Its the Most Wonderful Time of the Year...



This year I feel like I've slacked some on Christmas decorations...for obvious reasons:) There were a few more things that I wanted to do that I didnt get around to but the most important things were done and the house still has that wonderful Christmas feel that I look forward to every year!

The wreath on the door we bought on our first Christmas and it was plain. I made the bow just by stapling ribbon the way my talented mother taught me:) and that’s all it was for a while. Last year I found these fun pine cone/berry thingys at Hob Lob and added them for some color, and then this year I added the "L" -- yes, the same one that is on ALL the wreaths!

 

We have decorated the hutch the same way each year: some simple garland and ribbon wrapped around it. In the center we put the advent wreath my brother made me one year – its actually a tree trunk, which I love!  I also add ribbon around all the candles -- just with a push pin in it, and it makes it look like we put out special Christmas candles :)

I love putting out my Christmas plates -- we got them for our wedding from my grandparents, and then I got 4 chargers on clearance at Target a couple years ago...and they just happen to go wonderfully with our green placemats and napkins! One of the wonderful things about having a REAL Christmas tree is that you can snip pieces (off the back...good thing there's no window view back there) to use elsewhere! I made the centerpiece a couple years ago just by covering some Goodwill glasses with translucent ribbon, so that candlelight glows thru. And then just stuff some greenery and leftover Hob Lob red berries, and some Goodwill pinecones around it and yay! A centerpiece!

Maya spends at least half her day watching out the window -- she's watching for Mister to come home here:)

The entry table is new this year and was fun to decorate! That giant wreath was part of our post-Christmas Hob Lob sale shopping last year! It was so fun -- we went on JUST the right day (that seriously never happens to me) and we got tons of decorations for 90% off, using my gift cards I had just gotten for Christmas! When we pulled out the wreath this year, Mister noticed the tag was still attached and marked $60...yea we got it for less than $8! The window is just going to stay out all year I think :) I wanted to make this fun wreath I saw on Pinterest and hang it, but I never got around to it -- I still think the plain white window looks "winterish" so oh well!

The only other Christmas-ing on the table is simple faux snow and dollar store ornaments in the cloche -- easy peasy!

I love our family room at Christmas...last  year was our first year in the house, and we were both excited about having a banister and a mantle...so we did go a little crazy with the garland and lights!

I do the mantle, and Mister does the banister (I tried to do it this year, but apparently I didn't do the lights quite right and it had to be re-done correctly :) And of course, we do the real tree thing -- we both grew up with fake trees and though I do love how perfectly symmetrical they are and all, I love the tradition and SMELL of a real tree so much!

 Last year we had the most perfect of all trees -- it was huge and very green and oh so FLUFFY! This year we went to the same farm, but a week later, and the pickings were slimmer... we trekked through piles of mud (seriously it had rained ALOT) only to find out that the kind of tree that we wanted they only had in the pre-cut section! And we walked around and around and none of them measured up to last year’s tree...then we got it home and discovered that they had drilled the stand in cock-eyed so we even had to prop up two of the stand legs -- frustrating. But, after we got the lights and ribbon on, and stacked the presents so they hid the bare spot on the side, it looks pretty:)

We love sitting in the family room at night, turning out the lights and turning on the tree, mantle, and banister -- so relaxing and Christmasy!! I can't wait for Christmas this year -- Caleb won't remember his first Christmas, but we will, and it will be so special :)

Nursery!



Well, tomorrow is the due date and...just waiting! Its very odd waking up every morning thinking "Is this the day that the most significant event in our lives thus far will happen?"

We (I) kind of rushed to get everything ready by 37weeks, just anticipating that Caleb would be early and things wouldn't be ready! And now, of course, we are still waiting:) Mister had to be out of town for a few days right at the 37 week mark, so I spent the time I had alone getting the nursery all finished! We had taken a trip to Babies R Us the weekend before to get the last "necessities" on our registry, and then I took a trip to Target to get a few things there.

 

We had been planning on putting all Caleb's books on small shelves or something, but he got so many that we really needed bookshelves! when I was at Target they were actually having a big sale and I found a set that match his crib pretty well for $20 (technically free with giftcards:)! Yay! And then of course I couldn't wait for Mister before actually putting it together (yes, I am a little proud of doing it myself, even though its only one of those fake wood ones) and setting it up -- It fits perfectly!

 

 

I love how many books Caleb has already! The girls who threw my work shower put on the invitation to "sign a book instead of a card" and almost everyone did! He got alot of the "necessities", like "Goodnight Moon", ALOT of Dr Seuss, and even the Bearnstein Bears. We are both VERY excited to be able to read to him:)

 

 

I got the lamp at Goodwill for a few dollars, and the "C" is from Hob Lob, just painted with leftover wall paint. Mister picked out the vintage truck and plane from Hob Lob too!

We got this glider on Craigslist (actually the dresser too...and most of the furniture in the house...) for way cheap, and its really comfortable -- I think of it as a necessity for the many late night feedings!

