Wendorf Weekend

Time to catch up on a few posts!

Two weeks ago Tony, Jacki and the girls came to spend the weekend! It was so great to have them down here and spend some quality time with them and let the little ladies have some quality time together as well.

Saturday Jax and I went  out for dinner while the boys stayed home and put Sloane, Ella and Macy to bed. We tried a place called The Tap House. It was new to me, and to Jax for that matter. The food was excellent!! We had an Apple Brie Flatbread that was to die for! We then made out was to a Jodi Picoult book signing. Jacki has been to many and has many if not all of her books signed. This was my first time seeing Jodi though and it was so great. I loved hearing about not only about the book but about her career as a writer.

Mucho love to Tony, Jax, Ella and Macy!

Ella and Sloane playing before bed.

Ella, you sit there, I'll read you a story

Kids toys are boring... let's play with the dogs!

 This is essentially what Mace-A-Roo did all weekend. I forgot she was even there sometimes. I miss those sleepy days.

Jacki, Myself and Jodi Picoult

Bloopers!

Everyone see's the finished product of Miss Sloane's monthly pictures... but this is how we really roll....

                                  

T-Minus Two Months....

Sloane is 10 months! It blows our minds to think she will be one year old in two months! Ekkk! (yes, the party planning is well under way).

These pictures are getting harder and harder to take as our independent little lady chooses to do whatever she wants. None the less, we caught a few cute ones.

Nowadays we are eating pretty much whatever gets put in front us. Sloane is putting those chompers to work. I don't puree many foods anymore, everything just gets cut up nice and small. She is also weeks away from taking her first steps. She cruises the furniture and has been doing some one step transfers from one piece to another. We dance a lot and when she starts to clap she will let go of the furniture and clap with us, only for a couple seconds though before she biffs it or grabs back onto the furniture.  Lots of Mama....Dada....and her daycare teacher thinks she is mimicking Thank You. Not a bad word to add to her list of firsts, especially considering the mouths Chris and I have...it could be a lot worse!

House a Home: Guest Bathroom Before

The guest bathroom is, knock on wood, an easy project. Like most every room in the house the guest bath was already painted a nice and simple beige. A good blank canvas. The towel bar in this room was a standard builder grade bar which had likely not been changed since the house was built. It was a shiny chrome which we could have lived with but after changing around some of the towel bars downstairs in the powder room and master bath we ended up with an extra satin silver bar. So why not change it!?

                      Then                                                                   Now

Our tissue box broke in the process of the move so I went out and bought a new one, which turned out to be great because Sloane started sprouting teeth and we needed a place for her tooth brush and toothpaste since there were not any drawers in this bath.

I don't want to add any accessories in between to the two sinks because oddly enough the outlet is placed there. I plan to find something simple and playful for the corner since this is not just the guest bathroom but will be Sloane's bathroom. Some day I would like to get rid of the builders grade mirror and add two separate framed mirrors... and refinish or replace the cabinets... and the counter tops... and light fixtures... some day. 

For now all is well.

Lastly, I saw this prints on Zulily a couple months back that I loved. They had strong, beautiful messages on them that I thought would be great for Sloane to see each day while she was getting ready for school. They were also a great blend of young artwork, but not kiddish. The problem with these prints... I didn't buy them... I had them in the cart and everything. Now, I'm checking Zulily everyday hoping the event comes back. I do know who makes them, but I'd rather pay the discounted price on Zulily than the actual price. Also, I'm planing to paint stripes on the wall along the door that match the width and cream color of the shower curtain. Lastly, I'd like to find a new 2' x 5' natural sisal or jute rug that would be in front of the whole counter. The bath rug from the other house only covers half.

House a Home: Powder Room After

Thanks to Grandma Casey watching our little lady this weekend while Dad was gone helping a friend of ours move, I finished the powder room!

I love, love, love the blue. I wanted more of a grey blue and I found the perfect color from at Lowes, by Olympic, Chalky Blue. The black accents pop just the way I wanted and the silver accessories work much better with the white trim than the oiled bronze did.

Now for the part I'm still up in the air about. I wanted to add a painted detail above the toilet rather than the traditional towel rack. The powder room is small and with this remodel I wanted to make the room feel bigger. So this painted detail, in my mind, needed to be subtle and not in your face. I chose to paint the blue in a Semi-Gloss finish so light would reflect off the walls and brighten the space, therefore making the room feel bigger. In order to keep the detail subtle I used the same color but changed the finish. It was between Matte/Flat or High Gloss. I went with Matte but now kind of wish I had used the High Gloss.

If subtle is what I was going for, subtle is what I got... so subtle you hardly see it. I'm going to live with it for a little while and see if it grows on me before changing it.

If you're interested in the process check out the Before and Update posts on the Powder Room

House a Home: Powder Room Before

House a Home: Powder Room Update

House a Home: Sloane's Room Update

Reduce my spending on new items: I did fairly well on this one. All I bought for her room was a second curtain (which I haven't hung yet), a stool so my short little legs can reach in the crib to actually pick our daughter up, and eventually will be buying paint for the feature wall. 

Reuse: Use all the artwork and leftover wall dots from a baby shower gift. In her old room we only used a few of the dots since we knew we would be moving. 

Lastly,

Recycle: The "BELIEVE" sign above Sloane's closest is actually back from our master bedroom in the apartment. Our first place together. This sign has been in our bedroom, our office, the basement and now Sloane's room after I did some shopping in my own personal accessory store (ie. my basement). The other piece recycled is the end table by the glider. I found it at goodwill for $6, SCORE, and spray painted it flaming orange. I like the juxtapose of the old silhouette of the table and the modern bright color of the orange.

Almost finished. Noticeably still missing is the canvas I made with Sloane's name on it. I'm hoping to paint accent stripes all the wall over her crib in the same widths and heights as the curtain. I also would like to make new tissue balls to hang above the glider like Sarah had made for Sloane's first room. We left the originals at the old house for the new homeowners. They had a daughter a few weeks younger ours and knew they were going to make that room the nursery as well. Few more details and it will be complete.

Casey Filled Weekend

Two weeks ago we had a great visit from another third of the Casey clan...or I should say Casey Klan with a K, as in the K-Brothers! Kellan and Keegan. Tim, Sarah and the brothers K made the long 4 1/2 plus drive down to Plainfield. It had been a while since we have seen them and it was so great to have some quality brother, sister, niece and nephew time.

We went out for fish when they arrived on Friday. Although, "going out for a fish-fry" down here is very different. We are still searching for a restaurant that has a traditional Wisconsin fish-fry or at least as close as possible. Hop, Scotch & Vine did not turn out to be that place, but we did find out they have excellent fish.

Somehow Friday night was the night we decided to really tie it on. Not really sure why, considering we were all going to the gym the next day in some way, shape or form. Sarah and I were heading to yoga in the morning, so Tim wanted to give some poses a try....

After yoga we came home so the boys could go to the gym and climb the rock wall. Last I heard someone got schooled by their little brother. But that's just a rumor I heard ;) We then all met up to go swimming and hopefully tire all the kiddos out so the adults could relax Saturday night. Mission accomplished, unfortunately it also seemed to tire some of the adults out as well.

To say this house was a mad-house might be an understatement. Did I mention we also had my parents dog? So 4 adults, 3 kiddos under 3 and 3 dogs later....