A little football

We bit the bullet and let K play tackle football this year. He's played flag football for the past two years and loves it. There's just something about putting those pads on, though! We found out that E could cheer for his team, so that settled it. They both are having so much fun!

Here are some pics from last week's game:

K is the starting quarterback for his team.

He passed the ball for one touchdown and ran for an extra point in this jamboree game.

He's the one all the way to the left.

E loves cheering. She's only 6 but I can really tell she's getting better and better with her cheers, jumps and stunts.

This guy can't wait until he can play "puetbaw" too!

Oh and we got a dog. His name is Topher. Some friends of ours have had him for about 5 years. They are adopting an older child from Ethiopia and aren't sure how he would do with a dog. They were looking for a family for Topher and we are it.

I admit that I wasn't super excited about having a dog again after our last experience with one, but Topher has been wonderful! He's a Lhasa apso and he's such a good dog.... and he's trained- Halelujah! Anyway, the kids just love him to death and are doing their part to take care of him. It's nice to have him a part of our family!

My Baby Boy's Room

I've been meaning to rearrange B's room for awhile now. His crib was right in front of his window and many days, when he wakes up from nap time, he's drenched in sweat. I saw that Layla at the Lettered Cottage was having a linky party today, so that gave me some motivation to get it done.

It used to look like this not long after we moved in.

This is one of only two rooms left in my house that hasn't been painted (I'm in the process of painting the other one right now). Kris and his dad installed the beadboard several months ago. I don't hate the color, but it needs repainting, so I'm thinking of using a light green. We'll see.

I finally raised the curtains up higher and wow, what a difference that made!

The mirror used to be in our Master Bedroom. It's been in my closet for months and I finally thought about putting it in the nursery.

The red dresser used to be big brother's and before that it was my brother's.

I scored this Pottery Barn Anywhere chair at GW for $9.99. It had a pink cover on it. I had planned to take it apart and use it as a pattern to make a new cover, but that takes time and I haven't had much of that. My good friend mentioned that she had one I could HAVE. How nice of her.

I just love how his nursery turned out. He will turn 2 next week and both my other kids were out of their cribs by their 2nd birthdays. Not this one, though. I'm keeping him locked in as long as he'll let me! : )

Linked here, here and here.

PS- Any of you read the book Radical by David Platt? Our church is doing a study of it and let me just tell you, it will knock your socks off. Check it out, if you dare!

This little girl

This little girl had her first day of kindergarten today.

Last week, when big brother and little brother were at school and preschool, she wanted a makeover. So we put on makeup and painted fingernails and of course, we had to take some pictures!

I just can't believe that she is already old enough to go to big school!

And, this little guy started preschool. He loves "going bye-bye" with Daddy a couple mornings a week.

Big sister showed him the ropes.

And this guy, well, he's an old pro at school. I mean, he's got two years under his belt.

Whatever will I do with myself 2 days a week when I have no kids at home?

I'm sure I'll think of something! : )

One Organized Kitchen!

Well, I said I was going to decrapify. I started in the kitchen.

Here are the befores:

Here's everything I got rid of:

And here are the afters:

I have all of our everyday dishes right over the dishwasher.

I even have room- instead of it being crammed full, like usual!

I organized some of my spices and moved all the baking supplies from the pantry to the cabinets next to the stove.

This cabinet holds my cookbooks which used to be in that cabinet over the refrigerator that you can never get to. I also have my serving bowls in this cabinet. The bottom shelf might be my favorite- it has everything I need to make the kids' lunches quickly!

I also cleaned out my pantry. I found some jello that had a 2008 expiration date! Oops!

It looked like this before:

But now, it looks like this:

It is so awesome to have everything in its place!

Cleaning out

Since my trip to Africa, I have really felt a need to get rid of A LOT of stuff. I realize how much we have that we don't even need.
So, I've been on a mission to decrapify, (Some blogger came up with that term- I'd give credit if I could remember who it was.) organize, and just complete all those unfinished tasks in the house. I want our home to feel like home which, for me means looking appealing, but also, I want everything to have a place. I'll be sharing some of those projects along the way to help keep me on track and to hopefully inspire you to simplify and organize some!

I have taken several loads to Goodwill and put some items on Craig's List and Ebay. Here are some of my Ebay listings in case you are interested!
Longaberger Pottery Pitcher

Green Leaf Bowl

Blue Vintage Canister

Longaberger Round Basket

Set of 2 Longaberger Round Hanging Baskets

Longaberger Basket Vase

Smocking Lot

That's all! Now I must go and organize my kitchen!

Taming the silverware

Do you hate doing the dishes? I know I'm not the only one, however, after hand-washing dishes during the 7 days I was in Africa that I am VERY thankful for my dishwasher. I have to say that even with the convenience of the dishwasher, loading and unloading it is still one of my least favorite chores.

Of course, this little man is always willing to "help."

If you're like me, you will try any tip on making a dreaded task quicker and more efficient. Well, here's one for you-

When loading your dishwasher, separate your utensils by like items. For example- all the forks together, all the knives, together, all the kiddie silverware together...I think you get the idea. This is something I saw my mother-in-law do once and I know it's not mind-blowing and maybe everyone else in the world was already doing this, but what time it saves when you go to put them all away. It also makes it easier for the kids to help out.

So, for the chance that someone else out there never thought of this simple tip either, I'm sharing it with you!

Have a great one!

Some thrifty finds and some subway art

I have been a really bad blogger since we got back from Africa. There has been so much to do to get things back in order and get the kids ready to start school. K will be in 2nd grade, E is starting Kindergarten and B will be going to preschool 2 days a week. Since we have been back, I have really wanted to get things cleaned out and organized.

I have wanted a great dresser to have downstairs for storage and I found one at GW (of course!) the other day for only $29

I decided to put it in the foyer for now, but it may end up in the living room. I definitely wanted to paint it, but I was seeing it in cream with these original dark pulls, but that may not work out well with the white wainscoting in this room. We will see where it ends up!

I also got these great deals:

A "B" from Bombay for .99, a piece of foam for .99 and a white frame with mat for 2.99.

I loved this slide box that was only .99. I think it will look great in my oldest son's room, but right now it's in my living room.

I also got 6 of these awesome drawer pulls for .99 each!!

I'm linking these great finds to this party today at Southern Hospitality and also this one at Vintage Revivals.

I also saw that Tatertots and Jello is having a subway art party. I have really been wanting to share this project for awhile, so I thought now would be a good time.

I had a large canvas that we'd bought for another project and didn't use it. I wanted to make some sort of subway art with it for my living room and my friend, Nancy, gave me the idea to use the streets we have lived on. I thought it was a great idea since we've lived so many places. : )

It's definitely not perfect, but I just love the way it turned out! It is definitely a conversation piece. Anytime we have someone over, they ask about it!

Well, that's all I have for today. I have a toddler crying on my leg for M&Ms.