My DIY Initial Project

One of my favorite sites to visit is Etsy.  I think you can find so many creative and unique things there.  Case in point, see below:

Find me here

I came across this item one day when I was searching around their site.  I think I was searching for letters, but honestly it was a couple of months ago and I just don't remember.  I mean what's not to love, its chevron (one of my favorite prints), it's a fun color, and it looks somewhat up-cycled which gives it a vintage feel.  Anyways, when I saw it I just knew something like that would look good hanging in Addie's Big Girl room.  Of course it would need to be in a different color and and I would need 3, one for each letter of her full name.

The plan was to buy these and hang them above her bed in a monogram format.  The only problem was that to have 3 it would cost me more than I really wanted to spend.  So I thought to myself, how hard would it be to re-create?

Step 1 - The Frames

• Now the seller of the the item actually hand makes her own frames.  Trey said he would be more than happy to make the frames for me but my mom found some great ones at Hobby Lobby and whats even better, they were 50% off.  So I got all three for around $20.  

• Our (and I say our because Trey definitely helped me on this project) first step was to stain the frames a dark color.  That way when we sand at the end hopefully the stain will show and look distressed.  We did two coats of stain.

• The next step was to paint over the stain with purple paint.  Her room is going to be purple, yellow and grey.  I picked a purple that was darker than her bedding because I really wanted the finished product to make a statement.  It took 4 coats of paint to cover up the dark stain.

• Next Trey sanded the frames to make them look distressed.

Step 2 - The Letters

• The letter above was made out of metal.  Fortunately we have a HVAC shop at our office that uses and cuts sheet metal.  All I needed was a template.  This is where I called on my sister Krystal again!  She gave me several font options and then created the template.  I printed and cut them out, hen gave them to Josh at my office to work his magic.  I feel lucky because the day I asked him to help we had some really cool metal, that had sort of a hammered look to it.  

Step 3 - Inside the Frames

• Trey measured the inside of each frame and then cut some plywood to fit each one.

• Once the plywood was cut, I measured and cut quilters batting to cover them with.  Once the material was cut I used spray adhesive on the front and then stapled the excess with a staple gun on the back to insure a tight fit with no movement.

• After the quilt batting I then measured each of them for the Chevron fabric.  I did not use spray adhesive this time around.  Once the fabric was placed, I pulled tight and stapled it to the back.

• Once all the boards were covered we put them in the frames, securing them with a staple gun.

Step 4 - Adding the letters

• We attached the letters to the frames with small nails.  Trey drilled a little hole in the spots we wanted to nail down.  Then we centered the letter on the boards and nailed them in place.  I am not sure what the seller of my inspiration used, possibly glue??  But, since these were going to be hanging over our little girl's bed we didn't want to take any chances of them coming loose and falling on her in the middle of the night.

Step 5 - Put them on Display

• I'm not going to lie, I was pretty excited with how they turned out.  

The Great Christmas Tree Hunt of 2013

Since the year Lexie was born we've always gone the weekend after Thanksgiving to look for a "real" Christmas Tree.  This year's expedition took us to Sandy Hollar Farms in Leicester, NC.  It's a choose a cut tree farm not too far from Hendersonville and what I think makes it unique is that you actually do the cutting yourself, with a hand saw (no power tools allowed).  

We went with 4 other families, which the girls loved because they had friends to play with.

After taking a wagon ride further into the tree farm, we then hiked up to the section with snow on the ground, because let's face it snow makes a 50 degree day just feel more like Christmas.

The girls were much more concerned with trying to make a snowman than scoping out trees.  Needless to say while the snowman never actually materialized they had a great time trying.

The Freeman's found their tree first, and Chris went to cutting….

Unfortunately he left several feet of it on the ground so they ended up with a 5ft tree, not the 8ft they hoped for, but still a commendable job for his first time.  

Here is Trey with our tree, it's a little bigger than we normally get and I'm not sure its going to fit in it's designated space but Trey assured me it would look great!

It's not easy but I can admit Trey was right.  Once we got the tree home and decorated it looked awesome, probably the best one we've had.

Our tree didn't fall as fast, but it's possible I may not have been "pushing" hard enough, or at least that's what I kept hearing…push harder!

With our tree loaded Lexie had just enough time for some hot chocolate and an opportunity to visit with Santa Claus.  Addie on the other hand screamed "no" and wouldn't get anywhere near the jolly old man.

Sandy Hollar Farms certainly made for a memorable afternoon!

