Oh Snap!shots of the Week {37}

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Last week's "people's choice" favorite was this beautiful lighthouse captured by Brighton who gave it just the right amount of vintage feel.

Photography by Brighton at Simple Brighton

Brighton, this badge is for you!

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My favorite photo was this precious little man with his eye on the prize, just waiting for the right moment to attack.
Photography by Melissa at Dream Weaver's Wife

Melissa, this badge is for you!

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This week I chose to feature this mustached little guy just waiting for his arrival.  What a cute idea if you're having a boy!
Photography by Michelle at Mama Said

Michelle, this badge is for you!

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I can hardly believe I am sharing this photo with you guys but it really and truly is my favorite photo of the week. I am not the type of mother to share bare bottom photos my child..not even on Facebook with my friends as so many parents seem to do. I just worry too much about where the photo will end up.  This one, however, I just couldn't resist.  I, of course, added a censored icon to it for privacy and good taste.    

So what's the story behind this photo? Well, this past weekend Jonathan and I spent several days out in the yard paving a brick patio for Jonathan's new grill.  Brody spent most of his weekend playing in the dirt and swimming in his inflatable pool.  He occasionally had to go potty, but since he was wet and dirty we told him to just pee in the bushes.  {This makes us sound so redneck...which we are not!} He, being a total boy, thought this was awesome.  The first time he did it, I snuck in a couple pictures for the fun of it. I couldn't help but laugh as I took them and Brody caught me snapping the pictures.  Brody then thought he was hilarious and asked me to take a picture each and every time he peed in the bushes.  Each time he would say, "take my picture, Mommy!" as he giggled and waved to me.  ;)

I love that silly boy! {And one day his wife and kids will love me for taking this photo!} 

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Paving the Way for Home Improvements:: DIY Brick Patio

{If you'd rather skip the long-winded back story and just read about our DIY home improvement, skip down to the pictures below.}

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When Jonathan and I got married we bought a townhouse. We thought it was a great idea because of it's location and relatively low price for the area we live in. At the time I was attending grad school about 45 minutes north of our new home and Jonathan worked about 30 minutes (with traffic) south of our home. We figured it was a good compromise of location because of how far we each had to drive and because we loved the area surrounding us and the options it gave us when we weren't at work or school.

The plan was to live here the three years I was in grad school. After graduation, we were going to stay here for another 1-2 years and continue living off of only Jonathan's salary while I used all of my salary to pay off the student loan. Then, we would move to a bigger home and start having babies.

Well, God had a different plan for us.

My third year of grad school we accidentally got pregnant. Though it was an accident on our part, we know that it was no accident on God's part! The timing was impeccable. I was able to finish my last year of grad school in May 2009 and Brody was born 3 weeks later. While Brody was a newborn I studied for my boards. It was tough to say the least, but that's another story for another time I suppose. After passing the boards, I continued to stay home and raise Brody until he was just shy of a year old.

That's when we decided it was time for me to go to work part-time, 2 days a week. At the time, it was summer and we were able to find babysitters to watch Brody while I worked a few hours each week. But, once the Fall semester began we lost our daytime babysitters and had to put Brody in a local "preschool" {really, it was daycare where they taught him during the day}. That worked fine for awhile, but eventually Brody cried every time I dropped him off at "school." It broke my heart. I had never planned to be a working mom. We took a look at our finances and realized I was not making any money by the time we paid for Brody's school and the gas I used to travel to patients' homes. Since I had been working for almost a year and had gained some experience, Jonathan gave me the "OK" to quit working and stay at home with Brody full-time again.

All this to say, here we are in the same townhouse SIX years later...two years longer than we thought we'd be here. With my student loan still weighing on our shoulders and the economy's downturn, it seems impossible to get out of our home anytime soon.  With Baby #2 on the way {two more babies than we thought we'd raise here}, we are finding ourselves beyond cramped in our three bedroom townhouse and annoyed to still be here. Annoyed mostly because there have been several home improvements we always wanted to do to our home, but never did them...because we thought "we'll only be living here for 4 years and then we will buy a new home."

Well, we've recently accepted defeat and decided that we are no longer going to put off the home improvements we want to make in order to be less annoyed while we are stuck here in this townhouse.  Because, who knows, we might be stuck here another six years {eek!} and we'd hate to look back at all the things we should have done to make living more comfortable.

