Weekend Projects

I have so many household projects and goals that I would like to complete before the baby arrives in February. Not sure I will get to all of them though!

I bought 4 of these corkboards over a year ago on clearance at Target. I knew I could use them somewhere someday and since they were only $2 a piece it was very reasonable! I liked the color of them but didn't really like the words on them. I decided that I am going to use them in Jaden's room so I wanted them to match the stripes in his room.
I got out the leftover paint that I used to paint his stripes, frog-taped them off and painted them. Two of them will be green, one will be navy blue and one will be red.
I also plan to make some pushpins out of Legos so that Jaden can tack things up. Will take a picture once I finish and hang these.
I made a new wreath for our door. I had a fall wreath but it was looking very sad this year, I decided to make a Halloween style wreath. I had a black feather boa and knew that would be perfect and easy to make a wreath. I bought a metal wreath form and wrapped the boa around it. I then realized I needed 2 boas! So I bought another boa and finished it. I secured the boa with a little wire so that it wouldn't unravel.
I bought a little black crow from the $1 store and stuck him right in the wreath.
He blends in so well, you can hardly see him!
Super easy and cheap Halloween wreath!
I am also painting some faux pumpkins to go on our porch. I got this idea off of a blog that posted a picture of stacked (real) painted pumpkins. I want my pumpkins to last year to year so that is why I am using fake!
I sketched out a tree design and then started filling it in. The above picture will be the bottom pumpkin so I cut out the stem. I will glue them together and also take a drill and drill little holes all over it, so that the light will shine through.
Hopefully it will look something like this on our front porch:)
I have had this eiffel tower lamp for years! It never quite looked right in silver though and I have been meaning to paint it for awhile. I taped and covered up the cord and socket and took it outside to prime.
I also primed 2 more fake pumpkins that I bought at Goodwill.

After priming the lamp, I sprayed it with some oild-rubbed bronze. I absolutely LOVE how it turned out! Way better than the silver and the lamp shade matches better too! It looks black in this picture but it is actually ORB (oil-rubbed bronze;)
I sprayed the pumpkins with chalkboard paint, repainted their stems white, and then wrote out messages with my chalkboard pens.

I also sent out Bryson's birthday invitations. I had them printed at Costco, backed them with coordinating cardstock and bought some cute envelopes to match.

One other project that I worked on this fall was (finally) building the brick patio on the side of our house where the garbage and recycling cans sit. Todd brought all the bricks up to me and I layed them in place on the sand. I need to get a picture of the finished project and post it!

I have so many more big projects coming up. I need to redo the guest room as Bryson's new room. Turn Bryson's room back into a nursery. Touch-up Jaden's room. Plus I have ideas on how I want to improve the laundry room, loft area, office, kitchen, living and dining room. Obviously, most of these won't get done before the baby arrives, so I will work on them afterwards!

Puyallup Fair

Now that Jaden is in the 1st grade, he will get to go to the Puyallup Fair each fall with his class. I drove for the field trip and brought Bryson along. We also had another 1st grade boy from Jaden's class named Christopher with us.
Here are the boys in front of some big pumpkins.

Some of the other kids from Jaden's class with the boys.
At first we went off in search of Hobby Hall. Although Jaden was more interested in spending the $15 that he got to bring instead of looking at anything! His teacher, Barbara, had the same rule that I used to use when I taught 1st-3rd, that the kids couldn't spend their money until after lunch. That way they might actually see some exhibits or animals!

B found a Bee!
How big is Bryson?
The boys all were very interested in this bee hive, they watched it for over 10 minutes. They enjoyed finding the queen bee.
Finally made it to Hobby Hall, of course the Lego collections were a big hit! They also enjoyed spinning the wheel and getting a shiny rock.
In the dairy barn, where the boys got multiple free samples of chocolate milk.
Checking out the baby pigs.

All 3 boys got to saw a piece of this log and then got to keep the wood disk.

Bryson wanted to spend some of his money on rides. Jaden and Christopher preferred buying "stuff" when they found out how much the rides were!
Bryson also bought a light-up sword. Jaden bought a little cap gun.
Jaden and Christopher decided to play some games with their money as well.
Of course we had to get some cotton candy and fair scones!
A day at the fair, wouldn't be complete without a foot massage.

What a fun trip! Next year we decided that daddy needs to join us too:)

Jaden's 1st Climbing Class

Jaden started a new climbing class this fall at Seattle Vertical World. He and his buddy Graison are in the class together. Here he is on his first day trying to go parallel on the climbing wall.

Here he is meeting with his class which is called Little Rockers.
Jaden working in the bouldering room, which is a room that has a very thick padded cushion on the floor. The climbing walls aren't as high as in other parts of the gym so people can free climb without harnesses or ropes. Jaden's teacher said that the students were free to go as high as they were willing to fall or jump in the bouldering room!

At first, Jaden decided not to go to high.
Jaden with his teacher about to belay him so he can climb really high on one of the gyms walls.



He did reach the top, but I didn't get a picture. When I asked him what was on the top he said, "dust!"
More climbing in the bouldering room on a slanted wall.

Pictures of Mighty B

I took Bryson to Kerry Park after school one day to get some pictures of him in his cape. I was trying to get the perfect shot to add to his birthday invitations as he is going to have a Superhero birthday party this year. I took a ton of pictures!




The park and the view of Seattle are incredible. It was also a beautiful day, so that helped.

He can leap tall buildings in a single bound!

He's Super B!


This is the picture I ended up using for the invitation:)








We went down the steps to the playground so Super B could have a break from posing.








We really ended up having a fun time!

Here's a copy of his birthday invitation, a lady on etsy designed it.