All Aboard! Next Stop: Owen's Big Boy Room

Our little train fanatic has been ready for his big boy room for quite some time.  A.K.A. Momma's tired of the 1/2 nursery, 1/2 big boy room look!  

We bought his twin sized bed months ago, but instead of getting new decorations --- Owen got a baby brother! Now, that Luke is sleeping in a more predictable pattern, we've had time and energy to work on the projects to complete the room.  

ALL ABOARD! 

The tour train is leaving the station...

During our last visit to the Nevada Southern Railway, we bought the two train signs from the gift shop. 

Brendon attached them to the wall next to Owen's letters and a $7 blue lantern from Amazon was the perfect finishing touch.

The train table has been a work in progress for months.  We found it at a furniture consignment store and knew that with a few little additions it would be perfect for storing all of his trains and tracks. Brendon added trim pieces around the edge so that the tracks wouldn't fall off the edge and a piece of wood at the bottom to keep small trains and tracks from getting lost under the table.  He then spent days and days sanding and painting it to match the room.  Owen loves it! 

Here's the before picture of the table.  You can tell it has been a few months 11 months, since we purchased it, just based on how little Owen looks in the picture.  Those were his 2012 Christmas jammies, which are now man-capris and the sleeves are 3/4 length!  He's changed so much this year. 

What does every little conductor need in his room?  A RAILROAD CROSSING SIGN!  We looked for old railroad crossing signs, but they were way more than we wanted to spend.  With a trip to Lowe's and my silhouette, we had everything we needed to make our own.  And -- let's face it --- we just like having projects!    We use the hooks on the railroad crossing sign to hold his dress up clothes or to set out his uniform for school.  It's been really useful!

(Just incase you're wondering... the Railroad crossing font is called "Highway Gothic")

Adding the bookshelves to the sides finished it perfectly.  Luckily, Brendon had a great assistant {who was totally willing to stay up past his bedtime} to finish the job!

The room has several personalized touches.  I made the "O is for Owen" sign, added in pictures from our family photo shoot at the train station, and Grandpa Herbeck gave Owen these model railroad trains from his collection. 

I tried to find colors for the room that I wouldn't get sick of quickly and so far I'm loving the navy, gray, and lime.  The curtains are made following this Sew Lined Panel Drapes tutorial.  One of my favorite parts of the room would have to be the Galvanized Pipe Curtain Rods.

 It's been so nice to walk into Owen's room and know it's complete! It feels like a room that he can grow into.  It also doubles nicely as our guest bedroom and doesn't feel too juvenile.... if our family and friends are going to sleeping on a twin bed --- at least it's not a plastic Thomas the Train bed! 

Baby #2 at 19 Weeks

Total Weight Gain:  I didn't remember to check yesterday morning, but as of tonight I've gained 7.5 pounds.  

Cravings: E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G... no really, I've been starving this week!  Despite drinking bottles and bottles of water all day, I've also been so thirsty... which makes for LOTS of bathroom breaks. We had to stop 4 times during a 5 hour road trip. I think that's a record!

Maternity Clothes: I bought a few new shirts and 2 pairs of shorts this week.  I'm getting ready for the warmer weather! 

This week...  

We borrowed a friend's truck and picked up Owen's new bed.  He was much more excited about riding in Keith's truck than the bed....until it was time to use the power tools! 

He loved helping Daddy!  

And, he looked tiny in the big new bed! 

He set up his train tracks outside and enjoyed the great weather. 

I made these shamrock cupcakes for our St. Patty's themed playdate. 

Owen decided to eat his with no hands! Silly boy :O)

We got our Easter goodies from Mom and Dad.

Owen liked the candies, but I think the best part was all the sock monkey onesies and lovey for the baby! 

I made this cutout using my Silhouette and appliquéd it on shirts for our Disneyland trip in April. 

The most fun part of the week was our time in Arizona! B was able to get a few days away from work, and my doctors appointment was cancelled, so we hopped in the car and drove to Jessica and David's house. The boys had so much fun playing on the slip-n-slide. In Phoenix, it was warm enough to play in the water at 8AM! 

We also went to a baseball game. It was Owen's first game and he loved it! The boys wore their Rays jerseys (even though they weren't even playing there), Owen got a baseball, and sang "Take me out to the ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch.  It was hot, but so much fun! 

Sock Monkey Party {Food}

Welcome to the party--- Let's eat! 

We planned the party around the kids' nap times. {Because cranky 2 year olds don't have as much fun as well rested 2 year olds!} That meant they'd all be up by 3pm and ready to play, but they wouldn't be ready for dinner yet.  So, we decided to have lots and lots of snack foods that both kids and adults would enjoy. 

We served a big tray of veggies, bananas and banana pudding.  This was monkey party after all! Diana and her mom made the banana pudding and it was delicious--- within minutes all of the cups were gone and the backup tray of pudding was licked clean!  I'll see if I can get their recipe and post it here soon! :O)

We wanted the drinks to match the party colors- red, turquoise, and brown. So, we served....

 "Monkey Punch" which is Hawaiian Punch, 7-Up & Pineapple Juice

"Monkey Juice" which is the perfect color KoolAid

and Sweet Tea.

