Yes, you read that right. Mr. Everett is happy (?) to announce that he will be a big brother come this July. We are over the moon and can’t wait to bring another sweet little munchkin into this world.
[a recent mommy + me donut date]
I think I had to get to this point in order to truly write this post. In the beginning, I needed the space, whether I knew it or not. But now, now it’s different. I miss him like crazy.
In the morning, if he sleeps in and I am out the door before I hear him say ‘hi’ as his bedhead body slowly rises to smile at me from his crib… I miss him.
When I get to the office, knowing that he is in the best possible hands (grandma’s), I type and talk the entire day and many times I wonder about what he’s doing, what he’s learning, how he’s growing… I miss him.
After the crazy, whirlwind evening routine has concluded, he’s all tucked in and surrounded by ‘friends’ in his crib, I shut the door to his room… I miss him.
Working outside the home is definitely hard at this point when my little man is constantly growing up – doing most of it while I’m not on watch. I knew I wanted to go back to work after having Evie, but it wasn’t until recently that I’ve started to feel like I’m missing out on things. I know it’s ok, and that it makes my time with him in the evenings and weekends that much more special/important, but I still miss him.
Pretty much every holiday Pottery Barn Kids comes up with a slew of super cute, themed items that I must steer clear of – or else it’ll end up getting personalized and ordered immediately.
This time of year it is the Valentine’s Day Chairbackers that I like to freak out over. After giving them another look, I figured it was something that I could probably tackle myself.
After a recent trip to Target, I stumbled upon these cute little felt Valentine envelopes in The Dollar Spot.
I knew once I saw them that they would be perfect to make into my own DIY Valentine’s Chairbackers.
I started by writing Everett’s name in cursive with a water dissolvable embroidery transfer pen. Using embroidery floss, I backstitched his name.
After the embroidery was complete, I picked out some ribbon remnants and hot glued them to the back of the envelope. 
After the glue dried, I tested out my chairbacker by just tying a knot in the ribbon in between the slats of our chairs. Voila! Now I get to tuck in a few love notes and treats on the big day! [Insert heart eyes emoji here]
It’s funny, because when you live in the midwest in a log home – you legitimately have cabin fever around this time of year. With no warm weather locale trip to look forward to, things are seeming pretty bleak over here with the negative degree wind chill temps.
So during this past three-day weekend, we had to come up with a few ideas on how to stay warm and keep our sanity at the same time. Here’s how we fared…
[did a little prep for Big Night 2016]
[took a stroll around Homemakers and snagged a cookie for the road]
[made blueberry muffins from scratch // recipe via Yammie’s Noshery]
[fresh flowers (ranunculus!!!) from Trader Joe’s]
[Evie’s first trip to the Science Center was a hit]
[and a little rule breaking to round things out…]
I didn’t realize how badly I want it to be spring until this past weekend, and I know we still have a long way to go. How do you keep the tots happy and burn off some of their NEVER ENDING energy during the winter months? This mama would love any and all ideas.
If you are like me, then you love shopping for outfits to coordinate with holidays. I mean, Everett spent the first few weeks of his life rotating through various Christmas-themed onesies.
I’m obsessed with looking for little kid outfit inspiration both in stores and on the web, so I thought I would create a new blog series called Little Looks where I will feature curated pieces that fit a theme. Up first, the sweetest day of the year – Valentine’s Day!
gold heart set // oxford + bow tie // heart sunnies // glitter pajamas
felt mailbox // adidas sneakers // striped tee // heart long sleeve
I got this idea a while ago (thanks Pinterest) of giving my newly purchased IKEA Latt table (you can buy online!) a bit of a facelift. It’s fine as is, but I thought using the tutorials from Little Baby Garvin, My Fabuless Life and Apollinas would make it look much more personalized to my style.
[IKEA Latt table + chairs, $24.99]
I picked up some sherpa fabric and 1″ thick foam from my local craft store. After using spray glue to attach the foam, I wrapped and stapled the fabric. 
After cutting away lots of excess, I realized this specific fabric wasn’t going to work as great as I thought. You see, you have to then slide the seats into small groves on the wooden chair part. If I was redoing this and wanted to still go with a thicker fabric, I would instead just glue the fabric to the foam cushion and leave space for the board to easily slide into the seats. I guess that is what you get for Christmas Eve workshopping after your little one is down…
Here is the final product (the covered seats actually don’t look bad unless you get up close). We used two coats of Minwax Jacobean stain on the wood portion of the table and chairs, and finished it with a coat of Fast-Drying Polyurethane for protection.
Evie loves his new art station and I like that it blends in nicely with the rest of our furniture! DIY win for sure!
Since I haven’t been blogging for a bit, I thought I would share a little sneak peek via photos of what we were up to all Christmas break.
It has been awhile since I last posted and that is because I took some much needed time off (both blog and work) to relax and enjoy spending time with my little family over the holidays. Photos coming soon…
It’s amazing what a little rest can do for the soul. I’m feeling good about heading into the new year, ready for all that awaits.
But in the meantime, I’ve been whipping up a few DIYs that I’ll be sharing soon, daydreaming about the Big Night invitation that I need to work on and making my 2015 photo books.
If you haven’t ever heard of them, Chatbooks, is great for taking your Instagram photos and compiling them into super cute 6×6 books. I have done it for the past few years and love flipping through them for a little recap from time to time. It’s a great way to get those images out of your phone and onto a coffee table!
If you are interested, you can use my code (VMAHMUQV) and get your first book FREE!
So you are one of those people. The ones who frantically swoop in and out of stores on Christmas Eve, in search of gifts that are still meaningful and not the least bit last minute.
Well, have I got some ideas for you! Here are a few of my go-to last minute gifts that never disappoint.
[scratch tickets // coffee + mugs // champagne]
Tomorrow's To Dos 