Dresser Makeover

Well we decided to take advantage of the gorgeous +14 weather today and re-paint the ugly old dresser I got for baby girl's nursery! We were headed to the paint store in the morning to pick up some paint for our friends and decided that we may as well get paint for the dresser while we were there. Before leaving I had Dan take out a piece of the pink crib we bought so that we could get the paint color matched. Only when he brought me the piece of the crib the color was not at all what I has expected it to be. I swear that the display crib in the store was hot pink, and the crib piece I had was certainly not hot pink but a much lighter little girl pink!

I was shocked, I had really been planning on this hot pink, plus the rug I had purchased at Ikea has hot pink in it and I was suddenly desperate, trying to figure out how I could tie the two very different pinks together. The I remembered this gorgeous dresser that I saw over on the blog Picked & Painted and all my problems were resolved, I decided to use and the very popular ombre (thanks for the new word Rachel;) trend to paint the dresser. I found 3 pinks which worked and then we headed home to get to work!

Here are some photos of the process.

Marshal being cute and wearing and protecting his little ears during the sanding!

Sanding off the old finish.

Primer!

In case you thought I didn't do anything, I did!

Trying to get all the little spots.

M was a good little worker.

Drawers in progress, love the pinks!

Body of the dresser complete.

Painting those drawers pink!

And the final product! I am so in love with how this turned out, I may be partial but I think it looks fabulous and am so thrilled with how it ties the light and hot pink in together. We still need to find some new knobs for the drawers but I'm really happy we were able to get this portion of the dresser done today. Remember how ugly it was before: 

And Now:

I am so thrilled with how this turned out!

Pink, pink and more pink! Knobs to come!

I hope my little lady loves this dresser as much as I do!

Jordan

Thrifty Tuesday

I was having a bit of a rough day today. My patience was very limited and the boys were just constantly at each other this morning, fighting like mad and making each other cry and cry and cry. Needless to say I was losing it just a little bit. Thankfully I have an amazing hubby who came home to my rescue when I asked him if he could skip out on studying for the afternoon (which he normally does after his morning classes.) It was such a relief for him to get home and deal with those little "monsters." Who I really do love, but sigh, some days I just really lack the patience. Anyway Dan took, the boys out to enjoy the beautiful Spring weather we have been blessed with and I got to go out and spend some much needed quiet time alone!

After picking up a couple storage shelves which we needed for the basement (I am slowly trying to organize before baby 3 arrives) I decide to pop over and check out the GW. For those of you who don't know the GW is my favorite thrift store. Lots of great finds and always really great prices!

In the past couple weeks I have started working on how I want to set up/furnish my new baby nursery. I got super lucky and scored this hot pink crib at Ikea which was being discontinued for only $49! How could I say no to a price like that?

Not my nursery but this is the crib I got. Picture from: http://pickedandpainted.blogspot.ca/

I also picked up this rug from Ikea which I love but never had a reason to use before, yay for having a baby girl!

I knew that I wanted to find an old dresser that I could repaint in the same hot pink as the crib to help finish the look that I am going for in the nursery, and guess what?! Today I scored the perfect ugly old dresser just begging to be refinished at the GW for only $25. What makes this even better is that I was there a few days ago and the same dresser was there but marked at a whopping $85 yikes! I think someone must have mis-priced it, but only to my advantage, because today when I walked in and saw the new price tag I jumped and hurried over to cash as quick as I could to pay for this bad boy. 

I cannot tell you how thrilled I am with this purchase! And the fact that I found the perfect dresser so quickly. I am really looking forward to refinishing this and showing you what it looks like once it's done! With all the detailing on the dresser I think it's going to be really beautiful once it is painted pink! I also feel pretty sweet about how quickly this nursery is coming together so far. 

I know I still have 4 months until my due date, but trust me when you have 2 toddlers, a husband, a part time job and a really big church calling 4 months is pretty much nothing. So seriously I'm glad I found this today because there is not a moment to spare!

I also have to throw in that I scored a couple other great deals at the GW today like a brand new pair of black leather jazz shoes for me to teach dance in, a great pair of heeled brown boots, two nice pairs of shoes for Marshal, alphabet fridge magnets and a brand new Fisher Price baby aquarium still in the box! I was pretty happy and it was just the pick me up I needed this afternoon! Plus it was a super bonus to take my time browsing through the GW without having to rush because my kids are getting into all sorts of trouble. 

