While I was in the thick of painting this dresser I found on craigslist, Caroline said, "There's no turning back now, the old dresser is at the dump!"  Yes, it took a lot of time and elbow grease to turn this mahogany stained bow front dresser into a crisp, white dresser for Grace & Caroline.  The lighting is horrible, but here are some pics...

Grace wanted shiny hardware, so I sanded, polished, and buffed each blackened, tarnished pull as best I could....for hours.

I read somewhere that adhesive drawer liner can attract bugs, so I found some pretty wrapping paper at Target that my girls approve of, and lined the drawers of their new dresser.  Grace would love to have hot pink walls, but pops of bold color will have to do.

I decided that Grace and Caroline are old enough to have a say in decorating their room, and we'll be done with our collaboration in a couple weeks.  Can't wait to pull it together and have a lot of little projects DONE!  ...more pics to come.

Goofing off with the B's

KNOCK OUT!

Wesley's angle on the game

Looks like it's cool to be in the "out" crowd

Note to self:  We really need to get our backboard fixed so we can brush up on our mad bball skills.  Our kids are deprived not being able to spend hours playing H-O-R-S-E and KnockOut.  Good times!

Personal Progress & Honor Bee tracking

The young women in our ward are tracking their personal progress on an XL decorated board (besides in their PP booklets or online).  Each Sunday and/or Wednesday, the YW come to us leaders and pass off or show what they've passed off in their PP booklets.  They get a treat for each accomplishment, and they mark off their tracking chart on the PP board.  We have lots of YW who have finished PP and are repeating the program and/or are earning their Honor Bee.  They have a chart for Honor Bee on this board as well.
The board is from Staples and the cork board was covered in burlap and painted with turquoise stripes.  Fun "atta girl!" decorations were added.  I serve with some very ladies!

Brand New Personal Progress board
with blank cards for each YW

Zooming out, this is the YW wall where we have our calendar, who is conducting, flyers, and just like the New Era, we've got a section for "Instant Messages" or inspirational thoughts.

A Dozen Candles

Today I took Wesley to Thomas' school to kidnap Thomas for lunch for his birthday.  Thomas acted like a cool cat when he saw us, but was clearly happy.  I told his teacher we were taking him out for bday lunch, and she said, "Thomas, I didn't know to day was your birthday."  Thomas said, "Yeah, until now it's been like any other day."  I'm SO glad I put housework down for an hour to spend time with Thomas on his special day.  He chose to go to KFC, and then we went over to Michael's where he picked out a model Camaro for his birthday.  Like father like son.  

Birthday dinner was LOBSTER and chicken for the lobster haters.  Thomas' cake was a basketball with Oreo "Fun Stix" holding the candles, and crushed Oreos around the side of the cake.  It was all yummy!

Somehow the kids (Thomas included) guessed all of Thomas' gifts before he opened them!  It was impressive.  Wesley gave Thomas some Lucky Charms cereal.  Thomas was thrilled to finally get a Swiss Army knife.  Because Thomas turned 12, this birthday brings his priesthood ordination next Sunday and then his first temple trip (with Wayne & I) the weekend after he's ordained.  Lots to look forward to...more pics to come!  We LOVE our Thomas!

Lunch with cutie

Wesley and I had lunch with Cutie the other day at school for the fundraiser for the new school playground.  Wesley's stuffed cheek and wild hair is proof he was having a good time.

Easter pics