crew's 1st birthday!

So it was Crew's first birthday....over a month ago. And I am just getting to blogging about it now!! Aaahhh! But what is new, we all know that I'm not as great at the whole blogging thing as I used to be! I love my blog, though, and I love all the memories and stories I've recorded over the years...so I will still plug away, even if my posts are few and far between!



So back to Crewie...our baby is ONE! This first year with him in our family has absolutely flown by, and of course we had to celebrate him in a big way!! I went with a pirate theme, and he was sooooo stinkin' cute!! He did a perfect job at being the centre of attention....oh, how we love our boy!!



I kept the decorations as simple as possible, it really is amazing what you can find at dollar stores and party stores...it looks like it was a lot more work than it was! (Although, getting my house clean before a party is always a ton of work...I'm a freak and I think my house needs to be spotless when people are coming over...and then it's messy in 2 seconds and nobody cares anyways!! Heehee!)



Anyways...on to the party!! I made this "one" collage that I seen on Pinterest...I love it, and a month later, we still have it displayed in our living room...I loved going through all of Crew's pictures from his first year...I wanted to use them all!!

The pirate cupcakes...

Lookin' too darn cute...

Okay, seriously...WHY is everybody laughing at me???

Opening presents...the girls were right in there!

And, finally...cupcake time.

He went to town on his cupcake, totally wasted NO time and dug right in!!

...and the aftermath.

As always, we just love this little guy so much!! I ask myself on a daily basis how I ever lived without him...Happy 1st Birthday, Crew!!! xoxoxox

valentine's decor & a birthday party

I gotta say, I love decorating for Valentine's Day...pink and red and hearts...oh, my! When I saw this banner by Rebecca from Simple as That, I got to work. It has been soooo long since I've properly scrapbooked or made much in the way of cute projects, so it was nice to get out some paper and scissors and cut and play. Thank you, Rebecca for the inspiration and the motivation!

After I finished this banner and hung it up I decided it was so cute that I made another one for our mantle and then I made yet another one for my sister...I just love the mix of the vintage book papers with the pink and red hearts...so so cute!! And believe it or not, I added some hearts to twigs to put on my mantle as well, and then I saw this post of Rebecca's...mine are purely decorative, but I love that she's using hers to write love notes to their family members...I'll have to keep that in mind for next year!!

We also had a little birthday party for Payton on the weekend, and since our house was already half-decorated, we went with a Valentine's theme for her party and I loved how it turned out!! It was sooooo easy to throw together since there's so much in the way of Valnetine's stuff in the stores right now. The girls did some v-day crafts and coloring, played human tic-tac-toe, decorated a valentine's frame and of course, had some heart-shaped cake.

So we're very much in the "Valentine's Spirit" around here...next up on the to-do list is the girls Valentine's to bring to school!

christmas around our home

Just a little peek at the Christmas decor around our home this year...

We decorated on Monday night and the girls were beyond excited to get all the Christmas stuff out. We kept it really simple this year, and I love how it turned out. I added some turquoise to the red ornaments we already had, and I decided this year to have the "kids tree" upstairs. Up until now I've always put the kids homemade and fun ornaments on the big tree, but it was getting to be too much...so I opted for the 2nd tree this year and I'm loving it so far. And so are the kiddies...colored lights and fun ornaments...what could be better?

We are very excited for Christmas to come and I still can't believe that it is December 1st already. Still sooooo much to do in this busy month, but at least I've got a start! Christmas cards are ready for me to send off, I've got a good start on my shopping, the decorations are up...it is going to be a fun month.

T :)

(And if you haven't done so in a while, head on over to my photo-a-day blog to see some more daily photos!)

diy: oversized photo collage

Hey, everyone!

Hope you're all having a great Monday and today I have a fun little (or maybe I should I say BIG?) diy project to share. Introducing my oversized photo collage. Ever since I pinned this on Pinterest, it was one project I knew I HAD to do. I bought this big frame at Ikea and it sat empty on my landing upstairs for 2 months at least! (I know...pathetic!) I just couldn't commit to what photos I wanted to use and where I wanted to put it...so I did nothing. Which is lame.

A couple weeks ago I got the urge at about 10 o'clock one night to go ahead and do my collage, and this is what I ended up with. And needless to say, I love it soooooooo much!!! I carefully chose each photo (a few older ones, the rest new) and printed them all on my printer. They're all about 8x10" in size. Then putting the collage together was a little like a puzzle...I moved the pictures around until it looked just right. Then I just adhered the photos to the large photo mat that came with the frame and I was done!

I was originally planning on hanging it down in my scrapbook room, but I ended up loving it so much that I couldn't put it down there for no one to see! So I hung it in our front hallway and like I said....LOVE!

I still want to hang something else above it, maybe a word with some of my cute wood letters that I haven't used yet since we moved, so we'll see...for now, I'm glad I just finished a project! Heehee!

And here's one last little look so you can get an idea of how big it is...my 5 year old standing behind it.

Hope you like it!! Now go and make one for your house!!

Tal:)

(and P.S...these pictures don't do it justice AT ALL....it's in a really tricky spot to photograph, and trust me, it looks awesome...the pictures are all so sharp and clear...looks way better in real life!!)

kk and crew's room

Well, here it is...Kherington and Crew's little room. I had so much fun putting this room together and finished it and took these pictures last Tuesday morning...just in time, since I went into labour on Tuesday night! (nothin' like putting it off till the last minute!!) Anyways, for such a tiny room I had to keep it simple, but I think the fabrics and colors make it fun...I was totally inspired by all the grays and yellows I was seeing online, and thought that would be a fun color combo for a boy/girl room...take a look!

