Halfway done!

Finally I have an update on our school dump zone! We have painted the walls, hung up the book bag hooks, and hung up the bulletin board and white board calendar.  We still have a lot to do , but it is looking great and functioning well!  The boys are excited to come home and hang up their book bags and even more excited to read the calendar and find out what tomorrow brings.

Painting the stripes on the walls proved to be a difficult task! Lots of calculations and making sure everything was level, but it turned out amazing! I ♥ it!!

I DID IT!

I did it! I finally got out the door to run with my toddler around the neighborhood. I've run before on my treadmill, but only occasionally and never for more than 15 or so minutes.  I really want to become a runner like all the rest of the young mommies out there bustin their butts to keep in shape.  I just have never enjoyed running or had any desire to run.  Now its different though.  I have a reason to run! I need to get in shape and I have a daughter that LOVES her stroller! My boys never really liked to stay in a stroller so it was the perfect excuse to not run.

So I went out and bought some new running shoes and shorts to get me started.  Now I had no excuse not to run. Sadly though two days went by before I finally got the motivation to go for a run. How did I get that motivation? I told my 1 year old we were going for a stroller ride, and then she quickly sat herself in the stroller staring at me and waiting for me to go.  Now I had to go. I couldn't be mean and go back on my word. So I grabbed my new shoes and a water bottle and headed out the door with the happiest little girl in the world.

Not only did it make me feel better to feel some fresh air and know I'm getting in shape, but it made my daughters day to go for a long, fun ride!

So get out there and go for a run or walk to feel the crisp, fresh fall air!  Don't forget to live 2 love and love 2 live!

4 kids makes it hard to blog!

Wow! I don't know how these super blogger moms do it.  Either their kids are perfect angels or they just never sleep.. or maybe they have some special set of super hero skills that I don't have. Anyway, I just haven't had time to blog in a while, sorry.  Hope you'll forgive my lazy blogging. I have made headway on our "school dump zone" however! We got the wall painted and the bookbag hooks put up. I'll try to post some pics later.  It looks awesome! Its amazing how much just adding some paint to a wall can change your outlook on things.  Now I just have to get the kids in the habit of using the hooks and the shoe bin!

Hope everyone has a fun Thursday!

Pinterest Project: Paint in Plastic Bag

So I've been meaning to try this ever since I saw in on Pinterest a few months ago.  I'm sure you've seen the pin.. Paint in a plastic bag taped to a piece of paper on a table. It's supposed to entertain your toddler without the added mess.  So here was our attempt:

I even put it on a coloring page so it would be more fun. (Or maybe that was my mistake?)

Well, after about 30 seconds of finding the paint in the bag fascinating. Baby L did exactly what I thought she would. She started screaming because she couldn't get the paint out! Turns out getting messy and actually finger painting is WAY more fun than playing with no mess.

My advice? - Let your kids have fun, let your kids explore and get messy because the learning experience is so much bigger than the mess they'll make!

Teacher's Gift

                                            Source: Unknown


This one of the cutest teacher gifts I've seen! I'm going to make this for the kids' teachers when we have teacher appreciation week! And here's how I"ll make it:

1. Get a tall, straight vase from the Dollar Store
2. Wrap pencils around it
3. Tie with ribbons
4. Add flowers and water!

Activity of the Day- Playdough and toothpicks

Hi everyone!

Well my camera lens is still messed up, but luckily I have another one to keep documenting my family! Yay! Today BabyL and I did the best activity! Creating sculptures with playdough and toothpicks! She absolutely loved this! And so did I because I was able to clean the kitchen without her pulling on my legs.  Of course it was also great because it helped her work on her fine motor skills in a fun, exciting way.  

I used the cheap toothpicks which are less sharp so she wouldn't hurt her fingers.  We made towers, silly faces, creatures and much more.  When my older kids come home I'm going to see what fun stuff they can come up with too! This was such a simple activity, but it really helped her practice picking small things up as well as having gentle hands. She found out that if she pushed too hard, the toothpicks would break!

What fun things with playdough do you do?

The New Look

The blog got a makeover! Yay! Now it is super cute, fun, and pretty to match the fun stuff I'll be blogging about. Hope you like it!  I'm sure I'll be changing the look with the seasons to keep you and me from getting bored.  Here's a little update with the Johnson gang.

School's been going great for the kids, but crazy for me! I still do not have my desk organized or our school dump zone put together.  I decided I wanted to paint the wall before hanging anything so now its a matter of picking out colors and finding the time to go! Somehow I always make things more difficult, but they usually turn out awesome in the end.  And to top off all the craziness, my awesome camera broke :(. So I have to get that fixed to upload any pics of the fun stuff I've been doing.  So bare with me! I'll be back to blogging soon!

Hope everyone has a great week!
Don't forget to Live 2 Love and Love 2 Live!

