Daniel & Annabel's Adventures: April 2017

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Another Fin-Tastic Party with Family!

We finally concluded Annabel's birthday month of fun last weekend with a family party! The weather was GORGEOUS, sunny bright and warm! It was so nice to have everybody here and get some fresh air at the same time!

We had everybody here for lunch (Jersey Mike's sandwiches- yum!), played some games (Star Wars Carcassone for the boys, Uno for the girls), Annabel demonstrated Daddy's Goodwill find from a year ago- the clown bike, Grandma Cheryl and Aunt Christina did Dory origami with Annabel, presents were opened on the deck, my rockin' Dory cake was devoured as was the strawberry shortcake, and then Annabel had fun beginning to check out her new presents! Felicity was dolled up in her new dress, a fun Dory activity bucket was opened, a Paris backpack was donned, books were perused, and Annabel mostly just couldn't wait to check out the kit where she could write her very own story that she can send to be published! ("Published, Mommy! My very first published book!!" said with eyes twinkling!)

It was a great party all around and Annabel loves everything she got- she is just so thrilled and such a doll about all her enthusiasm! Happy Birthday (again!) Annabel! What a fun month of celebrating it's been! We know you'll LOVE being 6 (you already do!)!!

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Home Improvement: Mud Nook!

Ever since we looked at this house the very first time, we said we planned to rip out the wet bar in the family room, wall it off, rip out the other side and put in a mud nook. We finally got that project done! Ben designed an AWESOME mud nook! He worked all Fall to get it mostly done (and it was a good thing it was done back then since his thumb injury in January curtailed all projects the rest of Winter!) and then I finally just found hooks I liked about a month ago (we found out that we are basically hook snobs, or at least we are picky- we wanted a certain look and just couldn't find it, but World Market came to the rescue with some beautiful colorful ceramic hooks that I just love!) so now we can finally say it's done! And it's getting some GREAT use! I just LOVE having this mud nook! The kids' shoes go in the shoe cubbies in the middle, their hats and gloves go in the bins to the left and right (Daniel on the left, Annabel on the right). And the cubbies are all deep enough for TWO bins, so we actually have a summer/winter switch-out, too. No more finding a place for it all come season switch time and no more hunting and trying to remember where we even put it either! I also love that my reusable and drawstring bags are all in bins on top, too, handy for daily trips to the park and our library trips. I even have a bins for my summer/winter gear on top as well. And the kids have a central place to keep any outdoor items, such as binoculars, magnifying glasses, etc. We just have such awesome storage and the shoes no longer take over the garage entryway hallway! Coats and backpacks go on the hooks. We can sit on the bench and put our shoes on. It's just an amazing space for us!

And...wait for the kicker!!! We have a secret about this mud nook...
Take a look and see...

Ta-da!! (Well, minus hooks.)

Doesn't it look awesome??!!!

Now for the reveal of our secrets...

Here's a behind-the-scenes, making of a mud nook...

Old wall ripped out, new wall studded in!

Our family tradition...drawing on the inside of the dry-wall before walling it in!

Annabel drew lots of pictures! ("a scenery of 3," in fact!)

Daniel...wrote his name. To each his own!

Getting there...bench being installed and Daniel helped!

Looking more like a mud nook now!

One more look at the finished project!

Here comes our secret!

That wall...is a door!!

We have shelves for our shoes inside the mud nook!

Isn't that genius?!

I LOVE this hidden space for our extra shoes and boots!

The shelves are all adjustable, too.

(And yes, that door did get painted white on the back, it just hadn't been done when I took this picture.)

Then we finally found hooks!

Here's what they look like, since you can't tell in my pictures at all...

Aren't they awesome?! Love the pop of color.

The kids were SO excited to be able to hang their things when they woke up one morning and it was all done!!

We sure love this latest home improvement project!!

Monday, April 24, 2017

Hoppy Easter!

We had a fun Easter this year. The kids were filled with all sorts of questions about the Easter Bunny- how does he get in our house, how does he know what we like, and so on. Oh boy! Daniel and Annabel also both made pictures and marshmallow sculptures for the Easter Bunny, too. It was all so cute!

We finally got around to dyeing Easter Eggs the Saturday of Easter weekend. I told you before- April was a really busy month! So this was basically our first and only chance to do eggs; it felt really late, but it was also a really fun activity to fill our weekend. As always the kids were bummed they only had 6 eggs each to dye, but guess who doesn't eat any of these eggs? The kids! Mom and Dad are stuck eating them all! So, they survive and they enjoy dyeing the eggs they do get. Daniel was really cute and wanted to really turn a few of his eggs strong colors, so he requested we set the timer and get them really soaking- and the teal greenish-blue ones sure turned out really bright this way! Both kids also tried to write on the eggs, which only worked out so-so this year. Annabel also painted a few with a paintbrush and she had fun with that. I love to dye eggs!

Before bed, we got out our Easter baskets and all our plastic eggs for the Easter Bunny to reuse (saving the Earth- the kids were keen to do that!), and the kids laid out all their art for the Bunny to take with him. They both instructed Ben and I not to stay up too late so the Easter Bunny would come!

And in the morning, the kids made sure to wake each other up bright and early and go immediately to the play room to peek over the railing and see if he came and if they could find any of their eggs! They could. They found a bunch while they were waiting for me to wake up and get my contacts in. Then we all came down together and the kids had fun checking out their baskets of goodies and then got right to work finding all their eggs! So fun! We thought we'd found them all, but a few days later, Annabel found one that she missed on Easter, which she was absolutely tickled about! One hunt down, two to go.

Later that morning we headed to Grandma Cheryl and Grandpa Gary's house for a hunt and brunch there, too, with all of my family. Grandpa hid them all inside this year on the main floor and upstairs and he hid them pretty hard. The kids had to really look! Brunch was yummy and then the kids all ran downstairs and had some fun cousin time! When the cousins all left, Annabel had fun playing a few games with Grandma and showing her the new fancy lettering word art books the Easter Bunny gave her. So we had a great Easter there! Two hunts down, one to go.

We came home for a bit to chill and then we headed to Grandma Mary Kay and Grandpa Larry's house to hunt for eggs there, too. Those eggs were really hard to find- lots of clues needed!! Then we played Legos, tried out Annabel's new jump rope, had dinner and gobbled up Grandma's bunny cake! Whew- busy day! We were all pretty tired by the end of the day; reminded me why I like Christmas all spread out over a couple days! But it worked just fine, and the kids were thrilled to do all those egg hunts and gobble up all that sugar! Monday was back to school and a nice quiet resting day for me. Whew. Fun fun!

Dyeing eggs!