Random Ramblings

Now that the nuggets are ONE and the party is over, I have an itch... for another project. What to do, what to do?? We've had our house on the market, and we recently chose to stick around {for several reasons: convenience, timing, realtor disappointments, etc}. I'm totally at peace with this decision, but I have the need to work on something... paint a side table, redecorate a bedroom/nursery, paint a room... who knows. Either way, I have a lot of ideas spinning in my head, and I am craving a redo of some sort. I mean, hey, if we're going to stay, why can't I, right??

Yesterday I put some of the paper lanterns from the party in Lilly Scott's room. She loved the surprise when she came home :o) Then she asked for lanterns that light up. Ha.

I need to do something at the top... a bow or something. Any ideas?

I got the lanterns from Luna Bazaar for a great deal! They were very friendly in answering my questions, and the shipping was incredibly fast! I ordered them Friday afternoon, and they were here Wednesday!

The birthday pictures are coming! I will also share the names and business of those who helped me put this fantabulous party together! 

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen some pictures. If not, here's a preview:

Eek! I am so in love with the party decor. I can't let it go. I don't even park in the garage {right now} because the ping pong table is in the middle of the garage with party decor and gifts on it. It was odd Monday morning because I had weather elements on my windshields. What in the world?! I barely found the defrost buttons! {Sad, I know- Jordan spoils me.} As he said, "Welcome to parking outside." Goob.

I'm displaying the party decor in the house as much as I can get away with. Here are the 'year in pictures' banners that hung like garland between each pillar at the pavilion. I have hung them above the windows in Mac and Paisley's 'play room'-

And the flowers, well I love having them all over the house. I wish I would have thought to give more of them away to share their sweet scent and happy nature.

Random pics I wanted to share.... 

Here's LS at Eli's birthday party last Friday, cute girl.

The party wore out a couple of babes:

*Tonight's dinner: chicken, buffalo sauce and powdered ranch in the crock pot. Sounds good, right? I'll probably shred the chicken and serve it with salad and wraps. We may even spoil ourselves with some crunchy tater tots. 

*LS gets out of school in 35 minutes. I've been waking M and P up from their nap early to get to school on time. {By 'on time' I mean 3:00} If you know me at all, you know time management isn't my strong suite. Sadly, I've even taught a class on the subject for 3 years. Obviously, knowledge and execution are two separate things here. I gave myself away this week, though, because we walked to pick up LS... yes, yes, we live that close and I'm still late. The teachers thought we lived about 30 minutes away, but now my cover is blown. Shoot. To think I was trying to be a physically fit and all. ;o)

*Jordan has a fantasy football draft this weekend... Welcome to football season, my friends. Jordan and his 395829 fantasy teams. Buckle up! 

*It's 2:10, I should probably eat today.... On that note~ au revoir! 

as always, 

ashley

All In a Weekend's Work

Yesterday and today were project driven. Jordan's parents gave us one of their old bedroom suits when we first got married, and it has been in our guest bedroom ever since. I was ready for a change, and I was willing to buy new furniture. I started looking around and realized I didn't want to spend the mulah on guest bedroom furniture. So I turned to a huge inspiration: HGTV! I have seen people paint furniture, and it looks really good... I lacked confidence.

My mom is a DIY person, and she encouraged me to make the furniture exactly what I wanted. So she and my dad visited this weekend, and we took on the project! Now it's finished, and I love love love it!!! And I'm so proud of our hard work at a fraction of the cost!

We sanded the finish off the chest, dresser and night stand.

Then we painted, sanded, painted, sanded, and painted a third coat. After the third coat of paint dried, we sanded the edges and dry brushed on a glaze.

We painted the dresser white and the chest a robin's egg blue. The original drawer pulls were spray painted a satin white. We didn't have all of the original knobs so I bought {my new favorite}glass knobs :o)

Between the layers of paint drying, my dad and Jordan worked in our flower beds, and my mom, Lilly and I played with Mac and Paisley.

 Last night Jordan and I went to Dan and Shannon's wedding! We actually didn't make it to the wedding because we were putting Mac and Paisley to bed, but we had a blast at the reception! 

 Here I am with two of my dearest friends, Jill and Ellie.

They had a photo booth with tons of props at the reception. It. was. hilarious! Between Jordan, me, Jack, Jill and Mike (Ellie had left to take Levi and Izzy home), we have almost a photo album of hysterical pictures! What. a. blast!!

This morning we started on the furniture again. I was so ready to have it complete, and we were sore from all day in the sun yesterday. We waddled our way around and got started on our project. The dresser was ready except for the drawer handles and pulls. I went to Home Depot early this morning to get new pulls and the blue paint. 

We painted the chest, distressed the drawers and the chest, and finished up. 

Here's our finished pieces!!!!!

Thank you, Mama and Dad {Nana and Paw Paw} for spending the weekend with us and literally working your butts off! On top of it all, Jordan and I got a date night! Thank you, thank you!! 

This afternoon Paisley crawled to a toy, pulled up, and played! My big girl is getting so big! She was chuckling at herself :o) She was practicing sitting and standing, and of course I got her picture while she was starting to sit.

 That's our weekend wrap up! I hope you had a wonderful weekend as well!

pinterest projects

Have you fallen into the Pinterest trap?? It is a great resource to find DIY projects and ideas for a slue of things. It's also a great way to kill time.. like when you're nursing, pumping, or don't know where to begin the day so you just aimlessly search this site ;-) 

It hasn't all been wasteful, however, since I have found some really neat ideas and projects. I wanted to share with you a few of the projects I have finished.

My favorite is this light... made from a kitchen colander! My mom found a colander for me, and I spray painted it a dark silver. Then Jordan went to Home Depot to get all of the pieces to make it work. We didn't even have to drill any holes. 

 This is how it looks. Mac and Paisley love looking at the reflections on the ceiling. It took us a couple of bulbs to find the right one... To get this look and not be blinded by the bulb, we ordered a mirror bulb. Pretty cool, huh??

The second project I got from Pinterest is this picture frame. Write I love you because... on a piece of scrapbook paper, and fit the paper in the frame. Then write notes back and forth with dry erase markers. It's been quite entertaining for us. 

I still need to add a few fun things to the frame, but here's the idea.

Lastly, I framed Mac and Paisley's outfits they wore home from the hospital. These laughing bee originals were made by a dear friend, I can't believe M and P were so small. Okay, I can, but this time is so fleeting. It's already been almost 6 months since we brought them home!!! 

And here we are today...

As always, this cup overflows :-)

-ashley