Project: Girls' Room

I ordered bedding for the girls this weekend! Pottery Barn was having their annual white sale, so I took advantage of the lower prices. In a few months, I'm gonna move Hot Sauce upstairs and put the girls together in what is now the guest room. It's the largest bedroom upstairs, and I'm slowly starting the process of getting ideas together. Here's my inspiration picture from Pinterest:

I showed it to Emerson, and she said, "Mommy, I want this. Exactly like this." I told her that her room wouldn't look like this but that the colors would be the same, and she was okay with that.

Here are the quilt/shams in magenta (not the sheets):

Sheets in a green/white polka dot.

And finally, a decorative pillow on each bed with initial. I have a feeling I'll want to add another white pillow or two, but I'll have to wait and see when I start putting it all together.

The first step will be to paint the room... I think I'll do a pretty blue similar to the one in the inspiration picture. Then comes the hard part... the accessories! I really stress about finding all the little things that make a room come together. It's just not easy for me. A few things I'll be looking for (by way of Pinterest):

A fun chandelier. I think painting one like these below would be SOOO cute.

And I'm leaning toward framing a huge picture of each girl above the beds.

This is gonna be a fun project!!! Poor Jaxeyboy's gonna have to wait his turn. 

Snow Day... Sort Of

We didn't end up with a white Christmas, but a few days later, we got flurries for all of, oh, about an hour. By golly, we decided to make the most of it!

Christmas Recap

So Christmas Day ended up being one of the most wonderful Christmas Days in recent history. Those of you with preschoolers can testify that sometimes holidays are anything but relaxing. But this one? Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful.

My two fave gifts that I received?

This... my sweetie knows me all too well. I totally would've picked this pattern and color. It's got lime green accents. Love it!! (This is a cart bag and mine is a stand bag, but I couldn't find a picture of the one I got). Now bring on some warm weather so we can get out there and play together.  

And this, one of my gifts from Lisa (aka Dida or Hobo, whichever I feel like calling her at the moment) who was in town from Houston. HellOOO mascara sampler! She knows how much I love (obsess over) mascara, and now I have the chance to try Sephora's best sellers. And I have promised her that I would blog about my findings. Maybe one per month? I'll do my best to live up to your expectations, Hobo.

                                       

And a few pics from Christmas day...

This one is from Christmas Eve. I had three big helpers making meltaway cookies.

Jax loved his new-to-him Transformers bike (I love Craigslist, and I love that my kids are still at the age that they don't know/care if they get used toys). Poor boy had been riding his sister's old princess bike.

I tried and FAILED to get some good pics of the kids and their cousins while opening gifts. It was too much to try and help keep some order to the gift-opening and snap good shots. 

Happy Birthday to my nephew Parker today! And Happy New Year to you, my blog reader!

'Tis the Season

Christmas Spirit has invaded our house! And they're saying we're gonna get snow on Tuesday! It can't get much better than a white Christmas.

A few of my favorite things this December:

1) Emerson and Jax are old enough this year to really get it. Getting to talk with them about Jesus' birth, reading about it in our morning Bible story book... it's such a privilege to build a foundation with little ones. 

2) The annual preschool Christmas pageant. Poor Jaxeyboy had a terrible cough that morning, so he stayed home with Daddy. Emerson was an angel in the Pre-K portion. As soon as she got on stage, she found me in the audience and put her finger to her lips as if to apply lipstick while giving me a quasi-evil eye. You see, I had told her I'd put a little lip gloss on her as soon as we got to preschool, and I totally forgot. She didn't. 

Right at the end of the program, one of her classmates leaned back and accidentally bonked her forehead. She cried pretty hard but pulled it together (as you can see) for the group photo.

Putting on a brave face through the tears!

This was her third and final Christmas pageant at our preschool. I have many more to attend, as Hot Sauce will be starting next year, but it was still a little sad realizing my oldest will never be on that cute little stage again. 

3) Watching the kids marvel at the trees. What is it about a Christmas tree that just exudes magic? The first thing I do when I get up is turn on both trees... I love a dark room with a glowing Christmas tree. 

4) I know I've blogged about it before, but this year I'm starting to really come out of my "baby fog" and get energy back, so I feel like I'm enjoying this Christmas more than I have in quite a few years. Even though I'm hosting family on Tuesday, I don't feel any stress, and even being out and about during the busy shopping days has been enjoyable. 

5) I can't get enough Hot Sauce singing Christmas carols. Oh heavens, it's the cutest thing. That girl sings all stinkin' day long, but especially now that we are playing Christmas music during the day, she thinks it's her job to keep the songs alive! I talked her into sitting still long enough to sing "Jingle Bells" with her siblings. And you'll have to forgive the lighting in the entryway. It's terrible. Also please forgive the remnants of their PJ party... they love to throw pillows and blankets over the banister upstairs onto the floor below. My favorite part of the video? Emerson cupping her hands around her ears, just like I did during her church Christmas program, trying to get the kiddos to sing louder. Classic.

6) Christmas cards on the fridge. It makes my day to see these beautiful shining faces staring back at me when I get some ice water! I put the folded cards on the door of the pantry, and those too make me happy. 

Merry Christmas from our house to yours!

 

Random November pics

The oldest two had their preschool Thanksgiving parties.

Sisters... partners in crime... and delightfully funny. Both of them.

Trimming the tree in the office.

I got to eat with my nephew Calvin at his school's friends and family day. What a treat!

Finding the perfect place to color. Her sister can't disturb her here.

'12 Family Pics

We scheduled our family pictures with our wonderful photographer Kelly Stocksen in October. Due to unforeseen circumstances, both ours and hers, we ended up rescheduling a crazy number of times... the day we finally settled on, there were 45-mph wind gusts ALL DAY LONG. We met her in the parking lot across from First Baptist downtown, and we just started laughing. Because what do you do? Pictures have to be taken, and Mother Nature doesn't always go along with plans. We discovered that the north side of a tall building was the best bet for a break from the wind. 

Hayden was uncooperative for the majority of the group pictures as you'll be able to see. We just laughed and went with it. My hair is crazy stringy and wind-blown, but everyone else looks great! 

Click HERE to see the session. Password is 111412vanvalkenburg