5.30.2011

something to fret over.

My first time around, with having a baby that is, I was totally that mom that fretted over everything. Over-analyze, stress, and whhhhhyyy isn't my baby like other babies?!! I thought about how I was going to take Audrey's paci away for like three months. And I researched potty training like it was my job. Both passages to toddler-hood came and went and it wasn't really that bad. Now with two kiddos around I'm learning to let go and take in the small moments rather than spending my time analyzing things like sleep schedules and which is the best introduction to every baby food. I'm going with my gut instinct. It's not always perfect, but mother knows best, right? [Have you seen the movie Tangled? Audrey thinks it's hilarious when I say mother knows best with a sassy voice like in the movie.]

With all that said, there is one thing I fret over every single day--my babies growing up way, way too fast. Just today, my two year old wanted to go tubing with me on the back of the boat. And so we went, to ride the waves together. And Naomi is getting mobile by the minute. She isn't crawling (yet), but by golly she can get herself around with no problem. [Why yes, I just said by golly. I'm allowed. I'm from southern Indiana. We grow corn. Lots of it.]

I'm fretting over how to make time stand still in moments like these...

Naomi's first pool experience. She loved the water.
And she is pretty much a doll-baby 99.9% of the time.
And in case you were wondering, I kiss her rolls a bazillon times a day.

Audrey was concentrating really hard on her mermaid pose. Ariel doesn't stand a chance.

5.28.2011

the porch.

You know those old ladies that sit on their front porch, watching every pedestrian that walks by, waiting for you to make eye contact and wave so they can tell you hello and possibly their life story? Or maybe they are sitting there knitting. Or drinking a glass of sweet tea. Or their nose in the latest Reader's Digest. Then you look over and see their husband sitting in the garage in an old nylon metal chair with the door wide open, doing well, nothing. Just enjoying life.

Well, that's so going to be me and my husband in about forty years. I know this because, today, we spent seven hours straight on a front porch and it was probably one of my favorite days in a long time. We sat and talked with family. Drank Ginger Ale. Smoked a cigar. [Not me. The husband. Ewww.] Watched the children pretend that sticks were magic wands and pinecones were cherry pie ice cream cones.

The Porch (My aunt and uncle's vacation home, that they graciously share with family.)

The only other picture I took was of Naomi napping. But how could not share a picture of a sweet baby sound asleep?

Tomorrow we have plans to go to the drive-in (without kiddos). I'm so excited. And clearly I was born in the wrong era, front porch sitting and drive-in going--that's my idea of a good weekend. Hmmmm.

5.23.2011

a few thoughts {from the weekend}.

Over the weekend we took a very quick trip to Chicago to attend a wedding. We stayed over night, which means Naomi and Audrey slept in the same room as us. Let me tell you, sleeping with Audrey is like sleeping with a ninja. No, a ninja on steroids. I had to remove her foot from my face too many times to count. We don't co-sleep over here, because I need.my.space. [This is saying nothing against co-sleeping. Snuggles are beautiful. But I'm like the pickiest sleeper ever. I can hear a cotton ball drop onto a mattress in my sleep.]

Yesterday, we took our first boating trip of the season out on the lake. I don't think Audrey stopped smiling the whole time we were out.

I went on a run last night (without a double jogging stroller) for the first time since before I was pregnant with Naomi, wearing my new shoes. I about died, but now I feel pretty good. I think I will go reward myself by eating a Hostess Cupcake.

Ready for this? We found FOUR baby skunks in our basement last night. My favorite man at this very moment aka Wildlife Guy should be here soon. Please say a prayer their sprayers aren't working. Last week the Wildlife Guy caught two, we thought that was it. He even patched up the hole to the outside. Clearly we were wrong.

One of my favorite moments from the weekend was listening to Audrey making Naomi laugh so much on the car ride home from Chicago.



I hope your weekend was lovely. I would love to hear something that happened with you!

5.19.2011

small style {feeling hot hot hot}.

