Home Sweet Home {before and after}

I've been meaning to write this post for quite some time.  I finally got around to taking a picture of our house today...hopefully hthe neighbors won't think I'm putting it up for sale!  :)  We've been living here since October, but for some reason I still feel like we just moved in.  That could be because I still feel like we are up to our ears in house projects and have a list a mile long of things we want to do to it and things we are in the process of doing!  But I'm learning that I need to live like that list will never end...because it probably won't ever be done. 

So, here's what you've been waiting for.  The BEFORE:

And, now the AFTER:

Here are the two side-by-side (I always love a good make-over story):

We painted the {ugly} green shutters black, and the {ugly} green trim around the windows and garage doors white {actually, the shutters broke when we took them down so we just bought new ones}.  We spray-painted the exterior lights black (they were a light brown)...I had some new ones picked out from Home Depot, but we made a last-minute decision to save some $$$ and decided to just paint the old ones.  And we gave the front door a few coats of bright red paint.  I'm going for the classic American look, you can probably tell {and if you look super close, you will see a little munchkin through one of the frosted glass windows}...

 Of course we added the flag, chairs, ferns, and door knocker.

Quite a bit of a difference, for not much money.  Next summer, I plan to plant a bunch of white hydrangea bushes in the front and get more plants around the garage.  Like I said, the list never ends...  :)

And here's what you could call my "dream house" {from a Kate Spade add I think...}.  The classic American colonial-style that I love. 

A little map of our projects...
 

One Week From Today... {your comments wanted: BOY or GIRL?!?!?}

One week from today, we find out if Callie will be having a little brother or a little sister!

Will it be trucks, or dolls?

We want to know what you think!

So leave a comment and let us know your guess.

Last time we did a poll, and you said girl.  You were right!

Ready, set, go....leave your comments please!

 

And the answer will be shared on week from today!

{the party}

It was so much fun and I truly felt blessed.  Thank you so much for everyone who came, helped with, made food for, let us borrow things for, and had fun at our party!  I wasn't really in a picture-taking mood that night, but I managed to get a few shots of the "before." 

My sister Kiley made some absolutely fantastic homemade cupcakes!  I saw cupcakes made in these cute little "mint and nut" cups on a blog and knew Kiley would take the idea and run with it {we had three kinds...vanilla, tiramisu, and mocha-chocolate-chip}.  For those of you who might be interested, I found the little cups at Michael's and JoAnn's. 

Thanks again to everyone who brought food {Elyse-shrimp quesadillas, Ki-cupcakes and brushetta, Ranya-spring rolls and stuffed jalepenos, mom-cheese platter and hummus dip}. It was all so yummy. I didn't lift a finger to make anything (well, just the drinks, but that was easy)!

My friends put together a little surprise gift which was so thoughtful and such a great idea...an iBook with notes and pictures from everyone, including a whopping giftcard for a spa!!!!!  Wow, that sounds fabulous.  THANK YOU!!!  And thanks Amanda for arranging everything! 

And a special thanks to my amazing husband.  Thanks for organizing and planning everything.  Thanks for making sure I had a great birthday...I sure did!  I think it was a week-long celebration, but maybe you can do that every 30 years??  ;) 

Uncrustables {make your own}

We ate dinner at Ikea a few weeks ago, and Callie experienced her first uncrustable.  I should mention that it was so good that Kyle and I ate most of it.  :)  And since Callie doesn't eat the crust most of the time anyway, I figured I could make our own uncrustables at home!

Two pieces of bread...

And peanut butter.  Within the last year, we've switch most of our peanut obutter to the no-sugar-added, natural kind.  It doesn't taste nearly as good as the classic Skippy or Jiff, or have the same creamy texture, but I know it has no added oil or sugar and is much healthier.  Especially for little girls.

{However, I discovered a little trick if you want to add a little bit of sweetness and softness to the natural kind. When you first open your jar of peanutbutter and need to stir in the oil, add in about 1/3 cup of honey and stir.  This makes the peanut butter sweeter, easier to spread, and not quite as cement-like.  Try it!}

So back to the uncrustables.  Make a peanut butter sandwich like you normally would (jelly is optional). 

Then take a glass about the width of the bread and press. 

And presto!

You have a happy child.

Enjoy!

It's A Miracle {for wood floors}

Just though I would pass on a new product "find."  Over the years, our wood floors have gotten a little beat-up...but nothing that a little Orange Glo can't fix!  I just bought some for the first time at Target, and wow I am amazed at the difference!  My tired wood floors now look new and shiny.  Just thought you might enjoy it too!  ;)

Brown Butter Banana Muffins, Walks, & Water

Today, we went on a walk.  We need to get out more and enjoy this sunshine before it's gone!  As nice and convenient as the gym is, it's probably good to spend some mother-daughter time in the great outdoors (or should I say suburban neighborhood?). 

We also baked. Brown butter banana muffins...with only six ingredients!  They are for breakfast this weekend, but Callie and I just had to share one to test the waters (recipe and directions below).  :) 

We also made some yummy chocolate croi-ssants (imagine my french accident when you read this).  If you've never made these, you really should.  Soooo good.  Just buy a roll of crescent dough and fold up w/ a skinny piece of chocolate in the inside, and bake!  I used dark chocolate and the extra big refrigerated crescent rolls.

We went to Target and Callie got a new toy.  Funny how that happens when we go to Target!  She hasn't stopped playing with it yet, so I think that's a good sign.  :)  It's this cool drawing board where you fill the "markers" with water, and it shows up on the fabric board.  Then the water drys (pretty quickly) and it's a clean slate again!  It's like a magna-doodle, only cooler!  The brand is called B. Toys. 

