House Project: Dining Room

Part of our Christmas present to ourselves this year was a new dining room. When we moved in, the dining room was painted a really dark red color that neither of us was fond of, and had a light fixture that we both hated.

We knew the color would be a nightmare to change, but we wanted to completely transform this room. After all, it's been sitting empty for over a year. Naturally, we started with primer...two coats of it. Turns out red is very hard to cover.

Then came our new light fixture. So much better than what was there before.

 We chose a nice clean blue to lighten up the room.

Then came a new rug, new furniture, and new art for the wall. We were so excited to get it all put together, and were very happy with the choices we made. It looks like a real adult dining room now instead of just empty space. For a while, I kept turning on the light and just looking at it all, not quite believing it was in my house. I've gotten used to it now, and really love it. It makes me look forward to working on other rooms of the house. 

House Project: New Television

Part of our Christmas present to ourselves this year was a new flat screen television, blu ray player, and a shelf to hold the electronics. It was a bit of an adventure getting it mounted over the fireplace, but I think the finished product turned out really well.

Pinterest Project: Christmas Ornaments

For any of you who are familiar with Pinterest, you understand the wealth of ideas that can be found there. Naturally at this time of year, a lot of the ideas have centered around holiday crafts and decor. I have pinned numerous ideas to try in the future, but there were a couple for ornaments that I wanted to try this year.

The first involved rolling strips of scrapbook paper around a pencil, then putting them inside a glass ball ornament (or plastic if you prefer). I added a little personalization and made one for Nana, one for Papa, and one for Grandpa.

The second was the traditional salt dough hand print. I did one with Noah's hand actually pressed into the dough, and the other with it just pressed onto the baked dough. Once they were painted, the hand prints stood out a lot more.

These were both so simple, I feel that we will definitely be repeating them in the future.

Big Boots to Fill

The little man found his Daddy's boots by the bookshelf and decided to climb right into them. Standing there is pretty much all he can do in them. They are too heavy for much more than that. He's well on his way, but those are some big boots to fill. He has quite a way to go.

Truly Our Son

Not that we ever questioned it, but we saw further proof today that Noah is truly our son. During a trip out with Daddy, they accidentally found their way through the Chick-fil-A drive-thru and brought home peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes. Just like his mommy and daddy, Noah seemed to love it once he got a taste of it. He was not too happy when I took the cup away from him.

A Word From Noah

fkiirwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww6fs3wzu n bbffffdxxddddfgvbm jkl

nzbczdtuokb  nn cgc    f,u i ok[p
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]'ijyer  nb4 4  on br   m, m  b b

Roughly translated, this means "Thanks for reading our blog! Hope you have a Merry Christmas!"
We'll keep working on his typing skills.

Hide and Peek

We have seen Noah tuck behind the banister or a column and peek out at us, as if he's playing peek-a-boo. Recently he took it a step further. He was actually trying to play hide and seek. He still needs a little practice. He would hide behind the blinds, stay there for a minute, then peek out to see if anyone was looking. As you can see, his hiding still needs a little work. And he doesn't really stay there and wait for someone to come seek him. So I think we'll call this little game Hide and Peek.

Pinterest Project: Thumbtack Vase Filler

Hello, my name is Miranda, and I'm addicted to Pinterest. There, I said it. I have lots of things pinned that I want to try and just haven't gotten to them yet. Here's one that I jumped on right away.

I found a pin from a blog called Landee See, Landee Do that had instructions for making thumbtack vase fillers. It's such a simple idea, but I never would have thought of it myself. You just take a styrofoam ball, cover it with thumbtacks, and add a few coats of spray paint. Mine are actually sitting nicely atop a cake plate in our new hutch rather than filling a vase, but I was quite pleased with them. This was one easy project that I will definitely be repeating in the future.

Blowing Buttons

It's official. Noah and Papa have invented a new game. The concept is simple. Noah sits on Papa, places (shoves)  a button gently (not gently) in his mouth, and Papa blows it out while Noah laughs. It's a simple game, but oh so entertaining.

Rainy Day Play

Noah loves to be outside, so rainy days are especially disappointing for him. Yesterday was one of those days. We had been cooped up for far too long and he just kept going over and pointing to the door. I gave in, and we went outside.

I gave him a piece of chalk to draw with, since it looks better on the wet asphalt. He enjoyed that for a few minutes...until he found a puddle.

 

Noah also loves water, so there's nothing more tempting than a nice puddle. He dipped his chalk in it. He swished his hand around in it. I could see he wanted to dive right in. I wanted to pull him away. He was wearing brand new pants, he looked adorable, I didn't want him all wet and muddy. But, he had been a trooper all day, running errands with me and putting up with being stuck inside. So I gave in and let him have the puddle.

 

 He was so happy to splash in this puddle and every other one he could find. And, if you think about it, the best way to play in a puddle really is just to sit right down in it. He ended up splashing mud up on his clothes, wiping it on his face, and covering his chalk. But he really could not have cared less. He thoroughly enjoyed himself. When he was good and dirty, we made our way back inside and straight to the bathtub. I guess rainy days aren't all bad.

 

Sorting 101

I decided a couple of months ago that Noah was probably bored at home. He plays with the same toys and the same mom every day. That can get old after a while. So I perused the Internet trying to find ideas for activities for him. One that I found was a sorting box.

The idea is simple. Get a divided box and some brightly colored objects and help your child learn the fine art of sorting. I stuck with primary colors so as to not make things too difficult. But apparently, Noah is still a bit young for this activity. His goal is to collect all of one particular item (buttons, for example) and manage to hold them all in his tiny hand.

As far as putting things in the box, he gets two or three things in there and wants to immediately dump them out again. We'll keep trying, but I guess sorting may not actually happen for a couple more months.