another fun weekend!

we had a great weekend around here!  i really try not to live for the weekend, but sometimes i can't help it.  especially when i know it's a weekend full of family time!!

we started out with another trip to the pumpkin patch.  we were there pretty early.  any guess what the temperature was here on friday morning?  38.  yep - it was chilly.  but we had fun!

there's a little black and white bunny in the cage, and a little pink one on the outside!  =)

on friday night, we had family come and stay with us for the weekend.  it's always so great when out of town family comes in.  i am so thankful that C gets to grow up with so much family.  i love that she get's excited when pop and granny come and visit us, and sad when she see's them drive away.  she had so much fun with everyone this weekend.  she can't wait until they come back!

C & granny, who is actually C's great granny, having some serious fun in the playhouse!  =)  love these pictures.

i had to make this for our weekend guests

that's right - cookie dough topped with Oreo's, topped with brownie batter.

recipe?  cookie dough, then Oreo's, the brownie batter.  just that simple.  i have no idea what temperature or how long to tell you because i just winged it.  wung it?  just keep testing with a toothpick until brownie is done and toothpick comes out clean.

everyone left yesterday, but C and our continued our weekend this morning.

C had her 1st gymnastics class!

walking on the balance beam

she has so much fun - we can't wait to go back!

how was your weekend?

and our little bedroom redo?  the gray and yellow master idea.  it's coming together nicely.  i'll be able to share pictures really soon!!

miscellany monday

i'm going to link up with carissa again today.  i feel like most of my blogs are random and miscellaneous, so it only seems fitting.

~1~

we went to a local bookstore on friday night for a family dinner date.  they had a high school glee club preforming and it was actually really fun!  mostly because C mimicked their moves and danced, but the atmosphere was great too.  it makes me sad to think that bookstores might not always be around.  seeing my little girl enjoying a book, a real book with pages, really is a treat!

~2~

speaking of a treat - i got my first random, totally un-prompted "i love you" this weekend.  it was right before i put her to bed.  she just looked right at me and told me.  sweetest moment ever.  i think i almost cried.  i don't want to forget moments like that. 

the next day, she told kona the same thing!  at least mine was first!  ;)

~3~ 

we took C to a wedding on saturday.  we usually get a babysitter for things like this, but the bride practically begged me to bring her!  have the please the bride, right?  C had so much fun.  she danced and ran around with other little kids and loved the bride's pretty white dress.

 

 she was a little confused by the electric slide!

~4~

after church yesterday morning, the hubs snapped this picture

and then i remembered this picture from last fall

look how my little girl has grown!!  but please don't look at how bad our front stoop is chipping...

~5~

while C and i had a lazy sunday afternoon sitting on the back porch with my step-mom, my dad and shaun did this

HELLO!?!?  i can't wait to do a whole post on this and brag about the hubs.  he has worked so hard this past weekend on this.  the brick patio was all his idea, and he has executed it beautifully!  it's going to be amazing. 

hope you had a great weekend too!

a gray & yellow master?

i've decided to give our master bedroom a little spruce.

with the weather cooling off, it was time to fold up the quilt,that is on our bed all summer, and get out the comforter.  i was trying to put it off, but after waking up cold for a week, i finally changed the bedding.

then, i got the itch to change more than just the bedspread.  nothing drastic.  but i've always loved the idea of a gray and yellow bedroom, i just never got excited about how to execute it.  unfortunately, our bedroom is one room that has gotten the least amount of attention since we moved in over a year ago.  it's small, and there is only 1 way to arrange our furniture (big furniture that we got as a wedding present.  beautiful, but we've always had a problem fitting it in spaces.  we lived in a town house when we first got married and our bedroom was huge.  once we became home-owners, it's always been tricky in smaller rooms)

 

this is the gray and yellow we having going on now.  (the unfinished stenciling on the wall has been covered.  i didn't read the directions and it was sloppy...)

