Decorating Fun

I am so not an artsy person. Ask anyone who knows me. If I buy something from the thrift store or a garage sale, it is going in my house the way it is, no matter how rough it looks. I almost find it comical when people  say to me, "you should just sew that, or make this, or use this pattern, or sand or paint this," because I have no idea how to do any of those things.
Well, I found this super cool old frame or whatever it is at the thrift store for like $3, and I put it up on the wall. But it looked a little bare with nothing in the middle. I know that people decorate like that these days, but with only one big frame, it needed something else. Maybe it would have been fine if I had several other empty frames with it. But I didn't.
So I was asking some people what they thought I should do with it. My sis-in-law looked up some ideas so it got the wheels turning. Eventually I am going to have pics of each of my kids in each frame. Originally I was going to get the first letter of each of their names instead of the crosses. But I really liked the look of the crosses I found, and the letters I saw didn't have the same look.

So anyways, that's that. Not too much effort. And some help and ideas from family. But I think it turned out pretty cute!! It's also up on Pinterest!!

The Chair

So, in our tiny little house, there isn't much room for any more furniture. But for Christmas, we had to move some things around to get our Christmas tree into the living room in front of the window. Once we took our tree down, I realized we would still have room in front of the window and decided that I wanted a big, easy chair to go there instead. So we started the hunt at our favorite thrift stores. But it seemed like everywhere we looked, the chairs were overpriced and weren't in very good condition. I didn't want to pay over $100 for something that looked like it was out of the dumpster!! So we kept looking.
We went to this little antique shop here in town, and started looking around at the stuff. Most stuff was overpriced and expensive collector's items, but we had fun looking around. Then, in one of his back rooms, we saw a big, easy chair that matched our living room colors and was in really nice condition. Just one chair. I asked him the price, thinking it would be way out of our price range and guess what?? It was $30!! It looked almost brand new! When you put the foot rest up, there is a little hole, but that is pretty much it!! We couldn't believe it! It was in much better condition than all the other ones we had seen and way cheaper!! We couldn't resist!!
And that chair has gotten so much love!! We have never had an easy chair before, so we all take turns lounging in it. The kids actually fit in it together and play games in it, like pretending it is a rocket ship!! Everyone loves it...

Being goofballs.

And I even fit with one kid, or two if they aren't all on top of me!! Well, actually three if you count Ruth.

They boys like their lounging!!

If someone is sitting in the chair, then the kids just sit on them!!

So, now all I guess the chair needs is a name. We haven't officially named her yet, but she makes all of our lives a little bit more relaxing!! Any suggestions??

What is your latest, greatest thrift store find??

Christmas Festivities

Let's just say that I LOVE Christmas and I always have. Even when I was a kid I had boxes of Christmas decorations for my room, a Christmas music CD collection, and loved making homemade cards and buying everyone gifts with my money! Now, as an adult, it is just as fun, and I have added decorating a home and holiday cooking to the mix! Not to mention shopping for my kids, new family traditions, and the joy of experiencing Christmas with my little ones in new ways.
Pictured above is a little concoction I found on Pinterest on How to Make Your Home Smell Like Christmas. It is simply wonderful!! In the past, I have just added a bunch of spices to some boiling water and let it cook down for a couple of hours. But this recipe actually has you adding some yumminess that makes the house smell wonderful, and I just so happened to have these things on hand!

Holiday Stove Top Potpourri Mix
makeitdo.com

One whole orange or just the orange peel
1/2 cup cranberries
1 Tbsp. whole cloves
3 sticks of cinnamon or some pieces of cinnamon sticks
a bit of grated nutmeg if desired

All you do is quarter the orange, or place all the orange peels into a saucepan. Add the other ingredients and fill with water. Put it on the smallest burner on the lowest setting and get ready for your house to smell amazing! You can refill with water if desired. Also, it says you can reuse this throughout the season, or bag up the ingredients and give it as a gift! How cute is that! But I will say that I saved it after I used it once, drained of course, and the next time I used it I did not like the smell! So, maybe just personal preference!
One of my favorite things around this holiday season is decorating! We lived in our last apartment building for about 4 years, so it was fun this year to be in a new house and have a different place to decorate!! Now, notice my counters/house is not spic and span when I took these pictures, but, you get the idea!!
I found this cute little tree with the lights and a burlap bottom for only $2.49 at the thrift store!! Can't beat that!!

