Christmas 2012

Sometimes we just can't believe how fast time is going. We think back to Christmas last year and we were just telling our families that we were having a little girl. Now she's here and sitting on her own, crawling up and storm and even starting to climb up on things. Little girl seems like an understated name at this point.

We were lucky enough to spend quality time with each side of our family this year. One at Thanksgiving and the other at Christmas. Chris and I both agreed this was defiantly the way to go in the future. We never felt rushed or slighted because we weren't able to spend time with anyone. We had 5 days of relaxation and enjoyment. Not to mention half the travel. This year was truly one of the best holidays.  I know I shared some pictures from Grandma and Grandpa Casey's house when Sloane got to meet Santa after Thanksgiving but here are a few of when she got to open her presents. She is at the perfect age where she understand how to rip the paper and her eyes light up (likely from the colors of the toys or the adults screaming with excitement and clapping). Either way, she had such smiles and fun playing with her toys and the wrapping paper.

For Christmas we traveled to Nana and Papa Wendorf's. We had a great time going to see Christmas lights. Sloane watched from her car seat but was fixated at the lights in mirror. There was a snow storm the day before we came so Sloane got to have a white Christmas! She played lots with cousin Ella. It's hard to imagine that they will be in the same grade in school when they start. They are so different when they are young like this. Sloane again had a blast opening gifts and always seemed to be more interested in the wrapping paper and boxes rather than the actual gifts. 

We continued our tradition of having Christmas Eve dinner out at Maggiano's Little Italy. Although this year our tradition changed to Christmas Eve lunch so the girls could participate. Instead of the midnight mass we attended the more family friendly mass at 5:00p. The girls did outstanding during lunch and church and everyone thought they were the cutest things ever in their coordinating (by accident) dresses. 

Waiting to go to church and really wanting to open her presents from Santa! 

Present time! Santa was super generous to the girls this year. Thanks Santa!

Loving the wrapping paper and boxes...not the good inside...

Even Lola enjoyed the bountiful amount of wrapping paper strewn around the living room.

After all that fun, full bellies, presents, singing and time with the family it was defiantly time to relax by the fire and put on "our" favorite holiday movie... Bubble Guppies: Happy Holidays Mr. Grumpfish!

Christmas is tough work!

House a Home: Powder Room Before

Since moving into our new home in October it's been a slow process getting settled in. Although we can attribute some of it to the craziness of taking care of a baby and a little bit of shear laziness, most of it is due to not knowing where to start. We have lists and lists of what needs to be done and what we would like to do to all the rooms. It just seems like a very daunting task to tackle.

This is our second home and all our decor and furniture was specific for our first home. So now what to do with it all! Little by little I'm weeding through everything and getting things placed where I think I want them, then two days later they get moved or taken down all together. I'm pretty sure it's starting to drive Chris nuts. Then throw Christmas decorations in there and I'm back at square one.

None the less we have to move forward if we are going to make this house our home. Why not start with a room that we use every day, the first floor powder room. These are all pictures of the before.

Problems
1. RED, RED, RED - I'm sooooo over red walls! The powder room is also a very small little room with no access to natural light. I equate it to a giant black hole sucking the life out of my family room. Maybe that's a bit dramatic. I'm over red.

2. Towel Placement - The original towel holder was to the right of the sink hanging over the outlet. Hello fire hazard. It needs to be moved.

3. Where's the toilet paper? - No wall-mounted TP holder. Nothing I hate more than a flimsy freestanding holder that topples every time you go for the paper. No storage for extra TP either.

Here is a picture of the bathroom we took during the inspection. Still decorated in the previous owners style. It's looks nice but just not our style.

And here is what it looks like now...

Solution
2. Towel Placement - After all the owners artwork was taken out we were left with a towel bar and holes everywhere. As you can see we changed the towel ring from the right side over to the left so it was no longer laying over the outlet. During that process we did a little game of musical chairs with all the towel bars. This silver ring came from the Master Bath and the ring from here went upstairs in the Master Bath where our decor went with bronze better than the silver. We removed the towel bar over the toilet (because who doesn't want more holes) because we wanted to simplify the room.

3. Toilet Paper - I bought a concealed silver TP holder for the corner behind the toilet. Never fear....your TP's there! We also installed a silver wall-mounted toilet paper holder.  Much happier now.

1. RED, RED, RED - Out with the OLD and in the BLUE, BLUE, Gray BLUE! This is the photo I found on Pinterest that inspired me.

We obviously do not have a black sink, nor do we plan on getting a new one at this time. So I'm going to play up the black in accents and artwork to try and create a similar clean and simple aesthetic.

Lastly, I have a few DIY projects for this room. I had glorious plans on two toned or two finish paint patterns on the wall, way too much for me too tackle right now. I also, would love love love to have a great tile back splash and I may add it in the future but it means tiling floor to ceiling so it doesn't look unfinished. $$$$ So for now I plan on keeping the existing mirror behind the sink but giving it a new matte/semi-gloss black paint job. 

I also have this plant stand that we picked from the garage of the previous owners when we came for the final walk through. I had no idea where or what I was going to use it for (Chris loves when I find/buy/bring home crap like this) and figured it could work out great as a little corner stand for hand lotion and bath spray to add a little feeling of hospitality in the powder room. 

I flipped decisions about 10 times on whether to paint this one white or black. I ultimately decided on black. All the architectural features are white and I need more black accents to achieve a balanced look.

So that's the Powder Room project. I have patched all the holes and played around with artwork ideas, just need to paint, paint and paint some more now.  Stay tuned for an AFTER post. Can't wait!

Things to Remember

Sloane's First Tooth Broke: Oct 27th

Sloane's First Solid Food other than Rice Cereal: Oct 31st - Sweet Potato, YUM!

Sloane's First Time in a full out crawl: 7 months :) I don't recall the exact date, my bad!

Before starting to crawl Sloane worked on her yoga. She would get up into a downward dog position and kick her leg up and over her back. Great stretch for her little back....even she has no clue what she's actually doing.

The grinding of her teeth...DEAR LORD....the grinding of her teeth. URGH! We couldn't figure out for the longest time how she was making that noise, her first top tooth just up and broke without any irritation. Next thing we knew, boom, top tooth was there and hanging out loud and proud hillbilly style. Her two front teeth are the ones that were suppose to come in first....instead our little lady is rocking two hillbillies on either side. It's hilarious.

Flipping over on the changing table and seeing how close she can get her naked butt to the edge.

Lastly, foods we love and food we do not love so much....

~Food We Love ~
Sweet Potato
Zucchini
Yellow Squash
Winter Squash
Peas (rocky start though)
Carrots (Mom does not care for the stains her carrot spit-up make on the carpet)
Banana
Apples
Cinnamon Pears
Peach Yogurt
Celery
Rice Cereal
Oatmeal Cereal
Corn
Edamame

~Foods We Do Not Love So Much~
Avocado (sometimes I think she is not my daughter)
Plain yogurt (I don't blame her)
Green Beans and Rice
Regular Oatmeal (I ate this EVERY morning for breakfast when I was pregnant, super weird)