we also have a dresser with a mirror that i didn't take a picture of for some reason.  it's to my right in the above picture, kind of across from the foot of the bed.

so - i've decided to spruce her up!  i've been browsing pinterest and have been pleasantly bombarded with all kinds of great ideas!

i love these two pictures below, mostly because of the all white bedding.  i've always wanted white bedding, but then would go with some sort of pattern because i thought plain white was too boring.  well, this time i went for it.  i found a solid white, simple duvet cover at target for $25.  not the most amazing quality, but i'm, as usual, working on a budget.

i was drawn to this picture because it not only has the white bedding, but there are curtains behind the bed.  i'm not sure if there is a window behind them or not, but with our furniture being so big, the headboard in front of the window was our only option.  we hung the curtains so they are centered over the headboard, even though the window isn't centered over the headboard.  did that make sense? maybe i'll show you are little trick one day.  i'm also loving the big black and whites of what looks like their wedding.

 i love the blankets at the foot of the bed in both of these pictures.  i would love a yellow blanket, but the gray looks so cozy.  and yellow blankets are surprisingly hard to find.  i also love the simple framed prints above the bed.  i bet it would be easy to find some scrapbook paper or fabric that would be pretty and inexpensive to frame.

in this picture, i really love the bright yellow frames on the gray wall.  i've already bought and spray painted some gaudy gold gilded frames.  i haven't decided if i'm going to leave them empty yet.

i LOVE the idea of stenciling the wall behind our bed.  as you could see in the pictures of our room, i have a big stencil similar to this.  but for some reason, that stencil is really intimidating me.  i haven't brought myself to attempt it again ever since i messed up the first time.

i've already ordered this fabric for some pillows on the bed, i'm just waiting for it to come in.  i'm pretty sure i'm going to make standard size shams.  i've got some other gray and yellow fabric on hand to make some throw pillows.

speaking of pillows, i plan to make one of these with a "c" on it.  i love monograms.

speaking of monograms (sorry) i've already DIYed something like this for our room.  our couple monogram is the same as my initials, so it works perfect.  this was easy and looks really classy.

speaking of already DIYing, (i'm kind of starting to annoy myself at this point), i made something like this for our 5 year anniversary.  it was pretty simple and it's currently hanging in our room.  it will definitely stay.

so, that's where i am so far.  i've been working on a few things here and there and am excited about seeing it all come together.  i'm trying to re-purpose as much as i can so that i don't spend too much money.  plus, it's kind of a fun game, staying on a budget.

so, what do you think?  any other cost efficient DIY ideas you can point me towards?  i'm looking forward to working on a few things this weekend.

feel free to follow this board on pinterest.  i'm always pinning new things!

a perfectly productive lazy weekend

don't you just love those kind of weekends?  where you got a lot done, but it was easy and lazy?  that was our weekend.  it was great!

it started out with some family pictures on saturday morning.  we had such a fun time and C did awesome!  she was silly and smiley and cooperative.  i think i figured out the trick.  pictures first thing in the morning was a dream for us!  9:30am was perfect.  she was happy and fresh!  we haven't seen anything yet, but i have a good feeling about them.

after lunch and a nap, we headed to a local oktoberfest.  i have to admit, things like this are a little overwhelming for me, but C loved it!

once again - fearless!  at one point she went down face first - on purpose!  =)

sunday felt like the most productive day for me.  while C napped after church, i got in a creative mood. 

first - i had seen this recipe for some quick pumpkin bread that i wanted to try.  i've seen a couple different versions, but i decided to follow erika's from urban grace. 

3 ingredients.  that's it.  and it's so yummy! 

- one package of spice cake mix
- one can of pumpkin
- 1/2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice

i made mine in a loaf pan, so i baked it on 350 for about 50 min.

it was so quick and easy, i also made one on monday morning to take to shaun's work.  what a perfect and easy treat to give to someone.  this will definitely make more appearances in my kitchen!

after the bread, i made a little blankie for elmo.  that's right - elmo.