This is the first year we have our piano, so it made for a fun surface to decorate!! I actually used a table runner across the top, and it made it look even more festive!!
This year we opted not to go get a real tree and to save a few bucks by accepting the artificial tree from Tad's family. I was bummed we weren't getting a real tree, but once we got it up and decorated, I was happy with the outcome!! And I am convinced that ornaments are so special and it's so fun to talk about the stories behind the ornaments as we hang them on the tree! Tad's family's tradition is to get a new ornament every year, for each child, so Tad has all his ornaments from when he was born!! And they have given our kids their ornaments too! So fun!
The kids eating their breakfast in front of the tree! And of course, watching their morning cartoons!!
Aunt Lydia decided to get her sisters and Maddy a different kind of present this year!! Instead of picking out a toy for them, she got them tickets to go see Cinderella at the local theater on opening night!! They got dressed up and had a blast!! Here they are before they left!! Isn't Maddy getting big??

So now, we still have the traditions of making our gingerbread house, making Christmas cookies, and getting Christmas cards out, amidst other things I'm sure!! But it is a blast! It's fun being in our new little home and continuing to make new memories with our growing little family!! And just in case you need a reminder, my due date is February 27! It's been changed a couple of times, but this date was confirmed at my last appointment. Third trimester!!!!!

Happy Holidays!!

Outdoor Fall Decor

I am so excited this year to decorate outside for the Fall season!! It might sound really silly, but living in Chicago all those years in a little apartment didn't allow for us to decorate outside!! We had a tiny little balcony that I could put a small table and a plant on, but other than that, not even a front porch!!
We were glad to see that the people who previously lived here had planted mums all across the front of the flower bed, which stayed green all through the cold and hot months. We trimmed them once or twice, and now they are in full bloom! They are mostly a deep red/maroon color and one of them is getting some burnt orange flowers too! There is also another mum (or other plant) that is getting buds and I'm wondering what they will look like!!

I also bought a few mums and pumpkins to put out on our porch since it is pretty big. When we first moved in, the porch seemed pretty empty with nothing on it, and it took us awhile to figure out what we wanted on there and to find stuff for it! But with the mums and pumpkins, it is looking more full! We got the chairs for about $20 from a thrift store, and the baskets that the mums are in and the little rocking chair are from a garage sale!!

Here is my little man watering the yard. Well, the driveway. Okay, he is just playing with the hose!!

Pretty soon, the little pumpkins will come inside, since they are pie pumpkins and I will have to put them to good use!! We will carve our pumpkins this weekend, toast the seeds, and then I might have to figure out what to do with the porch again!! I will also probably have to plant the mums I got from the store in the side part of the flower beds.
Any ideas for another bare porch once the flowers/pumpkins are removed??
Happy Fall!

Finally...House Pictures!!

Welcome to our home!! Sorry about all the blurry pics, but my phone camera isn't the best quality (since our regular camera broke!!) But here they are, nonetheless!! Maddy loves to pose, so she will be making appearances throughout the house!
My kitchen is a little hard to see, because of the glare. Behind the sink there are two windows that come together in a v-shape. I love that little nook behind the sink where I have a plant, tea set, and other little things!! It's the biggest kitchen I've ever had, with the most counter space, and storage space. Off to the left is a door to the garage, and the door to the right goes into our backyard.
Our little dining area off of the kitchen. Love the ceiling fan, and the walls were already painted when we moved in, so we just went with the existing colors.
My least favorite area of the house. Old school light green countertop with gold flecks (no thanks!) with a top painted border of gray (matches my shower curtain) and part of the wall above the toilet, a square section not painted the same color as the rest of the walls. Oh well!! The toilet, sink, and shower work! I do, however, like the window in the shower!!
Judah's room. Again, sorry for the glare. I need something above his crib, and some more "boyish" decorations. But it's a fun room for him, for sure!! His first room!

Maddy is loving her room. She got my bedroom set from when I was a girl! My canopy bed (maybe we can find a canopy somewhere), desk, hutch, and nightstand, and Judah got the dresser!

We just need curtains for her room. Other than that, it's pretty much done!!

Her art section on her wall!

The little half bath off of our bedroom.

Living room. Sorry, these are a bit out of order!! I used a lot of nails to get curtains up, horrible, I know, but I was ready to get those curtains up!! Notice the cardboard window panel, before we got our window fixed.
The piano we got from the church!! We love it! I can't wait until I can start teaching Maddy how to play!!
Our bedroom. 2 windows. Finally our room back!! Judah has been sleeping in our room since he was born.

Well, hope you enjoyed the tour! I know so many people don't live close anymore (sigh) and wanted to see pics of the new place!! We are having a blast continuing to get settled, being creative with our new space, and loving our first backyard!! Chicago was fun, but we are loving Oklahoma!! Now if we could just get all our neighboring dogs to stop barking, it would be perfect!!