My New Toys!

Okay, this sort of outs me as an office supply geek, but I don't care!  I have a new toy, and I want to share it with the world.  To quote the movie Elf: "I'm in love!  I'm in love!  And I don't care who knows it!"

Meet my new twins: the Pilot Hi-Tec-C Coleto multi-color pen!  I found it on JetPens.com after seeing it on a few of my favorite planner YouTube videos and immediately put it on a wish list.  My husband got it for me for our anniversary, and I have been smitten ever since.  I got the black pen body, violet pen body, ten-color set of ink, apricot orange ink, and apple green ink.

Wait, I need to explain this ...

The top end of these pens flip open, people!  The pen bodies come empty, and you get to fill them with whatever color ink you want!  Let that sink in for a sec, children of the '80s ... a multi-color clicky pen that you can customize.  Perfection, am I right?

I chose the 0.3 mm size ink because, as anyone who has had to grade a paper, read a thank you note, or decipher a recipe written by me will attest, I tend to write very small.  Having a tiny pen tip helps me keep this insanely small writing looking neat and tidy, so I went with the smallest size available.  (The pen tips also come in 0.4 mm and 0.5 mm, in case anyone is interested.)  You can also buy mechanical pencil inserts, eraser inserts, and stylus inserts to go in this pen!  The pen bodies also come in a variety of colors and number of inserts they will hold.  The customization possibilities are endless!

I am excited to use these to help me get even a little more organized, using them to designate task categories (e.g., home, school, self) or to mark which person has something going on on a particular day.  Because of the small pen tip - and because they write very smoothly right out of the packaging - I am able to actually read what I've written and squeeze more in on a page in my notebook.   Plus, it's just pretty, and don't we need more beautiful things in this life?

On the customer side, I was thrilled with my experience with Jet Pens; they originally set the delivery date for my pens and inks (shipping for which I did not pay ... any order over $25 automatically gets free shipping) for Baylor's birthday, September 7th, but the pens arrived MUCH earlier than that ... August 31st!  As someone who has been utterly spoiled by Amazon Prime shipping I was delighted by the early arrival.

Alright, I have waxed rhapsodic about this pen enough.  I'm off to go write a bunch of stuff down and tackle my to-dos like a boss!

Have a wonderful day!

Amalia's Barbie House

When Mollie asked for a Barbie dollhouse for her fifth birthday last March, I immediately starting scouring websites and stores for all the options available to us that were close to our budget.  Unfortunately, what I came up with were a lot of either uber pink plastic houses (that are apparently a real pain to put together, can't sleep more than one or two dolls, and aren't durable) or sized incorrectly for the dolls they are supposed to house, and none of them seemed to be worth what they cost.  During my search, a lot of homemade dollhouses kept popping up, piquing my DIY interests to the extreme.  "Why not craft the exact dollhouse I'd like Mollie to have?" I thought.  So I dove in head-first, sketching out a floor plan and refining the dimensions for the space I had in mind for it.  She had already amassed quite a few Barbies, and I wanted the house to be able to fit all of them comfortably, so the final plan ended up being large enough that the house would be a semi-permanent fixture in the living room for the foreseeable future.  All the more reason to do it up right, right?

I set off to Home Depot to gather all the necessary supplies and was instantly overwhelmed with all the wood I came home with.   

Once I got it laid out, though, it seemed more manageable.

I had to pick up a few more tools, namely hole saws and a couple clamps to go with the ones we borrowed from our dads. (Thanks, guys!)  Then I set to work making bubbly-looking windows.  

Unfortunately, the wood didn't cut quite as cleanly as I had hoped it would.

Let's just say, I had a lot of patch work to do, not to mention all the sanding!

I had casually asked Amalia once while we were picking stuff up at Lowe's one day which wood stain she liked best.  After carefully considering it, she picked one, and that is the one I ended up using to stain the "hardwood" floors of the house.  Ooh, and they were wipes, so I didn't have to deal with a drippy paint can!  Win-win!

Mollie wasn't in school all day yet, so I did a lot of the work after the kids were in bed and here and there when I could get someone to watch one or both of them.

Math and measuring are not my strong suits, so I had to lay this bad boy out multiple times before I did any finish painting or assembling.

I even taped the paint chips to the boards so I wouldn't forget exactly which room was which color.

I was a little stumped as to what to do with the ceilings, but I happened upon some glow-in-the-dark paint at Lowe's when I was picking up some extra supplies and decided to give that a try.  (In hindsight, I probably wouldn't do this again; that part of the house rarely sees any direct light, so they never get "charged up" enough to really glow.  Oh well, it was a cool idea anyway.)

Since I had been the one to decide to make an epic dollhouse in less than a month, I did a lot of the work myself, though I didn't really mind it at all; most of the time I felt like my heart was filling with each paint stroke, each sanding, as if this was my love letter to my daughter.

I can't really tell you how excited I was when it all started to come together a bit more.

I wanted the top of the dollhouse to eventually be a little terrace area for Mollie (when she's actually tall enough to see the top of it), so I thought I'd add a decorative railing of sorts to keep any of the Barbies from falling off the edge.  This trim was just perfect with all the little dots!

The actual painting took quite a while since I couldn't retape the rooms to start on the next color until the coat I had just done was completely dry.  Luckily there was a lot of other stuff for me to do in the meantime, so little time was wasted.  (This, by the way, was a huge triumph for me; often I am the reigning queen of wasted time.)

Once all the walls were painted, the floors stained, the base sanded and painted, and the last details complete, it was time to put it together.

