bits and pieces, part 1

My sisters and some friends have been asking to see pictures of the house, so, as promised, here are a few bits and pieces of the house. Or parts of the house.  Things are coming together nicely, and it is beginning to feel more and more like home. Ready? 

These are my lovely plates, in the new plate rack. I'll give you a better picture once the kitchen is more ready to be shown.  For now, you'll just have to look at this. Aren't they pretty? I love how cheery they make my kitchen!!

This is our little office nook. We painted the back of the shelves to give it a little more depth. My favorite part of these shelves are my cute little Nauvoo houses at the top, they bring back some wonderful memories.

This is our entry way. These old homes have so much charm, I love the glass in our breeze-way door, the arched ceiling by the stairs, and the rod iron handrail.

This is the view out our big bay window in the front room. Isn't it pretty?  It is so green right now. I made the red pillows out of place-mats today. Yep, place-mats. I found the tutorial on a blog somewhere and it was SO easy, cheap, and fun!

A close up of my new pillows. Basically all it was, was rip a seam, stuff, sew up the seam. It is my new favorite thing, place-mats are so fun, and can be pretty inexpensive. I'm hooked.

There you have it, a mini-tour of our living room. More to come soon, I promise. We just bought a chair, we're waiting for bedding, and my kitchen is coming along nicely. When I have more areas to show you, I will! :)

Hello everybody,

Does this plate look familiar? If it doesn't, you can go here and see why I think you should remember it. Can I tell you how excited I was to walk into Pier 1 and see this beautiful, classy plate. The bird, the yellow, the white, the branches, I love it. And the most exciting part? It matches my kitchen and my new chairs beautifully!

The house is coming together, and pretty soon, I'll be ready to take you on tour.... of bits and pieces anyway. Stay tuned!

heart throb ball

On Friday we got to go on a date! We attended the "Heart" Throb Ball at Cleveland Clinic. Basically it was like an adult Prom, supporting and honoring the Cleveland Children's Clinic/Heart Institute. 

We found out we were going the day before, so our attire was a bit underdressed.... but not too bad. :) We had a great night, met lots of cool hospital people, saw some really amazing youngsters who have fought various diseases with grace, charity, and smiles on their faces. A couple of them have had to re-learn how to walk, one is now confined to a wheel chair, and the other goes to visit all his "friends" at the hospital every time he's there for treatment, even when some of the patients are much younger than him. It was very inspiring, I can't imagine going through something like a serious disease or sudden paralysis, let alone watching one of my children go through it.

The other guest of honor was Kenny Loggins. Wahoo! We jammed out a little to "Christopher Robin" and then went to retrieve our car from the complimentary valet service. We felt pretty cool, until we saw our awesome Subaru in the midst of big wig dr's cars.... escalades, lexus, and the like. It was very fun, and great to have a night out without the little one. 

Kenny the man himself.... looks a little old, but still rockin'!

after a wonderful weekend

A couple weekends ago, we had a lot of fun. We spent lots of time together as family, got ice cream, stayed up late to watch fire flies on our front lawn, and watched a movie on the air- matress (probably one of our favorite family adventures!). 

As a result of such a great weekend, this is what the main floor of my house looked like.  It's not bad, not really even dirty, just stuff every where and just the result of lots of fun. I always know we've been active and having fun when I don't have time to clean up the millions of little toys that are in lines (this is how they get organized by a three year old.... all meat eating dinosaurs in one line, sea creatures in one line, books of a certain type in one line, etc.) all around my house, put the dishes in the dishwasher, etc.

It's worth the cluttery morning, and the best part is remember all the fun stuff we did as a family while you clean it up! :) Hopefully soon to come are actual photos of our house a little more put together. Can't wait to take you on the tour!

the morning in kirtland

We spent the morning in Kirtland the other day. It was a gorgeous day and Kirtland itself is SO pretty! We met up with some friends passing through on their way back home to MN, so we didn't want to miss the chance to see them one last time.

