rocking chair

I found this rocking chair last summer at goodwill for $5 and just finally gave it a new look for my nephew's birthday. It had several coats of paint and since i really, really didn't want to strip it and i also really didn't want to do a lot of sanding it just sat in our garage until last week.

Here's the before:

A few days before my nephew's bday party i decided to call my dad and get his advice. Sure enough he told me i should strip it which i then told him was out of the question. Luckily for me, he figured out that i was really only interested in getting the job done as quickly and with as little work/time as possible and that all i wanted to hear was, "sand it a tiny bit, spray paint it and you should be good to go". As a bonus he also said he'd drop by an electric sander to make the job go even more quickly.

 So, i figured out how to use the sander ALL BY MYSELF, even trimmed and changed the paper w/o help, and sanded it for just a tiny bit. Maybe went through 4 pieces of paper and called it good. Then...

i sprayed it with a primer, let it completely dry and sprayed it with several coats of this semi-gloss paint. (i used a can and 1/2 to get a good cover)

 Here's the "after": 

 

I noticed a few spots on the bottom rungs that should have been sanded a bit more, they look kind of rough and like they might decide to bubble up. At least i have a 1/2 bottle of spray paint left over and can just keep covering it up as many times as needed. ;)

Catchin' up

Easter was a bit of a disappointment this year. A. was flying which we anticipated but on top of that the kids got a really bad respiratory cold. Sophie's even turned into pneumonia. Anyway, we tried to make the best of it even though we hung out in jammies all day!

 Will being a goof at breakfast...

a few days later G & G schmidt came over and brought easter treats. lovely pose, Will.

Later that week we celebrated cousin Elias' 3rd Birthday. the girls were still too sick so just Will and i went to the party

tickling the birthday boy

someone was super excited about cake and candles!

One of Andrew's good friends got married over the weekend so we all enjoyed getting out together for the first time in awhile...only to have andrew come down with the flu that night!

Will's new summer look

Girlies eating bananas to pass the time

egg-dying

A. has had to be gone quite a bit recently but we were super excited that he was able to come home for a quick evening of egg-dying before he left on a trip the next morning.

cutie pies

mmmmm