Friday Favorites - Twirl with me Edition

Happy Friday,  Friends!  Before we can talk about anything else we HAVE to discuss the "Twirl With Me" event happening tomorrow!  If you can't attend, you can still place an order and have the proceeds go to Manda...

1) Visit www.matildajaneclothing.com

2) Add items to your wishlist

3) Put Andrea M. in the spot for Jane

4) Email your wishlist to the trunk keeper (katkempson@matildajaneclothing.com)

Make sure that your contact info is correct because Kat will be getting in touch with you to get your payment information. 

I can't wait to see LOTS of you tomorrow at Playstreet!  Come, bring your kids, shop and PLAY!

Erika, Narci and I are sharing our Friday Favorites and I can't wait to see what everyone is loving this week!

First up on my list of favorites are these pictures that I snapped of Griffin on Monday night.

That giggle!!!

And since I'm talking about cute baby girls, how cute is sweet Millie?!?!  Snuggling babies and girls nights are two of my FAVORITES... so snuggling a baby at a girls night was the ultimate.

On Tuesday Mason and Griffin had dentist appointments.  The dentist is one of Mason's FAVORITE places (seriously!!!), but it was Griffin's first time and she was a little unsure.

We have the sweetest hygienist EVER and she invited Griffin over to watch Mason get his cleaning.  She stood there so sweetly and held his hand.  I almost cried.

Then Miss Pauline let them ride the chair up and down together a few times.

Mason picked vampire teeth as his prize and he was so excited to scare the dentist with them :)

I was so proud of GG!  She didn't get a cleaning this time, but she let him count her teeth and she was so stinkin' cute!

I mean!  The next appointment she'll get a cleaning, and she is already talking about picking out more bracelets from the treasure box (check out her right arm. hahaha).

Luke fell asleep in the car one day after school and seeing his sweet little face back there was my FAVORITE.

Griffin's FAVORITE toys right now are her Sofia princess shoes, tiara and wand.  She rocks them with her brothers old t-shirts and rolled up sweats :)

After proctoring standardizing testing this week I was walking back to my room and got to see my FAVORITE Pre-K'er!  He was covered head to toe in chalk paint ;)

This is my FAVORITE.  All the teachers say amen!

This week I wore one of my FAVORITE dresses!  It's from Anthropologie last Spring and every time I wear it I like it more. hahaha

Look how fun the print is!!!

And since we're talking about fun shoes, these two-toned TOMs wedges are so cute!  

(I can't find them online anywhere, but I grabbed them on Zulily a while ago... hopefully they'll turn up there again!)

There were some terrible storms here on Tuesday night  - and while I was glued to the screen watching the radar - I couldn't help but laugh at what might just be the WORST infographic/graph EVER!  I teach misleading graphs to my 7th and 8th graders and this one is going on the lesson plan for sure!  I mean!!!

If you've read here for a while you know that Luke has always said "love you to Maine and back" instead of to the moon and I almost teared up when this banner from Sass and Crafts arrived yesterday.  I can't WAIT to hang it up in the kids playroom!  I have no plans for that space other than this banner. hahaha

Speaking of plans for the new house, we stopped in at Weirs this week to pick out some furniture and I think I may be more confused than ever.  My plan was to order a few things now so they'd be ready for delivery pretty soon after we move in but now I'm more confused than ever. hahaha

Y'all offered some AMAZING moving advice yesterday, so I'm hoping that you'll be able to help me with some design/furniture questions today.  

So, here are a couple of pictures of the new house (my plan wasn't to share these yet... but I have thought and overthought and overthought some more... so I'm just doing it. hahaha)  The kitchen, family room and eat-in area are like one big space, so I want it to feel cohesive, but not matchy matchy.

This is looking into the family room area...

,,, another view (the kitchen is on the right side of this picture and the red room is the dining room)...

... one more where you can kind of see the kitchen.

 .... and then part of the kitchen looking into the eat-in area.

So here are my questions and thoughts....

At some point I want to have the cabinets painted white like my current kitchen cabinets... so keep that in mind.  I'm also thinking about having the island painted and distressed black.

Here's the sectional that's at the top of my list, except it won't have blue pillows, they'll be in the fabrics that are draped over the pillows.  