C loves to lay elmo down for a "night-night", and she has been using her big blankets to do so.  i bought this elmo & zoe fabric a couple of months ago, but couldn't decide exactly what to do with it.  well, an elmo blankie seemed just perfect!  i just used some flannel material i already had and used some ric rac ribbon as trim.  quick and easy, and elmo is very pleased with his new blankie.  =)

after C woke up, our plans changed a little.  we were left with a free sunday evening.  seemed like a perfect time to pick out some pumpkins!

this is outside of the church where shaun and i got married.  we were never member's, but it's a beautiful sanctuary and was the perfect size.  every year they have a little "pumpkin patch" on their front lawn to raise money for their youth.  real pumpkin patches are fun, but this little "patch" was just perfect for us this week.  C got to roam around and look at all the different types of pumpkins and it wasn't crowded. 

we found just the right ones and brought them home to our front porch, ready to be carved a little closer to halloween!

i don't work on mondays, so it's always an extended weekend for us.  i made another pumpkin loaf and C and i visited daddyboi at work.

yes - this is how we left the house.  she insisted on the bag and the beads.  i didn't argue...

after her nap, we decided to bake some more!

this...

turned in to this...

peanut butter truffle brownies?!?  perfection in shaun's eyes.  i found the recipe here.  and borrowed the picture too.  mine turned out delicious, but not as pretty.  i didn't have time to let them cool long enough.  the only hiccup was a little egg shell.  whoops...=)  it's tricky baking with a 2 year old!  fun and priceless memories, but a little tricky.  a little egg shell never hurt anyone though, right? ;)

how was your weekend?  don't you just love fall?  the holidays are just around the corner, but you can still be outside.  perfect for lazy productive weekends! 

lately...

lately, i've been obsessing about what C and i are going to wear in our family pictures this saturday.  (yes - shaun will be in them, but he's easy to dress.)  i was a bad mom yesterday and delayed C's nap because i was obsessed with trying to find her something to wear.  i found something and then tried it on her last night.  it doesn't fit.  my selfish efforts turned out to be for nothing.  well, except a fun little lunch date with C.

 

i've been enjoying my time with her more and more lately.  don't get me wrong, time with her has always been great, but it's been different lately.  she talks so much now.  full sentences.  answers questions.  we are having conversations.  it's crazy.   lunch with her yesterday was easy and fun!

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lately, i've been enjoying the new memories i just made on my weekend away in nashville with by 3 best friends.

two of the girls i see on a pretty regular basis, but cam is about 3 hours away.  i miss her.  i'm so thankful that we got to get away for a whole weekend and do nothing.  we literally just hung out.  our only agenda was to shop and eat, and that's what we did.  we watched movies in our hotel room, slept in and did things by our schedule, not our kids.  it was awesome.

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lately, i've been potty training my 2 year old.  she is doing so well!  it's strange how excited i am about this, but i am just so proud of her.  we have been sitting on her "big girl potty" for about a month now, but i wasn't rushing her.  i knew she would do it when she was ready.  i've learned that her personality is like mine.  she does not like to be rushed.  so, we took it slow.  last week she was successful for the first time and she hasn't looked back!  

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lately, i've been having crazy dreams.  like weird crazy dreams.  dreams about shaun being a prince in a foreign country and being forced to move away from me and i didn't get to say goodbye.  last night i had a dream that my job took me to africa to figure out some pollution problems in the middle of the ocean.  and then at one point someone was trying to hurt my aunt (but it was a random old lady in my dream) because she was trying to hurt C.  what is up?? 

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and lastly, lately i've been enjoying this picture

  

it really doesn't fit anywhere in this post, but every time i see it, i crack up!  this was her 2 year well visit last week.  while waiting for the doctor, we had some fun with stickers.  such a cutie!

what have you been up to lately??