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Jeff applied for a new job this week.
It would be a great, great gig! In OUR school district. So his schedule of holidays & such would always match up with the kids' down the road. Not to mention the lifestyle change subtracting a 30 minute drive in each direction would give us. Can you imagine gaining an hour every day! Oh & there is the gas money that would save.
Please say a few {hundred} prayers for him. We would be so thrilled with this opportunity!
Thinking house decor
I wasn't totally happy with my main floor bathroom decor. I was looking & looking for a certain picture, which I finally found to hang up, so that helped. I wasn't loving what was on the shelf either. So I "Pinterested" a few old wine bottles & that helped some. I still don't feel like its just right, something is still missing? Or not right?
Spray adhesive, hot glue & twine on one. Hot glue to spell love & oil rubbed bronze (ORB) spray paint on the other. Next to bed sheet curtains, ORB is my newest obsession. Pinterest has me convinced I need to ORB 1/2 of the things in my house. Light fixtures I have done (and plan on doing most of them in the house one by one as I can convince my dear husband to take them down & put them back up.) But other people have done cabinet hinges, door knobs & faucets. I really want to try some of those things! If they could hold out for a few years until our kids were in school, we could spend that daycare budget on some new lights, doors & faucets.
Suggestions? Any of you ORBed anything?
I have a project lined up to bling out the mirror & make it look a little less "stock." Some glass tiles & liquid nails.
The picture!! One of my favorites! I spent a month in Costa Rica one summer in college. 2 weeks of volunteer work & 2 weeks of fun travel. We stayed with a host family & helped with this church. Poured the concrete floor literally by hand. Leveled the dirt & packed it down with tree stumps tied to branches. Filled the floor with large rocks to save on the cost of concrete. Mixed the concrete with shovels on the ground & hauled it in with wheel barrows. It was a very eye opening experience & something I always want to remember.
After the kids coats got kicked around the floor for days & days because I was too lazy to get out hangers & pick them up in the coat closet. I decided that what the laundry room/drop zone needed was a row of hooks. Walmart had the perfect one!
And I've been thinking & planning other rooms....
I'm dying to start digging through boxes. Getting pictures hung up. But I have to get everything painted first. Then I can start laying out pictures & such.
Yellow is going in the toy room. Jeff's going to have a big, big project in there building us storage galore. So this one might not be done for quite some time....
This is my ideas for the entryway/family room. I have since eliminated 2 swatches. Our kitchen into the family room is just open enough that the two need to tie together just a little bit. And the kitchen is that burnt orange color that we want to keep. I found some curtains for the kitchen that will tie it into this (which is how 2 swatches got eliminated) and I'll show you them as soon as I get them hung back up. I'm currently ORB-ing the curtain rod :) Trying to decide how dark or light of a blue to pick for accent walls?
The curtins are long, so I will cut & hem one curtain to make a valance for the window above the sink. And the remaining fabric I'm going to use to cover the bar stool seats with a little padding underneath. And maybe make a pillow for the family room if there's enough left. I've been searching Craigslist for better bar stools since the day we moved in. And have decided that these are fine. We only have two (and I'm so over the kids fighting over them) so I bought 2 more like them from Target for $30 rather than a used Craigslist fancier set for over $100. But I'm trying to decide what to do with the legs. I'm not sure I like the black with the blue? Suggestions? They make a cool Copper spray paint? Or White? Brown?
Office. Green above chair rail. Dark grey/brown color below.
I'm currently mid project to try to upcycle the hideous ceiling fan that is in that room. The kids broke one of the light globes with a puzzle piece a few months ago, so it was in even more dire need of a makeover than it was when we moved in. Guess what I'm using..... ORB! I need to look through my old camera card, I think I forgot to take a before picture. It was white (and dirty). But the light kit was gold. The globes were clear with etched flower designs on them. It was straight outta 1980. I went to the Habitat Restore this week to see if there was any awesome finds (like a new light kit for the fan)... and laughed when I found hundreds of the lights exactly like the ones in our house! I guess I just as well re-hab my own fixtures then. Someday when we no longer need a toy room, that room will be a dining room & I will want a cool chandelier type light over the table, so I didn't want to invest much in it for now. The habitat store was pretty cool though. I want to go back with Jeff along sometime. And when I get some things painted. They even had furniture & file cabinets! I'm going to collect all the old cabinet handles & lights & things we pull down from our house to donate there, rather than trash.