I really wanted to be all girl-power, I-can-do-this-by-myself-thankyouverymuch, but the task ended up being too much for me to handle by myself.  I really needed two extra hands to help keep things level and square things up so the house would be sturdy and straight.  I hated to ask Bryson, since he was a bit skeptical of the idea in the first place, but he helped out gladly and I was (and still am) extremely grateful for it.

He did not, however, appreciate me pausing to take pictures of him.

Through the process, we learned a lot about wood glue and corner clamps and things of that nature.

A few nights before her birthday and the party, I finally got to paint the "railing" in greater detail.  It was so much fun!

It was a bit of a struggle at some points, trying to use the tools we already had (and had already borrowed) and still make it right, but I really can't tell you how excited I was with the results.

I have to say, I really could not have finished the project this well and on time without the incredible help of my dear husband.  Thanks again, Bryson!  

I sneaked in a second coat of paint on the dots one morning before the reveal, then I got it all assembled (including adding dollhouse linoleum in the bathroom and laundry room) and ready to go.

The day of the party, my dad, Bryson, and our friend Shaun helped haul it up the stairs.  Thank goodness it fit, since that is one thing I had neglected to measure!

At first, Mollie had no idea what it was.  Then, when she realized it was a Barbie house, she was overjoyed!

I am happy to report that she has grown to love it even more.  I have since added a curtain in the bedroom (the giant room at the top) so the littler girls can have some extra quiet when they sleep, and lots of furniture and love have filled up some of the space.

Mattel has come out with a lot of cool house accessories for Barbie, but so many of them actually come with a Barbie now, and we were starting to develop an overpopulation problem.  So when it came to procuring a stove and sink, I ended having to make one from scratch so she wouldn't have to deal with one more plastic mouth to feed.  And, I have to say, I am pretty happy with the way it turned out.

My favorite detail is still the top trim.  I just love the punch of color it adds where you least expect it.

So that's it!  Amalia's Barbie house in all its glory.  I'm so thrilled with how it has turned out and how well it has held up thus far.  (Knock on wood!)  And, of course, how much she loves it and uses it ... that's the best, by far.

Amalia's Fourth Birthday!

I can see now that birthdays get more and more fun, and a bigger and bigger deal the older the kids get.  Mollie's fourth birthday was full of excitement and anticipation, and it as so much fun for me to see her really experience and be aware of turning another year older.

She started her birthday a little early, in hopes to shorten the gift-opening time at her party, a section of the party that is always difficult for all the non-birthday kids.  My parents went all out right from the start.  I mean come on, just look at that face!

Yup, it's a Sleeping Beauty princess dress with a music-playing brooch on the front and "I Know You I Walked With You Once Upon a Dream" written in glitter along the bottom.  Amalia was in awe that such a beautiful dress even existed, let alone that it was now hers.

Maybe the best part about this age, though, is that she was almost equally excited for all her gifts, no matter how small.  Princess books ... AWESOME!

Drum ... DELIGHTFUL!

I know what you're thinking, "Who on earth bought a four year-old a drum?!  Who hates Nicole and Bryson that much?"  Well, that person would be me.  Yes, I bought this for Mollie, and I'm glad I chose this one ... it's blissfully quiet for a toy drum.

Opening gifts early allowed for a little more time to actually enjoy her gifts ...

... and for Baylor to get to try them out as well!

Lambie!

Elsa!

Doc McStuffins!  Oh my!

Needless to say, she enjoyed everything she got.

And, as she's not a fan of cake, she enjoyed an ice cream treat with a special birthday candle in it.

It was a nice, quiet day, and it was fun to celebrate our wonderful little lady.

But the birthday festivities weren't over yet, no sir.  We hadn't even had her official party yet!  The preparation for it, like all parties held at our house, was extensive; baby proofing had to be done, clutter-creating toys had to be removed temporarily, actual cleaning had to take place ... it was intense.  Even Baylor helped out, though; Mollie was just dying to have a sign like her brother, so he worked on putting that together for her.  He worked off the picture of the one Mollie and I made for his birthday.

He ran into a little trouble when he had to write out her name, so Bryson lent a hand.

Then, it being her actual birthday morning, she got to open a few things.  First up, an envelope of cards she had written to herself all year long.  Yup, cards from herself ... that's how she rolls.

Next, was a card from her dear brother.  He put a lot of thought into it, and I was really proud of him for it.

The front: balloons and flowers.

The inside: a sweet message, a picture of her ice skating, and part of a map of a skating rink.  Random, yes, but his heart was in the right place, and she has really been wanting to go ice skating.

The back: the rest of the map of the rink, including the check out area.

Of course, he was itching to get her some Legos, so I helped him pick out a set she had asked for.

I'm not sure who was more excited for her to receive this gift.

Her party was the next day, and it ended up being nearly an all-day event.  The sign took a prominent place on the mantle for the party, just as it had for Baylor.

Mollie didn't really want any games except a guess how many things are in this jar game, but she was really interested in having a craft table so I got a brand new box of 48 crayons just for the occasion.  *sigh*  It was a thing of beauty, all those perfectly-sharpened crayons lined up just so.  I digress ...

I made ice cream cones out of balloons and had a ton of leftover brown paper that I ended up using for the craft table.  (I didn't take a picture of the ice cream cone balloons because they didn't turn out so hot and had to be put in weird areas because they wouldn't float on their own with the cones attached.  Awesome, I know.)  But the kids seemed to like getting a little crafting time, and I was excited to find something that almost all the kids could participate in.

With emotions running high, because that's how birthday parties tend to go, there were a few tears here and there, but overall the party went really well.  Happy memories were made and, best of all, Amalia was celebrated.

Happy (belated) fourth birthday, sweetheart!  We love you so much!