Keychain Wristlet & Mother’s day gifts!

May 10, 2011 by Lindsay

Does you have a hard time keeping track of your keys, wallet, cell phone and/or sunglasses? I do, and I like to blame it on the fact that I am usually toting three kids too!

My sister-in-law carries a wallet like this one from Vera Bradley. I received one for Christmas last year and I will never carry another wallet! I love the wrist strap and the way it zips open and you can just stuff all your money and receipts in it and sort through it when you get home.

Then when I stumbled across this tutorial for a wristlet keychain I got pretty excited! No more digging for keys in the bottom of the diaper bag!

I made a few today and I can’t wait to use them. They can even hang right next to my diaper bag on a hook! Now I just need to find a fashionable way to strap my cell phone and sunglasses to myself and I’ll be set

Do you spy some of my Mother’s day gifts in the background there?

At preschool my boys do the most adorable crafts. Their teachers use their hand, finger and footprints to make all sort of things and I love that! Andrew’s teacher made my handprints when I dropped him off one morning and put his on top of mine with a little poem about being hand and hand….so precious to me! But I have to admit that Joshua’s teacher gave me my favorite gift this year….

Isn’t that precious?! She photographed all the kids individually, printed out the pictures and framed them for all the mommy’s! I was extra surprised when I found out that she printed out extra of Joshua for me because she got such a good close-up….

Melt my heart! I can honestly say that this is my favorite picture ever taken of him. His personality is so wild but sweet at the same time and this picture just captures my sweet boy so well!

I used to not understand why my mom loved the “artwork” that we used to bring home to her, pictures, poems and so on…..but now I do!

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Friday Thoughts

Dec 3, 2010 by Lindsay

Here it is, Friday night, Spencer is working at the new house and I am alone with my thoughts

I am so excited because I just got an email that my FREE Christmas Cards have shipped! I hope that I can get them addressed and mailed out as soon as they arrive in my mailbox! One more thing off my list!

As of Wednesday morning I still had stocking stuffers to buy and a few gifts to decide on. While the boys were at school on Thursday I ran around town like a crazy lady and got all my shopping done. Then while they were napping I placed one last on-line order and I got an email that it has shipped already too! I couldn’t help but laugh while I wrapped gifts because we have officially entered the land of wrapping odd shaped children’s boxes and it is not always easy to make it look good!

While the boys slept and I wrapped gifts I had the chance to talk on the phone to my friend, Erin, who is due with #2, a little boy, the day before Zachary is due! We got to talk and catch up without the interruption of kids and it was so nice! We talked about labor, hospital attire, nurseries and much more! I have another friend, Mandy, that is due just a few weeks after me with her #2, a girl, and it has been so much fun to experience pregnancy with friends. Especially when we are all due so close together! (I borrowed this picture from Mandy ….Audrey and Zachary, friends before they were born!)

Every night before bed I make a “if I’m still pregnant tomorrow to-do list.” On that list today was to make curtains for the nursery. I made “mistreatments” that were so easy and I love them. They aren’t 100% completed yet, but I’ll share a sneak peak. If you are wondering what a mistreatment is go here to find out, basically all you need is some heat’n'bond and a glue gun and you are in business!

I started thinking about what I want the big boys to wear to the hospital when Zachary comes (go ahead and laugh at me, but it’s something I think about!) I had wanted to get them matching “big brother” shirts but they are hard to find in Joshua’s size. Then I remembered that I started on these shirts *cough cough* last year, but was never quite happy with the way they were turning out. Well fortunately for me I think the boys can still wear them this year and I think it will be cute and festive! All that is missing is their little mouths I might still change my mind, but if you are someone who might be bringing Andrew and Joshua to the hospital to meet their baby brother, I will make sure to have them done and ready for them

When I get to this point in pregnancy I get excited thinking about wearing normal clothes again. I look forward to wearing pants that don’t have elastic and wearing tops that I haven’t seen since last year. But I did make a very exciting purchase last week that I can wear even before baby arrives! If you know me in real life I can guarantee you are going to get sick of seeing me in these boots this winter! They are perfect because they aren’t too tall, you can wear your pants tucked in them or outside them…they truly are the perfect boot I got them here, they don’t have them online but you can find them in the store. They are on sale this weekend for $28.99, go get a pair

