super hero birthday bash!

Somehow my sweet little baby boy has managed to grow up and turn three.  I'm in shock.  Wasn't he just a tiny, squishy newborn that took forever and a day (or four days) to arrive?

And didn't we just celebrate his first birthday, after which he quickly learned to walk... and fall.  I distinctly remember our first ER visit a week into the walking adventure.  In E vs. toy drum, toy drum won.

And, I swear, it was just yesterday that he turned two and started impressing us so much with his growing vocabulary, gentle nature and silly personality.

But somehow, at the end of July, he turned three.  Holy moly.  I am so blessed to call this little boy my son.  He makes me laugh daily, knows how to give the best hugs and kisses, brightens any room and is just a joy to be around.  I am so lucky to be his mama.

 

A couple weeks ago, we celebrated this little guy Super Hero style with a big group of family and friends.  It was such a perfect day - lots of people who love our little guy, fantastic weather and an overall fun party.

I love parties -- especially the pre-party planning and crafting.  But this was the first kid-focused party I'd thrown and I was a little nervous about how the details would come together.  I'm relieved to say, however, that everything seemed to work out pretty well.  We had fifteen kiddos under the age of seven and I think the only tears were related to a wayward elbow while everyone was scrambling to grab candy out of the pinata.  That's a success in my book!

The big bash started at 11 am (I look forward to the day we're not planning around naps!) and I had the kids start by making super heroes at our kitchen table.  It was a nice way to keep everyone occupied as the guests trickled in.  We had also set out some toys in the play room/office/junk room and the kids migrated in there as well.  Always fun to play with someone else's toys!

After everyone arrived and we'd wrapped up free play and craft time, we dug into the lunch spread.  The hubby and I went super simple this year and made sub sandwiches ("Hero" sandwiches - har, har) and veggie shooters - served alongside cut-up fresh fruit, bags of chips and a pasta salad (thanks, Mom).  It was so nice to have the prep work done the day before and I loved how simple it made serving food on the actual party day.  No rushing around at the grill, cleaning up the kitchen the morning of or accidentally forgetting an important ingredient, requiring a last minute dash to the store.

Following lunch, we headed out on a Super Hero Adventure!  The kiddos were given silly string and instructed to use their "spider web shooters" to spray Batman if he popped up.  Hubby and my brother in laws had hidden two Batman posters along the way to the park and the kids freaked out when they came across them.  Screams of pure joy and happiness.  So fun!

Just before we got to the park, we stopped to explain the next adventure - the kiddos were each to rescue a stuffed animal that had somehow gotten captured or trapped at the playground.  They took off running, rescued their victims within minutes and then proceeded to play for a bit.  Eventually, we made it back to the house for the final mission -- free the candy from the pinata!

The party wouldn't have been complete without cake and ice cream.  A super talented gal that I work with made the cake based upon some Pinterest inspiration photos and she did an amazing job.  We received so many compliments!  I also got an idea for serving ice cream off of Pinterest - dish scoops into cupcake liners ahead of time and don't worry about the mess at the party.  So handy!

We wrapped up the day by opening presents and our little guy was beyond spoiled.  We certainly have a very generous group of friends and family.  Too generous in fact.  I'm always humbled by all who love our little family; we are beyond blessed.

As a small token of appreciation, we put together goody bags for the kids.  I included a pack of crayons, a super hero coloring sheet, some super hero stickers, a felt mask (thanks Target Dollar Spot!) and a homemade Super E cookie (they turned out so much better than I'd anticipated, especially for my first attempt at royal icing sugar cookies!).  We also told our guests to disassemble the centerpieces to take home (super hero Tootsie Pops!) and will be sending personalized Super Hero photos with our thank you notes.  The photo backdrop was so much fun and I can't wait to share the shots I grabbed of the kids.  Their personalities shined through in the photos and I got the biggest kick out of watching them pose.

Besides crafting the centerpieces and photo backdrop, we also made a comic book pennant and decorated the mantle with framed Super Hero headshots.  Simple but festive!

