Girlie Fun

I love that Isabelle is a girlie girl. She loves all those girlie things and loves to do them with Mom!! The other day we painted her fingernails for the first time. So much fun!! The hardest part was trying to keep this active girl still long enough to let the paint dry.

I let her pick the nail polish color. I was sure she would pick pink, she wanted green, but she decided on fire engine red.

Ofcourse, we had to paint her toenails.

And I had to get in on some of this girlie time, so my toenails are now fire engine red!

First Day of First Grade

Dear Jakob,

I can't believe that you started 1st grade today!! Such a big step in your life! You have been talking a lot about school these last couple months, nervous to be going to a new school where you don't know anyone. I was so proud of you this morning! You walked into your classroom, found your seat, and said goodbye. I could tell how nervous you were, but you were so brave.

Last night your dad gave you a blessing promising you that you would find good friends and learn many good things. When you went to bed last night you told your dad that you were a little excited for school to start, that Heavenly Father helped you to get excited.

I just can't believe that you have grown up so fast! You do so many things on your own and are so self sufficient. You are thinking a lot and coming up with some big questions. The other day you asked me if numbers go on forever. You also are thinking about your future, debating what you want to be when you grow up and talking about who you want to marry. So many things to think about.

Goodbye my boy!! Have a great year, make lots of good friends, learn many wonderful things, work hard!! Know that we love you no matter what! Always keep your compassion, your thoughtful nature, your attention to detail, your joy for the simple things in life. I love you my big first grade boy!! Make this year the best yet!

Love, love, love you!

Mom

Must Haves!

Is there really anything that we have to have!! I mean really, we can do without so many of the things that we think that we need. I have tried to live this way throughout different times in my life, BUT it is quite fun to spend a bit on things that make us happy, inspire us, or just bring fun and joy to our lives. These books are ones I have been wanting to get for awhile now.

This just came out this last month and I just am so excited to get my hands on a copy!

Handmade Home
By Amanda Soule

These next three are ones I have had my eye on for awhile!

A Year of Mornings: 3191 Miles Apart
By Maria Alexandra Vettese and Stephanie Congdon Barnes


A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table (Hardcover)
By Molly Wizenberg

The Best of Becky Higgins' Sketches (Spiral-bound)

By Becky Higgins

She was just on the local news the other day showing some fun ideas from her book below. It looks oh so fun!

Bend the Rules with Fabric: Fun Sewing Projects with Stencils, Stamps, Dye, Photo Transfers, Silk Screening, and More By Amy Karol

This was her last book! So many fun ideas.

Bend-the-Rules Sewing: The Essential Guide to a Whole New Way to Sew By Amy Karol

Well, I guess I just may have to come up with a reason to buy one or two books!! My birthday is coming up. Yep, I think I may get my hands on a couple of these soon.

Play Dough Fun!

Play dough has always been such a fun activity in our house. The kids ALWAYS make it when they go to Grammy and Grampy Huish's house. They will spend hours playing with it!! I love it because it is imaginative, creative, cheap, and not TOO messy. I also love that its something I enjoy playing with them!

Isabelle got this fun set for her birthday from her Aunt Melissa and Uncle Aaron. We all had a blast making this fun food.

Even Karter tried to help/play/destroy!! So much fun! Thanks Aaron and Melissa!

Our Home

Okay, so I'm finally sharing some pictures of our new home. I was waiting on getting an outside photo of our house. So, so, so much work to do, but it is slowly getting done. The photo below was taken a couple days ago. The outside needs so much work and Steve and I have no time to do it. When we moved in the property had been sitting for over a year. It was overgrown and we have just been working on clearing away and cleaning up. Tons of recycling to send off, gardening tools everywhere, the porch needs a major overhaul, well, you get the idea. I will try to head out and get some more pictures of the outside to show next week. We will be tackling the property this next year. Okay, so these are pictures of the inside of our home. These are the before shots! I took them a few days before we were able to move in. Basically all we have done is painted and put carpet in the bedrooms and the basement.

Great Room

Kitchen/Dining Room

I need to get more pictures of the kitchen before we start. It is such an interesting space in the home. (Interesting in a bad way!) We are planning to push out walls and create a 4' opening between the wall that divides the kitchen from the entry.

Entry
Main Floor Bath
Boys Room
This room is finished!! I need to take pictures and post!! The only thing we will do with the room that we have not done is put new trim up and paint the doors. We are planning to take our time with that since we are doing it ourselves and will slowly do it at our own pace.

Isabelle's Room

Sorry this picture is so bad! Her room is almost done. We are just waiting on closet doors and I have a few decorating ideas to implement. Her closets were open to the room and one had a built in desk. Sounds great, but it really wasn't, just something they screwed into the wall. We gutted the one closet, painted both, and installed rods and shelves. Hopefully in the next little bit I will post pictures of her completed room.

Master Bedroom

Again, not a great pictures. These aren't very big rooms and it is hard to get an angle that shows much of anything. I am pleased with how well our bed fits the room. I just thought our King Size Bed would fill the space and not leave room for much more. Well, our bed does fill the room, but we also have room for a dresser, vanity, bedside tables, and my cedar chest. It will be awhile before we finish this room, I may post a picture of where we are at now. I'm planning to replace the light, add crown molding, build a headboard for our bed, and paint a vanity and a dresser. Trust me, this will not be completed anytime soon.

Master Bath

I need to take more pictures, not much has changed here.

Basement

I forgot how orange and blue the basement was. Go Mountain Crest!! We have taken out the bar and built a wall. This will be our tiny guest room.

Basement Bath

Single Car Garage

This will be our Office/Scrapbook Room. We are planning to take out the garage door and finish the room completely. I am considering keeping the cement floor and just painting it. Giving it an industrial look and keeping it modern.

Well, that is our home. So much to do!!! BUT, it has been a lot of fun watching it transform with the little work that we have done, and dreaming of what it will be someday. Hopefully in a couple years the house will be where we want it to be. I will keep everyone posted as we move forward. Would love to hear your comments or any ideas for our new home. I love to hear what people love or what has worked for them.

Blueberry Muffins

It was a group effort and quite messy!!

She wanted to fill the tin by herself.

Everyone was quite pleased with the end result!

This and That!

Just got done helping my sister-in-law Melissa paint some of her new home. They have a beautiful home and I am so excited for them!!! I hope she post some pictures of her new home soon on her blog!!

I need to start painting some furniture. I've got a dresser, a couple desk, a table and chair set, a bookcase, and a couple other smaller items that I want to jazz up with a fresh coat of paint. I want to try Antique White by Benjamin Moore on a piece of furniture so I can decide if I want to do it on my cabinents in that kitchen. Anyone know any great tips for painting furniture?? Love to hear some advice.

Also, I got that plans back from our plan guy a couple days ago. I can't figure out how to post them or I would. I'm excited!! It looks good on paper.