The Triplet's Nursery

Please excuse the crappy cell phone pictures...but it is what it is. At least I can quickly share how the boys' nursery turned out!

Here's the view when you walk in the door. They took over our master bedroom. My friend, Michelle, helped me pick out the curtains. My friend, Lindsay sewed black out material to the back so the room will be nice and dark come naptime.

Michelle, made the mobiles for me. Lindsay went shopping for the letters, rings, and frames for me. Michelle provided the prints for me to frame and hang.

I'm sleeping the futon for now. Michelle's husband, Nate, built and installed the white shelf for us.

Michelle also made the growth chart for us.

None of this would have happened without my good  friend Michelle of Decor And The Dog and my other friend, Lindsay! And of course Josh for hanging the curtain rods and pictures and everything else. Oh, and also a big thank you to our friends, the Allens, who graciously gifted us the white cribs, and our cousin Jason who transfered them down to us and help put them together. 

I know I'm probably forgetting someone or something, but as you can see...none of this would have happened without the help from our friends and family. The boys and Josh and I are truly thankful!

And with that...I gotta go...I got 4 children to care for now. Yikes!!!

"Granite"

Last week, Josh was watching the DIY channel and caught a show featuring a product called, Giani - Granite Paint for Countertops. Basically, it's an inexpensive way to make-over your counter tops giving you the look of granite for less. A LOT less than actual granite counter tops. We weren't in love with the color of our counter tops in our kitchen and had talked about getting new ones sometime in the distant future...but hey...for approx. $80 why not try this?!

You basically paint on a primer, then sponge on the mineral paints, then add the final clear topcoat. Their website has all the details and videos that I watched about 100 times to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to be doing.

So, Friday afternoon I took everything off the counters and scrubbed them well with a basic cleaner. Then, later that afternoon, I followed their directions and wiped them down twice with just water to remove all residues.

Here's the counters, all clean and ready for primer. We weren't huge fans of the color of the counter. It has (had) a subtle rose/pink hue, and we felt it blended a bit too much with the color of the cabinets.

After M went to bed Friday night, Josh and I taped everything off, and then I painted on the primer.

Saturday morning, the sponge painting began.

Saturday night, I added the first layer of the clear topcoat.

Sunday morning during M's nap, I added the final layer of the topcoat. And during her afternoon nap, I removed all the tape and cleaned up.

DONE!

Total Cost: Approx. $165

This was for 2 kits that included all paint, sponges, foam brushes and rollers. We bought 2 kits just in case, and I did end up using some of the topcoat from the second kit. This price also included all taxes and shipping, AND it included the additional 4 bottles of the counter top cleaner we ordered. (We had extra foam brushes, painter's tape, and the paint tray already.)

Total Time: Approx. 9 hours

For cleaning, taping, painting, sponging, applying the top coat, and clean up. Dry times were 8 hours after the primer, and 4 hours after sponging and each topcoat. So, basically, it is a weekend project...and without a 1 year old...you could probably finish it within 2 days.

What I Liked: Easy to follow directions and easy to do for a beginner DIY-er like me. You can create your own look with different combinations/amounts of the paints. After finishing, I actually wish I would have kept it a bit darker...but oh well!

What I Struggled With: The top coat was the most difficult thing to apply...but I managed ok. Working in the large corners was not fun!

We will have to see how durable it is.

Would I Recommend It: Yes.

If I can do it...you can do it. Of course it's not as good as granite, and we weren't doing this to play it off as actual granite of course...but it's great for a quick change/update to your counters. You could use it in bathrooms, too!

A couple Before and After comparisons for ya!

Anyways, Josh and I are happy with the new look!

MEGA Post on Halloween Fun!

Are you ready for a loooong post with lotsa pictures?!

But first...HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ok...where were we...

FRIDAY

Last Friday, we carved pumpkins at G'ma Tracy's house. Before the carving fun, I gave M a fun pumpkin light...and I took a couple shots of M with her Great-Grandparents and G'ma Tracy!

Madison loves picking big objects up. (*side note - she tries picking Winky up all the time...it's hilarious!) She probably had the most fun rolling around her pumpkin trying to pick it up.

Then, we (again when I say 'we' I mean Josh) got to work! *I hate carving pumpkins.* Since I couldn't find a Muno costume for Josh, I made him carve a Muno pumpkin!

Madison tried helping for a bit, but she wasn't a fan of the yucky insides and was quite content sitting on her Daddy's lap letting him do the dirty work! :)

I jumped in for a quick picture with her at the end.

All of the finished pumpkins! M's Muno, Bev's scared kid under covers (she did a fancy stencil one), G'ma Tracy's, and Aunt Stacy's!

We also celebrated G'ma Tracy's birthday early since Josh was home. Madison thoroughly enjoyed singing and clapping for G'ma.

SUNDAY

Josh had to leave Sunday evening, so I knew he'd miss most of the Halloween fun! :( No worries...I still made him take some photos with his little M in the morning! I made our costumes...and they were...ehhhh, ok. I think I could have done better...but for $11 worth of felt...they were pretty cheap and good enough.

Later that evening, we headed to G'ma Tracy's to help pass out candy. She was a bit cautious at first..but soon jumped right in and loved putting candy in the trick-or-treater's bags.

G'pa Dave came over to check out M in her M&M costume...and M showed off her playset to G'pa!

MONDAY

It's officially Halloween!

So for fun...I dressed our doggies up!

