My Long Absence

I've been away for so long (February 13 was three months ago!) that it's hard to find a way to come back.  But, I am going to try to be back to blogging on a regular basis!

We've had a lot going on in our family -- I've been making good on one of my personal New Year's Resolutions -- to get healthier.  I've lost a little over 20 lbs since January 5 and I'm now regularly running 3 miles at a time.

We've also been working on some of our 2013 Home Goals, the biggest one being our home office.  My husband has started on the built-in bookshelves and I'll be back soon with some photos.  They're still a ways from being done, but now that the birthday craziness is almost over, we can get back to it!

Over the weekend we hosted a joint birthday party for my little people.  It was a circus theme and honestly, I was enjoying the party too much to take a whole lot of photos and the ones I did take were with my phone, but I'll be back to share more of those as well!  I think it was our best party yet!

Here's to getting back in the swing of things!

Preschool Valentines

This is our first year to do Valentines for school.  Tyson was excited about it and I'll admit, I was pretty excited too.  I remember those sweet days in elementary school.

The kid is obsessed with construction equipment.  He had a construction birthday party last year and he's petitioning for another one this year, so almost a year later he still loves the heavy machinery.  I showed him some possible Valentines and I wasn't surprised when he chose one that included a toy piece of construction equipment.  The kid knows what he likes!

I ended up ordering a personalized printable one from Etsy shop PreppyChick.  It was $5 and arrived in my inbox about 3.5 hours after I ordered it.  My little construction-loving guy was quite happy!

I had them printed, and then I cut them, punched them and attached them to treat bags.  Easy, easy!

Tyson helped me fill the goodie bags with small toy construction vehicles (made by Caterpillar and found at Meijer for a little over $1 each) and a few pieces of candy.

Happy Valentine's Day all!

2013 Goals: Organized laundry shelves

The laundry room.

A room in a constant state of mess in my house.  Laundry, wet shoes, coats, and frankly, cat food, all grace the floors in my laundry room on a fairly regular basis.

I wish I could have a lovely laundry room like the ones Sarah Richardson does:

Sarah Richardson

But I don't and likely never will, at least while we're in this house.  My laundry room is quite small.  More than a closet, but not quite a room.  It serves its purpose, but it does need some help!

The laundry room sees its fair share of random items that really have no other place to go.  The previous owners didn't do much to our house in the short time they lived here, but they did install a set of white wire shelves that are out of the way -- around the corner -- so they're not visible unless you're standing by the laundry machines.

We had so much stuff crammed on these little shelves that I'm embarrassed to show you.  Actually, I just started ripping things down before I thought "maybe I should take a before picture!".  :)

There wasn't much to look at before and not that much to look at after, but it makes me happy to see the labeled bins.  It also makes me happy that one of my 2013 home goals has started!  Even though it's just one little space, progress is a good thing!

I bought some bins at Target, labeled them with my label maker (to the left) and just some cardstock and ribbon below.

This room could use a paint job and a new light fixture and some more shelving, but for now, at least I can find some things on those clutter catching shelves!  

Favorite Projects of 2012

My blog is still a baby, but I still have some favorite projects and parties that I did get done in 2012.

The Basement.

Our basement renovation was by far the biggest project of 2012.  It took months of planning, building, working, and painting.

From the built-in bookcases,

To the stair remodel,

To just making the space more functional,

We poured our hearts and time into that project for months, but it was more than worth it.  Now we have a family space to live, play and spend time together.

Tyson's 3rd Birthday Party

I loved this party and so did he.  He's still asking to do another "Doug digger" party for his birthday this year.

Quinn's 1st Birthday Party

A sweet bumblebee party for my darling baby girl.

Painted Union Jack Rug 

I had envisioned this rug for a while, but when it actually turned out the way I thought it would, I was thrilled!  It's held up great for the last six or so months.

Tyson's Big Boy Room

It took a while to finish, but I am thrilled with the final result.  He loves it too!

If my 2013 goal list gets done in any way, I'll have lots more projects to share in the coming year!



I'm linking up!

Savvy Southern Style

2013 Home Goals

Hi Friends!  Happy New Year!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've blogged.  :blushes with embarrassment:

Like many of you, December was a busy but fun month.  We went to and hosted way too many parties, spent lots of time with our babies, enjoyed quite a bit of family time and even had our first two (big!) snowfalls.  Oh, and we both worked in there too.  I feel like I've been on a month-long whirlwind!  Despite all of the busyness, it was so fun to experience Christmas through the eyes of my children.  I'm grateful for January's arrival and for things to slow down a bit.

I'm ready to move on (and find the time!) to complete some home and party-related goals for 2013.

