Graduation, 9 months old and another cross country trip

In the past week, we've accomplished some pretty big things in our family so I wanted to document them. Sam completed his training at Fort Eustis and looked super duper handsome in his Class A's.  We  are so proud of him.

  Our little Keith turned 9 months old and is the sweetest little chunk ever.  He's starting to get brave and will let go of whatever he is using to stabilize himself to try standing by himself.   It's SOO cute.  He spent a little while in the mirror tonight smiling at himself.  It was so adorable.  He is by far the wiggliest child I've ever had.  It's nearly impossible to hold him on my lap and eat at the same time.  Oh, and he's gotten a new nickname.....Hands.  Or Mr. Hands.  Can you guess why?  Have you ever seen the movie The Count of Monte Cristo where Dante is learning speed by quickly moving his hands in between the drops of water? Yeah, well, this one....Dante's got nothing on him.  He's dumped many a tubs of baby food, plates of our food, bowls of cereal and even my morning herbal tea.  And his arms seem to grow like Gumbi. You think you've placed everything out of his reach and he'll surprise you yet again with a lap full of whatever you were hoping to put in your mouth.

  On the day of Sam's graduation, we started another journey.  Again, cross country. But this time to El Paso, TX!!! 6 days and 2500 miles later, we are nestled into a cozy little hotel room while we search for a home to rent.  Meanwhile, we've all gotten sick and had a much more difficult time finding a home than we expected.  Good news though!  Today, WE FOUND ONE!!!  Hopefully, our application will process quickly and without any difficulty so we can move in sometime early next week.  I want my things back and definitely want to be able to close my kids into or out of some room other than the bathroom.

My big ol lap dog on the way to El Paso ---------->            

Visiting The Frederick Family in Gadsden, AL on our way cross country.
<-----------  What a goofy bunch we are.

Craftiness

I found this idea on Pinterest and it looked like this:

Pretty, right?  But I never thought in a million years that I'd find an awesome frame like this. So I began brainstorming about taking a regular frame and padding it and upholstering it and what not. Anyway, it started getting more complex than I wanted so I just waited. 

Fast forward a few weeks to say, two days ago.  Madre and I took a girls trip to JoAnn fabric in Williamsburg and swung by the DAV thrift store on our way home.  I found this awesome black frame that I should've taken a picture of before I fixed it all up. I was just too excited to spray paint though and forgot.

Anyway, Black wire framed mirror($4.98) + gold-ish spray paint($3.47) + lace trim(1.10) + Tacky Glue(0.59)= New Awesome Jewelry holder.

I probably should've taken a picture with it a little less crowded with my jewelry but, again, I was so excited to get it out of the shoe box that it's been in since we moved to VA.

I love Crafty, DIY projects. Thank you, Pinterest.