Halloween Party 2015

My mother-in-law had an amazing Halloween Party this past Saturday night. She had it at her brother's old Farm House out in the country. It was a perfect setting for the party. It was a costume party so we all dressed up. She served chili dogs and all kinds of other goodies to go with it. There was a hayride courtesy of Jake's Uncle, a fire for roasting marshmallows (and keeping warm), several games and a pumpkin carving contest. The friendly ghost even stopped by and had the kids go on a little scavenger hunt to find their treat bags! It was a great night and the kids (and adults) all had a great time!

After going back and forth many times, Jackson finally settled on a Batman costume for Halloween this year. I'm not really sure what made him decide on this costume as he's never really watched Batman or had anything to do with him, but nonetheless, that's what he chose when we were at the Halloween store last week. So I built our costumes around his and we were all characters from Batman. Jackson: Batman, Avery: Cat Woman (Or just a really cute kitty cat), Jake: Robin and Myself: Bat Girl. My mom made mine and Avery's tutu's and they turned out so stinkin cute!!

Four!

Happy 4th Birthday to my sweet boy!!

How are you 4 already? These last 4 years have flown by! You were so cute this morning when you woke up I said, Good morning birthday boy! You stood up right next to me as if to measure your height against mine and you said "am I bigger now?" You certainly are getting so BIG and you amaze me everyday with all you are learning. Just the other day you ran over to me and proudly said, "4+4 = 8". I couldn't believe you knew that!! You are SO smart!! 

You are so sweet too. You love to "sluggle up" (a.k.a. snuggle up) at night before bed and you'll just randomly tell me sometimes, "I love you mommy". Melts my heart when you say that. I can't imagine any sweeter words.

You are definitely "all boy"!! You love everything cars, trucks, trains and planes. You love to wrestle and rough house. You love to play in the dirt and play outside. You love going to the park and riding your bike. Your favorite show is Blaze and the Monster Machines and we are currently collecting all the "Blaze" cars. You will play with them for hours and I love to hear your imagination while you play. It's too cute! 

Your favorite color is Blue and you will have nothing to do with anything pink or purple! Those are girl colors. Just this last Saturday we were at Grandma's Halloween Party and she put you on the purple team.  You were not happy!!

You love going to Steak n' Shake! It's you're favorite restaurant. Anytime we ask you where you'd like to eat, it's always Steak n' Shake. You often go to work with Papa when he's working at our new house. He will take you to Steak n' Shake for lunch and you just love it.! 

You love your baby sister, even though she often takes your toys right out of your hand!! You never retaliate and usually just tell me what she did so I can get whatever it was she stole from you back. You sometimes just randomly say, "I like Avery really much". You are such a sweet big brother.

(You and Avery in the Power Wheels car we got you for your birthday this year!)

You say some of the funniest things and I just enjoy hearing your little wheels turning. You love to learn and are really interested in numbers right now and learning what each number is. You often talk about the planets and the moon and really like to learn about outer space.  You have a lot to say and never stop talking, especially in the car. You are often shy around new people though, but you warm up fairly quickly. You love to play with all of your cousins and friends. You make friends easily anytime we're at the park.

Happy birthday sweet Jackson. You made me the happiest mommy 4 years ago today when you were born and words can't express how much I love you!! You are such a good boy and I can't believe how big you are getting. You amaze me everyday and I feel so blessed that I get to watch you grow and learn every day! I love you to the moon and back! I hope you always know that and I hope you have the best birthday yet! 

(You had school today, so I'm certain they are celebrating you there and then tonight, we are going to Steak n' Shake for dinner. :-) We are having a "Halloween" themed birthday party for you on Halloween day which is sure to be a lot of fun!! You picked the theme and you can't wait for your party!)

Weekend Recap

We had a great, long weekend and I'm sad to see Tuesday come so quickly. 

Friday night, Jake and I (much to his dismay) went to the St. Louis County Library for the book signing for John and Sherry Petersik's new book, Lovable Livable Home. They are the couple behind the blog Young House Love. It was so great to meet them in person and they were so sweet! We had a nice dinner afterwards at Dewey's Pizza... yum!

Then Saturday my Mom, Aunt and I threw my sister a little baby shower for her and sweet baby Emerson. It was such a nice shower and she got a lot of cute things for the new baby. Now we're awaiting little Emerson's arrival next month.

Then after my sister's shower, I had a family photo session for my Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law. They recently moved and found a very pretty park close-by their house that they chose to have pictures taken at. It worked out because Jake and the kids played while I took pictures and then we all went back to my Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Laws house for dinner and games. Here's a little sneak peek from their session. :-)

Sunday we went to church and then had food and fellowship in our dining hall after church. After lunch my sister and her kids along with my mom, myself and my kids went and did a little shopping at Babies R Us. My sister had a gift card and I needed to update little miss Avery's Fall wardrobe so it was fun to do a little shopping (even though shopping with 4 kids can be a little stressful). All of their Carters clothes were on sale 50% off!! Can't beat that. Here's a couple of pictures of Avery modeling some of her new clothes later that evening. Isn't she the cutest?! Max decided to photobomb. ;-)

Then Sunday evening I had the pleasure of taking a co-worker of mine's daughter's Senior Portraits! Maggie is such a beautiful girl inside and out and I had such a great time in Forest Park taking her photos!