All in all it made for what could have been a super stressful, cranky day for me and the kids, turned into a super awesome day thanks to my sweet man!

Jordan

A Princess Party

This is also from last month but I really want to try to remember the events, so better late then never right?! Last month was Leah's 3rd birthday party. Marshal and Leah have know each other since birth and have been friends since then too. They pretty much didn't have a choice, but do really get along! Leah is quite obsessed with Princesses and Cinderella specifically. So we went to an all out Princess party for her.

The birthday girl and her momma.

Enjoying her cupcake!

Little prince with a lovely chocolate face.

A bunch of the kiddies enjoying their treats. 

Love this little monkey.

It was a good time until Marshal has a full out melt down because he wanted to open all of Leah's gifts. It was pretty intense. I guess it's hard to understand why you can't open presents too when you're only two and a half. Luckily the next party we'll be at is his own so we won't have to deal with any gift drama then!

Little Cohen

 These photos of little Coco are from last month but I wanted to share them because they are just so funny and cute. He is turning into quite the little character as he leaves babyhood behind and enters the world of toddler-hood. I can't believe that my little baby is almost 18 months old! 

This little boy was so pleased with himself for climbing into the train bin.

Busy driving his trains along the tracks.

His new smile face. I love it, it's just way too cute!


I love this cute little monkey and look forward to watching him continue to develop and grow. I'll be sure to post more details about him next month at his 18 month celebration!

The Prayers of a 2.5 Year Old!

Marshal has really taken an interest in praying in the past few months. At first he was very content to let us lead the prayer and copy each thing that we said. Recently he has become more independent wanting to pray by himself or add in his own thoughts.

Last night we were saying family prayer before bed. Marshal was copying Dan but then a little bit into the prayer he started saying his own things despite what Dan was saying. Marshal's addition to the prayer went something like this:

"Thank de kethcup. Thank de fa ketchup and french fries.Thank de fa french fries. An an chicken nuggets."

I guess he was tired of saying thanks for all the boring stuff that is probably meaningless to him like, thank thee for the day, for safety and the gospel. He must have just wanted to throw something in there that he was really thankful for. Clearly my kids eat too many french fries!

Hahaha, Dan and I had a good laugh over this one. Can't wait to hear what he prays for next!


Jordan

A Baby Shower for Kendra

Last weekend I hosted a small baby shower for me new niece Kendra. It was a fun afternoon with fun games, yummy treats and lovely generous gifts for little Kendra. Here are a bunch of photos from the shower. 

Presents!

Everyone was so generous with their lovely gifts!

Guess the total cost of the gift basket!

Party food and decorations.

I love tissue paper balls, they never get old for me no matter how many times I use them.
They are just so pretty, cheap and easy to make!

Another view of the food table.


Pink candies.


Mom actually got into the games! I know she had a good time,
and she rocked the balloon game!


Hannah played too!


Aeron looking very pleased with her presents.


Baby booties.

A new carrier.

She was pretty pleased!

Cute little summer onsies.

Really excited about those bottles.

Another big gift bag.

Cute.

Pretty summer dress.

Fuzzy blanket!

Beautiful diaper cake made by Aeron's friend Cassie.

With her gift basket.

The little princess with Grandma.

Little Kendra, such a sleepy little babe! Too cute. 

Thank you to everyone who came to Aeron's shower and gave such lovely gifts. It was a wonderful afternoon and we all appreciated your generosity!

Jordan

Pregnancy Diary: 20 Weeks

How Far Along: 20 weeks 3 days
Weight Gain: 20lbs (Yikes! The average woman has gained 10 lbs by this point!))
Size of Baby: A Banana

Food Cravings: Sweets. The sugary the better. Cookies, cakes, chocolate, candy, doughnuts and more! I guess this supports the theory that little girls are sweet! This may explain why I've gained 20lbs ;)

Food Aversions: None.

Baby Movement:  I have finally started to feel this little lady move. I didn't start to feel her until I was 19 weeks, which seems a little late to me, but I guess she was just being gentle or something. She is most active in the evening, as were my boys, but she is definitely not as aggressive as they were (at least not yet!) When we went to our ultrasound she was moving around a lot, kicking her little legs and feet, so fingers crossed I'll get myself a little ballerina.

