A Project Here...A Project There

we. had. so. much. fun!!!!

2012-01-15T14:33:00.000-08:00

Our new house comes with an amazing hill in the backyard. Everyone who sees it thinks of it as the perfect sledding hill. It was SO FUN to try it out today! The boys played around on it a bunch last night with some of our friends when it first started snowing, but we waited for some daylight to test out the sled. Thanks Papa and Grandma for bringing it over this morning! :)

here she is...

2012-01-13T09:13:00.000-08:00

Well, this really isn't the photo I'd ideally choose to show our new (to us) house, but it's as good as it's gonna get for a while. I did take the time however, to change it to black and white. The colors of this house (inside and out) drive me nuts, but it has potential!! :)

This week is the boys' birthday week. I always look forward to it so much, and am trying hard to not be distracted by our recent move, projects, potty training, etc. Life is crazy at the moment and oh so full, but I do seem to be running around half the time with a crazy look in my eye!

Coming soon: photos of an amazing craigslist find (my best one yet!), birthday party photos, our first building project for the new house, and just possibly a small paint change to one of the rooms. We'll see what we can manage.

Have a good weekend! I can't believe that I have a FOUR year old and a TWO year old! :) Life goes so fast. I am one blessed woman.

legos!!

2012-01-06T08:37:00.000-08:00

the container store

How cool are these? They're boxes that store legos. Thinking the boys could use a couple of the x-large white ones...birthday presents?? A little spendy, but I love this cute idea of storing those millions of annoying pieces.

Idea seen HERE this morning.

calendar

2012-01-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

We're pretty much not buying anything for a long time for the house. We're staying on track with our goals of paying off debt and all the other steps involved with the Dave Ramsey financial plan I've talked about on here some. We'll do some small fix ups with things that we can creatively and frugally pull together---it will be a fun challenge! It really helps knowing we just love the space, the layout, and the property. With the timeline mindset we have for this place, we really just have a peace that we have LOTS of time to do the things we'll want to do to it eventually.

However, I do think I'll put aside some of my weekly spending money to buy this little calendar that I've been eyeing forever. Would be a fun little "new house" present for myself. :)

hello 2012!!

2012-01-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

I do have to say that I'm glad 2011 is over. What a year for our family! A good year, but tiring! :)

This year we have a lot on our plate, but such good and exciting things. I'd love to blog about it all, but the reality of it is--we'll just see how it goes! Gonna take this year one day at a time and enjoy the crap out of it.

we just moved into our "forever home" this last week. here's a little snap
shot of what we're facing in our house projects/makeover future...
yuck yuck yuck!

LOVE my boys!

2011-11-28T20:19:00.000-08:00

christmas!

2011-11-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

ordering these lovlies for my little loves. :)

baby sawyer

2011-11-04T09:50:00.000-07:00

what's up with the sentimental posts? and all the "family" posts? i guess this is just what happens when i live in small house with NO projects to do! however, i do have a fun pinterest challenge coming up soon with this lady, and my sister and i have made a small list of some fun crafty things (not really my thing, but i need some kind of creative outlet!!) to do over the next couple of weeks. so eventually there will be something more interesting on here than pictures of my kiddos. :)

because i forget...and time is going by toooo fast

2011-11-03T08:35:00.000-07:00

halloween costumes

2011-11-02T08:27:00.000-07:00

This year I made the boys' costumes. Sam was Superman and Sawyer was Batman. I originally got the idea from some shirts the Gap was selling awhile back. They wanted almost 40 dollars for them! I just bought plain long sleeve shirts from Target for $4, then 1/3 yard of red and black fabric and some iron on velcro form Joann's. I googled images for what I wanted the shirts too look like, and I was able to get both of them done during the boys' nap one day. They LOVE them. I'm so glad I went the velcro idea to attatch the capes. The boys are constantly trying to catch each other, and for washing purposes too it worked out well. It was really fun to make them this year, AND to see how well used they are already. :)

When I looked online to see if they still had the shirts to show on here I saw these sweatshirts instead. How cute are they??

pumpkin patch/cider mill 3

2011-10-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is our 3rd year of going to Lattin's Country Cider Mill and Farm, second year with our friends the Cahoon's. We really do love it. It's always cold and wet, but the boys really could care less. There's animals, tractor rides, amazing apple fritters, etc. Gotta say, I'm lovin this tradition! (2010, 2009)

how cool would this job be?

2011-10-26T12:25:00.000-07:00

I've followed Door Sixteen for about a year or more now, and as random as her blog can be sometimes, I think she is creative and very talented. I've probably talked about her "real job" outside of renovating their home on here before, but she recently updated her work portfolio and it is impressive! Check it out HERE.

i do have to say that i'm not a fan of this series, but i did think the cover looked cool!

sewing for my boys

2011-10-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to cutting up the king size Potterybarn duvet cover and turning it into twin size quilts for the boys. It was super easy! I completed one in an evening, and only have Sawyer's left to do. I'll start in on his actual "big boy quilt" when I'm done with them. What's nice about using the duvet cover is that the material is a thick and heavy linen. It added a LOT of weight to the quilt, and the material is kind of wrinkly and worn looking--love that!

I also sewed the boys' Halloween costumes this year! Photos to come of that soon. :)

birthday and christmas comes early

2011-10-18T09:04:00.000-07:00

So my dream dinnerware is actually sitting in my kitchen right now thanks to some early birthday and Christmas money. :) I LOVE the dishes. I actually peek into the cupboard occasionally just to look at how pretty they are. I keep thinking the novelty will wear off, just hoping Daniel doesn't catch me at it. :) Now my only thing is whether or not to get the glasses I loved to complete the Antrho set. Or...just be content with the glasses I have as they do go together with the set just fine. What do you think? Would you go for the fun glasses or just call it good?

dream dinnerware

2011-10-02T15:42:00.000-07:00

When we moved and had our first garage sale I decided to sell our dishes. I loved my Crate & Barrel white dish set, but there were some things that had bothered me about them. They were special because they were gifts/new when we built/moved into our house...after time I knew that they weren't the "perfect" set for us (who am i kidding, for me!). The size of the plates threw me off, and they didn't even fit into our cabinets. All the white was great, but I found myself wishing for some more color. Despite the microwave safe labels, they came out pipping hot...oh, and we received mugs with the dish sets that we never used (because of the heat issue). BUT, they were super cute, and they found a great home with someone who doesn't have the cupboard issue and they don't own a microwave. :)

So for now we've been using cheap Target melamine plates. It doesn't bother me at all. But one day I would love to own something that I absolutely love and could see us using for years until our kids find them super tacky one day. :) I have a ton of the white Anthropolgie bowls that I LOVE. I'd like to find smaller sized dinner plates (helps so much with keeping on top of serving sizes), a colorful salad plate, and some fun and colorful glasses. These are some options that I love from Anthropologie. I think it could all go together splendidly...despite the outrageous accumulative price tag! (at least i already have the bowls, right?)

hobnail tumbler

watercolor petals salad plate

piecrust dinnerware

helianthus goblet

snap*shots

2011-09-30T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's been awhile! I'm haven't completely forgotten about my little blog here, but life has definitely stepped up and taken over for a bit. The biggest question I am asked is about what our new place looks like. It amuses me for a couple of reasons, the main one being that it's nothing compared to the house we built. There will be almost little to none projects done here, it's a space we are just working on with what we have, and it's temporary...so time/energy/resources will not be spent on this space. BUT, I totally understand the curiosity element, and it has been fun to see our stuff in a new setting and to try to make it as cozy/homey as possible.

I have managed to scrounge up some little projects for our stuff--things that we'll take with us when we leave. We purchased some paint to do the kitchen bench set with (we decided to leave the table as is...the painted benches will make it look much better). I'll use the same paint to do the boys' dresser with...and if we get on top of it (and the weather isn't toooo terrible), when we move the boys' room around to winterize a bit, I may even stain their bunk beds. Just because. :) Oh! And I finally ordered some really cute fabric for Sawyer's big boy quilt. :) So maybe I'll come up with blogging material this fall if I actually get on it with these projects.

i would love to make some fun yellow-ish throw pillows for this room to go with all the grey!