 

 

 

The crib is all set up and ready to go too...though Caleb won't even be sleeping in it for a few weeks while he's in the bassinet/pack n play!

 

 

The two stuffed animals are "Build A Bears" that Mister and I made while we were dating...Caleb will have to be careful though, because Maya has been eyeing the monkey like its her toy! The wall above the crib has the frame that is still my absolute favorite part of the nursery...I'm going to do a separate post on it:)

And the adorable quilt was made by my very talented cousin Eden-- love how it matches the room perfectly!

 

 

Well, now Caleb's bag is packed and we are ready to go...it's all up to him...

Finally...

The dresser/changing table is done!! As planned, Grandpa and Grandma and my parents came out at the end of October and helped us (or rather, Mister, Dad, and Grandpa) strip and sand the dresser.

Mister and I did a few hours of sanding ourselves later, but they did an awesome job and really got the hardest part all done!

The dresser turned out the best of any furniture we've stained before, and I think its because of the experts that helped us so much -- thanks Grandpa and Dad!  I think that if I could always have the stripping and sanding done for me, I would stain furniture all the time--the actual staining part is so fun! Painted wood is pretty too, and certainly easier, but after stripping off that white paint, painting the stain in and watching the real wood grain come out is SO rewarding and beautiful!  The only problem is that I absolutely HATE the tedious process of stripping and the many hours of sanding required before staining!

We chose the color "Dark Walnut" by Minwax. The color of the crib is actually Espresso, but, strangely enough Minwax doesnt make an espresso shade, and I wanted to stick with Minwax because I've used it before. Actually, Mr Lowe's Guy said on the phone that if I wanted to bring in the piece of furniture I wanted to match, he could mix a color for me...call me crazy but I really didn't feel like Idragging the crib into Lowe's just to get an exact color match? Nope, not worth it. And we love the color that it turned out anyways:)

We moved it up a few weeks ago...too early actually.  The stain was not drying very quickly because of how cold it was in the garage, so we figured moving it inside it would actually dry quicker -- that turned out to be true, but we made a big mess in the process. Apparently some stain seeped onto the bottom of the legs and was of course still wet. The dresser is alot heavier than it looks, so we had to take a break while moving it up the stairs...and we left four big stain marks on the carpet! Then again in the upstairs hallway Mister just couldnt hold it any longer and had to let it down...it looks like Maya had four perfectly spaced apart "accidents" in the hallway! We finally got it into the room and onto some paper, which we were able to move a few days later (it DID dry much quicker inside), and after researching online we were able to clean up the stains for the most part (using paint thinner -- who knew?!). However, the paint thinner we used smelled pretty strong and our wimp of a puppy is still afraid of the stains on the stairs -- she actually walks carefully around them as she goes downstairs.

I want to put shelf paper in these drawers eventually, but I was just too excited to get all of Caleb's stuff moved in to worry about it now, so I just found some towels for now:)

Its so fun to have everything moved into drawers and organized -- its good for my OCD:)

Eventually I will put a collage of pictures of him above the dresser, and also I was thinking a verse?

 Maybe Psalm 139...

Well, soon the nursery will be completely ready and then the rest will be up to Caleb...

Bits of Fall

Summer has always been my favorite season -- the sun, the heat, swimming, being outside, and, when I was younger, no school! And Christmas is by far my favorite holiday – Mister can attest to the fact that it’s a real struggle to wait till the day AFTER Thanksgiving to start the Christmas season. So, Fall has always just been sad "summer-is-over-Christmas-is-months-away" time. But last year I was determined to actually enjoy fall – Mister made the point that you can decorate for Fall too, after all.  And I did enjoy it! The leaves turning colors is gorgeous in Indiana (yes, we do have trees), the weather starting to turn colder isn’t bad at all when you have apple cider,  and I found out fall decorations are really funJ So last week the weather finally started turning fall-ish (although today suddenly it was like 70 degrees…this is Indiana after all) and I had my first apple cider – yep, as good as I remembered it!

I’ve missed coffee so much the last few months but there’s something really cozy about Apple Cider and a cinnamon stickJ

Since its officially fall we got out fall decorations!

I made this fall wreath last year after I saw one similar on a blog and it was incredibly easy and cheap – a bag of dollar store leaves, hot glue, and a piece of poster board I already had. Oh, and the monogram I transfer from wreath to wreath every season.  

On the dining table I got to reuse the table runner from my brother’s wedding rehearsal dinner and a couple mirrors (same rehearsal dinner!) – I’ve always wanted a table runnerJ  The candle holders are always there, I just put cinnamon sticks in them and sprinkled leftover leaves on the mirrors – hopefully if I light those candles it will smell like cinnamon…maybe.

I have had this window in the garage for a year months since my grandpa found it and asked if I wanted it – he knows how much I love empty windowsJ I finally got it out, sanded it a little and spray painted it white (not too much because I love that old look…and because I ran out of paint…). I LOVE it. And, I think I can use it for every season, just changed a little! The wreath was my summer wreath, just pulled the flowers off of it.

