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You guys must have at least one little girl in your life that wears (or will wear) a size 4T-5T!

So as many of you know, I used to run a small handmade dress shop on Etsy (under GrowingUpwCharissa and minimooh). Charissa has long outgrown her love of wearing dresses, and I am finally ready to part with the remaining “originals”. Instead of allowing them to occupy precious closet space in hopes that Charissa will relinquish her obsession with Hello Kitty shirts that are always 2 sizes too small, I’m going to give them away. To enter, you (or your minions) must submit a piece of 6×6 artwork to Rochester Contemporary Art Center (visit http://www.roco6×6.org/ for submission guidelines and form.) It is a unique (and free! minus shipping costs) opportunity to create something and have it displayed and up-for-sale at a real art gallery! So to enter:

1. Create a piece of 6×6 art.
2. Pack it up for shipping and then take a picture of the package.
3. Post your picture on my timeline, private message me the picture, or email me the picture.
4. Gain additional entries/chances by sharing this giveaway on FB and leave a comment here or on my FB page (http://www.facebook.com/mhjenniferho)letting me know that you did so.

Deadline is April 20th. The dresses pictured in the photo are the ones you will receive if you should win.

I will order all the entries via time stamp and use a random number generator to select.
Okay. That’s it.

And it all comes down to this:

My baby sister…

…looks a lot like my own mini…

Putting together a party for a group of highly energized girly divas is pretty easy. Crafts, bowling, pizza, mafia, movies, chips, sleepover…

And of course, decorations:

Easy rainbow style streamers:

And happy birthday banner stamped on pages of a vintage book:

I could seriously go into hibernation right now…

“F” is for Five Guys… Fall… Family…

…Flowers…

…Fluffies…

…and Fighting!

After much deliberation, the kids decided to be ninjas for Halloween. ‘Tis a busy mother’s dream come true with only belts and sword-sticks to make and easily re-wearable-store-bought hoodies, pants, and ski mask.

A menacing lot with a one-eyed bandit…

…an undercover model…

…and a mischievous charmer…

Fighting. It’s a dangerous thing.

Especially when words are in play. So I made some guidelines for all to follow:

Good reminder. Even for the adults If only relationships were always this pleasant…

And if you’re keen on making the felt flower wreath, here is a quick visual tutorial… just in time for my irregular “Try it Tuesdays” post:

Felt Floral Wreath Tutorial

(You will also need glue dots or hot glue.)

Super quick and easy.

Ta da!

Can you spot the difference?

There are quite a few, but the only blog-worthy one is our sectional!

Here, a year-long, slow and tedious transformation:

After having been abused with permanent marker and various kid-related accidents, the light-colored-hello-you-can-read-our-life-story-via-the-stains-micro-fiber cover had to go. And since the shape of the sectional was perfect for the space, I decided to recover it. DIY style.

After skinning it and removing the cushions… And taking a 10-minute moment of horrified silence “OMG, what have I just got myself into”:

I’ve recovered our sectional 1.5 times. The first time, only half of it. And then I got tired and decided that a two-tone sectional was somewhat bearable.

Until it wasn’t, and then I re-stripped the whole thing and did it all at once. Again. But this time also converting it into a tight-back sectional (versus loose cushions that doubled as rocks for fort building):

Crazy.

Cross-off under my “things to do before I die” list :p

Aside from the sun-kissed tans acquired from walking along the beaches in style…

…feasting on corn dogs and cotton candy, going to Legoland and Disney Land, and everything else people do while on vacation in southern California…

…we procured a fourth child over the summer:

For those who do not know, this is my youngest sister, born my freshman year in college. We are 19 years apart.

Sparing all the details, Jeremy and I are officially her legal guardians. We’ve been fairly busy getting her registered and set up for school and music lessons…

…and, of course, her tween bedroom:

Seriously, do all 12-year-olds have this much stuff?! And oh yeah, they are not particularly tidy. So the challenge was to create a relaxing space where she can neatly and easily display her collections, access her books, manage her clothes, do her homework, hang out with friends… And double as a family guest room.

With the existing furnishings in mind (a kelly green dresser and a sticker wall), we decided to go with bold colors, starting with a faux, red headboard:

Here, a green dresser, a bulletin board, and what I like to call, a “wear again basket” - something I came up with when I was at my wit’s end dealing with Charissa’s constant change of outfits piling up in her closet floor. Basically, a basket to throw articles of clothing that are barely worn, or not “dirty enough” to warrant a washing. All my kids have one in their rooms. (I toss everything in the basket into the wash once a week. Sure beats sniffing underwear and socks to determine what’s clean and what’s not!)