{this moment}

2011-09-09T11:42:00.000-07:00

i LOVE getting books in the mail! what a good way to start off the weekend!

cool house

2011-09-02T07:42:00.000-07:00

I like this HOUSE. Not how it's decorated, but the actual layout/design of the house. Pretty cool! Loving all the white too surprisingly. :) Enjoy your weekend!!

sand in the city 2

2011-08-31T08:11:00.000-07:00

We love Sand in the City. We went last year and really enjoyed it. I think last year's was a tad better as far as the sand sculptures go, but we had a great time. We go on Sundays with my in-laws for "Grandparents Day."

8 years!

2011-08-30T08:51:00.000-07:00

For our 8th anniversary(!!) we kept it simple this year and just went away for one night. We had "points" from Daniel's business, so we only had to spend money on parking and food--which was perfect of our Year of Frugality, as we're calling it now. :) The PLACE was really beautiful, very similar to Alderbrook, but not as lodge/cabin feeling. We loved the idea of staying on Lake Washington--it was a change from our usual places. My in-laws had the boys for 2 nights, so we definitely felt relaxed from the little break. AND the hotel dog as super cute! I really struggled with not sneaking him away with us. ;) We've been sooooo blessed these 8 years, and I can't imagine what the next 8 have in store for us. I really did luck out in the husband department. :)

the woodmark hotel

snap*shots

2011-08-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

We were on vacation all last week, and it was great! We got away one night for our 8th anniversary and then did a lot of fun things with family and friends. We thought about camping, but still feel the need to lay low and relax after our crazy last month or so. I have lots of photos to share this week. For now, here are my sweet sweet boys. Life really couldn't get any better right now!

i do have to admit that i miss my boys' "haircuts"! in an effort to be frugal this year i have just been buzzing their hair myself. we've made it into a really fun thing around here, but i still miss their cute little fohawk cuts. :(

an adventure!

2011-08-18T07:00:00.000-07:00

Remember THIS post? Well...some might say we've gone a little "extremist" when we decided to rent out our home and move into a much smaller rental property our family owns. I have been thinking about a post to sum all of this up in a cohesive way, but for now, THIS post on paying off debt hits near the mark.
We're focusing on making this year an adventure for our little family. We're blessed with a lot of options as to where we'll go from here, but for now we're taking joy in our new adventure. We're excited and motivated to make BIG changes and challenges for this year (august - august)!! I'll blog more on what some of those specific changes and goals are soon.

Today marks the third week that we've been in our new place. I thrive on change and the new challenges/experience it brings, so this has all boded well with me. :) I've been brainstorming directions for this little blog...how to adapt it to all of this. For now I think I'll just be blogging about the details of our move, this next year, and throw in some projects and family updates here and there. This year for us is, in a sense, a project after all. ;)

Extra reading?? HERE's an article about Dave Ramey's concept of getting out of debt and staying out of debt.

camping!!

2011-08-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

All photos are courtesy of our friend Shalisa. We had a GREAT time and we really like our friends. :)

living without a microwave

2011-08-16T07:00:00.000-07:00

Life without a microwave...well it's not easy, but it's also not as big of a deal as I thought it might be. We knew right off the bat that we didn't want to add anything absolutely unessential to the kitchen space since it was pretty tight as it is. A microwave just didn't make the cut. And to be honest, I was kinda excited about the challenge (as silly as it sounds) of making do without one.

The biggest inconvenience was bound to be our morning oatmeal tradition. The boys (and sometimes me) have it every single morning. It has always been so easy to just pop it into the microwave. We use oats in their pure and natural form with a little maple syrup added to it afterwards, but the microwave definitely cut down in the prep time. The nice thing about the stove in this house despite it's age and the amount of time it took to get it cleaned up is that it heats everything up so much faster than ours did at the other house! But even still, I was looking for faster/more convenient oatmeal recipes that I could whip out every morning for the boys.

recipe found HERE (photo is mine)

From a friend I learned of a recipe that soaks the oats thus creating a much quicker cooking process. The recipe actually came from a blog that I had already discovered through another friend, so it was fun to know where it was coming from. It's been GREAT. The oats just sit in the cupboard overnight, then get dumped into some boiling water and they simmer less than 5 minutes. Quick and easy. I just clean the jar and dump in the next days ingredients and pop it back into the cupboard. It's been awesome.

snap*shots

2011-08-15T11:53:00.000-07:00

Things keep getting moved around, but for the most part we're settling...it is definitely different to unpack, get settled, and try to make a house that isn't ours (and isn't long term) a cozy space to live in. Thankfully the house came with lots of its own charm and uniqueness. It hasn't taken much to make it "ours". We're in the process of still weeding out some stuff...the red chair, a desk, etc. Just things that are making this small space feel a little bit crowded. But it's coming along. I'm thankful that we did this transition before the fall. It's been nice to air out the house, clean it well, and get situated before all of the inside rainy days that are inevitably coming our way soon.

someone else's house

2011-08-12T07:57:00.000-07:00

No {this moment} for you all today. But I did come across a sweet little home tour this morning in my normal blog perusing. I actually like the whole house! Usually, with other peoples homes, I like parts of them, but typically not all of the spaces. This one is definitely an exception. It's more of a neutral palate like the home we're living in currently. Maybe that's why it caught my eye.

home tour HERE

adjusting...

2011-08-10T19:03:00.000-07:00

We're slowly adjusting around here. It's been nice to have a reason to stick a little closer to home! We've had some sweet friends visit here and there, but other than that, we've been quietly adjusting to new found rhythms. Adjusting to life without a microwave, a smaller kitchen, a new big boy bed, cooling down an old house, starting up home cooked meals again, finishing the last of storing and organizing our stuff, making time for outside play, camping with friends, learning to ride a new bike, walking a new neighborhood...and so on and so on!

The boys have still somehow managed to keep growing on us during all this change!!! Trying to put everything on hold while we get situated didn't include growing little boys. I've been a little nostalgic about it. Sawyer decided to learn to feed himself all on his own, and is pretty neat about it! Our morning oatmeal time is much more fun and easier now. :) Both boys have grown in size. I got them some new tennis shoes that make them seem so much bigger for some reason! Sam is learning how to ride a new bike (his old one broke), and is doing awesome at it. They play (and fight) together so much more now. It's just been a summer that's flown by, and fall is just now starting to stare me in the face and I'm NOT ready for it!!! :(

This little dining area is one of my favorite spaces in the new place. It's such a work in progress, and will most likely always be (as will the rest of the house), but I want to practice painting furniture a little more and this dining set could really use a picker-upper. I was thinking of painting the table base black...am undecided on the table top...which actually should just be replaced. And as far as the benches go...? What do you think? All the kitchen cabinets are black with some red pipping...walls are grey...ideas???

{this moment}

2011-08-05T09:04:00.000-07:00

here's a corner of our kitchen that is up and running finally. we had to get a
little cart from ikea because there isn't enough (or tall enough) counter
space for our coffee maker and kitchen aid...essentials!!

We're all moved in! Moving is tiring no matter how organized you are...we're very excited to be DONE needless to say. We're camping with friends this weekend, but after that, we're looking forward to a week of normality. Settling in, resuming our schedules, and spending more time enjoying the rest of this summer.

snap*shots

2011-08-01T20:09:00.000-07:00

a clothesline is finally up at our new place. we're trying to avoid using the dryer in this old house to keep it as cool as we can for these warmer days.

candles! they're helping make the house smell a little more like "us". the antique timer was a sweet gift from daniel who knew i'd love it.

still trudging through my library stack before they become overdue...the move has definitely slowed down my reading time, but i've been finding little moments to get some time in.

a fun take on a similar china cabinet

2011-07-28T07:41:00.000-07:00

I came across this fun makeover of a china cabinet that is very similar to mine. Love the extra details they added to their redo! Fun to think that I could add similar touches to mine one day if I feel the need.

via design sponge

big boy bed!

