#1 Field Trip Friday!

When starting to plan the new school year, I really wanted to inject lots of fun into our schooling to kick off our year on a good note! Thus the idea of Field Trip Friday was born....I decided we would school Tues-Thurs. in the month of August with Friday reserved for field trips....So far it has been so fun and has indeed started our year off with the FUN I was aiming to achieve.

#1 Field Trip.....August 5th: Lucky U Ceramics 

Several rows of goodies to choose from...starting at .75 and going up from there. I was happy with the variety.

 Caleb picked as monkey to paint

 Zach also picked a monkey, and he painted with much intensity the whole time!I think his looks the most realistic!

  Lance painted a beagle...even though it's nose looks like a pig, lol!

Caleb's finished monkey.

Zach's monkey...

The kids absolutely loved being able to make their own creations. The whole field trip cost around $28. This included the cost of the ceramics, plus a $4 fee person to paint and seal it. Instead of firing the items they were sprayed with a sealant, and we could take them home that day. It was a fun field trip that I think we will do again. I might even paint something next time!

Trash to Treasure X TWO

During July, I hit a garage sale early in the morning before heading to the county fair.....this not so pretty cabinet cost me $3 after I used my bargaining skills.....

This is the before.....half painted with gray spray paint

They didn't spray paint the inside..nor is there a back on it....but for $3 I'm not complaining

A little blurry for some reason, but you get the idea that they had ugly (or not to my liking) knobs.

The After:

I primed and painted it with left over paint from my sewing sudio. Also added two new black rubbed knobs from the hardware store.

I also primed and painted the inside and added a bead board backing. 

(left over from kitchen remodeling.)

Cabinet Cost $3+$8 Knobs= $11 Cabinet

Yahoo! It is in my sewing studio, and now houses my extra material...love it!

This wonderful all wood....very heavy...piece I scored for $10 also at a garage sale. The lady told me she used it for a coffee table.....In my mind I thought it was screaming it wanted to be a bench inside my front door!

THE BEFORE:

I sanded out all the knicks, then primed and base color painted, the dry brushed on the antiqued rubbed look. Same technique I used on my kitchen cabinets......and then it looked like this.

THE AFTER:
I know it doesn't look like it in this picture but the base is dark tan with the "rubbed" color being black.

I'm really happy with the results! I love that it's a little shorter than my other bench and it's nice and wide so it doesn't feel tipsy, even if you plant yourself right on the end. I used my coupon to get two free samples of Benjamin Moore Paint (from Pottery Barn) so final cost is still $10!

Tomorrow a sneak peak into a project that I finished in the school room.

This week I'm linking up to Thirty Decorating....

Also linking to Saved By Love Creations....

And last I'm linking with Thifty and Fabuless.....

 

Gaerte Academy 2011-2012

Our school year has already began...We have been having a blast! Here are some of the things we've been up to...the first series of picture the kids used chalk to draw there favorite thing of the summer...

Rainbows were Julia's favorite thing...

Zach Spiderman's favorite part was feeding the cats....

 Caleb...ahem...I mean Ninja Turtle Caleb's favorite part of the summer was starting school.

Lance's favorite part of summer...Field Trip Friday (more on that later). In his chalk drawing he is painting ceramics.
 The weather has really made a turn towards dreamy so we have used any and all excuses to hang out outside! This time our excuse was bubbles!

When we are not playing outside, these are a couple of our favorite things to do inside....

We have two bean bags for our reading nook...Julia loves to hang out and "read"

Zach is blending sounds and three letter words together.

One of the tools that we are using to help with this is the School Zone Three Letter Words cards. (less than $3 at Walmart)...

The kids put together the cards to make the words (by matching up the pictures), then they practice sounding out the words.

 There is nothing super special about the cards, but for the price they work well. The kids like the colorful illustrated pictures.

Julia like that she get to use the new cards as well.

Next I'll share what we've been doing on Field Trip Friday.

Passing a Treasure to Julia......

When my sister & I were little (I think I was somewhere between 8-10) my grandpa made us this amazing doll house. I remember endless hours of playing house over many years.

 My mom sent it with me many years ago to store at my home. After delivering many bundles of joy (all boys) over the years, I knew when Julia came along I would someday give it to her. When we moved I had it restored a bit.....it needed a little TLC after 20 years. We got it back rather quickly (thanks Kirk)! While she was away and grandma's house for a sleepover I arranged all the little pieces of furniture and had it ready for her when she came home! Want to see the inside?

Kitchen

 Dinning Room

Living Room

another living room shot

Bedroom #1

 Bedroom #2

Aren't these hilarious....no farmhouse is complete without a couple mice, right?

Nursery

another nursery shot

Bathroom

I think it's extra special that my grandma also made all the curtains and bedding for the house!

It makes my heart melt watching her play with this special treasure. The fact that we still have so much of the furniture to go with it is really amazing. The piano is even a player piano...yep still works!

A Treasure passed from one generation to another......

Playing Catch UP!

It's been hopping around here as our summer has came to a close and so here is the short version of what we've been up to for the past couple weeks.....

This year has been a bad year to find places to U-pick blueberries (to much rain this Spring I heard). So we decided to buy them on sale at the store and stock up that way.....I stocked up on 35 lbs!

We picked around 15 lbs last year, so we decided to more than double it this year..YUM!

 We've been doing a little deer watching when we get the chance.....

 Date night!! We checked out a newer pizza joint....

 Dessert on Date night!

 Our Date Night Partners in Crime.....so much fun!

 Yahoo for DATE NIGHTS!

 Our YUMMY dessert at DeBrands!

 We dropped our oldest "man" off to church camp for the first time.......

 CABIN #10 was Lance's home for the 3-Day camp.

 Lots of fun to be had at the camp! We even enjoyed a little fun before leaving.

  

 

 The Blue River Boys were invited to perform at the Collins Church again this year.

Caleb likes the music....but he likes all the sweets that come with these gatherings even better!

It was a gorgeous evening to enjoy the food, shade, & their music ministry

  

I just might be partial to this guy in the band :)

That will catch up a little on The Gaertegang...until next time!