And this leads me to our first home improvement.  The home improvement that is paving the way for many more home improvements...a brick patio for our grill.  Our new grill to be precise! Jonathan has been dying for a new grill for years now since the grill we had was the one handed down to us by my grandmother when we got married six years ago. It was my grandfather's grill prior to our ownership but once he passed my grandmother had no need for it.  It was old when we got it to say the least.  For six years, Jonathan has been cooking on it while trying to avoid getting rust into our food. I'm laughing as I write this because it sounds so terrible and I can't believe we dealt with it for so long.  But, once again, it was one of those things we thought we would buy once we moved to a new home.  Ahh! What a cycle we were caught in!

So, for Father's Day {in addition to the cute pictures Brody took for his daddy}, we gave Jonathan a new grill! With the little bit of money I have made from this blog we were able to get him a decent grill and buy the materials needed to pave a brick patio where the grill would sit.  You see, prior to this past weekend, the grill always sat on top of pine straw.  Since that's a fire hazard, we would roll the grill over to the cement patio each time we cooked.  Besides being a pain each time we wanted to grill, it was a huge eye soar. But, enough explaining.  Let's take a look at the before and after of our weekend project!...

Here is how we did it:


Step 1: Begin with a hideous area that severely needs some brick lovin'!

Step2: Remove all pine straw {or whatever is in your way of the ground} and dig down 4-6 inches.  We were lucky enough to have 3 sides bordered with the house and patio.  If you don't have a border already in place, you would need to create one at the point.  {You can google how to do this}.  We only had to add one border which we created with treated wood.

Step 3: Refill the area with paver's dirt {which is basically crushed granite}, making sure to level and pack down the dirt every couple of inches.  This will create a solid base for your bricks, making sure they don't shift during inclement weather and day-to-day use.  The paver's dirt should be added until you've reached two inches below your desired patio level.  {This is assuming your bricks are two inches in height as our were.  A typical brick is 2"(h)x4"(w)x8"(l).}

Step 4: At this point you really want to make sure your paver's dirt is as level as you can possibly get it.  Making the area level was the hardest part of this project...especially if you are perfectionists like Jonathan and I.  At some point, we finally realized it didn't have to be perfect, just good enough. Then you can begin laying the brick in the pattern of your choice. There are lots of patterns to choose from and you can do a simple Google search to find them.  We used the ever-so-popular running bond pattern as this is perfect for small spaces.  We started at the end that would be most visible and worked toward the wall. This assures you are left having irregular cuts in the area less visible.

Step 5: This brings us to cutting the bricks.  We used a circular saw with a masonry blade to make the cuts at each end and at the top edge.  Don't laugh...we obviously need a cutting bench too.  The  cooler did the trick well enough for this project though. :)

Step 6: Once all your bricks are in place, sweep paver's sand {not the same thing as paver's dirt used in step 3} across the bricks.  The sand will fill into the "joints" of the bricks.  Once you've covered the entire area, sweep all the remaining sand off of the area and use a light mist from your water hose to wet the area.  *Note: It's important all the sand is swept off before wetting the area. Otherwise, you will be left with stained bricks.  Also, when wetting the area, be careful not to spray directly into the brick joints.  Let the area dry completely and repeat this step at least 3 more times.

Step7: Once the fourth layer of paver's sand has dried into the brick joints, you should be left with a brick patio that can withstand daily use and harsh weather.

Step 8: Then, all you have to do is enjoy your new patio and feel proud that you did it yourself!  We sure feel like we accomplished something huge this weekend...even if it was just a small area that will be mostly covered by the grill and the hose.  It looks a TON cleaner and much more organized in that area now, and we can't stop looking at it!

The best part...we did it together and had fun learning the process together! You may be wondering though...where was Brody in all this?

Why, playing in the dirt, of course!!! :)

...And swimming in his inflatable pool.

Now it's time to think about the next project...building a new {Pottery Barn inspired} bed for Brody so that we can use the crib for Baby Girl...who, by the way, is coming in less than 3 months!!!