I almost, almost bought the Crayola's marker set that has those special markers that only draw on the special paper.  But they are expensive for what you get (a tiny pad of paper).  They were in my cart, and then I saw this.  It's nice because it should essentially last forever...the markers are just water, and the board is reusable!  I think it was $17.99.   A little spendy, but so far, worth every penny.  Oh, I found it in this fun aisle in Target that has vintage-style toys.  Go Target!  If I were doing a blog series on what's cool at Target right now (I've considered doing this?), that aisle would be my first post!

Other than that, we're getting ready for a fun weekend!  Here's the receipe for the brown butter banana muffins, only six ingredients (thank you Claire at Food Network for the recipe). 


ingredients:
1 stick butter
4 bananas, ripened
1/3 c honey
1 t vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 c self-rising flour

toppings (optional):
cinnamon
nuts
granulated sugar

Mash bananas with honey, set aside. 

Melt butter in pan.

Add 1 c banana mixture to butter and cook until golden (hence the brown butter).  Add remaining ingredients and stir until just combined.  Cook at 350 for about 15-20 minutes (do not overcook). 

Delicious and easy breakfast! 

Happy Weekend!

Thirty, Flirty, & Fabulous*

*I'm really not all that flirty, and maybe not all that fabulous most of the time either, but now I can definitely say I'm 30...have you seen this movie?)

Somehow I had one of the most fun birthdays ever this week!  A good friend took the reins and planned a lunch w/ some of my besties at Yum! Kitchen in Minneapolis.  She even brought a babysitter for the two of us to share, which was a great present in itself!  It's fun to have some fun plans on your birthday... and it was even better that I didn't have to plan any of it!  Thanks so much, B.  And thanks, girls, for coming!

We had some great food, the best cupcakes, and and some fun, kid-free girl-time!

A friend brought these beautiful sunflowers.  I love sunflowers and wish I could have a vase of them in my kitchen all year long.

Then before I knew it I was off to a date night with my husband at Bar La Grassa in Minneapolis to celebrate just the two of us.  It's a tapas-style Italian restaurant, and we had some of the best food I've had in quite some time.  If you go there, try the lobster and soft egg brushetta (sounds strange but it was so good) and ricotta pizette... everything we had was so good. We had a great time talking about our life, our careers, kids, everything.

Dinner was complete with one of my favorite drinks, San Pelligrino Limonata.

I got some great gifts and cards that day. :)

All in all, it was a wonderful birthday, and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family.  I think days like this make me realize just how many important people I have in my life.  In my thirties I want to focus on family and I want to surround myself with fun people that I love to be around. And I want to keep having fun! 

Thanks, everyone, for a wonderful 30th birthday! 

P.S. I forgot to mention...the night of my birthday, Kyle felt the baby kick for the first time, three times!  I've been feeling it since the 4th of July, but to have him feel it too was such a great "present!"  

Baby Names

Our conversations when reading through baby name books goes a little like this.

"Aardina?"
"No."
"Aarona?"
"No."
"Aase?"
"No."
Abayomi?"
"No...."

I think you get the picture {disclaimer: these names were the first four in our baby name book and not ones that we are really considering...but of course you probably guessed that}!  We have a few boy names, kind of a few girl names, but we're just not sure if we've found the perfect name yet.  Well, maybe I should clarify, I think I've found the perfect baby names, both one boy and one girl name, but Kyle's not sure about them. So either I'm going to have to convince him, or we're going to have to think of something else.  Help!  We're definitely open to suggestions at this point!  :) 

Here's what the monkey has been doing 24/7 lately.  Climbing. On. Everything.

However, I've found that there really is something to the whole discipline thing {consistent discipline, I might add}!   We started giving her a light pat on the bottom and a one-minute time-out if she stands on our chairs or gets on our kitchen table (yes, it's happened).  And it only took about 1.5 days and now I think she's learned to obey! 

We've also had a Miss Independence problem where she simply does not want to hold our hand crossing the street and will scream a high-pitched scream, then start rolling around on the ground if we try to hold her hand (when crossing the street).  However, I had to {consistently} tell her that her choices are 1. to hold mommy's hand when we cross the street, or 2. that mommy will have to carry her across the street.  And what do you know...yesterday, it worked!  It took about two weeks of being firm, and yesterday she held my hand when we crossed the street at the library!  I have to say, I've found it more difficult than I would have guessed to be consistent with discipline.  She needs to know the rules and the consequences if she breaks the rules...but boy, it sure is easy to be lazy and just let it go!  I am always tempted.

I finally got around to getting this book. 

I haven't exactly read it quite yet, but it's been recommended to me by quite a few people, so I thought I'd give it a try. 

We've been doing a little baking around here too. Crazy, I know, that I will let her sit on our countertops when we cook {safely in the corner} but not stand on the chairs.  What a crazy mom.  :)

She's a big help in the kitchen and I think she'll follow our family's footsteps with a love for chocolate.  I mean, what good are brownies without extra chocolate {a milk-chocolate hazelnut bar to be exact}? 

They didn't turn out too bad if I do say so myself.

Oh, she started giving "real" kisses.  By real, I mean with her mouth closed and lips puckered. 

She's such a daddy's girl, and she's got him wrapped around her little bitty finger.  Last night around 9:30pm when we went to bed {Callie was sound asleep in her crib}, Kyle begged me to let him get her out of her crib and bring her in our bed for a little bit.  It was sweet...she came in and slept on his chest for awhile then he put her back.  No damage done, just a little bit of extra cuddling.

Oh, Callie got a new toy. A stroller, from here.  She loves pushing her baby around the house in it. 

This doll is hilarious.  It laughs when you squeeze it and Callie gets so excited!  Thanks, Aunt Ki, for the laughing doll!  We're still enjoying it!

Have a good night!  More coming soon!