Another DIY for the our anniversary

Again why I love Pinterest. I found this pin and loved the thought of having our anniversary date up in our bedroom. So I started to work on my own:) I used a 50% off coupon at Michaels, gotta love a deal and bought the canvas along with tan and white paint since I don't have much black in my home.  Even though I love the way this one looks:) 

My mom has a cameo silhouette machine, I dream of one but since she and my sissy have them I just hit them up once in awhile for projects;) So my mom did the stencil on her silouette machine. Now of course I am never 100% happy with the end project, and that may just be me. But I think my mom will have to come over and help me "Un-new" it...maybe glaze it to make it look more antiqued. Soon I plan on painting our bedroom a much more neutral cream so I picked the tan/white to complement that....since finding bedding to go with blue has been a little bit of a challenge. I also plan on finally getting around to printing/framing or just ordering canvas prints from our wedding to group with it:) Oh the list goes on and on. But it is getting more and more homey by the second.....

Now where to hang it?.......

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You sneeze and it's been two years!

It's like he's always been my right hand man but at the same time still feels as fresh as a new car.
This past 730 days has been filled with laughs, tears, smiles and lots of growing, but all together.
We've survived our first child, and our child's first year together. We've weathered a huge life change of my career swap to 98% SAHM remember. And now we are expecting number 2 going into our 3rd year as Mr. and Mrs. You make me laugh and you make me think. You push me to be the wife and mother I really want to be.

We just balance each other out. He's my peanut butter and I'm his jam. He's my eggs and I'm his bacon. And I will stop there with the food analogies, but gosh am I pregnant or what?

I just thank God for finding him for me. And today more so than others just because today is the day I took his last name.

Happy Anniversary Honey. I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else:)
And this is EVERYTHING. Love you:)

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How much he's changed in a year

If feels like this picture was just yesterday. He's grown so much in the past year. I can't believe how fast it all happens just like everyone said it would. He is so different but so the same. He still has his little serious moments like the one caught in this photo last year. I can't even imagine how different he'll be by next year......

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Not peaking at your Christmas gift can make it even better

So baby number two is in full steam ahead progress with month 6 well underway.


Last time the weeks seemed to creep at a snails pace by with constant reading of "what to expect when you're expecting" books to make sure everything was correlating. Constant eager countdowns to prenatal appointments and waiting to feel little mister move inside me:)

This time it just seems to be breezing by and my body is in overload of seeming to know what to do. Like riding a bike, my belly is bigger faster/earlier and even the hip pain I remember at the end has come back to say hello like it missed me. This time maybe 2 months earlier;(

Again, we decided to not find out what our little bundle will be (boy or a girl) this time. And maybe this is due to the "fairness" card I am realizing all too well parents feel they have to play with more than one little person in the house. I did it with little mister so why would I not with number 2?

You have this need to make sure everything is done fairly like you did for the first. Which I know is impossible with having two. You just can't treat everything as if you have one. But in the grander sense I know I want the same surprise for number two as I had with little mister.

Hearing Mr. Big Dog tell me "it's a boy" after sweating through those two hours of pushing and all day labor was one of the best sentences to ever come out of his mouth. With the others being "I love you" and "Will you marry me" of course.

So even if it's my own selfishness of hearing him tell me, it will be worth all this time wondering are you a little brother or little sister? Are you made for bows and ruffles or more bow ties and plaid flannels (which I love on little mister)?
 I have this eagerness to know and meet you but I feel like you are my ultimate Christmas gift I don't want to peek at. I want to save you for last after all the others, I want to hid you in the back behind the tree until everything else is discovered and then you are the best one for last one:) I am so excited to see how you will be the 4th member of our little family. Excited to see you with your brother. Excited to see you with your daddy. And of course excited to hold you myself. But it is all worth the wait for me because I know no matter what you will be amazing.
And more than I can ever imagine. So much so, I want to savior every second of the unknown and love you 100% for who you are already.
And really I just love surprises........remember my wedding?
I mean who doesn't love a good surprise?

