Pictures!

Finally totally finished with Bella's rom and boy does it feel good!  We worked on hanging pictured over the weekend and adding the finishing touches.  So now, I can finally post some pictures.  First I have to give a disclaimer.  Isabella is six and she actually lives in this room.  What do I mean by this?  You know how sometimes you see pictures of rooms that are posted on websites and you think 'Yeah, but does anyone really use that room?'.  Well she uses this room.  As evidenced by all the 'stuff ' in it. Ha!  This is not a model room or a nursery waiting for a baby. 

This is looking in from her door.

The letters over her bed I got at Joann's and painted them then used scrapbook paper (Basic Grey) and Mod Poged in on.  I added different elements to some of the letters like a little bling crown, rub on words, a flower, etc.  added ribbon and hung them. 

This view if from the opposite side. 

The valances are gingham and have rick rack trim, got them on sale at Kohl's.  Her furniture was her nursery furnitur that converted to a full sized bed, same dresser.    You can see her many scrapbooks on the top of her dresser.  The poster in between her windows she picked out and we just bought a cheap-o frame from Michaels. (It is wooden but looks black in the picture.)  The little shelf in the corner is from Target and holds her CD player that she got when she was born.  CD's and DVD/s and some little things of hers.

This is the wall that the door is on.

The little signs say SING, DANCE and LAUGH, another Target find.  The shelf I got at Joann's and painted to match the room.  That is her TV in the corner on her bookshelf. 

Just another view. 

The little heart shaped shelf Bella made at  Home Depot.  I painted it to match the room.

She hung her Home Depot apron on it and her Dance Company bag on it. 

The keyboard was a hand me down from a neighbor, she loves it.  Best thing about it is that it has head phones so that she can practice and the whole house doesn't have to hear it.  Ha!

The wicker basked was a gift from my sister meant for her dress up clothes, but they  now fit in her closet.  So, her many, many stuffed animals go there.  Believe it or not she went through her animals and gave away two for each one she kept!   She also made a spice rack at Home Depot and has had me paint that as well and wants that hung in her room so that she can display her 'specimen jars' on the rack!  She has things like butterfly wings she has found and robin's eggs and a  hornet's nest (minus the hornet) all in little jars.  She is a collecter, my girl. 

So that's the grand tour of our little princesses room.  What do you think?  I'd love to get some feedback.

One more picture to share with you today.  My hubby surprised me with a special gift yesterday for Valentine's Day.  Here she is:

I have coveted this statue for my garden for sometime now, but have never been able to find her.

Well, while Christmas shopping I came across her and boy, was I delighted!  I told Jim about my find and where he could locate her and I told the shop owner that if Jim should come in that she was to let him know I wanted her.  I told him that Mother's Day would be the perfect time to give her to me.  So I was  not at all expecting to find her waiting for me when I got home from work yesterday. 

But I must say,  he does take direction well.  Ha!

I can't wait for the weather to warm up so that I can find the perfect spot for her in my garden!

 

Five Days Off!!!

And what did I do?  Here's a brief rundown.  It started Tuesday night with my birthday.  (Thanks to everyone for the good wished!)  After dinner, Michelle and I went out to see New Moon.  Loved it!
Wednesday it was just me and Bella.  We got a manicure, cleaned the house, set the table for turkey day, ironed and got my hair cut.  She was terrific and ever so patient!  We had a great day. 

Thursday, I got up and started the preparations for Thanksgiving dinner.  I cut, peeled, chopped, sauteed, baked, boiled, pureed, and whipped.  We had my BIL Bill, my SIL Linda and my Nephew Ben.  It was a wonderful day and a delicious meal-if I do say so myself!  We don't get to see Jim's side of the family too ofter and it was so nice and relaxed, and fun.  And Jim and Tim cleaned up the kitchen!

Mmmmm!

Friday dawned early!  Actually, Michelle and I beat the dawn.  We got up to go shopping at 1:30 AM!  We hit all the hot spots and found lots of good deals and waited on a few lines.  Gymboree was the worst line-2.5 hours!  All for $5.99 pj's.  While I waited in line, Michelle made good use of the time and hit 3 other stores and the food court for a drink.  We had a blast and got home at 12:30PM.  Jim had taken Bella to have breakfast w/the Grinch in Downtown and they walked around the town afterwards taking part in 'Frosty Friday' in Frederick.  They made plans to be back to greet Santa as he came to town later that evening.  After he got home he informed me that we had no turkey left over (Read: no WHITE meat) and asked me to cook another turkey so we'd have leftovers.  I must  have been deleriously tired, because I agreed!  Later we all went to greet Santa in the cold, windy night.  Brrrrr!

See those smiles?  Well worth a little cold weather! 

We also got a little decorating done.  If you are not already aware of this, we are nuts!  Jim particularly.  We put up MANY trees!  One in the living room, one in the family room, one in Michelle's room, Bella's room, Timmy's room, the front porch, my Scrapatorium and the Dining Room.  The family room tree is the 'family tree' with colored lights, whimsical ornaments and red berry beads on it.  The living room tree is more formal; white lights, white angel on top, decorations in white, red, green and pink.  My tree in the scrapatorium is pink with fun, crafty ornaments on it and the dining room tree is my wine tree.  On the front porch we have a small tree with birds and bird houses on it, also with white lights, and the kids decorate their own with ornaments that they have been given over the years.  It's a lot of work, but we love it!  So far we have 5 up and decorated.

(living room)

We also got out our Santa collection.  We began collecting these after Jim's mother died.  She has a collection of them and each of the kids and grandkids  choose one as their own after her passing.  Since then we have each gotten one a year and Jim just doesn't know when to stop!  I have begged him to stop buying more, but he takes such joy in them he doesn't want to.  So, I find places to showcase them all-like this:

This picture shows eight, so you can imagine! 

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!