Sunday, May 20, 2012

Preschool Graduation

If they would have just called it "last day of school" I would have been fine, but of course they have to call it "Preschool Graduation" so naturally I was a crying mess.  I was pregnant with Sam when I took Tanner to his first day of preschool 2 1/2 years ago and I cried then.  We've been preparing for this day for 2 1/2 years and it's still hard for me to stomach that he's going to be a Kindergartener, and then the next thing you know he's off to college or getting married. I said to myself last night that in 10 years (and 2 months) I'm going to have a 16 year old and I can't handle it. The years fly by now and someone put it best when they said that at this age that the kids are the days are long but the years go by so fast. It's completely true.

Anyway, so we have a graduate now and I feel confident that he is as ready as he'll ever be for Kindergarten, and I'm so excited for his journey.


                           January 2010: First day of school-3 1/2 yrs old


                                                         Doesn't even look back... *tear*



                                                                   
                                                                  Tanner and Owen
    

                                                                        Lot's of snow!


                                                                   Me and my baby ;)


                        August 2011: First Day of last year of preschool




                                         Last day of preschool...gifts for the best teachers ever!


                                    Graduation ceremony...starts with the "Good Morning" song
 

                                                    Getting their class hats and certificates!


                                                                 Tanner and Carter

                                            Kait and Tanner (buds and future Kindergartners:)

                                            Tanner and Ms. Betsy and Ms. Jan (love them!)

                                                                    THE GRADUATE!!

                                                                     A proud family!

                                                                  Tanner and Grandpa


                                                                 Mommy and Tanner


                                                                   Daddy and Tanner

Monday, May 07, 2012

Tanner's Big Kid Room

     We've made lots of progress in Tanner's room.  We've been working on his room for 4 months now, and I don't know if I'm happy or sad that it's pretty much complete. I had so many fun projects with this room and it's kind of sad that it's coming to an end. Of course I've maxed out last month's budget while trying to complete it, nothing new there of course, but I am waiting on a couple more items to make Tanner's room more complete.  I purchased Tanner's comforter, rug and curtains last summer so I've had a lot of time to ponder what else we wanted to do in his room.  The navy and white stripes were the best idea I've had so far in the new house (in my opinion).  Terrifying at first yes, but none the less the kid is absolutely ecstatic about them.  I opted not to paint the other walls with stripes for fear it might make the room appear smaller than it already is.  Plus, I'm actually really surprised at my decision to do navy and white stripes because of the dark trim and doors throughout the house.  I love, love, love white trim in homes, but since our house is new we are not going to change to trim quite yet ;)  The more I thought about it, I didn't want the dark color of the wood to hold us back with how we wanted to decorate his room.  I felt limited with options, but decided to go against the grain (so to speak) and just go with my heart in choosing paint and furniture for the space.

I decided on a very light gray blue color for the other 3 walls and I think I lightens up the room a lot. 
    
 To save some money on furniture I painted the old dresser white and an old nightstand as well.  Tutorials here and here.

I wanted to keep it simple on the crazy striped walls so I just added some sweet photos of the kids together in white frames to break it up a bit. 

Tanner loves his books along with doing art 24/7 so I bought a black bookcase for book storage and a couple of lime green storage ottomans for him to keep his toys and art in. 

 We mounted Mike's old snowboard that he doesn't use anymore above his closet for some unique, funky, sporty (and free) decor.  Tanner has been giving his input and opinions all along the way so he was involved with most of the decisions.  I wanted him to feel like he was a part in his room remodel so he would really love it!

Last but not least, THE MAP, ahhh, yes the map.  It was an  idea I had a while back and while Mike wasn't sold on the idea, I pulled one of my "trust me" phrases and sold or not he was onboard.  Thanks Mike!  And, thanks to my handy hubs-o-lot he helped me get the map on the wall and framed out with our homemade frame.  It's a hit! Now the kids can see where all our family and friends live across the U.S., where daddy travels to on his trips, and pointing out different countries.
    
While the room isn't finished, it's pretty close.  

Things on my list to do still:

 Make a headboard
Get a couple fun throw pillows for his bed
Fix the broken old chair that belonged to me as a kid
Get a table lamp for his nightstand
Maybe paint the chair and table legs
Frame and hang some of his art work on the bare wall
Make C.D.'s of some of his favorite country songs for his CD player
Paint the inside of his closet (because I have nothing else to do)
Get some storage baskets for the top of his closet


The inspiration for the room was Tanner himself of course.  Fun, Creative, unique but also relaxing.  While, the stripes on the wall give the room a slightly nautical feel, there was no real theme in the room.  He is my little artist so I wanted to make sure I met all his creative instincts when piecing his room together.  He has more energy than any kid I've ever met, so I also wanted a room that he could relax in at night and just feel like it is special just like him.  

Come along for a tour...



















It's still a work in progress but it's now a cheery, fun room for our almost 6 year old to be himself in.

A tutorial on how we wallpapered the world map poster and framed it coming soon.  It was Mike's favorite idea of mine ever (wink, wink)