Gallery Wall on the Cheap

Just a quick post with a quick explanation of a project I recently did.
I love the look of gallery walls. My Pinterest boards are filled with them.

Young House Love

Stiesthoughts.com

And my own gallery wall in our hallway.

And with all of the great pictures we have of Cai and the family photos that Kristen Fuest Photography did for us a few months ago, I was looking for a way to display them. But money is tight, and picture frames are expensive, as are prints. So, I had to find a way to do things inexpensively.

I started by ordering prints from Shutterfly.com. I also subscribe to the app Groovebook which is an awesome way to keep up with photo prints, so I used some of those. I then picked out some frames at The Dollar Tree.  I spent $15.00 there. I couldn't find fifteen matching frames, but I made sure that all of the frames of a certain size matched each other. I wanted white frames against our gray wall, so I painted them with some acrylic paint. 

Arranging them was harder than I expected. I though I wanted the look of a random arrangement, but I couldn't get it to look "random" and organized at the same time. The diamond arrangement sort of evolved when I was playing around, and that's what I went with. I mounted them with 3m Command Strips which I think work bests for this sort of thing. With nails and picture hangers, the frame can end up hanging a little differently than you expected, but the strips (although a little bit more pricey) are easy to get in the exact position you want them. 

So, nothing amazing here, but it was a nice way to showcase our family photos and our little Cai without spending a ton of money. 

German Pancakes

We had another snow day today. Of course that means I no longer have President's Day weekend off, but if that means not having to drive in this mess, I'm okay with that.

Steve had off today too, so I made a tasty breakfast for us to celebrate the snow day (and the fact that I gave myself my first injection, haha).

I've been craving German pancakes which aren't super good for you, but I made the healthiest version I could (white whole wheat flour, raw milk, organic eggs).

                                                                                                                               

We top them with whatever tastes good. I usually use sugar (I used raspadura this time). Steve prefers jam or peanut butter (we were out peanut butter). They are very much like crepes only thicker.

As I was making them, I couldn't help but think about how many thousands of times German pancakes have been made in that kitchen over the past twenty plus years.

How many times did my Oma make them for grandchildren (all nine of us) or great grandchildren (all fourteen of them)? I remember spending the night when I was little. I would sleep in the spare room with the scary monkey doll sitting on the headboard. When I was very little, I would sleep in bed with Oma and Opa. They had a TV in their room, and I remember falling asleep watching Roseanne after telling Oma that we weren't allowed to watch that show at home (I felt so guilty for watching it and so guilty for telling Oma it was a bad show, haha).

In the morning, I would get up with Opa and he would make me chocolate milk in a baby bottle with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on it. I was too old for a bottle, but not so old that I'm too embarrassed to share that part, haha.

 Then I started thinking about all of the other meals that were made in that kitchen. All of the pancake soup, goulash, potato balls, chicken paprikash, farina (that was another common sleepover breakfast), German apple cake, halushki, pies (apple, raspberry, stawberry, and peach), Christmas cookies (Oma and Opa kept the heat off in their bedroom and master bath and Oma would store boxes upon boxes of Christmas cookies in the shower they didn't use because it was as cold as a refrigerator in there), green bean and ham soup, and chicken soup.

Thousands of meals have been lovingly prepared in this kitchen. Thousands of laughs shared with friends and family. It's going to be hard when we have to leave it behind. 

End of the School Year Crazy

It's that time of year. The last few weeks of school. I'm sure I'm not the only person with a million things on my agenda. As a teacher, I have a million things here and at home. Don't get me wrong, most of these things are not stressful things. It's just the sheer volume of them.

Some of the highlights so far:

• Our schools's spring program, a production of Esther-Ordinary Faith (the story of Esther). Personally, I think this was the most entertaining program we've done so far, filled with puns, jokes, and even some flirtations. I also think it more clearly stated its biblical message than any of the other ones I've been a part of. I created all of the costumes which was quite enjoyable, albeit stressful. Even the night of, there was lots of pinning and cutting and tucking and tying. Craziness.

