Trendy Tot Tuesday: Fabulous Fall Fashion

Good day y'all! I'm linking up again with the ever so fabulous Kelly, Megan and Lindsay for another Trendy Tot Tuesday post! Hope you enjoy reading!!

With August rounding to an end it makes me start thinking about autumn and cooler weather. Jeans, tights, leggings, boots. It just makes me smile with glee and while we still have beach days left and a few weeks before the weather completely cools down, I can't help but dream and plan Madeline's Fall wardrobe for this year. Madeline had the most adorable fall wardrobe last year and even though she was only 6 months old, she was still rocking her fashionable fall attire. She had ponchos and boots and dresses with leggings. It was all so cute.

This year with her walking I am thinking of lots of dresses with leggings and boots. I can also see her in some cute sweaters and jeans, maybe even a pair of skinny jeans with boots and a poncho.

 

And of course since my little miss M loves her hats I am sure she'll be rocking some stylin' hats this fall season.

(You can find all the original sourcing on my pinterest page Madeline Fall Fashion 2013)

 

So what are you picturing your little ones in this autumn season, I can't wait to see.

Wonderful Weekend Fun

Well I am a little late on posting. As you with children can imagine sometimes life can be a little hectic. Children fall, hurt themselves, cry, and are super needy at times. While that was not my case. My weekend started on Thursday and we had a blast!! We were so busy I'll give you a little re-cap of all our awesome-ness ;)

The exhibition was in town and so needless to say while hubs was at work Momma, C & M headed over to "The Ex" with Nana and Papa. C had so much fun! He loved all the rides, food, games and animals. We got a few pictures and if y'all follow me on Instagram I posted a few there. Little Miss M loved really disliked the carousal. I tried to take her picture on the horse but she wouldn't even sit on it.  

Connor on "The Crazy Bus"

This face says it all!

Looks like Madeline is trying to run away.

The Food

 

The Games

The Prizes (which of course we didn't win any)

Little kidlets stayed with Nana and Papa for a sleepover and momma headed home to spend sometime with hubs and a nice bottle of vino! We chatted, watched a movie and relaxed. Saturday morning we both slept in, went out to breakfast with the hubs, grocery shopped without children in tow (which is a wonderful, wonderful feeling), got some quotes on in ground versus above ground pools (including hot tubs), went to a fabric store and did some shopping for a friend. It was a lovely day and while I missed my children, it was definitely nice to have some time alone with the hubs and then some momma (wait...it wasn't momma instead I should say "Jen") time.

So what did I buy at the fabric store you might be wondering?? Why some fabric for the playroom of course, beautiful, fun, modern fabric for some curtains.

Curtain fabric

curtain and bench fabric

Isn't it beautiful?! I love it. It's so fun and I love the green and navy combination. I think it is going to look great with the white bookcases and the geometric navy & white backing. (sneak peek of that coming this week) I am so excited for the playroom to come together. Both of the fabrics are indoor/outdoor material so they will be extra durable for little fingers.

On Saturday we laid low and relaxed. Took the kids out to play, maybe did a little work in the playroom and hubs did something with his homemade wine.

Playroom books

Then on Sunday, hubs went golfing and I headed with some friends and their kids to the beach. SO.MUCH.FUN.  Madeline did not enjoy the beach at first, it would be an understatement to say she hated it. Screaming and crying commenced for the first 15 minutes or so of our trip. I guess in reality it isn't that long when you spend 4 hours there but it seemed like an eternity.

Once she warmed up to the idea of the sand (dry and wet) and the water, she liked loved it. We enjoyed some lunch (PB & J for C and just J for Miss M)

 

 

 We got lots of wet toes and found many beach 'treasures'

 

 

 

It was definitely a weekend for the books, everyone had a blast and we are in the countdown before school starts back, which means back to work for this momma. I am so enjoying summer, I don't want it to end.

Inspiration Wednesday

I love coffee, it's what get's me through the day. Kids can drive you nuts, crazy actually, climbing on tables, dumping out bins of toys, hollering "I want a treat" all while the clock hasn't even reached 8 o freakin' am! When you are awake at 6 a.m. it is amazing what you can get accomplished, laundry, dishes, clothes out on the clothesline. So since I get up so early and get so much done I like to take some time for myself. So while my children are playing so well together (and) not killing each other, I sit down, enjoy my second cup of hot, beautiful, lovely French vanilla coffee from my Tassimo, I browse and explore the lovely world of pinterest. I <3 pinterest and I recently found out the 2 of my best friends are pinning as well. Funny, I've only been on there for a year and they are finally joining me. I really don't know what the fascination with it is, maybe it's the idea of being able to save all these fabulous ideas into one space, creating boards for everything and anything. Then being able to go to one great website and sort through all these images. It's just such a great tool.

In keeping with the playroom renovation, there are some fabulous playrooms that I've turned to for inspiration for my kids space.

