Wallscaping

So back in November when my in-laws were here for Thanksgiving, my MIL Lill had some rearrangement suggestions for our living room. She has always had an eye for decorating so I was eager to follow her suggestions. We ended up a layout that we all agreed was much more open and flowed better, and just suited the room! However, we had a huge blank wall behind the couch (where a huge cabinet had been before). Not to mention that smack in the middle of that wall was our thermostat. Really?!? Who wired our house so that the thermostat would be in the middle of the most prominent wall in the living room?


I had 4 large (but not identical) framed portraits that I wanted to hang behind the couch but wasn't sure how to arrange them. Pinterest gave some suggestions as did several decorator-minded friends...however I couldn't envision a collage-type layout since the frames were so large and not identical. Not to mention that awful box smack dab in the middle of the wall. Nothing seemed right:



So I started out with this:


and this:




And ended up with this:



Finally, last week I hung the pictures (using 3M Command Strips so I wouldn't have to patch holes if/when I messed up) and so far, we are happy with the placement. We need to adjust the height of the 3rd one by about 1/4" but thats what command strips are for :)



The thermostat is still an eyesore but not quite as bad as the frame that still has the stock insert in it. I'm waiting on our family to be complete to update that portrait.

Just one more thing to check off my list!



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Last Weekend (late recap)

Absolutely loving this gorgeous weather!!
Friday, we made a quick run to the grocery store which both boys enjoy :)




Followed by our first picnic lunch of the season in the backyard and lots of running, swinging, hanging & chasing.












Friday evening we had a cookout with a few neighbors and the kids had a blast hanging out, and us adults enjoyed a few hours of good company and yummy food. The boys are all about hanging these days. Believe it or not, Westie can hold himself up when hanging on the monkey bar.



And Jackson prefers to be upside down.



Saturday morning, we had a birthday party for Jackson's buddy Slade and we all enjoyed going as a family. Ben was pumped to check out PlayNation and get some inspiration for his long-term playset upgrades.

Saturday afternoon, Ben's brother William & wife Tinka & daughter Cora came to Greenville after a nearby swim meet was over. Jackson was smitten with Cora and those two had fun playing.



Living in New Bern, NC, we don't get to see them but twice or so a year, so we were glad they re-routed their trip in order to come see us.




Sunday after church, we spent the afternoon in the cul-de-sac riding bikes, scooters, kicking balls, making bottle rockets (thanks to Ben's engineering marvels) and hanging out with fun neighbors. The ice cream truck came by for the first time this season and we all enjoy a treat.




And in other news, Weston is growing a mullet like his Uncle Michael. Actually, its more like a rat-tail. I just need to snip it off and stop making fun of it, but its bittersweet giving my baby his first haircut. When it curls just right it looks even longer than it really is:



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My Nutty Buddy Buddy

I love a good Nutty Buddy. It goes way back to lazy summer afternoons at MawMaw's house where the Schwann truck would make its weekly rounds, typically swinging by on Wednesday afternoon to drop off a week's worth of frozen foods. I'm not sure what all MawMaw & PawPaw ordered from them, but I do know that they always had a stockpile of Nutty Buddy's in the deep freezer in the basement. What started as the occasional treat became the much anticipated tradition, and now, even 20 years later, I still think of MawMaw every single time I eat a Nutty Buddy.


Last week, my very pregnant self picked up a 10-pack box of these delicious treats at the grocery. While I was tempted to hoard them and eat every single one of them myself (perhaps two at a time), I decided to treat Jackson to a taste of my childhood and he.was.hooked.

As sat at the kitchen table and shared this nostalgic treat, I wanted him to realize how special this was to me. You see, my mom "Bebe" always has a cookie jar stocked with Bebe Cookies. They are just the Keebler chocolate chip M&M cookies but I make a point of not buying them to help maintain their sacredness in his eyes. He looks forward to the inevitable Bebe Cookie, and that blue glazed cookie jar is always the first place he runs to whenever we arrive at her house.


I explained to him that one day, he would share a Bebe cookie with his kids, and get to tell them how much fun he had always getting a special treat at Bebe's house. And that anytime he ever saw or ate one of them, he would always think of Bebe and how much he loved her and special she was. And it would always remind him of his childhood, and it was such a gift that something so small and ordinary could evoke feelings of love {I may have lost him on that last part...}





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March Fun

I am loving the time change! We love having more time to play after supper and both boys are sleeping in until 9 most mornings. We had a spontaneous waffle brunch this morning. Best part: I ran out of Bisquick so subbed in some apple cinnamon muffin mix. So delish!!






(On the other hand, I am THAT Mom who has dropped the kids off at preschool an hour late this week.)




At Lowes, I spotted this awesome endcap packed full of springy paint samples. I grabbed a couple and plan to try making chalk paint (different than chalkboard paint). Apparently you can paint it on without priming or sanding and then easily distress it. I'm dying to try it on a few wooden step stools we have around the house. Will keep you posted on how it turns out!



Speaking of painting, we went to the art house last week for a morning of fun. It was slam-packed inside and pretty weather outside so the kids had a blast painting the brick building, trees, pretty much anything they could get their brushes on.



Ben came home from work with these gorgeous surprise flowers a few weeks back. They are still going strong and brighten up my house! I love you honey!



Jackson sporting his yellow Lance Armstrong jersey one afternoon. I sent this pic to my dad and his text response was "I bet his sidekick is bulking up on drugs." Most likely he's bulking up on whole milk, fruit and anything else he can get his little paws on.



Driving to PetSmart yesterday, I asked the boys what their favorite animals were. Jackson quickly replied, "Bebe giraffe!" (he calls them this because Bebe's favorite zoo animal is a giraffe) Weston said, "Hot Dogs!" Go figure, the hearty eater somehow ties food in to the convo. I laughed so hard!





