on a science bedroom mission....

This past weekend...we were on a mission.  It wasn't even my plan going into the weekend to redo my son's bedroom, but he has wanted a science themed bedroom since we moved into our home this past summer.  Something came over me Saturday morning, and I said to him - let's go pick out some paint! 

First of all, I was painting over a wallpaper mural that was in his room - I loved it, but it just wasn't for him.  I researched how to do this, and bought Kilz oil based primer to paint over the wallpaper first.  Then,

I put 2 coats of semi-gloss charcoal gray over the primer.  Next, I used my acrylics to create the Milky Way (or any other celestial outer space body - I'm not so sure it really resembles the Milky Way, but I wouldn't know that for sure anyway - & what counts is that my son loves it!). 

He has under-bed storage for all sorts of toys, a moon phase night light mounted above his bed, with a framed pic. of him at the Museum of Science in a space shuttle. 

Here's his dinosaur fossil corner...

And words above each window....

Our mission:  COMPLETE (almost).  I'm going to add 2 black shelves above his bed for his microscope & other science tools to be displayed on.  And, I'd also like a science themed area rug....

I have to say, I love that this room redo made his room look so neat & organized!!

xo Sarah

Hello Monday…

Monday’s simply sneak up on me…
Hard to believe another week has gone by, and here’s to a new one beginning.  This week holds a few new things in store for us ~
My son continues his art class after school, and begins taking piano lessons this week – we’re so excited! I always hoped to have him learn an instrument at an early age, so here we go…hopefully he’ll enjoy it.  I’ll keep you posted.  And of course, we have indoor soccer too.  Our schedules are a bit crazy, but we’re having fun!!
Here’s my front door ~ ready for Valentine’s Day!  The dusting of snow that we got tonight looks so pretty on the front porch, and I’m happy to say that’s all the snow that fell!  

Happy week ahead! 
xo Sarah

One month until <heart> day!!

With one month to go, I decided it was time to begin decorating for Valentine's Day. What better place to begin than with the mantle! I left my silver & red berries from Christmas, and a few gold & silver stars too. I placed some heart shaped plates that I have gotten as gifts over the years, from my mom and mom in law ~ love them! I stacked a few lovey~dovey titled books, put out a Valentine that my son made me a few years ago, and that is my "thankful tree" from Thanksgiving in the middle...I took off our thankful tags, and hung the clay hearts that my son & I made last year.

What do you think?  xo Sarah

Hello Monday~

Monday, again, already...
I'm home from work today, as we prepare for another foot surgery for my husband.  I'm stripping beds, packing an overnight bag for my son (sleepovers with grandparents are the best - even on a school night), folding laundry, and simply preparing for surgery #???.  I believe we're up to #10 now.  I'm really just trying to make the time pass by today, so we can get to the hospital and get this done.  It's the waiting that drives me crazy!  My husband is resting now, so I'm sipping some tea, & sending out this blog. 
Keep him in your prayers today please.

xo Sarah 

Our song for the moment...

Music is such therapy!!  I have music on my ipod for working out, cleaning the house, relaxing (I rarely listen to this music, but it's there), and for rockin' out with my almost 7 year old.  Sometimes I'll hear a song, and remember a moment in the past that I listened to that song & where I was.  Do you ever do that?  ...a middle school dance, my wedding, a song that reminds me of my grandpa...

This particular song is one that my husband and I have been cranking lately - powerful, meaningful for what we are going through right now..."every storm cloud runs out of rain..." 
We're waiting for our storm cloud to run out of rain, but we also know that there's always a reason for life's difficulties.  We are a much stronger couple, our son understands the importance of family, and that disabilities can effect people physically, but don't hold us back.  It's been another emotional week for us, but once again we are pulling together ~ thank goodness for the love of our family & friends.  What would we do without them all!!

To my husband & son ~ Our storm clouds bring us closer!
xo Sarah

Ahhh, New England…

Do you have a favorite place on earth? Do you have a place that you simply love to escape too?  That place would be the Cape for us…I love the clouds in this picture, and the ocean looks like a wintery one.  Brrrrr…

This week, perhaps the weather will make us THINK SPRING, even if just for a short while…makes me think I should put “buy flowers” on my list of things to pick up this week.  Our dining room table could use a bunch, to bring spring into our home!  Enjoy the weather, New Englanders!!

xo Sarah

Helllooooooooooooo Monday...

