my first portraits!

i decided that i needed to paint portraits of my boys.

of course, with no real training, i did the best i could.

here is parker.

here he is in oil paint.

i even got his eye colors right!

nathan

nathan after paint.

i think i captured his attitude nicely!

i think nates turned out better. but i love them both!

go broncos!

parker's 10th birthday was yesterday.

how did he get so old?

(yes, chris did have hair at one point!)

when we went to disneyland this year, i got him one of those neck things so he could sleep in the car.

it was only $3 at walgreens but it had a boring cover on it.

but it worked and i used it the ENTIRE way home while sick with strep.

since parker got a bike for his birthday, we couldn't really afford to buy him much more. but i didn't want him to only get a bike. i don't know why.

so i got the cover off of the neck pillow and used it as a pattern.

(what, you don't craft on a table that has star wars action figures on it too?)

i only got a quarter yard of fleece broncos fabric, which turns out to be not enough width wise but i made it work. this side is the one that has an opening so you can slide the pillow in and out.

and for the solid side i just used 2 halves.

and yes, i did sew this together wrong and had to seam rip and re-sew.

im brilliant.

the end result!

not too shabby! and parker didn't even get upset by the fact that he ONLY got a new bike!

girls go crazy for a sharp dressed man...

my nathan is adorable!

he is turning 7 today and can not wait. in fact, for the past month, he asked me to tell people that he is 7 because 'i basically am'.

at church, i used to put himin a golf shirt and tan pants and call it good.

that is no longer working for mr sharp dressed man. he needs a tie.

i made him one awhile back here and he alternates between the one i made and the christmas one.

the last trip to the thrift store i knew i needed to find a new church shirt (his was short sleeved and we are getting to long sleeved weather here in utah). well not only did i SCORE on a $4 arrow, wrinkle free shirt but this cute tie as well!

if you can't tell from the look in his eyes, he is a child who will cause me lots of trouble.

but he will be well dressed doing it!

oh and ps...dont forget my giveaway!

what nate did while everyone else watched football and ate chips...

aunt pegs better watchout because nate is a jewerly making machine!

he made me this beauty while the rest of the family was watching the utah game.

it was suppose to be a necklace, but was a little too short, so momma got a new bracelet!

tell me that isnt the most beautiful thing you have ever seen!?

oooppps! i need a halloween costume!

well here i am to the rescue!

if you are lucky, your child won't want to wear an ugly, bought over the internet costume...

i hate this costume.

SO MUCH!

but i love parker so i made him happy and ordered it.

nate wanted to be a ninja and i got to make his costume.

and if you are short on time-you can be a ninja too!

lets work from the bottom up.

i got a pair of sneaker that i was ready to throw away anyhow, and just put a pair of men's socks over them to be ninja boots. i get the socks from the $1 store and by the end of trick or treating, they are trashed! so i chuck the shoes and the socks away.

next are your basic sweatpants. in this case, i happened to have a pair of black long underwear for nate.

black long sleeved shirt and a piece of black fabric or scarf for a belt.

$3 ninja sword from savers.

now for the hat/heard piece...

you need a long sleeved black shirt.

don't put your head the whole way thru, just have your face looking out.

tie the arms of the shirt around the back of the head and move the head hole around until you have covered most of your face.

so easy!

now get out there and get some candy!

best. halloween. decoration. ever.

most of the time when kids bring home a halloween decoration from school, i hang it up then chuck it november 1st.

this is one that parker made on his own when he was about 4.

it is just on a post it note.

and it goes up every year.

has to be the cutes frankenstein ever!

ps-parker always refers to frank sinatra as frankenstein just to tease me.

i'm just happy he loves frank almost as much as i do!

what can YOU spell?

a long long time ago i got a bunch of these wood 2x4 square blocks. the person who donated them to d.i. had panted and sanded all these, and then i come along and buy them for 25 cents each.

so worth it!

so i primed them.

then painted them black, but not with black spray paint. that was my original plan, then modge podge some letters on the blocks.

i used chalk board paint. 

can you see where i'm headed with this?

so this is kinda halloween-y.

this one worked out well too.

then my nate came home from school, picked up the chalk and wrote this...

yes friends, that says 'poo'.

very typical nate.

although, poo can be very scary. so maybe i will leave it up.

nate's new tie

it all started with me innocently buying a tie for nate at kohls. it was a christmas clip on tie, but it was like $1, so i got it.

the next thing i know, he wants to wear it to church.

with a striped golf shirt.

in july.

he gets his fashion sense from his daddy!

the next time i hit d.i. (a local chain of thrift stores),

i found this men's tie for $2.

the little man on it is a stripling warrior (don't know that story? check it out here)

first, i had chris tie it around nate's neck to see where i had to cut it off at.

then i seam ripped the tie to expose the 'guts'.

i had to make the 'guts' skinnier since the tie had to be skinny for nate's neck.

then i cut the tie shorter and just eye balled how skinny to make it.

then i realized that i couldn't just sewing machine this shut. DARN!

i hand stitched it closed and told nate that every stitch was me saying 'i love you' to him.

(he bought it)

the final product!

this little shirt was also from d.i.-a whole $2!

 i think he looks very sharp!

and a special thank you to steve sokol for re-tieing the tie saturday night for me! (chris was out of town and i don't know how to tie ties!)