Saturday, September 29, 2012

Photo Wall continued

A few years ago(okay I just realized almost 3, yikes maybe I should change out some of those photos now) I started a photo wall on our stairs.  I love having pictures of our family up all around us and the kids love seeing the pictures as we go up and down the stairs.  I have to remind myself it’s a good thing when Lizzie wants to identify who is in each picture when we really need to already be pulling out of the driveway. 

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So in the three years since completing the stair wall we’ve had more pictures taken, had another kid, 9 months ago I bought some cool funky frames, and I discovered that some other parts of the house are a little bare of decoration.  There is this great open wall upstairs between the guest bathroom and Lizzie’s room that you see when you reach the top of the stairs.  When we moved in I put a candle holder on the wall for a bit, then we hung my miniatures tray when my Mom decided to purge her house of more of my stuff.  Funny how it’s been over 10 years since I’ve lived at home and I still have random stuff in my old closet.  This miniature tray is very cool and is actually an old printer’s tray but it still had all the stuff from when I was a kid.  I had good intentions to start adding little things from trips with the girls, but it just never happened hence why the tray came down, along with a layer of dust.  That odd circle thing is our AC thermostat.  I am still out for debate on the Nest, so you probably don’t want my opinion on how my husband loves to turn the AC down to freezing temperatures without even getting up.

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To drive Chris crazy I thought it would be fun to use our bedroom floor as a space to attempt a mock version of what the wall might look like.  Everything focused around a picture from our spring family photos that I know will be one of my favorites for a while.  I also tried to pull in some color with this great cross I found at Hobby Lobby.  Did you know that Hobby Lobby considers crosses ‘Wall Art/Decorative Hangings’ so you can often find them 50% off?

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Once I have a general layout that I like, I decide what photos should go in each frame.  Sticky notes are a great way so you can also keep track of what size photo you will need to order/print.  Please ignore the toys, bags, and vacuum in the picture.  That is just the reality of my bedroom on a daily basis.

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Next I trace all my frames onto tissue paper and mark where the nail would need to go.  This is a great use of all that old tissue paper from birthdays and holidays. 

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Then I tape all the tissue paper templates up on the wall, starting with my focal piece.  I knew everything would center around the big portrait, then the cross, and then the funky frames.  I swore I took a picture of my colorful tissue paper wall since it stayed that way for 2 weeks, but you will have to settle for semi-completed wall pic.  This wall has an angle on the left so I wasn’t sure how things would work once I started hanging the tissue up.  I was very appreciative of this step because I had overestimated the size of the area to the left of the main picture and had to move some frames around.  It is nice to just put a nail exactly where you want it when you go to hang pictures, but make sure you hang a few frames as you go.  Frames can seem a bit crowded once they are hanging versus just the tissue paper.  I also had to rethink what went in some frames once I rearranged.  I usually have a few pictures in mind that I want to use, but try to be flexible to what looks good with the other prints on the wall.  Being so flexible often doesn’t fit well with my OCDness, but I hate nail holes so that side tends to win out.

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I love my husband because he decided to take our photo wall a step further and installed a new light fixture to showcase it.  I despise track lighting.  I understand it’s usefulness, but never found that it fit our house.  Fixtures can be quite the debate in my marriage and it often comes down to function versus aesthetic appeal.  Nine years of marriage has started to wear on my husband and he is slowly coming around to understand my need for pretty fixtures and I let him install odd looking remotes for switches.   Home Depot has come out with a line of track lighting that serves it purpose, but matches the softer looks of our other fixtures.  Keep in mind that we have a chandelier hanging over the stairs just a few feet away.  Here is how the wall looks when you reach the top of the stairs and turn.

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Add in the beautiful lighting and I feel like I’m in an art gallery.  Well done my electrician, well done!

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A few close ups of the frames, cross, and light fixture.

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Now let’s hope it doesn’t take me three years to update these!

Thursday, September 27, 2012

elizabethursday

For the past few days I have been trying to catch a picture of Lizzie at naptime to prove this, but a) I was too scared to wake her up and loose my precious kid-free minutes and b) the pictures never turned out due to how dark her room is with the curtains closed.  Lizzie has always known what she wants and rarely is there convincing her otherwise.  Taylor was rarely without a bow until 3, but Lizzie learned early on to take the bow/clip/headband off and hand it right back to me.  Lately she has taken quite an interest in her bows and wants to wear one all day.  She even has them still in her hair when I pick her up from preschool!  She has also decided it is important to keep it on during naptime and tonight it was bedtime too.  How am I to argue with a girl that finally wants to wear bows and knows the importance of accessories?

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Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Taylor Tuesday

For two weeks they practiced.  Her jersey was number four, just like how old she is.  She talked about how exciting this day would be.  Her first soccer game was awesome and she loved it.  She may not be the player at the front scoring all the goals(yet), but she played with all her heart and that’s all we ever asked of her. 

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Thursday, September 20, 2012

elizabethursday

I think it’s time to start the discussion with Lizzie about texting/iPoding while driving.  Never too early right?