I am so excited and thankful because my Grandpa is coming tomorrow! I called him today and asked if he would be willing to come work at the house for a few days, he said yes, so we bought him a ticket and he’ll be here tomorrow afternoon! My Grandpa is such a hard worker, can do or fix anything and likes to stay busy. Spencer and his dad have been getting a lot done in the evenings, but there is just still quite a bit to do. I know that my Grandpa will be a HUGE help and between him working for 3 days and Spencer and his dad helping when they can that we might actually get to move in next weekend! The end is in sight and I am so ready to be there!

Here’s a teaser for you….there is much, much more to come!

Well that’s all the randomness I can think of for now. I hope everyone has a great weekend!

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Hodge Podge Tuesday

Sep 21, 2010 by Lindsay

I feel like my brain is a hodge podge of thoughts, ideas and plans lately so I suppose it’s fitting that this post be the same!

Before we went to Ohio I had shared about our plans to switch rooms with the boys for when Zachary arrives.  Those plans are temporarily on hold because we have actually been house hunting. We do not know that we will be into a new house before the baby comes, but if we aren’t it will hopefully be soon after. Switching rooms would mean getting rid of a lot of our master bedroom furniture and we don’t want to get rid of it and then have to replace it in the near future.

That brings me to my first point. I have been checking Craig’s List the last few weeks and got really excited about a new desk I found. It is too big for our room now but hopefully we will have more room soon, so I figured it would be good to go ahead and buy it while it was available! So we said goodbye to the desk we bought when we were first married….

and welcomed some newer (and larger) furniture into our room! I knew I would love the furniture because Spencer’s grandma has the exact same desk and hutch. You can still buy it in the store so if we ever want to add pieces to it, we can. It is in perfect shape and so we got *almost* brand new furniture for $400 off what we would have spent if we had bought it at the store!

This is just the file cabinet and hutch, I couldn’t get a good shot of the desk because, well, it’s too close to our bed! haha! The great news is that we already sold our other desk on Craig’s list!

Remember when I got a great deal on matching crib bedding a few months ago? Well the set comes with a bumper, sheet and quilt but no skirt. So I am getting ready to make two new crib skirts out of…are you ready for this?

A canvas drop cloth.

I have read about people using these as curtains and other decor, and it actually fits the look I want for the crib skirts…and the $10 price tag doesn’t hurt either! We’ll see if they actually turn out!

Speaking of bedskirts – I have been keeping my eye out for some new bedding for our bedroom. When Spencer and I got married I had never decorated anything before….ever. So silly me picked paint for our room before picking bedding and then had to find a bedspread that coordinated. Bad idea. So we have had a tan/brown quilt on our bed for the last 4 years that I have never really liked, but didn’t know how to change it without re-painting. Now that we are thinking about moving that means that I get to learn from my mistakes and buy bedding first and then pick my paint

While at Target yesterday I found about 3 different comforters that I really liked the only thing I didn’t like is that they come with a fitted bed skirt or no skirt at all! I like a nice full ruffled skirt (I think it’s because the other ones never stay perfectly ironed and straight.) So when I saw a king sized ruffled bedskirt in the clearance aisle for $13 AND found that it matched all three of the comforters that I liked I figured it would be a good purchase! I also got the twin size so I can cut it up and make some pillows to tie it into whatever bedding I end up with. Now, nothing kills a good deal like coming home and finding that your super duper deal of a bedskirt had been not only opened, but stained!? Yuck! I thought about taking it back, but after looking at it I figured I could get it out in the wash. I am happy to report that I just took it out of the dryer and the stain is nowhere to be seen

(I am starting to think this post isn’t so much of a hodge podge post…it’s mostly about random decor stuff, so let’s pretend I titled this post “random decor stuff!”)

Around the same time that I got the super deal on crib bedding I also bought twin bedding for Andrew’s (soon to be) big boy bed. Every time I look at said bedding I think, “I like it, but I don’t love it.” But it was cheap, it coordinated with the crib bedding and I already had it so figured I should just deal with it. Then on Sunday night I went to Burlington Coat Factory and I found bedding that I loooove. It wasn’t quite as cheap, almost, but not quite. But since I loved it, I decided it was worth it!

