Nursery in Progress

Friday night we ventured to the circus.  I saw more attendees who looked like they belonged in the circus... it was an odd audience.

The circus staff knows how to get you.  They prance around with their big trays of sno cones in little animal cups, and wave their flashy swords and lights around right in front of your children. 
I mean, Ryder "reeeeeeeeaaallllyy wanted a sno cone"

So we got him one, and ten dollars later he was happy.  UNTIL...

The next staff member proudly swung by with his tray of dippin' dots.  Do you think Ryder wanted those too?  Do you think he was tired of his sno cone after one bite?  Do you think his spoiling father bought him $10 dippin dots?  Yes, yes and yes he did.

Saturday morning Ryder and John Michael went to Vaughan to help grandaddy build a fence.  Ryder requested jeans and work boots like his daddy.  And he wanted to wear a John Deere shirt.

So what was I to do all alone with a majorly incomplete nursery, stuff to be painted, moved, hung, etc?  Get to work!  Off to Home Depot to start my alphabet art project.  First I had to get some plywood cut.

This was my inspiration, found here.  But I am using different alphabet cards and more of a navy color, it's in the Vintage Chic collection from Behr, called English Channel.

So first I needed three 19x19" squares.  So I got those home and sanded and painted them in 100 degree heat in my garage, 8 months pregnant.  It was bad.  Anyway, once that dried I put a minwax stain on them to give them a rougher look.  Since it was so hot and muggy in the garage, the stain took more than 24 hours to dry.

In the meantime, I cut these alphabet squares with the best tool ever invented.

Then, after I cut out all the alphabet letters and lined them up real nice on the boards, I hammered them into the plywood with carpet tacks.

You can't really see them good because they are sitting on my floor for now.  But they will soon be above the crib.  Only downfall, they're pretty gigantic.  All laid out they are exactly 57" across, the exact same length as the crib, so I guess it'll be fine. 

This was a VERY tedious project.  The hardest part was pushing in 108 carpet tacks (4 per card) with my right thumb, before hammering them in.  My thumb was still numb 2 days later. 

And those are the new curtains for Rhodes' nursery. I was real crafty and bought my own blackout fabric from a fabric store and just pinned them to the back, so now that room is dark as night during the day. Fabulous. Poor Ryder never had that luxary, I don't think I even know blackout shades existed when I was putting his room together.

I must admit, I am VERY glad I made this change.  It feels so nice and fresh when I walk in his room, and so bright!  All the furniture was black and now it's off-white.  I ended up having to buy crib bedding beacuse what I borrowed must have shrunk, and the bumper wouldn't fit all the way around the crib and the crib skirt was super short.  I'll post pictures once everything is done.

Saturday night we celebrated Father's Day for John Michael and his dad at Table 100, it's the first time we had been there and it was great.  Sunday was of course Father's Day. 

After church, my sister and I, along with Ryder took my dad to Keifer's for lunch and let John Michael get a little nap in and then 18 holes of golf. 

I was feeling like poo after a long weekend of working hard, so instead of cooking dinner for the father, he cooked for us!

Totally unrelated, Ryder's teacher emailed me this picture.

I seriously can't get over the stuff he's learning at school.  Last night I layed in bed with him in shock listening to him recite the pledge of allegiance.  Word for word, hand over his heart.  I got him to say it in the car earlier and I have to post a video because it's so dang cute:

Pregnancy update:  5 weeks til the due date!