Dear Noah...

Dear Noah,
7 years ago today you made me a mommy. When I saw you for the very first time, I had never felt love like that before. Fierce, blissful, wonderfully perfect love. I was forever changed from that moment. I was a better person simply because you were there. I know we have our share of hard times together. I can tell that sometimes you can feel me missing your sweet innocent baby days when all you knew how to do was snuggle me. Back when your tiny voice only knew how to sing and giggle. Noah, you are so smart...sometimes too smart. I know we battle it out from time to time and I can tell that you know it is out of love. Wonderfully perfect love. I want you to know, on your 7th birthday that I am SO proud of the young boy you have become. You are kind, thoughtful, smart, funny, warm, curious, stubborn, and so very unique in the best way. Please never lose your amazing spirit and always stay true to who you are. You are a bright shiny star in this universe and the future holds great things for you. Happy birthday my sweetest boy. I love you to the moon and back. XOXO

(and because no post is good without pictures, here are a few throwback pics of my #1 baby boy)

I love you my BIG giant boy. Make a wish!!!

 

It's the little things

Hi friends! I'm back :) It has been a while, huh!? I have my little miss on Spring break this week, and Noah's is next week. Josh's gramps passed away :( and my boy had the stomach flu last week (my very least favorite illness on the planet) and we have been busy busy with life. One thing we (by we, I mean my husband and father in law) have been up to is drywalling our icky garage.

Back story: My grandparents moved in to this house in 1982 and not one thing was done to the garage (except it was filled with the hoarded goods of ALL of my relatives). Ever since we moved here 3.5 years ago, Josh has been dreaming of having a nice garage. I am happy to report that we have accomplished phase one. Drywall. Ooooh, sounds exciting huh? Lol, well, it is for us :)

Before: EEEEW!

The first step was to add some electrical outlets. Eventually my hubby wants a work bench and possibly an energy efficient deep freezer so we needed to add these prior to drywalling.

After the electrical was done, it was time to drywall, mud, and paint :)

I didn't take too many "in progress" pictures, but here is what the after looks like:

Oooooh, ahhhhhhh! So clean and pretty! Love it!

I told my hubby that I wanted to make the laundry area "cute." He wasn't too thrilled with my gold polka dots suggestion, so I decided to keep it simple. My first addition.....

Chalkboard :)
Next, Josh added a cabinet for all of the laundry detergent etc...

My favorite feature that he added was this Martha Stewart hanging bar (from home depot I think). Lately I have been buying clothes that require "hang drying" (typically, I shy away from high maintenance laundry items) so this is going to be PERFECT!

(hang dry and iron. really, sweater!!? ugh)
LOVE love LoVe!

It is definitely still a garage. Cords, junk, water heater etc.

But still, it's definitely a HUGE improvement from where we started. I am sooooo lucky that my hubby is so handy and that my father in law was able to help him execute this big project. I'm still lobbying for gold polka dots and a cool light fixture. Baby steps. Pick my battles. Enjoy the ride :)
Happy almost Friday everyone!

No Boys Allowed

Except Dads, brothers, Cousins, Uncles and Grandpas of course.

Hayden turned 4 and we had a FUN girly birthday bash for her. It was awesome!!!

My sweet Hayden wanted an Ariel party. We got the Ariel invitations, I ordered the under the sea bouncy house, I put out some shells and starfish. And, that's where the "Ariel" theme ended and my vintage garden party began. See, a couple months ago, I made these cute buntings with Hayden's party in mind. Mismatching vintage fabrics :)

As you can see, they don't exactly fit in with her "under the sea" theme. Well, since she is only turning 4, I figured this would be the last time I have the ability to (steamroll) influence my sweet girl and I took full advantage. While she got her mermaid invitations, shells, and bouncy house, I got my garden party too :) Win win.

Here are some pics for ya!

(balloon cake topper idea courtesy of the one and only Martha Stewart)
Special thanks to my sister for pulling off the balloon cake topper at the last minute as I was frazzled and trying to get everything ready. lol. U rock sis!

