Crafty Fall Wreath

Good morning! I just wanted to share a little fall project I did a few weeks back that I have really been enjoying. It was cheap, easy and fun and the end result (I think) is so pretty and festive. So here we go!

This really doesn't need a whole lot of explanation but here's what I did. I had been wanting to decorate for fall without spending a lot of money and I thought a wreath on the front door would be perfect. So I made a trip to Hobby Lobby and just lucked out and happened to go on a day that all their fall stuff was 40-50% off! Happy day! So I got one of those plain wreaths for $2 and a few other cheapest-things-I-could-find that I thought would look pretty. 

I splurged on that little pumpkin (a whole $4.99 I think) because I thought it was the cutest little punkin' ever. Well except for this little punkin'...

He did a craft project too while mommy worked on hers. Paint in a bag! He thought it was super fun and I thought it was super mess-free! 

His finished work...

Ok, back to the wreath. I also picked up a wooden letter (it was originally white) and a little ring of fake leaves that I disassembled. I already had the burlap at home so my total cost for supplies was about $25 I think. I had a gift card so I only ended up paying $11! Woohoo! Which $25 may seem like a lot to spend on a wreath you have to do yourself but when I looked at the price tag of pre-made ones and saw $79.99 I was pretty happy. 

Once I got everything home I basically just arranged it until I was happy and then stuck it all on using hot glue where necessary. The wooden letter I just stuck on with hot glue and so far it has held up just fine. 

And here is the finished result! 

So that was my crafty little fall project! Hope you are enjoying fall too! 

Oh and speaking of fall cuteness I have been loving our little man's fall outfits! Look at this cutie!

Happy fall! :)

Monkey Chatter

I thought it might be fun to document some of the hilarious and adorable things Elias is saying these days in posts reserved just for that. Hence the name...I'm not sure Elias will ever outgrow being "the little monkey". 

Convo #1: 
(Eating cereal in the morning, E picks up his bowl and drinks the milk out of it and sets it down.) E: Ahhhh, I drinked it mom.

Convo #2:
E: Li Li have a chicken?" (asking for Marcos' onion ring) 
E: (Eating onion rings in his carseat) Uh-oh mommy, uh-oh 
Mommy: what's wrong bud? 
E: (holding just the inside onion part up for me to see) Li Li broke the Chicken

Convo #3
Daddy: Elias David Souza!
E: Not souza...Li Li!

Convo #4
Daddy: Daddy and Mommy went on a date.
E: Daddy and Mommy on date. (Pause...thinking...) Li Li on date!

Convo #5
Mommy: We say "thank you" because that's polite.
E: (pointing at the light fixture over the table) Puh-light?

Convo #6
E: Li Li ki-ding (crying)
Mommy: You're not crying, you're faking silly
E: Mommy crying?
Mommy: No, mommy's not crying
E: Mommy faking!


And these aren't really conversations but some of the words we are currently laughing at are:
tab-pub (bathtub), strawbuhlies (strawberries), nim-nims (M&M's), and just mom (not mommy or momma just mom like he's 12 or something). Seriously, this kid cracks us up!

"Away" in our own town

Marcos and I went on a little one-night "getaway"...except we stayed here in OKC! Friday was Marcos' birthday and Saturday was the anniversary of our engagement so we spent Friday night and Saturday morning celebrating and getting some time to reconnect without Elias. 

Elias stayed with Marcos' mom for the night and he did great. It was only the second time we've left him overnight so it was still a little stressful for me but I tried not to worry too much about him and just enjoyed getting to spend some grown-up time. 

We actually started the birthday celebrations Friday morning with birthday breakfast for Marcos. Elias and I got up before him and blew up some balloons and such just for fun. E was way super excited about all of that which made me excited for his birthday in a couple months! Also (side story of cuteness) we opened the windows because it was such a beautiful day and it was pretty windy outside. Elias is exactly the right height to rest his chin on the windowsill in the living room and look out. He discovered the wind blowing in through the window and stood there for a good 10 minutes just letting it blow on him. He told me he was going to "see the windy". Too cute! When we finally woke Marcos up he was so excited about everything that he said "tum on daddy ruuuuuun!" Haha we were cracking up!

So here's the birthday boy at breakfast (he hadn't had coffee yet ha!)

Then we spent some family time at the park and took naps before we dropped E off in the afternoon. Then on to the vacation! 

We ate dinner at a cajun place called Jazmoz Bourbon St. Cafe. It was excellent! And the waiter might have tried to give my steak to Marcos and his pasta to me...

Then one of my favorite parts was the candy store! It is seriously like the coolest place ever. Soda in old bottles, a bajillion kinds of candy (the scoop kind) and a working pinball machine?! I mean how much better does it get?

We spent the rest of the evening walking around the Myriad Gardens and watching World Cup Qualifier games in the hotel room (isn't that what everyone goes to hotels for?). 

