After 3 1/2 years of being a mom, I still have no idea what I'm doing.

Have any of you figured it out yet?!

One thing I figured out the other day was getting Henry to his room for nap and bed time really quickly. The older they get, the slower they seem to go up the stairs...to the bathroom...brushing teeth....bathroom again....wait, a drink!...and on and on. 

It is one of those silly things that I let drive-me-crazy.
I'm sure we all have that thing that irrationally makes us want to pull our hair out, right?
I've learned lately that my reaction and attitude to the day plays a big part on everyone else's behavior. I'm trying to be more encouraging and all around more fun to be with right away and things go so much more smoothly all day long.
So the other day when we were headed upstairs for a nap I decided to "race" Henry.
"I bet I'll beat you to your room!"
Well, let's just say naptime and bedtime are turbo speed now and it's great.

So help a girl out.
What are some of your best parenting "tricks"? :)

Mr. Stevens

I can't believe October is just around the corner!

I am excited for many reasons.....one being:

Sufjan Stevens

In Minneapolis.

With RJ.

And some crazy, good friends.

Wa Hoo! 

Hope you all enjoy this beauty of a day!

Wreath Tutorial

When I saw this, I knew I just had to do it.

I looooove it.

The problem was that I wanted to do it NOW, but didn't want to spend any money.

So I went through my Christmas stuff and found a wreath I already had and went through all my fabrics and flowers and came up with something that was free, easy, (and I think) cute!

I cut long strips of the black fabric and wrapped it all around the wreath, securing it with hot glue every now and then. I also burned 2 of my fingers. Excellent!

I took some black and white fabric and wadded (is that a word?) it up and glued it to make a flower.

I also found some orange flowers I had from an arrangement in my porch and some of my satin flowers I made the other day and glued it all together.

I added some greenery, but didn't like it so yanked it off.

Instead I made some silk fabric turquoise leaves. Much better!

Now, how easy is this?

I'm talking it took 30 minutes. MAX.

I'm sure you all have a wreath and scraps of fabric to do this right now without even going to the store! I wish I had some fake fall leaves, but I don't so maybe I'll add some later. Or a cute pine cone would be fabulous too!

And here she is in action:

Now, about this door. Should I paint it black? Would it just end up being a mess and chip like crazy or should I just go for it?

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend and enjoy this gorgeous weather!

18 months

Harper. 

You turn 18 months old today!

I have been horrible at keeping up on your baby book.

(Like....I haven't opened it since you were born.)

Bad mommy. Bad!

So let me get a few things down.

Hmmmm.....you started walking mid-June.

You haven't been too interested in talking (so different Henry!) until recently, but understand everything very well.

You've been saying the usual hi, bye, nigh-nigh, shoes, baby, etc for a while, but are starting to repeat more and more what we say. 

You have a funny (cute) voice.

For a lot of the summer you were super feisty and screamed a lot, but in the last week you have totally changed and are back to your happy, easy-going, self.

You like picking on your brother. You know what bothers him....and you love it.

The other day Henry was putting together a big floor puzzle and you naturally got in the way. This made him mad so you layed yourself down on top of the puzzle with a happy smirk on your face and wouldn't move while your brother sat there and cried.

You know, stuff like that.

But you're so cute when you do stuff like that it's hard to get mad.

You're figuring out your spoon and fork and doing pretty well!

(and I'm learning to relax a little and let you try even when it's messy)

 

So, Happy 18 Months!

Harper Bloom. Har-Pear. Harper Bloomin' Onion.

We love you!!

kids

My two lovelies have never really gotten along. I've had visions of what it would be like to see the 2 human beings who came from my womb laugh and play together instead of yelling and screaming and hitting each other. 

Yesterday.

Yesterday!

I had a (short) glimpse of what that day happiness will be like!

I nearly shed a tear....but was interrupted by having to break up another rumble.

I know there will never be perfect days, but those 10 minutes were enough for me!

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday!

Hope y'all had a great weekend. We had a nice, relaxing time. Did nothing on Friday or Saturday and then my parents came down for the day yesterday. Harper is feeling better and Henry is acting better. Thankfully!

I really wonder if Harper had been feeling not so well for a while. She is so pleasant and happy again. It's a much happier environment in our house!  AND Henry is finally sleeping in a little later so we're not woken up by him before the crack of dawn everyday. 

The weekend was so full of fall weather. The rain got a little old after a while, but I loved wearing sweaters and using blankets to watch movies on the couch.  I was super happy to pull out a $3 sweater I had gotten at a garage sale earlier this summer. It's warm and cozy and pretty sure I'll wear it every day. (except for today. It's hot!)

I paired it with my favorite bird bracelet I got from a dear friend and another bracelet I got for $.25 at a garage sale. It was a very vintage-y sale so I figured it was old, and then saw it a few days later at Target....I still got a great deal though!

I paired it with a $1 necklace (garage sale) and a $3.89 shirt underneath (Goodwill) and $2 pants and $2 shoes that were both garage sale as well.

