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Tuesday, October 28, 2014

On golden pond

Some things that made me smile in the past couple of weeks:
(basically, a bunch of photos of the kids!)


Liam hanging out in the trees at my grandma's house. 
I'm so grateful he loves & appreciates the outdoors.


The pond near my mom's house. Every year I look forward to
seeing the trees' reflection in this pond.


These tiny pumpkins I placed by my dad's gravestone with Liam & Chloe's names
on them. It may seem odd that this made me smile...but I feel peaceful after I visit 
his grave (after feeling sad and bummed out of course). It's quiet & peaceful at
the cemetery and I feel like he's close to me/watching over me when I'm there.


This little peanut in the stroller, out for a walk.


And this little man, insisting that he walk instead of ride in the stroller.


Seeing my nephew hang out with Chloe on my mom's living room floor.
He's a high school boy, so you think he'd be 'too cool' to hang out with family, right? 
But that's not the case at all. He has so much love for his family and younger cousins.
I'm grateful that Chloe and Liam have my nephew Tim to look up to some day!


Chloe and my nephew Hudson, just chillin' out. Pooping. Burping. Sleeping.
How cool that they'll be growing up together so close in age :)


Seeing my brother Nate and niece Bella ride on my mom's lawn mower together.
 It reminds me so much of when I would ride on the lawn mower with 
my dad when I was Bella's age!


Our mantel, decorated for Halloween.


Mattcrow.


Liam so proud of his pumpkin.


Chloe trying to touch her pumpkin. S--t--r----e--t----c---h


A vintage globe that Liam got from his Nana. I'm lovin' it.



That's it for now...

Enjoy the remaining days of October folks!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Beauty products I'm loving lately


My beauty regimen has been pretty boring (and sometimes non-existent) lately.

On a day when the kids & I don't leave the house at all, I try to brush my teeth, apply some deodorant and pull my hair into a ponytail sometime before noon. On many days it is not before noon.

If I do leave the house with the kids (on a run to the grocery store or Target or the library) then I'll add a couple of extra steps -- I'll moisturize my face and put some mascara on. The one thing I NEVER leave the house with is mascara. I'd leave without a bra or shoes before I leave without my mascara. And if the mascara doesn't make it onto my eyelashes, then sunglasses it is.

When I leave the house for a "real" outing (such as on a date with Matt or to a friends house) then I may actually blow dry and straighten my hair! And add some eyeshadow and lip gloss.

Time for pampering & beautifying is slim these days, so I tend to use the most beauty products when I take a shower. It's my little '5 minute retreat' to relax.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite beauty products at the moment. Ones that are quick, easy and never seem to fail me. I think it's important that we share this stuff with each other! Otherwise we end up buying a ton of expensive products that we use once, we don't like and then end up in back of the medicine cabinet until the year 2024....



This Heel Stix product from a Sheboygan store called Olivu is amazing. I have those 
post-summer-I wore flip flops too much-heels going on.  I scrub my heels in the shower with a foot scrubby thing and then apply this afterwards. It smells good, feels good 
and after a week of use I could tell a HUGE difference. 


I love coconut scented products. But a lot of them smell 'fake coconut' to me. Well this shampoo
and conditioner from OGX smell so, so good! When I'm scrubbing my head with this stuff I close my eyes and smell the coconut and imagine myself on a tropical island....then I hear a kid screaming in the background and I snap back into reality. But for a moment it works.


I love this Raw Shea Butter Wash by Shea Moisture. It's great for my sensitive skin. It's organic, I can understand the ingredient list and it smells good too. It's one of the first products I've used that doesn't seem to make my skin freak out.

Oh my gosh. I love this! I got it as a gift from my cousin-in-law Beth. It's Nursing Nipple Salve from
WILDROOTS and it works wonders. It's all natural, smells AMAZING, doesn't bother Chloe at all and really, truly works. I will be gifting this to all new moms I know in the future. It's that good.