Overall, we had a really fun day and it was so great to be able to welcome everyone into our home to celebrate.  It's the first big bash we've hosted at our new house and I loved having the space to entertain everyone.  Thanks again to all of our family and friends who made time to celebrate our little guy with us.  We love you!

day 152

1. It's quarter end and I work in accounting.  Enough said.

2. The condo sold.  We found out Monday night when our landlord called to say there was an inspection scheduled for Wednesday.  The sales contract says tenants have to be out 15 days prior to closing, which means we're supposed to be out on April 15.  10 days from now. (insert mini panic attack)

3. Our Construction Manager's last day with the company is this coming Monday -- April 8.  We found that out on Tuesday. (insert second mini panic attack)

4. On Wednesday, we had a painter come out to paint the master bedroom, powder room, living room/foyer and E's room.  I'd intended to do it myself, but we're running out of time. With the condo selling, I won't have a gap between the house being done and being able to move, so we just hired it out.  I was unimpressed with the work.  (insert third mini panic attack)  He's coming back tomorrow morning to finish touch-ups and clean up his lines.  Crossing my fingers he's able to meet my expectations.

5. We found out Thursday that the hood vent we received (which was actually an upgraded newer model) does not currently have an extender being made for it.  And, without the extender, it's not tall enough for our ceilings.  After lots of back and forth with the appliance company, they found us a new hood (which is the older model) out of California, along with an extender.  Hopefully it arrives next Thursday (April 11) as expected.  The installer is slated to be there first thing Friday morning to get it in.

[36" Stainless Chimney Hood by Best]

6. Our new Construction Manager continues to assure us we'll be in by April 15 (the completion date per our contract and now the day we have to be out of the condo we're renting).  He's tentatively scheduled our occupancy inspection with the Village for next Thursday.  Like 6 days from now.  Day 158.  I'm not totally convinced it's going to happen.

7. W'e're hoping to be able to do our final walk-through and punch list on Friday (day 159) and then be able to move over the weekend.  It gets us out of the condo on time, but it also means we'd be living in the house while they're doing the finishing touches.  Not ideal, but it's going to have to work.

8.  Speaking of the painter coming, I had to pick out more paint colors.  Because of the craziness at work, it involved my Hubby grabbing paint samples from Sherwin Williams and me spreading them out over the kitchen table at 10 pm, trying to pick paint with tired eyes via poor overhead lighting.  While I didn't like the paint job, I like the colors.  One small victory!  Our house palette now looks like this:

Master Bedroom - On the Rocks

Main Bath - Nantucket Dune

E's Bedroom - Versatile Gray

Master Bathroom - Perfect Greige

Kitchen/Dining Area - Gray Clouds

Living Room/Foyer - Gray Clouds

Powder Room - Copen Blue

9. Our master shower is finally tiled!  I love the tile work.  But I'm not sure how I feel about the granite seat and ledge.   I thought it was all going to be tile.  At first I was insistent that the granite come out but the Designer talked me out of it.  He assures me I'll be happier with how the granite holds up in the long run.  I still don't like the look, but practicality wins out again.  I really hope the granite grows on me once everything else starts to be added to the bathroom.

The missing tiles have since been installed but I haven't taken a photo for some reason.

10.  The fireplace tile has also been installed.  I like the wall tile, but I'm a bit undecided on the floor tile.  Does anyone else notice the front right tile?  I know it's natural stone and the colors will vary, but it's the only tile that light.  And I think it looks odd.  The tile guy's solution was to pull a few of the darker tiles out and replace them with a couple leftover tiles that were lighter.  But, because the tiles were wet when I went out to see if I liked it, it still looked the same.  The replacement (and larger) mantel has also arrived and been primed.  I believe it will be installed by the trim carpenter tomorrow.

11. The electricians came out and installed a few more of our lights.  They'll be out again tomorrow to wrap up.

12. Our appliances were delivered last Saturday (day 146) and were installed on Monday (I think?).  The pictures below were taken on Easter, pre-installation (and mid egg hunt!).

13.  We celebrated Easter with an egg hunt at the house.  E was glad the Easter Bunny found him!  And we were thrilled to start making family memories in our new home.

 

14.  Tomorrow is going to be a crazy day!  The painter, electrician, trim carpenter and plumber will all be there.  I think the biggest items left to complete are: paint touch-ups, finish trimwork, install mantel, finish hanging lights, hang mirrors, install carpet and transition pieces, plumbing, complete front porch columns, rough grading, put in temporary driveway/sidewalk and then CLEANING.  It's a tight timeline!  Hopefully more updates tomorrow once everyone has gotten in there and worked their tails off.  I stocked up on Gatorade, water and am baking cookies to drop off in the morning.  I'm hoping a little bribery will go a long way!

happy easter!

