Emskyrooney

Thought I'd share a little photo tutorial of how I created the knobs for Little Paul's built-in  drawers in case anyone is interested in the technique- it was very very easy and I think the results are great! First, I took the knobs off the drawers and painted them (I picked up a small tester bottle of the wall color we used from Home Depot- it comes with a little brush in the cap which means you don't have to clean any paint brushes when you're done!).  I punched holes in the top of an old shoe box to stand the knobs in so that they could dry.  If you leave the screws in each knob you can use the screw to hold the knob while you paint it and then stick the screw through the hole in the shoebox.  Next I rummaged through my craft supplies and pulled out a small piece of contact paper.  I measured the diameter of the knobs and then used a permanent marker to write the numbers on the contact paper so that they'd fit on the knobs.  I used a craft knife to cut out the nu...

Last year we sort of skipped Halloween in lieu of letting my in-laws babysit LP so that we could go out to dinner sans baby.  This year, however, we thought LP might just be old enough to enjoy it and so we were thrilled to be invited to trick or treat with friends who live in a great family neighborhood (the road we live on is pretty busy and we don't get any trick or treaters at all....) In the afternoon Grammy and Papa came over to see LP in his costume and to bring him a basket full of candy and coloring books.  We'd planned for LP to be a monkey as a friend had passed along her son's out-grown monkey outfit.  Unfortunately, LP absolutely refused to put it on, yelling at me, "no like it! No like it Mama!" And so, like many other parents, I resorted to throwing together a last minute, very homemade costume. During Little Paul's nap I ran downstairs, grabbed an old t-shirt I'd been saving for scraps, and some fleece fabric.  I whipped up a quick James th...

A few weeks ago LP and I took a trip to Pennsylvania.  We drove down on Wednesday and then on Friday I left LP with my parents for the weekend and went out to Carlisle, PA where I went to college to hang out with two of my besties from back in the day in our old stomping grounds.  An awesome shot of us hanging in the student union.  Fortunately the actual students were on fall break so we don't look too nerdy taking this shot (although I could have chosen a more flattering angle!) When I got back to my parents' house Sunday morning (my parents, apparently, barely surviving the 40 hours of Toddler Boot Camp) my grandmother and aunts came to visit and to bestow presents upon LP (even though it was Aunt Cindi's birthday). LP was very excited that GG (Great Grandma) brought him a "Big Thomas!" Little Paul and the birthday girl- Aunt Cindi Little Paul and Aunt Sue- they hadn't met before but LP took to Aunt Sue very quickly, especially since she was willing to read...

Over the weekend we got quite a bit more of LP's Big Boy Bedroom done- enough done, in fact, that he was able to sleep in his new bed last night (and yes, there is a side rail on the bed so that he doesn't fall out- it just hadn't arrived in the mail yet when I took these photos!). There are still a few more things to do but here's where we are: On Saturday Paul and I put the bed together.  Actually, he put the bed together while LP and I peeled the blue paint off of the headboard.  Paul had painted the headboard while LP and I were in Pennsylvania.  When I got home I saw the coloring of the wood and told him we could have just left the bed unpainted- I'd been expecting the bed to be a lighter color and more fake looking when I asked him to paint it.  Fortunately, Paul had been lazy about painting it and hadn't done any sanding first and so the blue paint literally peeled right off! Saturday evening on our way out for sushi to celebrate our anniversary we stoppe...

Last night Little Paul slept in his big boy bedroom for the very first time.  We'd been planning on starting off slowly, reading his bedtime stories to him on the bed, letting him nap there, etc., before actually letting him sleep there all night but last night he insisted.  "Big Boy Bed!  Sleep Big Boy Bed" he fussed as I tried to convince him to go into the nursery and sleep in his crib. I tried to stay strong, but after a few minutes of LP pleading to sleep in his new bed I thought, "what the hell" and told him we could try it out.  I laid down with him for a little while until he settled down and was laying (mostly) still.  He cried for a few minutes after I left the room and then all was quiet for the rest of the night.  This morning he slept until I woke him up to get ready for the day. He seemed a bit surprised to wake up in another room but was also very excited about his big accomplishment.  We'll see how it goes again tonight! When I...

LP and I took a long weekend trip to Pennsylvania last weekend and Paul took advantage of us being gone to get the stinky part of the floor project done- the polyurethane..... Ugh- the house still smells a bit! The results are great though: The room looks so great!  These pictures are actually pretty close to the true color as well.  This weekend we're going to put the rest of the bed together and paint it the same blue as the headboard.  It will eventually be situated along the back wall under the shelf with the headboard under the angled ceiling.  We're hoping to start moving the rest of the furniture in this weekend as well and then I get to start the fun part of really pulling the room together! Watch for more updates!

Over the weekend Paul decided to go ahead and get started refinishing the hardwood flooring in the room that will be LP's Big Boy Bedroom- it was in BAD shape.  He spent all weekend sanding, and I spent all weekend either watching LP while Paul worked on the floors or cleaning up all the sawdust from the sanding.  Sunday night we were able to put down a coat of stain.  Here's Paul hard at work: I'm having a really hard time getting the true colors of this room to show right in photos (although probably taking photos after dark doesn't help!).  We're going for sort of a medium to darker color on the floors.  They are oak and were originally just that basic oak color.  We've decided to do one more coat of stain to darken it up a bit.  LP and I are heading to Pennsylvania tomorrow to visit Nana and Pappy and some of my college friends and Paul will polyurethane it while we're away.  Next weekend we hope to get the bed put together and painted and...