A Mud Seat, a Chalk Board, and a place for Mail

Who would have thought that those 3 things would bring a SMILE to my face every single day? But they do!

I will start with the Mud Seat. I love organization, although sometimes in our home things get REALLY disorganized. The children's backpacks and shoes laying all over the house last school year were driving me CRAZY......."A place for everything and everything in its place" :). So my WONDERFUL husband decided he would design and build a mud seat for our very small and narrow laundry room. He did it! It totally works with plenty of walking room. It is BEAUTIFUL and I LOVE being in my laundry room. Now I need you all to imagine a plain white wall with nothing else but a large cork board/tack board on it for the before picture ( I forgot to take one ). Now here is the AFTER picture......the finished product....YIPPEE!!!

A little FYI...that is a very tiny backpack hanging there. The girls backpacks fill the whole space.

I LOVE my new laundry room. The color on the walls is the same blue we used in our bathroom and it is a favorite of mine. No more shoes and backpacks all over the house. YEAH!!!

Then I got rid of the cork board and bought a small cork board and magnetic dry erase board.....LOVE it!!

Now for the chalkboard. This summer we were able to travel, visit with friends and stay in their homes. One of my friends made her whole back splash into a chalk board and another one of my friends had chalkboard paper on her wall. I LOVED the idea of having a chalkboard in my kitchen and immediately thought about one of the sides of my kitchen cabinet. So I bought some magnetic paint to prime the cabinet with and then painted with chalkboard paint. The finished product is a chalkboard in the perfect spot in our kitchen. A place for me to write menus, grocery lists, and favorite quotes. Thank you Heather and Heidi for this wonderful idea--love you two.

NEXT, is my find at the craft store. For years I had been trying to find the PERFECT basket to put on our wall by the front door to place our mail in when we walk in the door. I loved this tin when I saw it and it has worked out perfectly and it was 40% off. Before I made this purchase mail would get tossed on our dining table and would just pile up. Now I have a place for mail and I always remember to go through it because there is only so much room for the mail in this beauty of a tin. And it is in my favorite color RED! ( I can not figure out why blogger underlined this part of my post)

Making some of these changes in our home did not cost us very much and has only added to the functionality and beauty of our home.

So the next time you get a creative idea of something you want to do in your home....Just DO it!! You will be happy you did! I know I am.

FYI.....FUTURE PROJECT: Letters on my kitchen walls! That is all I am saying. I can't give it all away or else there would be no surprise. I will remember to take before pics this time.

The Library

(Tison and Blaine with their treasure of knowledge :) )

I went to the library today and checked out 19 books for the girls and boys. Tison and Blaine helped me pick out quite a few of them. Then we came home and read a couple of them. I was just about sworn by my husband to never return to the library to check out books because at the end of the last school year I had a number of overdue fees I had to pay. I am making a promise now that I will not return any more books later than the due date. I just can't stay away! My children LOVE to read and I LOVE to read. I love when the book fair comes around to the kids school. I always purchase them books that we can read throughout the summer. A little something new and something that I do not have to return.

I hope to one day have a little library in our home. That has always been a DREAM of mine. I dream of wall to wall books from the floor to the ceiling with a nice bay window seat and a beautiful thick wood desk with drawers on both sides (3 on each) so the kids can have their own place to put/do homework or study. Until then I have to check out books or else our little home would be over run with them.

A Brand New Suit and Mickey Mouse

A little man's request on his birthday......A black suit like his Daddy's and to see Mickey Mouse....and these are the events of his birthday.

(I wonder what could be in this box? Hhhhhmmmm, a suit maybe? :) )

(Our little birthday celebration before church)

(Tison's doughnut cake)

(A little sugar rush before church)

(Opening his 1st gift)

(Excited!)

(Where has my little boy gone?)

(What a "STUD"!)

(When we arrived home after church he opened his 2 other gifts....Excitement!)

(A new outfit and a Thomas the train Lego set)

(Apple Cranberry Nut Salad with Feta Cheese and Balsamic Vinegar and Fettucini Alfredo....Tison's birthday dinner request)

(One happy boy!)

(Dark Chocolate covered strawberries...another request)

(Michelle, Goofy, and the Birthday Boy)

(Do you see the chunk of food my almost 2 year old is about to put in his mouth.....and he did. That boy LOVES food!)

(Chef Mickey Mouse, Michelle, and Tison)

(Nicole and Minnie Mouse)

(Picture with Pluto)

(Love this one!)

(Picture with Donald Duck)

(Blaine was dancing to the music with his hands/fingers...he was too cute!)