Lots to catch up on (like we're supposed to be moving in just over a week!) but so little time to download pictures and put together an update.  Hopefully tomorrow.  Hopefully.

In the mean time, this little guy is keeping us sane, making us laugh and helping us to forget the recent chaos.

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter! xo - Amy, Hubby and E

day 142

Lots of changes and little time to update can only mean one thing - it's time for an iPhone photo dump!

1. Tile work in the master bathroom shower has begun.  I think they started last Wednesday and currently have the floor and half the walls complete.  The photos below are from Sunday.

Since these were taken, they've laid the floor (rectangular mosaics) and hung the diagonal square tiles above the small pencil edge tile.  Can't wait to see it finished!

2. Granite was installed in the master bathroom last Friday.

[Vanilla Ice granite counters]

And I don't totally love it.  Which makes me sad.  I'm hoping that once the additional shelf is installed in the middle of the vanity and the plumbing, mirrors, lights, etc. are added, I'll like it much more.  I had really wanted a neutral granite that didn't make a big statement and, right now, this is a bit bolder than I had originally hoped for.  I'm sure the fact that it's currently the only pattern in the room does not help.  Nor do the cardboard-covered floors.

Also, we had to make a last minute change on our faucet locations.  They were originally supposed to be offset, at an angle, on the outside corners of the sinks.  We received a call from the granite folks the morning they were to install, letting us know they'd just gotten a complaint from the last vanity they did that way.  Apparently, water keeps splashing out of their sinks.  In favor of function over design, we decided to mount the faucets as normal, centered along the backs of the sinks.  I'm just bummed now that we didn't go with the rectangular sinks.  Unfortunately, by the time they'd received the complaint and called us, the sink holes had already been cut for the oval bowls.  Oh well.  I was just grateful to find out about the splashing issue before they'd cut the faucet holes.

3.  And granite was also installed in the main bathroom.

[Coffee Brown granite counters]

There is more brown in the stone than the photo is pulling.  And as nervous as I was about the dark color, I really like it.  Phew.

4. We finally got around to painting our Craigslist dresser this weekend.  After much debate, we opted to do a charcoal top with a medium grey base and drawers.  The contrast is definitely greater in person than the photos are showing.  More details to follow on this project.

5. After a ton of browsing, I think I finally found a shower curtain that will work for the main bathroom.  I really want something kid-friendly, but classy.  And it's been amazingly hard to find!

The shower curtain was found at Tuesday Morning ($16) and I think I'll need 2 yards each of the navy and green fabrics ($3/yd).  So, for $28, I should have a shower curtain I love.  Hopefully!

6. I also found hardware for the master bathroom vanity!  I don't know if they're new to Lowe's, or if I've just never noticed them before, but we finally decided on using a combination of knobs and pulls.

Knob: allen + roth 1-1/4" Polished Nickel Round Cabinet Knob

Pull: allen + roth 3" Center-to-Center Polished Nickel Bar Cabinet Pull

7. I found a mirror that I love for the main bathroom.  But I think it's a little too large.  And I think something rectangular would probably fit better.  The one below is from Hobby Lobby, but I'm wondering if we could make our own if we bought a plain beveled mirror and then trimmed it out with some painted and distressed molding?

8. We might have decided to wall paper the wall behind the toilet.  Or maybe the powder room.  And, yes, I swore I'd never use wallpaper in my life.  Especially after living in this highly wallpapered condo.  But isn't it pretty?

9. Weren't my boys handsome in their St. Patty's Day attire?

10. The electricians are coming out on Saturday to wrap everything up!  We're going to have them install one more light outside of the powder room/by the drop zone.  We've noticed it's a bit dark at night and figured we might as well have them take care of it now.

11. The new bathroom vanity cabinet should be delivered tomorrow or Thursday.  Can't wait to have it installed and to finally be able to check cabinets off the list.

