Greta's Curtains and Other Festivities of the 4th

Did Greta's room need new curtains?  Yes.  Only because we had other plans for those white curtains that we snagged for 50% off a while back at Ikea.  So, to replace them, I had plans to make my own curtains for her room and leisurely looked around for a patterned fabric that was playful, but didn't scream "THIS IS A KID'S ROOM!"  

Part of our 4th festivities included a trip to Ikea--because we consider it and Home Depot the happiest places on Earth.  Nothing like celebrating America at a Swedish Furnishings Superstore, and celebrate we did.  We were looking at everything from entertainment shelving for the family room (we nailed down our picks, but didn't buy quite yet) to our future plans for the kitchen (big stuff gonna happen in there hopefully next year) to fabric for Greta's curtains and lamps for fun.  We weren't out to spend major moolah yesterday.  We picked up some napkins and headed to the as-is section to see if there was anything worth the $20 budget we set for ourselves.  

And wouldn't you know it, there were curtains for $19.50 marked down from $39.99.  And they were playful and long and perfect for little Greta's room.  For $20, I couldn't find buy enough fabric to make curtains so we were happy to put our money toward these.  Apparently they were being discontinued, so a whole slew of them were piled up in a bin (just in case you wanted to get some for a steal).  When we got home I washed and dried them and hung them this morning:

I love the playful pattern and navy blue pop that it adds to her room.  I am pretty sure she likes them, too because she just stared at them for a solid two minutes and started doing her Tongan dance (see that here).  Our other 4th festivities included a skype date, grilling hotdogs, getting Chris ready for a camping trip with the scouts, watching Benny and Joon, playing Rummikub (Chris won), and trying to take a family picture....which had the potential to ruin our whole day:

The top two were taken in the morning before the celebrating began.  We had our camera propped up on a ladder and used the timer to take the picture. Getting Greta to look at the camera and be still for 10 seconds is near impossible.  We tried and tried and failed over and over again.  At the end of the day, right before she went to bed, we asked our neighbor to take a picture for us.  She was tired.  My hair was flat.  Our clothes were filthy and Greta and I were shoeless, but we almost look like a normal family happy to take a picture.  Almost.