a hair cut & power tools

Jack was way over due for a hair cut. And if it was up to me, he would have stayed with the long n' shaggy look....


But daddy took matters into his own hands {literally}. And when things started to get "hairy", I handed J one of his power tools {thx Sanderson fam.}, and it was alll goood again.

Power tools make everything better. And in the end, he looks pretty darn handsome with his new hair cut. You were right daddy!

new things...

I'm trying my best to get back into the habit of blogging on a regular basis. At least a few times a week. My excuse this time is all the preparation for Jack's second birthday party. And let me tell you...it was one heck of a party. We had 35 people over for some good old southern bbq pulled pork and chicken and a bounce house with a slide for the kids. Which actually ended up being fun for us adults too. I'll share the pictures with you soon. I'm still waiting on a few guests who were kind enough to snap some pictures, to send them my way. I on the other hand was too busy running around to take any pictures, which I'm really bummed out about now!

On a completely different subject though, I have a new hobby, or what I hope becomes a hobby. I just started, so I don't think I can officially call it a hobby yet. Right? I mean I better make sure it sticks! Let me first share that my first and favorite hobby is running. I love to run. I love everything about it. I love being outside in nature {I can't bare the thought of a treadmill}. I love the simplicity of the sport. All I need is my sneaks! I could go on and on. I tell you this b/c now that the cooler weather is coming, I'm desperately craving some good long runs. And I'm tortured b/c I can't. I have to put on some weight and running in that case is the enemy.

I'm underweight for my height and I've been advised by my Dr. and my insurance company that I need to pack on the pounds. Therefore, I have to bag the running for awhile. So I started thinking about my past. What things I liked to do and what things I like now and what makes sense with my lifestyle. And also, simply what and who I love. I love my husband and son. I love my house, I love being a homemaker/stay at home mom...so what can I do that fits well w/ all that? The first thing I thought of was how much I'd love to play an instrument..again. I played the violin for 8+ years and the piano towards the end of that. There were days I could not stand to practice {that's an understatement}. Days when I highly disliked my parents for making me take lessons. And now....I wish so badly someone would pay for me to take a lesson weekly. Gosh, that cracks me up! And I think eventually I will play both again. Perhaps when we have more room, in a future house, we can even get a piano. Because you can bet, my kids are going to play a musical instrument to! Whether they like it or not! Too funny!

So once I ruled out music lessons, I thought about when my mom set me up with a friend and neighbor to teach me how to sew. And even thought I didn't take lessons from her for very long. I do remember liking the process and having a finished product and the construction/logical part of it. If that makes sense.

So I decided to refresh my memory in sewing and start again. The great part about it is I can tie in everything I love {mentioned above} into sewing. No pun intended. But seriously, I'd love to eventually make clothes for Jack and future children. I'll spare Matt. I'd love to make curtains, update areas of my house. I've always been a "nester", even before I was married, pregnant, a home owner..you get the idea. Ok, so onto the next step. I emailed a dear friends who lives around the corner, who I met at church. I adore her. She is a mentor and friends. Someone I look up to as a strong and passionate woman of God. She is a beautiful loving person. And she makes gorgeous quilts, sews, embroiders. You name it. I shot her an email and simply asked her advice on sewing machines for someone who isn't a pro but also not a complete amateur. Well, she kindly offered for me to come over and give it a go on one of her many machines and this was the end result....

The other side...

Which goes very well with the mural in Jack's room. You may remember it from an early post. I wish I knew how to directly link to it, but I don't! So just picture a beautiful sailboat {painted by daddy} above the couch that this pillow sits on.

Hope this finds you all well...talk soon.

I'm back!

Hey blog world! Did you miss me!? It's been a little over a year from when I stopped blogging. And it's taking me a few months to realize that I kinda miss it. A lot has happened in the last year. Jack turned 1, we finished our house {well let's be honest, is a house ever "finished"?}. We had a few mini vacays, I ran a half marathon in Chicago, we had dear friends move away, dear friends move home, long weekends at the beach {at my in-laws beautiful condo}. We had lots of highs, a few lows. We've made new friends, joined new groups and organizations, become more involved at our church, watched sweet family friends get baptized {baby Luke}, sat front 'n center at a concert and danced to our first dance again, celebrated 2 blissful years of marriage, watched best friends get married {Ben & Andrea}, bought bigger cars {w/ more room, wink wink}, took up new hobbies, learned new things, read new books, set new goals, house hunted, dreamed, prayed and most of all enjoyed every second we've had together and with our families and dear friends. I'm probably leaving a lot out because I seem to remember being too busy to blog..so as I think of what else we've been up to, I'll share it right here. But in the mean time....look forward to updates via pictures. Hope this finds you all well & happy.
Love of love and blessings,
chw

I'll let the pictures do the talkin'

It will be two years ago on August 15th that Matt and I bought our house. And shortly after getting settled we decided that the empty room off of our bedroom should be a master bathroom. It was completely empty, no interior walls, no plumbing, just electricity and two windows. One week ago, we officially FINISHED the bathroom. It has been a long process, but we've had fun working together on everything from designing the floor plan, to picking out tile, the toilet, the lighting fixture and the million other little decisions that come along with starting anything from scratch! Enjoy the progression in pictures......


One of the first steps was adding plumbing to the room. Matt had to get under the house and connect the new plumbing with the rest of the houses already existing pipes.

Next, the cement backer-board went up in the shower. And as a side note: before the plumbing, and the cement board, the VERY first steps were the walls for the walk-in closet, shower & toilet room. They had to be framed, dry walled & sanded. But I don't have pictures of that part.

Tile in the shower.....Before

AFTER...................
After and in use!

