More Fun in the Sun

Have I mentioned how much I love summer and busy summer weekends?  Ella had two playdates on Friday, and while I didn't get any photos of the afternoon date, I did capture all the fun she had with Paige at the Spectrum in the morning!

                                                                        (She kept telling Paige to "sit! sit!", and she finally listened!)

They had a blast playing in the water...Ella tends to be a bit leery of the water features, but thanks to the older and more sophisticated Paige going head first (literally) into the water, Ella followed right along!


Gary and I had an amazing time at our Javier's date night with three of our great couple friends, but I had to post what $27 buys you at Dave & Busters...

And actually, this is probably closer to $50 since we combined our tickets with another couple!!!  Oh well, I'm sure the bouncy princess ball is worth far more than $50 to Ella. ;)

After our great night night out, the weekend got even better because my BFF is in town, and we got to go to breakfast together WITHOUT kids!  We could actually talk and take our sweet time.  We ended our weekend with dinner at grandma and grandpa's...Taco Sunday!

More Big Girl Room Talk- Bedding

Well, I found a fabric I love to make a duvet for Ella's BGR (think Ella the Elephant, even though that's not what it is)...

With this as contrasting fabric...

HOWEVER, I think I've talked myself out of making the duvet. Despite the fact I love this fabric, it doesn't come wide enough so you have to cut and sew together three panels, which is really 6 panels since there are 2 sides, and having to buy all that fabric will cost over $100 JUST for the duvet- this doesn't include any extra fabric for pillows and window seat covers. Doesn't that sound like a lot for something I'll have to spend HOURS sewing??

Now I'm kind of resigned to the idea of buying something already made that I probably won't *love*. Probably something along the lines of this from PB...

I'm not in love with it, but I like that it's roses for Ella Rose.  I'd prefer if the blue was more of an aqua or Tiffany blue rather than baby blue.  These are the sheets...

The other choice is from the Shabby Chic collection at Target ( http://www.target.com/dp/B003KQUQGO/ref=sc_qi_img_viewdetails?ie=UTF8&title=view%20full%20details )...the best parts about it are that it is very inexpensive, and the background color is more of an aqua-ish green, but it's hydrangeas instead of roses. :(  These are the sheets, which I actually love: http://www.target.com/Simply-Shabby-Chic-Mon-Sheet/dp/B003KR6DBA/ref=sc_qi_collection_item_0?ie=UTF8&altString=Simply%20Shabby%20Chic%26%23174%3B%20Mon%20Ami%20Sheet%20Set%20-%20Pink

I'm thinking it will be worth saving all the time and money.  Especially since I have to sew the very large drapery panels for our master bedroom and Ella's birthday dress with a new pattern that isn't a quick sew.  Plus, the floral prints are more in line with what I thought I originally wanted to make the room very girly unlike her nursery.

Summer Weekends

First of all, how could you not smile waking up to this face everyday!

We've had a fun and busy couple weekends!  We had two wonderful bbqs last weekend, and I forgot to take photos at both.  This weekend, Grammy and Pop pop came to visit for the day.

Ella went swimming and showed how strong she is with pop pop's water weights...

The next day, we went next door to celebrate Owen's second birthday!  That's Owen's little head popping up at the end of the table...

One of Ella's favorite people in the world, and probably the name she says most...Emma!

As most of our friends know, we're pretty strict when it comes to Ella's food, and she rarely gets sweets, so you can imagine her excitement when we gave her a mini cupcake at Owen's party!


And finally, I have to recommend the L.L. Bean Extra-Large, Open-Top Boat and Tote Bag...they are inexpensive, very cute and hold a TON for the beach/pool- it's the only thing that will hold our towels AND all of ella's pool toys...not to mention in comes in navy, my current fav...LOVE IT!

Big Girl Room...Continued

I feel like there will be a lot of these posts!  I'm definitely getting more inspired.  Here are my thoughts today...I think we will definitely do very light pink on the walls.  I can't find bedding I like so I'm going to head downtown to Michael Levine's and see what I can find in terms of fabric to make her bedding.

I think I'm sold on the Ikea iron bed...I just haven't seen anything else that comes close to it, and you can't beat the price!

I'm going to have Gary and my dad do storage like this on the wall with the large window- the only problem is that the window in our room is not centered so the unit will have to be bigger on one side than the other.  I think a little window seat will be adorable (except that I'll also have to make a window seat cushion in coordinating fabric as if I don't have enough to do!).

