"Wood" you like to see our new wall art?

My friend Emily had a crazy idea that we could do this project with wood together.  It would be easy to work on while the kids went to bible school and we'd pick up the materials and be done in a day or two!  I traded in my pixie dust for sawdust for a few days!

We set off to Home Depot with the babies and learned our way around the lumber department by reading what wood was composite and what was pine.  Some treated and some not.  We made our selections including having them cut a large piece of plywood for us and then came the real challenge.  Carrying wood in an SUV and a mini van!  We didn't have a truck but we managed to make it work.  It wasn't easy!  

After some further reading, we decided we needed a miter saw. Luckily one of the neighbors entrusted us with his!  It made our project so much easier!  We did LOTS of sanding, lots of staining and mixing of stains.  It was a mixture of what we had on hand and what we bought to share.  

We had some really great helpers a few of the days too!  Most of the time they were napping but occasionally they got to come along and help out.  We'd feed them snacks or give them buckets of water to play in.  

It might look as though the hard part was done but that is not the case!  It got harder from here!  This was actually the fun part!

Next came the frame and making frames is NOT easy!  It requires some precise measuring and a little bit of luck in hoping all the corners match.  We had to do some trimming with a skill saw but we got them in and then finished with nails.  

The last day Lil was sickly. She had a little fever because she had 3 new teeth coming in!  This just proves mom's can do ANYTHING!  I can sand, hammer and frame with a baby on my back!

When we finished we had worked on it off and on for about 8 days.  It took a little longer than we expected but it turned out even BETTER than we hoped!

I gave it to Jason for Father's Day.  He was pretty impressed with my wood working skills.  He was happier to know what I'd been skirting out on doing at Emily's the last several days.  

We hung it at the end of the stairs and opening to the kitchen.  I'm really proud of how it turned out, especially knowing what went into it!  

Although not "easy", it wasn't as hard as you might think either.  Here are the directions:

http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com/2014/01/w-is-for-wood-planed-quilt.html

I scream, you scream, we ALL scream for Ice Cream!

School was almost out for the summer so we had a little neighborhood party to celebrate.  I'm not much of a pinterest mom but this party looked like something I could handle.  3 Flavors of ice cream and tons of candy toppings.  Sounds like a kids version of heaven!  

Throw in a little salty popcorn for the adults and a little watermelon to make it "appear" to have a healthy vibe and you've got yourself a successful party!  

Most all of these kids walk home from school every day so it was set up for them in the driveway as they walked home.  I had some bubbles and water guns out too.  I had intended to do water balloons but I didn't want them to have too much fun!   

 I let them go back for seconds and thirds even, until all the ice cream was gone or melted!

Check out this clever way to cut the watermelon into slices that are easy to eat and pick up with your fingers!  

Linc with his friend and neighbor Julia.  These two can go from water guns to tea parties and back again!

Jackson and his best friend Creed.  It was the first boy he met in his class this year and they turned out to be best buds!

Shade was kinda hard to come by but they ate fast to keep the ice cream from melting.

Lincoln and all his Ladies!  Look at that quirky little smile.  He knows just what he's doing!  

Lillian woke up and joined the fun!  She had her share of toppings too!

Nobody was getting her fruity pebbles!

All that sticky goodness required a bath.  Outside.  

The boys are lucky they are too old or I'd have put them in there as well!

I think they had fun and will remember this end of the year party all summer. 

 Now if only I can survive the summer with the three of them home. 

 I'm going to need a bigger freezer and more ice cream!