playroom table & chairs

I've been slowly working on updating our playroom.

I have a few things that I've picked up from various garage sales over the years and I've been meaning to give them a fresh coat of paint. I just got around to it recently and am happy with the results.

So here is one of the chairs I bought. It came with another chair just like it and a table that was beyond repair. I paid $10 for all 3 pieces (and tossed the table). The chairs were vintage and super heavy duty. Yup should do for my boys!

Then I came across this Ikea bench. You can't tell from the photo but it was in rough shape. The paint on the back was all scratched and chipped. 

I paid $5-$10 for it (I can't remember now).

Next I bought this sturdy little table for $10. I don't have the before, before picture. This is after I had painted a small chalkboard area on the top.

I freshened up the chalkboard paint and painted the legs white. Actually I was going for cream... it looked so much creamier than white in the store. Honest!

I painted the chairs blue and the bench all one colour. 

Again, you can see that I'm 'paint colour challenged' because I was going for a more cherry red but got a rusty-brownish red instead. Sigh.

I love the way the chairs turned out though so I might just paint the bench to match.

That's a peek at our little 'work bench' as my boys like to call it. All the pieces fit together as a great set, ready for hours of entertainment - even for fort building. 
Not bad for $30!

top refashion

A while back some of my girlfriends arranged a clothing swap. 

We got together with our clothes that we no longer wore and swapped them for new ones. It's a great - free - way to mix up your wardrobe.

This is one of the tops I picked up that day:

I really liked it but it was a bit tight. 

Since I'd been wanting to try out some 'refashioning' techniques I thought this would be a great start. 

I decided to turn this top into a fun little bag for summer. 

I turned it inside out and cut some fabric to line the inside of the bag. I used jersey because the shirt had a bit of stretch to it. I also stitched a little pocket onto one of the panels.

I cut off the elastic from the built-in bra...

...and stitched the jersey to the lining in the top.

Then I stitched the straps to the other side to make a strap/handle.

And that's it! A cute top converted into a simple bag.

And voila. A free bag!

 

our summer vacation

As you may have noticed, I've been away for a few days. My hubby and I packed up the kids and headed to beautiful Montreal. I don't know what it is about that city but it is so easy to fall in love with, every time we go.

We spent a bit of time in Montreal and then we drove down to Parc Safari, just south of the city. For those of you not familiar, the main feature there is a 4 to 5 km park that you drive your car through and feed 'wild' animals. It's super cool and something that I'd always wanted to do myself. I may have used my kids as an excuse to do it. Just maybe.

So we drove through the park, stopping along the way to feed the animals, having wonderful 'family bonding' moments. 

And then it happened: Evan announces that he has to pee. 
And when a 4 year old says he has to pee, it means it's already just about coming out and you need to get to that bathroom 5 minutes ago.

Did I mention that at Parc Safari, you're not allowed to get out of your car?! We had only driven about a kilometer of the 5 kilometer trail so at this point, I had think fast. 

I contemplated speeding through the rest of the trail at the risk of plowing down some poor innocent hungry animal. 

My husband suggested opening the door a crack and letting him pee out the door.  
Umm. Have you seen the aim of a 4-year old boy?! 

At this point we were desperate. 
But there were other carloads of people nearby so THAT was not an option.

Then I had an idea. 

We had no other choice.

"Do we have some kind of cup that he can pee into?"

We scanned the back seat and there it was. The gloriously empty MacDonald's cup from the the day before.

I was in disbelief that this was actually happening. I sat there holding the cup while Evan stood in front of me peeing into it. 

I prayed he wouldn't pee on me.

And man that kid had to pee. He filled half the cup!

Once he was done, I put the plastic lid back on so it wouldn't spill. I looked down at it, still with the straw sticking out and then realized I should have taken it out before putting the lid back on. Now one of the kids was going to forget and drink the pee.

I put the pee cup in the cupholder in front of me so I could keep an eye on it. 

It felt so wrong to put it there but I was NOT going to hold a cup of pee for the next hour.

We continued on, feeding the animals, acting like nothing had happened.

The kids were hanging out in the front of the van so they could reach the animals and the whole time I just KNEW the cup was going to get spilled and there would be pee in my van.
 

The pee cup with a straw was stressing me out!

ONE OF MY CHILDREN WERE GOING TO EITHER DRINK OR SPILL PEE IN MY VAN!

My hubby pulled ahead a bit faster, grabbed the cup and dumped it out the window when there was no one around to see. My hero!

We still had a yucky cup to deal with but at least it wasn't going to get spilled. In my van.

We drove about another kilometer up the trail and discovered a bathroom with snack bar. 

Would have been good to know before!!

All I can say is, thank God for little boys. 

Oh, and next time I'm packing pull ups :)

two wheels

Today marked another proud mommy moment...

And a proud Evan moment. 

Today he learned how to ride on two wheels! 

He is so proud of himself. 

And I'm sure it won't be long before he wants to put an engine on that thing....

I may have married the best Dad in the world - he ran along with Evan tirelessly until he got the hang of it (on a pretty hot day).

Oh, and happy Canada Day friends!