Overall Mood/Feeling: Not nearly a grumpy as I was during the first trimester, but I'm still more moody than average. At least I can now hold a decent conversation while dealing with Marshal without lashing out like the wicked witch of the west! I'm still super tired, but I think that's going to be a symptom for the next 5 years of my life with having 3 little kids so close in age. Oh well I think it's worth it!

My Thoughts: I'm half way there waahoo!! I love hitting 20 weeks, it feels like such a huge milestone. The worst is over and in 4.5-5 months I'm going to get to meet this new little baby who's been growing inside me. I've been doing a lot of re-arranging and organizing at my house lately. It's like early nesting. Because I'm so busy (taking care of kids, church calling, working, doing choreography for work, all the fun chores at home, etc.) I figure I better get a jump start on it. Plus I tend to be a bit of a collector of things so I've got to go through and purge every once in awhile. I've also got to figure out how we're going to make room for this upcoming little princess and all the lovely pink things that will come with her. I must confess the shopping has already begun and I was so stoked when I got to buy that first pink ruffly dress. While boys clothes are cute, do you realize just how much more fun it is to buy girls clothes. It's ridiculous but true, little ruffles, and sparkles  and skirts and dresses! Oh my! Dan is in trouble just like he said!


Happy Weekend,

Jordan

It's A Girl!

So when I last posted about my pregnancy Dan and I were debating not finding out the gender of our third child. Dan was dead set on keeping it a secret and I was considering going along with his idea. However after a few weeks of thinking I could wait 9 whole months without knowing the gender of my baby I had an epiphany that those thought were pure insanity!

After a lot of begging and pleading I finally convinced Dan to join me in finding out the gender of our baby. We were literally in the sitting room waiting for the ultrasound when he agreed!

And boy am I glad that he agreed to find out because if I had found out on my own and had to keep it a secret from him and everyone else I don't think I would have made it! Especially since we found out we're having a GIRL!

I am beyond happy that we will be adding a little lady to our family. It's actually quite perfect to me- my two boys are best little buddies and will always have each other especially since they are so close in age. And now we will have a little girl to balance things out a bit. I guess to make it completely perfect we'd have to have one more girl so that the boys would grow up with a brother and the girls would have a sister. But that is a decision to be made a much later date!

Well I don't have much else to say. I just wanted to share my happiness at having a little girl at last!


Jordan

Radium Vacation

Somehow February ran away on me and now it's over! Yikes! Anyway I actually have something kind of exciting to write about (for once) because we actually had a little vacation in Radium BC.

Our super amazing friends the Campbells invited us to go away with them for 5 days to a condo (owned by their friend) in Radium, during U of C's reading week. We of course jumped at the chance to get out of town and have a much needed break from our day to day life.

It's amazing how a little change of scenery can make such a big difference in your perspective and how you feel. We brought our kids with us so it wasn't a complete break but it was still so nice to be away from home and all the responsibilities and chores that go with it.

We packed up and left on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed a lovely 2.5 hour ride through the mountains in which Cohen slept, Marshal screamed his head off and I felt horribly car sick, However upon arriving at the gorgeous 3200 square foot condo, all the pains from the journey to get there seemed to slip away.

I'm not even kidding when I say I felt like I was walking into another world. A world of space, beauty and pure enjoyment. Most of you know that I live in a very tiny house with the most ridiculous kitchen and the smallest bathroom in the world. This condo was the epitome of luxury in comparison and it truly made the vacation for me.

It was so lovely to be able to walk around the open concept living, dining and kitchen area and not feel crowded, to sit and look out at the spectacular view of the mountains while having breakfast, do a 1000 piece puzzle on the kitchen island/breakfast bar and still have tons of room to prepare meals. It was wonderful to let the kids run around and not feel that they were constantly right at my feet, to use a different bathroom twice a day just because there were three options. It was lovely to wake up and look around a huge bedroom without feeling like my little ceiling could cave in on me. And oh how glorious was that bathroom! I can't even begin to explain how much I enjoyed having a double sink, not having to share or wait my turn to use the sink was simply amazing! After that week I have to say it will be a must for me in my future home, sorry Dan!

Our sweet room.

The amazing sink.

Now a bit about what we did.