A self-made garment rack since the room does not have a closet:

A desk with a red frame on the wall to define the space for her hanging collection of beaded figurines and objects:

And of course, boxes to contain the clutter and chaos:

And mason jars for useful collectables:

To make use of the glass coffee table, I grabbed a whole bunch of $1 chunky bracelets from Michael’s and glue-dotted them into formation as a way to contain and display her rock and fossil collections:

We also painted one wall a purplish blue and completed it all with a rolling library cart and wall hooks for hoodies and bags:

With a family of six to feed and clothe and four children’s worth of stuff in school papers, music lessons, tennis lessons, swim lessons, ski lessons… my ability to multi-task, plan, and organize my time is definitely being put to the test! For sure, I do much better with juggling loads of activities than with performing basic functions on 2-hour sleep increments. So no complaints here Although now I feel like I have to go make new friends/connections… you know, with people experienced in raising tweens and teens.

…to get one decent passport photo of a two-year-old? (click to enlarge)

Scary how packed our summer has been to even squeeze in a blog post! Much has transpired since June, including a California vacation, a trip to Little Rock, and some new additions to the family

Scary how time flies. How fast kids grow up. How laundry spontaneously multiplies…

Scary how long Charissa has been wearing this shirt:

Talk about “bang for your buck” and “cost per wear”. For my own amusement, I decided to track back to the first photo I have of her in this shirt and then every picture and video after that…

December 2010:

February 2011:

July 2011:

December 2011:

March 2012:

Today:

And there you have it: The Evolution of the Green Hello Kitty Shirt. I know you can’t always see the shirt in it’s entirety and full glory. But trust me. It’s the same shirt.

Two years. She wears it at least once a day with no indication of stopping anytime soon. It will be fun… scary fun… to see how long this lasts

…has my baby girl gone?! Oh where, oh where is her hair?

‘Tis on the floor in some fancy salon. Oh why did I cut her long hair?!

…so they don’t get tangled in with her spaghetti…

…and because it is easier to care during the summer…

…but now she looks so much older…

…old enough to do a great job making her bed every morning and keeping her room tidy:

In the process of setting up the guest room for my “baby” sister (I guess 12 years-old is not so baby anymore…) who is boarding with us for the summer (yay!), I found myself in the market for a good-looking, strong, dependable, medium-build clothing rack. I think any other normal person would just have gone to their nearest Target/Walmart/Bed Bath and Beyond and bought one. But why do things the easy way, especially when you fall for something like this:

I have a giant crush on anything industrial. Good thing it was out of stock… or $1,475 may have just mysteriously disappeared. Well, not really. I think I am normal enough to say that the price tag is ridiculously high for a rack that is worth far more than what I have to hang on it.

But that doesn’t mean I can’t have it. Or have something like it. Now make note that the cost of this project isn’t super cheap. For $20, you can get an everyday rack that is, at best, rated 3 wobbly stars on Amazon.com. Or spend closer to $100 for a commercial grade rack that looks like something from your nearest Target/Walmart/Bed Bath and Beyond… But for roughly one-tenth of the designer price, you can fashion your own commercial strength, non-wobbly, industrial style clothing rack (I kept the stickers on in case I didn’t like how it turned out and wanted to disassemble it and return the parts).

At $14 each, the castors were the most expensive components of the project. You can easily make a non-rolling version. Here is a quick step-by-step on how I made mine:

Supplies

1. Two 7″x24″ wood boards, two 48″ long black steel pipes, two 36″ long black steel pipes
2. Twenty-four 14×1.5″ flat Philips wood screws
3. Two 1/2″x3″ black steel pipe nipples
4. Ruler, pencil, drill
5. Two 1/2″ floor flanges
6. Two 1/2″ 90^o black steel elbows
7. Two 1/2″ black steel tees
8. Four castors

Directions

Flange Placement

1. Mark the center (12″ from the edge) of your boards, lengthwise.

2. Mark the center of the of the line you drew from step 1 (3.5″ from the edge, width-wise).

3. Make a mark 1.5″ to the left and right of the mark one you made in step 2.

4. Using the marks you made in steps 1-3, place your flange and screw them in.

5. Tada!

6. Place and screw in your castors. Placement is up to you and will vary depending on the size of your castor.

7. Screw in one nipple into one of the flanges.

8. Attach a T to the nipple from step 7.

9. Attach a 36″ pipe to the T from step 8.

10. Attach the second T to the other end of the 36″ pipe from step 9.

11. Attach the second nipple to the T from step 10.

12. Turn the whole thing upside down to aid in screwing the second board+flange into the T from step 11.

13. Stand the whole thing upright and screw in the two 48″ pipes.

14. Attach the elbows to the tops of the two 48″ pipes and screw in the second 36″ pipe.

Finished!

Seriously, everything with kids happens in May.

…parent-teacher conferences, parties, Mother’s Day…

From Charissa - A beautiful bouquet of her favorite colored flowers:

From Jeremy - The power to erase any evidence that we have kids:

…Calvin’s first studio recital…

…and a much-needed and anticipated trip down to Little Rock for my little sister’s baby shower!

A chic little mama!

Sigh. A weekend of shopping, eating, getting a massage and pedi, and sleeping in…

But my heart still belongs to these little munchkins…

Now if I can just get over this ear infection…