This little Pooh bear was a gift from my dad and has been in all my babies rooms.

KK's bed...she LOVES her bed! Naptimes and bedtimes are quite easy around here! All of the fabulous bedding was made by my mama. We went out shopping together and picked out fabrics, I told her what I kinda wanted, then she sewed everything up. I looooove how everything turned out!!

Love this pillow!

*sigh*....the ruffles.

I'll be adding a picture of KK and Crew together above the change table, and I made the "I am a Child of God" print in Photoshop. Again, I'd seen alot of these online and just created my own. I made the little elephant shadowbox using scrapbook paper and this cute elephant template. Oh, and the fabulous knobs on the dresser are all from Anthropoligie.

Of course that empty frame will be filled with an adorable picture of Crew...

And, the yellow crib. I love it! (am I saying that alot?) I wasn't sure if the yellow would be too much, but after having a pink crib for 2 years, what's the big deal to switch to bright yellow, right? These clouds were in KK's nursery, and I have a big "C" on order that will go above the crib, too. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to make/add a mobile for above the crib or not...we'll see!

The gorgeous quilt and bumper pads made by my mom. Again, just loving the yellows and grays!

A few more close-ups...the "you make me happy when skies are gray" was another one I created in Photoshop. I love this quote 'cause my grandpa used to sing me this song when I was little. :)

And there ya have it! I'll still be adding a couple things here and there, but just getting the room this far before Crew was born was a huge accomplishment! It's tiny but functional for my 2 little babes...thanks for taking a peek!

Tal xo

a little peek...

...at what's in the works for Kherington and the baby's room.

I'm excited to see how it all comes together. And I have to say, decorating a room with no pink is just plain weird. (heehee!) I'm trying to find a balance between girl and boy stuff...it's hard, so hopefully it'll turn out cute! I'm hoping to get the room mostly put together this weekend, but we'll see. Ideally I'd love to have it all done before baby comes, but that may be wishful thinking these days! Life is busy busy busy as we're getting closer to the end of the school/dance year and of course, just trying to prepare for baby in general. But my mom's been busy sewing and hopefully Graham will be busy painting this weekend...fingers crossed!

And when is baby boy coming, you ask? Well, my hope is SOON...like, within the next couple weeks soon. I don't even know if I can wait that long, I'm basically just an uncomfortable grump these days...just ask my husband. (wink)

So for me, we're officially on Baby Watch. Wish me luck!!

T:)

easy easter decor

I thought I would share our "Easy Easter Decor" that we have in our home this year. It's amazing how decorating your kitchen table and hanging a cute little banner is just enough to bring a holiday into your home.

(tablecloth-Target, eggs-Superstore, turquoise vase and small bowls-Anthropoligie)

Like I said, I kept things super easy and simple. Bought some tulips from the grocery store and put them in a jar. Filled some cute vases with that fun fake grass and some store-bought easter eggs. Put it all together with a springy tablecloth and we're good to go!

I also made this adorable little "bunny bums" banner. I saw this banner floating around on Pinterest and knew that I had to make one of my own.

I simply drew my own bunny shape, cut them out of cute coordinating papers, glued some cotton balls as the bunny tails, and strung them all together with a ribbon. Done! I actually made these bunnies with my girls, too, but didn't take a picture of the process. They had fun tracing and cutting their bunnies from white cardstock, and then they went to town decorating their bunnies with stickers and felt markers. Kherington especially loved gluing the tails on her bunnies...a great little project for even the youngest kiddos!

So there ya go! A couple easy ideas that you can still do before Easter comes this weekend.

I'll be back soon with pictures of Kherington!

Tal xo

my photo wall

Okay, so it has been waaaaay too long since I've posted anything cute/pretty/fun on the old blog! So, without further ado, introducing....my photo wall!

I've been wanting to do this since the day we moved in, and after living in this house for 5 whole months, I finally got around to it last night. I only have my husband to thank for it! He basically told me last night that "he's sick of staring at these empty frames leaning against the wall"...and so off to work we went. Thanks for getting my butt into gear, babe!

At first I wasn't really sure what pictures I wanted to use, but I definitely wanted to use color, so I went with pictures from this shoot back in the summer. My hope is that we'll get family photos this summer with all 4 kids, and Gray and I as well, so these will do until then! We hung the frames using this method by Becky Higgins, and it worked out sooooo well. Almost no fighting while we worked! (hee hee! Come on, we all know that we fight with our husbands when hanging stuff on walls...it's inevitable!) The frames are from Ikea and the size of the pictures are 11.5"x11.5". I printed all of the photos on my printer, and now that all is said and done....I love it!

And now the next project on the never-ending list of house projects is finishing the basement. Wish me luck!

T:)

home sweet home (for a little bit longer)...

Here's a little peek at where we've been living for the past 2 and a half years. In about 2 weeks we're moving out...it's exciting and sad all at the same time!
















I'm a little sad looking at all of these pictures. As of this moment we are living in rooms stacked with boxes and empty walls, we had a garage sale this weekend and got rid of LOTS of stuff...so we are busy. We are all excited for the "new house" but like anything, it will take some time getting used to it and making it HOME. But that's the way it goes, right? We thought we would be in this house for a lot longer, but it came down to the location...something else came up and we decided to go for it, so now we're moving! (It's actually been a year in progress so it didn't happen quickly...but now that we're trying to get all packed up, I wish I had more TIME! Hee hee!)



I'll miss this cute house, but it's my cute family that will make any house my home.







:)