DIY: Bathroom Jar Storage

Aren't these cute?

These are super easy to make and lots of fun. All you need to do is start saving jars. :)

What you will need for this project:

-Jars (I used and jam jar and a pickle jar)

-Goo Gone (or something else if you have a better method for getting labels off jars)

-Paint

-Cute knobs

To get the labels off the jars I put them under water until they got good and soaked. Then I proceeded to pull off as much of the label as I could. This is how they looked when I finished that:

 I put some Goo Gone on a paper towel and scrubbed away until the label and markings completely came off. It took a bit of scrubbing power, but lo and behold I got that stubborn label off. 

For the lids I chose to spray paint those. You could probably hand paint them as well. 

Then I enlisted my hubby to drill hole in the lid for me. :) 

All you have to do after that is screw on the knob and you have really cute jars for all those cotton balls and cotton swabs. Easy as pie.

I'm sure you could do this same project for jars all over your house. You don't have to choose the bathroom. Loving my new jars though. They help spruce up our bathroom that needs a total makeover. Can't wait for them to look even better when we remodel. 

Picnic Tables and Baby Goats

We got this old picnic table that was in pretty rough shape. 

It definitely needed a whole lot of TLC

We pulled the boards off and sanded the frame. 

Then the husband spray painted it. This is what he used:

Look at the difference it's already making! :)

We got 2x12x8" boards to replace the old nasty ones. 

We measure and drilled holes and bolted down the boards.

Wah-lah...a new picnic table. I think it's actually 

more like a huge outdoor dining table. 

We are ready for lots of fun summer parties. 

Picnic table/huge outdoor dining table = $85.

That's pretty good if you ask me ;) 

I'm so thankful we have such good little boys who let us work on this project while they took a long nap and who sat in the wagon and watched us work for the last part of it. We are so blessed.

SERIOUSLY!!

I can't believe I got a picture of them both looking

at the camera and smiling. It's hard to capture that these days.

The best part of the whole day was that while we were hard at work

our very pregnant goat decided to have a baby. We heard her yelping 

and went running for the animal pen. We unlocked the gate as fast as we

could and ran to her side, and right before us was a slimly little baby goat. 

I had hoped she would wait a min. so I could be there for the actual birth. 

It's a boy! 

Welcome to the family sweet baby goat!

Sunset Moments

This is a sunrise, not a sunset. 

I know.

But I didn't have a photo of a sunset

Yes, I get up this early every day. 

Not by choice.

On this particular day, I looked out the window and saw this pretty thing.

I had to snap a photo.

God's amazing and sunrises (sunsets) are beautiful.

I recently started reading a new book. 

It's really good. I think every mama should read it. 

Whether you spend lots of time on the phone/internet or not.

We all get distracted with the demands each day holds for us.

We all have a mile long to-do list.

We are all racing through life trying to get so many things done.

We are all missing important moments with our children. 

They are called sunset moments. 

My boys laying their heads on my shoulder to cuddle

The boys riding on the tractor

Crawling around on the floor chasing the boys

Playing peek a boo

...

and the list goes on and on.

These are all sunset moments.

Those moments that if I'm too busy and not paying attention I'm going to miss.

Time doesn't stop. 

If we don't stop, we will miss so much.

Because this is so good, here is an excerpt from this book:

"Life's Sunset Moments are glorious, rejuvenation, and gratifying to behold,

but when I'm caught up in daily distractions, they are so carelessly missed. 

If I just pretended to watch, I will miss them. If my hands are too busy doing

other things, I will miss them. If my body is present, but my mind is not, I will

miss them. If I hold on to distraction tighter than I grasp what really matters, I

will miss Sunset Moments time and time again."  -Rachel Macy Stafford.

In this day in age that is full of technology, this hands free mantra is really important.

So put down the phones, shut off the computers,

Take a break from pinning and tweeting and instagramming

and just BE.

Be with your little ones because they won't be little forever

Make the most of the time you have 

Set aside a little of each day just for them.

Put them first before that to-do list.

Now I'm not saying cut yourself off from all technology 

and do absolutely nothing but hang with the kiddos.

I'm just saying put more focus on those Sunset moments.

Don't miss out.

I'm far from perfect. 

I spend too much time focused on distractions.

I hold tightly to that to-do list.

It's really hard to let go. 

But sometimes you just have to. 

If you want to purchase this book (which is a really great idea)

It is only $5 at Family Christian. 

So go get it today before it's not on sale anymore.

Life is Better at the Lake

We went camping at that lake. It was kinda on a whim and pretty last minute, but so worth it. The weather was perfect, not too hot, not too cold. We put up our tent, grilled dinner, and enjoyed the outdoors.

