Our growing tree

At my Nanna's house there is a small corner wall in her kitchen that she will never paint over.  That is because as her grandchildren grew up, she would mark on that wall how tall they were each time they came to visit.  I remember looking forward to each visit just so I could see how big I was getting. 

I want to do the same thing for my children and hopefully grandchildren, too.  But it is very unrealistic that David and I will ever live in one house for more than a handful of years at a time.  So I came up with Our Family Growing Tree.

I was able to buy this 8 foot piece of pine - already primed and painted white - for only $3.23 at Home Depot.  I bought a second, skinnier 8 foot piece of primed and painted pine for another $3.23 and had them cut it into various lengths between 1 and 2 feet long each.  Then I nailed them to the wall in the girls' bedroom to make a tree!  Grace helped me make tissue paper balls using paper napkins and then we hung those up to give our tree some leaves.

 Grace loves to see how tall she is getting.

 We're keeping up with Faith as she grows as well.

Momma and Daddy are on the tree, too.  Grace also had the great idea of painting these little wooden birds (found at Michals for only 99 cents each) and adding them to our tree.  The blue one is for Daddy and the pink one is for me.  Grace and Faith each have a pink bird, too.

Now we have a functional and decorative growth chart tree that we can cherish for years to come.  It was cheaper and more durable than any chart I've seen out in the vast internet, plus it's tall enough to record anyone's height - 6 foot 1 inch Daddys included!  And the best part of all; I will be able to take it with us the next time we move...