I have a dark brown coffee table and sofa table picked out, but am considering a black TV console (we're going to put the TV where the yellow piece of furniture is in the pics)... which could work if I went with a black table with brown top.

I'm going to have the kitchen area painted a color like this...

(the eat-in area and then the actual kitchen all the way to the wall that has the dining room door... everything that's the orangey color)

So... kitchen table.  Something like the one below???  Black??? I'm afraid that the white on the table won't be the same as the cabinets and then it will look weird.  What if I did the island distressed black and did a black table and chairs with a circular jute rug underneath???

This is the same table as above, but with a black base and brown wood top.  Better than the white???  I kind of feel like mixing the brown and black on the table would make it okay for me to mix the brown and black pieces in the family room, right?

Design-y people I need your help!!!  This kind of thing is typically my FAVORITE, but I think I've totally overthought everything!  My brain is currently as scattered as this portion of the post.  HELP!

 Last but most definitely not least... WINNERS!!!

Jessica Orth!  You won the $50 Usborne Books credit and...

Angie McSwain Clark you won the Feel Good Frame!

Girls, send me an email ASAP (dave-and-and-andrea@hotmail.com) to claim your prizes!!!

Hoping to see LOTS of you tomorrow at Playstreet!!!  And don't forget to send in your wishlists if you can't make it!

Thank you so much for reading and HAPPY FRIDAY, friends!

   

    http://www.inlinkz.com/new/view.php?id=628467" title="click to view in an external page.">An InLinkz Link-up

   

PS - This post contained two affiliate links, which means that if you clicked on an item and made a purchase I may receive a small commission.  THANK YOU!!!

On The Move - Part II

Y'all.  Two weeks ago today I had no clue that we were moving. 

And today we have closing dates on the house that we're buying AND the house that we sold.  Yes... our house is sold.

It's still so weird!  It was officially listed last Friday afternoon and we had our first offer Friday night.  We had tons of showings Saturday and Sunday and officially accepted and signed Sunday night. 

I've booked movers, we've picked out furniture and I'm getting quotes on painting and having a couple of things done at the new house.

Since moving has consumed our lives this past week I thought I'd share some thoughts ;)

Getting Ready To List

In general, we're pretty neat and tidy people.  We have three young kids, so there's always an abundance of toys and laundry, but for the most part, we tidy up at night and I'd feel comfortable having someone unexpectedly drop by without feeling like I needed to shove a bunch of stuff in the closet when the doorbell rings :)  That said, we're five people... so in order for it to show well I packed up a TON of stuff.  I packed away 95% of the boys Legos, and probably 85% of their clothes.  I took Griffin's doll house and play tent out of her room and pared down her closet as well.  In our bedroom I packed away all of our winter clothes and things that I had stored on the top shelf of our master closet.  I emptied out our linen closets to the bare minimum and in the office I packed away most of what was on our built ins.  Everything that I packed we have stacked neatly in the garage.

My realtor suggested that I leave up some decor (like on my kitchen counters, office shelves, kids rooms, etc.) as well as our canvas prints down the hallway and other items that I had on the walls. 

We had our carpets professionally cleaned and removed some of the area rugs to make the spaces feel as big as possible.  We also had all of the screens on our windows removed and our windows washed inside and out to make everything bright and sparkly :)

I went around and touched up paint on the walls, baseboards and on some of our doors and magic erasered everything ;)  Our cleaning ladies came in the day before showings started and had everything looking PERFECT as well.

Show Time!
I have vivid memories of being a kid and having our house on the market for weeks (or months!) with a showing every few days.  We had to keep our house spotless for weeks on end and be ready to get out on a moments notice.  Talk about a nightmare!!!

Thankfully, the market here is CRAZY right now, which means lots and lots of showings.  This is great.... but with 25+ showings over 2 and a half days,  we had to be out pretty much from 9 am until 8 pm.  Once we had our house show ready (Friday morning) we avoided being at home as much as possible.  We ate lots of meals out, hung out at my parents house, used a cottage at the country club for baths and naptime (seriously!) and spent our fair share of time in the car.  With three little ones it's hard for them to be at home and not want to get out their toys, do watercolor paints and/or spill goldfish all over the floor.  It was just easier for us to stay away and THANKFULLY we were able to do so pretty comfortably.

