While John was gone......

Lillie and I had a busy busy week.  I wanted to get some craft projects done while John was at Lake Powell, and while I did get some accomplished, I didn't get to do everything.  Lillie has been sick this week with croup, so my projects got the backburner.

I know a lot of you (ok, all 3 of you that read this) are probably wondering why I didn't go to Powell with John and his family.  It is a long story, but the simplified answer is that Lillie needed me.  I wanted to go, but I couldn't pump enough milk for Lillie to eat if I went and she wouldn't take a bottle.  So, I got to stay home and good thing I did.  I would have felt awful to leave and have her get sick like she is.

Moving on. We still had a fun time at family BBQs and parties.  Lillie didn't like the fireworks.  I think they scared her a little. She was fine though as long as we kept our distance.

When I had a spare moment, this is what I did:

I wanted to start a fun tradition with our kids for their birthdays.  I saw this wreath on a different blog and loved the idea of pulling it out for every birthday just to make it a little more special then every other day.

I didn't have any patriotic decor, so I made this using some cheap wood, paint and hot glue....yes, hot glue.  I didn't have the right nails, so I improvised.

Lastly, I haven't quite finished these yet, but I thought I would show the work in progress.  I wanted something to hold shoes in our mudroom and found the plans to make this on a website called knockoffwood.com.  It was perfect and surprisingly not too hard to make.

I still need to add the front kickplate on this bench.  The wood I got for it is warped and I definitely need it straight.  I obviously need to paint it too.  The only question is, black or red? thoughts?

This is the shelf that goes above the bench.  It still needs a little work, but I am proud of the results of both.

So, that is my week in a nut shell.