Back from vacation!

Hey everyone! We are back from a great vacation in Hilton Head Island! And, um... I'm back from a blogging vacation I never intended to take. It has been a great summer and it was awesome to end it on the beaches on South Carolina. I'm already ready to reserve the same condo for next year- it was that wonderful.

So, our condo- it was HUGE. Four large bedrooms, four bathrooms, a giant kitchen, dining and living area. I didn't really take any pictures of the condo but here's the fabulous ocean view that we saw right from every room in the condo. We had considered other places (that weren't beach front properties) but I'm so glad we splurged for this one, because when the kids were napping we lounged on our balcony and enjoyed the sound of the waves. We stayed in the Palmetto Dunes Oceanfront Resort area of Hilton Head, in the Wyndham Court Condos.

 View of part of the property from our balcony

 The beaches, while not crystal clear or turquoise waters, were beautiful. We found all sorts of little critters washed up during the low tides.

Brother/sister picture FAIL. I could compose an entire album of these photos. 

Cameron had his first horse ride at the Stables in Sea pines. He loved it even though he wasn't thrilled to pose for a picture! 

Cousins picture at sunrise.

The sunrise- it was so pretty.

 Jon and I went parasailing- a first for both of us! 

                            
                         
                            

We had such a great time relaxing and catching up with Jon's sister and husband, and their 2 girls. It's nice to go on vacation with family- the kids had so much fun getting to know their cousins that they rarely see! We were also able to go for walks and bike rides after the kids went to bed almost every evening, since we all stayed in the same condo.
Hilton Head Island is SUCH a great place for families- but not so much that you couldn't enjoy a relaxing vacation with just a spouse. I could definitely own a bit of real estate there and spend every summer at the beach with my family. Maybe someday!

Kylie-18 months.

Im not gonna lie here, but typing "Kylie" and "18 months" in the same sentence is totally trippy. I'm not even sure how we got to this point. With Cameron, people would ask how old he was and I never even had to think about it- I always knew, every month. With Kylie, I find myself counting her months on my fingers (let's see, January, February, March...) and then being unsure of what I just calculated (wait... 18 months? Jon- is that right?). Life seems to fly by us so quickly, right before my own eyes. 

Kylie has quite the spunky personality, and is pretty ornery as well. Right now, she's a total girly girl (which I love). She is constantly bringing me her hairbrush, stacking colorful bracelets on her arms and loving her dolls. She thinks it's so fun to steal my make-up brushes from my drawer and brush them against her little face. She grabs like 10 bows and clips and wants ALL of them in her hair. 

And speaking of hair- I still can't get over the blonde! In the sun, it is sparkling gold. Had I not carried her for 9 months I might question that she is my daughter! And her blue eyes- she clearly didn't get those beauties from me. 

 At her 18 month appointment, she weighed 29 lbs (90th percentile) and was just over 36 inches- which was completely off the charts (edit: measured her at home and she was 34 inches- I think my measurement is more accurate!) In other words, it doesn't get any bigger! She looks like a giant baby compared to other kids her age, for sure. 

 Though her and Cameron have a lot of similarities, I think she might be, how do I put it... the more "emotional" of the two. Cameron is a pretty laid back kid. He is easy to reason with and I can stop a rare meltdown with him fairly easily with carefully chosen choices and words. I think Kylie might be a diffent story, though. She can be feisty when things don't go her way or when she doesn't like something. Occasionally she will throw the most hilarious and dramatic fits, throwing her arms up in the air and (carefully) plopping herself on the floor like "I give up! it's just too hard being little me, wahhhhhhhhh!!!!" It will be interesting to see how that all pans out, but I do believe she is going to throw us a curveball. 

I made her a fabric scrap tutu for the 4th of July- it turned out really cute!

She is becoming so fun- it's awesome to see her learn new words everyday and interact with her big brother. I cannot even fathom the possibility of her being 2 years old. It's funny, I'm anxious to see Cameron at 7, 8, even 12. But her- not the slightest bit. I want her to stay my little squishy 18 month old baby forever.

This and that.

Hey everyone! I hope you guys are having a good summer out there! We certainly are- and even though it's been about 600 degrees here (with no end in sight) we are still managing to enjoy it. This post is a bit long, but here are a few updates on what we've been up to!

We booked a family vacation to Hilton Head, SC! I'm super pumped about it, and even though the trip is still a little ways off, I'm already mentally packing my bags and taking advantage of some end-of-season clothing sales since my summer wardrobe is lacking. We got a great condo on the ocean that we'll be sharing with Jon's sister (who'll be coming from North Carolina) and her family. I cannot wait to take the kids to the beach and make some great memories.

