Our DIY Play Kitchen

So.... I've had my heart set on an adorable wooden play kitchen for my kids for a while now. The price for the "cute" ones that I was interested in were a little crazy. So, I turned to my Father-in-Law and asked him if he could help me out! I'm so happy with the results!!!

Day 2 of painting started out like this. Why is the fridge painted black you say? .... well, more on that later. We ended up painting and sanding, painting and sanding for 2 whole days! 3 coats of blue paint on all the pieces, plus 6 coast of the "mysterious black paint on the fridge" and 3 coats of while paint inside the fridge. Plus a few coats of a clear matte lacquer finish to make it look extra nice. All the hard work sure paid off!

The fridge is even magnetic! That's where the black paint came in .... we found magnetic paint that you can paint over. How cool is that?

The freezer and refrigerator are stocked full with all Seth's play "Melissa and Doug" food, and whatever else we could come up with to add around the house. Seth was very particular about needing more ingredients in his fridge! How cute are the fridge baskets too?!

Then comes the sink. This is a real bar faucet we found and it worked out perfectly! Then a cute little container for all his kitchen utensils right on hand next to the stove top like mine is. Behind the curtain is a little shelf with some more storage of food/etc. Also Seth was worried that he wasn't going to be able to wash dishes because he really needed a SPONGE! What a character.

The stove top looks really cute too! I absolutely LOVE the crystal nobs! They happen to be Shelby's favorite thing too! The oven door looks super cute too and there is a little drawer under the oven that holds cookie sheets and muffin tins!

I found the grate from our old toaster oven and thought it would add the perfect touch to make the oven look more real! How cute!

Then my favorite, the cute cabinet/counter top. This is the kitchen work space along with his microwave and a few other kitchen necessities. He "really needed some recipes," he told me so we added in our Rachael Ray kids cook book for fun! In the pantry are some more food items and such.

Seth Just loves it! We have a few more additions we're working on. (Some hooks for towels, hot pads, etc) but, it's been a lot of hard work and it turned out just the way I imagined it!

There's the diva girl herself .... she just loves those nobs!

She can't wait to be a little older to play in there and whip up something delicious!

A big thanks to Grandpa Dan and Grandma Lisa for getting this together for us! Grandpa did a great job building them and Grandma drove all around town trying to find the perfect hardware for everything! We couldn't have done it with out them! Woo Hoo for our play kitchen!

Easter Fun with Peter Cottontail

Last weekend was Easter, obviously, we celebrated and had a fun family weekend. We were thinking about heading down to Kansas to visit my parents, but instead decided we'd stay home and enjoy a fun weekend together. Before we know it finals will be here for Nick and them he's going to be off to Texas again. So, we might as well enjoy each other while we can!

Friday night we dyed Easter Eggs! Seth was pretty excited and I bet you can't guess what his favorite color eggs were? GREEN! He wanted to do all the eggs green. We can to get him to share the love with other colors. He was very good this year about being super careful too.

Shelby thought it was fun to watch and was smiling and laughing like usual. (just if you were wondering, this egg landed on the floor about 2 seconds after I took the picture. She's in the throwing phase)

I got out some crayons to color on the eggs before dying them and Seth came up with the idea to draw a smiley face on his egg all by himself.

My favorite part was that he wanted his smiley face egg to have a mustache ... LOL He was really particular about it too.

Here is another lovely crayon creation green egg he did.

Here are all the eggs. We started with 2 dozen and between hard boiling them, coloring them, and Nick wanting to eat one right away we ended up with a few less than when we started. But, that's the way it works with a 3 year old as your big helper! We all had fun and Seth loved getting to be in charge of the eggs.

Easter morning we got up EARLY! Seth was up early and found the few eggs the Easter Bunny left in the bedroom hallway so he wanted to get right down there and check it all out. We somehow made him wait at least 15-20 minutes as we woke ourselves up. Finally, we got down there and the kids found their Easter baskets that the Easter bunny had hidden. Shelby's was under the coffee table, her favorite place to find things and hide things. She was so excited and a little confused as to what was happening all at once.

Seth FINALLY found his basket. The Easter Bunny hid it on top of the entertainment center and Seth had the hardest time finding it. Once he did he was excited about his new books and his baseball mitt! Then it was on to find eggs. He ended up with quite a few. But, the Easter Bunny left a note saying that there were special pink and purple eggs for Shelby and the rest were for him. So, he found all the eggs with candy and toys, while Shelby found some eggs with gerber puffs, goldfish, and even some Hello Kitty Nail Polish. (The Easter Bunny must know we are Hello Kitty fans in our house!)

