Mother's Day Frames

These turned out so cute! I'm not sure where I got the idea-- Target started selling wooden items for crafting (crates, frames, letters, etc), and I got the idea for my dad's birthday last month. 

I don't have a picture of his, but I painted the frame grey and then let Emma play with a sky blue and an electric blue. It was absolutely adorable. 

I kind of took the lazy way out and only let Emma use one color. Plus, I wasn't sure what other color would go well with the light pink? I originally had a yellow but it was way too bright. 

Surprisingly, I really had to coax her to paint these frames. One day during nap time I did the background color, let it dry for 8-12 hours, and did another coat. 

The following day I let Emma have at it. We just use regular paint brushes from Michaels and Target sold the paint. It can't get much easier. ;)

My grandmother took a picture of her little setup. :-) She really loved it. I hinted to Nathan that I wanted one for Mother's Day . . Oh well the griddle & portable hard drive he got me is pretty awesome. I think I'll have to give him one for Father's Day!

I'm watching The Duggar birth-- so exciting! Hope everyone is having a great day. xoxo

Ikea Finds

A while back (back here), Ems & I headed up to Ikea. They have some nifty (ha, love that word) stuff and I wanted to find a few goodies. 

I think this is called the Fintorp or something. I really like it! This is what I bought: 

And the other stuff I had (below). I don't think it will stay like that, but for now I am keeping Emma's crayons in the middle cup on the bottom. I don't quite trust her to have them at her level. ;)

Oh and we painted those pots a few weeks ago. Any guesses on how long the cactus and succulent will live? I may find 2 tiny ones to put in the empty pots. I like the look of succulents but I'm a plant murderer. 

The one thing I really wanted was that (below)! It is actually for hanging curtains, not sure of the name. Lots of people on Pinterest gave me the idea to hang Emma's artwork from it. I love it! Very inexpensive, I think $12 (including the clips) each. 

It's in our basement/Emma's playroom area and (again) it's just out of her reach. :-) We'll have to do some coloring this week and add to it! 

We got the regular cheap clips but you could get real fancy with the glittered or colored clothespins. Also pictured: We are still loving stickers! 

And the one item I was the most unsure about but love the most: 

We have 5 more of these and I can't recommend them enough! They are super sturdy, too. I wanted these here to hold Emma's library books and her "every day" books that we read throughout the day. 

I got these ones that have a little "design" on them and they aren't plain white-- almost a cream. 

These are also out of reach because E already chewed on a library book and we had to replace it. She knows where they are and when she wants to read, she runs over, yells, and reaches for them. Precious.

I was really unsure about having these on our main floor in our family room area. . . I didn't want it to look like a day care. It really doesn't (in my opinion). And honestly, it just adds something because our walls are so bare.

Whoop whoop. Have a great Tuesday everyone! xoxo

A Peek Into Our Week

It was a longggg week in the Boese house. But a good one. :-) Nathan had training about 60 miles away so he ended up not seeing us much during the day. We missed him! We are happy he's back to his regular schedule. 

Monday I was putting laundry away and this chick insisted on the hat. She loves the front facing camera and is such a ham. 

Monday night we had our Mommie & Me photo shoot (more here). It was past Emma's bedtime so we tried to spend the day relaxing so she would cooperate for the photo shoot. She ended up being in a great mood and was awesome staying up late. Snaps for Emma! 

Daddy made it home about 4 minutes before we were out the door so he brushed Emma's hair while I got ready. He's da bomb! 

I told Nathan: "Take our picture in case Emma doesn't cooperate. I want at least one." LOL.

We literally were walking out the door at the exact time we head upstairs to "wind down". I was sort of terrified. Besides taking her shoes off while we drove, she was excited to go. 