• My best pal came to visit! I can't tell you how much I needed this. She lives states away, and this is only the third time I have seen her since spending a week with her last year waiting for her firstborn to be born. Her husband couldn't join her this time, but her little boy did, and it was wonderful to see the two of them. We were able to snag two whole evenings together! It was a much needed time of fellowship. It's hard to believe that these posts were made not so long ago.

• Currently, my house is filled with my mother-in-law, sister-in-law (Steve's younger sister), sister-in-law (Steve's brother's wife), nephew, and niece. It's a little hectic, but wonderful to have family visiting. I only wish I didn't have to work while they're here. Lauren, Steve's sister, will be moving in with us while attending college in the area. She needed to come for the weekend to start getting her room and bathroom painted and go to orientation at school. Everyone else came for the fun of it! Not only is it great to be with the grown ups, but I can tell you how nice it is to snuggle with my little niece (one month old) and watch Steve giggle with our nephew (1 1/2 yrs). I LOVE it.

• My birthday is tomorrow, and although I'm not particularly looking forward to it, we are having a family get together (not directly related to my birthday, but who cares) with my mom's side of the family. There were potato balls, gravy, and children, oh my! YUM!

Creative Eggcellence

We just got done decorating Easter eggs. My sisters and I are all in our twenties, but this is still a major event for us. This year was a little tame though. Holly had to leave for work, and I was tired. That meant more for Katie. Tyler did a few and his friend Caleb too, but the boys were not nearly as into it as we were. Here they are...

Katie's baby chick egg.

This was supposed to be morning glories.

It's sideways because Iadded from my phone, but this was Katie hand painting the cracked eggs with food coloring.

Carton 1.

Carton 2.

Stripes.

One of Katie's hand painted creations with straight up dye.

My monster.

I think the boys did these three.

Pink with green polka dots.

Katie's Monster.

Ew. Katie's mess.

Flower.

My spring.

Holly's rainbow.

We used crayons, two dye kits, food coloring, and tissues.

Finally!

It finally feels like spring, and I am so excited. I feel like we've been on the brink of spring mid-February when we had that one REALLY warm day, but it just hasn't wanted to come. But finally, instead of the breeze being the air just being cold, it is cold with a hint of warmth to it.

My sisters and my brother and I played outside today, together. It felt so good! Probably, it wasn't as big a deal to the girls, or even Tyler, but it was for me. I am not an athletic person, in any way shape or form, and when I was little, we were not an athletic family. Nobody in our family played sports until I went to college. Then the girls started playing soccer and running track and Tyler has played both basketball and soccer. So I guess they experienced more of the "athletic family" feeling, but the most I ever experienced was playing soccer with my dad when I was like five. So even though today were only kicking a ball around or trying to keep it up in the air, it felt so good for me!

Plus, we were all three (girls not Tyler) wearing skinny jeans which is also a huge deal for me. After thinking of myself as skinny for my entire life, I gained 30 lbs in our first two years of marriage and could not seem to loose it (which is apparently a symptom of the PCOS that I have been diagnosed with which is causing infertility which I'm trying to start writing about on another blog if anyone is interested). But I lost 17 lbs. on Weight Watchers and although I could stand to lose more, I now feel good enough about myself to wear skinny jeans.

Anyway...for anyone who is interested, the craft fair on Saturday went decently. I was a bit intimidated at first because although they said they would try not to put us near other vendors/crafters with similar products, there were three tables right around me that sold either crocheted items or hand painted glassware. I did feel like mine was the best combination of hip and practical items, but it was still intimidating. Overall it went pretty well though, in that I gave out TONS of business cards and got my name out there. However, I didn't make a very big profit because most of the items I sold were smaller things. I will be doing some more craft fairs this spring and summer, so I'll try to keep you updated (become a Facebook fan for more updates).