And let me just add here that even though Brody was unexpected, he is the ABSOLUTE JOY of our lives and we would not trade him for anything...not even to have my loan paid off and live in a bigger house.  Absolutely nothing would be worth trading this sweet little guy for!!! We truly believe that God saw we were about to miss the opportunity of having him in our life and He said, "No! This one is too good to pass up!" :)

Kiddo Krafts:: Thumb Print American Flag

Yesterday afternoon things were getting a little boring, so I decided to break out three flat panel canvases and some leftover paint from our craft closet.  I thought it would be fun for Brody to make an American flag with his thumb prints in honor of the Fourth of July coming up in just a couple of weeks.  We started with the blue, covering an entire rectangular area with blue thumb prints.  While we waited for the blue to dry, we dabbed his thumbs in the red paint and made 7 red stripes, leaving the white canvas as it was to reveal the 6 white stripes.  By the time we finished the red stripes, the blue was dry.  We dabbed his little thumb in the white paint and made 50 white thumb print "stars."

It was a great time to talk about the Fourth of July {in preschool terms, of course}, learn the colors of the American flag, and count the stars and stripes on the flag.  All-in-all it turned out to be a great activity for the both of us.  And now I have some patriotic decor for our breakfast nook!  

This activity could easily be simplified by using only one canvas or just a piece of white card stock. I only used the three canvases because it fit where I had already placed nails for Brody's fabric silhouette. 

Have you made anything with your kiddos for the Fourth of July? I'd love to see them!

        

Handmade Wrapping Paper {Made by Little Hands}

After making such a special Father's Day gift for Jonathan this year, I wanted to make it extra special by putting a personal touch on the gift presentation.  And, more importantly, I really wanted to get Brody involved in the process.  I thought it would be fun if Brody made his own wrapping paper by painting with his Matchbox cars.  Here is how we did it...


First, we gathered the materials we needed:
{all of the materials can be purchased at the dollar store if you don't already have them on hand}
-Finger Paint
-Paper Plates
-Brown Packing Paper
-Plastic Table Cloth
-Toy Cars {one for each color paint}

After getting all the materials in place and {disrobing Brody's upper body} it was time to have some fun! Brody drove his cars through the paint and over the brown paper until it was covered to perfection.

Then we let the paint dry for several hours and wrapped up the picture frame filled with the special photos we took just for Brody's daddy.

Jonathan absolutely loved the wrapping paper. In fact, he actually thought the wrapping paper was the gift! I had to tell him it wasn't a picture but rather wrapping paper for the real present waiting inside!  It was so cute to see Jonathan take such special care as he unwrapped the gift and to see Brody's face gleaming with pride!

I hope y'all had a fabulous Father's Day Weekend too!!!

{This idea was inspired by Little Family Fun}

Oh Snap!shots of the Week {36}

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Last week's people's choice favorite was this silly little man going bananas over his stuffed monkey!  The look of wonder and determination in his eyes says it all.  So cute!
Photography by KewKew at Tots and Me


KewKew, this badge is for you!

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My favorite from last week's party is also filled with wonder {"Where did these toes come from?"} and determination {"I will eat these little piggies!"}.  Just precious!
Photography by Sarah at From Sarah's Camera


Sarah, this badge is for you!

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As for me...I picked three of my own favorites from this week.
Actually, the only photo-taking we did this week was for Jonathan's Father's Day Collage.

It was so much fun to have Brody in on the surprise with me this year. He almost gave it away last night, but we kept a lid on it.  :)

Hope you all have a very Happy Father's Day!!!

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We {Heart} Daddy :: Homemade Father's Day Gift

Well, I guess there is one nice thing about having a husband who never reads your blog...you get to share his Father's Day gift with the world before be even unwraps it!

This week Brody and I {and Baby Girl} have been working on a special collage to give to Jonathan this weekend.  Last time I went to his office I realized he was in dire need of some updated pictures.  His most recent photo of Brody was from when he was 6 months old!  {And the picture of me was from college graduation six years ago. Whoa!}

I'm pretty sure he's going to love it!

The matchbox cars forming the "heart" are all of Jonathan's cars from his childhood that he gave to Brody.

Now that we are finally finished taking the photos and editing them, we are off to the store to print them and find a frame.

Update: Check out the handmade wrapping paper Brody made to wrap this gift here!