German Glass glitter eggs

Using this:

I made these eggs with German Glass Glitter:

I am all about Spring. And Easter { + Easter candy}. I have 2 more colors to do for the eggs. I bought the German Glass Glitter on etsy. I heart etsy.

Home . . . Again

I've been busy! Shoveling that is. We are home again. Snowstorm #4. It wasn't a "big" one this time but schools were cancelled anyway. Last weekend we brought home this antique desk for Avery. It looks great in our family room and Avery has a place to hang out, eat her snacks etc. Might make for some nice photography shots when we can get her to sit long enough. On a side note, Avery's place skills are really coming along - could be due to all time spent playing indoors this winter! Her favorite toys to date are: Duplos (legos for toddlers), play kitchen/food, lotto game, dancing & musical instraments, playdoh, and pushing her baby doll around in the stroller. I can't forget arts & crafts: markers, crayons, gluing etc. Happy Snow Day everyone!

Scenes from a new day . . .

A new day in the aftermath.

We worked hard this morning digging ourselves out!

Stop sign anyone?
Goodbye blizzard of 2010!

Glitter Glitter everywhere!

Here's what Avery and I did {made valentines for her classmates}. . .

While this was going on {nor'easter}:

A few small bling for upcoming Valentine's Day:


Hope you are enjoying being "snowed" in!

The Organized Pantry

Storage space is key. We turned a large walk-in closet in the office {which is off the kitchen} into a large pantry. Trust me, if I could find a way to build more storage in this closet I would. When we bought the house, this closet had rotting old wood. After a nice coat of paint, we installed closet maid shelving from Lowes. I was worried our marriage would not survive the early stages of installation. Scott would have me hold the shelves just in place and then take off to find his supplies. But never fear, we lived to install another closet. It's nice we can close off all the jars, supplies, cleaning products from curious, little hands. It's been a work in progress and still is. Note the large picture frame that hides the unsightly electrical box. {Kim if you are reading this; I've done it again. But this time I will know where to alert the fire fighters should they ever need it}. Note the recycling vinyls I got from Etsy! So we group by category, the door holds lighter weight items, cleaning supplies are on a higher shelf, pasta is in clear plastic containers and we try to replace cans when we run low so there is always some on hand. Whew I tried to cover everything but if you ever need something in our house, chances are, it's in the pantry. Next I am looking for a "Pantry" sign for outside the door! Happy Organizing!

Organization Day 2: Artwork!

Display your artwork! Okay, I stole this idea from Ballards. A large corkboard placed in the dining room. I think it provides stimulating conversation at dinnertime, don't you? Avery likes to imitate her painting skills and point to the babies on the wall. It's also a great spot for all her current artwork! Once we start rotating her artwork, we are scanning in all the pieces for preservation. I mean, we can't save every copy that she marks! When she's older I'll put together a photobook of her scanned artwork. Miss Jenny says she's really becoming the little artist!

Family Organization Part 1

I am going to steer away from my favorite blogger topic: Avery to bring a 5 part series on home organziation. We are a two income, two person working family of 3. My daughter goes to a local school 3x a week on the days that I work, my husband works away from the home 5x a week. I feel we've made it work pretty well so far. We eat well, our place is clean/tidy, we manage play w/ work (at least enough for Avery). The only area we are still working on is finding the time to workout! But that's a work in progress for sure. One of my favorite people, Kristin, did a recent post on I Heart Ikea. I loved the grundtal stuff she had installed and decided to do the same for my own kitchen. Let me preface by saying I love the square footage in our home. I wouldn't actually go any higher for our next place. Being that we have 4 floors I would say the layout is the most challenging. We actually have a galley kitchen which is really small & narrow so space: storage, counterspace, cabinet space is an ever evolving issue. The space above our kitchen island we really needed to maximize. Especially since Avery is now into everything that is eye level or below. You really can't "babyproof" enough. My favorite is the paper towel holders that I use for aluminium foil & wax paper - 2 all time cooking & baking pieces for me. It was easy to install and yes the first time was the charm (oddly for us). Though it's tiny, the kitchen is really my 2nd office and thank goodness it now resides next to our office. Tomorrow we'll review the pantry I created over many months!

All but the kitchen sink . . .

As promised here's the kitchen island Scott put together! It looks great and gives us that extra amt of space we need! It also hides those cookbooks Avery was getting into. She has yet to discover they are there. Oh and the final pic is Avery eating spaghetti w/ meat sauce. She LOVED it, is an understatement of the year. We are trying to teach her to eat off her plate w/out throwing the plate overboard. Much success! We went to Anthony's in Malvern and Avery made friends with everyone there. Two nights in a row of Italian made for a very poopy diaper! All credits go to Kristin for the kitchen island tip at Big Lots and the great review of Anthony's. Check out her blog here; scroll down to see her blog "rant" about McMansions that made it to the letter to editor in American Bungalow magazine! We love you Kristin! Oh the applause, the applause!

Easter Decor

In trying something new for Easter decor this year and lifting my spirits for Spring, I tried out this idea from Nester: Fabric Garland. It was very therapeutic to rip the fabric though Avery did not care for the sound! The vibrant colors make me think of rebirth & renewal!

Who says we don't live in a gated community?

It's for me own safety you see. I won't fall down the stairs when I scoot to the left or right.


I see you looking at me down there.

You know I can touch this gate. There's no law against just touching it.

Does anyone want to let me out? Anyone? I'm cute & loveable!

Okay, I get it. I'm safe up here. Just make sure you bring me my favorite toys. Oh and some paper. xoxo Avery

Restoration Style

2009 is the year we are tying up loose ends as far as home improvement projects. 2010 we need to seriously consider new doors/windows . . . For a creative project, my husband and I decided to restore a cabinet we found in my old playroom. Here it is without it's drawers, in it's old green glory. This pic is taken in my husband's workshop area.

Before:

After:

Nope - it's not from the pottery barn catalog but it looks just like it! A can of French Bulldog Black by Valspar and some nickel finished knobs. Still figuring out what to put on top, maybe our new digital photo frame?! Next up, the desk from my childhood bedroom.

Nursery Update

Posting some additional pictures of the butterflies that Scott added on Sunday! I think she'll enjoy watching them from her crib!

Nursery Part II

Nursery

The nursery is just about finished so we thought we'd post some pics. I know when baby gets here it will have a more lived-in look! Can't wait!!