Tuesday morning we went to CFA for breakfast and had a playgroup at a park down the road. It is huge and a lot of the kids were bigger, but E did great. Not to mention it was a zillion degrees and then Emma pooped. So we left. :-) 

I'm not sure when, but we went to Target. Ha, probably everyday last week we ended up at Target. I found that dress randomly in the toddler section and snatched it up. 2T and $20. I wasn't one of those crazies who lined up at Target for the Lily stuff, but I did want something for Emma. I was so happy to find this! Ahem. Totally not in our clothing budget. ;)

Regretting even starting this dumb project (below), but I am. I am having some of our Mommie & Me photos printed, and wanted a way to display them. What started out as a small gallery wall has now grown into one over our couch. 

I found these at Target and then found some more goodies at Homegoods yesterday. We'll see what comes of this and I'll be sure to post about it! 

I should have known Emma was coming down with something when she napped for 2.5 hours on Thursday. Poor baby. 

Either way I got a crap-ton of stuff done in those 2.5 hours and checked to make sure she was breathing twice. :-) 

Thursday night I went for a jog and saw this sweet little bunny! How cute. He let me get super close, too. 

I was up most of the night Thursday night with Emma, so we spent all Friday relaxing and trying to keep her fever down. It got all the way up to 103! I don't like when my baby is sick. Poor girl. 

I thought she was feeling OK when she was still dumping the dogs' water and playing it. Poor girl! We waited and waited for Nathan to get home and bring more meds and popsicles. He got stuck in major traffic and it was kind of tense there for a bit! 

Luckily Daddy made it home safe & sound and helped with dinner, picking up, yadda yadda yadda. E had another rough night but was feeling OK on Saturday. Well enough for me to sneak out and get some free time. :-) 

And by sneak out, I mean get more popsicles and stop at a church garage sale, and leave after 7 minutes because of the popsicles.

But I didn't leave without that gem (above). Check out that price! Nathan's family is a Vikings family so that was a great find.

Okay that's about all the excitement going on here. Ready for another week. Hope everyone had an awesome weekend! xox

Mother's Day 2015

Happy Mother's Day, mamas! I hope everyone is enjoying their day. I know I am-- using my 11 seconds of "mommies free time" to do this blog post. :-)

Nathan got me a portable hard drive to store my photos. It's kind of one of those practical gifts I needed and I'm so thankful. We didn't have any wrapping paper so he stuffed it in a Christmas gift bag. Emma is loving that bag and is carrying around the hard drive and dragging it like a suitcase. So funny.

Also happy to report Emma is feeling much more like herself and just feels warm. Whoop whoop.

So thankful for this sweet girl who made me a Mommie. Insert super cliche sentence about how much she has taught me, blah blah. Every day with her is a new adventure and I love doing life with her!

I love how our pictures turned out and I'm so thankful for our awesome photog. She has 2 under 2 so she was ready when Emma was darting to harass the turtles, go through her purse, and chase the birds. 

We ended up getting her dress from Old Navy clearance (score!). I left the adorable denim bow (from Auntie Caralyn) at home. Mom of the year. We had her shoes so I was glad we didn't have to buy much. Plus, I wanted her to look like how she "normally" looks, not all dolled up. 

Wild hair. Lollipop lips. Sticky hands. My sweet girl. She pointed to at least 1,000 birds. We saw a mama (?) turtle and 3 babies. Raven got some pictures of them and I'll have to ask her to send them to me. They were so cute and just chillen on a log. 

Such a fun evening with Raven and I'm so thankful we got some keepers. And I just have to share this picture I saw on Pinterest because I think it applies so well to us mothers in the "trenches" with young children: 

Happy Mother's Day! xoxo 

Friday Faves (On Saturday)

So yesterday was kind of wonky but I really wanted to share some things I'm loving right now! Poor Emma has a fever but she's upstairs snuggling with Daddy so I figured no better time than the present, right? :-)

:: I saw this on Pinterest and I am in love. We have a super tiny laundry area and this would be heavenly. When we were looking for houses, a laundry room was on my must-have list, but that somehow slipped through the cracks.

It doesn't seem that difficult, definitely doable.

:: Saw this on FB and laughed out loud:

:: I got these wedges for our "mommy & me" photoshoot (Can't wait to share the pictures!) and they are so comfortable. If you need some, I definitely recommend them. Bonus: Emma loves the zipper and it occupies her for the exact amount of time it takes me to brush my teeth. 

