DIY Ballet Bar

A few weeks ago Molly started a preschool ballet class and LOVES it! She was very excited to practice, and is always dancing around the house doing plies! So we thought it would be great to get a ballet bar to practice with, especially since most of you know, Molly has huge balance issues after her surgery and we are loving that the bar helps give her balance. BUT, seriously, all the bars I found are WAY, WAY to expensive, especially since she may only do dance for a year or two!

So, here is the cheap alternative my husband made. It is working out perfect, and is super solid. He just went to the local hardware store, and bought a bunch of threaded metal pipe and connectors, then screwed them together! Easy Peasy! The top bar of ours is 4 foot, and the two side bars and 3 foot each.

Here is what the two bases look like, this makes it very sturdy. It's a T joint, 2 short straight pipes, the L joints ( I think, lol, I don't know all the correct terminology ) and then two 1 inch pipes and 2 circle bases.
We put the two 1 inch pipes before the bottom because that made it the correct height for Molly, but as she gets taller, we can change these to 2 or 3 inches each to raise the height.

Here is the happy ballerina practicing! She doesn't always have such a goofy smile, but she was not to thrilled about having to look at a camera when she was "supposed" to be practicing. :)

And there you go, that's how we put together our own ballet bar. I know that wasn't really a tutorial, but if you have any questions, please let me know. :)

Ever Have One of Those Days....

...we do! Our afternoon was "One of Those..."

Needless to say, my children have both been sound asleep since 7:10, so they were TIRED!
Hopefully we all wake up on the right side of the bed tomorrow, and todays 4 year old shots don't affect Molly to much tomorrow!

But... even cranky they are still pretty cute! :)

Birthday Bedroom Balloons!

For Molly's birthday I wanted to do something with balloons, since my girls LOVE balloons. First I thought I would blow up a bunch of balloons and fill the floor in her room with them, but then I rethought that idea, since I would probably end up policing the 1 year old all day not to play rough with them!

Then I saw this AWESOME idea (well surfing Pinterest) from A Girl and A Boy to thread a strand of balloons and hang them from the ceiling!!! LOVE!!!

I bought 3 packs of balloons at Walmart for .97 cents each, had my husband blow them up, (thanks babe) then just threaded them into three long strands. Instead of hanging them with thumbtacks, I used Command Decorating clips since Molly's walls are smooth and I wanted to be able to remove them. So Easy!

We actually did this well she was sleeping since she is such a heavy sleeper, and in the morning she was SO thrilled. Both her and Nora were laying in her room staring at the balloons all day! This will definitely be a new tradition!

Happy Birthday Miss Molly!!!

Happy 4th Birthday to our amazing Molly!!!
I feel so blessed to be her mom, and so grateful for the miracle that helped her to reach 4!

I quick made this shirt for her to wear this morning, the same way I made these.
I just used pink flower fabric, Steam-A-Seam, and a white t-shirt. :)

She has felt very special today, and even got to pass out a birthday treat at school! Now we are heading to a birthday dinner of her choice with just mom and dad, she picked Chinese buffet, smart girl! :)

Pink Crayons!

For Molly's birthday party with family this weekend, she choose to have a Pinkalicious Party. So, to go with the coloring pages I printed for her and her cousins to do, I wanted to have a box of all pink crayons!

But, since a custom box of crayons is $10.99, YIKES! I knew that wasn't going to happen in this stay at home moms budget! So, instead I bought 24 boxes of crayons when they were .20 cents each during the back to school sales, and switched the colors. Now I have 24 boxes of crayons, each with there own color! So instead of spending $263.76 for 24 custom boxes of crayons, I spent $4.80. :) Yeah, for a good deal!

And now, instead of looking everywhere for a black crayon, or a red crayon, we just get out that box and have 24 to choose from. :)

Apple Rice Krispie Treats!

Since today was the first day of school for Molly, we made these fun Apple Rice Krispie Treats for an evening snack!

We found the idea and recipe for these over at Gourmet Mom on-the-go. They use marshmellows, butter, cherry Jell-O, and Rice Krispies. Then you add a tootsie roll and green taffy for the tops. (to make the leaf, I just used a kitchen scissors to cut up a green air head) The Jell-O makes them SO yummy!!!

Molly was a HUGE fan!

And Nora loved getting sticky! Seriously these were super easy, and yummy! Even dad ate two!

1st Day of School!

This morning was Molly's first day of 4 year old preschool! She was very excited! I think she is looking so much older that the first day of school last year! ( I tried to talk her out of the scarf, but this girl loves her accessories, lol! )

She literally ran up to the school, so couldn't wait! She has been asking everyday if it is time to go to preschool yet!

She was excited to find her locker, and see her teachers. She has the same teachers as last year, so she was happy!

And just because this silly girl can't pose for pictures with out doing funny poses...

I had to add these pictures, because they are cracking me up. I think she is teaching Nora how to be silly in pictures!