Eric's Piano Recital



Eric just had his first piano recital. Of course he's an old pro at recitals from violin, but this was a little different. I played the duets with him and he did a great job!

On Saturday, Dennis made lots of headway with the bedroom remodel. All of the walls are up and now there is drywall mud to be plastered everywhere and then painting. Follow the link to our webshots album to see all the pics of the bedroom project.

Eric's Violin Recital, Room Remodel & More...

Eric just had a winter violin recital this afternoon. He played Gavotte by Lully from the Suzuki book 2. He did REALLY well...no mistakes. We are very proud of him and his beautiful violin playing-no scratchy strings anymore!

The master bedroom suite is well underway. Dennis has framed out the closet and the new bedroom wall. He changed out the ugly flourescent lights for recessed lighting and as soon as the framing is done, he will start on drywall. We won't have bedroom doors for awhile, and only have one set of closet doors for now, but one thing at a time!

I have been busy having fun making more clothes for Leah. This is her latest outfit. She, of course, loves her new clothes and even more loves to pose for a picture for me! Such a cooperative girl :) The inspiration for the combination of fabrics came from a good sewing friend of mine who has given me many ideas that are bolder than I typically pick, but very cute!

Basement/Bedroom Demolition has begun!

Well, we have finally begun the master bedroom suite renovation! Our current situation is having our bedroom situated somewhere in the big huge open basement, with a small bathroom off to one side. Dennis began the project this weekend by ripping out the only closet down there to make way for a new wall of closet along the back wall instead for both of us. In the first picture you can see Dennis removing the closet walls (he actually was able to save all of the 2x4's to use for the new walls). We turned our bed and the wall along the right side of our bed will be the new closets eventually. There will also be more wall behind our bed separating our room from the rest of the basement. One step at a time. More posts to follow!

Leah's New Skirt

I got a serger from all my family for my birthday, and have been experimenting with it. I am very excited to use it, however still working out the many tensions, needles, threads, etc... So far I have made a case/pencil holder for Eric's sketch book, and today I made this little skirt for Leah. I didn't have a pattern, just some extra fabric, so it was kind of rough going, but it turned out okay. Really what I wanted to do was try out the lettuce edge on something for her. Anyways, the skirt is okay, but what is really cute are the pictures she let me take of her. She loves to get her picture taken!

Mexican Fiesta!!!

Eric's 8th Birthday Party

Eric's Mexican fiesta was a huge success...lots of kids, lots of games, mariachi music and mostly, lots of fun! Eric had 10 friends over for his party, although we really weren't sure if it was going ot happen until Saturday morning. Leah had gotten a stomach virus earlier in the week, and it was really taking its toll on her, but she was well enough to spend the day with Heather's mom, away from all of the commotion during the party.

We decorated with red/white/green streamers, painted cacti on posterboard and hung on the wall, red/white/green balloons, lots of mexican blankets and sombreros, and played mariachi music (I found it at the library). The kids came in and went to work on some crafts...they decorated ponchos and maracas. I also had tissue paper flowers for them to make, but we didn't get to that because there wasn't enough time. There were actually lots of things we didn't get to do because of time, but that's always better than having too much time :) After the crafts, we played a Mexican card game to win Mexican jumping beans (found them online). Then it was time for the taco bar which was a huge hit for everyone! Since it was a beautiful day outside (55 degrees), I sent them all out to play a relay game called Mexican kickball, which is like an obstacle course done while kicking a soccer ball. I was very thankful for the nice weather so they could burn off some energy outside! We came in and did the Mexican hat dance in a circle with our sombreros, maracas, etc. We played pass the sombrero (like hot potato to music) and then did the pinata. Eric had a great time and said it was his best birthday ever, but he always says that!!! I don't know how long I can continue to plan these big parties with Bay and Leah growing up, I know that we'll probably have to alternate years for parties eventually, but although it is a lot of planning, it really is so much fun to celebrate their birthdays in such a big way.

We are so amazed that Eric is 8 years old, and keep thinking how much closer he is getting to adolescence...scary! But still so much a little boy right now :)

Here's a few more pictures from the party.

Before (you can see it in the background) and After

It's Finally Done!!!

Finally, after almost a year of planning, ordering fabric, waiting for time to do it, and then getting halfway through and waiting for more fabric, the horrid khaki striped couch is gone and a brownish chenille has taken it's place! I spent the week between Christmas and New Year's ripping the fabric off the original couch, laying out the pieces on my new fabric, cutting, and then realizing that I didn't have enough fabric! Yikes! So I went ahead and covered what I could, and, thankfully, the fabric was still available from where I got it a year ago at www.fashionfabricsclub.com. While recovering it, I added a little extra batting to the arms, which really added to the comfort level of the couch. The worst part was sewing the seat cushions with the piping, as you can see, they have a little section that makes an "L" at the front of each cushion, and this was really a bear! Needless to say, we all like our "new" couch and will be able to enjoy it's stain-hiding properties hopefully till the kids are much older and we buy new furniture.

I used 14 yards of fabric, at least 30 yards of piping, and lots of broken needles on my sewing machine due to the many layers I went through on the cushions! The whole project cost me about $200, $140 of which was for fabric, and the rest was for piping, trim and new accent pillow forms. Not too bad for a couch that originally cost us $500 when we bought it.

Although I really enjoy sewing, taking on a project this size is not something I will lightly go into now that I know what is involved. I learned a lot about piping that I did not know before, and making regular shaped box cushions is not so bad, but the size of the couch was daunting! Just glad it's all done! Next big project.....stripping and restaining the kitchen cabinets....Dennis thinks I'm crazy!!!

My new spice rack!!!!

Dennis just finished building my long-awaited spice rack today! For the past year I have had all of my spices crammed into a cabinet, and I really prefer to have them all out where I can quickly see, inventory and access them like this. This one is actually a little better than the one I previously had-it has 4 shelves at the top that are a little taller, accomodating my larger quart size jars for my bulk spices. The rest of the shelf has shorter shelves for my normal spice jars. As you can see, it is completely full, and will immediately be put to good use. He made it out of some old hickory my dad had, and I have not yet put any finish on it, but will eventually. The wood is really neat, it has lots of worm holes in it and gives it lots of character. I am so thankful God has blessed our family with a handy husband/dad like Dennis!