Closet Make-Over

This was a project that I've been wanting to do for awhile now.  My husband really wasn't ready to take it on but my In-Laws were coming to town so I hit up my father-in-law.  He loves to work on projects and I had a couple in mind for him to choose from.   He chose the closet make-over project while they were staying with us.  His wife was at a conference for church all day for 2 days, my husband was at work so he was stuck with the kids and I.  He likes to be busy, check out the pictures below on what we did.

I also wanted to mention that I originally got this idea from Pinterest but gave my own twist and ideas to the project.  Here's are the pins and websites that I got the idea from.  They both have their own looks to them are wonderful as well.  Check them out here and here.

We started off by taking the ugly white doors off and measuring everything.  We drew up some blue prints and came up with a plan of attack.

Here are the pictures to show the work that was done and the wonderful outcome we had!  Thanks Norbert for helping me out.

Before the closet make-over.
What a scary mess!

Cleaning out the closet!
Yeah, the white doors are gone.

Time to paint.  Just a little back story on painting.  When we first moved into our house 5 years ago my husband painted all the rooms.  I decided I'd try and help him out and put a first coat on in the kids bathroom while he was at work one day.  Needless, to say it wasn't the best and he said, "What the heck did you do in here?"  After that I haven't painted until the closet update, and I think it turned out pretty darn good!

My father-in-law measuring and
cutting for the bench and top shelf.

Painting in progress!
Break time right now, got some good upper
arm workout in painting the top half.

Even one of my kiddos decided to
 help out with the painting.

Here's the finished mud room/closet.

Baskets - purchased from Michael's with 40% off coupons or they were already on sale.

Coat Hooks - found at Target.

Tan (Maple) 15 cube organizer/ shoe shelf on the right - already had from before if you look at the before picture.  (Got from Target a couple of years ago.)

Dark brown (Espresso) 15 cube organizer $29.95 - Target and Wal-Mart no longer had anything to go with the one I had prior.  Ended up getting the Espresso one and the two organizers on the left as well from go organize.com ~ check them out HERE!

Upper shelf and bench with dividers - bought the wood at Lowe's with my father-in-law.  He sanded it down measured and cut it to size for me.  I ended up staining it with some stain we already had and I think it turned out great.  

I have to say, I think the dark and light browns go great together and look really rich and warm.  Very welcoming when coming into the house.  

  

Here's what it looks like now with stuff in it.
No more closet doors to shut and hide all the crap
so it stays pretty clean most of the time.

Busy Times!

School has started back 

up for my kiddos and I'm back to work after enjoying the summer with my kids.  Summer was very relaxing, now the schedule is getting busy again with every ones after school Fall activities.  My point is that's why I haven't been posting much on my blog.  It's because of my Many Joys! that are keeping me busy, running them here and there and everywhere.  Hopefully I'll get something written up soon.  I have lots of posts in the works just need to finish them up.  

Now that I'm back to work for the school year I can't stay up until midnight, need to get to bed at a decent time so I'm not dragging all day.  I did just get done reading a couple books and I'm on a smoothie kick so watch for those post coming soon!

With the kids all back to school during the day you would think I could get more done.  But the days seem to fly by on me and the lists grow and grow.  I'm very involved in my kids school PTA, along with being a Religious Ed teacher once a week and planing for that and all the household duties that come along and taking care of my children.  There are many balls to juggle and life gets crazy!  I just need to keep telling myself to focus and do one thing at a time.  It will all get done when it gets done!

#timemanagement #busytimes

5th grade end of year celebrations ~

5th grade graduation/recognition reception night

What a fun and busy time of year.  Preparing for my daughter's 5th grade graduation.  I did this 2 years ago with my oldest daughter, so I'm more prepared this time around.  First off, let's start with the theme that the kids picked to help celebrate leaving elementary school and moving onto middle school.    

Theme:  Kid President!  

I think when the teachers told the 10 parents that showed up for the meeting to put all this together what the theme was, that we all kind of had a blank look.  Well if you don't know who Kid President is, he is a little black kid who does motivational speeches online. He's very cute and funny!  There are tons of YouTube videos out there to check out on the Internet.  Click Kid President here to check it out!

Well we ended up running with the theme and doing RED, WHITE & BLUE decorations, cakes & all.

Needless to say, we needed 3 volunteer coordinators to put together each of the different activities.  Since I did the reception 2 years ago, I decided I would do it again.  My hand shot up and that was that, I was the coordinator for that part.  

Here are the pictures of what we did.  With the crazy weather we've been having we ended up keeping it inside.  We had 3 sections set up.  

1st section was for the 5th graders - 3 tables with cakes and drinks pre-poured for 72 students.  When I do this again in two years, we will have some cookies at the 1st section as well.  Some of the students didn't want a cupcake and instead went to the other tables and took 4 or 5 cookies instead.

1st table before the 3 cupcake cakes below,
 were separated and put onto plates.

Kid President!

Picture of 5th graders
on the playground!

American Flag cake with Roadrunner mascot!

2nd table had the cakes on it before the program started, for parents to have the opportunity to take pictures.  The 3 cakes above are 24 cupcakes that make for easy separation when serving later.  Instead of having to cut a cake, lot less mess.  You can get these from most stores that make cakes.  We went with Target as theirs are moist, delicious and the best price overall. 