There were fruit kabobs, "Monkey Munch" also known as Chex Mix, and cute little homemade uncrustable sandwiches.  I'd like to take credit for making the sandwiches, but I really just handed my mom the bread and watched her work her magic.  For some reason, my Pampered Chef Cut & Seal sandwich maker wouldn't work for me, but it didn't mess up one time for Mom! 

The most beautiful food of all... The Cupcakes! 

Brandi made buttercream and chocolate cupcakes {all 4 1/2 DOZEN} from scratch! Then, she and I worked together to frost and roll the edges in coordinating sprinkles.  The cupcakes looked so festive.  

If you're looking for turquoise jimmies {...not to be confused with sprinkles... I got a whole lesson on the differences between Jimmies and Sprinkles while at the baking supply store}  We purchased these from The Bakers Confections on Etsy. The red jimmies were purchased at our local baking supply store and the brown were right off the shelf at the grocery store. 

Each of our kiddos had their own special spot at the table.  There was a name banner, balloons, Subway art, a "mommy-made" sock monkey, and a cupcake tower at each place setting! 

This table is a DIY dream! We painted the circles on the brown paper, used the Silhouette program to make the banners and subway art {which were filled with words that described our little ones and their interests}, spent one of our craft days making the sock monkeys and we made the cupcake stands! 

During our party planning trip to Canton Trade Days, we walked past a store with 9 perfectly sized melamine plates (for $1 each!!!) and scooped them up.  We applied two coats of spray paint to the old flowery designed plates and Dollar Store candlesticks, Brandi glued them together and TA DA... cupcake stands! 

Tristen's.

Sara Beth's.

and Owen's.

We tried to get a photo of each of them by their special place setting. 

Tristen did a great job! 

Sara Beth was a perfect little birthday girl! 

And, my very safety conscious, Owen didn't understand why I sat him down on top of a table and walked away! 

Their little personalities really shined during The Happy Birthday Songs! 

Tristen soaked in the attention and even blew out his own candles!

Sara Beth was very happy to hear her Happy Birthday song and blew out her candles with Mommy's help. 

Owen... well,  he tried to get away while everyone sang to him! 

"Run that way, Mom! They've set my cupcake on fire and they just keep singing!!!"  Oh, sweet memories... I blew out the candles for him and he was happy once again.  (Maybe putting out his 1st Birthday candles with his fingers was more traumatic than we thought)

There was one thing they all agreed on.... The cupcakes were GOOD! 

They all stood behind the table eating their cupcakes, licking the icing and sharing them with their friends and family. 

Owen even went back for a second round of cupcakes after the party was over :O)

Pinterest Projects

Brendon and I spent the day accomplishing all most of our To Do List crafts. {Let's face it.... that list could never actually be finished!)  His work involved power tools, saw dust, and paint brushes. While I stuck with the girly work, and by girly I mean AWESOME! I finished making a Thanksgiving pillow, made a wreath and finished several wedding projects {for my little sister's upcoming wedding}. All of my ideas came directly from Pinterest.... and I'll show you links to the original blogs incase you want to try them also.    

My Give Thanks Pillow

Susan found this Pin from Dear Lillie Blog.... Click the link and you'll find a beautiful tan pillow with the words "give thanks" hand painted on the front.  It's so pretty and simple. It's also for sale, but unfortunately SOLD OUT.

So, Susan and I decided to make them ourselves!  She came over yesterday and we started the project. But, as usual, we ran out of time and didn't finish. I have no idea how that always happens to us! 

Here are the steps for making the pillow.... 

1st - Sew a pillowcase

(Owen needed a quick sewing lesson today)

2nd - Use the Silhouette to cut out a stencil from freezer paper

(The fonts are "Some Weatz Swashes" and "Van den Velde Script DEMO VERSION" which I downloaded for free from www.FontSpace.com ----  here and here. )

3rd - Iron the stencil to your fabric and (The most important step of all) Mod Podge over the stencil.  The Mod Podge dries clear and prevents the black paint from bleeding onto your fabric. 

4th - Paint over the stencil

5th - Wait (forever... ok, 5 minutes) while the paint dries and peel back the freezer paper to reveal your pillowcase!

My Thankful Everyday - Wreath

This project is perfect for November. The wreath has a leaf for each day of the month, leading up to Thanksgiving.  Each day, you write something you are thankful for on the leaf.  I debated between two things for today. 

A) I'm thankful for date night with Brendon and a wonderful babysitter that made it possible. 

or

B) The tutorial for this project from Miranda Made! 

Miranda Made did a really great job on the Thanksgiving Countdown Tutorial.  Not only did she include pictures of each step of the process, she also provided a template for the leaf cutout! I traced her template on my Silhouette design program and cut out 12 leaves per page. It only took about 5 minutes to cut out all 48 of the leaves and I didn't need to buy the extra large leaf punch! 

Tomorrow's leaf may say, "I'm thankful for the person that invented the Silhouette!" This is the coolest thing I own.  :O)

 I also finished projects for Michael and Courtney's wedding, but decided not to post them. Reason #1 - It would ruin the surprise for one of their wedding gifts and Reason #2 - It would spoil the fun of seeing cool handmade things at the reception.  Don't worry, I'll post them in less than 2 weeks after the wedding!