                                                                    Modern Camelot

                                                                    Love Grows Wild

                                                                I Heart Organizing

Two of these three awesome playrooms have that tree stencil wall that can be found here and I really, like, REALLY want it, I just don't think I can convince hubs to pay that much for it. So if any of you wonderful people out in blogosphere know where I can get a inexpensive version I'd be ever so grateful! Another element I love is that MASKROS ceiling light from Ikea (found here). I just love this fixture and wish they shipped it online, who am I kidding I love so many Ikea things and I am in trouble once I can finally get hubs on board to order something.

So are you pinning? Do you search endlessly on other peoples blogs for fabulous ideas and inspiration?

Trendy Tot Tuesday: Did you say hat?

I decided that I would joining and take part in the Trendy Tot Tuesday that some other fabulous bloggers host. Kelly from Modern Camelot, Lindsay from Table for Three and Megan from Baby Mama Drama. These little ones are so adorable and I love reading about their style and fashion each week.

This week I am going to take about my daughter Madeline and her serious obsession love for hats. Madeline is just turning 18 months and has been crazy for hats. This girls loves all accessories , hats, shoes, necklaces, you name it she loves it. Her second and third word was shoe and hat! ;-) She needs to go to bed with a hat on, when she wakes up in the morning I hear "Mama, Mama, Up, oh, hat, hat" and when I walk in to get her she is tapping the top of her head saying "Hat" It's so ab-so-lutely  freakin' adorable! I think her daddy is going to be in trouble when this one gets older...;)

Playroom's A Comin'...

So just like the title of this post states, the playroom is coming along pretty well.  While I really envision the playroom in the basement and the basement all finished with beautiful wood looking floors, drywall painted a nice shade of gray and bead board 6' from the floor and our TV down there in a beautiful white built in cabinet. I can just see hubs and C sitting on the gray sectional from Ikea with an abundance of modern, muted gray and white throw pillows and me sitting at my U-shaped desk typing up a post for the blog or crafting. Little Miss M would be over in the playroom section feeding her babies or changing their clothes.

(I couldn't find the link this mood board came from, if anyone knows please email me)

I also can envision a more modern space, with a large chocolate brown leather sectional with a million red, navy and yellow modern throw pillows and a fireplace. Although I believe the first vision is more to my style and liking. In both cases the kids play space would look the same and I have grand things in mind....grand I tell you!

It is a glorious dream and will be a reality someday but that day is sure not today and I need the kids at this age to be near me. So while I would love to have an entire room dedicated to my office I will just have to share with these 2 munchkins (and by share I mean they get the entire room and I get the built in desk in the closet!) Yes, it is not perfect, nor is it what I really want but they are happy and really isn't that all that matters :) So stay tuned, I'll be showing some sneak peaks into what I am doing in the current playroom this week.

Friday Fun!

So I decided that my Friday posts will be a free for all, whatever I feel like at the moment I'll write about and post. Sounds easy peesy, right?! Let's hope so! So today's Friday Fun post will be about my crazy children, Connor & Madeline (and for the sake of these posts I'll be referring to them as C & M).

C is my fun lovin', mild mannered, sweet little 3 (soon to be 4) boy. He loves robots, dinosaurs, trains, cars, planes, Scooby Doo, and well he pretty much loves everything a little boy can love. He is the world's best big brother and loves his sister with all his heart.



M is my sassy, free spirited, hat & shoe lovin' little gal. When she wakes up in the morning she looks for her hat, it's the first thing she says when she see me...not "hi momma" but she pats her head and says "hat". She's one month shy of 1.5 years old. She makes our family complete and balances us out perfectly.

I'm sure y'all can understand, especially if you have young children, that they can make you want to pull out your hair some days. They make us crazy with their toys and their mess and the constant "Mom...MOM I want that" but in the grand scheme of things life without them would be dull and just wouldn't be complete.

 

 

Let's make some lemonade!

So today I had a "breakthrough" you could say. I spend so much of my time daily dreaming of what I "could" have, what I really want out of life. Whether this be wanting for home renovations or in the future we "could" possibly build a "bigger" and "better" house. I also dream about when I lose these last 10lbs what clothes I can buy. I read and look through all these a.maz.ing blogs, where everything looks so perfect. There isn't a toy on the floor or a flower out of place. Then I glance around at my living room floor, toys everywhere, dishes in the sink. Chaos. Insanity. Craziness.

These bloggers that I read daily I love their blogs. They are an amazing group of ladies. So many great ideas and helpful tips; from home organization to renovation to health and fitness. My breakthrough today was, if I can say, is right in the blogs name " Learning to make Lemonade" I am sure y'all have heard the saying "If you have sour lemons, make lemonade" well I might not be able to build a new house or add an addition on at the moment or renovate the basement. What I CAN do is love what I have, organize my clutter and chaos that already exists. I can learn to love the beautiful house that I already own.

So this blog will be a journey of my self exploration on loving what I have, using the resources available and do my best at DIY.