I'm still not sure about color besides light pink.  I guess the bedding will be the final determination, however, I'm thinking of possibly either doing a shade of Tiffany blue similar to this (and I would paint her dresser that color, which I'm hoping to find at a flea market!).

I feel like you don't see light pink with Tiffany blue/aqua...it's usually either red, orange or hot pink so it would be something different.

Although I'm not a huge fan of the pink and green color combo (there is nothing wrong with it, I just overused it in the past and got sick of it), I do love me some apple green, and I'm actually loving the contrast in this photo of the light pink and apple green...

Oh, and I'm a member of pinterest now, but I can't figure it out...how the heck do you find anything on there??????

Projects- Need Big Girl Room Inspiration

We have two projects going on right now...re-decorating our master bedroom (I know exactly what I want) and doing Ella's "big girl" room (I have NO idea what I want).  Well, I guess really three projects since I'm also planning E's 2nd birthday, but that's a whole 'nother issue.

I'm having the hardest time finding inspiration for E's BGR, and I don't know why.  I usually have no problem knowing exactly what I like and want when it comes to decorating.  I think two problems are that (1) I can't find any furniture that I really like (let alone bedding), and (2) I really want to do pink since her nursery was so neutral (even boyish), and I don't really get inspired by pink...I'd rather do red and white or gray and yellow.

I do love iron beds.  Of all of them that I've seen, I happen to love most this very inexpenive one at Ikea...

Isn't it darling? I just love it. BUT my issue is that it's technically a toddler bed (I think?) even though it does stretch to be a normal twin size, so it's really low to the ground...therefore, I feel like it may get swallowed up by the rest of the room...dresser, storage, bookcase, etc.??? 

We currently have this bed in what will be E's BGR...

I love this bed as well, however, it's black so I'd have to paint it white, AND it's a full size. I'm just not sold on the idea of a full size bed for a child's room. Not only will it take up a lot of space in her small room, but I just like twin beds for kids- they look so cute and tiny. :)

So I've been scouring the internet for inspiration and haven't come up with much.
I like the pink color on the walls of this room (I've also always loved that jenny lind crib and considered getting it for E's nursery)...

I like the wainscotting in this room with the shelving, but I don't think I want to do paneling again since we did something so similar in her nursery, and because we have to anchor all the furniture in her BGR, and I don't want to anchor through paneling.  I also LOVE the dresser in this room and NEED to find one just like it...antique swap meets, here I come!

This room has very similar (or the same?) adorable iron beds, and it still looks pretty cute, although you can't see a large dresser or bookcase to see what it would look like with such small beds.

I love that this room show a very small toddler bed and a large shelving unit on the right, and it still looks decently proportioned.  I also like the layout of this room- great use of a really small space.

And finally, after seeing the idea of three dimensional flowers on the wall in a PBK catalog, I decided I *may* do it in E's BGR then I found this photo online, which is so well executed...

So, if anyone knows of a great idea website, please let me know- I need help!

We went to brunch with friends today, and when we were walking to the water, Mason wasn't walking quite fast enough for Ella so she decided to help (drag?) him...typical girl!

                                                                Three naked babies!!

Happy 4th of July!

We had such a fun 4th of July this year!  First, we went to our annual neighborhood July 4th party with our next door neighbors.  They have a bike parade, carnival games, water slides, cotton candy, kettle corn, shaved ice, etc., etc.

The decorated wagon for the parade...


Ella and Owen (Owen was supposed to ride with Ella, but he wanted to stay in his buggy!)


Let's get the show on the road guys...


A view of the parade...

After Ella's nap, we went to my parents' house for a big July 4th BBQ. A bunch of Ella's friends were there (of course, I only got photos of a few), and she had SO much fun! She was up until 9 p.m., and didn't lose an ounce of energy or become cranky at all...I was super tired but not her!

She had fun playing at the water table...


Playing the piano with Grace, and fighting(?) over the stroller with Reese!

RIP Taffy :(

We have to put our cat, Taffy, to sleep today. :(  He started walking funny a few days ago, but then he seemed to be fine.  Then yesterday, he started going to bathroom all over himself so we took him to the vet this morning, and they said he's basically dying.  I really don't understand how a cat just starts dying in a day, but he is about 15 years old.  I feel really bad, and Ella is going to really miss him- she LOVES the cat.  She always tries to pet him and says "kitty" "meow".  He was a great cat!!