A weekend getaway.

Hello, there! It has been quite awhile!

Well friends, nearly two whole months have passed since I've sat down and typed a few words on the dusty ol' blog. Rather than rewinding and playing catch up, I'll just start by sharing a little weekend-vacation we just got back from.  Before I do that though, I will mention that I finished a big project on my list a few weeks ago- Cameron's twin bed- and it. is. awesome. I will be blogging about that in the coming days because it's way too good not to share (and show off!). 

So anyway, our vacation- we escaped to the beautiful, quiet, small town of Nebraska City. My Grandpa, Aunt and Uncle live there, so we took over their house for a few days and really had a great time. Internet was spotty- so I was completely unplugged from my fifth appendage (aka my iPad) and all my social network addictions. I needed that! 

While there, we drove up to Omaha to visit the Zoo. I've been there several times and of course, it did not disappoint! 

We spent Saturday in Nebraska City, and they had a lot of events going on for Arbor Day that weekend. Arbor Day was actually founded in Nebraska City, so it's no surprise that the city is covered in giant, beautiful trees. It's also home to the Arbor Day Farm, which is a totally rad nature/adventure park. 

There were so many fun things for the kids to do and play with! My one and only complaint was that I wished we had had more time (we were pushing through quickly to get to a parade) to do more of the nature walks and adventure ride. We also got a free tree (seedling) to take home with us. Jon and I are quite geeky about trees (we planted 11 trees at our old house and we've planted 12 at our current) and the outdoors so needless to say we enjoyed the Farm very much! I can't wait to go back.

We were able to catch the parade just in time. The parade had such a small-town "vibe" and the kids really loved it (and came home with a bag full of candy and little toys!). 

We also went to the Arbor Lodge State Park, of which I have many many memories from my teenage years.

We all had the best time- a little vacation is just what our family needed! 

Snippets.

Last week, we had a monster snowstorm roll through town (well, two actually). We got 20 inches of snow in under a week and we LOVED it! We've gone through the last few winters with just a dusting here and there, so it was awesome to be able to get out and play in it for several days! 

Kylie with our favorite neighbor-dog, Sadie

Cameron is officially enrolled in Pre-K! As excited as I am for him to start school, I really feel that my time at home with him is slipping away too quickly- and that makes me truly sad. I've made it a goal to really take advantage of my time with him by planning more activities, crafts, going more places, cooking more together- basically just having more fun and using our time together with more purpose.



Kylie has been quite the sassy pants lately. She is the queen of hilariously odd facial expressions- sometimes I look at her and think "She's a real person! A real, live, little person!" like I wonder how there's so much personality in a tiny little body. Any other moms ever think that about their kids?



I cannot believe it's March already. To me in feels like we were just opening presents at Christmas time, but here we are on the verge of Spring (yay!) and longer days (double yay!). As excited as I am about that, spring isn't here right now and I need some fresh green plants in my life already. I've gone to Lowe's a few times in the last week, getting a few potted houseplants and some herb and vegetable seeds to plant now. Several of them are sprouting and it's just enough to hold me over until things sprout outside. Spring come quickly!

A bed for Kylie & a finished basement tour!

Just days after I posted Kylie's 2 year update, she was climbing in and out of her crib like a pro. Nothing would stop her- not discipline and not even turning her crib around (so the highest part was in the front), so I knew it was time to get her a big girl bed.

When I posted the finished pictures of her room, I mentioned that I wanted to get her a white iron daybed when the day would come, so I've casually been keeping my eye open for the perfect one for her. Well, I found it, and she loves it! She has transitioned really well (only getting out of bed the very first night a few times) and thinks it's great that she's got a big bed.

I found her sheets at PB Teen and the comforter at Target. I think they are such a perfect match to her existing colors and decor! I love this room so much- it's easily my favorite in the house. 

Now, onto the basement! We finished it up right after Thanksgiving, and I honestly can't remember what it was like not to have this space finished. We hang out so much down here. 

When you come down the stairs, to the left is the bar area. It's really nice to have this space for secondary kitchen storage- things like off season dinnerware, wine glasses and serving platters all have a home here.

This undermount sink is a dream. If and when we replace countertops in our kitchen my sink WILL be an undermount! (hear that, Jen?)

