Show Us Your Life- Kitchen & Living Room

Kelly's Korner is hosting another Show us Your Life- Kitchens today!

The kitchen is one of the things that made me fall in love with our house.  The cupboard space is just incredible!  There are more cupboards under the center island with pull out drawers.  We hardly had any cupboard space in our old house, and I absolutely love dishes!  I have two sets of Christmas dishes and 2 different sets of every day dishes.  Then I also have our wedding china and a special antique set of dishes we used to have at the lake.  So I needed all this storage!

Since it is fall right now, I have a few fall decorations out.  But this is pretty much what our kitchen looks like all the time.

Our house isn't very big, but the kitchen opens to the living/family room, which I love.  I like the openness, yet it feels cozy.  

Since I missed the living room week, I thought I'd combine ours into this update since they sort of flow into each other!  Ha!  This is our living/family room.  We don't have a separate room for each.  I converted our extra room into the dining room so we just use this one for both.  We spend all our time in this room.  Sometime we want to get a TV above the mantel, but for now we are still using the mismatched armoire I've had for years.  I don't like everything to match perfectly, so I think it adds some dimension to the room, but I am getting tired of it and ready for a new look.  Plus it would open that corner of the room to make room for another chair/more seating.  The little bench by the window is what we came up with to offer more seating and double as toy storage!  I didn't want to cover the windows up with a larger piece of furniture.

 This is probably one of my favorite things about this room- the picture collage of our son, Andrew.  I got the idea from the Pottery Barn catalog, but saved literally hundreds of dollars and went with Target shelves and Kohl's 50% off frames.  Looks the same to me!  I like to get professional photos of our son taken and hang them in black and white on the wall.  It has been about a year since we've had them taken now, so these are sort of outdated.  I like to change just a few so I have photos up from all his stages.

One of my favorite quotes hangs on this wall among all the pictures.

 

We have accumulated tons of big toys, which I have hidden on the side of the couch in a big tote that coordinates with our wall color.  This keeps them out of sight, but accessible to our busy little boy!

Another space saver for small spaces- skinny end tables with a basket underneath for storage.  I used to keep diapers and wipes in the basket when Andrew was a baby.  Now we use it for toys, books, etc.  I have two end tables like this and the basket does a nice job of concealing the mess!

On top of our armoire are some special things, like Andrew's handprint at from his 2nd Christmas, and our Willow Tree statue of a family, along with a sign "Miracles Happen," which we truly know is true after our infertility struggles and Andrew surviving two open heart surgeries.  We have seen miracles happen right before our eyes!  On the wall is a beautiful hand-cut work of art we were given by a special friend when Andrew was born.  It says "All creatures great and small, the Lord God loves them all."  This is a perfect quote for us since Andrew came 6 weeks early and weighed just 3 lbs 13 oz.

Thanks for touring our house today!

Fall Fun!

I realize I'm long overdue for a blog update... Like I said last time, this "getting back into the swing" is taking me longer than I thought!  It is so hard to keep up, with so much changing in education lately (I feel like I'm a first year teacher again!) not to mention Andrew's preschool "homework" projects (which are fun, but so hands on and time consuming!) and just the day to day housework that I don't have time for since I'm working all day and on the weekends I just want to relax and be with my family!  I have said before that I refuse to let our busy schedules take priority over blogging, and I plan to keep that promise!

Many people have commented that they don't know how I have time to keep up with a blog on top of everything else (working full time, etc).  The truth is, I really don't have time.  but I choose to make it a priority.  Right now there is a mountain of laundry to do and a dishwasher to be unloaded.  Our DVR is about to explode with shows to watch.  Yet I sit here blogging because not only is it my hobby and something I enjoy, but it is also our family's journal that I intend to print off and treasure for years to come.

That being said, I must begin this fun filled update with some sad news.  It has been a rough week in the world of CHD's.  Two heart mom bloggers I have gotten to know just gave birth to beautiful baby boys... Ewan and Joshua.  And just weeks after their births, both of these babies have been welcomed into the arms of Jesus.  I am heartbroken for these families, as I know how much they loved their boys.  I love mine just the same.  And as busy as our schedules get, as stressed out as I am with things to do, I cannot help but take a moment to stop and be thankful for those things, as overwhelming as they seem.  Please keep these special families in your prayers as they have many tough days ahead.

Around here we have been enjoying the start of the fall season!  We kicked off fall by whipping up a couple batches of our family's favorite pumpkin bread.  This stuff is the best you'll ever taste!  Andrew thinks so too!  He loves to help me bake!

As you can see, he enjoyed some taste testing too!

(Don't worry, I caught him before he stuck his hand back in!  Ha!)

But he did enjoy licking the beaters!

We went to a reunion for kids who were in the NICU a couple weekends ago.  Andrew had a blast playing the games and seeing some of his old doctors and nurses!

This was so funny- he was supposed to just pick out a fish, but instead he jumped right in the pool!  Ha!  I think he thought it was one of those ball pits!  

This is Dr. Murphy, the doctor who was on call in the NICU that fateful night of Andrew's unexpected birth 6 weeks early.  I will never forget him coming to talk to us before Andrew was born.  He was so wonderful and explained everything about the NICU, and what would happen after Andrew was born.  We were so impressed by him.  He took such good care of Andrew that night, we will always be grateful to him.  He remembered Andrew right away- it was so fun to see him again.

