My Life in August Courtesy of Instagram

Here's what life's been like lately...

Since getting back from our road trip... the kids have been having a blast playing together... TOGETHER.  Crazy-ness... they kinda became new best friends overnight.  Doug and I think it was their shared traumatic experience of being restrained in the backseat for so many long hours.  Forced sibling bonding at its finest.  They now play for long hours together effectively trashing my house.  I could care less.

We've been enjoying all the fresh fruits and veggies courtesy of the Toews family garden.  I'm pretty sure I could eat fresh potatoes with dill and cream any and every day.  And fresh black berries for dessert?  Yes please.  I even made fruit leather out of plums Doug picked from the tree in Mom & Dad's backyard-- delicious!

Another important event in August-- my little Eme girl's birthday!  This little lady is now two!

I can hardly believe she's not a teeny tiny baby anymore...

We started the day by going out for breakfast-- McDonald's is always the kids first choice.  And I have a hard time saying no when they end up playing at the play place for an hour and a half allowing me to leisurely sip my coffee and check out the latest on pinterest.  It's a rough life, but someone's gotta do it.

The birthday party was dinner Eme's favourite little friends.  I had these cute straws and at the last minute decided to turn some of my jam jars into cute spill proof cups for all the little folk.  

I made strawberry cupcakes-- and this time around there were no allergic reactions and crazy trips to the emergency room.  Thank goodness!

We've also been trying to fit in some last minute trips to the beach-- oh how I love White Rock on warm summer nights. 

Seriously... can I live here please?

And as I've mentioned before-- since turning two Eme's been sporting a new attitude.  She's determined to be all cool and grown up like her big brother.

So, craft time means it's time to pull out the shades.

And seconds before we run out the door to church she decides to make herself pretty.

This week we're wrapping up our days of summer freedom by squeezing in lots of last minute play dates and trips to the park.  Next week-- kindergarten!  Crazy!!

Oh Hello There

I've been MIA-- I know... but trust me when I say that I may have been missing... but definitely not lacking in the action department.  Things have been busy around here as we wrap up our summer.  Wish I could have kept you all in the loop, but alas... our computer decided to die on us.  But... after a week and a half in the shop... it's back and better than ever!

I'll try to fill you in on all the details another time... since it is kinda late right now... but let me share a highlight... THE DOORS ARE UP IN MY KITCHEN!!!

Late one night, Doug worked overtime to put the doors and drawers on... and let me tell you... it feels fantastic.  We're still waiting for the rest of the finished parts-- crown, kick, decorative end panels, the open shelves-- and I need to get the rest of the hardware, but in the meantime, I've kinda been enjoying the fact that the doors are hard to open.  After months of the kids having open access to everything... they can't figure out how to open a darn thing :)  Sweet mercy... I may NEVER buy cabinet hardware for the rest of this kitchen!!

Today I started operation organization in the kitchen... I shuffled things around and really unpacked all my kitchen stuff the way I want it.

My spices are right at home in their own drawer-- and for the first time ever-- I have a tupperware drawer!  No longer will I be digging around in the hall closet for a matching container and lid-- it's all there, organized, and ready for action.  I can't begin to tell you how exciting that is...

Anyhow... I'll be back soon.  In the meantime, I'm going to keep organizing... and dealing with little Miss Attitude...

Goodness gracious.  Who knew "two" was going to be this much fun??

Vacation Recap

I'm back!  We're all still a little tired from the loooong drive home but our bags have been unpacked, the laundry's been done (but not folded-- my least favorite), and I've finished the grocery shopping and restocked the kitchen.  Now, how about a few pictures?  I actually really slacked off on the picture taking this time around... but I figured, sometimes that's a sign of a really great vacay... right?  Anyways.  Here's a few for ya.

Let's just say... the week was paradise for my little boy.

Getting a tour of Uncle Joel's truck.

Going fishing with Daddy and Papa.

Going to the lake.

It doesn't get much better than that.

And I just can't help myself.  Isn't this little sweetie adorable?  Almost too much cuteness for this auntie to handle!!!

And, as promised... a few pictures of the headboard my sisters and I worked on during the week!  On the last day we were in town we brought it over to my sister's place and the boys set it up.  I had all of 2 minutes to take pictures (or we were going to be late for the new Bourne movie) so... excuse the quality.  But-- I've gotta say, the headboard turned out to be spectacular.  The fabric looked amazing, it was just the right size, the tufting was perfect, and every little fold/button was perfectly placed.  That's what happens when you work alongside two sisters who are also perfectionists... 

Anyhow, that's all I have for today!!

Tufting

More progress has been made on the headboard... my sisters and I were busy in the garage last night and got some of the tufting done on the headboard.  Let me tell you... tufting is definitely a group effort... and can be a little dangerous.  Scissors, staples, needles-- it's serious business.  We tufted and tufted and then we ran out of tufting twine.  We'll pick up more today and get this headboard finished.  Can't wait!

And so, to pay homage to a fun filled night of tufting... I'm going to leave you with some pretty pictures of rooms that all contain a little tufting.  Is anyone else out there a fan?

decor8

Lynn Morgan Design

Annsley Interiors

Made By Girl

Southern Living Idea House via Cottage and Vine

A Vacation Project

So... I'm on vacation right now!  Last weekend we packed up the kids and drove straight through the night for 17 hours (stopping only for gas) so we could spend the week at my parent's farm.  

The kids did great, the roads were clear during the night, and we even managed to come up with a few smiles when we pulled into Edmonton.

So far we're having a blast enjoying hot weather and some time with family.  Yay for vacation!

And... of course we're working on a little project.  My sister moved into a new place and is getting new furniture.  She really wanted an upholstered headboard, but we were having trouble finding the right one.  So, why not make one?  Here's our inspiration...

designed by Alice Lane via me oh my blog

We picked up all the supplies and started working on it yesterday.  The frame has been built, the foam is on, and tonight we've got to start tufting.

And while we were hard at work in the garage... my two kiddos were busy exploring the yard in their gator.  Caleb was pretty excited to give his sister a ride and show her around :)

More to come!

Progress in the Big Girl Room

If I would have attempted to post on this blog earlier this morning it would have been pretty sad-- too much sickness in this house this week, too many early mornings (since when is 5:44 am an appropriate time to wake up!  never!), too much puke to clean out of Eme's hair, too many cranky kids around here, too much messy-ness all around the house, not enough coffee...  glad I decided to hold off.

Because... my fantastic husband (of EIGHT years-- as of yesterday) brought me a starbucks latte before heading off to work for the day,  Caleb and I cheered as Canada won a silver medal, the kids miraculously recovered from their extreme dislike of one another and decided to play downstairs, together, with no screams/cries/blood/puke for an hour which allowed me to clean my house and get a jump on the laundry, and now I suddenly find that I have a few uninterrupted moments to sit down... 

things are starting to look up around here.

So, how about I shift gears and share some of the progress that's been made in Eme's big girl room!  As you may remember, I've been gathering inspiration for her room.  Well, my mom and sister were out visiting last week and we did a little shopping.  I managed to find a few things for Emerson as we were out and about...

I already had the blue lamp (something I found in my thrift store adventures last year) and the pink floral sheets.  But I found the white beaded basket in the clearance bin at Chapters (couldn't find online)-- so cute.  Then I picked up the Emmie Ruta duvet cover from Ikea along with a down duvet-- she's already been sleeping with the pillow in her crib and loves it.  And then, I found pink and white paisley sheet set from Home Sense last week.  We've got our bedding ready to go!  Now I've just got a find a bed-- oh and find the energy to ditch the crib.  Not sure if I'm ready for that yet :)