Recent happenings

This past Friday Mike & I headed on a rare date night while our generous friends, Josh & Jill watched the kids overnight.

We were pretty excited to have some uninterrupted dinner conversation that didn't include, "take another bite," "how many more bites do I have to have?!"

The weekend continued to be low-key on Saturday as we ran some errands & browsed around Target.  Unfortunately, shortly after this picture above was taken, things quickly went south.  We headed home to make dinner & grill some corn on the cob.  Just as I looked up from reading my magazine on the patio, I noticed Reese was extremely close to the grill.  Two seconds earlier she had been happily playing on her swing set, so I'm not sure what drew her to the grill, but there she was.  As I jumped out of my seat to tell her that it was hot, she started to scream in pain.  I rushed her into the house & we ran her hands under cool water & tried to assess the situation & determine if she had to go to the hospital.  Burns are the worst, but thankfully it appeared to be a first degree burn.  The poor little girl was in so much pain, it was brutal to watch.  When she was soaking her hands in a bowl of cool water she was fine, but as soon as she'd take her hands out of the water, she'd scream in pain.  This lasted for hours, so as bedtime came & went, Mike told her she would have to take her hands out of the water & it would hurt for a few minutes, but it had to be done.

She cried & begged to keep her hands in the water & the next fifteen or so minutes were terrible.  Finally, the pain started to subside & she eventually fell asleep in bed with us.  Thank God she slept through the night & when she woke up Sunday her pain was pretty much gone.  I can tell you that she will never go near that grill again, painful lessen learned.

Otherwise, we're having a typical low-key Wednesday at home & I'll be surprised if we even get out of our pajamas.  I threw some boneless pork chops into the Crock Pot & poured a jar of butter chicken simmer sauce over them to cook on low.  I'll put brown rice in the rice cooker later & serve it along with some steam in the bag broccoli for a very lazy dinner.

I've been taking advantage of a less hectic schedule & getting the kids' rooms organized before the school year picks back up next month.  Their clothes are officially cycled to updated sizes & smaller sizes have been distributed as hand-me-downs to friends.

We moved into our house just before Cam had turned four (he'll be seven in September), so the artwork in his room is a bit juvenile.  He's not picky though so it's not a high priority on our to-do list!

He was happy enough with the SpongeBob decals we added; boys are so easy!

Playroom update

I haven't done all that many house posts lately, so I thought I'd do a playroom update.  I'm such a house junky; I love seeing other people's homes, how they decorate, organize, utilize their spaces, etc. I'm constantly watching HGTV, browsing Pinterest & even stopping at model homes for inspiration.  I'm big into maximizing the way we use our space so I hate the idea of useless rooms for sitting or dining while no one is actually sitting or dining in them but maybe once a year.  With that being said, we did away with our living room/formal dining room & made it into a big playroom that could be used for crafts or homework. 

The previous owners used it as a dining room & painted it a basic brown. 

We chose Green Tea Leaf by Porter Paints & swapped out the chandelier with a light fixture from IKEA.  Very inexpensive changes that made a quick difference.  The picture above is our mid-way point.

This is what our playroom looks like today.  My mom bought the little craft/homework table for Reese's 2nd birthday from Walmart.  For being under $100, it's very sturdy & has withstood daily use, even with my big butt sitting in it to help Cam with homework.

The chalkboard my dad made also gets plenty of use!

To give you perspective as to where our playroom sits in our house, this is the view from our front door.  Mike's office is immediately off to the left as you come into our house.  As the kids get older, we eventually hope to morph the space into a swanky lounge/bar & possibly get a pool table.  Our dream is to install a swimming pool in the near future, so this would be a great space to entertain!

Otherwise the three of us have been enjoying our Wednesday home together.  Since the kids keep so busy at school/summer camp the rest of the week, I try not to feel too guilty about having a lazy day at home while I organize/clean.  Last week we hit the movies to see Inside Out but outings can be so incredibly expensive & it's way too hot to do outdoor activities.

My little guy is just lounging in "Grammy's room," playing the WiiU... it's like his private frat house back there.  He even has his own bathroom (which he rarely flushes!)  Hope you are all having a great week!

A happy birthday to America & a happier plant shelf!

This past weekend was glorious & we enjoyed an extra day off on the third.  Nothing better than a lazy morning, home with the family to relax & sip some coffee!  We headed to Sarasota in the late afternoon to spend the fourth with my family.