{Floors: Crossville Buenos Aires Tango (polished); Counters: Travertine (durango, honed); Lights: Lowe's Allen + Roth; Cabinets: Local (not sure of brand), Cabinet pulls: Lowe's.}

The living room is the view from the bar. If the TV looks crooked, your eyes do not deceive you. I've mentioned it to the husband a few hundred times, but alas, it's still crooked. 

The space to the left of the bar will probably house a pinball machine or foosball table someday soon. (maybe even a dartboard?) 

The kids love having the train table here. To the right you can see part of my craft closet, and the kids play area is underneath the stairs there. 

I haven't done much with my craft room (in terms of organizing) but I'm glad to have all my stuff out of the linen closets upstairs! I can walk into the closet a bit (to the right) so I've got my wrapping paper, gift bags and fabric remnants on shelving there. 

The kids love having their own, designated (small) play place! It's also nice to have an area to throw toys into for a quick basement clean-up.  

In this hallway are the two bedrooms and bathroom.

I have plans for this room but for now, it's just functional enough for sitters who stay the night. 

The office.

This year my goal is to inject some personality and color into the basement! I have a giant abstract canvas print on backorder from Zgallerie for over the couch, but aside from that I'll probably start finding pictures I've taken over the years to hang down here (since they're essentially free!). I hope you enjoyed the tour- if you have any questions, feel free to ask! =)

Kylie is 2!

My sweet baby girl is 2 today! There has been a lot of building excitement around the house this week- because when it's someone's birthday, it's a week-long celebration.  Kylie is still a little young to understand what exactly is taking place, but she is certainly playing along getting a bit of royal treatment!

We tried to take pictures of her this week and it was an absolute fail! No smiles, and in over half of the pictures she was not even facing my camera. This was the best we could do! 

Kylie is a much more independent version of her brother. She's definitely sassier and has a bit more attitude. I definitely try to soak up the quiet, gentle spirit in her when it shows- those are rare moments for her! I do believe that I may have created a monster in her early on, because she wants lotion, bows, and nail polish every day. I love that, though- my hope is that I can be the one to show her beauty from the inside and out. She's still rocking golden curls and has bright blue eyes- something I never would have thought to have come from me! She is pretty smart and has become quite good at counting from Cameron's love of numbers. 

I love this girl so much- I can't imagine her not being a part of this family!  

 

A little bit of Christmas!

Its crazy to me how fast Christmas day is approaching. When I was younger, the period from when I started school in the fall until we were out for Christmas break always seemed like lightyears- and now, I feel like I hardly have time to catch my breath in the same amount of time. I have always loved Christmas so much, and I'm getting a little giddy over a nice possibility that we will see some snow on Christmas!
Today I want to share with you a bit of our Christmas decor. I've always been pretty minimalist when it comes to decorating and its no different when I break out my holiday gear. This has become even more true in recent years, as I find the less I have out, the less I have to say "NO DON'T TOUCH THAT!"


The wall shelves I built when we moved in got holiday treatment with a few live pine sprigs and some ball ornaments. As a side note, I get so, so many compliments on these custom wall shelves- and people are always impressed that they were made for so little money and time. If you have an empty wall in your house I highly recommend taking a few hours and whipping a few out!

The little bird that we brought back from Hilton Head even got a santa hat!

Cameron and I have been busy little bees the past few weeks, baking and crafting our afternoons away.

The other day I cut some Christmas trees out of foam, glued them onto some wood blocks I had in the garage, and instantly we had ourselves a stamp. 

Originally I wanted them so we could stamp on brown craft paper to wrap gifts, but we've found many other ways to use these! I can definitely see us making stamps like this all year. Those foam stickers/letters they sell everywhere? Those would make perfect stamps.

Cameron stamped up his Christmas countdown! 

I have never in my life had a real Christmas tree, but this year I made a real wreath and got live garland for the mantle. While I LOVE the real pine on the mantle, I don't know if I could do a real tree. It has made SUCH a mess dropping needles everywhere.

And finally, our Christmas tree. It actually started off pretty bare but Cameron has been producing ornaments left and right!

My shopping is done (but the wrapping is not), so we're just enjoying a quiet week together before the holiday! I hope you all have a merry Christmas!