And entire outfit for under $15! I'd say 90% of my outfits consist of at least one (if not more) pieces from Goodwill and garage sales....it's a fun way to shop!

I was also excited for the fall weather because it put me in the mood to make pumpkin cupcakes for our Acts group tonight. 

Have you seen these cute cupcake tins at the store yet? I found them at Dahl's. 

Fun! And just $2 for a pack of 36.

Hope you have a great start to your week!

Purse

A sassy purse for a sassy girl.

Stuffing in her Target coupons. 

Making momma proud!

Thursday

I've loved spending my "free time" (aka: nap time) down in the basement working on my latest project. It's so quiet.

I've had fun trying some new and funky styles out. I figure what better place to try something different than a nursery full of un-opinionated babies?

I had a really bad couple of days with my Henry boy. It was just a constant struggle and one of those days where you feel like all you do is discipline, talk not-so-nicely, pull your hair out, and cry. I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. The last couple of days have been better, but there is still a lot we're working on. Because of all this, I am even more excited that my man asked me out on a date tonight!! I am so ready for a night out!

My Harper girl has been a little more dramatic and crabby than usual and then started breathing funny yesterday. Brought her in today and she has an ear infection, needs a nebulizer, and steroids. Poor babe! now I feel bad for making her cry in her crib yesterday because she wouldn't fall asleep. I felt bad enough that I bought her a new purse when I was waiting for her medicine. She's sick. She needs a purse! :This may also explain her super short naps lately because this afternoon they've both been sleeping for 2 hours now. Ahhhhhhh........

Hope you are all enjoying your Thursdays!

My Space

Well, I wish it looked more like this:

But being in a dark basement and trying not to spend much money, I'm perfectly pleased with this:

Those are a couple of shower curtains I got on clearance at Target to cover up some ugly metal storage shelves. The rest of the stuff is just a hodgepodge of things we already had.

An old dresser to hold all my old canvases that are waiting to be painted on or over.

Drawers in dresser to store all my goodies.

My old, not-so-cute-yet-just-fine, desk.

With containers for my ribbon.

SHARPIES!!!
(I love sharpies)

And scissors. I also got that cute little board at a garage sale for $.50 for my inspirations/project work list. If you've ever ordered something from me before, you've probably (unfortunately) noticed it takes me anywhere from a few weeks to a few years to get things done. Hopefully this helps keep more more organized and on task.

And this here is the easel that RJ made me:

Yes. I know. He made me an easel. It was for the Christmas after we got engaged. How sweet!?!
It's a really large easel though so I have never been able to use it much...until now! That large and in charge canvas on it is my current project for a church nursery. Should be fun!

So there she is. Not perfect, but man, I really wish I would have taken some before pictures. Let's just say you could pretty much walk your way to the washer and dryer....and that's it. It feels so good to have it cleaned out and be a useful space! When we first started it I didn't think there was any way I'd actually sit down here and work, but guess where I am right now.
I love it.

I totally dropped my camera on the way downstairs, which explains the funny "effect" my pictures have. Kind of a bummer.

Hope you are all having a great Tuesday! We are having a much better day today.
I nearly went cri-zay yesterday.

Weekend

I am so thankful we had such a lovely weekend...especially after last weekend not turning out so well.

A majority of it was lovely!

We got some things done, like a porch clean-out, organized my craft station (photos later!) and organized some kitchen cupboards. 

We also had a lot of fun, like taking a couple of walks, some sweet garage sales, chili!, Caribou for 1/2 price drinks, lots of playing outside, and lots of relaxin'. 

The weather was so gorgeous, don't ya think? One of those *perfect* days. I loved it!

I got my wreath hung up in my porch and am now convinced I need one in every room of the house.

My mom did a great job of recovering our little couch, but that doesn't change the fact that it's not a shade of blue or gray.

I had bought the fabric really cheap years ago at a garage sale and it's just never been my favorite. Why did I buy it in the first place? Well, it was $2 for the whole thing!

Hope you all have a great Monday and feel rested to start a new week!

A little Craft for your weekeeeeend

Aren't you just in the mood to do crafty things right now? I am!!

I've gotten together with one of my craft-like-mindedness friends and whipped out some beautiful creations.

All thanks to this blog.

(thanks to this gal for leading me there!)

*both project tutorials can be found on the sidebar of Jones Design blog.*

Project #1:

FLOWERS

They are unbelievably easy, cheap, and cute. I put a couple of teeny flowers I made on some scrap fabric and made a cute bow. Harper loves it.

They get kind of addicting to make:

But aren't they fun?!

Project #2

PAPER WREATH.

I am in love with this.

Still easy, but takes awhile (about 3 hours). So worth the time.

When I started I was bummed with my choice in paper, but then added a different paper in the middle layers and love how it turned out.

I think it will go in my porch, but I was just to excited about how it turned out to wait to show you.

