My new craft room. (I heart IKEA!)

Our trip to Charlotte a couple of weeks ago concluded with a trip to IKEA to get the furniture for the bedroom Sean helped me transform into a craft room.  I am soikw excited to finally have a space for all my crafty things -- especially my sewing machine.  Before I had everything crammed into the closet in this bedroom and getting anything out of it was quite a task.  

After getting home from Charlotte Saturday night, we unpacked the car and I sat in floor and marveled at all my loot.  :-)  First thing Sunday, we met my mama in Dunn with the kids, so they could spend the day on the farm and hunt on Monday.  After a yummy (and quiet) breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we headed back home to embark on the transformation.  Before getting started, Sean went out to the building for a few tools. (Note what's in the grocery bag.) ;-)

IKEA's way of packaging their furniture is quite amazing.  The box had hardly no free space for packing materials.  

Here's a shot of the mid-day work in progress.  It all came together very well.  Even Sean said during the process, 'IKEA is good.'  Everything fit together well, the instructions for assembly were clear, there were no missing pieces, all the hardware (which wasn't much) was there.  It was just a good experience all around!

I was nervous that the two brackets for the shelves would be a bear, but just like everything else, it was no problem at all.  I was even able to get them into studs and still have it centered over the bookcase/sideboard on the floor.  

After a few hours of assembling and a few more organizing all my junk supplies, my craft room was finally complete!

I LOVE my new sewing table!

We even made a corner of the room the kid's area with the easel and a bar on the wall that holds the crayons, markers and chalk.  Jackson and Kate love it!  (Ryley and Emma, too!)

Since I was able to clear out the closet, it is now much more organized and neat looking.  

Here's a close up of my two favorite shelves - scrapbooking and ribbon.

The room really got 'broken in' Friday night when we celebrated Amy's birthday with a burlap-themed craft night.   My nice, clean space became covered in melted hot glue and burlap strings and dust!  That's what it's all about though, right!  Here are our creations...

A pretty burlap wreath with flowers made out of burlap and buttons in the center covered in fabric.  

And a handsome little turkey with felt feathers!

Papa drives a race car!

Our Ryan crowd went to Charlotte this weekend to watch Papa drive in the NASCAR racing experience! It was really neat to be able to watch from pit road!  The kids loved seeing all the race cars and didn't seem to mind their loud noises.  I've never been a NASCAR race, but I did get to see how fast these cars go.  The riding experience was going on at the same time and the professional driver gets up to about 180 with the ride-along passenger!  Holy cow, that's got to be a crazy rush!

It was fun to watch and Papa really enjoyed it!  He was told after his 3 lap race that he topped out at 122 mph.  Pretty cool!

He's next!  

The crew members take extra care getting you on and off the track.  Safety is obviously their #1 priority.  

Strapped in and ready!

And he's off....

 

Safe and sound, with his feet back on the asphalt!

I think this smile sums out how he felt about the 'experience'!

The weekend wasn't without big excitement for the kids, too!  We checked into Great Wolf Lodge Friday afternoon, so the kids had most of the afternoon to play in the waterpark.  Then after the race, we changed out of sweaters and scarfs, and into our bathing suits, then went back to the waterpark for a  couple more hours of fun!

Great Wolf is such a neat place and definitely somewhere worth visiting again!  The indoor waterpark was fun, though a bit chilly.  Jackson and Kate both did great on the slides.  Jackson impressed me the most with his fearlessness.  He was just above the mark to be tall enough to ride the bigger rides and some of them were pretty thrilling.  One was a 'race' where you slid down on a mat by yourself.  He did great and even won!  

Jackson and Kate rode home from Charlotte with Mamma and Papa, so Sean and I could take a trip to IKEA.  I can't wait to share our trip!  Let's just say I'm so excited about all new, very own space!

Good friends and good football.

Matt and Beth came for a visit last weekend with their sweet baby boys.  Mason is barely a year old and Parker just turned 12 weeks.  Can you say hand full??  We were so glad they decided to pack up and make the 3 hour trip for a visit, a football game and a baby shower!  

Kate was super duper excited to have a baby in her house.  She wanted to hold him all the time!

Saturday morning we packed the Odyssey full with four car seats and all our tailgating gear and headed out to Carter Finley for the noontime match up against UNC.  

The State-Carolina game always brings a great crowd, but I had no idea that I would see my cousin's sweet baby, Mary Lacy!  I hadn't seen her in months, but her cheeks are still just as kissable!

It's always good to see family, especially when it's such a nice surprise!

Parker was quite the trooper during the game! 

Mason seemed a little overwhelmed by all the excitement, but he seemed to have a great time, too!

Ten years or so ago, we sat in this same spot on the grass (before the stadium was bowled in) with a much more belligerent Matt.  Today, this is the same Matt Day...

I attempted to get a good father/son picture of Jackson and Sean, but of course Jackson yanked his hat down as soon as he saw the camera.  Typical.

Kate may not have been too interested in the football game, but she sure did have a good time with her Papa!

Did I say that Kate was so excited to have a baby at our house?  She would have stayed just like this the whole weekend if only Parker would have agreed...

Trick-or-Treat!

It was a super-hero kind of Halloween around here, with Jackson and Kate dressing up as Spiderman and Wonder Woman!

Halloween fun w/ jack-o-lanterns & s'mores!

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I'm just getting around to posting Halloween pictures.  It's been an extra busy couple of weeks, but I'm finally coming up for air.

Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop were in town for a week around Halloween.  Sunday afternoon was spent watching football, carving pumpkins, and a yummy dinner to celebrate all the fall birthdays.

After our jack-o-lanterns were all done and our bellies were full, the kids roasted ghost s'mores around the fire pit. Amy put the little treats together after seeing the idea on the new favorite Pinterest.  Jackson loved them!