I'm absolutely loving our weather the last three days. It has been hot, hot hot. I'm the give me the beach instead of a snow slope type of girl, so this 89 degree weather is just what I have been needing after days weeks of rain. These past couple of days we have gone from swimsuit to sun dress to swimsuit to sun dress to, well, you get the idea. And it tickles me to watch Audrey get so excited that she can get her swimsoup on all by herself. [Also, I plan on never correcting her on saying "swimsoup" instead of "swimsuit."]

I love being able to get the girls dress in a simple dress or sweet little romper. Oh, how I love rompers. And rompers with ruffles are just extra bonus.

I scored the most adorable romper for Naomi at a second-hand child's store about two months ago. It was new with tags--A Will' Beth piece. I never heard of the brand before, but when I got home I googled it and saw the prices range from about $50-$100, and I scored a new one for only $4! Then I proceeded to pat myself on the back and call my husband to brag. Kidding. Okay, I'm not kidding, I did do that, for real yo.

Naomi will probably be wearing this outfit at least every other day this summer. Cute and comfy. And I love how it highlights her rolls so well.


I'm linking up with Morgan over at Mama Loves Papa for Small Style Thursday, go and say hi and check out the other cutie patooties!

small style.

Last week it was rompers and summer dresses. This week we can't leave the house without a jacket and umbrella for that matter. {heavy sigh} Audrey keeps telling me the rain is helping the trees grow. And look mama, it isn't winter anymore is it? It's fing. And when it gets hot we get to go fimming in our swimsoups. Thankful I have a two year to remind me to look on the brightside of things.

Naomi's Small Style: (I love her pose, she is learning to clap right now, so this was in the middle of it.)
Naomi is wearing:
Collared shirt: Carter's, I wish you could see the pattern on it better, it is so sweet.
Pants: H&M (She wears these a lot, so comfy.)
Shoes: Robeez (She has quite a few pair of shoes, but I always put her in these, they are my favorite.)

Audrey's Small Style: (Excuse the unfocused picture, she wouldn't stop jumping and we had an overcast rainy day, so poor lighting.)
Audrey is wearing:
Floral top: Right Bank Babies via Zulily
Striped shirt: H&M
Shorts: Target
Tights: Old Navy
Boots: Gifted (She picks these to wear A LOT.)

Linking up with Morgan over at Mama Loves Papa for Small Style Thursday! Go say hi!

5.17.2011

a creative space {new bookshelf and table}.

Recently Audrey has really picked up coloring. Like, sit down for a good thirty minutes and focus on a page coloring in each bow, foot, kitty, she can find. She also loves to paint, do play-dough, and she can put a 24 piece puzzle together in five minutes flat by herself. Especially if its a princess one. Anyway, all of her art supplies and puzzles used to be in a closest that she had a hard time opening the door (it's old and gets stuck) and it was dark in there, so we always had to help her. I wanted to create a space where she could openly and freely get out crayons, markers, paper, stickers, puzzles. [Yeah, she is two and the possibility of her writing on the couch with a marker is a high risk. We set boundaries. And she breaks them and she learns. That's life. We are okay with that.]

So, when we took a big trip to Ikea, Mother's Day weekend, we picked up a bookshelf. Which was sort of a big deal, because I very rarely buy any pieces of new furniture, it is usually vintage and from a thrift store or garage sale. I not only wanted a place to store art supplies, I wanted to get our DVD's out where they have been stored away in a cute, but inconvenient place so we never watched them. I wanted to get my books out too, again, stored away in a cute, but never used place.


purchased the print here

I'm happy with the over-all function of our new bookshelf. It's not complete, I still have an empty shelf and I need to arrange our books and magazines better. The fabric came from Ikea as well, I like the kookiness of it, wolves, deer, birds, yes please.  I just hemmed up the sides and added a curtain rod to hang it. Behind the curtain is all the puzzles and art supplies.


