Friday Phone Dump

There were a couple things that I planned to post about this week; how I made a shirt and hat for Carter, how we landscaped my mother-in-laws yard in one afternoon, and how I've been redecorating our home instead of remodeling our home.  My husband loves the last one.  But, all of those nice quality pictures are still living inside my camera... so this phone dump will have to sum things up.  Maybe next week I'll get to the step by step on making Carter's birthday shirt and hat.  I am so in love with how his shirt turned out.  It will definitely be going on pinterest! 

We have a big event coming up in our family this month.  A huge reason to celebrate.  Carter will be turning 1!  Not only will he be one, but he is our first child with a summer birthday.  That means we have to throw a big party with swimming, a bounce house, and lots of outdoor games!  Can't wait!

To get ready, my good friend Lindsay came over and took some amazingly precious pictures of Carter.  Lindsay is an awesome photographer!  She gave me this sneak peek picture of Carter and I am so in love with it.  I used it for his invites and shared it all over facebook and instagram.

In preparation for Carter's pictures... well... it caused a busy Friday night.  Not that I had the past 11+ months to get ready for this big photo shoot or anything... ha.  After work on Friday I ran over to Wal-Mart and browsed the store for ideas as quickly as possible.  I left with a white shirt, a pack of buttons, a large sheet of blue paper, some clearance ribbon with little pom-poms, a candle, and some cake sprinkles.  Total expense = $11

I came up with this adorable little cake. Mariah made the cake for me during the day and I frosted and decorated it when I got home from work. Huge time saver not having to bake the cake that night. Thanks Mariah! :-)

Then I surprised myself and made a button shirt for Carter.  I laid the buttons out next to the shirt, put some fabric glue on the shirt, and pressed the buttons in to place.  Went to a Norwex party at my sister's house while the glue dried, came home later that night and stitched on each button. 

Made a hat to match at 6:30am the next morning.  I was so proud of how the hat and shirt turned out.  It was a much easier project that I was expecting.  And really inexpensive!  We were all set for Carter's 7:30am photo shoot!

Carter had a great time smashing in to his cake.  He even chewed on the hat a little bit.  It was a short life for the cake and hat, but well worth it.

On my way home from Wal-Mart on Friday night I stopped by a rummage sale.  I saw a slide that caught my eye and I actually had cash on me - that never happens.  I knew it was a sign and I had to stop and pick up that slide.  When I got out of my car an overly friendly dog greeted me with a jump and scratched up my arm.  Urg... seriously people.  If you are having a rummage sale... lock up your animals.

But, the scratch was worth it because I picked up this slide for $10.  The boys love it.  Even our little dog Oscar plays on it.  Carter is such a climber.  He goes up the steps and down the slide all on his own.  Ethan loves to make a fort out of it and hide underneath.  I think this picture is precious.  Carter is peeking at Ethan through a hole (that is supposed to be there) in the floor of the fort.  Love my boys! 

Next up on my photo dump, my red bathroom.  This is our half bath off our mud room and laundry room area.  This is the area that is taken over by our dogs in the winter months.  It's summer now which means the dogs sleep in the garage and I get the bathroom back until the weather turns cold.  I've been wanting to update this bathroom for a while, but I'm not sure what to do with it.  I'm thinking a lighter tan/gray color?  Or maybe a blue/gray?  I'll have to pick up some samples.  

Speaking of blue/gray, I also need to repaint the playroom, but I'm waiting until we put up the board and batten and trim.  I took this picture not because of the color and the to-do-project-list, but because of the awesome benches from IKEA.  It is amazing how much stuff the bins hold and hide!  Look at how clean and picked up the toy room looks.  Ahhh love!

In case we weren't busy enough this weekend, we also went down to Cory's mom's house and helped her with some landscaping.  We added 105 bags of dirt to her area around her house and planted a bunch of plants.  Don't the irises look pretty around her big tree?!  I alternated them so they will bloom in dark purple and light purple groupings.

She had the peonies in the landscaping, but we added the other plants in front of her house.

Then for a little home decorating.  Mariah, Carter, and I did some shopping on Sunday morning.  We stopped at Michael's and Pier 1 and picked up on some great deals.  Plus I had coupons!

I am loving these balls, but having a hard time keeping Ethan from playing with them.  He loves the small globe, but he thinks it's a bowling ball...

This is the part I am most excited about.  I have been wanting these reels for a while.  Kept eyeing them up online and finally bought them!  Can't wait to get them on the wall in our basement family room! 

This piece I picked up in the store right away.  Loved the colors.  I carried it around for a while, then set it down because I wasn't sure where I'd put it.  When I was checking out I decided I had to have it and ran through the store to pick it back up.  I'm so glad I bought it because I love it.  It lives on the angled wall at the bottom of my stairs.  Its the first thing we see when coming down the stairs to the basement.  So pretty!

And finally, the vase for our dinning room.  I needed something kid friendly, yet pretty looking to soften up the space.  I found this large wicker vase on a great sale and scooped it up quickly.  Now I need to find something tall and eye catching to put inside the vase.  Loving all of my new purchases.  I'll get this house decorated eventually... room by room.