Here I am on the lawn.... in the background, the big white building with a porch is the Newel K. Whitney store. Not the greatest picture, but it was all I could do. (please don't look at my chubby face rolls.... thanks).

This is what Will did the entire time. Okay, not the entire time. First we saw a movie at the visitor's center, which he really liked and sat through all 24 minutes without getting squirmy. Then while our friends parents went on the rest of the tour, we played outside with our friends little boys. They ran and ran and ran.....

(this was Will's reaction when I said I was going to take his picture.... he's not too fond of getting his picture taken, silly kid.)

More running, see how pretty it is?!

The visitor's center, and the huge trees, I love it right now, everything is so green and beautiful here. The grounds at Kirtland are really amazing, they take such good care of it, it is a very peaceful place to be.

And, he crashed from the running and running and running. Surprisingly, he didn't fall asleep on the way home, but kept talking about how much he liked Kirtland and how he just wanted to go back there for a long time.

Zoo

We had a great day at the zoo this week. The animals were great and the company was great as well! Our first stop was at the dinosaur experience..... here's what the little man though about the larger than life dinos:

If you know this little guy, you know that he goes everywhere with SOMETHING in hand or dressed up as something. The zoo was no different. He just had to wear the alligator tail!
The highlight of the day was when we got to feed the Sea Lions! It was well worth our 1$, for three little fishies. My brave boy loved holding them and tossing them in the water for the Sea Lions. I love this picture of him, cheesy grin, holding fish, you can tell he's having the time of his life!



Our first trip to the zoo was success! We can't wait to go back again soon!

a wonderful morning and perfect company

This morning was a beautiful morning. My little man slept until 9am (yep that's right!), we stayed in our PJ's until 11:30, made a YUMMY german pancakes breakfast, finally got dressed, took a LONG walk, bought a pass to the pool, and laughed a lot.

Will is always up for a fun time. He wakes up giggly and with a big smile on his face every morning. Asks to snuggle constantly, wants to run, jump, and hang on anything and everything. Has a wonderful imagination where he can be a lion, tiger, superman, spiderman, crocodile, Cap'n Jack Sparrow.... all in the space of about 1/2 hour. He told me this morning "it's a great day outside mom!" He was right, the sun was shining, and we enjoyed every moment of it.
He is all in all, the perfect company everyday all day. We love him and just can't get enough, even when he shows his true 3 year old colors. Which are always bright and entertaining, but we are all growing together and learning how to be a family, and I wouldn't have it any other way! I love mornings like this, easy going with my little buddy in our beautiful home. Nothing fancy, just enjoying the moment and each other. 

And of course thinking about our wonderful daddy who is working so hard for us! :)

Just one reason I must have a girl someday. The cute red stripes, the fun little bird, little ruffles.... it is darling. You can learn how to make one at U Create 

Enjoy the cuteness:

4th of July

I decided the Fourth of July is one of the best holidays of the year! I remember when I was younger, the 4th of July was always a big party at our house, swimming, eating, bbqing, and watching fireworks. It is one of my favorite childhood, summertime memories. It is fun to celebrate it with our little family.

The festivities began with a breakfast at the church, plus a fun little bike parade with all the kids, and lots of meeting new people. Will had a great time! He didn't want to be in the parade, just watch. But by the end, he was helping everyone push their bikes or wagons around.

Then, it was home to fill up the little pool. Will has a great little friend he plays with everyday and that lives just two houses away. They have a lot of fun together, and really enjoyed swimming in the pool.
After a fun afternoon playing outside, we headed to a bbq at some friends house. The food was great and we had a lot of fun. Will did not want to leave, but we had to so we could go watch fireworks. Here we are just as the sun was setting before the fireworks started. It was a COOL day, I wore my sweatshirt and had pants on at the fireworks and I was still cold. Weird for July. 

Here we are enjoying the fireworks.... where's the little man?.... He was hiding under a blanket the entire time. He would peek out and then duck under his blanket again.  He told us later he didn't really like the loud fireworks. 

Our cute neighbors. The favorite thing to do when they all get together is eat popsicles on the back porch. Perfect summer activity!