This Monday brings a five day week with my kiddos at school,
My husband tackling a doctor's appointment alone (unfortunately)~ wish I could have been there for support,
A meeting after school,
Facing homework with my little man again (we've been on a homework hiatas for the last couple of weeks & it's been nice),
Dropping off a few ordered scarves to a dear friend,
Finishing the tin backsplash in our kitchen & painting another wall...
Wow, & it's only Monday!  What will the rest of the week bring!?

I'll leave you with this~ dedicated to my amazing husband, who could use a little lift right about now...love you babe!

xo Sarah

family pieces~

My favorite pieces in my home have been handed down from family...furniture, dishes, paintings & nic~nacs.  This was my Grandma & Grandpa's bureau in their Cape Cod home in Harwich, before they passed away.  It was stored, relocated, and fortunately became mine when they both left this earth.  We used it as a bureau in our first home...but I love it's use much more now!

The drawer that was removed is tucked under my bed with sweaters in it...until I come up with another idea. 
I believe my grandparents would enjoy knowing that I have many pieces from them in my new home. 

xo Sarah

New Year, New Look, New Focuses~

Hello~  I've been focusing a great deal of my time on my two greatest loves...my family & my classroom!  But, new year & I'm back!
I'm looking forward to a year filled with newness, excitement, promises, times filled with loved ones & lots of memory making! 
I wish you the best in 2013!!  Please be sure to check in soon to follow me on my new year's goals, dreams, and plans. 


Best wishes for an amazing new year!

xo Sarah

Our Thankful Tree...

I have sooooo much to be thankful for...
A warm, cozy home, a loving & supportive family, an amazing husband (& chef), and a son who lights up my life. 
We started this month with making our own Thankful Tree in our dining room...each night, after dinner, we talk about what we are thankful for in life, write our thoughts down on tags, and hang them on our tree. 

"Thankful Tree"

aka ~ branches in a vase

 

A few of our tags read:

Earth, Basil (our black lab), Church School, Family...

 

This is a family tradition that we will continue for years to come!!

Happy Thanksgiving my friends...be thankful for the little things in life!

 

xo Sarah

Friendship, good food & drink...

 

We shared laughter, stories, and wine....

We sipped cider, and soups that made our insides warm...

 

 

We discussed hobbies, photographs, and tried on soft-winter-scarves...

And most of all...

 

 

We thoroughly enjoyed one another's company! You are all such an amazing part of my life...

Another Soups, Sauces & More success story!

 

We'll have to do that again SOON!

xo Sarah



Soups, sauces & More Party...

 

Love, love, love it when we have a Soups & Sauces Party!!

We're planning, prepping, shopping, cooking, printing labels, and filling our frig and freezers with many varieties of soups & sauces for our friends and family to order.  We are having a sampling of soups & sauces, and of course some wine...

I love watching my husband do what he does best in the kitchen ~ cook!

I'll post some pics of tomorrow night's party!

 

Here are a couple pics of my handmade cards, with my favorite photographs on them...

Pamet River, cape cod dinghies, hydrangeas, garden flowers, just to name a few. 

These are for sale at our home party, also.

Looking forward to a night hanging out with friends & family...not to mention sipping some amazing soups!!

 

xo Sarah

Halloween decorating

Hello...I've been swamped with first grade ~ making lots of games, learning new curriculum, and basically doing a great deal of cutting and laminating at night instead of posting to my blog!!

My son has kept me focused on our new home, as he loves Halloween, and all of our decorations have managed to appear just about everywhere.  Our porch is decorated, our staircase, mantle, and living room too.  We have these neat, yet simple, ghosts in a few of our windows.  We call them Toohil-ghosts, for our friend that first introduced us to them.  Simply cut window sized ghosts out of large white paper, and hang them in your windows.  I must say, they do look great when you drive by our home!  I'll try to post more pics of what they look like from the outside. 
Happy October!!

xo Sarah

Fall mantel~

We decided this weekend to bring out our fall decorations, go pumpkin picking at our local nursery, purchase some cornstalks, and plant some mums...

I should have taken a close up too, but didn't...
                                       I decorated with baby pumpkins, ghords, my aloe plant, bunches of faux leaves, and a needlepoint of wheat that my mom made back in '74 ~ love it!!  I love mixing the old with the new. 