(Blowing out the candle on his cupcake they gave him)

(We all watched him eat it with envy....well maybe the kids did :))

(Believe it or not we had "goofy" sitting with us at breakfast....j/k Uncle Chris)

(Tison, Nicole, Mima, Michelle, and Blaine)

(Papa and Blaine at breakfast)

(oooooooooooohhhhhh) :)

(Opening gifts)

(Tison and Mima)

(The infamous Smiley Face balloon)

(Tison's Dragon Cake)

Just as I mentioned in my earlier post, Tison opened up his brand new suit Sunday morning and wore it to church. He looked like a little "STUD", so handsome. That morning was also filled with balloons, a doughnut cake, and a couple of more gifts after church (Thomas the train Lego set and a striped polo shirt and jeans). He is so cute. He told me that the gifts were exactly what he wanted. After lunch Paul and I took a long nap trying to recover from the loss of sleep during my friends wedding preparations (which turned out beautiful thanks to her family and friend Veronica). Then as Tison had requested we had Fettuccine Alfredo with Chicken and Apples and Cranberry (except there were cherries because I ran out of cranberries) nut salad with Feta Cheese Crumble and Newman's Balsamic Vinagarette Dressing. And for dessert....Dark Chocolate covered Strawberries - a FAVORITE in our home.

Monday morning came with more excitement! Mima, Papa, and Uncle Chris were coming to CELEBRATE and we loaded up in the car and met them at Disney's Contemporary Hotel where we ate at CHEF MICKEY'S (thank you Mima and Papa). The kids had so much FUN seeing Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald Duck and the breakfast was DELICIOUS. They brought Tison out a little cupcake to celebrate his birthday. It could not have been a better morning. Then we headed back home to greet the mother of all balloons (a 36" smiley face balloon-per Tison's request...when I was ordering balloons for the wedding he saw the smiley face balloon and said I would love that for my birthday.......and I couldn't resist....the people at Publix got a kick out of it when I had it inflated that morning) and Tison opened up more gifts. Tison and Blaine had a ball playing with his new talking, interactive Woody and Buzz Light Year Dolls. Later that afternoon we had Chicken Salad and a Dragon Cake and ice cream.

I still can't believe that my little guy is 4. He has a heart of GOLD and just to illustrate how sweet and selfless he is here is a little birthday story. For Tison's birthday Uncle Chris got him the 3 green aliens from Toy Story. The girls thought they were cute and wanted to play with them too. So Tison gave them each one to keep. Now how many kids would give their siblings or anyone for that matter part of their birthday gifts?
I am so happy he had a WONDERFUL birthday.

Tison turns 4......Happy Birthday Son!!!

(I took this picture last year and it is one of my favorites of his sweet face)

("BUDDIES")

(His 2nd Birthday)

Tison's 1st bed

(Finishing his Birthday Cake on his 1st birthday)

(Daddy and Tison)

(Nicole and Tison)

(Michelle and Tison)

(SLEEPING at the hospital)

(The day after he was born)

I can't believe that another year has gone by! Today this little man turns 4.

He has brought so much JOY to all of our lives. The day he was born the girls were so excited to have a new little baby brother. They both "mama'd him. As these past 4 years have gone by he has truly shown us what a "little man" he is. He is the biggest helper in the world. Always wanting to help me with chores around the house and wanting to do everything Daddy does. He told us a few weeks ago that he wanted a black suit just like Daddy's for church. So this morning before church he will be opening his very first black suit (He has always had a little coat to wear, but never a suit) :). Tison is such a wonderful and caring "big brother" to his "little brother" Blaine. He shares everything with him and makes sure he is okay. Over the past year they have really become "BUDS". I hope they always will be. Tison has the "BIGGEST" and "SWEETEST" heart. He loves to tell me that I am pretty or beautiful every once in a while. What mother wouldn't love that coming from her little man? I just LOVE everything about him. He has such a fun loving personality and a GREAT sense of humor. He loves to play and laugh. Not a day goes by that he doesn't bring a smile to all of our faces.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TISON

We ALL love you!

So Much to Tell...

It has been well over a year now since my last blog post, but I am going to start back again within the next week. It took me a while after having Blaine (our 4th child) to get back into a nice organized routine. I feel like I am finally getting there, 2 years later....is that sad? :) There is so much to tell about from our first garden, to our new patio, our summer vacation, our return to school, and some home renovations. I will be back after labor day with a new post. I am helping a friend with her wedding on Saturday and my thoughts and time are focused on that right now. Then Tison will be turning 4 on Sunday....I can't believe it........so I'm having to get things ready for his little birthday celebration. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL and SAFE Labor Day weekend!
Love,
Gladys :)