12.  The plumber was supposed to start working Monday but we haven't seen him yet.

13.  Unlucky number 13.  We stopped by the house this weekend to drop off our kitchen faucet and a replacement light fixture that had been purchased broken.  In the time it took us to walk into the house and quickly drop off/check for updates, E discovered the latest project.  They'd filled our master shower basin with cement.  And it was fresh.  I'm sure you can imagine what happened next.  Hubby worked hard to smooth everything out while I cleaned up the kid and his less than two-hours old shoes.  Breath in.  Breath out.  

The countdown is on....20 days to go!

bedroom inspiration

I think we're going to do a little furniture re-arranging at the new house.  Hubby is dying to upgrade to a king sized bed, so our current bedroom furniture will be moving to the spare bedroom.  I'm planning to keep the same quilt, but we're going to change out the pillows, curtains and wall art.  The photo below is our old master bedroom, depersonalized and staged to sell. 

I mentioned yesterday that I'd picked up a few pillows from Kohl's, as well as curtains from IKEA, so I think we have a pretty good start on this room.  I'm still debating on the wall color  Maybe a light tan?  Or possibly even something with a little blue in it?

The curtains were the ultimate inspiration for this room and I think the lighter pillows will really brighten things up and help create a welcoming guest space.  And I'm glad they still work with the quilt - which I still love, six years after purchasing.  (Funny story - I bought the quilt from Target for like $70.  A day after it arrived in the mail, I found it on Overstock for like $30.  Do you know much $40 feels like to a newlywed?  I was excited for days.)

I'll pull in some brown from the stained dresser and a chunky mirror over the dresser, but am otherwise planning to use blue and red accents.  A few pops of a bright, canary yellow might be nice, too.  I think this space will be fun to decorate since I won't be living in it every day.  I can go outside of my comfort zone of neutrals a bit.

Random thought - it might look good to find some older nightstands, paint them white/cream and then stain just the tops?  Or even find a couple smaller plant stand sized tables and paint them a deep red?  Hmmm....

For the master bedroom, we're currently weighing the pros and cons of a few different beds.  We posted the options on Facebook and I think the bottom left was the easy winner.

Sources (clockwise, starting at the top left): Restoration Hardware outlet, IKEA, Target, Joss & Main

Our thoughts -

Restoration Hardware: Best quality by far but there is a stain on the foot board that I'm not sure will come out; I'm also not sold on the foot board - doesn't it seem like the tufting should be on the outside, too?  It's the most expensive, but is about $1500 less than retail by being at the outlet.

IKEA: It's the least expensive and really does look good in person.  You can't see it here, but the base is actually two pieces, so there is a connector (with feet) that is visible from the end of the bed.  Compared to the others, it's very simple.

Target: Not the biggest fan of the color, but I'm having a hard time finding the gray option in stock anywhere.

Joss & Main:  Love the look of this bed, but hate the thought of ordering a bed online, unseen.  Also, it was available through Joss & Main on a limited basis and is no longer on their website.  I haven't yet been successful locating it elsewhere - or finding somewhere that carries it locally for me to see in person.

At this point, we haven't made a decision.  The only other items we have figured out for the master bedroom are the curtains (acquired from two different TJ Maxx stores back in November) and the dresser. 

[master bedroom curtains]

And, when I say we've figured out the dresser, I only mean we've sanded and primed it and left it sitting in the garage.  I'm still not sure what color we'll end up painting it.  I recently picked up a sample pot of a faded yellow color that would be pretty - but then I saw a really neat two-toned gray dresser on Facebook this week.  Not sure why I'm having such a tough time deciding.  Maybe I'm waiting to decide on a full color scheme for the room?

[Refinished by Reclaimed]

In unrelated, non-decorating news - E had his first dentist appointment today.  After needing to reschedule three different times (I was afraid the dentist's office was going to boot us for good!), we finally made it there.  And despite waking little man up from his nap for the visit, he was a champion.  The hygienist was able to brush and count his teeth and the dentist was able to do a full exam and fluoride treatment.  I was so proud of him.  Especially since I hate the dentist.

Doesn't he look so big?  I am so not ready for these milestones.  And something else I'm not ready for?  E telling his teachers that he's going to have a baby brother and his name is going to be Baby Bear.  Hilarious, but I'm sort of wondering how many people he's told that to and how many people think I'm pregnant.   And let me answer that question.  I'm not.  Sorry to burst any bubbles!