"I didn't know moms played Legos."

   I have a Lego addiction. I love to put them together with instructions, I have saved every instruction manuel for the different sets and put them in a binder.

 I also like to organize and sort. I have organized and sorted the Legos in many different ways. The best way seems to be in a big drawer all together. I have the people in a separate container and a small craft box with the small pieces to make them easier to find. Notice my soda, building Legos is hard work.

 

My obsession hobby started with Calvin and has grown with Max. Calvin liked Legos but he wasn't into them the way Max is. Max and I have and will spend hours playing Legos. I have been known to forget to pick someone up, forget to make dinner, miss appointments and so on. Here are some of my favorite things Max and I have  built.     
                                                                        pet store

 

Fire Station

 

 

farm animals and fence

 

 

A gun

 

 

A flower shop

 

 

 A Hat store

 

 

A tire store

 

 

Our latest creation. 

A football field with stands

 

 

Max and I love to shop at the Lego store at Bellevue Square mall. This year for Max's 6th birthday, I took him to the Lego store. It took forever to decide what he wanted to buy. He had the choice of one big Lego set, or lots of little ones. He chose lots of little ones. We ate at McDonald's for lunch and got a cupcake at the cupcake store. Then we played on the boats at Bell Square kids area. What a perfect day!

 

 

 

 

Max and I have built many cool sets like the x-wing fighter, 

                                                                  Jabba's sail barge,

tie fighter.

 

 One time we went through and rebuilt almost all the different Lego sets we have. It took weeks and yes we found almost every piece. Max likes to make fighting scenes with his  Lego storm troopers and Lego army guys. I like to make stores and houses. One time we tried to put together all the people in their original outfit, hair,hat etc.

I know most people would say "Get a life" but it is a great way to spend time with Max doing something that I also enjoy. Having one child at home after always having at least two, is very different. The poor kid has no one to play with, so he is constantly asking me to play with him. I may have played my fair share of Barbies with the girls when they were little, but they always had each other if I needed to shower get something done. Mike and the kids make fun of me for being so into the Lego's. Yesterday I realized just how weird I am for playing Lego's so much. Calvin had a friend over and he was showing him around our house. He came upstairs where Max and I were playing Legos. Calvin's friend looked right at me and said.....

                                                   "I didn't know moms played Legos."

I was a little embarrassed as I said " of course they do". So I guess my secret is out. I love playing Legos and I'm never going to stop!

Kayla's Room Redo

  When we moved in to this house 7 years ago, Kayla was 10 and this room was perfect for her.
Now she is 17 and she wasn't loving the hot pink and felt that it was a little too "teeny bopper". 

 
 I was on board right away since I love to decorate. Mike on the other hand was not having it. He believes once you paint and put together a room, it needs to stay that way for the next 20 years. So we batted our eyelashes, told him we would do it cheap and that we would do ALL the work. He agreed.

Last summer we went and bought paint for the room and Kayla and I painted the whole room ourselves. I even filled nail holes and puttied other holes in the walls. Here is the rundown on how we did this budget friendly.

Paint 25.00
bedding 30.00
aqua and white chevron fabric 20.00
aqua paint 15.00
2 yellow pillows 20.00
sheer curtains 12.00
Laundry organizer 40.00
wood frame 8.00
hanging lantern 4.00

total=$174.00

Well...... I guess that's not that cheap. But for a major redo on a room, that's not bad.
I know what your thinking,"Why are you redecorating Kayla's room, she is going to college soon?".

Here's my thinking. Kayla had most of her friends graduate last year and was super sad about it. She was worried that her senior year would be a bomb. She felt stressed out in her room with all the crazy colors. I really wanted her to have a peaceful place she could be where she felt comfortable and cozy. Kayla has worked so hard with her grades and I really wanted this senior year to be great for her.

It is now March and we just finished all the little finishing touches on the room. Kayla has been accepted to BYU Provo and will leave for college next fall. I am sad and happy at the same time. She is going to be so successful in life, but I am going to miss her so much. I can't believe that we are at the point of our kids starting to leave our home.  Kayla has had an amazing senior year so far. She has stepped out of her comfort zone and made new friends and rekindled relationships with old friends. She is working at Pickle Time in town, running cross country in the fall, running track in the spring, and trying to be as active in her school as possible.

 Now you can see why I really wanted to make the last little while of Kayla living in her room peaceful, organized and awesome. She adds so much joy to our home and she is such an amazing girl!

 Calvin will probably move in to the room after she is gone. He is happy with the neutral paint color, so that will stay the same. We will probably just change the accessories to look a little more like a boys room. I'm thinking when Kayla comes back for the summer, we will put her room back together and move Calvin in with Max for the summer.

                                                      Here is Kayla's room before.....

 Here is Kayla's room after....

 

 

 Before...

 

 

 After....

 One of Kayla's best friends drew a picture of her, so we framed it. It has the saying "up" on it. That is from President Monson's talk he gave last general conference. He told a story about looking up instead of down.

 

 

 We repainted the make up table she already had in her room. We painted it white and antiqued it first, but we didn't like it. The room needed more color, so we painted it aqua and stenciled the chevron pattern on the top. (We used blue painters tape to make the stencil) Then we antiqued it again. I already had those yellow jars somewhere else in the house and they fit in her room perfectly.

 

 

 

I had an old barn window that we painted aqua and then antiqued. We just taped some pictures of Kayla inside the squares. The idea is that she can change them anytime. I couldn't find any pillow cases that I like so I ordered some chevron fabric and sewed my own. Don't look too close.

 

 

 

 

The mirror looked like it was floating so I added some fabric and painted a dresser knob to give it a look like it was hanging.

I recovered the chair with the chevron fabric. I think this is the fourth time I have recovered this chair. It is from our old dining room table set. All the girls have one in their rooms at the make-up/ getting ready table. Having 3 teenage girls in a bathroom together getting ready is a nightmare, so they do their hair and make up in their own room.

 

We already had the bulletin board in Kayla's room, we just painted it aqua.

 

 

Here is a look at the room from the other side.

 

 

 

 

Kayla loves the room! Everything has a place. I loved doing this project with Kayla. It's fun to teach my girls how to design a room that is fashionable and functional on a budget. Hmmmm what room should I do next?