:: I posted about our summer bucket list and found these jellies online. Not sure how I feel about them so I'm going to keep looking. Maybe I'll look at Old Navy? 

Okay that's all I'm loving right now! Hope everyone has a great Saturday and a wonderful Mother's Day! xoxo 

Summer Bucket List

Slowly but surely summer is sneaking its way here. Lately E & I are only outside early in the morning and before bedtime-- it's just too hot and we don't have a lot of shade in our yard. I don't want my sweet girl to get a sunburn or overheated!

There are so many fun things I want to do this summer now that E is a bit older and walking. Maybe if I make a list we'll have a better chance of doing them all. 

:: Visit the splash pad

:: Eat an ice cream cone. E has never had one before and I can't wait to see her go to town on one. 

:: Go strawberry picking. 

:: Start swimming lessons. There is an indoor place down the road. The reviews were so-so but I'm going to look into it. 

:: Get a pair of "jellies". Seriously! Every kid needs a pair of jelly shoes. My dad keeps asking if she has any yet. 

:: Go out for frozen yogurt. We've also never done this with Emma. It would be fun to see her pick out her little toppings and have her own cup like a big girl. 

:: Eat sliced watermelon outside. 

:: Go to the botanic garden. E loves flowers and always "smells" them when I do. It is precious! 

:: Grill out. We do not have a grill. This could be difficult. 

:: Visit the Baltimore Aquarium. 

Ahh I can't think of anything else. Am I missing anything major? Can't wait to get this summer started. Actually I'm looking forward to fall and pumpkin flavored everything. 

A Peek Into Last Week

Monday came wayyyy too soon this week. Nathan has a different schedule this week and will get to eat dinner with us every night! We are so excited. We're going to have to do something fun tomorrow for Cinco De Mayo. ;) *Update: I started this forever and a day ago. We did have Chipotle to celebrate. :-)

Okay last week. I don't remember a thing-- it was crazy busy but we still were able to stop and smell the roses! 

Monday we were up early (as usual) and went to the preschool story time. . it's for ages 2-5 but Emma rocked it. 

I posted about our little mommie/daughter photo school, right? Regardless, we spent way too long finding something to wear. Emma looks thrilled with her dress. Womp womp. 

Oh speaking of shopping for the outfits.. I didn't want to try things on at the store (have you attempted that with a toddler?), so I just bought a bunch of stuff to try on and then return. Welp, we somehow stole a dress. I don't know if it was Emma or me, but the employees had a good laugh. :-)

Emma's eating habits go in waves-- she likes cheese, she hates cheese..she likes fish, she doesn't. Right now this girl is on a peanut butter toast kick. Homegirl can't get enough! 

Nathan hasn't seen this picture and would probably die if he knew I gave her PB toast on the couch. Also love the hair. 

Pretty sure she's going to be a pilot or flight attendant when she grows up. We stop and look at every plane that makes it's way across the sky whenever we're outside. We point, wave, say "hiiiiii", and watch until it disappears. And by that time another one is making it's way across. Repeat until bedtime. 

So lucky to have a little playground in our neighborhood that we visit about every day! It's also becoming the "teen make out area" (as my husband calls it). 

Below was during one of our 483 trips to the mall to return/buy outfits. Found the muffin she's eating on clearance at Target (frozen)-- they have a serving of veggies in them. They were a big hit and we'll have to keep our eyes out for those again. 

Back at the playground. ;) Emma is at the stage where she bring home little rocks or mulch and hoards them. When she goes to bed I throw them away. Don't tell her! 

Sorry for the lack of pictures this week. We were go, go, go! Which brings us to Saturday. Gymnastics was rescheduled to Sunday, so we decided to drive an hour to a mall in Virginia. It was crowded but we still had a good time. 

Also pictured: Nathan loves Gap. Can ya tell? 

Sorry for slacking-- I promise I will be better. Hope everyone had a wonderful Cinco! xoxo