February Play House Update: Fire School!

At first, when we built our play house in the basement, I thought we'd create a different theme for the play house every week.  Then I realized that was crazy, and decided on an every 2 week change up.  Now, I'm thinking monthly changes are more realistic.  Here is how things have looked for the month of February: 

Charm received a fireman's outfit for his birthday in August.

And then I stumbled upon this deal at Bed, Bath and Beyond a couple weeks ago:

BBB also applies their standard 20% off coupons to clearance merchandise, so I picked up this fire chief costume for Lucky for $11.99.  I figured the kids would get more enjoyment out of the 'Fire Station' theme if they could put out fires together in costume.  

Bill made this 'hydrant' and hose combo using a $6 sump pump hose we got at Menards.  We have lots of hose left over in case this one breaks.  Bill made a 12" x 12" box using some leftover plywood for the top and bottom and 2" x 4" boards for the sides.  He made a hole in the top with a jig saw.  I painted the base red like a hydrant:).  Since we had the plywood and scrap 2" x 4" on hand, this only cost us about $6.  It is heavy so the kids can't swing it around, but they can drag it from spot to spot.

We also made this fire truck (or car) dashboard with more leftover plywood and a round wood piece we picked up for $6 from Menards.  We just did a simple paint job and used a bolt to attach the wheel to the plywood base.  

Underneath the Fire Station, we created a school for Lucky, since she loves playing school:

This desk is the student station:

And this is the teacher's desk:

Here's a little lesson in progress:

The 'flames' are just pieces of poster board attached with tape.  I painted the Fire Station sign using a 1" x 8" board and some craft paints.  

For the sign letters, I used Arial Narrow Bold.  I printed off the letters and adjusted the spacing as best I could and traced the letters with a pencil on the paper.  The pressure from the pencil left an indent in the wood that I used as a paint guide.

I already have a plan in mind for March's theme...I just have to get going on another sign.  And put together a few props:).  I'm excited just thinking about it!

Have a super weekend!

P.S.  The Nate Berkus line at Target is now 70% at the Targets in my area.  Some of the items are not included in the sale (the turtle shells for example), but most of it is!!

My Birthday is a Coming!

I always like to do a little round up of birthday present ideas at this time of year to help out my sweet husband in the present buying department:).

Here are some ideas in no particular order:

1. A House Blessing.  It's no secret we've had a bit of 'bad luck' since moving into our Sunshine Home.  (Read here and here for more.)  Since we purchased our home as a foreclosure, it sort of feels like a good house blessing is in order.  We've never done this before, but I figure it can't hurt!

2. Letter Cut Outs:

Bill actually picked up a set of these last week for me as an early birthday present.  He used a coupon at Joann's:).  Lucky, Charm and I used them to cut letters out of fruit for homemade conversation hearts that I saw online here.

3. Life Sized Baby Giraffe:

I've loved this giraffe for a long time.  It reminds me of my tall and lanky family.  It may also fit really well in a little carnival themed project I'd like to tackle.  The price dropped down to $45 around Christmas time, so I've been watching it to see if it will drop in price again.  

4. Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lawson

A humorous read sounds like the perfect vacation book to me!!

5. Tiger Tshirt

Unfortunately, I needed to have more wide excisions to remove atypical moles in the past month.  It definitely brought back all the emotions from my experience with melanoma last year, and it left me another huge scar on my left arm and two smaller scars on my right arm.  I decided that if anyone asks me what happened, I'm going to say that I jumped in a tiger pit at the zoo to save a small child, and the tiger swiped me as I handed the child to safety.  Totally believable, right?  I think this tiger shirt could help me sell the story.  

Also, Lucky's basketball team name is the Orange Tigers.  Also, breakfast really is important.  And 2010 was actually a good year.  Finally, I like the rainbow on the shirt, because a rainbow usually follows a storm, and I'm hopeful that this little skin cancer storm will end soon.  Did you hear that, skin o' mine?  No more weirdness already.

6. Ipod dock and radio

I'd love something like this for our kitchen counter to replace the cheapo clock radio we have there now.  Being able to listen to my Ipod without ear plugs would be wonderful, especially combined with a radio option!!  Target offers lots of similar options in store too.

7.  100 Ways to Happy Chic Your Life by Jonathan Adler 

This book by Jonathan Adler would be lovely, but a trip to his Minneapolis store would be even better:)!!

8. Target Floor Lamp:

I love this lamp!  It reminds me of something you'd see at Restoration Hardware only on a much, much smaller scale and a much more reasonable price.  I can totally picture my kids performing in this 'spotlight':)!! (Sidenote:  Does anyone else feel like everything at Restoration Hardware is amazingly oversized?  I feel like a little kid in that store!!)

9. Whole Green Catalog:

This book looks just like something I'd enjoy reading:).  

10. One Vanilla Angel Donut (Or Three Heaven Donuts):
I grew up in a town that had a Mr. Donut.  That store offered the most perfect donut creation: The Vanilla Angel.  It was round with powdered sugar on it and was filled with a fluffy vanilla frosting.  Since leaving my hometown, I've been on the quest to find a similar donut.  I think I loved it partially because it tasted divine and partially because it reminds me of my youth...we used to have these donuts after almost every morning basketball practice in Junior High School.

We recently uncovered a similar donut locally at Kwik Trip of all places.  It's not the exact same donut because it's a long john and has vanilla icing on the top instead of being round with powdered sugar on the outside, but the filling is exactly the same.  I call this donut the Heaven Donut, because it's so good they must serve it in Heaven!!

My quest for the Vanilla Angel continues, so in the meantime I'd be okay with a single Heaven Donut.  (I don't need 33 of them, Bill.  That'd be crazy.  When you bought me 30 donuts three years ago, I really loved it, but 33 would be too much.  One would do just fine.  Or three.  Actually, three would be perfect because then I could share:).)


I hope you had a wonderful weekend!  Stay tuned for a little basement play house update that I plan to post later this week.

Happy Heart Day!

Enjoy the day!

A Little Corner of Our World

It's been a long, long time since I showed any pictures of our master bedroom.  We put Duke the Deer up awhile ago.  We also re-did our TV stand/dresser.  We got a new bed a couple years ago.  We have since hung the art work that I made Bill for Christmas last year.  We've also added curtain rods and curtains (though they haven't been hemmed).  We bought and repainted a couple Craigslist night stands.  We still have a couple paint projects to complete in the room and we need to get a new comforter cover or duvet.  Here is one corner of our bedroom with a little IKEA update that my husband has yet to notice:

Here's a close up of the IKEA update, Bill:

I hope you had a great weekend!!  

Also, Happy Birthday Ben!!  We are all so proud of you and your latest creative project: Busker.  It feels so special to have a published novelist for a brother:)!  We can't wait to see you again!!

Ice Castles

We are having a doozy of a week here.  There seems to be a stomach bug going around and it is hitting us all...one by one.  We did fit in a trip to see the Ice Castles at the Mall of America earlier this week.  Here are some pictures:

There were also some animals there:

We took this picture right after the camel 'kissed' my head:)!!: 

Hope you are all having a healthy week!!  We just started the one month countdown until we head to Florida and escape this cold, long, snowy winter....even if only for a week:).

Happy Groundhog Day!!

We tried to make this Groundhog Day treat today.  I found the image in this month's Family Fun magazine and carried the magazine page in my pocket to the grocery store to get the ingredients (hence the wrinkles).

Here was our result:

It was really yummy though!!

Hurry up spring!!  I have some serious staining to do:)!