Window Seat Re-Do

We FINALLY had those horrible, 80's-gone-wrong window seat cushions recovered!


Here is the fabric up close..


We also replaced that awful light fixture and got a new table for the space!


I said not too long ago that I was going in a different direction for the house, yet this table is about as Shabby Chic as it gets! I still think it works though.


I love walking in and seeing this little nook. It is definitely one of my favorite spaces in the house.




One bite at a time, we are making this place our own :)

Hallway Reveal (if you can call it that.)

A few days ago, I left all 5 of you hanging when I said we were doing something fun in our hallway.

The next day, we had horrible thunderstorms and lost internet for a few days. We're back now, so... drumroll please!

Before



After










The darker wall stripe is Taupe 3 and the lighter is Stone 2, both by Valspar.

In total, we transformed the hallway for about $15.00 We had the Taupe 3, leftover from Harper's room. The chandelier was given to us by my mother-in-law. All of the decor, we already had. The only thing we had to buy was a small can of Stone 2, which was about $15.00

At first, we were wondering if the colors were too similar and not noticeable. Once it all dried though, it turned out just the way we wanted. Subtle and not in-your-face as soon as you walk in. A lot our family members didn't even notice at Hollin's Dedication Day lunch!

There are lots of "whoops" areas where the paint dripped, or got onto the baseboards, but we weren't very careful on purpose. Unfortunately, ALL of the trim in the house has to be repainted because it is almost beige in some areas.

I would like to replace the cheap Wal-Mart mirror with some sort of sunburst mirror.


We are planning to replace the dark tile with something light and simple.


I'm looking forward to changing out the decor on the entry table as the holidays and seasons change.

Stay tuned for our office (semi) makeover!!

Spring into change

The gorgeous weather lately has had me all kinds of motivated. I've been motivated to do everything.

Cook.

Clean.

Try new activities with the kids.

Shop. (quite limited here :)

Get outside.

Make the house a home.

Party plan.

Craft.

It's fun to have motivation to do all of these things, but as we moms know, there just aren't enough hours in the day. So what do we do? We focus one what we can, when we can. One thing suffers so that we can get another thing done and so on and so on.

I convinced hubby to try something I've been wanting to do forever. Here's a hint. It's SO hard to figure out what we've done:)

(Blurry night photo. Best I've got.)


I'm so thrilled with the result and I will share pics as soon as I can take a daylight photo.

It seems like it takes three times as long to get a project done as it used to. I am busy trying to entertain/keep babies happy while Jimmy does most of the work. He can only work so much when he is always sleep deprived, so we do what we can. Our house is a complete wreck and I would be mortified if anyone came over, but we have a pretty hallway to show for it!

The babies have been pretty good the last few days. Hollin decided to have her worst meltdown ever today and I think it may be because she didn't feel well.

(You'd think I would've learned to remove my knee from baby photos.)

She cried for at least 30 minutes, if not more. I did let her cry it out. I picked her up after I couldn't take it anymore and she fell asleep. Oh and Harper was saying, "Mama outside, mama, mama, MAMA!!!" the whole time she was screaming. It was fun.


So, that is life right now. I feel like I am in a constant state of "overwhelmed" since Hollin was born, but things are constantly changing and babies keep growing. I try to adapt as best I can. Some days I think I rock at this whole mom-of-two thing and then some days, not so much. I'm trying to soak in all of these little moments. Even the screaming infant, the demanding preschooler, the dog that needs to be let out at the most inconvenient times and the teeny changes that we make to our home when we can find the time. Maybe even the balls of dog hair I can see under my bed and in corners of the house. Mixed with dried chunks of play-doh.

There are so many changes happening here and it's all (mostly) fun. My mom is moving here permanently next week. More on that here. I'm planning for Harper's 3rd birthday party, Easter, preparing for construction to begin and trying to make my house presentable for all of the above. I may even try to throw in a pool party some time this year. I wish I could invite every single one of you!

I'm not going to flatter myself with thinking that I have a ton of readers, but what are you changing/looking forward to?

Happy Friday,

Spring is in the air

The weather here is so nice, we took advantage of some outside time today. After preschool and lunch, Harper jumped on the trampoline he got for Christmas. We have been in the new house since Jan 10th, but we just put it back together this morning.

It's a GREAT way to get ants out of little boy pants.


Hollin enjoyed being outside today too.


There is a gorgeous tree (or bush?) growing in our backyard. I love these flowers, but I don't know what kind of plant it is.