Then, just a couple of feet away from the shelf is a small white table and two stools for Audrey (and one day, Naomi) to create, also purchased from Ikea.


There you have it, a little creative space for the kiddos. That I often take advantage of as well. I can make a pretty darn good snake, butterfly, even Dora out of play-dough. And don't get me started on my mad coloring skills.

5.16.2011

diy chalkboard frame.

I have been wanting to jump on the bandwagon for a while now by making a chalkboard frame to hang by our dining room table. I wanted a place to write happy notes, scripture verses, menu planning, and just some sweet love notes.

After I realized I already had a frame I could use, I bought a can of yellow spray paint and went at it. I may have went a little spray paint happy by also painting our knife block and utensil holder. [I'm sort of obsessed with yellow right now.] Then the hubster cut a board to fit inside of it out of the scraps from our dining room table he just made [that will be another post!], and I used chalkboard paint I already had on hand. [Note: chalkboard paint can be pricey, but it lasts for many projects or see if a friend wants to split the cost with you and share.]


After everything was dry, the hubster used some heavy-duty caulking glue (obviously I don't know the proper term for it-ha) to connect the board and frame.Then put hooks on the back to hang it. And walaaah, you have a cute and practical chalkboard frame.


Cost of Project and Supplies:
frame: from a garage sale last summer, 50 cents
spray paint: Menards, about $3.50
board: left over scraps, used a saw to cut it
caulking glue: already had on hand
chalkboard paint: already had on hand
hooks: already had on hand
chalk: stole borrowed from Audrey's stash

We have been doing a lot of projects on our house the last couple of weeks, that I really do plan on sharing. There has also been some unplanned (and unwanted) projects that have happened too. Like oh, having to call a Wildlife company to trap what we thought was a groundhog trying to get in our foundation. When we checked the trap Saturday morning there was a baby skunk in it! We were very, very fortunate it never sprayed. Whew. Also, our dishwasher flooded our kitchen last week and we had to rip up the floor and take care of the damage. But fortunately, Andrew's brother owns a water damage company, so we had all the equipment we needed-thank goodness!

Have you been working on any house projects wanted or unwanted?

5.08.2011

mother's day weekend {nothing dear}.

My favorite moment from Mother's Day weekend wasn't a trip to Ikea with lots of fun shopping. Although I'm happy to announce that after four weeks without a dining room table, it is no more. We now have a table and six chairs and all the other random stuff that somehow makes it into the cart at Ikea. Related note: My husband will be using a tiny wrench for the next seven days to put all this stuff together. My favorite moment wasn't going to the most amazing production of live readers sharing stories on motherhood and about their own mom, called Listen To Your Mother. I was full of laughter and tears all at the same time during the show. My favorite moment wasn't getting to meet some really cool bloggers that I practically know their life story but have never met them in person.  [I know creepy. I mean who would share such details of their life on the internet for others to read and not actually know the person. Ahem.] My favorite moment wasn't drinking three sips of a Cosmo and remember I'm such a light weight, then not being able to finish the one drink I ordered. My favorite moment wasn't reading the card Andrew got me, even though I love how he always puts so much thought into the card and tells me you are so hard to buy for. He seems to nail it every time.

This weekend has been so full with so many wonderful moments. But my very favorite moment? Was on the way home from our big road trip driving in our old Honda Odyssey red van. I turned around to sneak a peek of our two sleeping beauties in the back. Then I glanced at my husband. And right there, my heart literally skipped a beat. Because I knew I was right where I wanted to be. To be a wife and a mom to the ones in that van. Andrew looked over at me after he noticed my smirk that appeared out of no where on my face. What? He asks. Nothing Dear. He didn't know my heart just exploded right there because of him and our two little girls.


Happy Mother's Day to all the mama's out there. I hope you found your heart skipping a beat.

5.05.2011

small style {weather and hair advice}.

It gets old talking about the weather. I know. It's something you bring up when you have nothing else to say or don't really know the person you are talking to.

