Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Glasses

As if it wasn't hard enough on my sappy heart when she turned 5...

she had to go and get glasses and look even older!

Melody picked out her glasses herself.  She chose the ones with the Princess Jasmine charm on them.  Shocker, I know.  The glasses case is fashioned like a purse with a little jewel clasp. She is in full glasses-heaven.

Friday, February 10, 2012

Extreme Closet Makeover

Anyone who knows me, knows I can be a little obsessive when it comes to cleanliness and organizing.  (Alright, Lauren, I see you rolling your eyes. Ok, fine. A lot obsessive.)

Lately, I've been having issues with my boys' closets staying organized and just all around neat looking.

So, I decided to do a closet makeover...

Both their closets have sliding doors and essentially take up a whole wall in their not-too-large-rooms.
Here is a "before" shot of Charlie's closet.  Clothes, toys, random stuff up on the shelves, etc.


I decided to remove the doors and utilize the closet space as a play/reading area.  It worked great and added substancial space to their bedrooms.

This is what Charlie's room looked like after I took the doors off (which was surprisingly easy) and took everything out of the closet.


The "after" shot:
It's a little hard to tell, but I painted both closets the same color as the walls.  Both boys have a light blue in their room (SW Icicle).  With the doors removed, there's not only space to play in the closet, but all the space the open doors used to take up.
I used canvas bins on the top self to hold out-of-season or not-yet-grown-into clothes and any other miscellaneous items.
Charlie's room theme is airplanes.  I decided the carry a "sky" theme into the closet and got some glow-in-the-dark space wallies to compliment the airplane theme.  (You can see them if you look closely.)  Charlie LOVED how his room "glowed" last night when he went to bed.


Jacks' room is pretty much the same layout as Charlie's room.  I was too lazy to walk downstairs to get my camera to take a "before" shot.
In Jack's room, I used half the closet to hold his dresser and hang his clothes. The other half, I designed as a reading nook (his bookcase is right outside the closet).  Jack asked for Transformer (his latest obsession) wallies and decorated the inside of the closet himself.



I am so happy I did this! I think it turned out great.  The boys have more room in their bedrooms now and I feel like their closets are better organized and have more functionality.  All in all it was an easy and super-cheap project.  It only took a few hours (including drying time between coats) to paint.  Since I painted the closet the same color as their rooms, I used paint I already had.  So, the only expense I really incurred was the storage bins.

I did initially consider painting the closets a different shade of blue or another color all together.  However, since one of my goals was to make the room seem larger, I opted to streamline and use the same color.  Since this color is so light to, needing to repaint in the event of a move, etc, there's really no need to repaint.

And, yes, now Melody wants her closet done as well.  Of course.  Her room is quite large and so is her closet, so I think that's going to have to wait for now!






Thursday, February 2, 2012

If tanning beds existed...

back in Sleeping Beauty's day, this is what she would look like:


Yes, Princess Aurora came to Melody's birthday party.  Melody was almost as speechless as she was the first time she met Aurora but was able to regain her composure and had a blast at her Princess Pajama Party!

They painted faces...compelete with pixie dust, a special gift from Tinkerbell




They had cupcakes




and played games.  Not to mention that Princess Aurora did an AMAZING job of asnwering endless questions about all the other princesses.  She ovbiously knows them well.


and every party-goer left with a pillow-pet to snuggle with!  (The little brother stayed.)


What more could a princess ask for!

Monday, January 30, 2012

5

Five years, 2 hours, and 8 minutes ago

this princess joined our family

and our life has been full of glitter, sparkes, and love ever since!!



Happy Birthday to our precious Melody!

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Last year....

So two weeks ago, I pledged to blog more.

And I'm determind to get a year-in-review post in here before Febrary.

So...get ready beacuse here it is!

In January someone celebrated their 4th birthday and got a big-girl bike!


We had more lost teeth

And a visit with our favorite family!

We saw the BCS National Trophy


And went to Colorado for Uncle Ben and Aunt Bekah's wedding

Alex and I ran the Warrior Dash again


 Someone turned 7


And we did lots of strawberry and blackberry pickin'.



We also went to the beach


Visited with our Florida friends again

And then went back to the beach.


We got even further away from the baby stage when this little guy got potty trained.


Melody and Charlie we asked to model for my friend Sherry's awesome line of children's clothing and are now famous and being offered modeling contracts all over the world. Ok, I might have exaggerated that last part...


Four out of five Powells went back to school...including this little guy who started preschool this year!


We cheered


And played football


And celebrated a third birthday with cupcakes


Our favorite family come to visit again and we had fun with our friendly rivalry


At Thanksgiving we got to meet our new cousin, Holden Luke


And then watch him get baptized in December


We went on a ski trip to Beaver Creek, CO. Jack learned how to ski backwards and Melody thought riding the gondola was more fun than skiing.


And then we wrapped up our busy 2011 with a great Christmas at home!


Can't wait to see what 2012 has in store for us!

Monday, January 2, 2012

2012

Happy New Year!


And, yes, one of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more! How did you guess?

Friday, October 21, 2011

Cold and Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I do not like cold weather.

At all.

When it gets cold I'm unmotivated to do anything other than bake cookies and eat them.

So, since we had our first real cold snap this week, that's exactly what my little baking beauty and I did!


Yummy pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!



I included the recipe for any other cold weather bakers out there.

No, even with the pumpkin, they are not good for you.

But they are so yummy it's worth it!


1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup pumpkin
1 whole egg and 1 egg white
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups cholocate chips
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
powdered sugar

Sift sugar, four, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a medium mixing bowl.
Combine shortening, pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla in a smaller mixing bowl and then add them to the dry ingredients.
Blend well.
Add chocolate chips.
Blend well.

Drop by spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 9-11 minutes. 

Lightly dust with powdered sugar if desired.

Be careful not to overbake.  The cookies will be moist and cake-like.

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