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New RoomMates for my Boys

May 20, 2013 By Erica Deuel Leave a Comment

Disclosure: I received these products for free to review. All opinions are my own. When I say I love RoomMates, I really mean it!

My boys’ room is a disaster. There are clothes, toys, and furniture haphazardly placed all around it. It’s only been three weeks since we moved, so I am determined to not let it get to me. One day their room will be cute and finished. It’s just not today. Can you relate!?

One part of this messy bedroom is the boys don’t have beds yet. We decided in the move that they would get a bunk bed, once we were at our new house. Unfortunately, BOTH boys currently want to be up on the “top.” We are working through this issue, and in the mean time their room is the least set up, as their mattresses are just on the floor.

In-spite of all this, it is the kids’ favorite room to play (since it holds so many of the toys), so this weekend we decided to do one thing to help the boys’ room feel better and be more fun. We gave them some new RoomMates. 🙂

transformer wall decals

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are two of my boys’ favorite Transformers. You know they love Transformers, and we have had a Transformer birthday party and created a Transformer school desk as a result. Now, they are thrilled to have Transformer RoomMates!

roommates wall decals

RoomMates is an online store that sells wall decals, murals, decor, and even wall paper. They were so generous to mail me their Optimus Prime and Bumblebee wall decals to review, and I could not be more pleased! They have been so wonderful to work with and these products are amazing! The decals have so much detail and the color is amazing. As we were hanging them up, I kept asking the boys if I could have them for my room.:)

easy apply room mates decalAs you can imagine two enthusiastic boys would be about putting Transformers in their bedroom, they wanted to help hang the decals. So, we let them. By letting them help, we had some slanted legs at different points and had to remove parts of the decal and re-apply it. They came up so easily and went right back down perfectly! I was very impressed with the durability of the decals, yet they did not damage our new walls.

Once the decals were up on the boys’ walls, they started setting up all their Transformers and decorating their dresser. They were so excited.

transformer battle

This room went from blah to feeling fun just by adding these decals. RoomMates are a quick and easy cure for blank, boring walls for sure!

before room mates decal

kids love transformers

I now feel excited and encouraged to finish this room and create a place that is not just a pile of toys and stinky (yet cute) boys. Thank you RoomMates for the decals as our room’s inspiration! I will keep you posted on the progress of this room and how the bunk bed debate gets sorted out.

For now, be sure to go check out RoomMates. They have some gorgeous damask wall paper that I would love for my bedroom and a huge world map decal that would look incredible in any room! To learn more about this awesome company and their products check them out on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or visit the RoomMates blog for decorating ideas, tips, and inspiration.

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Christmas Wrap Up {with giveaway winners announced}

December 31, 2012 By Erica Deuel 6 Comments

I can’t believe that Christmas is already over.  We had a great Christmas and are still enjoying some downtime together.  Last night I edited some of our Christmas pictures, and I found myself smiling the whole time.  A few of my favorite moments from the day are…

Matt and I set the alarm an hour before the kids normally get up.  We wanted to get up and start the coffee, turn on lights etc, so the kids could come out and we were “ready”.  The kids slept later than their usual time, and we ended up waking them up by stomping and turning the Christmas music up.

waiting for kidsAfter seeing my sleeping beauty so happily snoozing, we decided to let her continue sleeping while the boys opened their stockings.  Sleep was a must for such a full day!

christmasWatching Caleb’s face when he opened Optimus Prime was one of the best moments.  Check out his JOY!

happinessReagan opened her doll and was so fascinated and in love, she didn’t want to open ANY other presents or stocking stuffers.  We didn’t make her.  Those presents got packed up, and she will get them next week on her birthday.  It was so beautiful to watch her joy and innocence in her first gift.

a girl and her doll

rea and dollReagan walked around all morning in her Christmas boy pajamas, in high heels, carrying her baby.  So cute!

