Here's to the start of Summer

I am so thankful to have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mommy this summer! When I start my full-time nursing school this upcoming fall I will be grateful for the memories and time I got to spend with Sophia. To kick off summer, we decided to enroll her in swim lessons at our local pool. 

I had a hard time deciding whether to put her into parent-tot (that means I have to bare my mommy-body in public, in a bathing suit…yikes) or level one swim lessons where she would be in the water without me, and instead have two teachers. I was going to take the plunge and enroll her us into parent-tot, but after talking to one of my best friends who is a lifeguard there I decided to enroll her into level one. Why? Sophia is familiar with water now that we got her a kiddie pool for the backyard, so getting into the water would not be an issue (Parent-tot aims toward making your child less freighted when in the water), and after-all we enrolled her in swim lessons because we wanted her to learn how to swim. So level one it was.

I was a nervous wreck today when the lessons began. I know that lifeguards are certified to keep our children safe, but that doesn’t untie the knot a mother feels in her stomach when her child is sitting on the edge of a pool, near water that is deeper than said child’s height.

 The kids get to go down the "big slide" after each class.

 I was just as nervous, if not more, than  Sophia was.

 Thankfully all went well and Sophia had a great time. I am excited to see how much she learns in the next two weeks and to watch her swimming improve as well.

Tuesday Ta-Da

OF COURSE I was online shopping fantasizing for Miss Sophia as usual to procrastinate on housework. I was looking to buy a playhouse for her. We have a pretty large yard and I plan to spend most of our summer enjoying it! Sophia has not one, but THREE, slides in the backyard right now. Sophia loves her slides, I was looking for something that would encourage imaginative play. I fell in love with the little tikes playhouses. I wanted one and was determined to get it. Here is one of my dream playhouses (I’m a kid at heart, what can I say??)

http://www.littletikes.com/kids-toys/woodside-cottage-playhouse

The price tag on this bad boy: $349.99 +shipping. YIKES!

Before I go on, there is something I need to explain.  You see, Joey and I make each other equal, I am more the - live for today kind of person and he is more the - what will be best for the future kind of guy. We always make it work between the two of us; you give a little and take a little. It is a really great thing that Joey is this kind of guy though because he keeps me anchored when I get carried away with my online shopping cart!

 Anyway, Joey’s take on the new playhouse goes something like this: he would rather buy a house that we could all fit into comfortably before we go buying Sophia her own place. Psshh, fine Joey, I guess that would be ideal. So that $349 went into savings. (Ok, not all of it, I was still determined to get a playhouse).

After my great accomplishment with the wicker furniture, I was hoping to find another great deal for the playhouse. I decided to set a limit of $100.  I stalked the same online buying/selling group (mentioned in the furniture post) waiting to find a used playhouse.  I didn’t care how faded it was, I just needed to get my hands on one.

Score! I paid $35 for this house which is much more "do-able", even Joey would agree! It was missing two shutters and was faded. Overall, these were Not.A.Problem. It just needed a little TLC.Thanks to Pinterest, I knew it could be done. YAY!

Sorry for the poor quality, they were taken from my phone.

After loading it up (which took two trips, still worth it) we were off to Menards. What was in my cart? Seven cans of spray paint, a window box, and some house numbers.My grand total: $29.69.

We headed home and I got started with my project after Sophia took a nap.

Enough with the blabbing, here’s the pictures.

The first coat was done in about 2 hours. As you can see there were a few spots missing paint, and a few spots where my paint had ran onto another piece. I decided it would be best to let it dry, so I crossed my fingers that it wouldn't rain overnight.

And it didn't! Whoo-hoo. So I took the house apart and added the second coat of paint before we headed to gymnastics. 

I wanted to give the sink a more realistic look, so I used a multi-color textured spray paint for the "counter" and a metallic silver for the faucet. The picture doesn't do it justice, because it turned out awesome!

 

When we got home, I started to put the pieces together and add the finishing touches.

My solution to the missing two shutters?

Adding a window box outside the kitchen sink. This may have been the most challenging part! My super-duper drill was too fat to fit into the window box to screw it to the wall. I even resorted to asking Sophia to help. In the end, Sophia ditched me for her slide, and I somehow made it work. I couldn't be happier with the new look!

 The two "stepping-stone-like-brick-things" (I'm sure there is an actual name that Joey would know instantaneously for them) were left behind from the previous tenants. They made a good stoop. :)

 I let Sophia pick the color of her wall from the leftover spray paint that we had used for my mom's Mother's day gift. My paint job is not grade. Before I started to take it all apart and re-paint, Joey reminded me that it was just a play toy for Sophia and she would love it poorly painted or even not painted at all.

He was right. Sophia LOVES her new house. Here she is "washing her hands" after helping me plant her flowers.

I gave her a house number (there is a significance in my choice, do you know it?) and added some leftover flowers that we had from her first birthday party into a cute flower pot that she had picked out from Micheal's.

The total damage done:

Playhouse: $35

Menards supplies: $29.69

Micheal's supplies (pot and pink flowers): $9.99

Grand total: $74.68

Leftover from my $100 budget: $25.32

Until next time! 

xoxo - Mariah