You really can paint laminate furniture!

Derk says I'm way too anal. Maybe he's right. But it seriously bugs me that my girls don't have matching furniture. For example, Cambria's bookshelf and her toy box are white while her bed and dresser are wood. It just drives me up the wall. Since Derk wouldn't go for the idea of buying them all new furniture (I was only half serious when I suggested it anyway, lol), I decided to paint instead. I chose to tackle Cambria's furniture first (we're buying Kyrie a new bed soon, so I want to wait until after we get that picked out). I read up on how to paint laminate furniture, and despite Derk telling me it was a bad idea and wouldn't work, I went for it. And it turned out pretty great! There are a few small things I need to touch up, but it actually worked!

We took the drawers out and then moved it into the garage. I took all the hardware off the drawers, and then we sanded everything down. You have to be careful not to sand all the way through the laminate to the particle board. You just sand until you get the shiny finish off. Then you prime. I did 2 coats of primer, just to make sure it was really well covered. Once that dries, you're good to paint.

The drawer pulls gave me some serious grief. I thought having a white dresser with pink drawer pulls to match her walls would be really cute. So I got some spray paint and thought that would be super easy. Well, apparently I really suck at spray painting. Or something. Because it didn't work at all. I ended up having to soak them all in paint thinner and then spent a good amount of time today scrubbing all the paint off. And let me tell you, breathing in all those fumes wasn't good. I felt so loopy! At least Derk had fun making fun of me. ;)

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After

Next week, I'm doing her bed!

Christmas decorations

Next year, I plan to be a lot more festive. As the Christmas season has gone on, I have come up with a lot more ideas that I wish I'd done/thought of, so I'm recording them for next year. Here are the few things we did do this year.

Luckily the previous owner already had the screws in place for the Christmas lights, otherwise I am certain Derk would not have accommodated that item on the list. ;)

The kids decorated a wreath for the front door. My awesomely smart hubby thought to hang the wreath on the right side of the double door, which would prevent it from banging around every time we open the door. He is so smart! I never would have thought of that.

I put lights around the window in my kitchen. I love how they look! So cozy and inviting. I told Derk I wanted to leave them up all year, but he's not going for it.

And then there's the one Christmas craft that I made. It's a centerpiece that sits on the dining room table. I was inspired by a decorating blog I read, and I decided to make my own. It's simple, but I like it.

Making our house our home -- Part 4

I decided I didn't like the yellow in our kitchen and dining room. I liked the color by itself, but I didn't like the way it looked with the other 2 colors. So I decided it was getting changed to green, and it looks so much better! Derk was not on board with painting again, so I did most of it myself. He was awesome, though, and painted all the high parts for me. After I promised not to change the color again. ;)

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After

My 27th birthday

My morning started off with Kyrie making me breakfast. She made placemats for everyone out of construction paper. This was mine:

She also had the table all set, complete with tablecloth, and thought of everything! She had butter, peanut butter and strawberry jam in little bowls with knives to spread on our toast, 5 cups of yogurt and spoons, cups for everyone, apple juice, a bowl of ice for the apple juice, milk, chocolate syrup (in case anyone wanted chocolate milk) and even remembered a spoon so we could mix our chocolate milk.

After breakfast, I opened a present from my mom. It came several days ago, but she made me promise not to open it until my actual birthday. I resisted the temptation until today, despite Derk and the kids trying to convince me to open it early. She got me some gorgeous jewelry -- 2 pairs of earrings and 2 bracelets. My girls were both begging to wear the jewelry, and Kyrie even tried to convince me that my mom had included a note telling me that one of the pairs of earrings was actually for Kyrie, not for me. :)

After that, I got a call from my cutie nieces (okay, and their mom ;) ) singing me happy birthday. That put a smile on my face for the rest of the day! During that conversation, my niece Abbie (who's 4.5) asked me how old I am. When I told her I turned 27, she gasped, "TWENTY-SEVEN?!" Thanks for making me feel old, Abbie! ;)

The rest of the morning and afternoon were just any other day. I babysat and did my normal domestic diva stuff while Derk went to work. He came home a little early, and then we headed out to have some fun. We went miniature golfing, which was way fun. Well, if we're being perfectly honest, it was mostly fun. Asher and Cambria had a little too much fun running off and being distracted by everything. :)

After that, we were going to go eat at Red Lobster. On the way there, I had a wicked craving for steak come over me. So instead of going to Red Lobster, we stopped at Sam's Club for some steak. Derk took Kyrie and Asher in with him, and Kyrie came out with her hands full of these:

We came home and made the best steak I've ever had (seriously, it was amazing!!). Derk also made twice baked potatoes, and we decided to make our own blue cheese dressing to go on the salad (check out my recipe blog for the recipes!). Derk put a pound cake in the oven for dessert (pound cake with strawberries and homemade whipped cream, YUM!), then he went into our bedroom and brought out 2 more gifts. I was so surprised because I wasn't expecting anything else. He let me buy a new comforter a few weeks ago, which we agreed was my birthday present. I got a really pretty new jewelry box (mine has been totally broken for months now) and some massage oil that smells like mint. M'mmm. Then he gave me a really romantic card that made me cry. After dessert, we tucked the kids into bed, and they were all so pooped that they went right to sleep with no fighting at all. Love those nights! :) Then Derk and I crawled into bed to watch a movie.

It was really a great day.

What a great helper!

Kyrie's new job is to unload the dishwasher. She hates it, I love it! ;) I asked Kyrie to please come unload the dishwasher for me today, and little Cambria jumped right up and insisted that she be the one to do it. And bless her heart, she did the whole thing! She was so cute and kept handing Derk or I a plate or cup, saying, "Please put this away for me?" (since those cupboards are up too high for her to reach). She didn't stop until it was all done, and it just melted my heart to see her so eager and willing to help.

Cambria sings the ABC's

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Isn't she the cutest?!

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