As we arrived later on Saturday we had a simple night, made dinner, unpacked, put the kids to bed, then stayed up visiting. Sunday we headed to church which was a super tiny ward that usually has about 10 members but had about 60 as it was the family day weekend. We left after sacrament meeting as the boys were giving trouble and there wasn't a real nursery. Sunday afternoon was spent with some outdoor adventures for the boys and relaxing and dinner making for the gals.



On Monday we decided to go check out the tourist info center. After spending some time there we went for a little walk and sled ride. The boys had fun, Marshal had a few melt downs because he wanted to sit in the joey seat on Rachel's Valco, which Thomas was sitting in. When we finally made it to the little hill, Thomas and Cohen enjoyed some sledding while Marshal decided to spend his time sitting in the now available joey seat! Kids are so funny.

On our way to the sled hill.

The boys enjoying a ride together as we arrive at the hill.

Getting ready to send Cohen down the hill.

He wasn't too happy when he got to the bottom, but I'm pretty sure it was because the ride was over, because every time he went down he was happy, and then started crying when he got to the bottom. 

Dan and Cohen going down the hill. 

Marshal enjoying his moment in the Valco.

My cute boys.

Thomas being cute and modelling his sled.

That pretty much sums up Mon-day, but Monday evening Dan and I went out for dinner.

We didn't leave until about 7:45, after getting the kids to bed and by the time we drive into Invermere it was 8. Sadly everything closes early in a small town, and that includes all restaurants including A&W! As we were about to head back we saw the Blackforset Restaurant - Steak and  Schnitzel house open just across the street. So we figured we go there. Walking into the restaurant was like walking into a funny little old German town. There was accordian music playing, waitresses dressed in traditional German outfits, and a wide array of old world art all over the walls. The place was one of a kind, and I basically couldn't stop laughing at how ridiculous and hilarious it was. Neither Dan nor I had eaten German food before and let me tell you we were totally disappointed with what we ordered. I don't know if that's how all German food tastes but I couldn't even stomach mine. Dan ate his but said he just didn't enjoy the taste. All in all the night gave us a good laugh and a great story if nothing else!

Looks classy doesn't it?

Our friends Hansel and Gretel.

Tuesday the guys went skiing while Rachel and I stayed at the house with the kids. We were pretty lazy but after spending most of the day at home we took the boys for a walk. Tuesday evening was low key, we made dinner put the kids to bed and then just hung out. Oh yes I also hit 18 weeks!

Marshal checking out the view in the back.

Wednesday we decided to make the most of our last day. We got ready early and headed to the Hot Springs only to discover they didn't open until noon. So we decided to head into Inveremere to check out the town and grab some lunch. We had a short walk through town, enjoyed some yummy treats at a local bakery and noted that a lot of business were still closed!  So crazy how different things were there, it was quaint and sweet but definitely a very small town!

Under the metal moose in Invermere.

After our "lunch" at the bakery Rachel and I decided to go check out a Massage/Chiro Clinic we saw on the way into town, while the guys took the boys to skate. Luckily the massage therapist was able to get me in for a massage right away, and Rachel booked one for the following morning. It was wonderful, it really had been far too long since I had last had a massage. So I definitely enjoyed this part of my vacation.

I was picked up when the boys were finished skating and Dan took me for a quick drive to show me where they had skated. We drove out onto the frozen lake....yes that's right I said drove out onto the lake! I can't lie I was slightly terrified, but I guess it's kind of cool that I can say I've driven on a lake before. I wish I had been brave enough to get out and take a picture, but I basically made Dan turn right around and drive off that lake right away!!!

We went to the hot springs after the boys napped, and that was also a highlight of the trip. The hot springs in Radium are a slightly lower temperature so safe for pregnant women, yay! I was happy to enjoy the warm relaxing water and the kids really had a blast too. Marshal called it the mountain pool and had no desire to leave!

After spending most of the early evening there we went "home" for dinner and enjoying our last night in heaven!

Thursday was basically a pack and clean morning and then a drive back to Calgary in which thankfully both of the boys finally fell asleep!

A few of the puzzles we did on our vacay.

I did this one on my own!

A group effort, Dan even participated by putting in the last piece!

The boys just being so happy and cute!

All in all it was a wonderful getaway and a much needed break! We are so thankful to our friends for bringing us along on this awesome little adventure!

Jordan