seahawks 58; me? freezing!!

i figure i might as well get all caught up on here.  november's finally over, and i'm so glad.  it turned out to be a terrible month in so so many ways.  the kind of month i'm hoping i will never have again. it resulted in some major changes around here, and we're hoping they are for the betterment of the family.

 in good news, we are waist high in wrestling tournaments.  those, however, were the highlight of november!  the absolute best way i can think to spend a saturday!

yesterday we went to a seahawks game with my husband's oldest sister and her family.  they have a suite there {it was amazing!}, so it was extra fun!  lots of good food, cheesecake from the dessert cart, hot coffee and the seats?  fabulous!!!!!

i haven't been to a game in as long as i can remember and no one warned us that the suites were open into the stadium.  i didn't know, and we were freezing!  if only i'd had a nice warm fleece blanket!!

the hawks won and if i feel like driving around town to show our tickets, we can get free coffee and donuts from top pot, a free haircut from greatclips, a free jumbo jack, and a free slurpee with jerky from 7-11.
sounds good huh?

well, i'm off to get caught up {i hope} on the chores i've neglected after the weekend! wish me luck; i've got tons to do!

halloween and a birthday.

i hope you all had a great halloween!!  we have a busy one in this house because it's also my youngest son's birthday.  

he turned 9 last night.  9????  i still feel like he's my baby and as much as i wish he could just stay young, sweet and naive, he's not really a little kid anymore.  he's growing up and it's so scary for me!  

per his request, we started out the day with popcorn and watched the parent trap.  big sister made him a card and breakfast.  and oh did he ever love that!!  you would have thought he'd won the lottery!    

 to celebrate after dad came home we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner along with brownies and ice cream for dessert.  then we headed out for some trick or treating!  the weather was beautiful!  no rain!!  woo-hoo!

and yes, that is a real pumpkin on my oldest son's head.  it was his idea and it was such a hit with everyone!! he received so many compliments i couldn't believe it!

                          

now we're having another birthday celebration.....the oldest turns 12 today!!

pinned it, did it #5 {a quilt}

i saw this quilt on pinterest made from aesthetic nest and i fell in love with it!  after i went to her blog i found another quilt that looked a bit easier for me {and less time consuming} since it would be my first.  a friend of mine is just getting ready to have her third baby {her first girl} so i made one for her and it turned out amazing!!!

this is my first quilt so it's also the first time i've put a binding on a quilt as well. the binding was a little tricky and it's a bit wonky in a few places, but overall i'm really proud of myself.  

{i have no idea why blogger chooses to make some text pink without me saying so...weird!}

have a happy monday!

homeschool/dining room makeover!

well, it's been a while since i've been around.  we had a relaxing summer with the hubs home {he's a teacher, summer's off} and we did a bunch of things together as a family.  we worked around the house and i even made over my dining/homeschool room.  

i posted here about where we did school a long long time ago!  the room was nice and i liked it but i had forever been wanting to get rid of my ikea furniture for something better!

this summer i found this desk and hutch on craigslist for only $30.  in the pictures i thought i wouldn't have to paint or do anything, but once i saw it in person let's just say it needed a ton of work! it was ugly! imagine metallic grey paint with glitter painted hardware.  i should have taken before pics but i didn't. i wanted these pieces to stand up over time, so i even primed and poly'd all of it once i was done.  it isn't perfect, but it's pretty close.

i also have a big blank wall space that i have no idea what to do with.  anyone have some good ideas for me?

here's a little before:

here's a lot after!!!

all of the kids' school books are hidden behind those cabinet doors, and they each  have their own drawers to house all of their pens,pencils,scissors, etc.  the big basket came from jo anns and it holds all of the history books we'll be reading this year. we're doing american  history and the middle ages.  

i was so excited to score this rolling cart for $4 at a garage sale.  it's perfect in function and size....i couldn't have wished for something better!  

i paid only $2.50 for all of these blue mason jars at a garage sale.  every time i've seen them, they run anywhere from $3-$10 a piece!

 i also got the milkglass and the tea cups at a garage sale too...

this is why i love garage sales.

have a happy wednesday girls!

i've missed you!

  

lazy summer beach days

i'm glad to say the weather here in seattle has finally started to feel like summer.  with the temps in the low 80's, we've even had the chance to hit the beach a few times.  

both boys were excited to use the skim board we got last year at a garage sale for $2.  we never got a chance to use then, but the kids are loving it now!!

{look at those muscles!  i'm supremely jealous...}

 and this kid would never get off if he didn't have to.  he absolutely loves it!  i'm on the lookout for another board....i can see they are going to each need their own.

the tide was coming in and it was getting late so we told then once the water hit our umbrella we were going to leave.  they must have worked for at least 30 minutes trying to build a  wall to hold back the water.  they did such a good job, finally though,  i said we had to go....their wall was too good!

the hubs and i were talking about how nice it is to be able to sit and just watch the kids.  we've made it past the stage where we had to hold their  hands and make sure they weren't going to drown.  talk about exhausting!  i remember those days like they were just yesterday. being 8, 10 and 11 is so much easier!!

i'm looking forward to lots of days spent at the beach this year.  

people are so weird.

well, we survived the fourth.  we had a pretty laid back day. most of us have been battling an illness so we worked around the house and played a little bit of cribbage with my in-laws.  i also have been dealing with some mysterious eye infection which has required me to put in eye drops every four hours, even through the night.  it's been super lame because its meant i've also had to sleep on the couch so i don't wake the hubs.

despite the illness, we ventured out the local lake to watch fireworks.  all sorts of crazies come out for the fourth and my kids saw two fights and one man get arrested. the folks in front of us almost got into a fight too.  let's just say the hubs and i felt a bit out of place.  

of course, since i picked the spot to sit, we were bombarded with smoke from mini charcoal grill most of the time we were there.  eventually, when the lame-o with the roaming pit bull wasn't watching his food, it caught on fire. i thought it was sweet justice.  

next year, we're thinking we need to find some friends who have a house on the lake!  

well, i did it again.

hello monday!  

we had a great weekend.  i finally got a new oven/stove.  ours died and we couldn't decide whether we should repair or replace. i've had my heart set on replacing because i just hated my old one.  it wasn't a flat top and it had all of these useless grooves that just attracted crumbs.   it never looked clean and it was the only appliance in our kitchen that we hadn't transitioned to stainless.  so, i'm over the moon right now.  i can  hardly even think about all the yummy things i can bake!!  

do you girls remember this post when i talked about how i had a couple of special things i got garage saleing but i saved two of them to share later?

then, in this post, i let you in on how i made $65 selling a kitchen aid stand mixer.

the same day we bought the mixer we also bought a women's road bike for $30.

i put it on craigslist and sold it.

now i'm $360 richer.

it's just too easy.

really.

linking here today!!