I had been slacking in the 'eyebrow' department lately. But I recently did a much-needed
plucking and a little coat of this clear mascara by Cover Girl helps keep the strays tamed.

Dark under eye bags anyone? I'm usually pretty skeptical of age-rewind type stuff. But the foam tip
on this thing applies the concealer and I swear it covers some of the wrinkles. I had to try it to believe it.

What I used for my recent eyebrow plucking. I highly recommend this Tweezerman that you can
get for cheap at Walgreens. And the pink color makes tweezing slightly more bearable.


I've been a fan of this for a long time. And with the Winter months rapidly approaching, this Smoothing Serum from Aveda works wonders on the bottom half of my hair. It tames & smoothes out the dry and unruly ends.


Everyone who knows me knows that I'm obsessed with all things turquoise/mint/aqua/blue. This polish by Maybelline is my latest toenail color. It reminds me of the Caribbean.
The color is called Green With Envy.



What are your favorite beauty products as of lately?
Please share!

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Half birthday

How did our sweet little girl turn 6 months old already? Seriously! 


1 month
"I'll sit here for 5 seconds, but then you better pick me back up again, mom."
2 months
"I am so tired I could win a staring contest."
3 months
"I'm gonna tip over..."
4 months
"This thumb tastes pretty darn good!"

5 months
"If I put my hands out like this I can sit up on my own a little."
6 months on October 9th
"I'm a half-a-year old already! And I am LOVING this tongue thing."

We look forward to the next 6 months, little peanut!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Vintage chart = cool art

My mother-in-law brought this little basket of vintage cook books over to our house last week. She found them at Matt's grandma's house and knew we'd be interested in looking through them. 

The colors that were used to print these old books were so cool! 
I love the reds and greens and yellows. The fonts. The simple-ness of it all. 


And oh my goodness -- who knew there was an entire cookbook devoted to Jell-O!?


 And an entire cookbook devoted to recipes with honey :)


I pulled this gem out of the bunch and just KNEW that it had to find a home in our kitchen...


...it's an old-school Ball Ready Reference Chart and I just love how it looks.


I will never have an excuse for not knowing how many pounds of squash it takes to make 16-20 quarts of canned squash (40 pounds of squash, in case you care to know).


 I picked up a white frame at Target (during my weekly diaper run with the kids) for $2.99.


 Obviously there are no pre-made 6 3/4 inch x 9 1/4 inch frames out there, so I bought an 8x10 and attached the chart to a piece of green card stock I had laying around. 


I tested the final piece out in a few places in our kitchen...
On an open shelf by my mixing bowls... (those are Matt's dilly beans on the right side!)


On a window ledge, appropriately near some antique Ball canning jars...


And on another open shelf in our kitchen, near the cookbooks and vintage scale.


Knowing me, I'll probably move it around a couple dozen times before I decide where I like it.


Please leave a comment below and let me know which spot you like best (if you care)!

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Burl'happy'

My friend Stephanie hosted September Crafty Club two weeks ago. She chose a cute & easy wreath that will look good on all of our homes'  front doors for the Fall season :)

This lovely sign welcomed us near her front door...


A table full of sweet craftiness...


Tucking burlap ribbon into the slats of the metal wreath...


So many rolls...


The main part of the wreath finished...


Janine and Sarah...


I then added a chevron bow to the wreath (with the help of Stephanie because
I'm lacking in bow-tying talent)...


I then added a letter B and hung it on our front door...


See that blob of paint on the right hand side of the door? That's one of my my next
project -- painting the front door a bright color. Fun stuff.




This is what you need to make this wreath:

Box wire wreath form (whatever size you like)


6" wide roll of burlap
Tuck the burlap in and out of the wire slots to make 'poofs'


Decorative roll of burlap (also 6") to make the bow


Wooden monogrammed letter (whatever letter you prefer)


And floral wire to attach the letter to the wreath wherever you'd like 
(I hung mine because that's where I thought it looked the best)


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To see another wreath craft our Crafty Club did, click here: A sleek wreath