yet another house update!

I am roughly coming to terms with my need to constantly be changing up my decor. I really do like making our home a space that I feel inspired, comfortable, and aesthetically pleased. I am constantly working within my own boundaries of hating clutter, frugality, and practicality of having two small children. The majority of the updates I have done this year have cost less than $5,  were dumpster finds, and done by rearranging decor used in other rooms.

 The only real update I have left to do is our bathroom. I have wanted a dark painted room for some time (pretty much black). I thought that the bathroom would be a small enough space that I would not regret the decision. We are purchasing the items needed for the update a little at a time. Right now, I have the new shower curtain that I bought from Urban Outfitters. We are still waiting on buying new towels, a rug, and a new wall rack to add more storage. 

Let's start from the front door. 

I found the coffee table in the dumpster. It needed some glue to put it back together because it was in two parts. I also painted it white to hopefully cover whatever may have been left from the previous owner. The white, wooden chair by the door was also a dumpster find. Will says I have a problem. The gray rug I actually bought new from Urban Outfitters. The sheep skin rug was a craigslist purchase. Let's just say I thought it would be much larger. 

I finally added Eliza's little silhouette to our family collage. 

Our room is mostly the same. That rug has had many homes the past few months, but I like where it has settled now. The biggest change for our room is that it is actually ours now. We have moved everything that is baby related into the girl's shared room. This is another reason for the bathroom remodel, it will be a celebration of reclaiming our room. 

I am still probably going to be tweaking their room, but it is in a spot that I feel good about. The quilt on Madison's bed was made by Will's mom. Everything else I made. Those tassels are made out of a dollar store table cloth and I had to add embroidery hoops somehow. 

We keep all of their toys in the closet. We are fortunate to have such huge closets that this seems to work well for now. When Eliza eventually leaves her beloved pack-n-play we are hoping for bunk beds, which will leave more space for toys in the actual room. 

I know it is kind of taboo to have toilet pictures, but I have never shown the guest bathroom. It is hard to photograph because of how small it is, but hopefully you get the gist. I had to have that ampersand sign even though Will continually asks me what exactly it means. I tell him I have no idea, I just really like it, ok??

Another view our repainted cabinets and homemade table. I am still so pleased with our cabinets. Those flowers on the table are from a bush that came with the house and  have absolutely ignored. It grows larger every year and is now producing the most beautiful flowers. How that works and then we immediately kill all our flowers we purchase, I have no idea?

The room that has continually changed. Since Eliza booted us out of our room for twelve months, we had to find a bed we could comfortably sleep in. I found a tempurpedic mattress from a dad in our neighborhood who just thought, "it was much too soft." I actually prefer the mattress over ours. The new comforter was a garage sale find and is a bit lumpy, but Will prefers the pattern over the other one. 

That is what our house looks like exactly in this moment because I took these photos about fifteen minutes ago. 

Maybe next I will blog about our family adventures we have gone on the past two weeks. 

head comparisons

I took some of my favorite photos of the girls last year around this time. I laid them on a white blanket and focused on just capturing their heads. I just love the way they were both staring at the camera. I look at the picture and feel a great connection to them. 

I decided that it might be fun to try and recreate the photos. The only real issue was that Eliza is now mobile and gets extremely frustrated when she feels she is being forced to do something. I had about ten seconds to capture the photo because Eliza quickly realized she did not want any part of this photo taking business. The first couple of pictures were the only decent ones I could get. However, I have about fifteen that look identical to the last photo. Maybe next year I will have better luck. 

a backyard reveal

I posted all the way back in October about the paver patio that Will built. It was a huge, laboring process, but he did it all himself! Then winter hit and it sat unused while the snow kept falling. We also used this time as a bit of break from house projects. Then came summer again and we were determined to have a usable backyard space. Will hired someone to aerate and fertilize the lawn in May, which I think, did wonders for the grass. We then began spraying weed killer on nearly everything. I guess we were super anti-chemicals in the past, but we finally just gave in to the beauty of them. Then we put down landscaping fabric where all our dirt piles and weeds had been. Finally, Will had 5 tons of rocks delivered and dumped on our street. He then proceeded to shovel wheel barrow after wheel barrow full of rocks to fill in all our empty space. I should add that I did my fair share of wheel barrow fulls as well. He also built a couple of planter boxes out of old pallets to put next to the garage. I planted a mix of wildflower seeds, strawberries, and blackberry plants. We finished it off by hanging lights across the yard. I feel like we have really taken advantage of the luscious yard and ease of sitting back there. 

