The Shelves - Finished!

I finished the second coat of white on the shelves yesterday morning and sponged on the purple last night before I went to bed.  Early early this morning, the boy child helped apply the yellow to the front.  

 

Todd helped me move the shelves out of the garage and upstairs.  We moved the bottom section into place and left the top section out in the hall.  Henry had to supervise.

 

Then Todd took the kids to a Bounce House to burn off some energy before taking them out for pizza.  I spent close to four hours getting Owen's shelves set up, bolted to the wall, arranged and then cleaning/organizing both his room and Chloe's.  Both rooms look so much better and I feel like I accomplished soooooo much between Friday and today!  

Owen was thrilled with how the shelves turned out once he came home :)

Grandma Suzanney painted those O-W-E-N letters and gave them as a Christmas present to the boy.  I finally got them hung up today.  That is my old roll top desk and Grandma Suzanney also made the quilt hanging behind it for Owen.  I just love it.  It makes me smile every time I walk into his room.

I built those shelves to the right of the desk when we lived in our last house.  They held all of my craft supplies and fabrics, but I think they work better now in Owen's room.  I had to cut off a couple inches on the top so they would fit in his room.  What I'm loving the most right now is that I can see the carpet at the base of those shelves!

Chloe on the Playground

After naptime, we packed up the kids and drove up to the outlet mall an hour North of us.  Chloe and I split off from the guys.  Chloe left her bag of coins behind at the Pottery Barn store.  After we retrieved her coins, we stopped at a little playground in the middle of the outlet mall.  Chloe had a blast climbing on everything.  Just like the little monkey that she is.  :)

When I told her it was time to go, this is all I saw.

Chloe's 1st Soccer Game!

Once Owen's soccer game was over, Chloe's first soccer game started up.  Here she is running out on the field with her friend Jamie.

Get the ball Chloe!

She was all over that ball!  She didn't know the rules, but she knew to kick that ball and keep it moving.  :)

I loved watching Coach Seth bending over to talk to the kids and help them understand how to play the game and what to do next.

I loved how he got down to their level to talk to them.  Not at them.  He didn't yell.  Coach Seth is cool.

Owen and Daddy stayed on the opposite side of the field from me to watch Chloe and cheer her on.  They kept Jamie's mom, Miss Renee, company.

Look at our girl leading that line, charging the other team!

Half time water break.

Chloe had fun showing off her Gatorade blue tongue.

After half time, Chloe got to play the goalie.  Like her mom playing softball as a child, the grass was more intriguing than the game playing out on the other side of the field.

"Good game.  Good game.  Good game.  Good game.  Good game."

Such happy kids after the soccer games were over!

Owen's 1st Soccer Game!

Chloe stood on the sidelines with me before Owen's first soccer game started. We had had a few days of extremely warm weather in the 70s, but this Saturday morning was a shock to the system with temps in the 50s and windy. Oh, it was so windy!

Owen spiked his hair up to look super cool for his first soccer game.  The wind helped it stand on end the whole morning!

Look at that boy in there with the ball.  Several steps away from the other kids!  Go Owen!

Kick it Owen!

I love catching him mid-run and at such angles to the ground.

Get in there Owen!  Get that ball Numero Uno!

Chloe was so cold she put Owen's jacket on over her own.  But she kept right on cheering for her brother.

LOVE the look of determination on his face as he runs...biting down on that lip!

And the final "Good game.  Good game.  Good game.  Good game.  Good game" as they gave each other low fives in passing team lines.

Blue team lost 1 - 2.  But our boy had sooooo much fun being out on the field and chasing that ball.  He also learned a valuable lesson that if he wants to play, he should be near the coach on the sidelines and not running off and messing around.  I bet he gets more time on the field going forward.

Day Off!

I am most of the way caught up with work from everything I missed being out in Arizona all of last week on vacation.  I didn't have any conference calls scheduled, so I decided to take the day off to get things done around the house.  

 

 After weeks of looking at all those whiteboards resting on the garage floor, I was ready to do something about them and finally make the shelves I had promised the boy child.  I wanted to clear my desk and clean out my studio cabinets, as well as spend some time on the torch catching up on orders.

The morning got off to a great start with cheerful, well behaved kids.  Then I pulled out the power tools and borrowed a measuring tape from a neighbor, since I learned this mornings ours had been broken.

I had drawn out plans with measurements of the shelves weeks ago and stuck to them pretty closely, with the exception I built them in two sections....a top and a bottom.  Since they are 6.5 feet wide and over 7 feet tall, I wouldn't be able to get them through doorways in our house.

No, I don't wear safety goggles or use real saw horses when operating power tools.  Please do not try this at home.  I still have all my fingers and toes, but I have cut a recycling bin in half. 

I used a brad nail gun (hooked up to my air compressor) to nail the shelves together and tightened it up a little with a couple of L-brackets that I'm screwing in here.

As I shut down after finishing the bottom section, I found this feather.  I wonder how it got in our garage?

I headed inside to eat lunch and spend an hour on the torch before returning to the garage to finish the top portion of the shelves.  I started off by cleaning my rods of clear with little alcohol swipes to mitigate any smurkiness from appearing on my beads.

I started working on orders, but had only made a few beads before my tank of gas ran out.

That threw a three hour monkey wrench into my plans.  My wrench didn't work for removing the hose and regulator from the tank of gas, so I ran out to Home Depot to buy a new wrench.  Came home, removed the hose and loaded the tank to drive to a welding supply company in the next town over to get it refilled.  

Yes, my shirt says PLAYS WITH FIRE.  I love it.  Was a great birthday present last year from a good friend.  I loved that I was warm enough to wear it today. :)

I finished building the shelves and got the first coat of paint on them.  I hope to finish painting the shelves tomorrow to get them moved into Owen's bedroom on Sunday.  After the kids went to bed, I fired up the torch again and spent an hour and a half melting glass before I felt too tired to safely continue.  

I hope to get more time on the torch this weekend, but we'll see.  Soccer games for both kids will take up Saturday morning.  And Sunday I'll be helping my good friend Tabitha on a photography shoot of the newborn of one of our other friends in our neighborhood.  Good weather is coming our way and I'm looking forward to playing with my camera to capture all the good things going on.  I had fun using my tripod and remote today.  Could you tell? :)

Chloe's Half Birthday

Chloe wasn't into eating her dinner.  We thought it was very sweet Owen helped her fork up bites.  

A quick swallow of milk followed every bite.

Look, he even opens his own mouth to help her eat her food. :)

The boy was motivated by the Half Birthday dessert cupcakes.  He can be all kinds of helpful when there is dessert on the line.

Happy Half Birthday, Beanarina!  Make a wish!!!!

Mmmmm.  Delicious frosting!

Trading crumbs.

Good Weather

It was rough coming home from vacation.  We went from sunny temps in the 80s in Arizona to rainy, cold temps in the 50s at home.  But we only had to wait a few days before the upper 60s paid us a visit.  We spent a couple of hours outside after school before going in for a late dinner.

Owen had fun hitting the tennis ball against the garage door.

While Owen was hitting the ball, Chloe pulled out the roller skates and practiced in the grass for awhile.

Good thing she was skating on grass!

Owen kept his eye on the ball.  Look at that focus!

This girl had enough of her skates.

And baked us this delicious rock and berry pie!