One other thing I really want is one of these to put by the front door. We accumulate such a huge pile of shoes by the front door & it drives me a little bit batty. I'm trying to sell some stuff on Craigslist (strollers & such), to make some money for things like this! Someone is coming to buy the triple stroller tonight. That gets me 1/2 way to this!! And I sold a old toy bin yesterday that paid for my barstools I bought! And I sold some of the kids old shoes to the consignment store that amost paid for the pieces I bought to fix up the ceiling fan.
I did it!!!
I did it!!
I found the solution(s) to our carseat issues!
And I got such a great deal & have to share!!
Our 3 across in Jeff's car had to go. The carseats went to 40lbs, and Hayden IS 40lbs. Insane really that he is 40lbs at 3!! So many of the carseats, especially the narrow ones, only do a 5 point harness to 40lbs. And they won't be getting booster seats for several more years, so I had to find a solution. Originally I was just going to replace one of them. Let the other 2 keep theirs, save a few bucks. But I couldn't get a good fit 3 across with 2 of the old ones & the first new one I tried. Plus try telling one of them they can't sit in a certain seat or that they have to sit in a certain seat. Toddlers have such minds of their own! So I conceided to the idea of 3 new seats. I've seen this day coming & I've been on a quest for several months for the right carseat combination. I've spent many a late night online looking for answers.
The one most people come up with is the Radian. A carseat that is made for 3 across. Well I have one & I wasn't a big fan. I know its perfect for lots of people, but it wasn't for us.
There is another cheaper seat made to fit 3 across, but it isn't very tall & I think we'd be in this same situation in another year.
Then I stumbled upon a new seat. I bought a Harmony Defender 360 to try. Built almost exactly like a Radian (exept its only forward facing). It's a Walmart exclusive. Walmart- meaning I could return it if it didn't work, which you can't do at most stores. It has wider space between the shoulder straps than the Radian (Hayden's biggest problem with the Radian) & an easier pull harness (my biggest problem with it). Plus at just $100, I could almost buy 3 of them for the price of 1 new Radian! I was hoping if we liked it, we could just fit 3 of them across. But because of how narrow it is at the back, I could only get a good install using the seatbelt in one spot in Jeff's car.
I kept the one I bought but went back to the drawing board.
There is another carseat I have been wanting for months. And while these seats look awesome, they are nearly $200 each. So I've been waiting... and searching...& researching. Trying the kids in them at the store. I carry a tape measure to try configurations side-by-side in the store to see how wide they are puzzled together. Trying to figure out how to do this without spending a small fortune. I want each seat to have a cup holder. Because again... if one does & one doesn't it equals fights. So that limits options.
Well, Babies R Us was having their trade in sale. Trade in a old/used/expired large item & get a 25% coupon for another large item (has to be used that day.) So I traded in 2 of the carseats from Jeff's car & got 2 coupons. Best part of the trade in was the % that I got off the new seats with the coupon was a larger dollar value than what I paid for the Cosco Scenera seats 2.5 years ago! Score! I bought 2 of the same carseat, the Graco Size4Me70/MySize 70 (it has different names at different stores), & asked them if I could get the multiples discount too. Yes! Another 10% off. I was feeling pretty darn good about my deal. THEN the cashier asked if I wanted to sign up for a BRU card & save another 10%. I had signed up for a BRU card 3.5 years ago when I bought the kids Anglecare Monitors, to save the $ then. But I hadn't used the account probably since then, so it was closed. So I could sign up again. Saving me a total of 45% on my purchases. I got 2 $180 carseats for just $230!! I knew if they didn't fit in Jeff's car, that they are a seat I could use in my car & they would last us longer than the ones we currently have. And we could sell the ones we have in there now, & keep looking for something new for Jeffs. So I wasn't too concerned about not being able to return them if they didn't fit right.
But.... they fit!!
An I love me some Graco seats, such an easy install.