Money Saving Tip ~ Cut your sponges in half! Such a simple way to make your money go twice as far! And... half a sponge fits in your hand easier too!

Live 2 Love & Love 2 Live!

School Dump Zone- Before

So here's the wall we are turning into our School Dump Zone. A place for the kids to hang their bookbags, put papers needing signatures, and dump their shoes off.  I also got a dry erase calendar so they have a calendar with just their school activities and schedule.  (Our other calendar has bdays, my stuff, my husband's stuff, and much more on it).  

I'm trying to do this on a minimal budget considering we are a one income family living off love (or a teacher's salary). I found this wire organizer in one of our closets being used to store games. I decided shoe organization was a much better purpose for this and cleaned it out! To my happiness, it fit perfectly! (That space is really small and everything else I'd tried would stick out!)  I am going to paint it, however, because my 3 boys really don't like putting their shoes in a pink bin!

So, this is the start! Can't wait to show you what it ends up looking like!

Back 2 School

It's that time again! School started to today and as much as I was looking forward to it, I've realized that I'm not at all prepared for it! My "School Dump Zone" I so meticulously planned all summer still hasn't been put together, my desk is still a complete mess, and I haven't gone through the kids' clothes and eliminated all the horribly stained items yet! Needless to say, I have a LOT of work to do! Luckily I will only have 1 sweet little toddler home with me so I can get it all done.  I'll post some pics of the wall I am transforming into our school dump zone soon! Hope everyone has a wonderful start of the school year and I can't wait to share all the fun projects I'll be doing  after I get organized!

~Don't forget to Live 2 Love & Love 2 Live!

Olympic Party!

Our Olympic party was a HUGE success! The entryway held our two torches, the Olympic games events schedule, A London 2012 sign, and decorative Olympic rings made out of huge coffee filters!

                                                                               

A closer view of the entry way.  The Olympic games consisted of coin "shot put", gymnastics, standing broad jump, balloon archery, "canoe" sprint, and balloon volleyball! Our canoe sprint was the hit event~ We turned a hotwheels track into a river by using tinfoil and raced boats (bouncy balls) down it!

 Our parade of flags on the mantel with Team USA in the middle! 

 This was our Olympic photo booth complete with international dress up clothes!

And of course you can't forget to hydrate the athletes! 

We also had AMAZING food made by my culinary genius husband! Unfortunately it was all gobbled up before I could take any pics of the yummy dishes. Our international menu consisted of London's specialty fish-n- chips,  chips and salsa, spinach and feta mini quiches, all American pigs in a blanket, and Olympic onion rings! Tasty, tasty!

Everyone had a blast and received a gold medal in the end! Now we need to keep the excitement going to cheer on team USA these next two weeks!

Olympic Party Planning

So... We're back home again, and crazy me decides we need to throw a family Olympic party for the opening ceremonies. Yes, I am deciding this one day before the opening ceremonies and, yes it is just for our own family... BUT when you have 4 kids in your house its always enough people for a party! So instead of organizing and tackling the daunting task of putting our house in order for the start of school, we are planning decorations, fun food, and our very own crazy-fun indoor Olympics!  I will post pics of the party once we get it decorated and in motion! When you are livin' to love and lovin' to live, sometimes fun parties come before boring organizing! If you aren't planning to have some fun for the Olympics, I highly encourage you to! And its never too late to start :)!

Winding Down Summer

Well here in GA we have a little more than 2 weeks left until the school year begins again. Am I ready for it? YES! I love summer and I love my kids, but its always about this time that we all start to get a little sick of each other and need that 6hr break school provides! I also can't wait for their school to begin so I can really dive into my DIY projects and the fun toddler projects I plan to do with my daughter.  Yay!

So we've been on "vacation" for almost 2 weeks now. The reason vacation is in quotes is because its really not much of a vacay. We are house sitting my in-laws house so I still have all my usual SAHM duties.. I can't wait to get back to our house and get it in order for the school year.  When we get back I am completely redoing and organizing our household. I plan on taking the things we already have and re-purposing/ upgrading them to update our house. I'll post before and after pics of all of it! Can't wait :)

Hello.. Welcome to my crazy fun life :)

Hi there! Welcome to my blog! I guess I should start by telling a little about myself and why I'm doing this! I am a fun SAHM to 4 awesome kiddos! I'm also a freelance graphic designer, artist, photographer, and an avid DIY-er. In my eyes everything can be repurposed into something else, and with 4 kids on a very strict budget its a necessity for us to do so. This blog will be where I share my ideas for living on a budget, cool ways to repurpose things, crazy stories of my families happenings, and the story of a young mom trying to figure it all out. My philosophy is to love above all else and you will always see the positives in things.  I love God first and foremost, my family, my dogs, being creative, and my crazy life! So come join me and you'll start Livin' to Love and Lovin' to Live!