Playroom

Here is the kids playroom.  At first when I thought about finding a house I wanted an extra room that could be dedicated to storying toys and then when we started looking at homes in the DC Metro area I quickly realized that most homes here had basements...Yay, thats perfect for our needs/wants.  So with this new information my next thought was I wanted a house w/a finished basement large enough for a playroom and a craft room for myself (only because of my ETSY shop).  When we were looking at older homes I would always look to see if the basement was finished or not and when we talked to builders one of my first questions were 'how much to finish the basement'.  A finished basement was definitely a high priority for us.  So with all that being said, since we have a basement I wanted to create a fun space for the kids to play, read and create as well as house all their toys.  I knew though if I wanted them to hang out in this space it had to be a fun, inviting space for them that they would want to be in.  I am happy to say that I think we have achieved just that.  They love their playroom and do spend a lot of time in there.  Yes, toys will still be brought up to the main level but I can honestly say they spend more time playing in their playroom then any other room in the house even when I am not able to be downstairs with them.  Which brings us to another point...it has to be safe so they can be in there unsupervised and I think we did a good job at that as well.  The other good thing is my craft room is just across from their play room so I can be with them and watch them while I work too.
Here are the photos:

 The Playroom

The Black 'stripe' through the middle is painted w/chalkboard paint so

they have a big chalkboard to write on through out the entire space :-) I haven't given them the chalk yet, so it will be fun to see what they do when I let them loose w/the chalk :-)

 Toy Storage

 The very LOVED Train Table

 The Art Table (when I start to trust them the cups will be filled w/art supplies) For now we are practicing w/crayolas color wonder, they stuff that will only show color on special paper :-)

 A place to display all the wonderful art projects they bring home from Preschool.  I made the "ART Gallery" vinyl letters w/my Silhouette machine

 This was the twins Birthday Present, and they have fun 

whipping up some yummy meals for mommy :-)

 Utensil storage for the kitchen

 I made these pictures with some great graphics I bought through Stampin Up.  Im really loving their "My Digital Studio" software

 The Book Storage, a great idea I got from 

http://iheartorganizing.blogspot.com  (using spice racks from Ikea)

 The Reading Corner

 

 I saw this on ETSY a while ago and thought it was so cute, and with as much as Evan and Taryn love planes I wanted to add it to their playroom.  I was happy that I was able to find one w/3 kids in it...so cute :-)

 We had these storage units for a while.  In GA we had them in our office/play room but when I was able to have just a dedicated play space for the kids I wanted them white so I painted them, we already had most of the basket storage from previous uses but did splurge on the drawer and cabinet inserts.  I love all the storage it provides  and we were even able to turn one of the units on its side and create a bench.  I sewed all the pillows to make some cushions for it.  I'm not the best seamstress but my work is  good enough for a child's playroom :-)

Also the green painted area behind the bench is painted w/magnetic primer so it is a big magnet board the kids can play with.

 I bought these wood letters a long time ago to do something for the twins with them but I never did.  So when we were putting together their playroom I thought what better to do with them but hang the alphabets in their play space Stampin UP came out w/so super cute paper this year that just fit perfect in the space.

9 Months Old...

...and sweet as ever!!!!!

Movie Time

So as I have written about in many, many post....we have been working hard trying to put this house together and slowly but steadily we are getting there.  This weekend was an exciting one as we finally got to a point where we could hang the movie screen and projector and boy is it AWESOME!!!!  Chad and I watched Courageous last night.  I had bought the movie for Chad for Easter and we saved it just for this night, so that would be the first movie that we watched together in our new Theater Room.  I can say that having a theater/media room was never a top priority for me, kind of a nice to have....maybe but definitely not at the top of my list but I must say it was so amazing to watch that movie last night :-) because really who has time to go to the movies when you have 3 kids 3 and under. I cant remember the last time I went out to a movie...now Chad and I can have dates at home after the kids go to bed...we get to save money, have a great time and stay in our PJ's :-).  We put on "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" for the twins today to see what they would do...I think they could get used to their new digs pretty fast....just see for yourself :-)

Oh and the movie Courageous was awesome, though I cried through most of it...a wonderful story about fatherhood and family....LOVED IT!!!!

Chad tested in on Saturday w/some PreSeason Football

Healthy Eating...So Many Benefits

So a couple of months ago when Chad and I agreed to take all processed foods out of our diet and the kids diet I had to make sure that I was committed to eating healthier and not trying to loose weight otherwise the point would be missed.  Of course I hoped through eating better I would lose some weight (who wouldn't?) I just knew that could not be our focus or especially my focus.  In fact I refused to step on a scale knowing that if I had, and I had some underlying expectations that were not being met I would probably give up w/o giving our new life style a real chance.  But curiosity got the best of me as my clothes had started to fit a little better I just had to see what the scale said and I am so happy to say I am now 13 lbs lighter than I was when we started just 2 months ago and I am even happier to say that I did not 'diet' one day in the past 2 months.  I ate when I was hungry, I ate what I was hungry for, I indulge sweet cravings (with healthy sweets) and I even made myself a homemade mocha just about everyday using whole milk.  I can't tell you how freeing this is for me.  We have ate some extremely healthy meals and we have also ate pizza (with homemade whole wheat crust) and tostado's, I eat nuts, and avocado, and whole fat cheese and sour cream things that you wouldn't see on a  low fat/cal restricted diet...which means not only am I not hungry I am not feeling deprived.  What we aren't eating, and what has been removed from our diets (and I can say I don't miss any of it) is white flour, white rice, and other refined grains, no white/brown or artificial or other refined sugars.  I don't buy any prepackaged foods/snacks from the store.  So I basically make everything, brownies w/whole wheat flour and honey instead of sugar, whole wheat muffins, pancakes, waffles, corn bread, biscuits basically anything and everything we consume starts from whole, fresh, unrefined ingredients and I make it into a meal :-).  We buy a lot of local/organic produce and meats strictly from grass fed cows and or free range pigs and chickens. Yes, our food bill has gone up a little but not as much as you might think.  We are no longer wasting our money on junk and we eat at home a ton more than we used to so its working well for us.   I think I can speak for both Chad and I when I say we are so happy to have made the changes that we did and they are here to stay!!!!

Twins Bedroom

I have been wanting to post photos of their twins room for a while...it is the only room that is completely done but we are getting close on so many others :-)

BEFORE

AFTER

 I made these vinyl wall trucks for Evan w/my Silhouette Machine and he LOVES them.  I also made the crane photo in the frame.

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

 I hate the ventilated shelving that all builders put into closets these days...they are cheap and not very functional especially in pantries (but that is another project for much later :-) ) So one by one we will be replacing the closets.  We started w/the twins for 2 reasons...we already had the shelving unit and because they are 2 kids sharing a not very large closet it was important for it to be organized and functional so we did our own make shift DIY built in closet w/a book case tower, added shelving at the very top and then added 4 clothing rods as well as hooks on the doors for their PJs and bags.  I really love how it turned out and I also really love that we were able to do this for next to nothing cost wise.

This project included:

Painting the walls

Adding crown molding

Adding two different types of shelving

Vinyl Art Work

Organizing closet

Window Treatments

One down and many to go :-)