This Monday was my "every other Monday off" so I got to spend the day with my sweet kiddos doing fun things!! First we went to get Jackson's hair cut at the Hairy Elephant. Then we did a little stop at Target and then had lunch at McDonalds. After lunch we went and played for quite a while at a park we found that is close to our new house... Kirkwood Park.

Later that evening, we met Jake and my parents at the new house to load up some old tree limbs and brush along with some of the debris from the kitchen reno. It was nice to get a good chunk of that out of the way. :-) 

So that was our very busy, but very fun weekend! I hope yours was great as well!

Five on Friday

I'm linking up with April today for Five on Friday!

Happy October! I can't believe it's October 2nd already. Summer is officially over and Fall is in full swing here in St. Louis. It was a chilly 50 degrees on my way in to work today. October is one of my very favorite months. I love all the Fall decor, Pumpkin everything and the fun Fall fashion. Now if we could just skip Winter and head right into Spring that would be perfect for me. ;-)

I am so excited because tonight I will be going to a book signing for some of my very favorite bloggers. John and Sherry Petersik from Young House Love are on their book signing tour, and I couldn't be more excited that they'll be here in St. Louis tonight. Though they don't really blog anymore, I keep up with them on Facebook and Instagram and with remodeling our new house, their blog is something I refer to very often for ideas. I have followed them for many years and am really looking forward to getting the chance to get their new book signed tonight. :-) 

We are having our pool closed today. I'm kinda sad that it looks so nice and we haven't gotten to use it, but since the Fall temps. have officially come to St. Louis this week, the pool must be closed. It seems kind of silly that we got it back in shape just to have it closed, but since it was so green, we couldn't have the dirty water sit there all Winter long. We are so looking forward to getting to use it next year!! It's going to be such a fun space for our family. We're looking forward to doing some concrete work around the pool and replacing that pathway down to the pool. Plus we'll add a new white vinyl fence all the way around the yard all in the Spring... but for now, it looks about a million times better than it did a month or so ago when we bought it and I'm so excited to see it and be able to use it when we're done next Summer.

Our new kitchen has gone through quite the transformation in these last couple weeks. My dad has worked hard to get all the plumbing and electrical work done so we can now move on to more of the fun stuff. :-) Here's a progression so you can see what I mean. :-) The last picture is from yesterday, after my dad put up the new drywall. :-)

I'm also really excited because tomorrow we are throwing my sister a little baby shower for her 3rd baby boy at my Aunt's house. I can't believe we are just 8 weeks (or less) away from meeting my sweet baby nephew Emerson!! I can't wait to celebrate tomorrow and see all the cute baby stuff she gets. :-)

So it will be another packed weekend for me. Book signing tonight, baby shower tomorrow and 2 more photo sessions for Storybook Photography. Should be busy but very fun!!! Have a great weekend everyone!

A Monday Moodboard

Because we are super excited about our kitchen renovation, I thought I'd put together a kitchen moodboard so you can all see my ideas for our new kitchen. 

After a lot of time spent on Pinterest and Google, I came up with what I think is going to be a pretty awesome kitchen. I can't wait to see it finished!! Although I love all of these ideas, I'm certain as time (and money) goes on, things will change slightly, but this is the overall look I'm going for. :-)

1. Arabescato Carrara Herringbone Pattern Backsplash from Home Depot

2. Moen Kitchen Faucet from Home Depot 

3. Apron Front Stainless Steel Double Bowl Kitchen Sink from Home Depot

4. Tuscan Trellis VS71 Rug from Rugs USA

5. Silver Birch Corian Countertop from Home Depot

6. Clear Glass Globe Industrial Pendant from Shades of Light

7. Large, wooden EAT sign from SmokeStackStudios on Etsy.

8. Shaker Style cabinets. My dad is building the cabinets for our kitchen. This is such a blessing!! I really like the idea of mixing the cabinet colors in your kitchen, so we plan to have gray cabinets in the "U" shape portion of our kitchen and then white next to and above the refrigerator as well as the hutch my dad is building on the other side of the kitchen door.

9. Style Selections 1 1/2 in. Center-to-Center Brushed Satin Nickel Bar Cabinet Pull from Lowes

10. Samsung Kitchen Appliance Bundle from Best Buy (We purchased this bundle last week, but it is no longer available, so I've linked it to all of Best Buy's kitchen appliance bundles)

11. Blast Anthracite 12x24 in. Floor Tile from The Tile Shop

12. Vintage Aqua Ball Mason Quart Jar Canisters from DukeCreekStudios on Etsy

And there you have it. All my fun ideas for our new kitchen. I seriously can't wait to see how it all comes together. :-)

Five on Friday

I'm linking up with April today for Five on Friday!