The boys loved everything about the tent. It was a hit. I zipped them in and they just crawled, and laughed, and played for hours.

I could not get them to sit still long enough to get a good picture of them together.

Those eyes...cannot get over how blue they are.

I kept trying to get a picture with this little guy, but he just kept grabbing my face and kissing me. I have such sweet boys.

This was the highlight of the whole trip.

Camping can really wear you out

Once it got dark and the boys were pretty exhausted they went off to Grandma's house. We were ready to "brave" the outdoors, but not ready to "brave" the outdoors with twins. :) 

I can't wait until next year. Then the babes could actually stay with us. All I'll have to worry about then is two 2 year olds running into the campfire. That actually sounds more hectic. 

It was nice being alone for the night ( a very rare occasion). I also got no bug bites, which never ever happens. I couldn't believe it. 

The next morning we went kayaking until my arms hurt, and then took the jet ski out on the water. It was a blast. I could camp every weekend!

The Big Rig

So thankful I got to spend time with this guy, just the two of us :)

Of course I had to take a cheesy picture on the jet ski. I couldn't help myself.

All About Things Part 2

The morning of the party was kinda crazy. I planned on the boys taking naps ALL MORNING LONG. Because I planned on it, it did not happen. They barely slept. Thankfully they were great sports, and although looked very tired were pretty happy most of the day.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

Oh, Eli!

Lane refused to pose for pictures.

Happy Birthday to you, little things!

Lane demolished his cupcake and tried a tiny bite.

Eli just put a little icing in his hair.

Then we opened presents.

They got a bunch of really great gifts.

Then it was time for the grand finale! The pinata. I really loved this pinata, especially for a one year old birthday party. It's a pull string pinata, and all the kids pull a string instead of swinging a bat...much safer. This was actually a lot of fun. Even though Lane and Eli really had no clue what was going on, the other kids had a blast. 

And, they got tons of candy. 

Overall, I'd say the birthday party was a great success. I'm so thankful to all the family members that helped me pull everything off, and for all the friends and family that came to celebrate our precious boys. 

All About Things part 1

I cannot believe that my little babies are turning one. Where did the time go?

To celebrate our boys, we had a Dr. Suess Thing 1 and Thing 2 birthday party. I wanted to use the Dr. Suess theme because twins and things go hand in hand, and when the boys can talk they will probably be asking for tractor and truck parties, not Dr. Suess.

It was so much fun planning and partying. I tried to keep it pretty simple. Some people have extravagant Suess parties with themed food and all sorts of beautiful decorations, but I knew I wouldn't be able to pull all that off.

I bought invitations at www.birthdayexpress.com and then because I wanted it to be more personal I printed out my own words to cover up the generic inside of the invite.

I also wanted the boys to be in full costume for their party, so they had to have blue wigs. But wouldn't you know, it's near impossible to find blue hair wigs for babies. So, I made my own. 

It was pretty easy. I just sewed up a little hat for them and hot glued the feather boa to the hat. 

Thank God for hot glue guns. Unfortunately, I tend to make things way ahead of when I'll actually need them and Lane's head grew (can you imagine that?) so his hat was a bit snug. 

I cut out cardboard arrows, painted them and made this sign to greet everyone at the front door. This was probably my favorite decoration. 

I made the happy birthday sign as well. I wanted to use a kite as the sign since the Things in "The Cat in the Hat" fly a kite through the house. 

I bought the boys books for all the party guests to sign.

And...you can't forget about cute candy boxes. I bought these for all the kiddos to put their candy in from the pinata. It was nice having a pinata, because then I didn't really have to think about party favors and everyone still got something to take home. And, who doesn't love candy?

As far as food goes, I made cupcakes and we had candy, goldfish, and drinks. I tried making the cupcakes look like the Things' hair.

Cupcake Closeup

This was all pretty much a before the party post. Tomorrow in Part 2 I will post about the party with lots of cute pictures of little baby things and their friends. :) 

I will leave you with this though....

A Thing on the loose!

Green Thumb

I'm so excited for the garden we are going to have this year. We have already planted some of our seeds in the house and will be planting everything outside sometime this month.
I bought this giant plant stand for my husband's birthday. He decided the best place for it was in our living/dining room. It has overtaken the space and I can't wait until we can move it somewhere else!

Hopefully just a few more weeks before this thing makes its' way outside.

All our little seeds just waiting to come up.

We have a baby seedling! It's so exciting when they first come up. 

And now....

We have a garden growing in the living room. :)

If you need cute gardening accessories, Go To TARGET. I could have spent all day and $100's of dollars in the outdoor section. It was so hard to pick just a few things.

Can't wait to use these!