Monday, September 29, 2014

Life Lately

Here's a look at some moments I want to remember (and a good way to dump some of my Iphone pictures!)

Warning: picture overload!


This girl, she just melts my heart! I could stare at her all day long


Little man is in gymnastics for the 2nd time and he is just loving it! He is doing so well listening to the teacher and learning, we are so proud!


This girl - she just cracks me up on the daily.  


A while ago we were at Old Navy and Brayden picked up a ring (a hideous one at that) and said that would be the ring he would ask his wife to marry him with one day! So here he is, practicing his proposal :)  I wish I would have bought that ring to show his future wife!


All 3 kiddos hanging out, makes my heart so happy!


We did a cool science experiment the other week with vinegar, baking soda and glitter and then just started adding anything else we felt like.  This boy was so amazed!! Definitely something we will be doing again






My little detective - she is just sooooooo cute I can't stand it!


Little Avery, she looks so adorable here, I couldn't resist snapping a pic!


First baby smiles!! 



This sums up Ella - eating while doing anything and everything.  


I took the kids to sports night at our park district.  It started off fun for them, but then Brayden was having a hard time sharing and things went sour real fast.  But Ella? Girlfriend had the time of her life!



Still have had some nice weather for sandbox days!! ps- little girls in t-shirts are just the cutest thing, right!?


We went to the book store the other day to pick out new Halloween books and they played on this train table for 1 hour! We have a train table at home that never gets this much love.



Rocking her baby sis :)


We just celebrating this little handsome man, my nephew's 1st birthday!! Jeez how time flies, I feel like he was just born! My sis threw a great party for him and of course, he had a blast!


So that's a little bit of what's been going on lately! Now on to take 100 more pictures with my phone this week :)

Thursday, September 25, 2014

My teeny tiny fall home tour

Every single year I tell myself I'm going to decorate all out for Fall - I read so many blogs that decorate their houses to the nines which gives me total inspiration, but that's where it ends, inspiration in my head.  I guess I just can't keep up with the Joneses

Anyhoo - this year I did want to do a little decorating and that's what I did, a very little decorating. So of course, I thought I would share!

Here is my new Fall mantel - again, LOVE having a mantel to decorate.




My hubby made this frame for me then I stained it using one of the random cans of stain we have in our garage.  I made the pumpkin cut outs with my silhouette and punched tiny holes and threaded twine through them.  The twine is just taped to the back of the frame #expertcrafter

I love the rustic look of this sign






The other week I found a big blank canvas laying around and thought it would be cute to put all the kids handprints on then have them use wine corks to decorate with "leaves" - I even got little Avery's hand on there miraculously! I had to use a small paintbrush for her little leaves

Everytime I look at this, I smile




I found everything in this jar at Hobby Lobby for super cheap, I think it just finishes the look on the mantel.



Everytime I look down at our fireplace now I get so giddy!




As for the inside of the house, the Fall decor stops there - I know, I totally overdid it this year, watch out :)

I did hang up our Fall wreath on our door (well aware if the crooked picture - not sure why that happened?)



There you have it, our fall home tour if you want to call it that :)

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Fall Outdoor Family Pics Remix and alot of So's

So I just posted the other day about our fall outdoor family photo session outfits (somehow that post got deleted?!)... then I was browsing Pinterest and saw some other images that inspired me to completely change our look - yes, I am well aware I am crazy, and if you didn't know that little fact about me before, well know you do.

So, I had already bought all of the items needed to achieve my first "look" idea I had, but once I put together an inspiration board on Polyvore again, I just LOVED how this all looked together!  The only outfit I could salvage was Ella's with the dress and yellow cardigan so not a total waste changing my mind (anything to give myself justification)

So, onto Nordstrom.com to order that cream dress for myself, onto Kohls.com to order the plaid shirt for Brayden, and onto Carters.com to get that chambray shirt and a similar cardigan for Avery. I also ordered new bows on Etsy for the girls.

Now I will have to find time to go return everything I originally bought...a few days ago.

See, I told you I was crazy.


But come on, isn't this look way better!? (Please just agree because I totally realize they are very similar in looks!)

New look:



Fall Outdoor Family Pics


Old look:

Family Photo Shoot - what to wear

Monday, September 22, 2014

Apple Picking!

We jumped on the apple picking bandwagon last year and it was really fun so we knew we wanted to go again this year.  I wanted to go with my sis and her family so I found a new place close to her house. When we got there (15 minutes after it opened) we couldn't believe how many people were already there, it was insane.

We walked up to a really long line and thought ok well, we have to wait to get in this place.  After a while of it not really moving, we realized that this was the line to go apple picking.  It was insane. After 1 hour of moving maybe 10 feet we left and went to another orchard 30 minutes away. That was the best decision we made!

