I decorated this window over a year ago. It’s been sitting behind my couch since then. Hubby finally hung it for me just in time for this Christmas–a little early gift.

Check out my little KONOS Tree for All Seasons done up in aqua Christmas decor. I love living on the water! I have so much freedom to do things that just wouldn’t fly inland.

Brooke bought a set of bunkbeds for her Liberty doll. I didn’t take a “before” shot, but they were uncushioned, covered in a red calico print.

Brooke added a 2″ thick foam cushion and used a pillowcase to re-cover them.

Aren’t they just adorable? You can see how we just wrapped them like Christmas gifts on the ends. We could have taken a little more effort to match up the stripes on the ends, but I wanted Brooke to be able to do this by herself without getting frustrated. 

She wanted to add pillows, but we didn’t have any pillow forms. So we made them ourselves out of felt and leftover toulle. She liked the crisp white look so much, she didn’t even want to make a pillowcase for them.

I’m so proud of how she’s learning to create beautiful things herself.

The boys were completely clueless after receiving a plastic grocery bag as a clue to the theme of their bedroom.

The girls were excited to reveal the new theme…can you guess yet?

I managed to catch their initial reaction

to their new MILITARY room!

Their daddy was a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne, and the plastic bag was a makeshift parachute. In this photo you can see him during a jump.

If you look closely in the photo above with the girls, you can see him in the jungle. The boys LOVE having photos of their dad and his army gear all over their bedroom.

Brian wanted a teddy-bear theme. We managed to make him happy with this pilot teddy bear.

I think it’s safe to say they’ll enjoy this room for years to come.

Talk about giddy! We were too excited to wait until after breakfast to reveal the new bedrooms.

The boys made hearts out of hot pink hawaiian leis to greet the girls.

Look at what else greeted the girls:

and this

and this.

Look at this cute shelf.

I changed up their closet drapes with a little RIT dye

and some pretty fabric (necessary when I dried the drapes in the machine and they shrunk.)

The girls were so surprised! They really didn’t know what to expect.

Brooke went straight to her desk/crafting area. It was the one thing she wanted in her bedroom.

Even though Brea cried when we took out her crib, she was thrilled to meet her new trundle bed

and find her own stash of books nearby.

She invited us all, and I mean all, to join her.

Didn’t the boys do a FANTASTIC job?!

The kids were most excited about the “challenges.” They’re crazy stunts that earned the right to sleep on the couch rather than on the floor in sleeping bags. Those spots were highly coveted.

It’s all fun and games til someone gets a pie in the face.

I’d say this was the messiest challenge!

Just before bed, when the girls would nestle all snug on the couches, the kids exchanged clues. They’d kept the room themes secret from one another thus far.

The girls gave the boys a plastic grocery bag. Any guesses? They were truly stumped.

The boys gave the girls a tube of hot pink lip gloss. They were excited at the possibilities this sparkly gem brought.

Stay tuned for the Big Reveal!

The kids worked really hard on each other’s rooms.

Brian and Brad sanded a $2 from the county school system.

You can really see the difference in their personalities here. Brad is very intent and detail-focused and Brian’s a big-picture kind of guy.

The boys put together a really cute hot pink chair from Ikea for the girl’s desk area.

They were really wishing they had space for their own spinny chair–only not in pink!

In the  meantime, the girls were hard at work on the boys’ decor.

And helping a very stressed Mama

take care of the mounds and mounds of JUNK that were cleared out of their closets and from under their beds. Ugh!

After hours and hours of grueling work you don’t see on that daggone TLC show, we were ready for bed. In a clean living room. Aaaaahhh.

Stay tuned for the Whipped Cream Pie Throwing challenge and the Clues.

This week I’ll post photos from our Trading Spaces Boys v. Girls adventure.

These are the “before” shots for the boys’ room:

And here are the girls’ “before” shots:

Now you can see why we were all so eager for an “after.”

Recently, we redecorated the children’s bedrooms. The boys did the girls’ room, and the girls did the boys’ room. It was the most fun (and the most work) we’ve had together in a long time.

We began with a marshmallow-throwing challenge.

The winners got dibs on the couches for the night.

For the record, the boys won the challenge.

Stay tuned for the Before photos.

If you’ve lived by the mantra, “If you’re going to do it, do it right,” and it’s kept you from doing things, take heart–I’m giving you permission to do it half-way.

I can’t tell you how many things I’ve put off because I didn’t have the time or energy to do them perfectly, and the sadness of missing out on them.

Recently I made a half-beautiful table and breakfast, and was doubly blessed–by the fun of it and by my children’s gratitude.

Here’s my wrinkled tablecloth and placemat,

store-bought berry,

white-flour waffle on a thrift-store plate,

gravy-boatin’, HFCS syrup,

dollar-store mug,

finger-licking good

family breakfast.

I can’t remember where I found this project, but it was certainly fun.

Melt a bag of butterscotch chips, then mix in a can of Chinese noodles (the crackery, crisp kind). Shape them into “nests” and put them in the frig to set. Fill with jelly beans and enjoy.

The taste was a little overhwhelmingly butterscotch for the kids. I’ve seen them made from chocolate chips. I wonder if peanut butter chips would work as well?

They’d make adorable last-minute Easter gifts for friends.