Baths, and PJ's, and just because I can

I realized a few days ago that we've never taken a picture of all 3 kids in the bathtub together. A daily occurrence around here, and one that I admittedly sometimes face with dread after a long day, and a day when the daddy Calvary wont be coming home until after the bedtime routine is finished. But these are the moments- chaotic and tiresome and seemingly endless now- that I will one day look back on with longing. There's just something about deliciously smelling, clean kids in their jammies that makes it nearly impossible not to snuggle them. So here is our last month of PJs, robes, and birthday suits.

Bookshelf facelift on the cheap

My in-laws handed down to us a lovely, big book shelf a few years ago when we moved into our house. It is old and sturdy and super heavy and matches our garage sale desk pretty perfectly. I recently reorganized and rearranged our office-heaving and shoving an enormous antique piano, equally enormous desk, and the bookshelf all around the room until I was satisfied. Did I mention John was at work? It always happens that my greatest inspirational moments occur during the day when help (over 3 feet tall) is not available. And being the impatient, independent, type A girl that I am, I can usually figure out a way to muscle through the project alone. Johns never surprised anymore when he walks in the house to find something rearranged, repainted, or removed altogether. It kind of takes some of the fun away.

But anyways, after rearranging the office to a more pleasing layout, I took another look at our bookshelf and decided that it looked a little bit tired. Should I paint it? Stain it darker? Leave it alone? (ha, that's impossible at this point!) What to do? And then I decided to go with the cheapest, easiest option, and use scrapbook paper to create more visual interest along the back of the shelf. One trip to JoAnn's, 30 pieces of paper, craft glue, and $11 later, I was ready to begin.

It took a bit longer to finish than I thought, mostly because I picked a pattern that required being matched up exactly. It would be much easier to find a design that is continuous to avoid all of the extra cutting and matching. But the finished result is a nice, refreshing update for the old bookshelf that still has a lot of life left in it. They just don't make furniture like they used to. And for $11, its hard to beat the price!

 Bookshelf before...at least the bottom half of it. I dive into projects way too quickly to plan out a proper "before picture"

 All the supplies

 And the updated "after" bookshelf

So much more cheerful and lovely