2011-07-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

Sawyer ended up following Sammy in moving to a big boy bed at 18 months. I had originally thought we'd keep him in a crib as long as possible since there was no rush to move him out this time. However, the "bedroom" that the boys will be in (which technically isn't a 2nd bedroom) is big enough for their bunk bed and a small dresser. That's it. So the easiest thing for us to do is to buy another mattress and stick it on the bottom of Sammy's bunk bed. We've been testing it out and it's going really well! We moved the actual bunk bed to the other house a couple of days ago, so the mattresses are just on the floor. The boys love it, and I think it's going to be fun.

Now I just want to find some matching bedding!! Totally just day dreaming here, we're soooo not budgeting in expensive Pottery Barn bedding, but I can dream, right? Sammy has his big boy quilt that I made him a couple of years ago, but I need to start brainstorming one for Sawyer...hopefully in time for his 2nd birthday. A couple of years ago I bought a super cute king size Pottery Barn duvet cover (for under 20 bucks!) in hopes of cutting it in half and turning it into two twin quilts. It's red and tan stripes...

The type A side of me wants them to have matching sets, but at the same time it could be fun for them to have something more personalized. What sheets would you choose?

Land of Nod robo-bedding

Land of Nod grey jersey bedding

Pottery Barn Kids mason sheeting

Pottery Barn Kids organic star sheeting

belated 4th photos

2011-07-25T19:41:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to post photos of the 4th for a while, and I'm just now getting to it.

We go up to my Uncle's lake house every other year to celebrate. This is Daniel's favorite holiday. Don't ask me why. We split it up between our families just like if it were Christmas or Thanksgiving (we even fight over it sometimes). I do admit that I've grown to like the holiday much more being married to him. :) This year we ALL made it out!! My family is starting to grow and we just love it! All my sisters and their other halves (plus the 3 boys)...was enough for baseball and football teams. Not sure what we're doing next year, but I know I'll feel a little bummed to miss out on it all...that's always a good sign, right?

our camp site :)

we felt a little white trash camping on such a nice lake! but we had a lot of fun doing it. :)

sisters!

my favorite nephew

sam & dobby (sue's dog)

sawyer before the buzz cut

sam & my parents

we had a mini fireworks show. the boys thought it was awesome.

{this moment}

2011-07-22T14:58:00.000-07:00

$1 flip flops from old navy. first pair that i've worn this summer...kinda sad.

progress on the rental property

2011-07-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

I popped in yesterday to see the progress on the rental property. You can see why it's not exactly livable at the moment. :) All the windows are in the process of being replaced, along with some of the siding. The floors are all ripped up, and I already picked out the flooring that will get installed this week. The outside should be painted in the next week or so too. I'll share the colors and before & afters as the place comes along. It's fun so far, especially since I'm just picking out things for the most part. Daniel is the one doing all of the grunt work!

bedroom #1

bedroom #2

dining room

the new floors

what was under the nasty carpet

kitchen

view from the back door

living room/dining room

online garage sale (part 2)

2011-07-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

I think this is how it'll go-- Here's a photo of some of the more "fun" things that will go in our actual garage sale at the end of the month. I might post another photo or two soon depending on how this goes. If you're interested in anything you see and are willing to come pick it up (or arrange something), leave me a comment and I'll get back to you about prices.

surprises and breakfast

2011-07-20T08:08:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a special delivery. When the boys woke up from their nap they found a package on our front porch. Needless to say, the Plasmacar has been a BIG hit around here, especially since they can ride on it together. :) The new place doesn't have any carpet, so this little car will be perfect. Thanks Papa & Grandma!

The boys had their first classic sugary cereal this morning. We're getting down to it in the kitchen, so no oatmeal this morning. It was fun to resort (as a special treat) to my childhood favorite. :) Lucky Charms and then some Sesame Street!

normality & cookies

2011-07-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

The chicken pox has been harder than we thought. Only Sammy has it so far thankfully, and it really doesn't seem to be bothering him. He actually feels very loved (as do we) by all the attention and love he's been getting from his friends and our families. BUT, we can't go anywhere!! That, coupled with trying to move out by the end of the month, has made for a somewhat complicated and draining time. Our house is bone dry of food, and this morning I finally whipped up our favorite cookies just to give the boys something fun to do and eat! We've been super busy on our nights and that is the only time I can make it to the grocery store without the kiddos. Thankful that I didn't move our baking stuff over to the other house yet!

oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies

I've been really trying hard to make this as easy and smooth of a transition for the boys as possible. We moved all of their toys over first, leaving behind the toys that are going in the garage sale. This way they've have stuff to play with at the other house while I've been cleaning and organizing the stuff we have moved over, which is about 1/2 of everything. Definitely good progress has been made, but our house does feel quite empty, and the other house feels quite full already. Through all of the moving and planning I thought that I'd be a little more sentimental about it all, yet I really just find myself grateful that we have this chance to have a little adventure and to really focus on paying off debt and amassing a good size savings. What's one year of our life, especially with the boys being so little and having no clue, in the whole scheme of things? I've just been focusing on the peace that we feel about moving forward and taking responsibility for our future, and how we choose to spend our money. It feels so very adult-ish of us! We're just excited to see what this year brings.

As for what I still have yet to do...well for some reason the thought of another online garage sale overwhelms me. The last one was such a great success, but the things I have left could really just be put into the garage sale we hope to have at the end of the month, and I just need to be ok with selling them at garage sale prices. Kinda tempted to just set it all up inside my house and let friends come through and buy whatever they want (first dibs) before hand. Still trying to decide, and I think it is mostly taking a bunch of random photos and then trying to keep track of it all online that is the clincher for me. Would just be easier to have someone come up in person, pay for the item, and then take it immediately away. We'll see.

As for those cookies! It's definitely our go-to recipe...my kids don't get much more in the way of special treats around here except for donut runs with their dad on the weekends. I just wish I'd follow what I give them more! Sugar is definitely my weakness. I figure that since I'm posting a photo of their cookbook, the rights to the recipe are being appropriately given.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Makes 1 dozen 3-in cookies (or w/a small scooper, 25+)

1 1/2 c rolled oats
1 c whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 c maple syrup
1/2 c unsalted butter, melted (i have used less)
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c chopped walnuts (not nec)
1/3 c chocolate chips

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Mix dry and wet ingredients separately, then combine. Easy peesey.

library books

2011-07-18T08:19:00.000-07:00

This year as part of staying true to being more conscious with how/what we're spending our money on, I've really made an effort to cut back in my book purchases. I've only bought a few this year, and most of those were gifts for friends. To keep my reading habit fed, I've crossed over to utilizing our local library. I hadn't been to the library much since I was a kid. I collect books, so I usually purchase them...and even though 90% of the books I buy are used, it still adds up. What has been nice, if not freeing, about getting books from the library is that I feel more freedom to branch out and experiment. It's been fun! Despite how busy and crazy our lives feel right now, I still have managed to get some good reading time in. I just finished The Passage, and have a stack of three new books that I picked up from the library this weekend. With all the packing and moving around here I'll most likely have to extend the due dates, but I'm still looking forward to reading them!

{this moment}

2011-07-15T08:39:00.000-07:00

sawyer enjoying his "special treat"

Check the post below for the giveaway winner!

big changes...

2011-07-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, as of yesterday our house is now rented out! Putting it up on craigslist was crazy. The amount of calls we got, and the different types of people wanting to rent it out was entertaining, if not a little stressful, to say the least. We feel like we picked out a good family that will take care of our house. Wish us luck!