They all have 1 cupholder. They all have headwings. They all have no rethread harnesses (something everyseat should have & every seat I buy again will have!) And the best part is they will allow us to keep the kids in 5 point harnesses until 70lbs! And buy us some time with Jeff needing a new vehicle (although thats a topic for a whole blog post of its own!) Someday (but not now because I'm so tired of installing & uninstalling carseats after Jeff's car business & all this carseat shopping), but someday, I want to try those 3 seats in the 3rd row of the van to see if they fit there? They might? Just incase we ever do get to have another baby, a 3 across option in the 3rd row of the van is what I would love to be able to do.
Between my car, Jeff's car & my mom's car.... we've officially owned 20 carseats in 3 years. Oh the life with triplets.....
And just because its more fun than talking about carseats... We made Valentine's Day Cupcakes. They LOVE to bake! And wanted to wear their "bakery guy clothes" to make them!
I found the solution(s) to our carseat issues!
And I got such a great deal & have to share!!
Our 3 across in Jeff's car had to go. The carseats went to 40lbs, and Hayden IS 40lbs. Insane really that he is 40lbs at 3!! So many of the carseats, especially the narrow ones, only do a 5 point harness to 40lbs. And they won't be getting booster seats for several more years, so I had to find a solution. Originally I was just going to replace one of them. Let the other 2 keep theirs, save a few bucks. But I couldn't get a good fit 3 across with 2 of the old ones & the first new one I tried. Plus try telling one of them they can't sit in a certain seat or that they have to sit in a certain seat. Toddlers have such minds of their own! So I conceided to the idea of 3 new seats. I've seen this day coming & I've been on a quest for several months for the right carseat combination. I've spent many a late night online looking for answers.
The one most people come up with is the Radian. A carseat that is made for 3 across. Well I have one & I wasn't a big fan. I know its perfect for lots of people, but it wasn't for us.
There is another cheaper seat made to fit 3 across, but it isn't very tall & I think we'd be in this same situation in another year.
Then I stumbled upon a new seat. I bought a Harmony Defender 360 to try. Built almost exactly like a Radian (exept its only forward facing). It's a Walmart exclusive. Walmart- meaning I could return it if it didn't work, which you can't do at most stores. It has wider space between the shoulder straps than the Radian (Hayden's biggest problem with the Radian) & an easier pull harness (my biggest problem with it). Plus at just $100, I could almost buy 3 of them for the price of 1 new Radian! I was hoping if we liked it, we could just fit 3 of them across. But because of how narrow it is at the back, I could only get a good install using the seatbelt in one spot in Jeff's car.
I kept the one I bought but went back to the drawing board.
There is another carseat I have been wanting for months. And while these seats look awesome, they are nearly $200 each. So I've been waiting... and searching...& researching. Trying the kids in them at the store. I carry a tape measure to try configurations side-by-side in the store to see how wide they are puzzled together. Trying to figure out how to do this without spending a small fortune. I want each seat to have a cup holder. Because again... if one does & one doesn't it equals fights. So that limits options.
Well, Babies R Us was having their trade in sale. Trade in a old/used/expired large item & get a 25% coupon for another large item (has to be used that day.) So I traded in 2 of the carseats from Jeff's car & got 2 coupons. Best part of the trade in was the % that I got off the new seats with the coupon was a larger dollar value than what I paid for the Cosco Scenera seats 2.5 years ago! Score! I bought 2 of the same carseat, the Graco Size4Me70/MySize 70 (it has different names at different stores), & asked them if I could get the multiples discount too. Yes! Another 10% off. I was feeling pretty darn good about my deal. THEN the cashier asked if I wanted to sign up for a BRU card & save another 10%. I had signed up for a BRU card 3.5 years ago when I bought the kids Anglecare Monitors, to save the $ then. But I hadn't used the account probably since then, so it was closed. So I could sign up again. Saving me a total of 45% on my purchases. I got 2 $180 carseats for just $230!! I knew if they didn't fit in Jeff's car, that they are a seat I could use in my car & they would last us longer than the ones we currently have. And we could sell the ones we have in there now, & keep looking for something new for Jeffs. So I wasn't too concerned about not being able to return them if they didn't fit right.
But.... they fit!!
An I love me some Graco seats, such an easy install.