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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Taylor Tuesday

I love how when asked to pose, Taylor immediately struck this pose.  At least it wasn’t a silly face for once.

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Saturday, September 15, 2012

Sisters Saturday

There are times when these two want nothing to do with each other and drive each other crazy.  Then I look over and they are doing this.  I love that they are growing up to not only be sisters, but best friends!

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Thursday, September 13, 2012

elizabethursday

At this point we gave up on trying to keep the bubbles in the tub and not all over her and us. 

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Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Taylor Tuesday

Don't check your calendars because it really is Wednesday and I'm a day behind.  Stay tuned for a potential bonus at the end of the week :)

I think Taylor has started to get a bit creative in the posing department.  At least she keeps it fun!

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Thursday, September 6, 2012

elizabethursday

Oooo… sprinkles.

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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

First Day of Preschool

Both the girls started preschool this week.  This is Taylor’s last year of preschool and Lizzie’s first.  Lizzie would scream last year when we dropped Taylor off each day so I knew she was ready to go a few days herself.  And you can’t even begin to understand how excited I am to have a few hours to myself.  Don’t get me wrong, I love my girls and being able to stay home with them, but it is nice to run errands without dragging them in and out of the car.  They would much rather be playing outside or spending time with friends while I do all that stuff. 

Lizzie insisted on trying to wear her backpack, but barely made it out of the garage before she tipped over.

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We can hear the high school band practicing from our front yard, so unfortunately Lizzie was a bit distracted by the music.

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There were tears from Lizzie as I dropped her off in her classroom and Taylor was such a big help trying to get her to start playing and cheer up.  Such a sweet big sister!  Taylor was excited but quiet and stayed close by as I dropped her off. When I walked back by Lizzie’s room she was already done crying and playing with toys.  Her teachers said she did great, was very investigative(is this the nice way of saying ‘into everything’?) and gave lots of hugs.  I will have one day each week with just Lizzie and look forward to some one-on-one time with her.  Taylor is already talking about adventures that her and other kids are having and solving mysteries on the playground.  I love their imaginations at work!

 

While the girls were at school I celebrated the first day in my own way.

Hello grocery shopping in less than 30 minutes.

Hello no humongous racecar cart.

Hello no telling someone to ‘sit down’ every 30 seconds.

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Hello watching Live with Kelly while unloading groceries.

Hello not trying to keep little hands out of the fridge/freezer/pantry while putting groceries away.

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Hello not watching a single cartoon for 5 hours.

Hello lunch time without someone else needing something.

Hello my new lunchdate twice a week– my Kindle.

Hello stack of mail that finally got sorted without me getting distracted.

Hello many items completed on my to-do list.

Hello relaxed Mommy excited to pick two little girls up from preschool!

KAL: Making progress

Yes I am still knitting over here.  I had to put my sweater down to work on some other projects and once I had a chance to pick it back up, my youngest decided she wanted to “help” me with it each time.  I make enough mistakes on my own and don’t need any little fingers to add to the mix so I put it aside for a week or so.  Well I finally got in some knitting over the holiday weekend and am at the end of the major pattern of the sweater.  From here I knit on straight rows for a few more inches and then attempt armholes.  Notice the word ‘attempt’ because this scares me a bit.  Even better is that I moved half the stitches to another needle set so I could try my sweater on.  It is so hard to tell if it will be too big or too small and this would be a good place to makes some adjustments.  So here it is so far.  Please excuse my end of the day wardrobe self portrait.  As I type this I realize it would not have been too hard to ask Chris to snap a few pics of me wearing it since he laughed when I tried it on.  Not sure why he laughed, but then he knew I geek out about things like this when he married me 9 years ago.

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I really like how it’s turning out and how to get in some serious knitting this week so I can start armholes soon.  Maybe I’ll actually be done by the Knit-Along deadline!  I know you rarely see pictures of me on here, but I promise to hand Chris the camera for a picture when it is finished.  Tune in next Wednesday for my next knitting update :)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Camp Nana

A few weeks ago I took off to Fort Worth for Camp Nana.(aka Mommy doesn’t have to do laundry or cook all week and someone takes care of ME camp)  I should have been a good blogger and put all kinds of cute pictures from our week here and told you all about our trip.  But I’m a slacker.  I still haven’t posted pics of our kid free vacation from June and might get around to doing that in September and you will just have to pretend that is when we really went on our trip.  Good news is I did make a Shutterfly book of our week and you get to see our adventures in online book version.  Shutterfly and I didn’t always get along, but they had a way for me to scrapbook my photos when Taylor was born and we had TONS of pictures that needed a home besides my computer and blog.  Let’s just say Shutterfly has stepped up their game and you can make the book any way you want and add lots of cute embellishments now. 

Click here to view this photo book larger

Shutterfly allows you to customize your photo book just the way you want.

Taylor Tuesday

Taylor was in heaven at Lego KidsFest this past weekend and was over the moon to get her picture taken next to a Lego Friend. 

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