Meet Andrew’s new big boy bedding.

I love that it has orange and navy in it, I think it will be so fun to decorate a room around this bedding! I even think that I will get to use more drop cloths for curtains and bedskirts

Does anyone get the feeling that I am ready to decorate something…anything!?!?! I haven’t re-decorated our house since we moved in, with the exception of Andrew’s nursery and I never really felt like I “decorated” it. I have so many ideas in my head that I hope I get to act on soon!

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Busy Week

Aug 18, 2010 by Lindsay

Long time, no see! Let me show you what we have been up to!

Saturday I went to a baby shower and the boys went to play with cousins and ended up in the dog cage….guess that’s what happens when Daddy is in charge!

Saturday afternoon I got to work on some little superhero capes!

Later that evening two of the cutest and bravest super heros around arrived at Grandmom’s house to save the day!

Monday night we made plans to go to the beach with Grandmom and Ally to play and then Daddy and Granddad were going to join us for dinner. We picked up Subway on the way out and stuck it in our cooler until it was time to eat. Imagine our surprise when we went to eat and our three foot-long subs were missing from our cooler!!!! Someone stole our food while we were in the water playing! So we packed up the starving children, drove back home, got more sandwiches and ate dinner around 7:45 that night! It’s funny now, but wasn’t funny at the time!

I have also been busy trying to get us ready for a two week trip to Ohio by making lists, doing laundry and packing. This morning I was trying jeans on the boys trying to find a pair that they could each take! It always makes me laugh when I put pants on the boys after they have been used to shorts all spring and summer! I hate that Joshua looks like such a big boy…I like to keep him in little sun suits and one-piece rompers for as long as I can!

Tonight when Daddy came home from work we played a little bit of hide-and-seek. Joshua is quite the little hider! The only way I knew where he was hiding was because I saw him sneak back there. He just sat there so quiet….never made a peep! Can you spot him?

Today is a very special day because it is (one of) my baby brother’s birthday! Matthew is the big 2-0 today! It makes me feel old that my little brother is now officially in his twenties! Happy Birthday Matthew, we can’t wait to see you and everyone else on Sunday!

Tomorrow is an exciting day that comes about every 8-10 weeks….I’m getting my hair hi-lighted! haha! The days leading up to my appointment I say to Spencer everyday, “I can’t WAIT to get my hair done!”

Make sure to check back on Saturday for a fun post where we will share the name we have picked for baby boy #3! Feel free to guess what you think it is…or what you think it should be (If you know his name already….don’t spoil the secret!!)

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No One Knows Fancy Like Nancy!

Jul 17, 2010 by Lindsay

Today we celebrated my niece, Taylor’s 3rd birthday! I wanted to do more than just buy her a gift and when my mother-in-law mentioned that she loved reading the book Fancy Nancy, I knew exactly what I could do!

I knew the basics of tutu making but looked up this tutorial and it helped me figure out sizing and length. I started with about 6 yards of tulle in the colors I wanted cut into strips.

Then you double it over and loop it around your elastic.

The instructions mentioned not to pull it tight until you had all your strips put on. This was very helpful because the elastic did stretch out quite a bit and I ended up taking about 6 inches off from the size I started with. I found a wand and headband at JoAnn’s that matched my theme and made them “fancy” too! Here is the finished product.

I managed to get a picture with the birthday girl after all the gifts were opened.

Happy Birthday, Taylor! I hope you enjoy being fancy!

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Check, check, check

Dec 11, 2009 by Lindsay

As I look at my calendar I have realized that in two weeks we will be in Ohio for Christmas! Wow! With that said, I am trying very hard to get ahead so that I can just enjoy family time over the next few weeks. I do have a lot of my shopping done, today I ordered my final online gifts and purchased my last stocking gift. I ordered, picked up, addressed and stamped all of our Christmas cards. I also put the finishing touches on the Christmas shirts for my family. I love days when I get stuff checked off my lists….but getting some things done means neglecting other things….like my kitchen….

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