1rea

We fought the cold for a few minutes, so the boys could enjoy their new basketball hoop from their Papa and Bebe.

basketball hoopOpening my Dollar Tree presents from the boys was one of the best moments.  Caleb got me a princess wand, and J got me an alligator hat.  How did I get so lucky!?  I was in giggles.

dollar tree christmas presentsGiving all our gifts (and my homemade gifts) out, including Matt’s aunt’s Ruffle Fabric Bag, was so much fun!

I wrote the words on this globe for Matt.
I wrote the words on this globe for Matt.
I sewed the boys Transformer pajama pants!
I sewed the boys Transformer pajama pants!

We must have the biggest fondue dinner ever!  It was perfect with all my siblings in the same room at once!

1fondue

All 8 of my siblings together at the same time with our padres!
All 8 of my siblings together at the same time with our padres!

We love to give one “joined/group” present to the kids every year.  This year it was a “school” present of new bean bags, math manipulatives, craft supplies, work books, and reading books.

student presentI loved watching my family as they poured out love onto my kids as we just played together.

rea and joWatching Matt change out the boys’ new transformers every two seconds was the funniest thing!  He was so patient too!

playing with christmas presents

What an amazing dad!
What an amazing dad!

Seeing the love my kids have for each other as they demonstrated it by hugging and being so excited for one another as they opened presents warmed my heart so much!

kid hugsSomething I will never forget is Reading the Night Before Christmas, the night before all this, cuddled up on one toddler size bed together.

night before christmas

I hope you had a great Christmas too!  I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I wished I had.  I usually do pretty good when it’s just our family doing presents and our thing, but when we are with our extended families I think I must socialize more than think of the camera.  Does this happen to you too?

Now for the winners of last week’s A Year in Review Giveaway!  (You can see how Ralfocopter picked the winners on the original post or check them out below!)

Heather H. won the Scrappy Flower Pillow!
Polly D. won the Flower Earrings!
Rebecca B. won the Winter Hair Bow!
Congratulations to my three winners!!  Thank you so much for following me and entering this giveaway.  I will be in contact with each of you!

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DIY Transformer Necklace and Game

November 28, 2012 By Erica Deuel 12 Comments

On Saturday, my sweet Jeremiah turned four years old.  That morning I posted a picture collage which listed things he likes.  If you still want to know even more about my sweet boy, read his BIO on our “Our Family” tab at the top.  I don’t think it came as a surprise to you to see Transformers at the top of the list.  Transformers have been the “thing” around here since the end of the summer, which led Matt to making them their transformers school desk.

As his birthday approached, J kept talking about how he wanted to have a Transformers party.  The poor guy has a birthday that always falls right around Thanksgiving, if not ON Thanksgiving, so we opted to keep it small and just invite our families over for this shin dig.  Which you know my family alone is a party waiting to happen.

We took last week off school, yet with three kids in the house, we are always learning.  They assisted me in making this DIY Transformers necklace that I am going to share with you today.

We first picked out a bunch of bottle caps (and practiced counting them as we made sure we had enough for each of our party guests to have one).  The boys were sure to point out which bottle caps there were more of, so we must like that beer more and which bottle caps there were few of, so we must not like that one.  Aren’t they smart?

Next, we chose a pretty color of spray paint from our vast collection.  J liked blue the best, so we went with it for his birthday.  I spray painted the bottle caps on the backside to cover up the logos.

Waiting for these guys to dry was hard for the boys, so I let them hammer flat the “extra” bottle caps.  We will be using these on another project soon.

Those last three pictures were a rabbit trail, but all of you with active young boys like me would appreciate this news.  That activity kept them busy for an hour!  They loved it!  Boys with hammers and destroying stuff.  It was a perfect activity.  Ok, now back to the necklaces.  🙂

Once they were dry, my amazing husband helped us by using a nail and hammering a hole into each of the tops of the bottle caps.

