Lucky Number 7

"To me the thing about marriage is, I can't believe how often it happens.  I mean, I like the idea of it, but I can't believe that many people are meetin' people that they want to see every single day, everyday, everyday, everyday, everyday."

-Jerry Seinfeld

Today, twelve years ago, Josh and I went on our first date.  

And today seven years ago we got married.

Here's to having found that someone I want to see every. single. day.  Everyday, everyday, everyday, everyday...

Baby Shower!

I have a list of blogposts I want to do before the baby gets here, but this new blogger interface is killing me!  I'm having trouble getting pictures to upload correctly so the process of creating even the simplest post is laborious and time consuming. :/  Anyway, one of the things I wanted to post about was this adorable baby shower some of my sweet friends hosted a couple of weekends ago!

It was a perfect afternoon and I got so much GREAT girlie stuff.  I couldn't wait to get home and organize it all in her room and now that that's done, I can't wait to use it all!!  Thanks to everyone who was there...love you all!

Lentil's Room

It's finally done!  And by done I mean literally baby-ready.  All her little clothes are clean and organized by size in her closet; there are diapers in the diaper stacker and spares under the changing table!

Though I didn't actually paint on her walls like I did in Frazier's room, I don't feel at all like she's been slighted a bit because I made more for her room for sure!  This painting I'd done years ago (even before Frazier was born) was my inspiration.  I added a few things to it for her.  So the decor revolved around sweet stuff...heavy on the cherries and strawberries. :)

I ordered the felt fruit for this mobile and the felted cookies separately then hung them all together on a dismantled mobile of Frazier's and it matched the painting perfectly!

Made this [fake] candy mobile for over the changing table:

The apple tree painting is another of my old ones and I refinished the little hutch myself.  It began life as this:

And now looks like this:

Also my paintings above the changing table and I painted the lanterns and made the strawberry ones.  I picked out my own fabric and commissioned the diaper stacker and changing pad cover.

The shelves on the wall are old drawers from my old booth at Vintage Soul.  I repapered the backs, screwed them together and painted them all the same color.  (Valspar:  Sweet Mint)  I made the bunting and the valance (out of the same fabric used for the diaper stacker), but the brown curtains were hand-me-downs from Frazier's old decor...as was the bedding.  All the pillows I found individually on etsy, except one I found in Italy.

This chevron print hook is from Hobby Lobby, but I painted the cherries and stuff over it.

I adore the strawberry rug. Found that online.

My grandfather made the little nightstand by adding a shelf to another old drawer I had and some legs from Lowe's.  I'd actually picked it up at the Re-Store for $1awhile back thinking it looked like a little table and had been waiting to be able to use it!  The chalkboard, white frame, lamp and little green shelf were things I already had.  I just added the chalkboard part, made a bulletin board out of fabric and rick-rack and decorated a lampshade I found at Goodwill.  Voila!  The little basket I have sitting on the nightstand shelf is one I got at my friend's garage sale.  I painted it pink and embroidered the little fabric insert with strawberries and cherries.

 I had so much fun working on it, I'm a little sad it's over!  But relieved, too.  I can't wait for her to live in it!

Frazier's "New" Room

For months, I'd been planning in my head how to update Frazier's bedroom.  All the decor I chose for his nursery even before he was born, I'd selected specifically because it could grow with him presumably as long as we're in this house.  However, there were still a few things that had to change.  The changing table had to go, the glider had to go, and the crib had to be exchanged for a big boy bed.  I did a lot of research on the options available for "big boy" beds and decided on the kura bed from Ikea. I felt like it was the best in terms of utilizing our space and budget.  I moved the changing table out and switched it for a big unit of cubbies a couple of months ago, but we waited until the Europe trip was behind us, to really tackle the bedroom project and a few weeks ago we finally went to Dallas and got the bed.  Naturally, it came in a box (that fit in my car!) in a bunch of pieces, and it took us 5 hours to put together.

But it was worth it!!

Once it was together and set in place, I realized that the trees I'd painted on the walls...the ones that were supposed to grow with him indefinitely...had been planned to carefully fit around the crib. :(  So I bought a little bit of his wall paint and repainted so that the tree was moved over just enough to accommodate the new bed.  See?

I also felt the placement of the bed (which stuck a bit into the window where the crib did not) necessitated a change of curtain as well so I found a valance to replace the long brown curtains in the same red as the comforter I bought.

My next project was the curtains around the bottom part where he actually sleeps.  I bought this hedgehog fabric from Ikea as well and made some simple curtains that create a cozy little tent!

It was all a big hit with Frazier who took the change very well, I thought.

The last project was to transform the top bunk into a reading area.  I wanted to configure the bed this way where he essentially sleeps on the floor, but has the top as a loft so that he didn't really lose any play space in his room.  When he is older, we'll let him sleep on the top and use the bottom for playing in or put shelving down there for storing stuff, but for now he's safer on the bottom and the top is great for playing.  I sent Josh to Lowe's for some plywood and we had it cut to just fit the top bunk, then covered it with a mattress pad (stuck to the board) and covered that tightly with a fitted sheet that matches the one on the bottom bed.  This way it's just a little cushioned floor for the loft so it's comfortable for sitting and reading or having picnics or playing with cars, but it isn't very thick which leaves the sides quite high...for safety reasons.  I moved the little bookshelf from under the tree at the end of the bed and put it next to the loft and piled a bunch of pillows up there.  Lastly, I found one more lantern to go with the collection.  I just felt like it needed one more at the end to balance it out now that the bed was longer.

 Here's the rest of the room:

Happy revamped bedroom, big boy Fraz!

In case you don't remember how it looked originally...here it is.

A Tale of Two Parties

This year, Frazier's been very into birthday parties.  Pretend birthday is one of his favorite things to play, so I was really excited about his real birthday party.  I decided to split it up and have a family party in Ruston and a party here with his friends.  I think it worked out splendidly!  For the Ruston party which we celebrated on Saturday, I went with a Frazier's-favorite-things theme.  I bought all the plates and napkins and decorations with different characters he likes and put little versions of all his "friends" on top of the cake!  We had lots of our favorite people there, too which made it just perfect!

 Then, on his actual birthday (yesterday), we had a party at Chick-fil-A with his friends!  Neither of our Chick-fil-A's offer a party package per se, but it's one of our favorite places to go because they have a great indoor playplace and it's the only fast food I concede to letting Frazier eat.  Mostly because of the indoor playplace.  I suppose this is hypocrisy at its best.  Judge me as you will.  I checked with them and though they won't help you throw a party, they will let you throw one there yourself, so that's just what I did.  They have a store on their website from which I ordered bookmarks for the favor bags, a tee-shirt for Frazier to wear that day, some Chick-fil-A wrapping paper and a kids' plate set for Frazier to eat off of.  The other stuff I found around town or online to fit the red, black and white/cow theme.  Each of Frazier's friends got a kids meal and I just got a nugget tray and a gallon of sweet tea for the moms and siblings and brought my own cupcakes.  Instant party! We had a lot of good friends there and Frazier had a great time...definitely a success!

Other birthday pictures:

Thanks so much to everyone who made it so happy!