Summer Projects

This summer I decided to get a little crafty and create some projects around the house to do. Since I had my summer off, Addison and I stayed inside most of the time because of the scorching temperatures. I decided that Addison's room needed some artwork over her bed so I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to pick up my 3 canvas panels and paint. I decided to paint 3 different panels to make it look like one big picture when hung on the wall side-by-side. My inspiration for the artwork was Addison's bedding and curtain hanging in her room.

This is a before picture of the wall above her bed .. very plain, don't you think?

These are the paintings that my sister, Abby and I painted one afternoon. I also chose to paint a scripture on the paintings. The scripture I chose was 2 Peter 3:18 "Grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord." I'm hoping it will inspire and encourage Addison to do so as she grows older.

This is another after picture of the paintings. I did get Danny to hang them up, but I haven't taken a picture of them actually haning on the wall in her room. It is amazing how a small little picture or painting can make such a huge difference to the room.

Another project I tackled this summer was making pillows for my "Reading Center" for my classroom at Harvest Preschool. I thought it would be a fun and comfy way to encourage reading in the classroom and so far they have been successful. Once again, I made a trip to Hobby Lobby to pick out some fabric and some throw pillows.

My fabrics that I picked out with the help of my sister, Abby. We tried to pick out material that the kids would like.

Here are the after pictures! I was very proud of myself for making these pillows and they are very comfortable!

I even had enough fabric left over to make Addison some pants. She looked so cute in them!

Beach Bound Baby!

Beach bound for a week and it was absolutely wonderful! Danny and I took Addison to the beach with some friends of ours and their little ones back in July. Addison enjoyed playing with Emma Grace and Brayden enjoyed laying around at the beach. This was Addison's second trip to the beach, but she was much smaller last year when we took a family trip with my family in June 2009. We spent our days on the beach and swimming in the pool and our nights eating out at the local eateries of Destin, Florida. It was so nice to take a "break" from the everyday hustle and bustle of life and enjoy a nice family vacation with good friends.

Can we go to the beach yet? Addison was ready to hit the sand and build a sand castle.

This was our view from the balcony of the condo. It was very nice and relaxing to just sit out on the balcony and listen to the waves crashing.

The family when we first arrived at the condo.

She loved the beach!

Beach babies!

Addison loved playing in the sand and the water at the beach.

Addison's sand castle built with the help of Daddy.

Sweet friends enjoying their fun time at the beach. This was right before we went out to dinner at the Crab Trap.

Addison caught the shark! This was a fake shark hanging outside of the BassPro Shop in Destin.

Family picture because everyone needs a family portrait on the beach!

Addison and Emma Grace helping us load up the luggage carts on our last day at the beach.

The ride home from the beach wasn't complete without a snack! We had a great time at the beach with beautiful weather and water ... can't wait for next year's trip to the beach!