latest yard sale find

I have been watching the yard sales for a long time for a dresser for Kate that looked nice and was not expensive. She is 7 and we have never had a dresser for her, just hung clothes in the closet and had baskets or something else for smaller things.
Anyway, I love the style and size and everything about this dresser I found. I didn't think it was anything really special but there was a mark saying "Henry Link" inside the drawers and on a google search I found this
The dresser I found has 6 drawers (3 and 3)
So apparently this is "vintage 1950s/ 60s" piece. It was $60, but I thought it was a good deal for a solid piece of furniture, I could not even get something basic for that price at IKEA or somewhere like that.

the dresser: vintage meets Hannah Montana and disney princess alarm clock radio

















Kate has a small room so here is where her desk is now - in the closet. She seems to like her new little area. We took off the old sliding closet doors and I put a tension shower curtain rod and hung those tab top panels

The Wiggles

At the Wiggles concert in 2006




















he was so cute and still had that baby chubbiness going on here



































Kate has grown a lot since then too!



















the big 5 year old, still a big Wiggles fan















this time with Sam instead of Greg














at least she pretended like she was enjoying it, she would rather be at a Miley Cyrus concert















good family fun

Furniture bargains

my $24 chair from a local yard sales website





















I don't know what the green thing is, maybe a candle holder? But I just like it and it was about $4 at Ross, the candle stick was a Target clearance about $3




















this little desk was free! while checking out another garage sale on my road, someone had this out for pick up. It needs a little work, but I just like the style of it. The white chair was from and antique / junk store 75% off for a total price of $9

before and afters

front of house before
















after
















back of house before
















back of house after new paint but before new back door
















old front door, isn't it inviting?





















new front door and back door

some favorite vacation pictures

Thomas and his Wiggles at a baseball game.

In Dublin, Texas at the Dr Pepper museum.

self timer family pic in Oklahoma

sunset from our cabin in Arkansas

hiking fun

no, no, don't smile!

his favorite place

view from the mountain - Arkansas river valley

freckle face girl

showing Sponge Bob the sights

Great Montessori resource

I have used this website a lot this summer: Free Downloads from Montessori for Everyone

I've been making a lot of materials for my new class in August.

new camera

We're going on our family summer vacation to Arkansas, leaving this Friday. And I'm looking forward to taking some good pictures with my new camera!

I haven't had a chance to use it much yet, but here are a few pictures:

my old camera was pretty good for outdoor pictures, but the flash was really bright and it made it hard to get any good indoor pictures. I read reviews on this camera though and everything was positive and seemed like just what I would need. So far it is super easy and the colors and everything seems natural.

The picture of Thomas is with his wireless headphones watching Backyardigans (he scored a new DVD at Frys where we bought the camera). Our tabby cat Ally, beagle Molly (and she is very hard to get a picture of - is very hyper and will not be still but I love that this picture really shows the color of her eyes and how she really looks like the "happy" dog she is). And the self portrait Chris took of him and Thomas.