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A toilet should never be in the middle of a bathroom in my opinion

So last year with little mister coming we decided to renovate the upstairs bathroom. It only had a shower and was poorly designed with the toilet in the MIDDLE of the room:( And when I say middle I mean MIDDLE. You literally had to open the door, step in to the left of the porcelain throne and then close the door just to use the toilet. It was such a disaster that this bathroom had rarely been used before I moved in with Mr. Big Dog. Actually the entire second floor really had not had much use since he was a bachelor and only had house guests who were okay with sleeping on an air mattress:) Back to the bathroom.....
So the second floor needed love, but most drastically the bathroom needed an overhaul. I had tried putting "lipstick on a pig" by painting the walls a mocha earlier and deep cleaning it but really it did nothing for the space.

 As you can see the toilet is right in the middle and behind the door in the shower....without a shower door or even shower curtain in this pre-reno pic....did I say very very tiny shower?
 Did I mention Mr. Big Dog is a large man at 6'3...I doubt he would have ever fit in this tiny little space without claustrophobia:(

 Oh and how can I forget the cabinet and counter to the right of the toilet? Useless, pointless and really you couldn't even get to it since the toilet was so close. The pictures just don't do it justice at how bad it was. I wish I had been in a home improvement store at the right moment for one of those shows.....our bathroom was bad enough they would have definitely taken pity and helped us out. But no, it was all up to us:) We had to do something about it before baby and expected house guest would be staying more often:)

 Tiny little shower.....in a big farmhouse total oxymoron:)

So with the help of our Vancouver, Wa contractor Boe Construction:) We made plans!

We used a Derek Boe to do arrange/complete all the labor and design but we picked all the tiles/sink/facet/etc.
I call our house "farmhouse style" which drives my husband nuts, since it was built in 1994-ish. But it has a wrap around porch and it classic with dormer windows. I think it's our farmhouse and in line with that has been my style of decorating it. I love vintage but nice and clean lines. Lots of white:)

I have always loved hardwood floors which we have throughout 80% of the main floor, so when we were looking for new floor for the bathroom and I saw this wood looking tile it was perfect.

 Of course it is laid in a pattern like a real hardwood floor would be to make it look more real.

 The mirror was a find at salvation army ( I only shop there on half off days so it was $10) and fit perfect. The sink base was custom made to go with a basic farmhouse wood look and the counter we picked a granite slab with some grey, white and a fleck of burgundy. It all ties together nicely.

 The tub is a standard size and the surround is my favorite....subway tile. I love me some subway tile and had it in my last home as well. If I have my why it will also grace the backspace of our kitchen someday:) It's just classic and clean and can really go with anything.

 The tile back splash goes all the way around the room instead of doing a chair high wainscoting. I thought it would be too busy with two different textures and this waterproofs the bathroom more for the littles who are really going to be the primary users of this space. The backspace goes from around the sink, around the room and then completes three sides of the shower walls.

The toilet was a home depot pick of again classic farmhouse basic:)

Tile was a must for us. We wanted this remodel to be classic and last throughout the next many years. Tile is more spend but with the space being on the smaller size we felt it was worth it.
And we love how it came out. As well as our house guests:)

The fixtures (sink and shower) are brushed nickel which was a huge debate since we had just updated all the brass in our house/knobs with oiled bronze. But after reading tons of reviews about water stains and how hard the hardware is to keep clean we decided it would still look great with the brushed nickel without the upkeep issue:)

So there you have it, our guest room/little's bathroom remodel:) Now if only we had the cash to start the master bathroom remodel:) Until then, I will pin all the inspirational Pinterest photos I find:)

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How fast days fly by when you have a child...

At least that is what I think is the cause of my days becoming a blur and my weeks flying by. Before little mister I felt like December had so many days and the build up to Christmas took awhile. It's so weird that once he came into my life, hours and days just began to fly by. So here we are just 2 weeks away from Christmas and I am not even half as organized as I would have liked to be at this time. 