They all have 1 cupholder. They all have headwings. They all have no rethread harnesses (something everyseat should have & every seat I buy again will have!) And the best part is they will allow us to keep the kids in 5 point harnesses until 70lbs! And buy us some time with Jeff needing a new vehicle (although thats a topic for a whole blog post of its own!) Someday (but not now because I'm so tired of installing & uninstalling carseats after Jeff's car business & all this carseat shopping), but someday, I want to try those 3 seats in the 3rd row of the van to see if they fit there? They might? Just incase we ever do get to have another baby, a 3 across option in the 3rd row of the van is what I would love to be able to do.
Between my car, Jeff's car & my mom's car.... we've officially owned 20 carseats in 3 years. Oh the life with triplets.....
And just because its more fun than talking about carseats... We made Valentine's Day Cupcakes. They LOVE to bake! And wanted to wear their "bakery guy clothes" to make them!
Not sure if Logan bonked his chin in the background, or what for sure he is doing? Too distracted by Hayden's cheesy-ness!
Decorations! Hayden even ate frosting & sprinkles! Something he will only eat on things we make together at home. Not sure why?
Outside fun!
I love beautiful days in February!! We were outside all morning. And I love them!!
I think the trikes are looking a little small!! Some bikes must be on the Easter Bunny's list this year!
And going for a walk.... walking backwards!
Practicing our balance.
And scooters. She is really good!
Goof!
We had a leaf fight... and a snowball fight with the melting snow.
What an awesome morning!!
And I love that they all still fit on my lap!!
Happy February Everyone!!
Love this!
She is just too, too much!
They were playing "program" right before nap. Logan was too tired to sing, but wanted to sit on the "stage." Microphones compliments of the $1 section at Target today while we were out shopping for Valentines for their first ever Valentine's Day Party! Love that place :) Love that they have more or less figured out how to be on the video camera. That they have to "do" something first, then they can watch it later. And LOVE that she LOVES to sing, sing, sing!!!
Enjoy!
They were playing "program" right before nap. Logan was too tired to sing, but wanted to sit on the "stage." Microphones compliments of the $1 section at Target today while we were out shopping for Valentines for their first ever Valentine's Day Party! Love that place :) Love that they have more or less figured out how to be on the video camera. That they have to "do" something first, then they can watch it later. And LOVE that she LOVES to sing, sing, sing!!!
Enjoy!
Singing in the tub
The kids are still singing Christmas songs. Frosty & Holly Jolly Christmas mostly. They love to sing. So we've been working on some new material in the tub this week in an attempt to change things up. Choice of song inspired by the words being posted on a friend's facebook page a week or 2 back.
Their very own "Workin' Truck Room"
Besides printing some pictures to fill up the picture frames.... I am done with the boys' room. (Room, not closet. Next I'm cleaning up, painting & organizing their closet! Yes... I know, closet paint Katie, seriously. Trust me, it needs a good clean coat! Plus its a walk in so I think it matters!)
Before
During...
After!!!!
Come on in.....
Come on in.....
Curtains.. twin bed sheets cut in half & hemmed :) Told ya I'm a bed sheet freak! But less than $10 for 4 panels.
This picture was before I updated the lamp on the bookshelf. It was green. The updated version will be seen below.
Walmart $3 frames, spray paint, scrapbook paper & other cheap items make some great accessories.
To display all their cool artwork they bring home from school! Checkered flag duck tape replaced the old colorful duck tape around the Little Tikes Table.
Love Pinterest for all their ideas!
Wrapping paper & modpodge make a cuter back to a $15 book shelf! See my red lamp & cute lamp shade?! #95 for Lightening McQueen!
Hayden's dresser
Same wrapping paper to line their drawers.
Logan's dresser
Look how little they were!! These were taken the days they each came home.
Beds. Love Jeffs "headboard" table! Inspired by a $600+ PotteryBarn version. May expand it up like the PB ones with shelves someday down the road. Or add some storage under the beds like theirs when they can be higher up off the ground.
Target $1 section items that inspired this whole project! I bought them the morning before our first house sale fell through.
Wheels on the bottom of their box springs. I was going to cover the box springs with fabric as seen on Pinterest, but a fitted sheet is washable & cheaper & was a great substitute for a bed skirt.
Bedding from Santa!
Way better than the gold boob light!
I think they like it :)
BEFORE
AFTER
BEFORE
AFTER
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