Heavenly Father and how much he must long to talk to me. How I have essentially forgotten about him because I am just too tired, or too lazy and really shouldn't this be my first priority? So I am resolving to become more in tune. 

How may you ask? By starting to say prayers. Yup that's right I rarely pray aside from the quick prayers with the children, and while I know that is a good thing to do, I want to start saying prayers and not just the same thing over and over... but something heartfelt. As if I were talking to my Dad. What would I tell him? I should expand this to scripture study as well, but currently... I'm starting with prayers. 

4. Take More Time for Jakob and I - This is another hard thing. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for Jakob's company. We have been able to go on so many wonderful dates just the two of us because they provide ticket to symphonies, galas and sporting events. And this has made such a difference, however at the end of the day we are tired, and just want "me" time, which isn't bad. But I want us to have more "us" time. Not big things, just little ones. I get so lost in the children and the schedules and the business of life that sometimes I forget him. So I want to work on that this year, which will be difficult with a new baby. One small thing I would like to do is to talk before we go to bed. Not long, drawn out conversations but just to chat, touch base, see what each other needs and communicate better. 

5. Finish projects & De-clutter - Back in November, I decided that I had WAY too much clutter in my life. I had a huge pile of things to finish, a list of things I wanted to start and a home that was just feeling full. So I decided to clear everything out. I went through my pile of things to finish and decided if it was something that I was really into anymore and if it wasn't.... it was gone. I can't tell you how refreshing that was. Then I started working on things that I have had piled up for years (if I still wanted them) and got it done. I'm not saying that I finished everything, but I made a huge dent and I continue to work on things when I have a spare minute. 

 My house was also feeling bogged down. I felt like the space we had wasn't being used to it's full potential because we just had SO MUCH! So I have been going through the house, room by room, and if we don't need it, don't use it, or it's had a good life and can be passed on.... I let it go. I got rid of so many toys, old clothes that I've had since I was 12, clothes that the kids just don't wear or need, and fluff. It has been amazing how much stuff I have gotten rid of and how good it feels. Once you start it's actually rather addicting! So I would like to continue the theme of "Let It Go & Get It Done!"

6. Focus on my Health - I know I am pregnant, and I know I am supposed to gain weight, and I also know that this is baby #3, BUT there is a difference between gaining weight in a healthy and unhealthy way. Once we got home from the holidays I had gained 10 lbs in two weeks!! I just couldn't stop eating and while I obviously still need to eat because I am growing a tiny human I can eat healthier. For the last two weeks I have tried really hard to limit my intake of sugar and carbs and to replace those things with fruits, veggies and protein. I am making healthy meals every evening and trying to have smaller meals throughout the day. I am not looking to diet, but I would rather gain 40-50 lbs this pregnancy vs 70 +. I also want to start walking. We have a gym membership and I need to use it. 

So there you have it, my resolutions for 2017, all of which I think are very doable. I am excited for 2017! Hopefully we can just keep things simple.

Decemeber Phone Favorites

 December was a super fun and super busy month! Here is a round up of our phone favorites. 

Sometimes it is just too difficult to stay awake!

 For my belated birthday gift we brought a workbench for the garage!

Seriously I cannot tell you how much I love it and how much I have used it already and I wasn't even here half of the month!!!

Daddy was home sick for a few days and so he would get Duke off of the bus. Duke thought that was pretty awesome!

Christmas tree hair for E!

I love when she dresses herself for school. Some of the outfits she comes up with are ligit! I mean check out those socks!

These two are so cute together!

 KC is DRY!!!

 

This picture is a bit scary but so stinking cute!

Baking cookies and sneaking chocolate chips. 

 Playing the toothpick game with Pa. Duke is getting pretty fast!

Bear was feeling a bit under the weather so we decided that we would only take him to sacrament, so that Daddy could still see and visit with people at church. I noticed that he had gotten very still.

Poor sweet baby. This boy never falls asleep in public. And that's a wrap 2016!!