Life as we go it

Liam and I walk to our local ReStore every couple of weeks. It's only a few blocks from our home. Liam LOVES looking at all of the things as we walk through the aisles.

In case you're unfamiliar with what ReStore is -- it's run by Habitat For Humanity and people donate used or unused home-type goods and materials. The store is always filled with goodies, and at excellent prices :) The store is a maze of wooden doors, used appliances, retro office furniture, ugly ceiling fans, cabinetry, mismatched tiles, etc.

Matt and I have donated a few things to our local store (kitchen cabinets and ceramic tiles) and we've also bought some things there (a sweet window seat that's currently being used as storage in our garage, a cool wooden box that we store firewood in, and a couple of other little doodads).

I bought this old black magazine rack a couple of weeks ago. I'm not big into decorating with the color black, but I saw potential when I spotted this. And it was only $5:

Hello weird ol' eighties-ish magazine rack...

Rust-Oleum in "Lemon Grass"

Two coats

I'm not exactly sure where I want to use it yet. And as I've shared with you before, I'm a bit of a magazine junkie, so I could really use it in ANY room in the house! But it will probably end up in our kitchen, living room or downstairs bathroom.

It's next to our couch for now

The lemon grass color matches well with my new LOVE pillow in our living room :)

And here's a quick show-and-tell from this week's Crafty Club. My friend Andi hosted craft night this past Monday and we worked on two paper-crafting projects:

We each stamped & put together six happy birthday cards

And we each made a bouquet of paper flowers

Helping his mama fold laundry...what a great way to start the day...

A stroller ride to the beach... (the sunshine was clearly in his eyes in this photo, thus the squinty eyes)

A second stroller ride...

Swinging in our backyard...

Playing in the dirt. He loves picking the heads off of flowers...

And to end the day...he got to eat dinner OUTSIDE on our deck!!

Spring is (kind of) here! I don't want to jinx it and say that Spring is full-on here, because this is what our weather forecast looks like after today:

It was sunny enough this morning to take Liam to the park

All smiles on this sunshiny day

Still bundled up, but no need to wear a winter jacket or mittens

There are green plants popping up in our flowerbeds!!! Gnomeo is really happy about this.

All of the snow has finally melted! Our favorite sledding hill is no longer white.

Spring welcome mats are now in place of Winter ones :)

And the trees reach for the sunshine

This past weekend Matt got beef jerky in his Easter basket.

Liam got oranges, raisins, goldfish crackers, a book and a puzzle in his basket.

What did I get in my basket? A wonderful gift that the Easter bunny (myself) ordered off of Etsy :)

A beautiful crocheted LOVE banner!

Handmade with care.

One of my friends in Florida, Rhonda, sent Liam an adorable crocheted owl hat when he was born. Her sister, Jess, made it. Jess crochets the cutest hats, ear warmers, cowls and banners.

The other day I was checking out her Etsy page, called My Charming Colors, and I saw this awesome Love banner. Usually it takes me a bit to decide on and purchase anything that has to do with home decor. But when I saw this (the Easter bunny just knew that) I just had to have it!

Here's a link to Jess' Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/mycharmingcolors . I also added a link to her blog, My Little Mustache, on the right sidebar of my blog.

I hung it in between two of our kitchen windows.

The colors in the banner match my homemade curtains perfectly!

And FINALLY the weather was nice enough outside today, I moved Liam's pack n play out onto the deck for a while. And I took him for three walks in his stroller. He enjoyed watching the squirrels, listening to the birds chirp and feeling the sunshine on his cute little cheeks.