My Heritage

My grandparents are pretty awesome!  My grandpa especially has taken this on as his retirement project.  They have a brand spanking new Facebook Page, check it out HERE!

On the Facebook page, there is a link to their website.  Or you can find it HERE.

The video link on the website is not my grandparents, but I'm pretty sure the "almost 85 year old up on the roof painting" that they talk about towards the end is my grandpa.  He's pretty awesome! 

I am Aware

This week is National Infertility Awareness week.  Bet you didn't know that! 

I also bet you didn't know that 1 in 8 couples battle infertility.  Look at the 7 people next to you at work today, one of them is struggling.  Or you are. 

Since I "came out" of the infertility "closet" 5 years ago I have been amazed at the number of people who have reached out to me.  Or given me a little "Thanks for speaking out so I know I'm not alone."  Yet so few speak out about it.  I hate the stigma.  I stand up & speak out, for those before me & those after me.  We are blessed to have our 3.  And I will count my blessings eternally.  But infertility is nothing to be ashamed of, or to hide from.  Its a battle we fight & one I hope someday we can all win.  It scars us & it hurts, but this week & always I am proud of my journey to parenthood. 

I am.  I want.  I support.  I will speak out.


P.S.
Keep voting for us HERE!
The contest is the "Top 25" & this year we have been teetering on the #25/26 line.  So the #1 spot has 1197 votes & I have 44.  Still...How cool would it be to actually be the in the top 25? 

My newest creations.

Linen Curtains

Theirs....

Restoration Hardware....$500+

Mine...

Canvas drop cloth from Walmart painting aisle, cut & hemmed one rainy afternoon.  $21.97

LOVE!!!


Diaper box storage.

Old diapers or wipes box= free!
Leftover spray paint found in basement= free!
Fabric leftover from Liv's curtains= free!
Follow this tutorial to sew liners for the boxes & get cute FREE storage bins!!

Since I took this 3 shelf storage thing & put it on its side on the shelf, I couldn't find bins that fit there.  Diaper boxes, actually I guess these are wipes boxes, fit great. 

Just cut all the flaps off with an exacto knife or scissors.  Spray paint a couple of coats.  Sew.  Done.  I thought about putting a coat of mod podge over the paint just to "toughen up" the surface, but I was too eager to get them on the shelf.  I can always do it later if I want. 

 She says "They match my curtains!!"  Such a girl!  Love her :)

Top 25 Multiples Blogs

VOTE FOR US!!

Its that time of year again! Usually I find about about this like the last week & pull in like 50 some votes. But it appears this is JUST starting... so I want to see how many votes I can get. I think the top few already have upwards of 50-100 votes, so click back daily & vote, vote, vote! Because, seriously... they are too cute!

 

Just click the link below. Which will also be posted on the right hand side of the blog for easy access every day.

PS. For the first 24 hours or so I think we show up on the "pending" list to vote for.  So you might have to make on extra click at the top of the page to find us to vote!
Or you should be able to click RIGHT HERE to get to us directly to vote. 

Projects galore!

On top of finishing up Livi's room, this is what else has been going on in our house.

 

I've been working on figuring out how to organize the boys closet.  Now that I've got it planned out, I need a day to pull everything out & put a fresh coat of paint in there.  All the walls in this house need freshening up.  And of course, I'm planning some cute stuff in there too.

Also I sewed up some blackout shades for the kids' rooms.  I went there in search of some black felt, to make the shades, but the awesome lady at Hobby Lobby suggested I picked up some curtain liner instead at 30% off.  So $16 for the liner & 3 tension rods at Walmart for a couple bucks.  It nice thick stuff, with kind of a rubber backing even.  Just cut it, no need to hem.  And flipped over enough to make a pocket to hold a tension rod.  And put them up in the kids windows, behind their blinds.  Its white, so it shouldn't look bad from the street.  And behind the blinds, you'll never see it.  I didn't even bother to switch out for white thread, just used the navy that was on the machine.  And viola... in 15 minutes I had 3 blackout curtains.  Left window without blackout shade, right window with.  Incredible difference all for about $20!!  I'm hoping this gets them to sleep past 6:45am!

The toy room bookshelves got a coat of stain.  Now we just need to stain the rest of the shelves & get them put in & we can start the organizing fun!

Office is getting made over too.

 

The PRINCESS Room!

Outside of a spot or 2 of paint touch up & printing pictures to fill the frames... its done!  Phew!  Took way, way longer than I anticipated, but I am absolutely in love with the results.  I'm pretty proud of this one!

Before any painting began, it was plain, white, boring.  Make mental note of the little white dresser & little lamps in this picture, they all get an upgrade too.

 Other wall before, and a glimpse of the awesome ceiling lights that are all over our house.

 Closet before.

During...

First 3 walls & the closet got a fresh coat of a pale grey & one wall got a bright raspberry pink color.

 Then came the entire day of stenciling.

 But it turned out pretty awesome!

 And a new ceiling fan, whose butterfly accents ended up as inspiration throughout the project. 

 Stumbled across some matching fabric & some must have curtain rods & clips.  Butterflies!

And viola!  The after!!

 We painted an old bedroom set & additional dresser in white. 

 Love how the dresser turned out!  Some painted $3 Walmart picture frames & DIY art.  Can you see the butterflies on the wall too?  And a board to hold all her school art projects as well.

 After 2 coats of white paint, I put a piece of lace across the dresser drawers & spray painted over them to give this stencil effect.  Super easy & turned out pretty cool.  Plus some awesome drawer pulls on her dressers found 1/2 off at Hobby Lobby.

Some old picture frames pulled out of a box got some pink ribbon to spruce them up.

 The other side has her Barbie house, bookshelf & toy storage.

Can you see her closet door knob?  I'm spray painting all the gold knobs oil rubbed bronze.  And I'm going to invest in some ORB hinges too eventually.

 Lamp!

 And welcome to her closet.  She is going to LOVE this space in about 12 years.

Dresser.  Fits like a glove, so well it looks like a built in. 

 Some bankers boxes & cute duck tape made some cute places to store too big & too small clothes.  Those diaper boxes are going to get painted or fixed up somehow yet too for storage.

 A mirror got some pink paint so we are ahead of the game before she gets old enough to fight her brothers for bathroom time.

A ballerina bow holder, again Hobby Lobby.  Love that place!

 Some Hello Kitty bins from the $1 section at Target & some old oatmeal containers covered with scrapbook paper & mod podge, hot glued onto cheap Walmart candle holders make some pretty cute hair accessory holders!

 And what else, but Hello Kitty wrapping paper to line all her drawers.

 The other side holds her clothes & shoes.  {And the top shelf is still a mess of stuff I have no where else to put at the moment.}

 And the bottom has a hamper & baby doll stuff.

 I think I did pretty good :)

 I think she likes it too!

 And so do the boys!  Ha, caught them playing Barbies!

 

One last look, before...

 After...