After a yummy breakfast and a little R&R from getting up so early, we got ready for church and snapped a few pictures of our Easter Cuties!

Our handsome boy ...with his fancy green tie!

And our Beautiful girl, in her fancy dress!

She was seriously excited to be all dolled up! I think I'm training her young or something. No joke she gets excited for fancy dresses and cute clothes when I show them to her!

I hope everyone was able to enjoy a wonderful Easter with family and friends! We sure had a fun time together and it makes me grateful for my adorable little family!

Seth's Pre School Spring Program

Seth had his Spring Program last week before Spring Break and it was a huge crack up! The kids each dressed as their favorite story book character. Seth of course, chose Mickey Mouse. The parents had to write little blurbs about them as if they were that character. They walked down a little stage area as their blurb was read. Some of the kids were scared and could barely bring themselves to do it ... Seth, was not one of those kids! He was strutting his stuff down the runway and loved it!

After the rest of the program, dancing and signing, they had some milk and brownies for everyone. Seth was also not shy about diving into a few of those brownies!

It was a big hit for the parents and the kids ... I love little programs like this!

Shelby got a kick out of all the kids and fun too!

Here is Seth with his little friend Grady, he was dressed as Woody. These two boys are a crack up and LOVE being in class together!

I have a few videos from the program, but for whatever reason (maybe they are too long) they aren't letting me upload them. So, maybe I'll try and put them on Seth's Youtube channel later tonight. I'll post it here if I can work it out.

Grandma Lisa and Grandpa Dan

Right after we got home from California grandma and grandpa Denzer came to visit. It was beautiful weather that week (in the 80's) so it was perfect for a fun bunch of outdoor fun. Our neighbor gave Seth this awesome motorcycle at the end of the fall last year and we didn't get a chance to ride it because the weather got too cold. Anyway, grandma Lisa got a battery for it so we charged it up and boy does Seth LOVE LOVE LOVE it!

Shelby got the biggest kick out of watching him ride it around. She still does!

This was his face when he discovered there was a "turbo" mode and he could go SUPER fast!

Grandpa Dan helped Shelby have a little ride around with Seth too.

She loved checking everything out on there.

Then, I decided to get on and give her a little ride around. I was surprised I could even fit and that it still moved! lol I always wanted a Barbie car growing up so I really wanted to try it out!

We also played baseball with Seth. He is surprisingly good for being 3! There he is ready to hit a homer!

Check out the eyes ... closed in every shot once he hits the ball! Too funny ...

We also celebrated St. Patty's Day with grandma and grandpa and Shelby was all dressed up for the occasion!

We love having visitors and had so much fun with grandma and grandpa. We can't wait to see grandpa Dan next week. (he has a special surprise for Seth ... more on that later)

A Few More Adventures From California

So, It's been WEEKS since I've been able to find time to get back on the computer long enough to blog. I've been Spring Cleaning and enjoying the spring weather with the kids. Also, I never got a chance to finish up our California Blogs because the rest of the pictures were on Nick's camera and I kept forgetting to find it and get the pictures on my computer. Anyway, here is a misc. group of pictures from our trip.

The pilot on one of our flights out to California let Seth have a seat in the cock-pit for a few minutes and he thought it was the coolest thing in the world.

The kids were really great flying. I was worried about Shelby but she was great and the people on the plane were all charmed by her, so it worked out well.

After Disneyland we headed up to Point Mugu where Danika lives and hung out for a few days. We all REALLY needed a break after Disney mania and all, and it was perfect! So relaxing and so much fun. Nick, Danika, and Seth went to the beach for a while one day. Shelby was pretty sick so I stayed in with her. Isn't is beautiful? Beach and Mountains ... sign me up!

Seth got to run around the park for a while and LOVED it!

Then we took a little tour of Danika's work place. She is stationed at Point Mugu and we got check out one of the E-2 planes she's in. (Poor Shelby wasn't feeling that great, you can see her red eyes! ... but she still knows how to smile and put on a good front! lol)

Danika and Seth were BFF's for the week!

Nick was probably the most excited about this adventure, he couldn't wait to see the planes and look around.

Check it out ... cool, right?

Well, that officially wraps up our California Adventure. I have a lot more to blog about because I've been such a slacker, so I better get to it!