Where are we headed now? Well, that has changed a bit in this last week. Due to several different factors we decided against moving directly into our rental property. One of the main ones being that we just ripped up all the flooring, it's scheduled to be painted, etc. We've got to be out of our house by the 1st of August! Way sooner than we had expected, so to make this transition as smooth as possible for our boys, we're choosing to move into a rental that my in-law's own and is all ready to go. It's smalllllller than the other rental, which will make things interesting...but it is nice that it's all ready for us. We'll start moving stuff over this weekend.
Since things are shifting somewhat, I'm still trying to figure out on whether or not I will blog through all these new transitions for our family. What do you think? It will definitely be a lot of change and will be interesting, if not humorous (as in, what are we thinking?!), to document. So we'll see. As of now, we're gonna focus on moving and getting everything situated. I'll post info about garage sales and pop in with updates and photos when I get the time...which due to my boys having chicken pox (well, sammy does) we'll be a little more homebound than I'm used to!!! Can't believe the timing on this one! He's doing great through it, but we're only in the beginning. :(

a photo of the living room where we're moving. it's a cute old house with a big fenced in yard (kinda the clincher for us in the end-for the boys). we actually know several people that have lived in this house, so it's kinda funny for us to be taking a spell in it too. :)

giveaway winner & laundry room obsessions

2011-07-13T06:00:00.000-07:00

I came across THIS post this week that inspired me to finally do the finishing touches on our laundry room. Don't know what it is about laundry rooms, but I love looking at photos of them! Kinda dorky.

Anyways! The WINNER from my first giveaway for the free photo shoot with Thrill of the Chase Photography is:

Cathy!!! I'll email you later today with details Cathy. I think you were gonna pass it on to a friend, so I hope she enjoys it!

price mark downs!

2011-07-12T19:54:00.000-07:00

Alrighty. So our time slot window is drastically shrinking in on us...adding just a little (or a whole LOT, to be honest) extra stress...and our plans are changing up a bit too. I promise to update on details as soon as things follow through. But, for now, I lowered prices on the things that haven't sold yet in hopes of getting rid of them SOON. If you want anything or know of anyone, let me know! And don't be afraid to bargain with me if you really want something. :) The 2nd part of my online garage sale will be happening sooner than I thought, along with an actual real life garage sale too. I'll keep you posted. :)

**We're looking for a twin size mattress in good condition (can't be extra long). i would be willing to swap or figure out a deal if anyone has one to trade! The same goes with a small table (that can seat 4)...doesn't need to be fancy or anything, just something smaller than what we have now.

$40 for the set

$200

obsessive painting?

2011-07-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

**to enter this week's giveaway, go HERE.

I love Kristen's BLOG for lots of fun artistic reasons, but mainly because she repaints often, possibly more often that I do. :)

Speaking of repainting...I repainted our downstairs bathroom this weekend. Mostly out of necessity unfortunately, but it was still nice to see the change. I'll post photos later this week.

my FIRST giveaway!

2011-07-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

sue & carl

I'm excited about this giveaway, it being my first one and all, and the fact that hopefully I can send some traffic Susan and Carl's way (my sister and her new hubby). Sue lucked out and just happened to marry a photographer. :) She's taking a swing at it now too, and doing pretty well at it. Daniel and I love cameras and taking photos, so it's fun to have someone around who actually knows what he's doing. They're wanting to boost up their business and add some family shots to their collection, so they used US to get it up and started! As a credit to them, they got some really awesome shots of our boys for doing this right before bedtime. It was so difficult to get them to sit still, to stop giving the cheese ball smiles, etc etc. You know how it goes. I'm excited to actually plan out the details of our next shoot (probably christmas card time) ahead of time...outfits, locations, a better time for the boys, and so forth.

So! Here are some of the photos they took that we LOVE:

Here is how the giveaway is gonna work. If you're interested in a FREE photo shoot with Sue & Carl Chase (Thrill of the Chase Photography) all you need to do is leave a comment on this post. I was going to have everyone answer cheesy questions, or pick your minds about ideas for my blog, but lets just keep it simple and everyone just comment with your full name and email address so I can get ahold of the winner. I will announce the winner on Friday the 15th.

Some options for extra entries:

if you purchased something from my online garage sale you get another entry as a thank you!
click on over to sue & carl's Facebook and "like" them
link my blog (this post is fine) to your own personal blog or Facebook to advertise this giveaway

To keep it organized, when you comment on here to enter, please let me know if you did anything else (purchased something, "liked" sue & carl's site, or posted about my blog). I'll do my best to keep track of everything, but this would help out some!

If you're interested in using Thrill of the Chase Photography, their Facebook page has all their info, but you can email me and I can get the info to you. For an hour photo shoot you'll get a cd of all the photos for just $75 (which i think is a great deal). They do all their own editing and you're then free to do whatever you want with your photos. They stay local, but are open to going longer distances for a gas fee. Check them out! :)

some changes...

2011-07-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

This little blog is getting a couple of updates...just little things, mostly in formatting and photos. One of the main things that people seem to have the hardest time with on here, is recognizing when I "link" to something. So for now on, when you see something that is in red bold print, move your curser over the word and you should be able to click on the link and it will directly take you to where I'm sending you. :)

Bright and early tomorrow I'll post my giveaway.

Let's practice. :) Check out this blog post for some fun ideas for summer projects, not all my style, but definitely some cute ideas.

thank you!

2011-07-09T08:56:00.000-07:00

My online garage sale was a surprising success!! I'm still planning on doing a "part 2" sometime in August, so keep tuned for that if you're interested. There were a couple of items leftover (a container from pier 1, 2 kid canvas prints, a free beer sign), you can see them HERE. If anyone wants any of it, I'll give it to you for dirt cheap. :) Otherwise the items will just go into our "real" garage sale pile.

Thanks to all of you who purchased something. A lot of the stuff was things that I have spruced up or made myself, so it was great to see people I know buy it up instead of random people on craigslist. :) Glad everything found good homes!

Coming soon: an awesome giveaway (my first!!), and for those of you that purchased something from my online garage sale, you can enter twice as a little thank you.

craigslist adds

2011-07-08T14:35:00.000-07:00

***online garage sale post is directly below

**due to the amount of emails inquiring about my craigslist adds, i decided to post this today instead of tomorrow since the online garage sale is doing so well. you can either comment on my blog, facebook, or just respond to the adds and i'll get back to you. thanks!

Things that I posted on craigslist this week in case anyone is interested (click on the title and it will send you to the craigslist add):

I know it seems like we're trying to downsize everything we own, but it's not that dramatic. :) Just remember we're downsizing to a 800-ish square foot house! AND part of our motivation in to pay off debt and start over the right way. So it feels GOOD to get this stuff on it's way out. :)

ONLINE GARAGE SALE (part 1)

2011-07-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

**in the tv photo, it's the set of frames that are for sale...and daniel is willing to part with the tv for $550. It comes with a 4yr ($120) protection plan and a wall mount...he's also open to selling his PS3 and sound system if anyone is interested.

I've seen online garage sales around for a while now, but this will be my first attempt. I'm going to do it in 2 parts due to figuring out exactly what's going with us and what I do/don't want to store. I'm just going to post photos. If you have an interest in anything you see, leave a comment with your email and I'll contact you about prices. I'll deliver the items too, if you're local. As far as shipping things, if you want to pay the shipping, I'll consider it.

Help us downsize!!! :)

house photo tour

2011-07-07T12:23:00.001-07:00

**kitchen photos/laundry room have been added**

Well, here is the photo tour of our house (minus the kitchen which i'll add to this later this afternoon after i clean it!). It feels strange to post this all on here at once, but it's also nice to have photos of what it looks likenow, before all the purging/moving stuff out begins. It will be nice to have for memories I guess. :)

In case you didn't see the post below--we're RENTING it out.

FOR RENT

2011-07-06T21:01:00.001-07:00

That's right. We're putting our house up for RENT. We've been moving towards this for a while now, but we're finally (almost) ready to make the big move. By almost, I mean we still have some loose ends to tie up considering small house projects, details for where we're moving, etc.

If you know of anyone who is looking for a house to rent, please give them our information, or contact me (frogirlcin@hotmail.com) and I can give you details.

We're open to moving out the beginning of August or September. We'd LOVE to rent to someone we know, or at least someone highly recommend by someone we know. So spread the word.