I set up a painting table for the girls since Hayden is VERY into art right now.

 

Along with the vintagey bunting (hung using tree stakes from the garden center at Lowes), I used golf tees and stuck clear balloons (bubbles) in the grass around the craft table (thank you pinterest). See, the girls are painting (my) garden party paintings "under the sea" Lol.

 

They had SO much fun making their masterpieces :)

I ordered the cute aprons from Oriental Trading Company, along with the paint pallets, and then got the canvases and brushes at Michael's (with many trips and many coupons - lol).

 

 

 

After painting, it was time for some bouncing :)



 

 

Giggles, squeals of laughter, and a few tears from time to time. Bouncy house perfection if you ask me :)

After bouncing - dessert!

And last but not least, gifts. She got some seriously cute stuff! It was so fun to watch the kids crowd around her with excitement as she opened each one :)

Each girl left with a swag basket filled with girly goodies (necklace, shades, lip gloss, hair ties, a wand, candy etc). I got the super cute berry baskets on Etsy here.

handmade hair ties made by yours truly...

She woke up this morning and was so happy to open all her new stuff and has been playing with it non stop. She is super excited to now have an American Girl Bitty Baby from one of her very special besties. She named her Lala :)

Such a lucky lucky girl!

Happy #4 baby girl. I love you the super duper mostest! XOXO
Happy St.Patty's everyone!

Glass, we don't need no stinkin' glass

Hellloooooooo there everyone! How are ya? All is well here. Today is my sweet hubby's b-day and we are heading out for a celebratory sushi dinner tonight - yum! Ok, well, I eat like a 5 year old and don't really love sushi, but I never met a terriyaki chicken I didn't like.

Moving on. I wanted to show you a recent project I did. I gave you a teaser of it in my last post, but I wanted to go into further detail for you. Remember when I showed you these?

My super talented friend is Kelly of Bubba-loo photography based down in Carlsbad CA. She took these amazing pictures of the kids back in December and I finally had some big ones printed. I ended up ordering really great quality, well priced prints from a printer that she works with. The prints have a linen like texture and are so super clear. They look great! Our living room gets tons of natural light, which I love. What I don't love, is looking at a framed photo and seeing all the light reflecting off the glass. These prints were so crisp and clear, I really wanted to frame them without glass. Now, if you just frame a large print in a frame without glass, it will start to sag over time. So, I knew I needed to mount the large prints on foam board to make them firm. Enough rambling, here are some pics.

Basic foam board from Michael's...

Photo spray mount...

Basically, all I did was cut the foam board to size with a razor. Then I sprayed the mounting glue on the foam board and let it sit for 2 minutes to get tacky. My hubby helped me smooth the print on the board with a straight edge (we just used a scrap of the foam board) because I was nervous that I would trap air bubbles and get reaaaaallllly mad. He is way more precise and patient than I am when it comes down to it.

Before placing the foam mounted print in the frame, I sprayed the backside of my frame with the spray mount. Then I carefully put the print in the frame being extra careful not to get any of the sticky stuff on my pretty print.

After I placed the foam mounted print into the frame, I added some light foam (the pieces I used just happened to come with my prints) to bridge the gap between the foam board print and the backer paper. You could also use bubble wrap, tissue paper, or anything like that.

Once everything was in place, I finished it off with some kraft wrapping paper that I had on hand. I just cut it to size and pressed it down on the now sticky back of the frame.

Once that was dry and secure, I added a sawtooth hanger to the top center and it was ready for hanging.

The frames from Michael's. Simple white distressed "driftwood" style frames (on 50% off sale of course).

See all that sun beaming in and.....no pesky reflection. Lol. I'm easy to please :)

Oh - and this cute little block printed card came from a friend of mine this Summer at The Sawdust Festival. She is really talented and I just love this card. I hand sewed it on to some vintage fabric and put it in a vintage frame. Easy :)

This wall makes me sooooo happy :)

That's all. Radom-ish but I thought it was worth sharing.
Happy day to you! Bye!