I got my first photo yearbook completed and printed (it was one of my summer resolutions) and it was delivered to the house today! It's just over 100 pages and so, so beautiful. When I was completing my order, I had a bit of sticker shock over the price, which was around 90 dollars. Thankfully, I had a coupon that brought it down to about 60 dollars. I do think however, for what it is, it's completely worth that price- I've got about 400 photos over 100 pages, the paper is great quality and it's hard bound. I'd easily spend 30 dollars (or more) for an album that large and still have to print all those photos out. I'm all about presentation and I think these will look great on a shelf, as I add a book to the collection each year.




My cousin Amber continues the fight for her life in Intensive Care after her terrible jet ski accident. She is still on breathing ventilators, but has been able to speak fairly clearly and cohesively with the help of a trach valve- which is fantastic news because its apparent that her brain is well and working! She has her good days and bad days, but right now her biggest battle is sleep deprivation- as this prevents her from making forward progress across the board. She has had a bit of ICU delirium, nightmares and much fear over what has happened- and unfortunately it will get worse before it gets better since she still does not know that she won't walk again. Despite everything, she continues to fight and do well under the circumstances- and that's definitely attributed to all the prayer for her. If anyone is interested, there is a Caring Bridge site set up for her and her sister updates her progress on a daily basis.

 If you remember a few months back (Easter, to be exact) we got our kids a few ducklings. Our neighbors also got ducks at the same time, so all 8 of the ducks hang out together all day, never straying from the "pack". Though they rely on us for food, they dont really "crave" our attention like a lot of domestic animals. Except for our duck Howard. He was the one who, early on, got part of his upper bill torn off by a turtle. He has healed well and re-learned how to eat since then.

I'm not sure if it's because we "nursed" him back to good health, but he will abandon his pack to follow us wherever we go- down the street to the mailbox, in the garage, on walks, etc. He would be the happiest duck ever to come into our house, sit at the table, and watch TV with us- if only he were potty trained! He is like a dog, for sure, and the kids certainly enjoy such a loyal little pet.

That's all for now!

Prayer seeking

In my last post, I mentioned that summer was my least favorite season. Truthfully, I crave the quietness of fall, and the holidays that surround the colder months. But just last week I was thinking how great this summer is shaping up to be- we've been swimming a number of times, taken zoo trips, and we eat our meals on our patio more often than not (our neighbors probably wonder if we even have a dining table indoors!). The summer is early- but I feel it's going to be a great one.

But then, summer took a big hit. Last Saturday, my (Jon's) cousin Amber was involved in a very serious accident. Her and her husband James were riding on a jet ski and were struck by a boat. James has suffered many broken bones (including his ribs), but Amber is currently fighting for her life. On her third surgery in the 24 hours following the accident, the doctors found her spine to be completely severed and is unable to be repaired. She also has suffered heavy organ damage from her lungs, liver and brain. She is still on life support and without a miracle from God, she will never walk again.  
See me in the blue striped shirt? Amber is just left, in the black shirt and her husband James below her- (taken last summer)

I hesitated posting this, because it is very hard for me to dwell on what has happened. My eyes are full to the brim with tears as I write this- and at times I feel like I cannot breath- like I am having a panic attack. Days later I am still in disbelief as to what has happened. I consider Amber MY cousin- not one that I gained simply through marriage. She is beautiful and kind- and even that is an understatement made clear from the unbelievable outpouring of love on her and her sister's facebook walls.

If you would, take a few seconds and send a thought or prayer for my cousin and her husband as they begin a long healing process and new way of life, and also for their family as they are making decisions and dealing with Amber's trauma.

Summer Resolutions.

Ah, summer. My least favorite season, hands down. I know that I'm in the minority on this, seeing as how I've seen so many blogs & facebook statuses lately that have been all about a love of summer. I think what I despise the most is the scorching temps we seem to get in July and August- yuck. It just doesn't seem to end!  Despite that fact, I am determined to have a great one, and I've even made a list of goals- a set of resolutions if you will, to get me through. In no particular order:

Take more pictures. Over the past year, I've really neglected my camera and the amount of pictures I have (or, don't have) really reflects that. I need to get my camera out every day, and start taking it with when we go fun places. Even if it's just with my smaller point & shoot camera, I can't risk missing sweet and unexpected shots like this one:

Make yearbooks. This is sort of an extension of the last one, but I've got several memory cards full of pictures that have never been printed. In 10 years from now, I'd love to have a shelf full beautiful picture books that we can look back on- not a drawer full of memory cards. I started creating a book on Blurb for 2011, so my goal is to finish that one and get up to date on 2012. I don't have a lot of time to make every page look custom or fancy, but Blurb has great layout options and I cant wait to get it in print!