Where are we planning on living? Well, we just started investing in some rentals here in town, and the idea is that we'll move into them to fix them up, then turn around and rent them out. If all goes well, we'll just move on to the next one, and so forth. This is something we're super excited about doing for several reasons. The biggest one is that we'll be paying off debt. We'll also have some fun projects to tackle (this makes my brain go crazy), and we'll be investing in our future in a big way.

What you can look forward to me sharing on this blog in the future is:

a photo tour of our home
an online garage sale
the process of conducting said garage sale and downsizing in general (picture moving from 1,700 sq feet to 800)
LOTS of before and afters as we start in on projects on the first rental
and the process of fixing up a rental in general

So, again, if you know of anyone who needs a place to rent soon, please let me know!! Thanks! And wish us luck. This is going to be quite the transition/adventure for our little family. We're getting really excited. :)

sooooo

2011-06-26T20:13:00.000-07:00

Well, if I thought we had a lot on our plate last week, after this weekend I feel like that load suddenly got much much bigger! I'm gonna take a little "break" until everything gets figured out and finalized, then I'll be back to update and announce our future plans. We're SUPER excited at the possibilities, but also painfully aware that things definitely can be too good to be true. So, we'll see! I might pop in every once in a while to post summer fun photos, but until then, wish us luck! :)

{this moment}

2011-06-24T07:35:00.000-07:00

summer solstice!

2011-06-21T13:35:00.000-07:00

How fitting that the first day of summer actually felt like summer! We celebrated it by being outside as much as possible today. The husband and I have fun plans for continuing the festivities tonight, but this morning the boys and I met friends at the park, then had a play date afterwards here at our house. We even got the sprinkler out! So fun. It always feels like summer to me when I can get the diapers out on the lawn. Especially after a long winter, then really just need some sun whitening!

In other news--We have a lot on our plate right now. Some big ideas are being tossed around, and we're (especially me) not quite sure what our final plan will be. I've been thinking lots lately about whether or not I should blog through this potential process. While it would give me a LOT to blog about, I'm just not sure if I'm wanting to go there...so in the next few weeks while we make some big decisions (they're pretty much made, we're just finalizing things and putting stuff into motion), I may or may not be on here much. Regardless, I'll let you all know either way!

Friday's {this moment} will be a "hint" of what's to come...

the beach! (and the van)

2011-06-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

We had the best time at the beach. We had great times last year too, but this year it was nice to have Sawyer be a little bit older. The boys couldn't get enough of all the sand and the water. They spent hours out there both days just digging and playing. This is what we've been waiting for! Family vacations where everyone enjoys them equally, they're not too much work, and we're creating such fun memories as a family. Excited that this is only just the beginning! The hotel we stayed in was great. Nice enough for us, but not too nice where we feel bad for trashing the place (sand got everywhere! so glad it wasn't my house).

So the van. We've had it a week now, and seriously I don't think I could go back! I know! I did not see this coming AT ALL. But, I've accepted it, and have moved on. :) The sliding doors (automatic, mind you) make it completely worth it. We managed to find something in our price range, and even got it for 1,000 below blue book. It had everything we wanted (leather seats, automatic everything, rear seat folds into floor, low miles, tinted windows, a new transmission/brakes/timing belt...yada yada). It's a 2002 Honda Odyssey EX. It was really the only van (model) that we were looking at, and were just biding our time saving money and waiting for the perfect deal to come along. Wouldn't have picked silver for the color, but I was totally willing to compromise on that in light of everything else we felt we scored on. So yup, we're now mini van owners, and we feel just fine about that. :)

ferry day!

2011-06-14T06:00:00.000-07:00

Not this last weekend, but the weekend before, it was beautiful here! We had breakfast outside every day, went to the parade, lots of walks, played at the water park area next to the ferry before we took it to Seattle to get our van, and then spent another day at the farmer's market and just exploring downtown. We soaked up every single minute of the nice weather, and you could tell how little time we spent inside by how trashed our house got. :)

a sunny day

2011-06-13T19:22:00.000-07:00

the water fountain downtown...we loved this!

a belated {this moment}

2011-06-12T21:21:00.000-07:00

we went to the ocean this weekend! and daniel fixed my camera, so now i can post again! i'll be playing catch up this week. hope you all enjoyed the weekend. we sure did!

spreading the love...

2011-06-08T13:24:00.000-07:00

Well, I tried to post photos from our weekend, but they're not loading for some reason! So I'll post about what I came across today on a friend's new blog. I love it when projects get passed around and people take their swing at them. Last year I had blogged about THIS project, and she tried it out herself HERE. I love the fabric choices. Check out the other project she tackled on the same post. So fun.

Pictures and updates coming soon I promise!

the parade!!

2011-06-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time this year! We always do, but it just feels so much more "fun" when the sun is out and shining. This year we took Grandma with us since Daniel's at a U2 concert (and purchasing our new van!). It was great. She's always such a huge help, and the boys LOVE their time with her. We always sit in the same spot with a large group of friends and I look forward to it every year. The boys did great despite missing naps, lunch, and not being used to the sun. Sawyer crashed for a little bit, and I also took advantage of some nearby man power (the boy is huge!). :) What fun memories for our boys being surrounded by great friends and family.

a cash system solution

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

I know several people who are doing some form of a cash system instead of using their debit cards, ourselves included. I currently use an accordion paper folder I found at Barnes & Noble a year or more ago, but isn't THIS a cute solution?! The price tag (while probably totally worth it) makes me want to attempt these myself. I love that you can specify your own categories.

found via THIS blog, one that i only recently started following again.

blog traffic...

2011-05-31T06:00:00.000-07:00

These photos have nothing to do with what this post is about, but they were from our crazy weekend so I thought I'd share.

Our first smores of the season, on the bbq no less.

Both boys had their hair cut for my sister's upcoming wedding. This was Sawyer's first! No more curly mullet...was kinda sad about it, but he does look cute sporting his "big boy" haircut. :)

You might have noticed that I updated the blogs I follow. I have only started recently paying attention to the traffic my blog receives. It's interesting when you start looking at that, how it can influence the number of posts one might do, down to even the content that one might choose to share.

I used to be pretty private with what I chose to share on here, especially when it came to photos of my boys. I've been "following" blogs now for a couple of years. I've seen babies born, new houses purchased, current houses remodeled, families grow, good times and bad times, lots of fun food ideas, etc. I mostly love reading home decor blogs that intersperse details/photos of their personal lives...although, not too personal. I think that over time that subconsciously influenced my privacy standards for my own blog. I like a mixture of both worlds, so why not share. I still feel like there is so much more I could do with this little blog, but when one considers the time element, especially with being a mom, and then not really knowing who all follows my blog and if the material I share on here is really relevant to them...let's just say I feel like I'm in limbo at the moment.

What I have noticed is the amount of traffic that I receive from my friends who have posted my blog on theirs. I get most of my hits that way, with a good handful coming from google searches for home decor and projects that we undertake. It was nice to see where people are coming from, and it basically made me decide to be a little more "personal" on here and send some traffic their way too. It makes sense. If you're gonna blog, the bottom line point is that you want people to read it, so what better way to get your blog out there...right? :)

So thanks to the people who share my blog out there in the crazy huge blog world, and enjoy perusing through the blogs I like to follow! I'll probably update and purge them over time as I feel the need, and I haven't listed them all obviously due to the amount of space they'd take up.

If you have the time, leave me a comment to let me know what you like reading about on my blog the most! Would be helpful to have some feedback on the content I put out here! Thanks!

before & after master bedroom photos

2011-05-30T06:56:00.000-07:00

Sammy's bedroom right after we moved all the boys' stuff upstairs...

Here we just moved our stuff in and called it good until we decided to stay downstairs. The transition is still working great with having the boys up and us downstairs. I had just randomly put the shutters behind our bed to make it look more like a bedroom (our old door bed is at my sister's house now)...we ended up liking the look, it just needed some tweaking.