Jack Bauer is a sweetheart, but I was afraid that a steady stream of people in and out of house would be a lot for him.  Once again, my parents came to the rescue :)  They graciously offered to have Jack Bauer at their house for the weekend and he had the BEST time with their dog, Scooter.  We're continuing to show our house through the option period of the contract we're in and he's home (crated) for those showings since they're kind of sporadic and spur of the moment.  

The Kitchen
I can't even lie.  Leaving our kitchen is going to be ROUGH.  We adore our kitchen. 

I'm going to miss it a TON, but I'm confident that the new kitchen will feel like "ours" as soon as we start enjoying it as a family.  

Nothing will ever compare to my current kitchen window (sigh) or brick wall (double sigh)... but I'm excited about having new spaces to make special for holidays and for the mud room that's attached to the kitchen! EEEK



And just for fun... the new kitchen has a little kitchen window space that we totally took as a sign that this was the house for us :) hahaha

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.
I feel like all I've been doing is making decisions. hahaha  First up has been paint.

I'm a HUGE fan of green (and creature of habit!) and so even though I would LOVE to go in and have all the kids rooms painted the same color they are now (hahaha), they're actually picking (with our guidance)!  Griffin wants a pink room (duh!), but I'm leaning toward green (I know, I know... it just goes so well with her bedding!) and then making her bathroom pink.  Luke wants blue and Mason wants gray.

The majority of the house is a really pretty neutral, which I'm going to leave alone.  Think 2-story family room and open loft.... it's hard to figure out where to start and stop color, so I'll probably add it in in other ways (pillows, pictures, etc.).  I'm actually kind of excited about having a neutral palette to play with.

The kitchen is kind of an orangey color which I'm going to change (any guesses???) and the dining room is full on red which I haven't decided on yet.  I'm definitely not making any drastic decisions for the big spaces until we're in and get to see it all with our stuff inside.

So excited!!! 
Now that everything is in full swing and we have official moving dates, the excitement is setting in.  

Luke is most excited to have his own room :)  While he loves his little brother, he doesn't love that all of his Legos and creations are easily accessible to five-year-old fingers. hahaha  Mason says he's excited to have own room... but he already hates sleeping in their current room by himself if Luke is gone.  I foresee lots of sleepovers in each others rooms this summer :)

Mason is most excited about having a POOL!  Yes... the new house has a pool.  It wasn't something we wanted, but wasn't a deal breaker either and if I'm being honest I'm kind of terrified.  I know that it will be something we enjoy especially as they get older, but I'd be lying if I said that my first call after buying this house wasn't to a pool safety company to find out how soon we can get a fence/net installed.  We're working through some of those choices (net vs. fence) right now, but it WILL be secured the weekend we move in.  It'a a play pool (about 5 feet deep at the deepest point) with a LONG set of stairs perfect for the little ones to play on - and once it's secure I'll be able to join in Mason's excitement a bit more :)

Griffin is pretty much just along for the ride. hahaha  I'm not sure she totally gets what's happening and we're just crossing our fingers that she's excited to sleep in her own bed upstairs once we move in ;)

Countdown has begun
We'll be moving the weekend of May 21st which means the countdown is officially on and we'll be out of this house in pretty much three weeks.  Add to that regular school responsibilities, exams, and all the end of the year activities at school.  #awesome  There is a TON to do and I've made my list and am checking things off daily.   I'm determined to not get overwhelmed and to make this a fun experience for my kids.   Wish me luck. hahaha

HELP!!!
This is where I need your help!  Leave me your best moving tips in the comments, because Lord knows I'm going to need them.

Happy Thursday, Friends!!! 

Indoor herb garden

I love Spring.  I hate the allergies (OH MY WORD THE ALLERGIES!) and the crazy weather, but I love pretty much everything else.  Warm days and cool evenings are my jam. Actually... they're a close second.... cool days and cold nights are my real jam :) hahaha

One of my favorite parts of Spring is getting outside in the yard.  Every Spring I have huge plans to plant all the things and have a gorgeous garden by summer.  The problem is that typically by June my garden has succumbed to the Texas heat - and there are only so many sage plants one can plant :)

Let's pause for a moment and admire the impatients that I used to plant all the way around the garden in our front yard.  Yes, that's Luke :)

And while I was looking through pictures I came across one of my absolute FAVORITE ones from that same summer.  I seriously feel like this was yesterday!