Today was supposed to be filled with wrapping presents, mailing presents, buying presents and of course all the daily usual stuff of playing, loving and taking care of little mister:) However, here in the Pacific Northwest we are experiencing Arctic Blast 2013 (which by the way every year they name it something new......Storm chill 2012, Freeze storm 2011, etc) and well people just kind of freak out with snow here.
I love it. I love the snow. I love having a fire and having to stay in once in awhile. Hot chocolate and egg nog are bought and I have another excuse to procrastinate about shopping, mailing, and wrapping...oh well I guess I can still wrap:)
But in any case, Mr. Big Dog is working from home this morning. He made me a fire and I am just chillaxing as little mister is down for his morning nap.
Somedays you just need to slow down.....for there are so many other days where you won't be able to, can't or won't. So today I will and I will enjoy it. And here is a picture just because:) 

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Why I love Pinterest

This year I have a 13 month old to share Christmas with, which is so awesome. As our little family is beginning to start our own new traditions and try to incorporate come old ones from each side into our annual rotation. I realized for the past 5 or so years I really love to send out Christmas cards with pictures.
Prior to Mr. Big Dog and I, my cards had a picture of my dogs or house. But now that we have a little mister it is a great time to show off how much he's grown over the past year to family and friends near and far.
So I've been keeping my eyes open to ideas on Pinterest for this year's holiday card......
I came across this photo on Pinterest

Here's the link you get on pinterest when you click on the photo: http://www.alittleglassbox.com/....gotta give credit where credit is due:)

And then we did our own version which little mister really hammed it up for as you can see:)

He seriously loves this little car he got from his cousins for his first big birthday:)

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Christmas in the house, and why I am NOT a DIY-er

Well I have my house about 98% decorated with my usual Christmas stuff. However, this year with a 13 month old I have to say the decor is all above waist height and we are still learning the tree is not a toy. I am thinking 2-3 days of serious surveillance at all times around trees one and two will probably help little mister with the look don't touch policy in our home:) Either way I didn't do a lot of ornaments down low, as to not tempt the poor boy too much. They are just so pretty right?

I was on Pinterest.....one of my oh so guilty pleasures..... and found this oh so awesome picture/link for a chalkboard poster with some Christmas flare. I loved it and thought, "I think I can do it, I do have a bachelors degree...how hard can it be?"

I think I have shared before how creative my mother is......she can make a paper bag look like a million bucks. But I think this has caused my creativity to be very very low. I mean like dependent on others low. I can find ideas but have a hard time materializing them. And then when I try to do them, it can turn into a Lucy Ball skit in about 10secs flat. 

Take for example this project. The printing was done over the Internet via Staples....but I showed up and one was ripped at the top....so I had to wait to have another printed. No biggie just not smooth as butter. Next stop the Home Creepo where I found the Styrofoam sheets which were 4 feet by 8feet for $11. Nice....but how in world was I going to fit it in my car? Didn't really think this through. So I had to find an employee to help me cut it in half (note to self to bring a box cutter in my diaper bag next time). Which the man with the orange apron seems extremely annoyed by my request and really was quick and careless with cutting it:( Oh well I had slack on each side since the finished product was actually to be 4 feet by 3 feet. So again out to my car I went with my two sections of 4 x 4 Styrofoam and 13 month old toddler. Did I mention it was cold and rainy? Oh yeah that too. At this point I am starting to freak out that it's not going to fit even at half size in my SUV with a baby car seat. I call Mr. Big Dog and start to panic a little......why did I not borrow his ginormous SUV? That would have been too simple. 

So as I push and pull and twist the Styrofoam they barely made it in, but they were in....just a little bent:( And of course little mister did not appreciate the intrusion on his space above his head. 

Now Michael's next door for the glue adhesive.....in and out with my coupon. But why did I not go there first? I should have mapped this out better. 

All the way home I realize I didn't get black duct tape:( This is why I should not DIY in and of itself. I just can't seem to get it together. 

24 hours later I am taping and gluing the paper and I do have a nicely finished project:) Ginormous.....who's idea was this 4x3 anyway? But it all worked out and I love it on my wall. 

Maybe practice makes perfect and I just don't do this stuff often enough but I have a hard time believing if I did this stuff more often it would work out any different. It still works out, I just take twice the time and learn a ton of lessons every single time:) 

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