Here the curtains are up! We moved in a rod from another room and hung it up as high as the curtains needed it to be, which looks good I think. Fills the room with some color. I remember making these curtains on the floor in my in-laws' house while we were still finishing building our house. I had found the amazing material on sale and had to snatch it up even though our house wasn't finished yet. It was so fun to make them and dream of the day we could actually put them up in our room. I don't think I'll ever switch them out.

This last photo is dark, but I like how the curtains make the huge window look less, well, huge... :)

We're liking this space. We're still just "trying it out" for the summer, but it has seemed to work all right for our family so far. It is different to get used to a smaller (much smaller) space, and to have the bathroom on the main floor, although it is just as close to our bed as our master bathroom was. I used to move my bedroom furniture around weekly as a little girl, and this move satisfied that crazy need for change for a while. :)

before & after china cabinet photos

2011-05-28T10:04:00.000-07:00

Before:

After:

I found the knobs at Cost Plus for $1.99 ea, which is a steal (i think). I love the pop of red against the blue. This cabinet definitely took time to do, but it was in small stages. I am sooooo pleased with the finished product. It's nice to check it off the list, and it adds a fun element of color to the living room now! I think some bold green or yellow curtains would look great next to it.

We are flying through our projects around here! Just trying to finish up all the uncompleted projects that we've started over the years. We should have a before & after of our laundry room from this weekend, and I'll post final before & after photos of our new master bedroom next week too. Just waiting for the sun to shine a little more to get some better photos!

When I started this blog I never realized how true I would stay to my blog title: A Project Here...A Project There. It's been amazing all the little things I've found to occupy myself around this house. It's a different venture when you start out with a brand new home I think. Especially since we'd only rented small spaces before, so suddenly having such a huge blank slate for us (well me especially) was so new and challenging. I LOVE anything to do with paint, decorating, moving things around, color and etc. It keeps this stay-at-home mom busy and entertained for the most part. I don't expect most people to understand that...you all probably think I'm crazy or wasting my time, but I really have loved the challenge of figuring out how to decorate our home and make one room flow to the next, and just making it a cozy welcoming space.

I feel like there will always be something to "do" or to "finish", but I have also found that I like the thoughtless busy work that it brings me in my days. I have always felt like Daniel has been so supportive in these crazy ventures...even helping with the painting lately which I've usually always done myself. We just get time together, sometimes just talking or listening to music, putting on a show...whatever. It's been fun to see our "to finish" list slim down so fast.

Way more rambling than I had intended! I'm just hanging out with the boys upstairs today while Daniel finishes our laundry room. Not really my ideal way to spend our weekend, but it needs to get done! Will feel nice to have a washer and dryer again. :) Enjoy the long weekend!!!

{this moment}

2011-05-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

A photo of my cute little man, and a desk we recently found through craigslist to refinish for our new office/sewing space in Sawyer's old room.

the downstairs bath

2011-05-26T06:00:00.000-07:00

This bathroom has been on our list forever...I started painting it when I was pregnant with Sawyer, and it has been unfinished since then. You can't tell from the photos, but the white stripes need another coat, it's actually pretty bad...we even have painters tape up in some areas still...I just want to finish this room. Something to check off the list SOON.

Since we've been putting a lot of grays in the house lately to neutralize and brighten things up a bit, we are considering adding another burst of green. What do you think? What shade, as poor as the lighting is, looks best? Or should we just forgo the whole thing and just paint the top all white?? Ideas?

a color for the china cabinet

2011-05-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

I have been following THESE directions to the "t"...and they've been amazing so far!! The cabinet is painted in a flat blue paint that we had left from our upstairs bedroom ceiling. This week hopefully the doors will get painted also (they're already primed), and the whole thing will get a good coat of poly. I just need to find something to clean the hardware up with and then find some cute knobs and this project will be finished! Waaayyyyy sooner than I thought!

it is what it is

2011-05-24T15:01:00.001-07:00

The color is Martha Stewart's "cement gray"

The gold picture frame is an antique that has been passed down for years on my side of the family...I actually still owe my mom a sewing project in exchange for it.

We're loving the color! Daniel did all the work, even the cutting in...which was probably a mistake since I've always done it due to my perfectionism, but he did amazing!! Might just have to give him a bigger share in the rest of the painting that we have to do around here. :)

We're hanging the curtains tonight and finishing up a couple small odds and ends for this room, then we're calling it done. It is what it is. We have a light fixture that is currently in our stairway that I could fancy up a bit for this room, but we might not even try that. We're moving on to the rest of our unfinished projects and just being grateful that this room at least looks finished. The bed project has been abandoned (as of last night!) by my husband in light of a bigger project we may reveal on here in the future if all goes our way. We'll see. It's always something around here. :)

inspiration for a new bed frame

2011-05-23T07:28:00.000-07:00

I showed one of these photos already, and believe they are both from Martha's site, but these bed frames are similar to what we're hoping to create on our own. We'll see how it goes. I will have to show a before photo of some of the materials...lets just say the end product will have come a loonnnggg way. :)

{this moment}

2011-05-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

mini van? what!?!

2011-05-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

Watch the video HERE.

We sold our prius mainly because we made the choice to not have a "car loan" anymore. We didn't feel that we "needed" to have a loan of that amount and to be shelling out $300 a month just for having a "nice" car...although it was so pretty and the gas mileage was incredible.

All that to say, we're still in the search process for the perfect car for our family. I'm being complete frugal and only wanting to spend 5k or less...Daniel not so much. He'd rather put down 7-8k and possibly walk away with less car problems in our future. When thinking of not buying another car for long time in the future (hopefully! if you know us, you know we don't have the best track record for hanging onto our cars...totally blame it on the husband!)...it makes the most sense for our price range and needs to buy a mini van. We have us some big boys. :) They have friends and cousins, we have a double stroller, there may be a family dog in the future... Then you add in the groceries and whatever else people cram into their cars and having that extra space makes sense. I want that space! Most suv's are too expensive for the budget I've set for us and they're gas guzzlers. If you know me, you know I've always made so much fun of mini vans!! I actually hate them and judge most people for having them. Well, that is until I had 2 kids and saw the light--life would be so much easier with one! To get over myself and look at minivans has been a real stretching experience, laugh if you will, but I really do think it will suite our family's needs well.

So, after all this ridiculous ranting and giving out of way to much information (sorry!), what do you recommend? I really do not have a grasp on my blog audience here, but I know that at least some of you have to own vans! What kind of vans work for you? Captains seats or no? Leather with kids? Seats that fold down or come out? What do you like best about owning a van, or why do you wish/hope to?Remember our price range! We're looking to do this pretty cheap...and apparently vans are NOT cheap. But the older models don't seem too shabby. Input anyone???

ps. the reasoning behind some of the financial decisions we're making lately around here come from HERE.

martha martha

2011-05-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

Loving the grays and tans mixed in with some white and black. I also like the idea of the darker trim and doors/cabinets contrasting against the white walls. I'm having a hard time nailing down exactly what we want to do in our bedroom. All the trim in there is tan...not the biggest fan of it for our space, but it would also be nice to not have to paint it again...white walls with tan seem a bit much, and gray and tan don't really mix well in my book, ideas??

I randomly started working on the china cabinet this week and am loving how it's turning out. I am following Bryn's directions HERE. So far they're working out great! I'm thinking of painting the piece a light blue that we already have on hand to give the living room a little burst of color against all the white/gray going on in there now. Very excited to see the finished product! It's sooo time consuming though.

photos: martha

project fever

2011-05-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

We randomly had energy this week to finish up some painted that we had started and then stopped temporarily to work on outside projects.