There was a whole lot of swimming going on!

I love how Cameron's eyes are on the camera the entire way into the pool, so cute!

I would definitely not consider myself a fireworks kinda gal.  Yes, if they're bursting into the sky, I love them but I'm not going to brave massive crowds to watch them & I get nervous and antsy when my family & friends are blowing them off.  But, of course my screw ball of a brother talked me into going in on some & shooting them off in my parent's back yard.  All went well & thankfully no one was injured!

In other news, Mike & I celebrated our 19th year together on June 27th.

The picture above was taken in my bedroom, I'm guessing junior year of high school.  We were playing a game called Slumber Party, I used to love that game!  Did you ever play it?  This picture pretty much sums up our relationship, Mike is always cracking me up!

I've been working on reconfiguring the plant shelf in our kitchen since it just kind of got thrown together with hand-me-downs from my mom when we moved in.   Since we're always on a budget, I'm constantly on the lookout for inexpensive finds. 

In the picture above, the yellow & turquoise jars to the far right were together under about $20 from Marshall's.  The turquoise jar was too short so I have it resting atop a box from Amazon.

This "You are my Sunshine" sign was bought for about $8 from Marshall's with Cameron in mind.  I sang that song to him about a dozen times a night when he was a baby.  Fast forward to now & my little guy always plays it when he wants to warm my heart.  Which is about four times a week!

I spotted this "Home Sweet Home" sign from Pier One several months ago, but was too cheap to drop the $30.  After seeing it again the other day & passing it by, I bit the bullet & picked it up after work today.  Mike's yet to notice it, so we'll see if he approves.  It was a bit on the short side & got lost, so I got creative & propped it on two beer mugs.  Ya gotta do what you gotta do!

Speaking of Pier One, I got this owl dish brush holder from there about a year ago.  At about $24 it was definitely pricey but I love it & it always makes me happy!

Since we're not in the market to make any big budget renovations, it's the little things that make my heart happy!

Father's Day 2015

This post is a tad late in coming, but better late than never, eh?!  As per usual, we headed to Sarasota to stay at my parent's house this Father Day.  Also per usual, we celebrated Mikayla's birthday while we were there.  This year she turned the BIG 8!

Cameron & Mikayla are seriously together every second of every weekend they spend together... They get along so well because they're both so darn crazy!

Another big happening Father's Day weekend is that Cameron officially learned to swim without his swimmies!  Woohooo.  Although these pictures may indicate that he can't swim at all, he's quite the confident pro suddenly.

I got a video of Cameron swimming across the length of the pool, but I'm moronic when it comes to uploading videos to my blog.  We've been practicing with him in spurts & he's gradually gotten stronger & stronger to the point that he can really hold his own, even in the deep end.  Not to say that I'm going to let him swim unsupervised anytime soon, but he's really come far.

I sometimes struggle with Father's Day ideas for Mike & this year was no exception, especially since we were out of town the week before.  The picture above caught my eye so I decided to go with it since Mike is in need of more pictures for his office anyway.  Last week, I whipped together some poster board & did a quick photo shoot with the kiddos.

It started out rough when I told Cam that he was going to hold the "Best" sign since I envisioned him in the first picture since he's the first born.  Well, that didn't go over too well since he apparently decided he had his heart set on holding the "Daddy" sign.  Luckily he quickly moved past that hitch & we snapped a cute picture.

Next came Reese who has decided as of a week and a half ago that this picture above is the new normal/natural way to smile...

See what I mean?

But after several takes, her cute/natural smile came back out & we wrapped up this portion of the shoot.  On to the last picture...

Several odd smiles came out in our first few shots.

The photo shoot paired with evening crankiness meant that a big temper tantrum was brewing as you will see in the following pictures.

Notice as Reese angrily kicks at the "Ever" sign in hopes of destroying it.

She was ticked off that we laughed at her outburst, but when you see a three year old start to scream like a banshee, it can be kind of funny.  Once I start laughing (and I had to pee so bad..), I cannot stop!

Oh my..

This shot turned out cute, but I ultimately ended up using one of the tantrum shots where her mouth is super wide, to the effect that she's screaming, "Ever!"  It's pretty darn funny & more real anyway.

On another note, I feel like Reese looks just like Reese Witherspoon (her namesake) in this picture above.  The prominence of her chin & the blond hair is uncanny!

Don't you think they look a lot alike or is it just me?!

Either way, both are beautiful ladies named Reese!