Photo Finish Friday

Joel and Phil have been planning on making a cattle wagon for a few weeks now. Well last Sunday they finally finished it!!

First we tried to get the dog to be the passenger, but he wouldn't cooperate

So Phil had to step in as cattle and Daddy had to drive

Finally Thomas dons his Holstein calf costume and takes his rightful place in the cattle wagon!

Wagon Hoe!!

Weekend Project- LIVE, LOVE, LAUGH

I have had this collage of frames for over a year and have not hung them up. I reason that I wanted to wait until I had pictures of Tommy. As I know myself well enough that if I put them up with blank spots for pics of Tommy they would be up for years before I put a picture of him in there. So in the box they have sat. I decided to finally tackle this job on Saturday thinking it would take an hour and a half at the most. It took ALL DAY. Okay so I had to occupy Tom for some of that, but still.

I decided to put them on this wall in my bedroom. I have never had anything there, as before our remodel, this was a window, but now it is an adjoining wall for the guestroom.

I had been pulling pictures for the better part of a week trying to see what would work in each frame. As I got frames out to put pics in, I would realize this pic didn't fit with the others. Since many of the pics in the "suggested" layout used vertical pictures, and many of the ones I wanted to use were Horizontal I had a challenge. I made several trips out to the dining room, to search envelopes of pictures. Several pictures were printed on my photo printer (thanks Honey for the photo printer). As some of the frames could be hung the other direction, I decided this should be done on a few frames.

Pictures in, but the layout that the preprinted template suggests doesn't work for the way I used the frames. So I had to find the way I wanted them laid out.


Cut out the template frames and tape them to the wall. Several trips back and forth to do measurements. I ended up needing to change the layout slightly, because the area needed it to be wider, and not as tall top to bottom.

Note to the manufacturer - If some of your frames can be hung vertical or horizontal, maybe your templates should have marks nail holes for both vertical and horizontal hangers.

I had to re-pound a few nails as they were a bit off. Over all I am pleased with the overall look of the frames. Joel thinks that I should have put them up in the living room, but what does he know, they go better with the decor in the bedroom. I will say I was a little disappointed in the frames quality, I thought they were a lacquered wood, but instead a they were a light flimsy plastic. Oh well I guess they will do.

Photo Finish Friday-Easter Memories

Coloring Eggs with Grandpa

Oh the Hunt is On

"Hey Brother, how about if we make getting a good picture of us in these Monkey suits as hard as possible for Mom" remarks Tom

"Sounds good to me, You know she made me put my tie back on for this"- replied Phil

"Oh Boys, Don't you know your not supposed to roll around on the grass in your church clothes"- Mom

Weed amongst the roses

A friend told me that I would treasure every little dandilion and buttercup my kids would pick and bring me, and really I do. But the other day Phil brought me a dandilion while I had my hands full (think I was changing a diaper on Wiggle worm child), and I asked Phil to put it in a cup for me. It wasn't til a few hours later that I noticed he had put it in the vase with the rose bouquet. The sight of the yellow dandilion sticking out amongst the pink roses brought a smile to my face. I hadn't even thought to take pictures of the rose bouquet until the dandilion. So yes I treasure the little weed more than the beautiful roses.

Photo Finish Friday

When Life Hands you Oranges

Juggle them

Then put the stickers on your face

Partner in all things Mischievous

Yesterday we got to meet our new little cousin "L". We are so excited about this new little baby boy, because this means Tommy has a partner in all thing mischievous.

Tommy & "L".

Phillip has a partner in all things mischievous, "O", 4 months younger than Phil and it has been an absolute delight watching these boys grow, plot and plan all things Boy together!!

See they have been thinking the same way since the first day they met, even sleeping in the same position!

Up to no good

Watching TV in the Hotel, in their wet swimsuits.

The gift of Time

Last week My sister-in-law, Melissa, offered to take care of the boys for an afternoon at her house. I was tempted to do so much, but decided to clean parts of the house that don't get cleaned when little crawler and Mr. Into-everything are at home.

I decided to focus on the guest room as this has become a clutter hot spot in our house. It tends to be the room of the house I (notice I said "I" not "we") set things that need to go out to the shop to be stored, but I don't want to take the time to walk 25 cold wet yards to do it. So the room has Christmas gift wrap piled by the door, sewing & knitting material material that need to be stored, bags of things destined to Goodwill or the consignment stores, and toys and books left in their by Phil, as this is sometimes a very fun place to be.

Before & After

I have cleaned up rooms that were far worse (word to the unwise, never have a room you call a "Junk" room as this takes weeks to clean through) The room only took about 2 hours to clean. I had to make about 5 trips to the shop to put things away. Some things always stay in that room, Like the card making stuff, as it is too much to drag in and out of the shop.

The rest of My afternoon I choose to work on Tommy's room, as whenever I have a chance to clean it, he is napping. With baby's there is always a stream of clothes going in and out and I just needed to get some in order, and clean some out. I unfortunately did not take any pictures of this room, but it was not as bad as the guest room.

It was so nice of Melissa to offer to watch the boys over at her house. They love going over and playing with the cousins. I absolutely loved the gift of time that she gave me.