 Happy Friday everyone! I'm living the single parent life this weekend while Jake is out of town on a golf trip with some friends of his. He left yesterday morning and will be home Sunday afternoon. So far it's going fine, but I'm sure by Sunday, we'll all be pretty happy to see Daddy walk through the door. :-) Jackson is already complaining that it's taking too long for Daddy to come home. Poor buddy.

I have 2 photo sessions this weekend on top of it (thank goodness for Grandparents) and they are both way out of my comfort zone!! The one tomorrow evening is a 2 year old session along with her 3 month old twin brothers!! I've taken little Millie's photos twice before (check out her 1 year old session here), but I've never photographed twins before! Should be pretty interesting. Then my session on Sunday is Wedding Portraits at a city roof top location! I don't do wedding photography, but she just wanted a few wedding portraits done between her ceremony and reception so I thought I'd step out of my comfort zone and give it a try. It should be beautiful but I'm a nervous wreck!!!

 I'm in an "Outfit of the Day" Facebook group and I'm loving it. After being pregnant and having babies, fashion hasn't exactly been a top priority for me. In fact it was extremely low on the list. But after signing up for Stitch Fix and taking a more vested interest in my building back my wardrobe, I'm actually having a lot of fun with it. It seems as though leopard print is all the rage for Fall this year so I decided to join the fun and bought these Leopard Emmies from Lucky Brand. They were on sale and so super cute! I'm not really an animal print kind of girl, but I thought I'd give these a try. :-)

I'm so excited that the new Cinderella movie is out on DVD finally. I wanted so badly to see it in the theaters, but never found the time to go. The kids and I may be going over to my mother-in-law's house to watch it tonight. Cinderella is my all time favorite and I can't wait to see this movie!! 

And lastly, I saw this comment this morning on a blog post one of my all time favorite blogs: Under the Sycamore. It's such good advice that I want to save it for a reminder for years to come. I thought you all might relate to it as well. :-)

“Our oldest son is 22, graduated from college, and moved across the country for a job. Our middle two are in college, and our youngest is a freshman in high school. I would tell my younger self to remember to nurture my marriage more — in the midst of the craziness of 4 young children, we should have gone on more dates! Keep talking with your spouse, keep finding things you enjoy doing together and make the time to do them so years down the road when the kids are gone, you will still have many common interests. Spend tons of time with your kids, all through their growing up years, especially their teen years, and then spend more time with them. All too soon, they are 18, and they leave for college, leaving you wishing you had spent more time with each of them, played more games of cards, gone for more walks together, talked more, etc. Pursue your interests, yes, but spend as much time as possible cherishing your children by giving them the gift of your time and loving attention. As parents of kids your age say to new parents of babies, they grow so soon…treasure this baby stage. Well, treasure this stage of your children’s lives, be fully present, take the time, slow down and stop rushing to get the to do list done because it never leaves. The kids do. That’s what I would tell my younger self.” ~ Kathy

Have a great weekend everyone!

A Little Update on the New House Renovations

So we've been busy working on the new house when and where we can. Labor Day was the first day we were able to get over there and get to work on the yard. I ended up waking up sick that day, so I stayed home with the kids while Jake and my parents spent the day working in the yard. They got a lot done and it looked quite a bit better after they were done. 

They mowed, weed-eated and pulled tons of weeds. The front and side landscaping had weeds almost as tall as me and there was so much ivy growing even all the way up the fireplace stack to the roof! So they got a lot of that cleaned up.

Then this past Saturday, my mother-in-law came along to help with the kiddos while we worked diligently to get a lot more done in the back yard. By this time, the pool was green and the fence was so covered in weeds and vines that you couldn't even see it in some spots! So with my parents help, we got the fence all cleared off and my dad cut down a lot of trees and brush (that were probably weeds at one point but no-one ever got rid of them). Later in the day, Jake and I took a sample of the nasty pool water to a local pool supply store to figure out what we needed to do to get it clear again and they were super helpful in getting us all squared away with a plan of attack. Close to $200 later and the pool is looking so much better.

here's a before and after picture of the pool and back part of the fence. This picture doesn't even show you how much we got done, but it's a little glimpse. You can see how the fence was just so overgrown and it was just as bad if not worse on both sides! The pool is looking a ton better too. It's hard to believe it's even the same pool! It just needed a little TLC. :-)

My dad has been working hard on building the new cabinets for the kitchen and they are looking great!! He went over to the house yesterday and tore out the old kitchen and flooring! I'm so excited at all the progress that's been made! 

 Here's as shot of the kitchen and laminate floor before my dad ripped it out.

And here it is now. :-)

And here are some of the cabinet boxes that he's built. :-)

I'm also super excited that we got all of our kitchen appliances ordered over the weekend. Best Buy was having a sale and we got a great deal on our Refrigerator, Gas Range, Micro-hood and Dishwasher! 

So that's where we are now on the house. Lots happening and there will be a ton more to update you on in the next few weeks and months! Our next thing to do is to pick tile for the floor by the entryway and into the kitchen and get hardwood for the hallway and Avery's room. (The rest of the first floor has hardwood that we'll be keeping and refinishing.) I'll be sure to update here as we get stuff done. :-)