…more dollar store leaves…and some tall grasses from between our yard and the neighbors...

In the living room I thought about changing the mantle to make it more fall-ish but I like it the way it isJ I just wrapped up some books with scrapbook paper instead and tied them up with raffia – not necessarily fall I guess but I like itJ

I think last year I spent about $5 on these decorations, and any additions this year were things I already had – (yay freeJ ) so easy! Since we’re going to be a little busy around Christmas time this year having a baby, I don’t know how long I can hold off the Christmas decorating urge tho…

In other news, we added a craigslist glider and a dresser/changing table to the nursery! My grandpa, the expert refinisher is coming on the 28^th to help us strip and re-stain the dresser (its white right now), so pictures to comeJ

Oh, and this is the view out our backyard -- another perk of midwest Fall: stunning sunsets!

And now, Mister is making some coffee so I think I’ll have some hot ciderJ

Starting the Nursery...

We have been wanting to start a blog for a while (I actually set this one up almost a year ago…just never posted anything…) and as we are starting to prepare for the birth of our first son, now seemed a good time! The purpose of this blog is mostly for us to just catalog what is going on in our lives, and will hopefully help keep out-of-town relatives more closely involved…with pictures (aka Mom Lowe and Nana;)!

Well, we starting actually setting up what will be, Lord willing, Caleb’s nursery this week! I think a “before” picture is really necessary:

Could that room be less “boy”? I think it is the exact color of Pepto-Bismol…I know the previous owner was a little girl but still – it was a little too pink.

We are really excited about creating this room for our little boy! We want it to be very “boy” and also a room that doesn’t just look like a nursery – something he can grow into…so basically no ducks or lambs. So, we went with simple blue and white. Mister picked the color and I have to say he did a really great job – historically we (more I actually) are horrible at picking paint colors.  I like to blame it on our lovely “orange peel” (I think that’s what its called?) textured walls – for some reason the color does NOT look near the same as it does on a paint chip! Anyway, I really didn’t want to go through the fiasco of paint sample after paint sample up on the walls, and when Mister brought home a chip called “Blue Lava” and said he liked it, I had just  gotten home from my third night shift in a row and didn’t really care to question – turned out his instincts were just rightJ There isn’t a lot of natural light in the nursery so it looks more  navy than it actually is – just what we wanted!

The reason only half the wall is painted is because we are going to tackle “board and batten” on the bottom! We’ve been wanting to try this type of moulding for a long time, and really thought it would look fun in a nursery…and then our wonderful parents left us a Lowes giftcard last month and we knew just what to use it forJ I have to admit I was a more than a little nervous to try this – even though all the blogs said it was easy, the last time we did woodwork (beadboard in the bathroom) it turned out OK but was kind of a fiasco. But…Mister convinced me and it turned out he was right – it was not that hard at all and a lot of fun:

We used pre-primed MDF board – a lot cheaper than real wood but plenty durable for our purposes. We started by measuring the walls and spacing where we thought we would be putting the battens before we even went to the store, so that the nice Lowes people could cut it to the exact right height for us! We (Mister) used a simple miter box and hand saw for the few cuts we did have to make ourselves. We put one long piece as a baseboard – yep, right on top of our old baseboard. I know this is totally taboo to serious home decorators, but we did NOT want to mess with tearing out the old baseboard, and actually like how it looks – like one of those super expensive chunky baseboards! Then we went through the whole room and marked the studs with a simple stud-finder, because we wanted to space our battens so that as many as possible were right on studs.  Then we measured. And leveled. and measured. and leveled. and measured again just to make sure: 

Dad told us that we should let Maya in the nursery as much as possible – the more she’s exposed to it, especially as its changing, the less likely she will be jealous of Caleb when he’s born…or choose his room as her extension of the backyard…she just curls up and watches as we’re hammering – totally clueless.

Next we hammered up the top piece—it braced the few battens that were not on studs between the top and bottom boards.
Then we chose to add a sort of second level – later I want to add hooks at random points for decoration and also for hanging things like little boy PJs and backpack somedayJ
This was the hardest part I think! Just making sure it was level...and stayed level as we hammered --- we used an extra long board to to brace each piece on the bottom while we put it up

The final piece was a smaller (1 inch I think?) piece on top of that as a simple shelf. This we actually used Liquid Nails for because it would be almost impossible to nail it in from the top.  We also added a tiny corner moulding that we actually had left over from the bathroom project last year to “finish” the shelf:

We plan on resting picture frames and books on this little shelf around the room!

We’re not quite done – still have to fill all those little gaps and nail spots with paintable calk and add a coat of white paint…hopefully tomorrow!

ADDENDUM:

Our crib came today! Our wonderful parents ordered it last week and it just got here today so we had to put it up:) We think it looks great with the white and blue:

Ok and now we really want to finish the room...and really want to meet little Caleb James!!!