The brown is now completely gone in our downstairs! We still have some upstairs, but we'll tackle that another day (maybe). I still have some trimming in work, but it has definitely lightened up our living room! The color is "Calm" from Benjamin Moore Paints. It is painted on this long wall that runs straight through our entry, and then it runs along the piano wall and up into our stairway. Now I just need a fun colorful curtain solution...also on the list for in the faraway future. :)

While Daniel painted this wall and did a second coat in the stairway, I took off all the doors in our hallway and painted all the trim! It didn't take me as long as I'd thought, and I actually made it into the living room and got all the baseboards done. Now all that is left trim wise (sooooo hate that we didn't pay someone to do it!!) is the living room windows and the kitchen! I would love to have it all done by the end of the month.

strange...

2011-05-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

**blogger was weird last week! did anyone notice that? my google reader kept re-showing posts of blogs that i'd already read, and then in my own account several of my scheduled blogs that had already posted had multiplied and then went back to the "scheduled" status...strange. sorry if some of my posts are going to be repeats this week. just want to get them posted again.

{this moment}

2011-05-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

A photo from a recent Pottery Barn catalogue that is tacked up to a wall in our bedroom.

This is close to what we're wanting for this space...something that can easily be transitioned back into a boys room, or really anything else we would possibly want to use that room for in the future.

the china cabinet is finally here!

2011-05-11T06:00:00.000-07:00

We finally went and picked up my great aunt's china cabinet! It is definitely in need of a coat of paint...but don't you love the cool modern stencil that the glass doors have?? I was so stoked to see them! Gave me hope for this piece despite the fact that it's a little smaller than I was hoping. It will probably be months before I get to this project, but the potential is exciting!

in between "afters"

2011-05-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well, this is how the room is looking for now. I stuck the black shutters we had on our stairway landing behind the bed to act as a headboard. We moved our lights down, and the curtains are temporary until Daniel gets time to hang a better rod that we have on our backdoor...it'll hold the curtains that we had upstairs (that i can't part with). It will do for now. The blue and the stripe are already getting to me, but it could be a lot worse. This was such a last minute change of rooms, one that I had thought about in the past but we had decided against, and now we love it! I'll post more photos of the boys new space (also a work in progress) soon--which they've taken to it amazingly! They love sharing a room. :)

We're going to take our time on this one. A cool piece of art is in the works for over the bed...I am at a complete loss as to what color to paint this room too (any suggestions???). I am SO not wanting another painting project, but something needs to change! Where the dresser is we eventually want to have an Ikea wardrobe system in place one day (we've wanted one for our upstairs too, so if we change rooms again in the future it will still be put to good use). So, we had a small break from indoor projects for a while because we were working outside...now it looks like we're back to the inside! We have a fun bed frame project in the works too that I'll share once we get some time. May is always our busiest month!

a hint...

2011-05-09T06:00:00.000-07:00

before...

anyone?

2011-05-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

Anyone want to get their craft on and create one of these with me? I guess it's quite the time consuming project...all the better with someone to do it with! With the changes going on around here...one of these lovely creations would work perfectly!

Check it out HERE.

**update** a group takes on this project HERE. click on her links to see photos! looks so fun!!

busy bees

2011-05-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

What we've been up to...

lots of gardening! we're still completely ignoring our horrendous front yard, but have been having lots of fun moving things around in the backyard...filling up flower beds, weeding, building a new fire pit, planting trees...all very exciting. will show some proof of all our hard work soon!
we've been surviving just fine without our prius. the high gas prices right now are affecting some of our choices regarding where we go now, which was never the case before...but it's so nice to use the money we're saving to pay off some debt and save to pay cash for a car. [due to my last POST on this some people thought that we were going carless...we're actually borrowing a friend's car who isn't in the country right now...cannot imagine not having a car with 2 little ones!]
we've been doing a little switcheroo around here...photos to come when the chaos simmers down a bit.
i'm getting really excited for a mini road trip that i'm taking this month with a good friend. we're renting a van and taking all four of our kids to visit a friend and her little daughter.
our yearly cabin get-a-way with our game night crew is coming up this month too. we've added a couple this year and i love having something like this to look forward to!
i've been reading lots lately and need to update this years list...just another thing to add to my blog to-do's!

SO EXCITED THAT IT'S ALMOST SUMMER!

boys!!!

2011-05-04T19:44:00.001-07:00

What an amazing day for an outside adventure with these 5 crazy boys!!! They are such great playmates, and we were able to just sit back and soak in the sun and watch them all play. I really felt like we started off the summer today!

inventive!

2011-05-02T11:29:00.001-07:00

This morning while catching up on blogs in between crazy mad woman cleaning spouts, I came across THIS blog's post on THESE. Kind of sad that I already got my mother's day present! This would have been awesome. We love pops around here. I make a new batch every week, and I can only see that becoming more frequent with warmer weather. Maybe the boys' 1/2 birthdays? :)

{this moment}

2011-04-29T12:21:00.000-07:00

The Easter Train

2011-04-25T19:57:00.000-07:00

We had a blast. It was a beautiful day, and we soaked up every minute of it. Definitely a trip to do again in the future! Thanks so much grandparents!

random article...

2011-04-23T07:00:00.000-07:00

I come from a family of four girls. I have two boys of my own. It's interesting to read random articles that make such broad generalizations on what it takes to make/have a happy family. Not quite sure how I feel about THIS! What do you think?

{this moment}

2011-04-22T13:21:00.000-07:00

The lack of blogging lately is due to such lovely filled spring days! I should try to take more photos of the fun stuff we've been up too. I will definitely be bringing it tomorrow when we head out with family to Mt. Rainer to go on the Easter train. :) I'm not big on Easter baskets or traditions besides those of going to church and celebrating the real reason for Easter (it always just seems more important than christmas does to me for some reason)...but thanks to some fun grandparents, we'll be celebrating this year! I'm always so thankful around any kind of holiday for the families we've been blessed with. The boys have awesome cousins, and so many fun aunts and uncles, and grandparents! LOVE it. :) Have a great weekend!

a beautiful weekend!

2011-04-17T19:18:00.001-07:00

a quilt for sawyer

2011-04-14T09:33:00.000-07:00

via soule mama

I know I post a lot about/from Soule Mama's blog, but she still tends to be the one that I'm most drawn to for lots of different reasons. I saw this post on her blog today about her little boy's new quilt and it just clicked that that's the one I should do for Sawyer's big boy bed! I've done a chinese coin quilt BEFORE and the colors in this one are similar to SAMMY'S, not to mention all the white in it too. Very smitten to say the least! Not really a project I want to start on now, especially since we'll probably wait till he's two (or whenever he starts climbing out!) to transition him to Sammy's bottom bunk. But I love the idea of them having similar quilts on their bunks that were made with some much love by their momma! :)

sick of the sickies!

2011-04-13T09:11:00.000-07:00

We're sick again in this house and it's really about to drive me insane. Boys had fevers out of the blue last week, and now this week I have my yearly sinus infection and the boys are joining me with crummy colds. :( So not fun! At least the last couple of days have been sunny enough for them to get outside some. Lots of cooking and cleaning happening despite the crummy feelings!

We sold our car!! Our lovely lovely prius is now housing 3 cats (plus a litter box) on it's way to California with quite the kooky couple. :) We no longer have a significant car loan. It is our first big step in cutting out the "not necessary" elements in our lives, whittling them down to what's practical (and paid for--literally "ours" and not the bank's) and not following the typical "American lifestyle" where it's so common to have several credit cards, two or more car loans, a huge mortgage, and so much more... We're not going to be extremist in this process, but we really want to be wise with our money, wise with our choices--such as valuing the position of a stay-at-home mom, and making the choices to make that possible (and a priority!). We are more than blessed with work and money thankfully, and count our blessings every day, but we feel that there is a much deeper level that we can go with how we spend and save our money. Very excited to say the least!! :) We have a couple more "crazy" things up our sleeves, but we're in the waiting process (and prayer process!)...so time will tell.

Well, that's what's new around here--ha. Hoping for some tissue free days in our near future!!

I can't remember if I've shared this photo or not before...and was too lazy to check! We've been enjoying the versatility of the glass panes in this old door. A fun little way to add a unique touch to the room.