1.  Revitalize our fireplace.

Our fireplace looks very similar to the one below, except our brick is redder.  This project has been tossed around for a while, but I'm hoping to actually do something about it.  And soon.  I'm pretty sure we'll be using the basics of Layla's tutorial:

Source: The Lettered Cottage

2.  Finish our home office.

Even though we moved into our house six years ago, the office (on the main floor) has continued to fall by the wayside as far as projects go.  I'm ready to get it done and organized!  It's going to be quite the project -- including built-in bookcases, but since we've tackled built-ins before, I'm confident we can do it again.  I'm hoping to start this project in March.

3.  Wrap up the basement.

Last year was the big year for our basement and while it's functional and pretty much finished we still have a few little projects to tackle.  Those little projects include hanging some art on the walls, ordering prints of pictures and touching up paint in a few spots.  You know, the stuff that gets put on the back burner after you endured a long renovation.

4.  Organize our spaces.

I know this is a New Year's Resolution for many, but items have a tendency to get stashed in our house.  I need to do a better job of finding homes for items instead of stashing them.  Yesterday put us off to a good start with organizing our Christmas decorations!

5.  Redo the kid's bathroom.

I have ideas flowing, but I just need to buy the paint and make it happen.

6.  Finish the projects I start.

I'm pretty bad about this, but when I commit to something and buy the supplies, I need to finish it!

7.  Big Girl Room.

This makes me happy and sad at the same time.  Our baby girl will be two in May and I'm guessing that a big girl room isn't far behind.  We already have her bed, but it will need to be painted and I'm sure some new bedding and accessories will be necessary too :)

8.  Closet organizers for the kids' closets.

Our kids have nice walk-in closets in their rooms but there is no organization in them.  We need to make a better space plan for both of them and get it executed.  Clutter is starting to overwhelm us all!

9.  Plan a joint birthday party.

My kids have birthdays 11 days apart.  While it was fun hosting two birthday parties in two weeks, I think we're going to go all-out on one big birthday bash for both of them this year.  I have some ideas in mind and if I can pull it off, it's going to be a lot of fun!

10.  Paint our kitchen cabinets.

This is a big one and another idea we've been tossing around for a while.  I'd say out of all of the items on our list, this is the least likely to get done, but I really want to do it.

Phew.  That is one long list, but I am hopeful that I can get some of these projects tackled in the new year!

What are your home goals for 2013?

It's the Holiday Season

We had a somewhat quiet, but still lovely Thanksgiving this year.  We missed some of our favorite people -- they were either far away or traveling far away.  But, we were still thankful for the yummy food and family that we did get to see.

I hope yours was an enjoyable one as well.

On Friday morning, Christmas decorating was in full swing in our house!  I woke up early with the kids, took down and put away all of the remaining fall decorations so I'd be ready for Ryan to bring up the Christmas totes!

I am about 90% done with the decorations we already have.  I have one tree (out of six!) and a new tree skirt to finish up and I'll be ready to share the photos of our holiday home.

Until then, here's our tree and mantel last year:

We ran into a few issues with two of our trees this year.  Those two trees were originally prelit.  I love a prelit tree when the lights are working.  When they're not, it's not so fun.  I pulled all of the little clips and lights off of one 7' skinny tree.  It took me an hour and a half and my hands were covered in tiny scratches that burn when I put lotion on them.

When the lights on our main (read, 7.5' 900 lights, pretty fluffy) tree no longer worked, I begged and then sent my husband out to buy a new, taller, unlit tree.  For now, a sneak peek from Instagram:

I'm also working on some new ideas for outdoor decorations this year.  We've done nearly the same thing since we moved in six Christmases ago -- wreath on the front door, lights on the bushes and a couple of Christmas pillows on the chairs.  Tyson is really into Christmas this year and keeps pleading for lights on the house.  We'll see what I can come up with :)

See you soon!

If you want to follow me on Instagram, I'm laura_holt.

Fall Family Photos

We probably take family photos a little too often.  :)

It's definitely my doing though and for a few reasons.  I'm never in snapshots that we take at home.  I know I could pass the camera off to Ryan, but I often forget or just don't think about it in the moment.  I also want to treasure the time when they're so little and I think photographs are a perfect way to do just that.

We had fall photos taken at the end of October with Tricia Forman of Tricia Forman Photography.  I actually won the session after entering a contest on Facebook.  I never win anything, but I am sure glad I did!

My kids can be terribly difficult to photograph.  Their current ages make it hard and it doesn't help that mama so often has a camera in their faces.  Tricia instantly made a connection with Tyson and he was smiling, big huge real smiles, right out of the gate.  That never happens with us.  Ever.

You'd never know that Quinn was in a challenging mood.  Or that she was freezing.  That alley was windy and coooold.

I am thrilled with Tricia's work and I would use her again in a heartbeat.  You can check her out on her blog and Facebook.