Christmas Break

It's been a good break with the kids, although I LOVE school for them; I am so thankful we have such a great situation and town this year! :) 

We've read a lot, cleaned up, went to a movie, had lots of presents, played lots of Wii :)

Fun fun!

Grandma and Weston at Storm Lake looking at geese.

Sierra didn't want to look at the geese, so Grandpa helped her play!

My ski mask wrestlers!

Marble tracks from Aunt Megan

Traditional Christmas Eve Jammies!

The gingerbread houses where a big hit.  I found a great recipe too!

Movie on Christmas Eve.

Weston's Loot! :)

Peter's Loot- Ice cream maker.

We had a great visit with grandma and grandpa and nana and papa are coming tomorrow.  Yay!

Pictures of kids singing at church.

I can't figure out where the video went, when I figure it out, I'll post it. :)

 Scary red eye.  None of the kids crossed Pastor Pete with his lazer eyes as they waited to sing LOL

 On the way up

 cutie!

Peter and Weston matched!

5 years old!

This year I found an book with buttons- one of Sierra's favorite things- at the goodwill in good working order.  I bought it and then asked Weston if he wanted to give it to Sierra.  I told him it cost $0.50, he thought about it and then ran down stairs and came back with two quarters. He was so proud of his gift he wrote a card and wrapped it by himself.  He proudly gave it to her first on her birthday party day.  :)

card from wes

book

 She likes it

 Birthday party

 Snacks!

 Pin the Bow on Minnie

 Firecracker cup cake

 Birthday Morning- our traditional special breakfast

 Pictures of Abby and Logan, her favorite gifts.

This breakfast was followed with a trip to Mall of America,

dinner at the Rain Forest Cafe and going in the spa at our hotel. 

A little fancy?! She had a great celebration.

One Starry Night

she didn't see the point of using the frosting on the cookies- eating it plain was much more appealing

 Weston and his buddy Josh making Christmas cards

 The cutest Christmas tree in the world

 More card making



Video house tour

Here is a peek.  I'm nearly finished settling in and we hosted Bible study last night so the house was still in order.  so here's a video.  :)

Our Thanksgiving

Sierra couldn't sleep, we found her in his bed. 
She has a whole bunch of metal dinosaurs under her pillow!

Our forced picture--- Weston looks like he ate a lemon!

When you have thanksgiving at home alone,
you get to chew on the bones and wear you pajamas!

Finishing the work on the bird!

Pantene commerical- decorating!  Yes I made them dress up!

Very careful!

Sierra, "You will take this picture with me, you will LIKE it!"

Look how elegant it all looked before we sate down! ;)

Reveal

buy chairs



Before picture



put into our small car



stare at them for 1 day

find a good deal on fabric

buy way too much fabric- just in case (pillows right?)

stare at the chairs for another week

decide that I really like their shape and they are worth my time

fabric arrives in mail- it matches the sofa perfectly



awesome deal on fabric



tear apart the chairs

be careful not to gouge chairs in anyway.

take pictures of process so that I can put them together again

stare at the chairs for another day

consider what to do about wicker

buy all stain, sandpaper, supplies

decide at store to spray paint the wicker

stare at chairs for another day

sand chairs

spray paint wicker after covering the rest of the chair with newspaper

stain chairs

dry chairs for 2 days in the bathroom

remove chairs from bathroom

stare at them for another four days

taking them apart



sand with fine steel wool

stare at them for another two days

stain them again

put them back in bathroom



consider the buttons again--- trickiest part

decided to glue new fabric over the old

the glue doesn't hold well

get a needle sew fabric to the button

add new padding on top of old



almost apart



glue it together



put on fabric

get really nervous to cut fabric

tell Peter 3 times I'm nervous



staple fabric to underside of chair seat

cut fabric

continue stapling



prepping to paint wicker



finish two seats

get excited because it looks awesome

look at chair backs

get nervous again

make cardboard back for chair (one had it one didn't)

glue all the parts together

lay out seat backs

cut fabric

use fabric buttons to hold them together

wait for chairs to dry

staple on back fabric

staple on seat back



 

painted wicker, before stain



screw seat to chair



This changes the color of stain with just a light sanding

 no stripping needed.


cover staples with gimp (fancy trim)

sit down and have a cup of tea in my new chairs.







after first coat of stain, wicker matches!







lovely!



Chairs continued...

I finished the second coat of stain today and I'm working on recovering the chairs.

It has been a lot of work but fun too. 

I'm curious to see the total cost of this major project.  I think I better take some time off from big projects for awhile. 

Money:
Chairs $13
Fabric/Edging $56
Padding $16
Stain $7
Paint Thinner $4
Brush $6
Sand paper $3
Steel wool $3
Spray paint $4
Pliers $3
Electric Staple Gun $30  (I splurged!)
Staples- $3
Nails $3

$148  Not too bad- $74 per chair- and I still have sand paper, steel wool, stain, a brush,  a nail gun, pliers, staples and nails for another project. 

It was only $85 for the consumable supplies.  Not bad :)


The biggest expense was about 12 hours of my time. 

The seats are finished and the second coat of stain is drying in the bathroom with the exhaust fan on so that we can't smell the fumes.  They won't dry outside because it's too cold.  Tomorrow, I should be finished.  I CAN'T wait to see them finished and to show you here too.

Favorite Part of My Day

Seeing this:  I love my family.  That man is so amazing.  Sierra was reading after Weston had read it.

 Sierra new clothes #3

Drinking this:  Homemade sugar free  (stevia) mocha with 1% milk! :)