The toilet room before....

After...........

The vanity before....

Ok, now recognizable...

Now, we're cookin' with gas!!! Cabinet doors installed...

After............... glorious isn't it?

Close up.....

Lighting...

Even our little vines have come along way. Soon they will cover the entire lattice and our Costa Rican inspired shower will be complete! Ok, explanation on that one..when we were in CR together we staying at a house that has a guest house with a shower that had one entire wall just screen, no glass, no window, just showering in the rain forest. So this is as close as we can get in Jax. ;)

Man oh man I love my Matt! Happy Father's day baby!

I apologize for this post being a day late. Father's day was yesterday, however we were so darn busy all day long..that this is the first free moment I've had since we started the Father's day festivities yesterday morning. We had a beautiful day as a little family...including some time for just Matt and I...which is rare. Our amazing Jacqueline watching Jack Richard was beyond a blessing! We are so grateful. Thank you JDK! We started out the morning with breakfast at Matt's favorite bfast joint. The Fox. In Avondale. Then Church, then a nap. All three of us-JRW slept for 2.5 hours and so did we. Glorious!

Then we let the little man stay sleeping and we snuck off to a mid day movie together. Jack stayed with his favorite "girlfriend/aunt/2nd mama Jacqueline". The movie was followed by a few margaritas at a mex rest. near our house. Again glorious!

Came home, played with Jack, then bath, reading, bed...for Jack, that is. Then I made a favorite dinner of Matt's, Pasta Carbonara, we ate together..then finished off the night in Matt's new hammock, just laying under the stars, chatting and enjoying each others company. Priceless. Yes there are some things money can buy, that new hammock is one of 'em. It's so relaxing, I wish we would have gotten one years ago!

But I wanted to take an opportunity to publicly say what an amazing father I think Matt is. He is truly the most patient person I know. In the year we've been married and the year and half we dated, and the other year and half we were engaged I've never seen Matt yell, loose his temper, get upset, anything. He is so calm, loving, sweet, compassionate, generous. I could go on and on. I still wonder what I did to deserve such a beautiful person in my life, and such a perfect partner to spent forever with. I can not think of any characteristics that I wish he possessed. He is, in my eyes, perfect. I love the way he loves Jack, the way he loves me, and the way he has provided and made this beautiful life that we have and share. For those of you who know Matt. You know that he is as easy-going, fun-loving and hard working as it gets. Not to mention he makes me laugh. But today is about Daddy's and he is a good one! He gets so excited to spend every minute he can with his little "buddy" as he calls Jack. And Jack adores Matt. From the moment we found out we were pregnant, Matt has been the most supportive husband and excited soon-to-be- Daddy.

I could not ask for a better Father for Jack, head of the house, and leader of this family than you Matt. Thank you for being you. Thank you for your patience, love, understating, strength and faith. You are an amazing Father, Jack and I are blessed. I love you.

Here are just a few of my favorite pictures of Jack's birthday and a couple favs of Jack & Matt several months ago...enjoy.

Masta Bathroom.

I L-O-V-E this man.

I'm going to be honest with you. And I know this is going to be hard to hear, but at some point, very soon, I will NOT be blogging about our master bathroom any longer. We are, officially less than two weeks from being done! We did a whole lotta work this past weekend, and we worked together alot actually. Which is strange b/c our days of working side-by-side have slipped away since Jack's been born. For obvious reasons. But it was the strangest thing. Sunday, Jack was so incredibly self-entertained, we got a bunch of priming and painting done plus we switched the direction our bedroom door opens..I get back to that another day (b/c I need a pic to explain). We worked for about 12 hours (including clean-up). And I really enjoy working with Matt on things....alot actually. I enjoy anything that allows me to spend time with him. Even if it's manual labor. ha. And even though he's done the bulk of the work on the house, there have been a few projects here and there that we've done together..and it's fun! I feel as though working with your spouse really brings you together and helps you to sharpen those communication skills. But back to Sunday, Jack took an insanely long morning nap, even after waking up late. Then he watch a Baby Einstein in the saucer....ok fine it was two. But in all honesty that's the only time I utilize those videos. Don't get me wrong I think they're great. But I'm not a big TV person myself, and I'm definitely not going to let my kids be big TV watchers either...like hardly at all if I can help it. But back to the point, he watched a couple videos, then for the first time we used his crib for something other than sleeping. I put a bunch of his fav toys in there, opened all the blinds, turned up his music, left the door open and he just hung out and was happy as can be. He could pretty much see us the whole time. But I figured he would enjoy playing in there b/c every since he was a wee one he's always LOVED his crib. Even now, he wakes up from a nap and sits, plays, talks for sometimes over an hour. It's his own little sanctuary. So in the end, it was an extremely productive weekend. BUT as of right now, Matt is actually working on the vanity.... right now, as I type, he's looking at me through the back door ;) The vanity doors and drawers arrived this afternoon. And I wanted to put up a few pics of us working this past weekend and Matt working tonight. The only reason I'm blogging is b/c he's working. Normally nights, after work are precious family time. But we are on the home stretch and "we" had to add-in a few workin'- nights b/c Saturday is the only workable day this weekend..hello...first Father's Day. Then next weekend we are going to Charlotte, NC to visit Matt's family. We love them!! So excited! And as an extra bonus Matt's sis Rebecca and her hubby Mark are going to drive down from DC for the weekend as well. So, that is going to be a blast! And I can't wait. You should be excited for the fun pictures of Jack with his cousins! ;)

Matt sanding the vanity this evening.

Me painting a door this past weekend...

And as I write this post, and Matt sands away....the prince....is.....asleep.

Sweet Dreams!
chw

Laughin' out loud!