I then printed really small pictures of Autobots off the computer.  The boys spent a long time with me looking at images and telling me which ones were good and which were not.  We had to talk about “pixels” and other new terms with this part of the project.  It was really fun to have them involved and excited.

It took some perfecting and printing of different sizes to find the size that could be cut close enough into a circle with seeing the image as big as it could be.

Once all our bottle caps had an images, we threaded them with a cord or string.  We used whatever we had.  Once there was a string (that would allow the Transformer “charm” to go around our necks) we glued the images on top.  By doing the thread and gluing of the image in this order, we got a bigger image and covered up the hole, so our “charm” would not move around on the string.  It made it a more permanent piece, which is what I wanted.

I then painted the images with a thick coat of mod podge to make them shiny.  Once they were dry, they were all done!

We laid them out, and the boys loved giving all our guests one as they arrived for J’s party.

They were SO cheap to make.  If you are not into collecting your own bottle caps, you can order brand new ones online. Just Google “Bottle Caps” and you should find plenty of options for less than $5!  I hope you will give these a try for your Transformer fan!  You could also branch out and turn these into fun charms for a number of occasions. Replace the Transformer images with your favorite characters, names, or symbols. You could use your guest’s names and hang them on seats for assigned seating or a drape them around a wine glass stem to keep track of glasses. As always, the possibilities are endless!

One other thing you might enjoy for a Transformer themed party is a quick game!

My son, Caleb, cut out a bunch of Decepticon (the bad guys) logos for me.

We taped them up all over our little house.  They were on walls, lights, beds, and even people.  Thank you Sam for being an incredible sport with your Decepticon label!  I then gave out all our Nerf guns and told them to run through the house and shoot all the Decepticons.  The boys, and a few other party members, had a blast!  It was so fun!

See everyone wearing their necklaces?!  They were all such great sports in honoring my little boy.  He felt so loved and had the best day!  I can’t believe he’s four!!  I hope you enjoyed these Transformer fun DIY party ideas.  I’d love to know if you give them a try!  Do you have a Transformer lover in your family too??

Check back tomorrow for more pictures from this party and from Thanksgiving!

Linked up at:  Uncommon Designs, DIY Showoff, Setting for Four, Red Head Can Decorate, Song Bird Blog, Miss Information

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Costumes for Cheap

September 25, 2012 By Erica Deuel 1 Comment

I am always excited to find dress up clothes really cheap.  My kids LOVE to dress up, and I love to encourage it!  For Reagan’s birthday in January, I have thought it would be cool to give her a box full of dress up clothes.  Our house currently only inhabits Spiderman, batman, Buzz Lightyear, Woody the Cowboy, etc type of costumes.  We need some girl stuff for this princess of mine!  Yesterday I went to my local thrift store and there was a whole aisle of Halloween costumes!  I was THRILLED!  Needless to say, I bought quite a few!  I plan on saving all the “girl” ones to give to Reagan for her birthday.

Can you believe that whole lot of costumes only cost $18?!  No joke!!  They ranged from $4 to $6 a piece, so that alone would have been a good deal, but I had a %50 off total purchase coupon that made it an even better deal!  They are all name brand (Disney, etc) and look in great condition!

You know my Transformer obsessed boys LOVE this Optimus Prime costume.  I might have one or two autobots this Halloween.  🙂

I have already gotten Reagan some fairy wings at the Dollar Store that will go great with this TinkerBell costume.

Can you beleive it only cost me $2.50?  That isn’t even the cost of a Chick-Fil-A sandwich!?!

There are lots of layers of girly fabrics in these costumes.  I just love having a girl!

Do you know that Children’s book Tea For Ruby?  We have it, and it is one of my favorites.   Ruby loves to dress up and gets invited to have tea with the queen.  It’s a great story about imagination.  Well, that purple dress is Ruby’s dress from the book!  What a great find.

I can’t wait till Reagan’s birthday!

If you too are looking to fill a dress up box, check out your local thrift store!  I hope you are having a great week.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

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