I found this picture in an old frame, of 4 of my cousins and me back in, oh, let me guess...early 1990's. We are in MawMaw's living room and yes, we all loved to play on her treadmill which had a very prominent spot in front of the picture window. Dad had actually sent me this picture as a postcard, months before Jackson was born. "Think you had your hands full then....wait 7 months!" Oh Dad, if only you knew. Think I have my hands full now? Hmmm, just wait 2 months!"




Last week, Ben was home from work 3 days with a stomach bug. It was AWFUL. We both were exhausted and stressed out by the end of the weekend when he finally got his energy back. Single parenting is HARD and carrying for a sick daddy on top of that plus being 8 months preggo is not really my idea of a good time.




On Friday, we HAD to get out of the house so we went on a nature hunt at the park. We found flowers, sticks, rocks, you name it, and the boys had fun tromping in the woods. It was good for all of us to get out in the fresh air.


For the past few months, we have been using E-meals. Basically, I get an email on Wednesday mornings giving me a menu for 7 dinners for the next week. The menu is created based on shopping Publix and buying items that are on sale. So far, we have been very impressed and have only had a few meals that were so-so. The prep time is fairly quick (20 minutes or less) and I usually only choose 3 or 4 of the meals to do each week because we do eat out some, or want to have steaks or something not on the menu plan. Here are two that we have had in the past two weeks and LOVED. As in I doubled the recipes and we still at it all. You owe it to yourself to try these.








Post-Sunday School conversation: "I learned about the Last Supper, they had bread and grape juice...and broccoli." Perhaps they did, Jackson.




After my 32 week OB appointment on Wednesday, I decided to treat myself to a spa pedi. It was so relaxing to sit in the massage chair in pure silence (kinda) for an hour will they massaged and feet and legs and prettied up my toes. Was too relaxed to snap a pic!


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Particular

Jackson has always been quite particular about where things go, the sequence of events, he likes things "just so."

His "J Parade" of matchbox cars was no exception. They had to perfectly form a J (HIS letter as he proudly states).



Beside the "J Parade" was the "Animal Parade, which was slightly shortened when piggie kept falling over and a new plan had to be devised.


No worries, piggie hitched a ride in the back of a pick-up, no big deal.



Along with a last minute giraffe...









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Dorkiest.Date.Ever.

Last Friday night, Lovee watched the kids while Ben and I spontaneously went out on a date. We are super excited she was available at such last minute. She arrived around 6, so we started off for an early dinner at Irashai for some delish sushi (mine were cooked but still scrumptious).

After dinner, it was only around 8 so we decided to head to the mall (yes, the mall...on a Friday night). Ben's been salivating over a new iMac.
{Actually, he had ordered one last week without discussing it with me and when I saw it on the debit card and started panicking, he agreed to cancel that rather large purchase until we discussed it further}
So we spent 30 minutes at the Apple Store letting the "genius" educated us, or rather, me on what we needed and why. I do agree...we are operating a on hand-me-down PC that is at least 8 years old. It is as slow as dial-up used to be and does not even have enough memory for us to sync up the iPad or iPhones. Case made, we need to upgrade to a new computer. Agreed. That new bad boy has been ordered and is expected to arrive in late March. We are both super excited but a little undereager to deal with all the file transfers/conversions/formatting thats going to have to take place to get our files on the new computer.

We window-shopped at Build-A-Bear, only so I could explain to Ben what it was all about. Jackson's incentive for writing his name independently is a trip to BAB to pick out a new buddy. Ben wasn't (and still isn't) sure what all the hype is about. But hey, if it serves as motivation for our stubborn first born to write his name (which he can totally do if he really wanted too).

Next up on the tour-de-Haywood was LensCrafters. Yes, we went browsing for eyeglasses. We are SO in our mid-30s, suburbia, 2 1/2 children and a dog. We found a pair that was very reminiscent of Ben's early childhood days of dorky glasses. Boy I would pay big money to be able to find a picture of Ben in those lookers. This pair we found was similar but its hard to get the whole effect when he's making faces:


We did find a pair that we really liked on him. Although he had lasik 10 years ago, he feels like he needs some glasses to amp up his vision when staring at a screen all day. We both liked these:




With the mall closing at 9 (early?), we headed to Barnes and Noble to relax and read a little bit, which is hard to do when there is a scarcity of chairs and realistically, I am not in the position to find and start a new book right now. I can hardly keep my family fed and the house somewhat straighten, the luxury of time to read seems a little far-fetched to me. My couple of golden hours of spare time are consumed by updating photo albums, blogs, doing a little sewing and trying to get organized for this baby who will be joining our family in 2 months.

Anyways, we headed back home from our date feeling refreshed and young again. We spent the evening giggling, telling old stories, and just catching up on the little things that seem to slip by, going untold. It those little things that weave our lives together, that create memories, that let us know one another, that make us love each other even more.


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All in a day's work

Lately, I've been sweating over the projects that just have to get done around here before baby Colton arrives. They are not huge projects, per see, but enough of a project that it requires planning, acquiring materials and at least several hours of focused time.

So on Monday, I decided to tackle the boys' closet. While it initally had only 1 hanging bar and no other shelving options, I decided to move the current hanging bar up and add a lower wire shelf to double our hanging space.



I also added FastTrack in the sides of the closet, which is a bracketing system with adjustable brackets so you can easily move your wire shelving as your needs change. Now our wire shelfs are taken by bins of puzzles, blocks,etc. and I am so thrill at the new organizational vibe coming out of that closet!

This is the real first step in converging the boys into the same room and so far, things went well.



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