Apple Picking - Skytop Orchard

Hendersonville, NC is kind of known for Apples.  Every year over Labor Day we have an entire festival and parade dedicated just to Apples.  You may also be interested to know that apples from Hendersonville, NC are used in Gerber baby food.  There are tons of apple growers in this county, and many of them offer the option to pick your own apples.  In fact Trey and I live within 10 minutes of Skytop Orchard, which as it turns out is a pretty popular "pick your own" orchard and we had no idea it was even popular! 

To be honest my first experience with Skytop Orchard and actually picking apples was last year when I took Lexie to a birthday party for one of her friends, which was being held there.  I'm not going to lie I was pretty blown away with the place and it was packed!  She had so much fun and I thought, this place is great I've got to bring Addie and Trey back next year.  And that's exactly what we did two weekends ago.

Both girls loved getting an extra lift from Trey to pick apples high up.  

By this point Lexie was getting tired of picking apples and ready to go enjoy some time on the playground.  With promises of an apple cider slushy later we were able to convince her to keep going until we had our bucket full.

With our bucket full we went inside to bag the apples, pay for them and get a much needed snack.

2 apple cider sippers, 2 apple cider slushies, apple slices with caramel and a half dozen apple cider donuts later we were ready for the playground!  On a side note, those apple cider donuts were AMAZING, if you ever go you must try some.  They cook them fresh and honestly were selling them faster than they could be made.

It was a really fun family adventure, one we'll definitely be repeating next apple season!

Princess Makeover with Rapunzel

A couple of weeks ago we were invited to join one of Lexie's friends from school, Keaton, and her mom for a princess makeover at Club Tabby in the Haywood Mall.  Up until this point I had never even heard of Club Tabby but I knew anything to do with princesses Lexie would love, so we agreed to go.  

You could sign up to have your makeover with either Rapunzel, Snow White or Cinderella.  As you can guess Lexie requested her's to be with Rapunzel and of course she just had to wear her Rapunzel costume to the store!  When we first arrived Rapunzel was finishing up her appointment with another lucky little girl so Lexie was asked to wait.  Another stylist (non-princess) offered to go ahead and paint her nails while she waited, but Lexie was adamant Rapunzel do it.  However, she did allow the lady to remove the remnants of her last manicure.

After getting her nails painted Rapunzel applied some make-up and styled her hair.  Let me tell you...Lexie never sits as still for me as she did for the princess!  She was as good as gold.

   

Upon finishing her "princess undo," which included pink and purple coloring and a tiara, Rapunzel posed for a picture and gave Lexie some make-up to use at home.  Of course for the remainder of the afternoon Lexie needed multiple re-applications to her lipstick and eye shadow!    

 

Club Tabby set up a throne in their party room so the girls could pose for pictures as they pretended to be real princesses.

We finished the afternoon off with some playtime on the mall's indoor playground.  It was a really fun day and she's already asking when she can go back for another make-over.  Obviously Club Tabby has found their niche!  It's every little girl's dream place, especially those who love playing dress-up and all things girly.

Our First Soccer Season

Lexie had the opportunity to play soccer for the first time this spring and she really seemed to enjoy herself.  We signed up through the YMCA and her team name was the Glory.  Luckily for her their color was purple, the only thing that could have been better was pink!  She had practice one night a week and then games on Saturday morning.  

The first game, really just a scrimmage where no one but the parents in their minds keep score, was pretty rough.  The team they played really knew what they were doing and Lexie's team didn't have a clue! They didn't seem to understand that the point was to take the ball from the other team and kick it in a goal to score a point.  Fortunately, at the next practice their coach sat down and went over the basic objects of the game and afterwards they improved with each scrimmage.

Lexie really wanted to score a goal, so much so that once the ball would get close to the goal she would take it, yes even from her teammates, and be the one to kick it in the goal!  It was pretty hilarious, so then Trey and I had to work with her on being a "team" player and what that entails.  She was so proud of herself though every time she would kick the ball into the goal.

One of the things we really loved about playing in the YMCA league was that before each game the kids would gather and pray and once the game was over each kid shook hands with the other team members.  It was a good introduction to sportsmanship.

Addie didn't seem to understand why she couldn't play soccer like her big sister so during the scrimmages she kicked around a ball on the sidelines.  I'm not going to lie, the kid has excellent hand, eye, foot coordination for a 2 year old, not to mention she is a pretty strong kicker!

And of course Lexie's favorite part of the game, snack afterwards!

Overall it was a pretty good first experience and she is already asking when she can play again.