So, if you've got some spare time, do some of these! I just bought an 1/8 of a yard for all my material so it was under $1 per color and then bought broach pins to hot-glue on.

The wreath I bought at Michael's with a 40% off coupon so it ended up being about $5. I got the next to the largest size and didn't take in to account how huge it would be with all the paper on it. I love it, but could easily do a lot smaller of one (and plan on it!).

I already had the old books, but you could always find some at Goodwill, I'm sure!

And now some shots of the kids. 

Harper's new "cheese" face.

Henry wanted in on the action too. He's trying to eat his macaroni and cheese. I had kind of given up on ever making it, because it is absolutely painful to get him to eat it. It was on sale today though so thought I'd try again, especially since Harper loves it.  Seriously, what kind of kid doesn't like macaroni and cheese? I suppose the same kind of kid who hates peanut butter.

Oh well.

No macaroni and cheese for us.

It's been a good day. Time with the kids. A couple of fun garage sales and Target. And I'm going to make some chili and pumpkin pie, and finish my night with some painting projects. Good stuff. 

Happy Weekend everyone!

So I kind of just re-did my bedroom, but a couple of months ago I decided it was too dark. It was a $5 gallon so I didn't feel too bad painting over it. 

I mixed about 5 other colors together that I already had and ended up with this:

I put our old curtains back up since I had put our dark ones in Henry's room. It's so much lighter! Don't mind my messy dresser and that there is my sewing machine from my mother-in-law that needs to find it's way to my "craft room" in the basement. 

Today is going to be gorgeous. Enjoy!!

Summer 2010

Summer 2010.

See ya!

We had a really nice summer but we are so ready for fall. 

Our Labor Day weekend was good. 

The walk and fundraiser on Saturday were awesome.

Our trip out to the lake house Saturday night was a lot of fun. 

RJ's brother and family were there so we had a big seafood boil full of shrimp, scallops and mussels. I have no desire to even try a mussel, but little Henry ate about 10. He loved them! 

We sat out by the fire and did S'mores and chatted and it was really fun.

Sunday was super windy and super stressful trying to keep Harper from taking her own life. I was super crabby and really wanted to go home. It just wasn't as amazing as it was supposed to be. Last year Harper couldn't even crawl yet, next year she'll be more independent, but this year? She's just too crazy right now. No fear + multi-leveled patio + water = Not so much fun.

Once we got home we had a really nice night and then our Labor Day was great and relaxing.

So remember how I gave up pop? I'm sure you're all keeping track of all these interesting details of my life, right? Well, I started drinking pop late June and kind of kept doing it. I couldn't stop. So I went about 6 months and then had my last one yesterday again until 2011. There. If I write it, it will happen! Plus, I'm hoping it will help me get rid of my "summer 5". Why do I gain weight in the summer? Shouldn't it be opposite? Technically I'd gain 3, lose 2, gain 1, lose 2, gain 5, lose 3, etc, etc, etc.

No more. Summer is over. Time to shed. My goal is set. Here we go.

(well, hopefully anyways.)

 Summer 2010, you were good!

See ya next year!

Friday

I've had a super busy week, but it's also been exceptionally nice. 

I loooove this weather. We went to a park yesterday and stayed a good chunk of the morning. We met a new friend with some really sweet boys and Harper got her first face injury. It was either when she did a somersault down one of the bridges or fell on the slide. She will totally be our athlete.

I've been working on my ornaments and am just about done. They've been so fun! So fun that I decided I'll do a craft show with my sister-in-law this fall. I wasn't going to do any of those again until the kids get older...Christmas season was NOT fun the time I did it before....but just little ornaments and flower pins will be much easier and less stressful and FUN! (hopefully anyways)

Here's my little workshop.

These ones are my favorite, but not sure how well they'll do.

I'll add names to the houses....

So now I'm praying for a good turnout for the fundraiser!

I'm really looking forward to relaxing a little bit tonight before our fun-packed weekend. We're participating in the "Walk a Mile in their Shoes" with some of our church family. Then off to the fundraiser and then straight out to the Lake House for a repeat of last year.

Wa-Hoo!

***************************************

When we bought our house, I was really excited about the lovely little window bench.

But I have to say, I haven't sat down and enjoyed it once.

In 5 years!

I caught Harper there this morning enjoying the view of the workers on the house next door and it inspired me to use it, at least once, this fall.

Hope you all have a GREAT looooong weekend !!

sofa table!

I finished the table last night! 

Just need to get to the store to buy a new handle for the fake drawer. 

I forgot how hard it was to pick out colors...especially with no other artists around to ask their opinion. 

So I did the top once, sanded it completely off, and did it again. 

I'm also painting a lot of ornaments for the craft show and I've TOTALLY been singing Christmas songs while doing it.

I'm about to bring my kids over to a friend's house for the entire morning. 

What am I going to do for 4 hours??

 CLEAN.

I'm actually excited to clean. This could be a first!

Happy Wednesday!