Anyway, this year we didn't do ANYTHING out back because we fully expected to start construction on our house in June.  Since then plans have changed, but I did have the urge to get my garden on and so when I came across this super cute set of pots I snatched it up and got my hands dirty.

My set of pots is sold out, but they now have this fantastic set of SIX!

I grabbed a few small herbs that I use in cooking...

... and these really cute copper labels and that (and a Sharpie) was all I needed!

I LOVE aged terra cotta!!!  I have plans to age some of mine over the summer... it's a long process though so these were a quick fix.

The pots aren't huge, so the dirt that came with the plants was plenty.

I wrote on the labels with Sharpie and so far it's held up!

Easy peasy!!!  I had these in my kitchen window, but have since moved them out to my front porc. and I LOVE how they turned out!  I'm hoping I'll be able to pull them inside this Fall and keep them all alive ;)

Hope you liked my little mini garden - for all of y'all with "black thumbs" this would be an easy project to do with your kids :)  You could even plant seeds (beans or something else easy) and label them with your kids names and see which one grows the fastest/biggest.  It would also be cute with different flowers.  Happy Gardening, Friends!!!

PS - The links for the pots and labels in this post were affiliate links, which means that if you clicked on one of the links and made a purchase I may receive a small commission.  THANK YOU!!!

Weekend Recap - Whirlwind Edition

This weekend was a WHIRLWIND!  Friday our house went on the market, so we spent the morning getting things ready (window washer, carpet cleaner, last minute organizing,etc.) and then Mason for invited to play at his friends house and Luke and I got to enjoy lunch on the patio at the club.  It was a GORGEOUS day and we got to watch a mama goose with her goslings by the lake.  So fun!

While Luke and I were doing some preliminary furniture shopping I got these pictures from Mason's playdate :) hahaha

Cuties!!!  The sweet family is HUGE TCU fans and it took them about an hour and a half to have Mason giving frog fingers and yelling "Go FROGS!" hahaha

Friday afternoon/evening we had house showings, so the kids and I ate dinner out and then headed home in time for bedtime.

Saturday morning Griffin had dance class and it was one of her classmates birthdays so they celebrated with donuts :)  Is there anything cuter than teeny ballerinas eating donuts?!?!

No.  The answer is no.

After dance we met up with the boys and headed to Dave's Granny's 94th Birthday party!

We had breakfast food, cake and played UNO, dominoes and rummi kub :)

It was a sweet morning celebrating Myrtle!

We had a ton of showings on Saturday and had to stay away from home, so we dropped Luke off at my parents house and then Griffin, Mason and I drove about 20 minutes to a birthday party.  They were both SOUND asleep in the car when we got there and when I tried waking them up Griffin made this face...

... her face pretty much sums up all of our moods at this point.

Thankfully, a ball pit and cake was enough to cheer everybody up :)

It was a Star Wars party and how ADORABLE was his cake?!?!  

Where is Mason???  Hanging out with all the girls :)

A little nervous about the rope tunnel... but she did it!  #getitgirl

William's mom had these super cute R2D2 hats that I thought were precious!

It was such a fun afternoon!  Look at all those cuties :)

And look how cute these little besties are :)

We drove home and I stopped in at the club to grab a salad because there were showings at our house... seeing a theme here? hahaha

I wore this cute off the shoulder top/dress with these skinny jeans and loved the look.  Casual and comfortable!

Sunday morning we did church and then headed to the club to eat lunch and wait out a few more showings.

As we were leaving I thought I'd take the opportunity for a group picture...

... and this is what Griffin thought of my idea ;)

hahahaha

When you have to drive around while you wait for showings and Starbucks is close by...

We ended the day at home (hallelujah!!!) with birthday cake and my parents.  #amen

And here's a quick video of some of our weekend shenanigans ;)

And since we're talking weekends, you should probably go ahead and mark your calendar for next weekend...

I am sooooooooo excited!!!  Seriously.  Come twirl with us and shop for a wonderful cause ;)

Let me know in the comments if you plan on coming!!!

Happy Tuesday, friends!!!

PS - The top and jeans I linked to using affiliate links, which means that if you clicked on the item and made a purchase I may receive a small commission.  THANK YOU!!!