If you need it, build it! :)

We have "market days" coming up at Alex's school and we needed to create a "farmer's market" style stall for the kiddos. We have a table and are going all out on the table cloth but I wanted a neat attention getting sign, so I called my Dad, asked his advice and headed off to the nearest Lowes.

On Dad's recommendation I got PVC pipe, connectors and end caps, came home, measured, sawed and voila...$11 and 15 minutes later I had the frame for my sign for this and many future projects.

Here is a quick do it yourself, step-by-step tutorial!

Assemble your items. I had the saw, tape measure and sharpie already, but everything else here cost $10.24. That and a little time and we have a very multifunction piece that should work for the preschool for a while!



Measure your PVC pipe and mark the height and width you want your stand to be. I did 7 feet high and 7 feet wide, so I cut all three pieces of my PVC pipe to seven feet.


Use a hack saw and cut the PVC pipe at your measured marks. The PVC pipe cuts easily, just be sure your cut ends go into the connectors so you don't scratch yourself.


Get your connectors ready. From here on out it's like putting legos together!


Use your short brace pieces and connect them to the sides of your T connector. The top of the T will hold your tall stand pieces.



Add your elbow connectors to connect your side and top pieces:



Alex helped put the finishing touches on. Here he is adding end caps to our stand:


The finished product! We're going to wrap it in brown crepe paper to make trees and decorate it with fall leaves, and hang a Shoreline Market Days banner across it, pictures coming soon!

Ready, Set, Go....

The Holidays are almost here which means it's time for PARTY PLANNING!!! Yeah! :) I volunteer at my son's school to help with parties and really enjoy seeing the kiddos get a kick out of everything we pull together. This year we're doing a Fall Fun Day for the preschool and it amazes me how much coordination goes into something like this. I've been working on volunteer rotations, donations needed, and just general planning for what will amount to one morning for 60 kids. I CAN"T WAIT! There will be awesome pilgrim pictures, hayrides, a farmer's market and more. I want to give a special thank you to the great folks at www.volunteerspot.com which is making organizing volunteers and donations so much easier! :)

Needless to say, between a few friends getting married in Oct, our own fall entertaining, travel for both myself and Eric and Race for the Cure on the horizon, this is shaping up to be a busy month!

A Day in the Life of Alex

The day starts with toast that my little tyrant makes himself. Don't even try to help, he'll have a fit.

Then he feeds his fish and watches them eat.

Then off to school, where he plays with his friends.

Alex with his teacher when I pry him out of class at the end of the day.

Days That Make Me Want to Homeschool

What a week. So much has happened I don't know where to start. 

Alex's teacher at school, Ms. Paine and I, have been working very hard with Alex on potty training and lo and behold orange gummy bears were the secret. :) That and a special new potty with a cushie seat. Yep no kidding, my kiddo won't do those hard plastic potty chairs. We had to go find special ones that have a ring of foam cushion for his pottying comfort!  About a week ago he went potty on it and it was a once a day thing until yesterday when we ran out of diapers and pull ups at the house. Like a crazy person I decided to go with regular undies instead of running to the store and I couldn't believe it when he went all afternoon and evening with no accidents and going potty. Then this morning he was right back into them and with only a small accident at school I think it's been a bang up start to a future without diapers! :)

That's the good side, the bad part of today started as I walked into school with Alex and the director pulled me aside to ask if I had gotten her email. For a moment I felt like a 9th grader in the Asst Principals office again and thought, oh no what did I do. It wasn't about me though, it was Alex's wonderful, loving teacher who we adore! She and her fiancee are expecting and since Alex attends a Christian private school that's a rule breaker that apparently her talent, devotion and plans to marry (put on hold right now for financial reasons) can't surmount. I'm pretty furious right now at the church and whoever it was in the church that cared more about their rules than they did about our kids. Neither the kids or the parents were given any warning regardless of the fact that the church knew of this for several months. No warning was given to his teacher and therefore no warning or transition was given to the kids. For most kids this might be a minor bleep on their radar but Alex has had 5 teachers since he started there in May, a grandmother that travels and is sometimes here and sometimes not, a father that travels regularly, and lots of far off relatives. I worry that he is not going to understand why some people disappear and never come back, some come and go, and some disappear for a while but show back up randomly.  Add that to the fact that he is having surgery on Monday, which I'm sure with my drama king will be a walk in the park and you begin to get an idea of how grateful I am that tomorrow is Friday!

Ahh yes now you are saying, "Surgery?" As most of you know Alex has been sick for months. Nothing contagious or debilitating but a constant runny nose, congestion, and cough. It's gone on so long that he comes to us and asks for medicine to make him feel better. I'm not sure what age Betty Ford starts treatment at but I refuse to let Alex be the first toddler on their roster! :) After several rounds of antibiotics, home remedies and many torturous sessions with saline solution and  a bulb syringe we finally are moving forward with a permanent solution. :)