Seeing More Stripes...

in the kitchen that is!

If you have been reading my blog for a bit, then you might be thinking to yourself, "I thought she already added stripes to her kitchen!"

My response is YES! I did already add some stripes to our kitchen.

And guess what, I added just a little more with some tape.

;)

Tape? What??

Yep!

Some white masking tape (and it isn't that sticky so it is easily removed from the wall if I tire of it).

See?!

You can read a little more about our light fixture here. 

We LOVE it!!

This was all done with some tape....easy peas guys!!

Would you every work with tape like this?

I got the idea from a wonderful blog called TheNester.

This girl is hilarious and writes so well...check her blog out sometime. It is sure to put a smile on your face! :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Chalkboard Wall Command Center Details

Here we go everyone!

Today is the day I want to share with you our organization area.

Are you ready?

First things first...

when we started with our chalkboard wall, it was just a blank slate for doodling, random quotes, and grocery lists.

As I was flipping through a magazine one day (I forget which one), I saw one lady who had a chalkboard wall command center.

I thought, what a freakin' great idea! I'm gonna have to give that a try.

It just made so much sense and now our chalkboard wall is actually being used in a better way.

Here is how it looks now.

Actually, the picture just below shows the chalkboard command center incomplete...but keep reading! :)

The top says "Inspirations"

Next is the "Mom and Dad" center

We have a "Calendar" area complete with pens and markers

Lastly, but NOT least, we have the "Grocery" and the "Kids Space"

Remember my cereal box post?

I turned these 2 cereal boxes into storage boxes for the hubs and I- it's a great place for us to keep notebooks, coupons, receipts, etc.

I thought about buying 2 storage boxes, but really didn't want to spend the money on that.

Why not just use what you have, right?

I covered the boxes in wrapping paper- leftover from this project. 

I also used an empty utensil box for markers and pens and covered it in some white masking tape!

I love it, my husband loves it, and importantly, our kids love it!

It's so much more functional now and has more of a purpose.

And for some extra "flare" I taped some paint swatches onto our boxes.

It just adds some color and a little bit of fun to them.

How do you try and stay organized?

Do you have a chalkboard wall command center you love to use?

Thanks for stopping by!

Chalkboard Wall Command Center

Hello, hello!

I am excited to share this post with you today because it involves organization.

Don't we all need that in our lives somehow?

One area in our house that needed some serious organizing was our chalkboard wall.

This wall connects our dining room and our kitchen together and it needed an update.

Here is a sneak peak at what is taking place.

What??

You might be thinking...what kind of teaser is this?

Well, check back soon to see what I did with these 2 cereal boxes and how they tied in to our chalkboard wall.

And by the way, have you guys tried either one of these cereals?!

My family and I may or may not have devoured these in 2 days! ;)

Is that bad? ;)

They were just awesome!!

I have more details to share with you soon so stay tuned for more!

How do you organize?

Thanks for stopping by!

Funny Things Kids Say

Our 2 year old loves to tell us stories! She even has a sharp memory (hoping that rubs off on me at times!) and lately she has been saying some of the funniest things to us so I just had to share a few of them.
 Here it goes.

Last week, as we were getting ready to go to church, we told our daughter to go put her shoes on (because she insists on doing it herself).

She quickly said, "Ok!"

Then she paused and it looked like she was wondering why she needed to go and put her shoes on so my husband said, "We are going to church, sweetie, so you need your shoes." (And yes, my husband always uses "sweetie" when he is talking to our daughters...is that cute or what? YES!).

Anyways, our little one quickly replied, AND I QUOTE! "Oohh, boy...then I go put on different shoes!"

Now, this was hilarious to us because there is this new boy that moved up into the toddler room at church (which is the room our daughter is in) and she loves playing with this little guy. He is a total boy and likes all things "destruction" if you will. Whenever we volunteer in there, she constantly brings him things that she thinks he needs (like toy cars, play saws...YES saws people!...and play hammers) and sweetly says, "Here you go Z." (this is obviously not the boys real name).

So yea, we were pretty sure she wanted to wear her fancy shoes for that special occasion...you know, just in case someone in particular was paying attention.
And the shoes she picked out were her sparkly boots. Oh boy!

Seriously, why do kids grow up so fast?!

************************************************

Another fun little story-

The other day I was holding our youngest and she was whining (kind of the usual at this stage now that she has 3 teeth coming in...ALL AT THE SAME TIME!)

My oldest said, "Oh...it sounds like baby needs to take a nap!"

I laughed out loud and told her that was pretty funny and true at the same time. I really needed that laugh-out-loud moment in that situation.
Can't children say the cutest and funniest things sometimes?
I love watching both of them learn to play together now. It really is the sweetest thing stepping back and watching how they are together.

I don't know why, but I'm always reminded of this verse when I watch the two of them together.

“Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven.”
Matthew 19:14 

I praise God for these moments in life and pray for them to know Him.

***********************************************

 While parenting can be quite the challenge sometimes, there are plenty of great laugh-out-loud moments that make it all worth it.

Do you have any fun stories to share like these?

Thanks for stopping by!

Family Room- Layering Rugs

Hi everyone!

So remember this post from last week?

Okay, okay already...I know I said that the jute rug went somewhere else in the home...and yes, it did for a while. :)

But I wanted to play around with layering the rugs a bit so I put the jute rug back into the family room and laid the new one on top.

So I'm loving this look soooo much more guys!!!!

What do you think??

Yea, the rugs are pretty much going to stay in here this way.

And...as a side note...it is so comfortable to walk on!!! Seriously, it's just the right amount of squishy and comfort you need in floor rugs...if that makes any sense! ;)

And you can check out one of my older posts on what this room use to look like before I layered the rugs together.

Do you like layering rugs?

Thanks for stopping by!

Next Week's Reveal

Hi!

I hope you are enjoying your weekend....

I just wanted to pop in and say that next week I will be revealing our family room additions with some pretty pictures.

Please stay tuned and have a safe holiday!

Thanks for stopping by!

New Family Room Rug

I know, it seems like not long ago I blogged about a jute rug in our family room.

But don't worry, I didn't get rid of that rug. I just moved it somewhere else and bought a smaller one for the family room.

It's the slate oriental rug from RugsUSA and it came at such a deal.

I wanted something a bit smaller for this room and something with a bit more color- which the jute rug didn't offer. This fits nicely with our family room and the colors go well with what we have.

I have more pictures to share, but I just need to edit them and then they will be ready to post.

Thanks for stopping by!

Little Grand Piano

Like my post title for today?

I thought it was pretty cute...and my post today is about a little piano.

Over the break, we got some really lovely gifts and we are so grateful for every single one of them...especially the time spent with many wonderful people. One gift in particular is a big hit with my daughters. Can you guess what that is?

Haha...well, again, like the title says, it's a little piano that my mom bought for the girls. They even have their own little piano book for whenever they want to learn how to play this wonderful instrument.

It was a bit of a concern when we packed out car for the drive back and didn't know if we could fit the piano...that was until my hubby figured out that the legs came off!

It was a tight squeeze with all of the presents from various places and all of the kid things you need when you travel, but we were able to do it thankfully.

I really regret not taking more pictures of the trip, especially taking one of the car after it was packed!

I love hearing our little ones playing banging on the keys. It's joyful noise really and sweet. They love it and my youngest likes to bounce up and down when she hears someone playing the piano. (Oh why do kids grow up so fast?!)

Maybe someday we will actually get a bigger piano, but for now this one will definitely do!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dining Room Wall Update

Hey there!

Today, I would like to share a small project I recently completed after my family's long Christmas break.

So I have a wall of mirrors in our dining room that we loved, but behind the mirrors, the wall was a little blank.

I knew I wanted to add some wrapping paper (yes, wrapping paper- easy to put on and take off if need be) to that area so it would stand out a little more and I finally did just that.

Would you believe my hubby picked out the dark wrapping paper for this wall??

He did and I think he made a fabulous choice!

As soon as he said, "This will go well with our kitchen counter-tops," I was sold!!! ;)

The silver plate was a gift from my mother-in-law. She gave it to us while we were visiting because she said she would never use it. I was a little hesitant to take it until she said she has had it for 50+ years- which is how long her and my father-in-law have been married.

I knew I couldn't pass it up!

The wrapping paper is so pretty...I love the detail and the color goes well with our home.

The picture below is my FAVORITE!

There's just something about it that I love.

I also used some electrical tape to dress up our buffet table.

That's one of my projects for the week. Stay tuned for more.

Thanks for stopping by!

Welcome Back!

Hello, hello!

Happy New Year everyone!

Did you all enjoy your Christmas break?

My family and I had a pretty busy Christmas and New Years visiting 11 places and staying with family and friends.

And YES, you heard that right....we stopped at 11 different places during our 2 week stay. It was pretty crazy but there really wasn't much of a dull moment. Our daughters had a good time visiting with family and my husband and I's college friends. Our youngest wasn't a fan of all of our drive time and she was VERY happy to be home once the big trip was over. Our oldest was great on the long car rides. She is potty trained and we were a little nervous we would have some accidents along the way, but she surprised us and didn't have any! That was a big Hooray!

In other news, I have some neat projects to share this week and will give you a sneak peek of what's to come.

Also, I have decided to not blog everyday (if you haven't already noticed) because it was just becoming too much and I really want to cherish these moments with my husband and two daughters. So I have decided to blog 2 to 3 times a week and hope you will still follow along. :)

Here is a sneak peek of one of my projects that I will share in more detail later this week.

Stay tuned and I hope everyone has a great start to their week!

Thanks or stopping by!