Cozy Christmas at Home

I hope everyone has had a happy Holiday Season. We're finally getting back into the swing of things around the house now that New Years has passed. This year for Christmas we did something a little unusual for us- we stayed home!

We have never stayed home for Christmas. We are always traveling to Louisiana where we drive between 3 cities visiting our respective families. This year was going to be no different until the day we were leaving. The Hubs had been sick with a nasty stomach virus (occupational hazard from working with kids...) and I was afraid the Saw-Man had caught it since he had been acting unwell that morning. 

We were still going to stick with our original plans but as we were leaving Friday evening after work an ice storm hit Oklahoma and most of Northern Texas. We drove about 30 minutes and decided if there was one year we were going to stay home this was it. It was to dangerous for us to continue of for another 8 hrs that night.

So home it was!

We had fun doing winter activities and just relaxing.

Our first attempt at Christmas Cookies werent the prettiest but they sure tasted good!

Other than at home Christmas fun we took a trip to the "Big City" (Oklahoma City) did some  Christmas shopping, finally saw Santa, went hiking, and just enjoyed some quality family time.

After waiting almost an hour they informed us that Santa was about to take a 1 hr break. I almost had a heart attack since we had driven 2 hrs and had been waiting forever to see him.

Thank goodness they let us be the last family before his break! The other people behind us were upset...

After Christmas Eve Mass- I think Con was super excited for Santa to come!

I hope everyone has had a good holiday season!! Merry Late Christmas! :)

All in The Family

This summer we made the trek down to Louisiana for my mom's side of the family's annual Family Reunion. Now my my grandmothers (my mom's mom) hails from a family of 10 brothers and sisters. And my mom herself has 5 brothers and sisters. So you can imagine that this Family Reunion is serious business. They do it every year and we take up a whole hotel for the weekend. This is the first time I have made it back in 3 years.

We have a family talent show, 

Connor (in the whale shirt) singing with his Cousins

games and art for kids, 

golf and nightly card tournaments for the adults and an all around good time. 

Hubs playing Bourre` with the fam

The one thing that always impresses me is the artistic talent that runs in the family. I've already mentioned before that my mom is one who inspired me and encouraged my creative side. On top of that....

One of my second cousins; Hanna Lane, is a soon to be famous artist (if she isn't already!). I'm currently saving my Birthday. Christmas, Anniversary gift to purchase one of her paintings.

My cousin Brandy is incredibly craft with tiles and paint.

My Uncle does amazing ink drawings.

Some of his French Quarter Drawings

And come to find out that one of my second Uncles is also a furniture designer. He says he just "dabbles" in wood work but looking at this awesome Cherry side table (that I was fortunate enough to win at our Family Raffle) I beg to differ. 

Sadly my lovely table is residing at my parents house at the moment. I wasn't planning on winning a table so we didn't have room for it on the ride home. Hopefully we can pick it up in the next month or so before my mom claims it as her own.

What talents does your family have?

Vintage Window Picture Frame

I was going to title this post:

"Lets see how many holes I can punch into the wall of my rental home."

But decided that was to long. (Just kidding Landlord I'm going to patch any and all these holes!) I had just hung our family photo wall not to long ago and I'm already changing it up.

Remember last week I shared this photo of the scrap wood I found?

4 Weeks To Go!!!

I'm going totally off topic this week from my usual design/ DIY/ craft post and I'm going to talk about something that is on my mind- This Baby!!


I'm 36 weeks today- the final date is approaching! I've been trying to be better about taking belly pics- I have hardly any of The Con Man. But I just realized I only have 3!?! Lame!

But what isn't lame is I've gotten a few of the decorations for Tiny Falcon #2's nursery in this week. I had to hang them up!

I have 3 more smaller stars on order. Hopefully they'll get here soon! 

In the meantime what's really been on my mind is the whole birth process. I want to do it naturally this time. My husband thinks I'm a little crazy but is supportive. He's a pediatrician and is present for a lot of births- so he's seen the good, the bad, and the really bad.


I can't explain exactly why I want to go natural this time- a few reasons are that I want to prove to myself that I can, and I hated being stuck in the hospital bed unable to move my lower body for hours; even after Con was born.

With The Con-Man I didn't prepare myself well, I just figured I'd see how things went and I'd decide from there. Well I for Con-Man I started having contractions during the first installment of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows. 

I tried sitting through the movie because I didn't think I'd be able to come back and see it (yes I love Harry Potter- did you see the shirt I made for the last movie?) but with some encouragement from the Hubs we left in the middle. At least the theater gave us free tickets to come back!! They were not about to argue with the hugely pregnant woman.