Saturday morning we slept innnnnnnnnn! No baby alarm clock and it was the best! Then Guatemalan food for breakfast...

...and a trip to the art museum!

Can you tell that the blown glass exhibit was my favorite? ;)

Of course we had to read "the book" that evening and reminisce about what we were doing three years ago on that day. It's been a great 3 years!

So that was our fun little spur-of-the-moment getaway! It was so fun to explore our own town. All of the things we did and places we ate were new to us, even though we've lived here for 2 1/2 years! Good times :)

House Tour Before and After: The Laundry Room

Yes, I realize that I still haven't shown you the main areas like the living room, kitchen, etc. I promise we have those. They are just a whole lot harder to clean and photograph on the same day. So it hasn't happened yet. Sorry. 

But I do have the laundry room update for you today! Ok so it's not actually a room; it's more of a nook but, hey, it works. 

So here goes!

This is what we started with:

It's hard to see from this picture but the laundry nook is right there on the left of the picture with the yellow-ish walls. I wish we had taken better "before" pictures of the whole house but at the time I didn't think about it. Anyway, here is one mid-construction that shows it a little better. 

Nasty linoleum floors and yellow-green walls. Oh, and did you notice that gaping hole in the sheetrock right there behind the ladder. Yeah, it wasn't pretty. 

And like every other room in our house it had popcorn ceilings which we scraped off. The cabinets up there were in good shape so we just painted them. Here it is the day we got the tile laid. That was a great day. So, up to that point we had painted the walls and trim, patched that hole and created an access panel, laid the tile, and painted the cabinets. Now, most people called me crazy when I painted the walls this color (uh um, husband and father-in-law) ;) The pictures don't really do it justice (I'll try to point out the ones that show the most true to life color). In person, it just makes me happy. It is so cheerful and bold and it's just fun. 

Sooooo much better! Sorry for the poor lighting/photos; this nook is in the back hallway of our house so there is not a lot of natural light in there. So that's how we lived for over a year and a half. It was functional and clean and other areas of our house needed much more attention. But I knew I wasn't done with this space. 

So just a few weeks ago, I finally turned my attention back to the laundry area. My awesome husband helped me hang the shelf (just a plain board from Lowe's that I painted white) and then I got to work. Everything I used were things we already had so this was a no-money-spent update! Those always make me happy! So here is the new and improved laundry area!!

WOOHOO! I love it so much more now! It actually makes me WANT to do laundry! Ok, maybe not really...but I do really love it! I added things that make me happy so maybe laundry won't be such a chore: a reminder to be joyful (1 Thess. 5:16), my wedding flowers, and a picture of my favorite people. :)

I stole this idea from my mom who always kept her laundry soap in cute little canisters. My sister recently gave me these and I thought they were perfect. The big one holds the regular detergent and the small one holds detergent for the small guy in our house. :)

 I found this stain removal guide online and just printed it off and stuck it in a frame for easy reference. 

 I also found this free printable online and just printed it on plain paper and used a frame I already had. It was the perfect color and related to cleanliness added the navy blue color which I really like with the yellow. 

The little brown basket holds the dryer sheets and the little blue bucket is being used as a trash can for right now (I'd like to get a bigger one down the road).

Our ironing board lives next to the dryer up against the wall and our drying rack lives on the opposite side beside the washer. 

We do still have one little problem in here though...

Ewww right? The old light cover was working fine for us so we left it in there. But then it got cracked and then it got flooded when the tornado made the roof leak. So now the cover is gone and it's not lookin' so hot. So I suppose we should probably do something about that eventually. But for right now I'm just enjoying the rest of the room. I think if I could do it again, I would definitely paint the cabinets white instead of the creamy-tan color they are. Maybe I still will someday. Anyway, it's a tiny little space but it works hard and holds a ton! And I get to look at this every day. :)

 

And that is the story of our little laundry area. Hope you enjoyed it!

Labor Day Weekend

Hi! I'm trying out a new app just to see if it makes sharing things easier or faster. So go here to check out some pics and video of our trip to the lake this past weekend!

http://muze.muzioapp.com/?muze=1FvEQ5cuM6_2714B7C5-97A6-4A25-BD09-C5ED8592AC19-14664-000013CB988AE28C

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Elias' 18 month photos

I had a little photo shoot last week with this little man. He's growing up way too fast! I can't believe we are on our way to 2 years old. I tried to capture a little bit of his personality and what he's like right now (which is why JoJo is in almost every picture!) Also, the cup in one hand, JoJo in the other is a classic Elias shot. He does that all the time. He is all boy and loves playing outside and anything that has wheels (trucks, tractors, trains) so I thought the slide pics were pretty fitting. And then there are those little details like his eyelashes, cheeks, and toes that you never want to forget. Ok, I'm done. Enough mushy mom stuff here are the pictures!!