How are you decorating for fall?  I'll share pics of our front porch soon!
~xo Sarah

abundant garden!

These beautiful veggies are from my dad's garden.  Aren't they amazingly beautiful?!  I think I'll put this platter on my dining room table tomorrow as a centerpiece for our family gathering.  LOVE summer veggies ~ what do we do without them over the winter? 

Hope you're enjoying this labor day weekend...we certainly are!  We've accomplished some yard work, organized the play room & found items to donate to our church auction.  Tomorrow we host family at our new home - can't wait to have everyone over!

xo Sarah

Cape Cod Map

My grandparents purchased this map a looong time ago, and used to have it in their Cape Cod home.  When my grandparents passed away, it was the one item that I asked for.  We hung it in our last home in our den/computer room, but I couldn't unroll it all the way because we didn't have a wall that was large enough...well, now we do! 

After hanging it in our spare bedroom, I got a little teary~eyed & wished my grandparents could see it hanging in our new home.  (don't mind the bed...all the tools are laid out for hanging the map just so)

Thinking of you Gram & Gramp!!
xo Sarah

being a team...

Every fall (I know it's not technically, but for some reason I call it fall as soon as school begins), for the past couple of years, we've made a new "chore" chart together.  This year my son & I talked about how our family is a team, and we all have things to do to help one another out. 
This time around, our chore chart is called "Michael's Responsibilities"...I think it sounds better than chores, and the reality is the list is what he's responsible for.
When he completes a responsibility, he puts a check mark on his list ~ I love that his checkmarks are backwards!  :)
Anyway, after 3 checkmarks, he earns 25cents.  Basically, when the chart is full Michael has earned $1.25.  All of these responsibilities don't get accomplished everyday.  For example, we only get the paper delivered Thurs. thru Sunday.  He also has to take some of his earnings & put them into his savings each month...
I'll let you know how this goes!  Hopefully well - we're off to a good start!

PS~ for some reason it's hard to see, but his responsibilities are:  getting dressed every morning, getting the newspaper (from the front walk), setting the table, feeding the dog, & cleaning up toys.
xo Sarah

back~to~school...

Tomorrow is my son's last full day of summer, so we are declaring it "Michael Day!" 

Let me preface this by saying that it was an extremely busy summer:  my husband had surgery in June, we moved out of one home & into our amazing new home, I moved from 4th grade to 1st grade, and our wonderful son rolled with it all!

So...tomorrow is Michael Day!  We will be playing outside, playing inside, sketching out our plans for his new science room, walking to get ice cream after lunch, and much much more ~ all revolving around my one & only. 

Can't wait!  Here's to summer, spending time with our children, and making memories...

xo Sarah

Ps- Here's a sneak peek to my classroom theme...owls.  My girlfriend painted this owl, and he's my inspiration for "Whooooooooo's in 1st grade?"

Summer Bucket List...

Every summer, my son & I make our list of things we'd like to do together...sometimes this list involves day trips, or simply things like collecting bugs.  Last summer, I blogged about our summer list and we wrote out our wishes on sticky notes.  This summer, we wrote our wishes on clothespins and clipped them around the rim of a beach pail ~ hence our Summer Bucket List.

I wish the photo came out better.  The clips contain things like:  Museum of Science, firefly collecting, building a new swingset, out for breakfast, ice cream for dinner, hanging out with friends...

Well, here's to summer's unofficial end.  School begins this week for my little (big) man.  Wonder if I'll be a teary-eyed mom as he hops on the bus?  I'll wear my sunglasses that morning, just incase!!

Happy back-to-school!
xo Sarah

I can see clearly now...

I was singing this song today..." I can see clearly now, the rain is gone..."  This is how I'm feeling at the end of summer vacation.  We are all settled into our new (old) home & loving it, my classroom is just about all set for open house in a little over a week, we've laughed, played, unpacked, and made our house our HOME!

I feel as though I've been away from blogging for an eternity, but I certainly needed the break & the focus to be on family & home.  Isn't it wonderful that I am admitting that?  This summer evokes those 2 wonderful words:  family & home!!
I'll leave you with a peek at my new front porch (more to come).  Today we planted 3 Endless Summer Hydrangeas and 2 beach grass.  The Holly bush has been taken down, and beachy plants have taken its place.  Next up:  new paint on the front door!
Hope summer has been good to you all!

xo Sarah