Weekend.

Sydney spent Friday night with a monkey on her back.

Literally.

This was a birthday gift from my sister. 

It's a child leash...

but it also doubles as a fabulous toy! She reused to take it off all night. 

Oh, and there were many random meltdowns.

Exhibit A.

Papa always makes things better.

Exhibit B.

The rest of the weekend we relaxed and spent time with Grandma and Grandpa B.

We left Sydney with Grandma for a while on Saturday and decided to go for a drive in the country. 

I love the countryside. It's always beautiful.

Even on a cold, dreary afternoon.

We stopped by an old cemetery. 

Which apparently is looked after by cows. 

Such curious animals.

"Duuuh, Whatcha doin'?"

Speaking of curious animals. 

We got to meet miss Kiwi this weekend.

Grandma and Grandpa's new puppy. What a cute, spunky, little thing!

(Don't worry, Jon's not dead.)

We played with grandpa's birthday present. 

An i-pad. 

Now I totally want one.

It's so easy a 15 month old can do it! No joke, Sydney totally got the whole, slide-your-finger-to-move-the-pictures thing!

Everyone got to play with grandpa's present. Everyone except grandpa that is.

Good morning sunshine.

Good morning bed-head.

Good morning cheesy grin.

Low and behold, Sydney discovered these gems. 

Which were then only allowed to leave her feet for nap time and diaper changes.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. We certainly did.

MCP Project 52 - Week 4

This week's theme: Soothing Repetition

Story Time

Bath Time

Asymmetry

Spreadin' Some Love

We're spreadin' some love around our house!


And Sydney is totally digging the felt heart mobile and garland we made.


Here's what you need for these two super simple projects:

- Felt (whatever colors you like)

- Scissors

- 2 Wire Hangers

- Ribbon(You may need tape or glue to secure the ribbon. I just used wired ribbon.)

- Fishing Line

- Cord or Twine

- Thread

- Sewing Needle

Felt Heart Mobile

1) Wrap the wire hangers with ribbon, then bind them at a 90 degree angle.

2) Cut some hearts out of the felt.

3) Use a needle to string the hearts on some fishing line.

4) Tie the heart strands onto your ribbon-covered hangers.

Felt Heart Garland

I got this idea here.

1) Cut some more hearts out of the felt.

2) Take some thread and a needle and make a hanging loop on the hearts.

3) String them on some cord or twine. 

That's it! Couldn't be simpler!

It's almost February... so, go spread some love!


P.S. - Sorry if this post showed up unfinished in your reader a few days ago. I accidentally posted it while I was in the middle of writing it. I deleted it right away, but I think it stays in places like google reader. My Bad! Still learning the ropes!

MCP Project 52 - Week 3

This week's theme: Shades of Grey

MCP Project 52

Accessories and Hugs

Looks like we have a girly-girl on our hands.

Fo’ shizzle!

She loves shoes. I mean LOVES. When I get her shoes out, she drops whatever she’s doing and comes running. Then she proceeds to shamelessly admire them on her feet. “Ooh, OOOH!” 

She's always trying to wear my shoes and I catch her several times a day in my closet playing with my heals. 

Then there’s this scarf. She gets it out EVERY day and parades around the house in it, doing her little “I’m so pretty” dance.  Oh, and notice the bracelet? These days, if it can fit around her wrist, it's a bracelet.

And hats. 

We use the term “hats” loosely ‘round these parts.

I have a feeling this girly-girl is going to mean trouble for my pocket book!

And her hugs lately. Can I just tell you...they are killer! I’m talking, throw her arms around your neck, pull you in, and melt your heart, kind-of-hugs.  Loving it! Seriously, is there anything better? 

I’m pretty sure her hugs could bring world peace.

Facelift

It’s done! 

I took advantage of the three day holiday weekend to check something off of my to-do list that’s been there for…oh, five years or so!

It’s amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a space. It’s a breath of fresh air, a facelift. It re-energizes the space and sets the tone for the entire room.

And picking the right or wrong color, as it turns out, makes all the difference in the world!

When we had just moved into our house, one of the first things we tackled (after removing the floral patterned wallpaper that covered sixty percent of the walls and was apparently applied with magical, space age, super glue) was painting! I scoured all of the color samples at The Home Depot and meticulously picked out the perfect colors for the main living areas; Tuscan yellow for the living room and sage green for the dining room and kitchen.

Or so I thought.

It turns out however, that 2 inch paper samples of color cannot, in fact be trusted to reflect the same loveliness when applied to hundreds of square feet of wall space. 

My Tuscan yellow was much too abrasive when applied in such massive quantities and my sage green turned out to be less sage and more sea foam. Together, in one open-concept living space, these two beauties combined to offer a dreadful, Easter basket-meets-circus tent look.

Here, see for yourself.

Perfect. Just what I had in mind.  

To quote the great Ron Burgundy… “ I immediately regret this decision!”

Yes, change is good.

Especially this change.

This change even sounds better.  Over the weekend, we laid “Soft Duckling”  (Yep, Soft Duckling, what was I thinking!) to rest and replaced it with “Antique lace”.

Wow.  That’s an improvement already.

And it looks as good as it sounds.

I’m not sure how well these colors will translate on the web, but trust me when I say it’s a HUGE improvement.

And hey, I’m the one who has to look at it every day, so my opinion is really the only one that matters anyway!

Oh, and Jon’s.

Right.

MCP Project 52 - Week 2

This week's theme: Interpret a song

"Here Comes The Sun" - The Beatles

"Down on the Corner" - CCR

"Valentine" - Kina Grannis

"These Boots Are Made For Walking" - Nancy Sinatra