Parade of Homes - I'm Moving!

Today my mom and our friend Joyce took off to various parts of Denver to see some of the homes participating in the Parade of Homes. I'd never been before, but goodness knows I'm obsessed with house hunting and all things on HGTV, so I was stoked! The first house we visited in The Backcountry in Highlands Ranch was by far my favorite - I'm ready to move RIGHT NOW! =) I snapped a few pictures as we went on my iPhone, so nothing is fabulous quality, but my goodness were these houses beautiful!

1st house:

 My new home. It's decided!

 2nd house:

 I wanted a picture of the mirror, then realized it was more a picture of me. Failed to smile for that one, oops!

 Map Wall!

 Awesome staircase layout. One side led up to the map wall room, the other side led up to the rest of the house.

3rd house (Spanish inspired):

 The walk-out basement led to an interior courtyard. It was heavenly!

 Outdoor kitchen complete with pizza oven

 Oh yeah - they had a wine cellar. NBD.

 Interior courtyard. Ahhhhh!

 Complete with overhead lanterns!

 Reading nook. It reminded me of 'Beauty and the Beast'

 Master bath.  I LOVE the tiling!

4th house:

 This tub was AWESOME!

 Kitchenette behind the hidden door!

 Love this tiling!

 All behind the hidden passage!

 Awesome, but SO not practical!

Houses 4 & 5:

DIY Bulletin Board

DIY : Music Bulletin Board

With all the garage-sale-ing we've been doing in this house, I've seen my fair share of items! We had a small-ish bulletin board donated and it just wasn't selling, so I decided that rather than give it away for practically nothing, I would bust out my arts & crafts skills and refinish the board for my future music classroom! This was EASY-PEASY and the end result is super cute!

What You’ll Need:

Bulletin Board (taken apart)

1 yard of fabric

Scissors

Staple Gun

Spray Paint (optional)

My original board - in pretty sorry shape.

 The fabric I chose. Yay MUSIC!

 Step 1: Iron your fabric, if need be, and lay it on a flat surface.

Step 2: Cut the fabric so that there is about a 2-3 in border on all sides.

Step 3: Work on one side at a time, pulling the fabric snugly and stapling to secure it in place. (I found it best to work on opposite sides. So staple the top, then the bottom, then work on the sides. Fold the excess fabric in like you're wrapping a present and staple to secure.)

Step 4: Spray paint your frame, if you so choose.

Step 5: Once dry, reassemble the bulletin board for your finished product! 

Ta-Da!

This whole project took me all of 15 min., and since I already had the board and the spray paint, the grand total of this makeover was around $4.00!

Pretty snazzy, huh?
{I realize upon further inspection that all my pictures of the fabric are upside down. Oopsies and oh well!}

Dance Recital, Day 2!

I showed up to babysit N&K again today, and they were dressed up and ready to go for another round of dance recital! The first thing they asked me was, "DID YOU BRING YOUR CAMERA AGAIN?" Well, sorry to disappoint, girls, but nope. I left it at home. So I busted out my handy-dandy iPhone and took some hilarious video footage and the occasional still photo. Enjoy!

Dance Recital, Babysitting Style!

I've had so much fun babysitting my favorite girls a couple of days this week. When I showed up this morning, the girls were already up and ready to go, dressed to the nines in their various dance attire. Nella even had her ballet slippers on.

The girls went to work right away performing a dance recital using the top step of the patio stairs as their stage. Cuteness ensued. Keagan readily filled the role of dance teacher, providing some improvised vocal music and calling out dance moves for Nella to complete. She was even so kind as to count Nella off saying, "8...3...5...7...2..." Meh...close enough to "5...6...7...8...,"right?

 

Of course we had to have some goofy faces!

 Crazy Keags!

 Goofy Nella!

Then the little dancers moved the show indoors to the basement, where the girls insisted all lights needed be off because "that's how you perform a dance recital..." Well, of course! Luckily, my flash allowed me to catch a few more great shots! We blasted some "Toddler Tunes" on the t.v. and the girls went to town!

We occasionally had to pause so the beauty queens could spruce up their "makeup" and brush their hair. Oh, the hard lives of pampered princesses! =)

 

But *THEN* the real magic happened! The girls busted out their princess costumes. MY GOODNESS these girls know how to layer on the sparkle!

 Nella made sure I was included in the fun.

 A little break for some rhythmic gymnastics and ribbon dancing with a boa!

 Looking beautimous!

 Nella wanted to put on her wedding gown and tiara

 Shall we count the costume pieces Keags layered on?

1. High Heels

2. Tutu

3. Arm scarves

4. Wand

5. Cape
6. Wings

7. Halo

And then we had some fun playing instruments! Well, at least Keagan and I did! Nella decided she didn't want to partake. Keagan made up for Nella's absenteeism by layering bells and tambourines on her arms while beating the drum. I think Keags is the Queen of Layering...so I guess the cape with the sparkly crown is befitting of her!

We had a blast, and I can't wait until I get to see them again next week, and hopefully throughout the fall while I'm home! =)