Book 2 vacations. Jon and I are just weeks away from celebrating our 5 year anniversary, so the plan is to book a (short) vacation to Las Vegas for the early fall. I am also dying to book a beach vacation (it's been, oh... 5 years!) for our family sometime next spring.

Play tennis at least once a week. I've been hitting the tennis court for several weeks now with my friend Kathy, and I really enjoy it! It's not much, but it's nice to get sweaty on a regular basis and I really don't have the desire to join a gym to work out right now.

Build a twin bed for Cameron. Building a bed has been on my to-do list for quite some time, but I (not surprisingly) have experienced a bit of burn out after building Kylie her bookshelf.

Go on 6 dates, seeing 3 new movies and going to 3 new restaurants. 6 dates is the easy part- but we tend to get stuck in a rut of the same restaurants or doing the same thing every time we go out. Some of the wait staff at PF Changs is starting to recognize us by name when we come in!

Finish the basement. The darn basement. We were going full steam in the months after we moved in, but cant seem to wrap things up down there. The bar tile is in and the countertops are on order. We're so close, but there's still a fair amount of work to be done.

Go to the dentist. Not particularly excited about this one, but I haven't been since I was pregnant with Cameron. So yeah, 4 years ago. Eeek. I've got to book an appointment and book one for Cameron too!

A fairly lengthy list but I feel it can be accomplished in 3 months time. Anyone else have any summer goals or resolutions? Or hate summer like I do? =)

Snippets.

I wish I had a few more (uninterrupted) hours in each day to spend time on crafts and projects, like these little wood color matching peg dolls I made for Kylie. As much as I love a more complex, labor intensive project, I almost enjoy something as simple as this even more- especially since I completed it during the course of just two of her naps. How cute are these?
 



Cameron just finished up his first year as a Cubbie at Awana Club! I honestly wasn't so sure we'd make it until the end because he got pretty sad when I left him for the first few weeks (back in August). After the first month, it was smooth sailing and he couldn't wait to see his friends and teachers each Sunday!




My little Kylie has developed the curliest little blonde hair these last few months. It must be the humid weather- but I'm loving her curly tendrils. When I was pregnant with her, I wished for a baby who looked just like Cameron- one with dark eyes, dark features and dark hair. God must have laughed when I said that because she's the complete opposite with her light blue eyes and light golden hair. Really, I think the only similarity between them is their skin tone and nose. But darn it, they are both so stinkin' cute.

 

On a sad note, we lost our duck Cinco last week. Now that they are full grown, we've been letting them out during the day to roam as they please. They always stay together, mostly staying around our house with the occasional dip into the lake. We came home one day and Cinco was missing, so we're pretty sure he was taken by a snapping turtle. This was just a few days after an incident where Howard was attacked (again, most likely by a turtle) and got part of his upper bill torn off. It was pretty awful looking at first but he is much better and seems to be thriving as much as the others. I wish we could always protect them!

Easter bits.

Hello! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful spring! We certainly are, and I can already see our social calendar filling up for the summer with birthdays, graduations, weddings and weekend BBQ's. It's definitely going to be a busy season for us!

I know that Easter was a full week ago, but I thought I'd share a few pictures from the holiday. We had a fantastic day, with the highlight being 4 baby ducklings we got for the kids! Jon and I had discussed getting ducks for the kids for Easter after we moved to our new house and realized that there weren't any ducks that lived in the small lake in our backyard. We lived on a lake at our old house as well, and it was so much fun to see all the baby ducklings being born every spring.

 All four ducks, about 2 days old in this picture

And with that, we are officially raising ducks! The type of ducks we got are more of a domestic breed and won't migrate during the winter. Right now they are in a large crate in our garage with a heat lamp until they get their feathers. We also have quite a few predators that frequent our neighborhood (we've seen a coyote and a prairie rattle snake just this week) so we'd like them to have wings and be full sized before we let them go on their own. 



How cute are they? This little guys' name is Cinco (as in the Spanish number for 5)

As you can see, they've already grown SO much so it won't be long! The ducks (named Howard, Webster, Cinco, and Nibbles) are quite fun to have and Cameron often describes them as his "best friends". He likes to "duck sit" them all day and loves holding them. I hope our neighbors will grow to enjoy them as much as we have!

Bathroom business.

Progress in the basement has been much slower than we planned for (shocker, right?). We wanted to have a mostly finished, functional and carpeted basement after the New Year, and that just hasn't happened. Admittedly, we have been total slackers lately and when it comes to our free time we've been spending it camped out on the couch, watching our favorite shows after the kids go to bed. I don't know about you guys, but with an extra hour of daylight each day, I haven't felt as tired in the evening time. In fact, I've been diving into more productive things rather than parking my bum on the couch for the night!

