Treeeee

I finished Wesley's tree tonight! The room isn't done yet, but the tree was the hard part. Here's the tree after paint...

And then after leaves and vines!

The finished tree!

Projects, projects!

Since we moved into our home May 5th, I've taken it upon myself to add color and style to this bland, white, house. Although I have pretty much decided what to do with most of the house, I only have a small budget every month with which to accomplish this. So I must be strategic in my spending/planning. My first month's project was to paint the family/breakfast/kitchen area and add pulls to all the cabinets and drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms (pics in a previous post). Then I painted Wesley's room and bought new towels/bath mats for my bathroom (pics to follow...at some point). The past couple days I've done projects I've been putting off: Wesley's paper-mache tree and painting the front door.Wesley's tree -- my son's room was inspired by this picture:

I mean, it's kinda the coolest thing EVER. Of course, I do not have the budget needed to create such a room... nor do I have the space. BUT it is my inspiration non-the-less. Since I don't have the means to cut down trees or whittle large pieces of wood to look like trees, the next logical answer is chicken wire and paper mache. :) I bought 2 shades of brown paint to make it look like bark and I intend to add leaves and vine just like the above photo. Step one took an entire day (with an 8 month old things take 10x longer than they normally would). Here's the paper mache tree:

I know it might be hard to see my vision, but I think it'll look really cool. I plan to hang Wesley's letters from that branch over the crib... I'm so excited! Bamboo fencing, leaves, vines... I can't wait for it to all be done! Anyway, it's hard to get stuff done in the place your child sleeps... so it might take me a while to finish. I highly recommend finishing the nursery before the baby arrives for this very reason -- it's a little hard to avoid when you move though!

Anyway, on to the front door. Our house is a cute, red-brick house with cream trim -- so cute! BUT it was just "missing" something. I decided that something was a pop of color on the front door. Here is a pick of the house before:

And here's my painted door!

I think it adds just the right touch. What's next? Well, painting Wesley's tree and then the guest room -- gotta get ready for some visitors from Alaska! ;)

Happy 4th of July!

It is beyond a blessing for Matt and I to have a day off with NOTHING on the agenda - today was one of those rare days! Wesley decided to wake up at 4:30am, of course, so in I went to feed him and get him back to bed. But bed wasn't in the cards. He cried for another hour til Matt went in and got him and put him in his bouncer. Or at least that's what I assume... I slept in til 10! :) So, when I got up Mr. Wesley wanted some mommy cuddle time.

So after some playing and relaxing, a walk with mommy, daddy and Lincoln, and of course a nap, we got some hard core play time. I just ADORE his laugh!

Well, it's also the 4th, so we had to show Wesley something about it! We had a few sparklers left over from a wedding (I think Caitlin's?). Wesley was ready for bed and super tired so he was pretty out of it at this point...

After a long day, Wesley got his evening bath and bedtime routine and mommy did her P90x (did I mention I'm on week 2 now??)! Just a TAD sore... :)

Overall, what a great day! I am so thankful to God for his unending blessings. We are so blessed to live in a country that gives us our freedom to live our lives the way we please and worship the only true God. Happy Independence Day everyone!

Wesley is 8 Months Old!

Such a fun month! We now have 2 teeth, have started walking around with a walker toy, and are just SO much fun! What a lucky mommy I am! Here's the 8 month photo shoot. It was all I could do to get a smile without him scrunching his nose and eyes... that's his new thing! :)

Painting, painting!

When we bought our house 2 months ago it was STARK white. Which made me pretty pumped because then I could do anything! With endless possibilities before me, I decided to start painting the family room/breakfast room/kitchen first, cause that's where we spend the most time. Since they are kinda one big room, I decided to paint them all the same color and then add an accent color later. Once the living room was done it just felt so much warmer and more inviting! I LOVE it!

The final venture was the kitchen. I went ahead and bought some handles for the cabinets (cause I really don't like the cabinets, but they are too expensive to upgrade and I don't have time to stain right now). It's a pick-me-up to that room at least. So here is the picture of the kitchen before we bought it...

Plain jane, eh? Well, we moved in and got pretty settled.

Here is the pick before the paint and handles...

And here's the after...

Before...

... and after!

(Did I mention the new faucet we had to buy before we moved in? The other one sprayed the room everytime you turned it on!)

And finally, here's the munchkin "helping" :)