Benny the Bee and Winky the Pumpkin

Then, I proceeded to run around like a chicken with my head cut off and try and get a decent picture of two dogs and a one year old...silly I know. I had to bribe them all with treats...and even that didn't help much...

"Mama...are you happy? We're all here and Winky and I are even looking at the camera!"

"Winky...get back here!!!"

Whew...that was long! I'm exhausted. Is anyone even reading this!? LOL! :)

Fire Pit Update

Work on the back yard patio fire pit has been...s l o w...mostly because my husband is a busy, busy man. It's understandable.

So a few weekends ago, he started building the fire pit.

On Day 1, our friend, Rick, was back to help...he was the "mud mixer."

And, here's Josh in action laying the brick.


He got about half way done that day...and resumed the following weekend with help from my Dad.

Future tuckpointer??? (I'm talking about M...not me!)


ALMOST done. He cleaned the brick. We...I mean, Josh has to install the lintels (metal things that go on top of the brick over the openings (we wanted openings for air flow), then we'll have the concrete caps made to finish it off...then...he'll have to finish laying the patio flush up to the fire pit...THEN we'll be done! Well, besides all the clean up and fixing up our yard more! Geesh...that is a lot to do still!


I'm guessing we'll get it all completely done sometime in September :).

But, that's ok.

Fall bon fires are the best! :)

Patio Update

Ok, people. I know you've been on the edge of your seats waiting for this update. :)

Josh worked with our good friend, Ryan, a couple days during the week last week lay a bit more of the pavers.

Here they are leveling the sand.

Anyways, they ended up laying almost that whole quadrant that evening. I don't have a picture because I apparently became sidetracked and obviously thought a picture of Madison and me was more important.


Anyways, the work resumed last Sunday...when it was like 100 degrees out. Our other good friend, Rick (Ryan's brother) joined in. And, my Dad pitched in, too.

Ryan showed up a bit later. (Notice my Dad on the right...what a great supervisor!)

Almost done! Josh was just cutting the last few pieces of stone to finish up. (Again, notice my Dad...supervising again.)

All done! I felt really bad for the guys all day Sunday out in that heat. But, I did what any good wife would do...stayed inside in the air conditioning...hung out with Lindsay (Rick's wife) and made sure the guys stayed hydrated.

M and me on the finished patio!

Monday afternoon...my Dad returns to supervise. :) Josh began by tamping it...I think that thing just shakes the stone and levels them out or something...I'm sure Josh explained it to me at some point.

Dad then helped dump the special sand stuff while Josh swept it into all the cracks. Then, they just had to get it hose it down and get it wet, let it dry, re-wet, let dry, etc. for a few rounds...the sand stuff then kinda hardens...again, some process I'm sure Josh explained to me at some point.

A close up of the finished patio!

**We could not have done all this without the help of our friends and family. We are really thankful...especially since they helped in 100 degree weather last weekend! We know we are so fortunate to have great family and friends...they didn't even complain one bit! :)**

Still, we are not done. Again, by "we" I mean, Josh. :)

The fire pit has to be built and the yard has to be cleaned up. But, we're pretty happy with the progress so far!

DIY (w/ Fam & Friends) Memorial Day Weekend

I thought I'd give an update on our first DIY project at our new house.

Ready for photo-overload?! (Oh, and of course the quality of the photos aren't the best, but you get the idea....)

We started with this...an above ground pool had been removed....what to do with the yard and a path to 'nowhere??' We decided to add a fire pit and patio! Josh had kind of an idea of what to do, and I had no idea how to do this...sounds fun, right?!

Day 1:

My husband decided that a large bush/tree thing was in the way...I'm not so sure it was really an issue...pretty sure he just wanted to push it over with the bobcat.

Although we had a nice flat cleared area, we did need a bit more, so Josh got to work leveling it out.

My Dad helped to add the form where the fire pit will be.

Then they had to compact the new area Josh had dug up.

Then, the long, long, long process of adding rock.

Almost done! Talk about tiring work! Josh moved it all by wheel barrel.

Day 2:

After the storm on Sunday, Josh poured the concrete for the slab underneath where the fire pit will go. (G'pa Lou supervised.)

Then, G'ma Bev got to work!

Great job smoothing it, Josh and Bev!!! for the record, Bev was MUCH better at this than Josh. He left lots of lines and uneven areas....

Day 3:

Next, Josh laid a form for where he'd place the sand layer for the first section he'd pave. By this time, Ryan had joined to help.

Sand was all leveled.

And now...the fun part!

Daddy and his baby girl.

After all the pavers are laid, he'll build the fire pit. And, we have great plans for more additions, such as stone benches, built-in tiki-torch holders, a stone structure to hold the wood).

We decided it was kind of funny our first project was outside and kinda geared towards entertaining...since #1) I hate bugs and the 'bonfire smell' that overtakes your clothing and 2) We're kinda introverts who don't necessarily LOVE entertaining all the time.

However, Josh loves bonfires in the fall, and I love s'mores. So...that won us over.

I'm so thankful for all the help from our friends and family this last weekend! Tracy was over on Monday as well and helped carry the pavers for Josh. He will continue to lay the rest of the patio this week, so I will continue to take (bad) photos of the progress.

Do, I have the BEST husband ever or what? He works 50+ hours during the week, and spends his whole long holiday weekend working on a home project, too.

*Oh, and just for the record...I did mow the front of our lawn on Monday and helped move pavers with Tracy (besides caring for M of course)...I wasn't a complete lazy bum. :)