Can you tell which ones are the before?? 

Next up on our to do list is a new fence on the side of our house and back of yard by the alley. There is a good section of our property that is not usable right now because we have not extended the fence to include that section. Our eventual hope is to add a play area for the kids and ourselves. The area will consist of a climbing wall. We also are thinking about a fire pit so we can still enjoy the patio when Fall comes. 

I want to blog, but....

I just can not seem to find the motivation. I want to not worry about it, but this is one of the main ways in which I record what our family has been doing. Instagram has proven to be an efficient way of jotting down quick memories to look back on, but I do not want to give up on the little blog. 

I still need to get the pictures of Madison's birthday party off of my phone. I think that I want to write a post dedicated to her turning three, but I am not sure I have it in me to be sentimental. I am much too busy raising these girls to have time to step back and reflect on their aging. I also can not comprehend how Madison was once where Eliza is and soon Eliza will be where Madison is, it blows my mind! I should write something though about my little miss... 

1. She loves her backpack and lunch box my mom gave her as a birthday present. They are for preschool that she will be starting in two weeks (yikes), but she carries them everywhere now. They are stuffed full of books and toys. She can barely carry them because they are so heavy, but she still insists on taking them everywhere. I feel that this is so Madison. 

2. She received a puzzle of Disney princesses for her birthday. She has been working on it day and night for about two weeks straight. Putting it together with our help and taking it apart, over and over again. She finally is able to do it all on her own. I just love her determined nature and how she gets fixated on certain things. 

3. She is now sharing a room with Eliza. We made the transition right before Will left for Alaska. We had attempted on several occasions and it went horribly. This time we took apart the crib and moved Eliza's pack n play into the bedroom. They sleep together really well at night and have been taking naps in separate rooms. I think Eliza loves being included and having Madison so close to her. Even when Madison talks herself to sleep and kicks the wall, Eliza will still fall asleep. 

4. We gave Madison a strider type bike for her birthday. It does not have pedals, but she learns to balance this way. She has been taking it with us on walks and is really getting the hang of it. I have really enjoyed watching her learn all these new things. 

5. Madison has figured out she can completely pick Eliza up. These past few days I have caught Madison walking around carrying Eliza. Even though Eliza is dangling by her neck in Madison's arms, she is totally delighted and smiling. Now that Eliza is so much bigger, I am getting real glimpses into their relationship as sisters. Let's just say those sibling dynamics start early! 

6. I have heard that three is a really rough age, but so far it has been pretty manageable. We will see how it is in another six months. I love being able to communicate with Madison. I really enjoy listening to what she has to say and how she is processing the world. 

I mentioned earlier that Will was in Alaska. He went to visit a friend for nine days and ten nights. I was totally on my own, but I survived. I think I realized that I can actually handle both girls on my own and do it fairly well, but it just gets to be so lonely. I ended up missing Will's company more than his help. I guess that is a good thing, it means I still like my husband for who he is! 

This is another busy month for us. I am going backpacking this weekend with some of my girl friends. I have not been backpacking since before children, so I am excited. Then this Monday we are going to Winter Park as a family. We are staying two nights in a hotel that Will found a travel voucher for. Then we are going camping with two families we are really good friends with. Madison starts school and my classes start up again. Then, boom, it is September. What a crazy summer!

Hopefully, I will bring out my real camera again and start taking pictures. We have been just soaking up every bit of summer and I love it.