CHRISTMAS 2017 RECAP!

{our Christmas gift to each other was this new sectional which came a few days before Christmas, for those wondering this is the one!}

Hi guys! I hope you all had the best holiday with your families and are recovering from the chaos! This was the first year in many many years that we stayed home in Columbus and it was so nice to be able to wake up Christmas morning in our new house. We stayed in our pajamas all day long and watched Christmas movies and put together the boys' new toys (making a mental note for next year to stock up on all types of batteries prior to Christmas day, ha.) I made mimosas and my parents stopped over in the afternoon to celebrate with the boys! Billy's parents actually came the weekend prior to help us move in, and bought the boys a bunch of great gifts to open up on Christmas morning.

Camden practically flipped out when he woke up! He ran out of his room and looked over the banister to see all the presents under the tree and said, "Santa came! Geez oh man!" then ran into Grayson's room to tell him that Santa came. It was so cute and made my heart swell! Playing Santa is SO MUCH FUN...

Camden's favorite toys this year was the Tonka garbage truck he got (the first thing he asked for so no surprise here), a basketball hoop, and Magic Tracks. Grayson has been loving a few of the new Little People Sets and the stuffed animal pig from Moana. 

Grayson has 3 teeth coming in that have been really bothering him, so sweet boy has been really attached to my hip and his paci. Poor thing was napping by 11am Christmas day...

It even snowed on Christmas Eve so we had a white Christmas! We took the boys out in the snow to play and I couldn't stop taking pictures of it. It was so beautiful..

Another thing I really enjoyed doing with the boys was baking cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve. After I went to bed I wrote a letter "from Santa" to the boys and had it sitting out with the plate and empty milk jug in the morning, and they absolutely LOVED it. Cam was totally shocked and so happy that Santa wrote him a letter! :)

 {these are the looks of two boys shocked and nervous combined..}

As you could probably guess, we are still working so hard on projects around the house + unpacking. It is fun, but exhausting and never ending at the same time. Camden's birthday party is at our house in just over 2 weeks so we are trying our best to get as much as we can put together before then. I hope to have a big update // share more pictures soon. I've also been sharing some things I've bought and projects we're working on over on my snapchat and instagram. 

I hope you all have a great NYE!!

OUR HOME: THE ENTRYWAY

Happy Tuesday! This is my first official post writing from our NEW HOUSE! We got all moved over and semi-settled in this weekend (semi because not really...the basement looks like a tornado hit it with all the boxes we have to unpack/sort through), but we are so happy to be able to spend Christmas here and are really enjoying the new space. The boys have their own playroom upstairs so they are really excited about that, and overall they seem to be doing well with the transition. Both of our families helped us with so much this weekend from unpacking, bringing food over, to watching the boys so that we could get stuff done. We couldn't have done it without them.

I will be sharing all the rooms one by one as I get them decorated and furnished, but since we're only on day 2 of living here basically nothing is put together...except our entryway! The entry really sold me on this house because of how wide and inviting it is. It gets a lot of light and I love how long the hallway is...

Our carpenter did all the wainscoting you see here (and more in our dining room) and I painted the interior of the front door black (Tricorn Black by Sherwin Williams.) The gray paint on the walls is Repose Gray by Sherwin Williams, which I'm convinced is the best gray paint out there. It is such a good warm gray and is not too light and not too dark.

This table is exactly the look I was wanting for this space and has two drawers. Love that it has that lower shelf. I plan to add some bronze hardware on the drawers to spice it up a bit. And I'm sure I will be switching up what I have styled on that table all the time (the eucalyptus smells so good!), but I'm really happy with how it looks so far!

SOURCES:

Foyer Table // Mirror is sold out now from Kohl's, I got it for $55! Such a good find and great quality! Here is a similar one that I love // Wood Nesting Houses // Wreath // Glass Lamp // Bronze Metal Lantern // Candle // Wicker Basket , old from Target-similar one here) // Rug, sold out // Metal Vase // Birch Wood Logs are from Kroger

CURRENT WISHLIST

Happy hump day! It's a happy day for us for a few reasons: 1. The carpenter who we hired finished the work on our fireplace last night (I'm seriously so excited to show you guys what he did!) and the painters finish painting it today so they are pretty much ALL DONE! 2. Billy's brother and our good friend moved almost all of our entire house yesterday (the big things) for us! Do we owe them or what?! We are so thankful! We have movers coming on Friday for just our beds, a couch, and a few other smaller things. Our house is pretty much empty right now.