{this moment}

2011-04-08T15:28:00.000-07:00

sprinkler time! would have included sammy in this, but he got down to his skivvies and then nothing after that...thought best to leave those ones out. :) enjoy the sun!!!!! we sure are.

mondays

2011-04-04T07:49:00.000-07:00

We're gonna have a lazy day today...well at least the boys will. :) Monday's are usually my cleaning days--recouping from busy weekends, laundry, meal prep, getting ready for the week, and lots of play time for the boys. I generally look forward to these days especially after our crazy weekends. We had a great time seeing lots of friends and family. We had a blast with some last minute change of plans Friday night, and I was able to sneak away to spend Saturday morning with my youngest sister getting our hair done and having lunch at a cute and delicious bakery...and then of course a full Sunday of church and friends. A good weekend. Have to think on those things while heading into another week of rain...

Some randomness:

I love following blogs, but especially those of my friends. It's been fun following THIS friend's monthly experiments, and THIS friends new journey into motherhood and staying at home with her cute little man.
Heading into a week of spring cleaning! Was going to push it off some more until I saw the weather report for this week. :(
I've been obsessed for some time with the concept of "living simply" and all that that entails with living a life within our means, being more intentional with our finances (where we choose to put our money/the concept of an "american style life"...), more deliberate with our food choices/meal plans, and really just soaking up where we are at in life right now with our little ones...how to make the most out of this very moment. I might delve into this subject on here more in the future as we make some drastic/challenging changes to meet the goals we've set for our family. We'll see! I'm not sure if I'm keen on "personal" blogs. Usually avoid knowing more about people through their blogs than I would in person.
After this week, and the short little break we've taken from painting...we're hoping to jump back into finishing up the projects we have started around here!
I've really been enjoying reading about MOTHERHOOD. Also looking forward to reading THIS whenever it comes my way through the library.
Love THIS living space!

Have a good week! Not sure if I'll have much to post on this week, but we'll take it as it comes. Daniel is going to take a couple days off this week so we're looking forward to some fun family time. :)

{this moment}

2011-04-01T09:09:00.001-07:00

inspired by: soule mama

what would you choose?

2011-03-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Last week we painted the piano wall and then up into the stairway a white/gray Benjamin Moore color. I had thought I'd want this color on the opposite living room wall as the television, but I'm thinking we'll continue the entry way green into the living room after all (it really has grown on me!)...Daniel isn't a big fan of the "white"...he really liked the brown color and so do I, I am just a little obsessed with my whole "bigger and brighter" movement (ha!). So now I'm thinking of ways to add a fun and unexpected element to this space. I'll post photos of the white later this week. I love the idea of stencils because they are not a hassle and the expense that wallpaper would be, or cheap looking like decals can be...so here are some ideas that I've come across in the stencil world HERE and HERE. What would you do?

more laundry room ideas

2011-03-29T07:00:00.000-07:00

I love the simplicity of Bryn's blog. Last week she did a post on laundry rooms and showed some photos that I had already seen at some point in time, but they were fun to see all together. Even though we've stalled work on our own laundry room, I am still thinking about it lots. We stopped because we might possibly be upgrading it more than we had planned to originally, but the details are not for sure yet, so we're just waiting. I have organized the shelves as much as they can be, added baskets, purged some, and then we even went shopping to get some bigger "ideas" for the space. Some fun things are in mind, but we'll see if they end up happening. I'll let you know if they do! But, for now, peruse Bryn's POST and see some photos that are similar to our ideas for our own little laundry room. :)

[what's up this week]

2011-03-27T20:00:00.000-07:00

Nothing got done around here this weekend besides some of the usual cleaning. I focused more on trying to finish up a book club read, shopping and errands, met up with a good friend I hadn't seen in awhile (the highlight of my weekend actually), and really tried to get some relaxing/alone time in. It was great. :) But, I really want to keep up in the swing of things--so the list for this week:

paint the baseboard trim in the hallway and living room (we won't be able to do the door trim until a date night when the boys are away so we can take all the doors off their hinges to make it easier.
buy another quart of paint to finish up in the stairway
shop for a possible wall stencil (i have some ideas, but haven't decided on whether or not i'm going to do them)
decide on whether or not to paint the big black shutters that sit on the little landing 1/2way up the stairs (yellow maybe?)
rehang blue shutters above the piano...possibly revamp?
buy/build a picture frame for a print in the hallway
finally--post photos of progress!

**i cannot remember where i found this photo! i need to figure out a good way to source inspiration photos when i find them. i usually just save them to my desktop without labeling them or anything! ack! anyways, this is not a photo of an idea for stenciling that i want to use, but it is a fun idea of a way to spruce up a tv space...especially with flat screens. i'd much much rather have my tv out of site (and out of mind!), but most solutions for that involve costly furniture. this idea of painting (or using decals) trees or some other kind of art behind the tv draws the eye away from the looming black box. :)

entryway photos!

2011-03-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

We're in the process of painting over most of the brown color that's throughout our house (a potterybarn/benjamin moore color). We'll probably leave most of the upstairs alone, but the downstairs is almost completed! The entry got a splash of green (martha stewart's "sultana") that I wasn't so sure of in the beginning and now I really do love. Go figure. But with all the gray in the house now it is the perfect fun boost of color. The gray that is in our dining room, and now our hallway and part of the living room, is Martha's " nimbus cloud"...and our trim paint is Martha again in "popcorn". Gray's are really hard to choose I think because they have so many varying undertones that can sway the color too easily one way or another. Once I found a good shade we put it throughout the house, just like our brown was to unify everything and keep it feeling bigger and brighter...so far the plan is working. :)

{this moment}

2011-03-25T07:31:00.000-07:00

inspired by: soule mama

**sometime today i'm gonna try to post progress photos of the house if the weather (the light) cooperates, if not i'll try tomorrow.

a crafty "before & after"

2011-03-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

In between bouts of painting (last night we finished the last coat of gray in the living room and the hallway) I've had some fun with little crafty projects. I'll show more on here sometime soon, but this little frame got a new look. The photos are pretty terrible lighting wise--can you see the different shades of the same green? And the frame isn't in the entry anymore, but you get the idea. This weekend I'll post "finished" photos of this space!

enjoying some sunshine

2011-03-23T12:11:00.000-07:00

It is a beautiful day today! We celebrated it by going to one of our favorite parks. It was definitely cold, and the boys only went in the water a little bit in their rubber boots, but they still got lots of outside run around time. We just had some runny noses, a dog poop incident (not sure why people let their dogs poop all over a family friendly beach...soooo annoying), some crankiness on Sawyer's part...but we still enjoyed ourselves and it felt good to get out regardless of us all being 100% yet. :) Looking forward to warmer days!

getting a little stir crazy

2011-03-22T09:24:00.000-07:00

we're going on our 3rd week of sickness around here. it's getting incredibly old since it dictates who we can hang out with and what all we can do. glad i remembered good old photo booth the other day. i was afraid sammy was gonna pee his pants, but he just laughed so hard he ended up crying...just like his daddy. :) it kills me. i should post some of the other ones we came up with, but i just can't embarrass myself more than this! ha. :)

random thoughts & links

2011-03-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

loving THIS kitchen right now
thinking about attempting THIS fun little project since i already have all the materials
wishing i had more time on the computer to catch up on THIS site
would love to stretch my creative genes and create something like THIS
wish i could find fabric similar to THIS...would add the perfect splash of color to our dining room!

update on weekend "to-do" progress: i completed everything (well all the practical things) on the LIST for last week! keeping up with the blog despite the nagging thought in the back of my mind at the complete uselessness of it all (blogging), it has served to motivate me and hold me accountable to projects more than i had anticipated! tomorrow i'll post some photos and a new [what's up this week] post. i'm getting so so so sick of paint trim in our house...although i do love all the trim...i wish we would have forked over a couple thousand dollars in the beginning and had someone paint it for us. :( not really, but i do like to obsess over our decision to be frugal in the building of our home, which we have been in for four years now! here's to hoping the trim gets finished before year #5! :)