Last weekend, we got our basement bathroom finished and fully working- a huge task off our to-do list. Jon and I installed the tile ourselves and I am LOVING the choice. I picked out a tile that resembles wood planks both in color/texture (it has a very subtle grain) and in shape (6"x18"). I really wanted slightly darker grout than we ended up with (the color on the bag looked darker) but I actually am really liking the contrast between the dark, almost ebony tile and the lighter tiny grout lines. After it all cured, the toilet and vanity went in. All the bathroom needs is trim, a shower curtain and towel fixtures, which probably will happen when we're closer to finishing the basement as a whole.




Next up, the bar tile (which I haven't decided on)! On a sidenote, can I just say that I have the most awesome husband? He lets me do whatever I want with this house regarding all the design choices. From big things like choosing the style of our concrete patio and bar cabinets to smaller things like paint colors and bedding choices, he lets me have free reign. A lot of times I ask his opinion but for the most part, he just likes what I pick out and trusts my judgement. I love that!

A very fine house.

Maybe it's in my blood, or maybe it's just a passion, but I love building things- seeing a concept on paper (or in my head) come to life. For me, it used to be about saving money- why would I buy something that I can make myself, and at better quality, at that? Nowadays, I don't really think about DIY'ing from a money-saving point of view. Its more about a challenge and a love for making things for my family and my home.
This dollhouse bookshelf just about wiped my love for building things, as it was one of the most difficult projects I've ever built. For starters, I didn't have the right tools. That fact alone added a lot of time to what was considered a "weekend project".  I had to use someone else's band saw because my 10 inch miter saw was not going to cut it (haha, get it?) for this project. To this point, I've build everything from a mitre saw, jig saw, nail gun and power drill. Also, I've never cut out holes from wood- so that was a first. There were a lot of set backs and a lot of frustration and I was thisclose to throwing in the towel. My husband wasn't about to let me do that- he encouraged me to keep going and stick with it, so I did.

Did I mention that this project was considered a weekend project? Let me just clarify that little tidbit by saying that there are new construction homes being built in my neighborhood faster than I built this doll house (slight exaggeration there). I spent roughly 30-35 hours from cutting the lumber to my last coat of paint.

All this to say, I'm so happy that this is done and I'm really proud of this piece. When I was newly pregnant with Kylie, I remember saying "If I have a girl, I'm building her that bookshelf!" If you've read my blog for some time, you know that I love everything Pottery Barn Kids and I always loved the dollhouse bookshelf they used to sell (for $399!). I know that Kylie will love this piece for years to come!
I'm getting really close to the point where I'm happy with how her room is shaping up. I drew a little watercolor flamingo (got this inspiration here)to put over her crib, and I just need to finish putting pictures in some frames that hang as a gallery over her dresser.




I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done. We also tiled our downstairs bath last weekend and are installing the toilet and vanity today! I'm loving how it's coming along and I'll post pictures of that soon as well.

Snippets (from the last month).

A few weeks ago we headed north to Kansas City for our annual little trip to the Great Wolf Lodge. This time, we invited our niece to tag along so that Jon and I could ride some rides together, and also go on a date one night on the Country Club Plaza. It was awesome to have the luxury of a babysitter on our trip!

 

Last weekend our basement bar cabinets were delivered and Jon and his friend spent the day installing them. Originally, we had planned to install the exact same cabinets as the ones in our kitchen, but they were going to set us back about $5,400. We weren't quite ready to settle for that price tag, so we looked around and found custom cabinets at a smaller family-owned "box" store in town for $2,000.

Not only are these cabinets gorgeous, but they are such amazing quality and I'm pretty sure I like them better than the ones in our kitchen! I'm so glad we shopped around for other options.


Kylie has been taking LOOONG afternoon naps lately. While it's a nice little break I struggle with trying to keep Cameron quiet for that length of time. I try to do several crafts with him each week, and one of our favorites lately are these homemade birdfeeders. Pinecones+peanut butter+ birdseed (3 bucks for a giant bag at Walmart), that's it! Cam and Kylie both love to look out the windows each day and see the birds stopping by for a snack.




I am really, really close to finishing a building project I've had plans to build since, well... forever. Before we knew Kylie was a girl, I knew I wanted to build a dollhouse bookshelf. I've finally gotten around to building it, and it has been the most challenging project I've build thus far. I almost quit but my husband wouldn't let me. More on that as soon as I finish- but for now a sneak peek... =)