weekly kiddo

Happy Friday friends! Just wanted to pop in to let you know that LM is the weekly kiddo over at Modern Kiddo if you want to see a whole lot of cute in one place. ;) Thanks for having us on your fantastic blog Alix and Dottie - we love it!

I am so happy the weekend is here. Our plans involve scraping thick paint and ugly tile off of walls, and yes, this is exciting to me. So far I have stayed home with the girls while Husband has done all of the work renovating our house, but we got a babysitter so I can help do my part. I have been craving the satisfaction of getting my hands dirty and working side by side with him, so I am looking forward to it. I'll give you an update on what we've accomplished in the house so far next week. Have a great weekend!

(banner and my picture with type via modern kiddo)

wearable art

One of the gifts the Little Miss received at her birthday party was some kid's craft clay. She has wanted to work with it for awhile and we finally had a chance to pull it out this week during nap time. There are certain projects I only allow her to do when Lark is asleep and this clay fell into that category for me - it is just too hard and messy to start a project meant for older kids with an almost 18 month-old wanting to join in the fun. And, let's be honest, try to eat it.

LM decided that she wanted to make colorful beads with the clay after seeing a bracelet on the packaging. She made all of the balls, with a little help from me to shape them into spheres, and then we poked them with a needle to make a hole before they were baked. Once the beads were done we simply threaded them onto elastic thread and just like that she had some wearable art!

She loves her colorful necklace and has worn it out and about with a big smile on her face. I was a little worried it would be too heavy, but she tells me it's fine. I love letting her be creative and then seeing her so proud of what she can make with her two little hands.

mom's best party

Last week I was able to attend (another) Mom's Best blogger event. It's always fun to have a girl's night out, but what a treat to be surrounded by so many lovely ladies, many of whom I am inspired by in their online home. My friend, Danielle, who I went with being one of those inspiring women. We were laughing about how many conversations started with, "So...I follow you on instagram..." and it was fun to chat with women I have only 'known' through reading their blog.

Same as the last event, we were asked to review items that were nominated as H.O.T. products and give our feedback. A couple of the products that stood out to me were the Solly Baby Wraps and the Wee Drool bibs, but there were so many great items to look over all well designed. Kneaders provided dinner and delicious desserts. 

Mom's Best took this opportunity to give back and after the party most of the items were donated to the Riverside Area Rape Crisis Center. We were able to write notes of love and encouragement to the victims which would be placed inside journals given to them as well.

Mom's Best is also donating an emergency kit to the center for every 100 votes or comments on giveaways, so head over and vote (I am willing to bet you will discover an awesome new-to-you product!) and help out.

It was such a fun evening, thank you Mom's Best!

(all photos by Leah Naomi)

shop update

 

Yellow Gingham Sailor//Blue Lace Yoke

Plaid Suspender Skirt//Pink Blue Plaid Dress

 Yellow Diamonds Dress//Yellow Lace Up Dress

 Blue Vest Dress//Yellow Floral Apron Dress

There has been a lot going on lately (remember how we bought a house?) and unfortunately that has left the shop neglected of late, but I did manage to put together a little update. There are a couple of dresses I am selling in as is condition, so please read the descriptions carefully. 

I plan to add an many new items to the shop as I can before me move in hopes to lug less boxes across town. Wish me luck, because it looks like a clothing bomb went off in my craft room. When you try to organize it always gets worse before it gets better, right? Right?!

summer is soaring by...

School is looming on the horizon for the first time in our home, but until then we plan to savor every last bit of summer freedom we have left...

a mini tour

Thank you for your excitement about our happy house news! I am still letting the fact that we are now homeowners settle in... it is a bit strange that although we made this huge life-changing purchase we won't need to start packing anytime soon, but it is the best feeling knowing my key chain is just a little bit heavier because we achieved our biggest dream! 

I haven't had a chance to take decent 'before' pictures yet, but here are some pictures I snapped with my phone yesterday. The house definitely doesn't feel like home yet in the state that it is in, but we will change that over the coming months...

We have an orange front door. Not sure if it will stay this color, but it is fun! You also see a peek at the amazing wood beamed ceiling which was the main reason I wanted to look at this house in the first place. They had me at hello, those beams.

This is the faux paint job and random metal tiles glued on the wall in the master bedroom. The previous owners made some odd decorating choices throughout the house to say the least. You can tell they were trying to fix it up, but their efforts just... well, failed. 

And, here is a peek down the hallway which ends with some built-in cabinets. I don't know what it is about built-ins, but I just love them and wish there were more!

First on the agenda is to demolish the kitchen (which I didn't get any pictures of yesterday). We are starting from scratch there and soon you will see why...

116 days later...

WE BOUGHT A HOUSE! FINALLY!!!

It took 116 days from the time we went under contract to now holding the keys in our hands - a timeline we were not anticipating but got through one day at a time. So we are over the moon excited we can now call this little patch of land with a house on it ours, and we are definitely ready to get this renovation started. We have loads of work ahead of us, but with a lot of love this house will be the perfect home for us.

I hope you will follow along on our journey as we do our best to transform this 1958 ranch house back into the beauty it was meant to be. Time to roll up our sleeves!

(One little girl was not very excited, but she was also not feeling very well today. Poor girl.)

art birthday party

For the Little Miss' fourth birthday we had an art party at our favorite park. It was her first friend party and she was so excited. I was a little worried it would be too hot, but we had the kids drink plenty of water and in the end I am glad I chose to have the party outside. It was so much less stressful for me since I didn't have to clean my house or worry about having enough room for a bunch of energetic kids. They also had tons of fun playing together and using their imaginations - more fun than with any games I could have come up with for them to play. The bonus was us moms had lots of time to chat since the kids were so content playing!

I kept the decor and food really simple to cut back on cost, and also used the leftover cups, straws, and  napkins from Lark's party. Now this is where you are going to have to humor me, but the cupcakes are supposed to be like artist's palettes. I carried over the blue/green ombre theme from the invitations with the M&M 'paint' and then made 'paintbrushes' out of pretzels dipped in melted white chocolate with a little bit of blue food coloring (not mixed all the way in so as to look more painterly). The chocolate chip represents the thumb hole - but you could totally tell that, right? ;)

They tasted good. Just ask Lark...

Instead of a traditional hanging birthday banner LM helped me make a birthday table runner. It also doubled as an example of the art project we were going to do. Each child was given a piece of watercolor paper, and using painters tape we helped them tape their first initial (or let them go wild and tape whatever their little heart desired). They painted all around the tape with watercolors, and then we sent them off to the playground while the paint dried. Once it was dry we carefully pulled the tape off to reveal their works of art! 

As a thank you for coming, I gave each family a print from Bear Cave Studios (a local art studio that teaches classes for kids) with a quote by Picasso saying, "All Children are Artists" - because they really, truly are and I think they should know it.  

LM was spoiled with lots of gifts, mostly art themed, which have kept her busy in the happiest way. Thank you so much to our generous friends and family!