Any way by the time we made it to the hospital I was measuring 5 cm dilated. The nurse told me the anesthesiologist was on the floor- and if I wanted an epidural I better get it now otherwise they didn't know when he'd be back. 

Needless to say I went a head and got it because I didn't know what the next few hours held in store for me. It was my first delivery and since we were at a military teaching hospital at the time it was the doctors first night on the job as well!!!

This time around I'm a little older and wiser so I've been preparing myself- both mentally and physically. I've been trying to read up online about natural birth. Staying calm, having a focal point, moving around, breathing, ect. I've also been doing strength excercises at home hoping that will help me out as well. 

I keep telling myself that I can do this; that the pain wasn't so bad last time (it's convenient how your brain forgets those things right?) that I'm a strong person and that pain doesn't bother me so much.


But I do keep picturing Katherine Hiegle in Knocked Up when she yells- "I feel everything!!"

So that's what's been mainly on my mind the last few weeks. Any advice from seasoned verterans out there? Am I totally nuts for trying to do this the really old fashioned way?

Tiny Falcon #2's Nursery Inspiration

I can't believe how quickly my due date is approaching. July 28th is right around the corner! 

Me 2 weeks ago at my parents house

I had a little panic attack this weekend decided it was time to get started on poor Baby #2's room. We are using the room that was our office; combining it with our guest room (sorry Mom and Dad) and making it the New Baby's Room. I comissioned the Hubs to help me get the rest of the office stuff out of there and put the crib together over the weekend.


I'm using a lot of things from Con-Man's old nursery. His bedding, curtains, and some of the art work:

Re-using his old bedding

Pics from Con's old room. The dresser is now our TV credenza. I'm going to use the same curtains.

Con's old art work and shelf in Baby #2's new room.

Here's how it's looking so far- not done at all but it's a start!

No baby in here yet, just baby stuff! I'm going to use the vinyl lettering I won from the DIY Club Contest above the crib.

Using the moon theme as a jumping off point I thought it would be cool to use some paper lanterns above his crib. One large white one (the moon) and stars. Something like this:

I've ordered a few but the only small stars I can find don't come in the right colors. I might just order them and see about spray painting them (has anyone done this before? How does the paper hold up?) I have some pendant light wires from Ikea so I'll light up the moon and one or 2 of the stars.

Since we repurposed Con-Man's old changing table into our new entertainment center I needed a new changing table for Tiny Falcon #2. I found a dresser at a local thrift shop for $100. It was a little more than I wanted to pay but we don't have a lot of choices out here in the middle of nowhere so people charge what they want. It did come with a large mirror, is solid wood, and has really deep drawers so it's not the worst deal I've gotten.

The top has some water marks on it. I'm considering trying to refinish it even though you can't see it right now with the changing pad and diaper supplies covering it up.

Bummer!

I'd like to do some shelving above the dresser, no final ideas yet but I did see this on Pinterest the other day.

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They are outdoor garden baskets from Lowes and I have 1 already. I'd do another color besides pink of course!

So those are some of the ideas I have. I've also been working on the no fun stuff like washing all the old baby clothes and organizing them. 

And you might be wondering what the heck happened with Con-Man's big boy room? I did all these projects for it but never showed the final result. Well never fear! Con-Man went to summer school yesterday and I took part of that time to clean all the toy mess and take some decent pictures of his new room. 

So stay tuned next week for the reveal!

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone!

Photo Wall Inspiration & Tips

While planning Con-Man's room it's gotten me a little nostalgic for times past. I was scrolling through old photos of the fam and I realized we don't have a lot of them around the house. Blame it on digital photography and my laziness. So, everywhere around blog land I've seen some awesome photo walls.

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We have this blank barren wall in our living room that is just screaming for a photo treatment:

We have lots of family photos we've taken over the years, and will no doubt have some more when Tiny Falcon #2 shows up. So I was happy to receive an email from Crate and Barrel a few weeks ago giving some tips on planning a photo wall. 


From Crate & Barrel Mailer:


1. Choose a large wall with plenty of room to display your photos.


2. Decide on a theme for framing your photos. Choose from wood, metal, acrylic frames; or mix it up!


3. Use a mix of media. Start with family photos then add drawings, paintings, clocks, or other pieces you love.


4. Spread everything out on the floor. Move pieces around to see which look best next to each other.


5. Use a level to ensure all pictures are straight. Use two nails for larger pictures. (Use my tip for hanging pictures!)


6. And most important have fun!


Thanks Crate & Barrel- I've never bought anything from you but your email has lit a fire under my boo-tay and I'm ready to start planning my photo wall!


Have you done a photo wall? Any advice on how to get started or plan it?