Here are a couple pics from the first god awful place






My sister had told Brayden there was an apple launcher at this new orchard so that was of course what he wanted to check out first! I must say, it was pretty darn cool.







Happy to be freely walking around instead of standing in a never ending line....






Time for apple picking! Last year Ella was so small, this year she really got to enjoy herself! It's crazy what a difference a year makes.












So funny that all of our pics make us look like a family of 4 - poor third baby, she didn't come out of the stroller once! But to our defense, she did sleep the entire time and everyone knows not to wake a sleeping baby!





I'm so happy it ended up being a really fun family day! Brayden is still talking about that apple launcher :) 

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

He's still my baby

Since Brayden turned the old age of 4 this year, I can tell more and more each day he is slowly becoming not my little baby anymore.  Of course he will always be my baby, but you know what I mean, now there are lots more - "I'm a big boy now, I'm 4!" "I don't want you by me" or the "Go away!"

My little man has never been much of the cuddler even though I tried my damnest to make him one. He just never wanted any part of it.  He was always too busy to sit still for 2 seconds or he wanted his own space.

Yesterday I was doing the dishes mid-day and he walked up to me with a sad look so I asked what was wrong, he replied with "I just want to snuggle with you Mom" - I literally about melted right then and there! I immediately put down the dishes I was doing and told him I wouldn't want to do anything else!!

I sat on the couch while he laid on me and stroked his beautiful blonde hair just thinking really how darn fast these 4 years have gone.  This is the boy I dreamed of and the one who made me a Mom.  I can tell our relationship is changing and evolving as he gets bigger (I can no longer smother him with kisses 24/7 like I use to do) and that's OK, but it does still make me a little sad, and that's OK too.  So as I sat there tearing up talking to my little guy about his life he looked up at me said "Mom, are you CRYING!?" like he couldn't understand why I would possibly be crying in that moment.  Kids, gotta love them! He continued with, "WHY are you crying!?" It definitely cracked me up and the tears slowly stopped.

This is a day that I will try my hardest to remember (thankfully this blog will help me if I don't) and cherish, a day where my baby showed me he is still my baby, and will always be.



Monday, September 15, 2014

Ella's 2nd Birthday Party

We decided to do a small family only birthday party for Ella this year and I'm so happy we did.  With a newborn thrown into the mix, things are CRAZY these days, so a nice low key party was just what the dr ordered, and by dr, I mean me.

We all know Little Miss is OBSESSED with Minnie Mouse so that was the obvious party theme choice.  The only thing I really wish we did was have an actual live Minnie Mouse come to the party, I would have loved to see Ella's reaction to that! Oh well, there's always Disneyworld.


Let's start first with the decorations.  I didn't go too crazy, but I definitely wanted the Minnie theme to be known.  I made all of the banners with my silhouette (love that thing!)  The balloons were just plain pink and black but I had 1" white circle stickers laying around the house so decided to add those on, this was actually the kids' job and they had so much fun with it. 







These adorable cookies were made by Samantha Julien Sweets, they not only look fabulous, but they taste soooo good!  We used these as the party favors.



My amazing Aunt made this cake, ummm how freaking awesome is it!?!? As you can see a certain 4 year old boy got to it before I could snap some pics and a few balls are missing.  One thing I have learned as a parent, you can never trust a kid near a cake.



The only dessert, if you can even call it that, I made were the chocolate pretzel rods. However, they must have been a hit because there were only 2 left at the end of the night.



These were the centerpieces on the tables inside - I remembered I had 4 buckets from the Target $ spot I bought forever ago and after browsing Pinterest, I decided to whip this up using them.  I also had the leftover pink and white striped straws from Ella's first birthday. I put a piece of styrofoam on the bottom of the bucket for some height, then stuck the straw into it and taped the Minnie head to the straw.  I bought the hot pink confetti stuff at Hobby Lobby.   I thought they turned out so cute!



I snapped this pic with my Iphone so now you can understand why the quality sucks.  Sidenote, I need to really learn how to take better Iphone pics! 

This was on display right when you walked in our front door, it looked super cute in person!



Now for the party pics - I know 2 is still a very young age but I swear Ella knew this was her birthday party and had the absolute best time being celebrated.  I don't think I've ever seen her so happy!! 


My gosh, is she gorgeous!!

My hubby's side, we are growing by the minute! 



Cousins

wonder if Brayden will ever smile for a pic?!


Cake Time!! 










Something about kids sitting a little table, gets me every time! So damn cute. 




Some of my family






My adorable nephew!!




This was such a fun, laid back party, and I like to think everyone enjoyed themselves! I mean how could you not, the hubby made his worlds famous ribs :)

I love celebrating my kids' birthdays, but years, please slow down! 
 
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