iphones apps for mums...

I've recently stumbled across two iphone apps that are super handy for you moms.  ArtKive, is a free app that allows you take photos of your kiddos artwork, label it, and even share it with the grandparents.  After the school year is up, you can simply hit one button and it transforms all that art into a digital coffee table book!  I'm certain it will get more attention and views in a book rather than a nice box somewhere....

Anyone ever wish you had time to journal certain days or events for your kids, but honestly by bedtime rolls around you are worn out!  DayOne app allows you take photos and list a few things about your day, and even stamps the day with the weather.  You can tag events or kiddos- which makes printing out a "journal" a snap.  You can journal for multiple kiddos, but print only entries with "Ethan" tags!  Read more about it here.

a good soak...

As I finish up my third trimester of pregnancy I have a new hobby:  soaking in my tub.  We recently added these new shutters to our bath...which came in several boxes via UPS for my hubby to assemble.  Yes, he was thrilled.  Give me a good book, bubbles, and smell-good lotion and I am off to a good night.

weekend warrior hubby...

Last weekend David made his coffee pretty strong because he was definitely a weekend warrior.  First of all, he surprised me by bringing home these new spindles to add to our staircase:  

spindles before

spindles after

If any of you have a sandbox in your backyard, you might have a love/hate relationship with yours like we do.  I love how it entertains Ethan for hours at a time, I hate how the sand ends up in your house.  David hated the maintenance of grass around around it.  We almost packed up for good more than once.  At a birthday party a few weeks ago, we love how our neighbors had their landscaper "landscape" their tots toys.  So, a quick trip to Lowe's and my "landscaper" hubby comes home and makes this:

sandbox before (not a great before photo but you get the point)

backyard play area after

now with a few scrubs and a dogwood tree

We added a few hardy shrubs and a shade tree into the play area.  Ethan loves having his new area to play!  Oh, and his playhouse had been also on our patio as well.  We were thrilled to regain our patio space again and he seems to like being able to jump from sandbox to playhouse.

Ethan's house

Not last but least, we added shades to our chandelier in the dining room.  I've been looking for shades at places like Potterybarn and Ballard Designs, but couldn't bring myself to buy shades at $15-30 a piece.  David found these at Home Depot for $6 a piece.  Much nicer price!  

before shades

after with shades

David worked on all of this while I wrapped up my yard sale fun.  The yard sale went well considering I ran Ethan to the pediatrician in the middle of everything for "the croup."  He is better and I am glad to have cleaned out our storage/attic room.  A pretty big project that I have no plans on capturing on film until the container store comes and attacks my mismatched rubbermaid totes!  Anyhow, the nesting phase of this pregnancy has definitely kicked in!

Wainscoting project...

I've had a few emails asking about the wainscoting project we started in May~here is an update.   I say we, but what I really mean is my hubby David.  My portion of the project includes holding things and distracting Ethan from the nail guns, saws, and paint.  The entry way is finished and I love it!  We are now wanting to put a runner up the stairs.  I would love to do a patterned runner.

Sorry I don't have any great "before" photos!  We still have to put up the wainscoting in  Ethan's room and paint the wainscoting in the extra bedroom. I am in no rush for Ethan's room.  I think that might be fun thing to do when we transition him to a big boy bed and new bedding.  I am guessing he will need a new paint color on top to match the bedding;)

our weekend...

We kicked off our weekend by celebrating our 5th Anniversary.  I honestly can't believe it has been five years since I was standing in a big white dress... barefoot on the beach...saying I do... and squeezing David's hand finding a ring on it for the first time.  

Sunday we added a little fish friend to Ethan's room.  He now has a nice little night light.  And what little boy fish tank would be complete without a truck!

And David kicked off a pretty large home improvement project....wainscoting.  More to come on this later.  Let's just say this weekend-warrior project may last through July!  Oh wait, David says August!  ha ha

I'm mean, what else do you do on yet another rainy weekend?

nine frames...

Last week I finished hanging my frames finally {after a big oops of ordering all the photos as horizontal prints and realizing I had planned on hanging the frames in a portrait style}.  It was incredibly hard to pick 9 favorite photos to frame from the thousands I have on my mac, but it quickly got narrowed down by having to pick vertical ones.  I still am on the fence about changing out the black and white photographs to colored ones.  I am the biggest fan of black and white, but I have found that they have a hard time capturing those sweet rosy cheeks.  What are your thoughts:  b&w or colored?  

My next project is to tackle our closet.  Ugh.  Particularly our dresser that houses every tee shirt that has come into our lives since 90's.  I attempted this while we packed to move into the rental house, then again as we moved into our new house ~ without success.  I realized this needed to be done when we had no hangers after Christmas.  I have slowly been making piles for yard sale/goodwill, but I need to do a knock out job.  Goal~out with old and in the new:   Spring clothes are already calling my name.  

here's hoping I can get our closet to look more like this!

winter cleaning...

You may be wondering what I have been up to with the lack of blogging in the new year. I kicked off 2011 with a few busy shifts at work and a loooong list of projects to do around the house. I felt like the tubs all needed a scrub, the floors mopped, the sheets changed....you know the stuff that gets pushed aside during the rush of the holidays.

One of the first projects on my "20-eleven" project list was tackling the playroom. I noticed that Ethan was not interested in playing in the playroom even will all this new toys. I decided it was time to use those "cubbies" that we built in when we were drawing up plans for the house for storage of toys. I pulled several toys from the playroom and put them in the storage "cubbies." I plan to start cycling the toys when he seems uninterested with what is out. It worked like magic....I guess too much of a good thing, can be too much sometimes. Cleaning and re-organizing the playroom is just the start. I hope to eventually add a bookcase and more storage for all of those new toys. David's project list may be getting longer....

Early in the days of designing our house, I put up a big fight for Ethan's bathroom: the toilet needs to be completely out of the way of the tub when you have little ones to bathe (recessed). Well, David listened and I have enjoyed Ethan's bathroom, but it needed more color than a shower curtain. I used the adorable bath wraps from Potterybarn that Ethan has outgrown and his bath mitten to add color to the room. I found this adorable print on etsy. I picked this particular silhouette because it was called the "wyatt" and it reminds me of the way Ethan marches around when we dance to music. I ordered my nieces the same thing for Christmas. It was one of my favorite gifts I gave this year.

Speaking of David, he has been busy tackling one of the projects that has been on his list since we moved in. He had wired the house for surround sound/speaker system and installed the speakers and receiver. I have loved listening to it already, and we still have a couple speakers to buy for other rooms in the house. I must say having a handy hubby has its perks.

This week I hope to tackle this blank wall in the family room. I have been wanting to do a symmetrical arrangement of photos since the drywall went up last Spring. I have been adamant about having Ethan's milestone (newborn, 3m, 6m, etc) photos taken but have little displayed. I have them safely stored on smugmug with lots of plans to use them. My dad surprised me for Christmas (with help of my mom) of ordering the rest of my 8 frames to finally complete the wall. Hanging them symmetrically, will be, to say the least, a challenge. Oh and picking just 9 photos to hang! I will let you know how it goes.