Random Person 1: So, it's pretty rainy today?
Stranger:Yeah. It rained a lot.
Random Person 1: Yeah, I guess that's spring for ya.

But, know this, when I bring up the weather on here, it's not because of the same reasons. It's because, I live in Indiana and the weather is always weird and unpredictable and will go from 80 degrees one day to 45 the next.

Anyway, all of this crazy weather talk is because I'm ready to not have to layer my kiddos up. I love summer dresses and sweet little tanks and well, babies who sport only diapers.

Yesterday we went to the The Dam and local beach just to see how flooded everything was. While outside Audrey kept saying "let's go inside where it's warmer." She has her mama's genes, doesn't like the cold or anything close to it.

This is exactly what she looked like while saying it.

Audrey is wearing:
Jacket- Gap
Pink undershirt- H&M
Yellow top- vintage, she wore it as a dress last summer
Jeggings- Target
Boots- gifted

Naomi turns 7 months today. I know, crazy right? I feel like just yesterday I was very anxiously awaiting her arrival.
Naomi is wearing:
Purple top and bottoms: Appaman for Target (Love this brand, I wish they sold more of it.)
White undershirt: Children's Place
Leggings: Target
Socks: too small Trumpette

[See that hair around Naomi's ears? It's really long and awkward, and only around her ears, not the back of her head. So do I go ahead and cut it? It feels weird to have to cut my 7 months old hair, I mean, Audrey didn't get a trim until she was 22 months because I was saving every string of hair she had.]

And just for fun, here is what happened right after I snapped the picture above.

Audrey noticed Naomi spit up a little, so she took it upon herself to go get a dish towel and wipe it up. She is such a little mama. I love it.

As always, I'm linking up on Thursdays for Small Style with Morgan over at Mama Loves Papa.

5.04.2011

a little story.

When attempting to put Audrey to bed last night, she procrastinated by telling us that her monkey had to go potty. Then she needed me to sing more sings. And then I walked in to find that she put her Dorothy costume on. Being the stern parents we are, we gave in, told her to come out of her room and have fun. Oh, yes we did. Clearly she was not tired, she jumped on our bed and ran around the room like it was 8 in the morning and not 9:30 at night.

(It's blurry. Because it was dark and I refuse to use flash. And just a little note, little girls wearing Tinkerbell night gowns makes my heart pitter patter.)

Oh, to be two again.

Also, I LOVED reading the comments from the other day, telling me something about you. They were cracking me up and made me really happy to get to know you better. So please, keep telling me great/funny/interesting things about you. And if there is something you want to know about me, shoot, just ask!

5.01.2011

can i tell you.

In the last four days.

Audrey scratched her cornea really bad and had to go to the eye doctor and get ridiculously expensive eye drops. Which basically wiped out an entire day after lots of crying and the doc trying to figure out what was wrong. [Trying to open the eye of a two year old who is in severe pain is not easy. Just fyi.] But, she is okay now.

We went to Chuck E Cheeses. [I'm not a big fan of this place. Kids have to win a zillion tickets just to trade them all in for a small plastic frog that they lose five minutes later in the van. Plus it smells like old metal-plastic.] But Audrey loves it there. Especially when she gets to go with her aunts and cousin. So we go.

We went to the zoo. I love the zoo. But honestly, the dolphin show is lame. [Which is funny, because dolphins are basically my favorite animal. Although I love watching the baboons.]

I participated in a handmade fair all day on Saturday. It was good, and always inspiring to be around other creative people like that. I also posted new skirts in the shop!

Tie all that in with the usually dinner dates with friends, luncheons after church, dancing in the living room, and cupcake making with homemade buttercream icing and you have yourself a full couple of days.

And some just because pictures to throw in there.


(This week I plan on adding some new hair accessories to my little shop, be on the lookout!)

Now tell me something I don't know about you. :) Also, happy May. I really hope all these April showers we have been having brings those May flowers.