Three cheers, it's done

A few months ago my daughter Emily started browsing Pottery Barn Teen magazines.  She selected several desks that she thought would look great in her room to replace her childish vanity (pictured below) and shared them with me.  However they were expensive so I suggested we buy a desk at a garage sale. 

After a good day at garage sales I came home with this beauty of a desk for $15.  Emily didn't think it measured up to the pottery barn desks so I put it in the kitchen for my use.

 I read up on Pinterest about painting furniture and went to Home Depot to purchase the supplies.  While Emily was at girls camp I started painting the desk with hopes to surprise her when she came home.

 After 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of paint I applied 2 coats of the Varathane finish.

 The varathane was so stinky that we had to put the desk on the porch for a couple of days to air it out.

Finally It was done and I put on the knobs and carried her desk upstairs.  But after a day I noticed that the desk was turning yellow.  Apparently Varathane can cause yellowing when applied to light colors.  Here you can see the yellow drawers compared to the white color behind that they used to be.

I was so sad, that all my hard work had resulted in a yellow desk.  But I pulled that desk out of her room, sanded it down again and applied two more coats of paint and carried it right back up to her room.  I think it looks great. We got the chair from Ikea.                                              New Desk

                                                                    Desk before paint 

Since I had all the paint out  I tackled my next painting project.  This dresser (also from a garage sale) was in need a paint job and new knobs.  Emily had been asking me to paint it for 5 years.

 And I did.  I think it looks great.  I did not apply Varathane over the paint, I've learned my lesson.

When Holly saw me sprucing up Emily's room she wanted to make some improvements to hers too.  We decided to buy her a new dresser at IKEA (where they only cost $100) and she began putting it together herself.  It replaced a tiny dresser that I had purchased at a garage sale for $5 when we moved into our house 5 years ago.  I really do like garage sales. :)

 The week before she had put this rack together to hold her flute and keyboard so she was prepared.

 Five hours later she had a finished dresser.  Way to go Holly!

Now Holly and Emily are both enjoying their new furniture and I have my garage back. Success!

Today I am thankful that:

*My friend brought me some flowers for my birthday, that was so sweet.

*A neighbor girl brought over some Russian candy, from her Grandparents, to share with my kids.

*Holly had been so diligent about doing her online health class this summer and is almost done with it.

Megan Turns 8!

Last week Megan turned 8 and had a birthday party.  The birthday treat was brownie bites (with frosting) and ice cream.  Nathan kept trying to take a few "brown cupcakes" before the party but we were successful at hiding them until this picture was taken.  Then he ate 5! 

Megan had five friends who were able to attend her party which was the perfect amount.  Melissa and Nathan were able to join in the fun too.

We played outdoor water games at her party.  Luckily it was a sunny 80 degree day.  The day after her party was only 65 degrees and cloudy so we were lucky to pick such a nice day for her party.  We had two blow up pools to play in.

And a double slip and slide and water blasters to shoot water at each other.

Then on Saturday Megan got baptized by her Dad.

We had lots of local relatives that were able to attend.

 We passed out cookies as a treat after the baptism.  My mom helped me decorate them and make these cute labels the day before.

My kids couldn't wait to eat some of the cookies, Nathan especially. Holly looks like she is almost as tall as me in this picture.

I took this picture of Megan on Sunday.  She wore her beautiful white dress to church and got to sit on the stand by the Bishop and be welcomed into our ward as the newest member of the church.

 Megan is a great little girl and I am very blessed to be her mother.

Fourth of July

Last week a friend asked me if I had watched the PBS show Downton Abbey.  I had heard a lot about the show on facebook, but no I had never watched it. After her suggestion I checked our Netflix streaming and Downton Abbey was on it so I decided to start watching it.  The first season is 7 (48 minute) episodes.  For the next 7 days I woke up before my children (at 6am) and watched an episode each morning.  I liked the show so much I had no problem waking up that early to watch it.  Luckily the second season aired last January and Scott has already ordered it on Netflix for me. 

We had a great Fourth of July.  The kids all wore red, white and blue and we attended a pancake breakfast at our church.

 Emily was part of the patriotic program. She recited a poem called American Banner.

 All of the primary kids waved flags and sang "It's a grand old flag".

Then we headed to Bothell for a parade.  Our cousins rode their bikes in the kids portion of the parade.  Our favorite float was the Seafair pirates.  The cannon on their float was very loud.  Lots of candy was thrown and consumed by my kids.

 Scott helped me attach a flag post into our house and I hung up my very own American Flag.

That afternoon we pulled out our new two lane slip and slide and the girls all had fun trying it out.

To end the day we went to the Fourth of July fireworks in our city.  The park where they let off the fireworks is just 2 miles from our house so we were able to walk there.  It was a warm clear night and some of our extended family joined us there.  All in all it was a very fun day.

Our first week of summer

*On the first day of summer we made a summer plan.

*On the second day of summer we visited Grasslawn park.  The spinning merry-go-round is our favorite thing there.

 Holly is a pro at climbing the big rocks.

 Melissa loves posing by the cute stone animals.

 All the kids like swinging on the saucer swing.

*on the third day of summer we played with Legos (and every day since).  We found all of our Lego mini figures and had them attend a big meeting.

*on the fourth day of summer we hung out with our friends.  The four kids on the left belong to my friend Stacie.  Stacie and I both came from families where we were the only girl and now we have families with lots of girls and only one son.

after hanging out at a park we headed over to krispy kreme for yummy donuts.  Our kids had just as much fun on the spinning stools as they had at the park.

 *on the fifth day of summer Holly organized the kitchen craft stuff.  This is the after picture.

and here the cupboard beneath it with labels on the door to say what belongs on each shelf.  I sure hope we can keep it this tidy.