72 pre-poured drinks so the graduates can come through and grab their drink without having someone having to serve them.

2nd & 3rd sections were for the parents and siblings - 2 tables each.  One with trays of cookies and the other with pre-poured drinks.

We decorated the tables with simple red, white & blue decorations for the evening.  Every table had either a red, blue or white with stars tablecloth on it.  Some had fun red, white and blue garland and others didn't.  Last of all are the two decorations below that were at the tables.  Simple and neat ideas!

Red Solo cup with sand in the bottom to hold the flag!
(Very simple to do.)

Red, White & Blue colored rice with led lighted candle.
One of the other Mom's made these and they turned out great.  Use food coloring to dye the rice, let dry and then layer. 

 Farewell week hallway decorations ~

The Mom in charge of this one did a great job as well.  I went up and helped decorate, but not in charge of the whole shebang. 

Awesome eagle emblem, not for sure where it came from but I think it's been around for a while at the school.  The mini flags were bought at the Dollar Store and put up here and there.

These are pool noodles cut up and made into firecrackers, BOOM!  Aren't they awesome.   We couldn't find any white noodles so that's where the white crepe paper around them comes in to hold them together.  Along with being hot glued together as well.  

This flag has been around as well but worked great with our theme.  Pulled out of the 5th grade storage closet.

Several of these banners were in the 5th grade
closet as well, so up they went! 

With Liberty and Justice for ALL!

Red, white and blue garland and lanterns, from the Dollar Store.

One of the mom's took red, white and blue crepe paper and sewed them together and then frayed it (she has too much time on her hands).  I do have to say it looks AWESOME!  We tied white curling ribbon onto red, white and blue balloons to hang all over the hallway as well.  

One of the teachers took pictures of all the kids & then cut and pasted the hats on to the pictures.  They also printed off a KID PRESIDENT saying to put by each 5th graders picture (check out some of the sayings below).

Statue of Liberty ~ this was a treasure out of the 5th grade closet that we used as decoration.  It's been around awhile but still works.  We threw some decorations on her and called it a day.

Kickball Game & Clap-Out~

On the last day of school the 5th graders have a kickball game against each other.  Boys vs. girls and the 4 classes play off against each other.  This year it was a very HOT and muggy day.  It was supposed to be from 10:30-11:30am.  I got up to the school at 11am and they were headed inside already, that's how HOT it was.  I helped clean up the mess that was left behind.   

My daughter out on the kickball field posing like she is running to a base.  Gotta love her!

Headed inside to cool off after a sweaty kickball game.

Everyone in the building lines the hallways, teachers/staff, students and 5th grade parents.  Then the 5th grade students & teachers walk through all the hallways as we are clapping and cheering for them.  They made it through grade school now onto middle school. 

This concludes the festivities for the week and ends the school year with a bang!

Starting a new chapter of their lives!

We Love Our Teachers & Staff ~

Teacher/Staff Appreciation Week Ideas ~

Teacher/Staff Appreciation week was a big hit this year.  Our theme - Get Ready for Summer!

Our PTA provided several meals and snack days for the T/S and fun gifts each day.  We also had a basket giveaway for each day as well (oops, no pic of this).

     Breakfast is served!
     Everyday you make a difference!
     All about you!
     Chair massage!
     Happy Friday!

I printed off each letter saying and had them in the T/S lounge on the cabinets, along with a lot of other Hawaiian decorations that we put up.  Darn it, no picture of this either and it was two other parents and myself decorating the room ( I there, so no excuse not to take some pics of our hard work).

Daily gifts given to all teachers/staff each day:

I did this part at home, so I made sure I got my pictures of all the little gifts. Can't wait for next year and what we have in store for our teachers/staff.  I'll make sure to get pictures of everything next year, hopefully!

All the daily gifts, except the chap stick!

Have a BALL this summer!

Variety pack beach balls from Oriental Trading.

Thanks for taking care of our little DUCKIES!

Hula duckies!

Mermaid duckies!

Surfing duckies!

Lifeguard duckies!

Variety pack duckies from Oriental Trading as well.

Thank you for all the EXTRA 
work you do!

HANDS down you're the best teacher/staff in town!

Have a CHAPPY fun summer!

Chap sticks from AVON!

       Monday - Breakfast is served!
       We will be providing you with a hot breakfast and coffee        
       to start your day off right!

       Tuesday - Everyday you make a difference!

And we want to make a difference in your day by providing a catered salad bar luncheon! Leave those lunch boxes at home for this one. 

Wednesday - All about you! 

We want to make this day your best by providing Sonic drinks and a sub sandwich lunch. (Be sure and get your Sonic drink order on the Google doc in the office before Friday, so we can get your order right!)

Thursday - Chair Massage and Snack Cart

Sign-up for a 10 min chair massage with a licensed massage therapist between 11-1. The office should have the sign-up sheet soon! 

And your afternoon will be uplifted by the popular snack cart making it's rounds!

Friday - Happy Friday!

Who doesn't love to end the week with a BBQ lunch. We will be grilling out hamburgers and hot dogs all morning to have them ready for your lunch hour along with some yummy sides and desserts!