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