This was our favorite nurse, Kahala.  Andrew loved her from the moment they met.  She was amazing with him.  She gave him his first bath in the NICU and helped us learn how to do it.  She always loved his hair.  She said she could never forget Andrew because of all that hair!  After we had overstayed our welcome in the family apartment in the NICU, we had to give it up to families who lived farther away (yeah, the NICU is a few short miles from our house but I couldn't leave him to go home!) :(  But when they kicked us out, I always felt safe leaving him with Kahala.  She would go in at night and just hold him and cuddle him and I loved that about her.  I would always set my alarm (like I could get any sleep anyway!) and call her in the middle of the night to check on him.  She always told me he was doing good and she had been cuddling him.  There is just nothing that means more to a mommy than when someone else loves your baby, especially when you can't be with them.

She is just so fun and gets down and plays with the kids!  Everyone just loves her.  There was even a line to see her this day!  Ha!

I think Andrew was in love with her!  He always has been a flirt and loves pretty girls!  Ha!

After our NICU party we headed to Boone to see Thomas!

This is the third year in a row we have gone to see Thomas.  Andrew loves it more every year.

I had to laugh about meeting Sir Topham Hatt again.  Last year, Craig waited in a super long line while Andrew played with trains, just so he could meet Sir Topham Hatt.  By the time it was Andrew's turn, he freaked out.  He wanted no part of it!

It is so funny to compare last year's picture to this year's.  He stood by Sir T Hatt with such pride this year.  He held his hand and just stared at him.

It is amazing what a difference a year makes!

Watching Thomas with Ga Ga.

My grandma lives in Boone so we always stop by to see her after Thomas.  Andrew always loves playing at Gran Tootie's house!  She has a couple of birds in a cage by the window and Andrew loves them.  He got such a kick out of them chirping.

It has been just beautiful weather lately.  So we took advantage of it and had a picnic dinner one evening with Kevin, Alissa and Lilly.

We went to a park by the lake and ate Subway and played- the kids had the park all to themselves.

Then we walked down by the water to throw some rocks in the lake!

These two are just precious together.  They have known each other all their lives and their mommies are best friends.  They have grown up together and are like brother and sister.  Lilly takes care of Andrew at day care and always updates me on what went on each day!  Ha!  I love that they go to day care together, even though they are in different rooms.  They are exactly one year apart in age.

These pictures are horrible quality because I took them with my phone, but one morning we met them out for breakfast at this new little gourmet donut shop in town.  They were just so cute together.  They read the paper like an old married couple!

Best Buddies!

It's Pumpkin Patch time!  Andrew's day care took a field trip last week and they had a great time!  His teacher emailed me these pictures (no, I didn't send my camera this time!  Ha!)  Andrew is the fourth one from the left.

Andrew is right in the middle under the Apples sign.

We are going to this same pumpkin patch this weekend!  It is the most fun one around here!  They have so much for kids to do!  We love to go there every year.  It is one of my favorite things about fall.

I hope everyone has had a great start to the fall season!

Birthday Fun

Thank you so much for all the birthday wishes on here, Facebook and email!  It was so fun to have a constant stream of emails coming in that day from all my family and friends!  It made the day so fun!

So did this little man!

I had to take a picture of Andrew with my birthday cake! :)  Ha!  I cracked up when I saw what my mom had written on the cake!  "Happy Birthday Your Highness!"  

 This has been an inside joke for many years between my mom, dad and I (and has rubbed off on Craig as well!)  My dad used to call me "Highness" as a joke.  He would fold his hands and bow while backing out of the room if I had asked him for something, etc.  It used to make me giggle. :)  So my mom thought I would get a kick out of this!  And it certainly made me laugh out loud! 

We all went out to eat together at Applebees and came back to our house for cake and ice cream.  It was the perfect way to spend the evening.  

Andrew was so sweet, he sang "Happy Birthday" to me in his sweet little voice.  It just made me want to cry!  He loves birthdays and he gets really into it!  He really enjoys all of our birthdays, not just his.  Probably because he still gets to enjoy the cake and ice cream!  Ha!

He was so excited because he "helped" me blow out the candles.  When they went out he yelled "I got it!"  He didn't realize I had actually blown them out!  Ha!  I had to laugh, he wanted to wear his "bones" pajamas.  Sets the mood for fall, doesn't it?

He was helping me open my presents and cards, too!

 He was putting this sack on his head and it had glitter all over it!  He had tons of glitter in his hair and the next day was picture day at his school!  He had already had a bath so I just scrubbed it out as best as I could!  His hair will probably be sparkling in his picture!  Ha!

Surprise!  Mom and Jim gave me a super tiny camera I can carry in my purse and I just love it!  I had been wanting something small to carry that also has video on it, since my old camera broke, remember?  I love my new camera but it is so huge that it is hard to carry around places, and it doesn't have video.  I think I'm set for my photography hobby for a while!  Now I am just begging Craig for a new iMac to go with it!  Ha!  Wishful thinking.  

Andrew was so thrilled that he had to get out his Elmo camera too!  Ha!

And an evening can't go by without a ride on Papa's shoulders...

And some wrestling!  Ha!

Andrew thinks Papa is a human jungle gym!

 And he freaked us all out when he stood up and did this... then he JUMPED off!  Yeah, he's a daredevil.

I just had the best day, and I am so thankful for everyone who helped to make it special, especially this little guy!