Dresser Redo

I'm so excited about this dresser redo, my only regret is not having better before pictures. Here are the before pictures with the drawers already out. There is a drawer sitting in front of the dresser in this picture but the handles had already been taken off. This dresser is about as old as Mark. His mom used it as dresser and changing area for the kids when they were little.

It had taken a beating over the years as you can see, but no worries that worked fine for the look I was going for.

This $800 buffet from Pottery Barn was my inspiration picture. I love it but definitely couldn't afford it :)

And here it is finished! I took out the top drawer and put a piece of wood in to make an area so we could use it as a TV stand. I sanded, primed, painted, used stain to antique it, distressed it a bit, and then finished with a coat of polycrylic to protect it. The hardest part was being patient and letting it dry overnight in between steps.

Here it is in the house. I couldn't be happier with how it turned out!

Tea Party

Ethan and Cala are starting to play together. I love it! It doesn't last for very long, but it's so cute to watch and I'm looking forward to the day when they will be able to play together for hours.

This picture is blurry but you can still tell how excited Ethan is :)

Cala is pouring Ethan some tea.

Girls Trip

Last month I got to meet my best girls in Chicago for the weekend. I have the sweetest husband to be so supportive of this trip! Last year we went to New York City and decided we should make it a yearly event. During this past year almost all of us have moved, and we now live in 4 different states all across the country. I was so excited that we actually made this trip happen!

Cindy met Nicole and I at the airport and she even had signs! How fun!

Tiana didn't get in until later so we ended up spending the afternoon talking and laughing in our hotel room.

Of course we had to have a ton of junk food! The bananas were just for looks, I don't think we actually ate them :)

After her flight being delayed a few times, Tiana arrived and we were together at last!

The first night we got some Chicago deep dish pizza for dinner. Check out all that cheese!

We even had matching PJ shirts!

The next morning we slept in and then went for a run.

We got all fancied up and were ready for our day in the Windy City!

Shopping here we come.

After a day of shopping, we stopped for some cupcakes.

They were delicious!

A girls trip would not be complete without a pedicure.

The next day we went to church in the morning. We got a surprise when we walked into the chapel and realized we were the only non-hispanic people there. Turns out we had gone to the spanish ward, one of the members was nice enough to sit behind us and translate.

We went to the Bongo Room for brunch. It was amazing! We had pumpkin pancakes topped with a sweet creamy sauce, chocolate banana french toast, and delicious omelettes.

The pumpkin pancakes were our favorite.

Matching shirts. I love the lacy back!

Matching watches with very different price tags :)

We finished the day in the hot tub.

During the 3 nights that we were there I think we got a total of about 12 hours of sleep, gained about 5 pounds each from all the food we consumed, and laughed almost non-stop. It was a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween is such a fun holiday! Cala got to wear her costume to preschool a few days before Halloween. All the kids in her class did a parade around the administrative offices and the parents were invited to stay and watch. Cala did so well and was so cute!

Tonight we took Cala and Ethan trick-or-treating and it brought back such fun memories, I think I enjoyed it more than they did :) I loved trick-or-treating when I was younger, I would be out right when it started and stay out until the last minute to get all the candy I could. I thought every kid was like that, but Mark was telling me tonight that he would go out for only about 40 minutes. It looks like Cala will take after him and Ethan will take after me. We still have a little snow on the ground and it was pretty chilly tonight. Cala and Mark were getting really cold, so they went home early and Ethan and I stayed out for a while longer. Ethan caught on really quickly to how trick-or-treating works and was braver than Cala when it came to going up to doors and getting candy.

Here are the kids with grandma Chris before they went trick-or-treating. Ethan was a shark and Cala was Rapunzel.

My two cute boys.

Thank goodness for strollers!

The kids in action.

The stash! I have to really enjoy raiding the kids' candy while I can!

Early

Today we got a major snow storm. When we moved away from New York I was a little sad because I figured we wouldn't get any snow until after Christmas in Pennsylvania... guess I was wrong! Look at all the leaves left on the trees! Hopefully fall will come back for a little while and melt all this snow.

My poor mums!

Meet our little daughter Ethana... ha! I didn't expect snow this early so I haven't gotten Ethan a winter coat or snow pants yet, but we couldn't let him miss out on the winter wonderland action, so I pulled out Cala's snow stuff from a couple years ago. It fit perfectly! We did put a blue hat on and boy boots, but you really can't see those. Mark was having a bit of a hard time with this outfit, he kept telling Ethan "it's ok buddy, you're secure in your masculinity... right?"

Cala loved the snow of course!

Sledding in the front yard just like Mark used to do when he was little.

Our leaning snow man. The kids were getting cold by this time so we didn't get to give him arms or anything else.

The snow is supposed to melt tomorrow and then next week it should be in the 50's, thank goodness! This snow sure did get me excited for Christmas though! Less than 2 months away!

13.1

Today Mark and I ran our first half marathon! Now if you've known me for a while you've probably heard me mention that I hated to run and that I would NEVER EVER be a runner! I was very emphatic about it. I would drive by people running and wonder why they were torturing themselves by running when there are so many other forms of exercise out there. Then my friend Nicole started running while I was pregnant with Ethan. She fell in love with running and would always tell me how great it was for so many reasons. I started to want to run but had a not-so-tiny problem... I was very pregnant by that time. So I resolved that I would start to run the next spring... and I did... and I fell in love. I love how it is a complete break and time just to myself, no one can interrupt. I love how good I feel when I'm done. And I love that it helped me to lose the last of the baby weight and fit back into my jeans!

To help with my goal of becoming a runner, Mark and I signed up for a half marathon last March. At that point I hadn't even started running, and if you had asked me how far I could run without stopping I would have said, maybe a mile (I told you, I hated to run and had never even given it a chance). When we signed up for this half I couldn't believe I would actually be able to run 13.1 miles, that is really far! Anyway, I trained all summer long and went from barely running 2 miles without stopping to running 13.1 without stopping. Take it from me, if you think you can't run, you can!

As we were nearing the finish line and people were cheering us on, I almost starting crying because I was so happy that I had accomplished my goal. I still can't quite believe that I'm a runner!

I have to thank my sweet wonderful husband. He is so good to me. He knew how important this was to me and has been such a big support. Unlike me, he is a natural runner and that plus long legs enable him to run fast, much faster than I can. But he always stays right beside me and encourages me, and I don't know how I would have done it without him. Thank you Mark, you are the love of my life. Thank you Nicole, for getting me started and all the advice along the way. And thank you to our families for all the hours spent babysitting our kids while we ran.

Now I'm on the lookout for our next race and I can't wait!

My little boy.

I remember when I was pregnant with Ethan worrying that I wouldn't know how to be a mom to a little boy and now I think how silly that was. I just adore my little boy! Cala is spending the night at her Mummi and Papa's house so I had Ethan all to myself this afternoon. He was playing in the yard and I was taking some pictures. It was so fun to spend time with just him and enjoy his sweet little personality.