Anyway, since it's Christmas coming up and we bought our new house I've been seriously cutting back on shopping for myself, but that doesn't mean I don't have a wish list going with all these pretties on it...

Tahari Wool Blend Wrap Coat

 Tory Burch Minnie Travel Flats

Tie Back Tunic Top

 Dolman Sleeve Sweater (also comes in black)

 Cozy Knit Tunic

I'm also debating between the Ninja Coffee Bar or a Nespresso? If you have one (or both) I would love for you to give me your input on them!

What is on your wishlist?!

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES + A HOUSE UPDATE!

Hi friends, long time no chat! I miss you all...I feel like I'm out of the blogging loop! I have so many random updates to share today since it's been a bit since I've given an update. We closed on our new house last week (yay!) and got possession of it right away, so we have been slowly moving things over each day. Our first official night in the new house will be this Friday (!!!), if all goes according to plans. The painters are almost finished at this point, so once they do I will do a whole post sharing before and after pictures with the paint colors we used! I was going to do just a post with before pictures, but I figured since it's almost all done I might as well wait to do just one post with the befores & afters.

But for now...here is a picture of the entry way hallway and our backyard! It's amazing what a little paint + wainscoting can do! We still have to switch out the hardware on the doors (to bronze) and paint the front interior door black, but it is coming along and we are loving it so much...

Can't wait to show you the console table I got for this space (and to style it!)

Already looking forward to watching the sunrise + sunset from this room!

In the midst of the packing madness, we are still trying to take the kids to fun Christmas events (like Breakfast with Santa and to the Christmas lights at the Columbus Zoo-pics below!) to try to keep things as normal as we can for them, so every minute of everyday has been filled. The holiday season is busy as it is for everyone, but add in moving and I know that I wouldn't be functioning without many cups of coffee and then I'm ready for bed at 8pm. Make that 7pm.

 Cam followed Santa around the restaurant (three times) before meeting him, so we thought for sure he would be all smiles when meeting him but he was strictly business! Garage truck, please! And he threw in a Merry Christmas too ;) All Grayson cared about was that no one stole that sucker that was in his hand. 

(Seeing the reindeer and riding the carousel were their favorite parts this year!)

AND a bunch of other random updates...

+I took these pictures in our yard last week and I seriously started tearing up! All of the memories in this yard...big sigh. I know I will be thankful to have these when we're older.

+Kona got her last round of puppy shots last week! She is 14 pounds now and the boys are still crazy about her. Girlfriends loves to chew (their books especially) so if anyone has any great bones for puppies that you would recommend, pass them along (we did try the bitter apple spray which seems to help a little bit!)

+I'm also working on planning Camden's THIRD!! birthday party, which will be a construction theme. When I asked him what he wanted for his party, he said backhoe! bulldozers! Not surprised by this in the least... :)

+I got hooked on the TV series Shameless on Netflix. This doesn't help things you have a shit ton of packing to get done.

Phew. Only one more week of pure crazy with the move and then I'll have some fun house posts (and others) coming your way! Thanks for sticking with me you guys and still reading. Hope you all had a great weekend!

HOLIDAY CARDS 2017

(back)

 

It never fails that it always takes me forever to pick out a design for our holiday card every year. I don't know why because in reality it's just a card, but ordering them always has me reflecting on the year and makes me realize how much we (and the boys) have grown. It makes me so happy! This year I ordered our cards from Minted and really really love how they turned out. They are probably my favorite design (that wreath!) and I loved the option to add text on the back so that we could share our moving news with friends and family!

I've ordered from Minted in the past for the boys' birth announcements and have always been pleased with the quality then, too. If you haven't ordered your cards yet, you can browse all the designs they offer here. There's still time (and you'll love having them to look back on!) 

Do you order holiday cards to send out to family? I just want the boys to stay little forever so I always have an excuse to plaster their face on them for many years to come. ha. 

(PS this is not sponsored in any way - just wanted to share because I think they have the cutest cards)