Wild Smile

If you live in Denver and you are looking for a pediatric dentist I highly recommend Wild Smile in Stapleton. They were really nice, had tons of toys, gave the kids passports with a sticker for each thing they let the dentist do, and they give the kids tokens for prizes at the end.  Chase had a great time and totally rocked the sunglasses they have for kids to wear during the exam. 
 

Vintage Inspired Dresses

Love the dresses at shopruche.com! The best part is that they are reasonably priced.
 

Art by Chase

Chase and I did a little art at home yesterday. He couldn't be prouder.

This is a picture of Daddy, Mommy, and Chase (and no he didn't write his name that well he did a little letter tracing). =)

Here is a picture of Bugsy and Jaxx (in red and blue), Daddy, Mommy, and Chase.

Water Play

Just one more week until the pools close and school starts...
 

All Dressed Up With No Where To Go

 
I saw this dress at Anthropologie today and I REALLY wanted it except that I wouldn't have anywhere to wear it...*sigh*


 

Sparkling Sangria

 
B and I went out to dinner tonight and I had sparkling sangria for the first time - YUM! I googled a few recipes and I want to try one soon - anyone out there have a favorite recipe?



Also if you are in Denver and you like bread pudding Cucina Colore has amazing peach bread pudding soaked in some kind of amazing caramel sauce. I highly recommend it.
 

I Swear I'm An Adult

 
The secret 14 year old inside of me wanted to share these with you.

I really like his song.



November - Breaking Dawn part 1 woohoo!



 

The Perfect Frames

Here are the new accessories I bought for our entertainment center.  I can't express how much I love the art frames (we put my favorite poem and some Beatles sheet music in them). I admit I got a little carried away at West Elm but B didn't like some of the pillows I got so they may be going back to the store.
 

Scarf Progress

I love love love this scarf but I feel like I have been working on it forever and it is still so short!  It will be worth it though right?

Contemporary Kid's Art Display

 
One of my friends found these fun curtain hanging wires at IKEA and had the idea to hang pictures on it. Then Capricious had the idea of hanging kids artwork on the lines.

Tada! A modern kid's art display solution.

Just a Few More Days of Summer

We finally got a chance to try out the pool near our house!  Chase loves it. 

Life's Little Surprises

Poor Bugsy has an infected anal gland abscess. ICK! About $350 worth of ick. Don't you just love when these kinds of things pop up? Yeah me too :)

How to Make a Superhero Table

When we decided to do Chase's room with a superhero theme I decided that I wanted to make him a cool table with a superhero comic book top. The project took on a life of its own and was somewhat of a disaster but I thought I would share my learnings with you all so that if anyone else out there wants to try this the project will go smoother.

Step 1: Find a kids wood table and chairs at a garage sale or on craigs list - I highly recommend a table with an edge around the top (so the top is slightly inset) because it will make pouring the acrylic a lot easier

Step 2: Buy at least two and possibly three comic books - I bought about 50 of them for $20 on eBay because I used some of the other ones in frames in the bedroom / bathroom (remove the staples at the bindings and trim the sheets into a uniform size with a paper cutter)

Step 3: You will need adhesive of some sort and quite a few cans of high gloss spray paint for the table and chairs (we used permanent spray adhesive but if I were to do this again I would probably go with decoupage glue to get a better hold, the spray adhesive didn't stick that well)

Step 4: Lightly sand the table and chairs just enough to scuff up the surface so the spray paint has something to stick to (used 200 grit paper)

Step 5: Spray paint the table and chairs the desired color (you don't have to do the table top because it is going to be covered anyways)

Step 6: Once the paint is completely dry arrange and glue down the comic book pages as desired

Step 7: Once the adhesive is dry use a poured acrylic on the top (you will have about 15 - 20 minutes once you mix the acrylic to get it smoothed out over the top of the table - this is a lot easier if there are two people smoothing - we found paint stirrers worked well for smoothing)

- DO NOT use a high gloss spray paint finish (I tried that it just gets absorbed by the comic book pages and bubbles up and looks terrible)

- If you don't have an edge on the table the acrylic will leak off the edges so put a tarp down (I almost think if I tried this again I would probably tape off the edges if the table didn't have an edge to see if that would be enough to "hold in" the acrylic)

- Lightly blowing on bubbles that form will help them pop

- If you don't have an edge on the table afterwards you will most likely have to sand off the dripped acrylic and repaint (I haven't gotten to that yet)

- I would recommend at least two layers / coats because I think the finish was shinier and more nicer thicker - you have to let it dry between layers (we did three because we had some bubbled paper that had to be covered up with a thick layer of acrylic)

I think the finished project looks pretty good but there are a few bubbles in the table top and of course the un-sanded edges still. I was pretty dang impressed with pour acrylic though, it has a very hard finish and amazing gloss. If anyone else out there has any better tips for doing a project like this let me know!

Spiders Can Swim...

Spiderman goggles...heck yah!

Quote of the day: "Look mom I can swim backwards while squirting myself in the eye!!!"
(if only goggles and a squirt gun could make everyone so happy)

Home Sweet Home

We are finally moved in and pretty much everything is unpacked and set up. Here are a few photos.

Living Room: I love the accent wall and the fan (also the area rug was a great deal at Home Depot). The entertainment center and chair are from IKEA of course and the couch is Scandanavian Designs. We still need some art work and throw pillows but I am happy with the room.

Chase's Bedroom: This is probably my favorite room in the house - it has great light and is huge. I bought some cheap comic books on eBay and framed them for the art in the room...the superhero table was quite an adventure but I'll save that for another post.

Dining Room: Not terribly exciting - IKEA table and Target chairs. The picture that used to be in our family room went perfectly in here.

Sewing Room: OMG the entire closet is PACKED from floor to ceiling with crafting supplies. I think I may be a bit over obsessed with sewing / knitting.

Loft: Perfect for quiet time away from the main family area.

I am happy to finally be settling in!

West Elm

 
I just discovered West Elm! They have amazing bedding!!!

I love these frames too!

Ceiling Fan Installation

How many men does it take to install a ceiling fan? Apparently it takes 3 of them 2 tries and quite awhile...

Walmart Find

Our house has been invaded by angry birds :)
 

Snuggles

I think we need a dog bed.
 

Family Shots

Beautiful night at the park...more unpacking waiting for us tomorrow. 

PS - I recently noticed that we don't have any pictures of all three of us!

Only Half Way There

We be pooped!

Home Sweet Home

I am in the middle of my moving marathon. We have painted, assembled tons of furniture, moved more stuff then we knew we owned (we filled a 33ft truck plus about 6 SUVs full and that was AFTER we sold the vast majority of our furniture - crazy!!). Now we are in the unpacking and decorating stage. Seriously my legs are more tired then they are after a 4 mile run or serious gym workout! I'll post pictures in a week or two when we are all settled. The scariest thing is going to be unpacking my craft and sewing stuff. It is highly likely that it won't all fit.

Circle Baby Quilts

 
Here are the other two circle baby quilts. The pictures were taken with my phone and hardly do the quilts justice but since we are packing if felt like too much effort to grab the camera. I am pretty happy with how they turned out. I felt a little rusty with free motion quilting but no one will notice with all the crinkles :)

&Nbsp;

Changed My Mind

So I know I said I wasn't going to post a gross blister picture but I changed my mind - it is too impressive not to post! But I will say that it is amazingly not painful - it just looks bad.

I suppose I should stop running and let it heal.