A few nights ago, we tried Hollin on her first baby food. Bananas! She had already tried rice cereal a few nights before the baby food, but she didn't like it.

She made some funny faces, then daddy got her to smile.

Harper said he wanted to help.

I'm hoping that the weather will stay spring-like now, even though we haven't had much of a winter.

I love all seasons, but spring is one of my favorites. I'm so excited about all of the fun things coming up!

Happy Monday,

Supergirl

Jimmy used to sing the "Superman" anthem to Harper and fly him through the air when he was a baby.

Hollin seems to enjoy it as well :)







Yesterday, I went to Michael's and picked up a few things. I wanted to try and make Hollin a few cute headbands. I ended up making 5 and this one is one of my favorites.


Jimmy and I getting close to finishing our office re-do. I picked a very different color and I am SO excited about it. We just need to finish up the trim, do one more coat on the ceiling and then put all the furniture back. I am definitely on the lookout for a different light fixture, curtains and a rug. I also need something for the walls, but I just haven't decided which way to go. Do I want pics of the family or just landscape-type pics? I don't know yet.

Can't wait to show you all!

Happy Tuesday,

I might be out of my mind

This year, Easter falls on Sunday, April 8th. Harper's 3rd (wow) birthday is April 5th.

Jimmy and I talked it over and decided that we will celebrate his birthday on Saturday, April 7th and then of course Easter (and all corresponding activities) will be the next day.

This year's birthday party theme is..............


John Deere Tractors!

Truth be told, Harper could care less what KIND of tractor he's looking at, but working with the green and yellow should be fun!

Part of me wants to go all out because I feel like my little boy deserves it.

He really deserves it after learning to say, "If you touch my Sissy, I'll beat you up!"

I'm excited to make our new digs all festive. On the flip side, however, I have to be realistic. How much can I really do in one weekend? I know I can squeeze in a lot, so I just might do that. It's all part of the fun I suppose.

I LOVE preparing for this time of year and especially planning my first baby's party.

Let the fun begin!

Fun messes

I think I may have found something that Harper likes better than the ipad.

Play-doh!

He received 4 containers for Christmas and I have been very apprehensive about letting him play with it. Not because of the mess, but because I was afraid he might try to eat it or feed it to the dog.

He has had a GREAT time with it! Today, he wanted popcorn and crackers after he got home from Preschool, so I let him snack and play. Mommy accidentally knocked over the popcorn, but he was so entertained by it, I had to snap a pic.


We have a little bit of dog hair, some play-doh, crackers and popcorn all over the floor. But, it's all in the name of a good time.

I have discovered that Hollin really enjoys watching TV. I know there are many moms out there who feel strongly about not letting the TV babysit for their babies, but honestly, if it buys me 15 minutes to clean up the above mess, I will do it.

She really likes Dora the Explorer!



That's all that's poppin' in the Cushing home these days. I do have a few projects that I'm working on, so stay tuned!



:)

Fighting Bears

If you are like me, then you love Erin's Blue Eyed Bride blog. She posted a few months ago about fighting bears and I tucked that saying away in the back of my mind because it is such a simple concept.

Right now I am in a stage of life where I am fighting bears. I think most of us are probably fighting a few bears at once at any given time.

Life has been fun lately with our moving into a new house and the excitement of making it our own. On the flip side of that however, life has also been very stressful.

I have come to the realization that my sweet little girl most likely has colic. For the past several weeks, I have not been able to put her down for more than 10 minutes at the most without a subsequent baby meltdown. If she is napping, then I get a little bit more of a break, but it doesn't feel like long enough to get my nerves back to where they should be. She is my fussy bear.

Today seemed to be a turning point with the colic. She was a happy girl and Jimmy and I actually went out for a breakfast date while Harper was in Preschool. When we went to pick him up, the teacher informed us that he'd had a bad day. We were told that he was very aggressive and then when he was put in time out, he kicked the teacher. On top of that, he dropped his pants and peed on the playground. While I get that the latter of the two is funny (I guess), I'm obviously frustrated and just flat out embarrassed by Harper's behavior lately. I know that he's two (three in April) and that this is just a difficult age, but he doesn't respond to time-out, spankings, you name it, we've tried it. NOTHING snaps him out of it. He is a stubborn, STUBBORN little bear and Hollin's inconsolable crying started again not long after Jimmy left for work this evening.

Jimmy has been as much of a help as he can be, but Hollin wants no one but mommy right now. When he is here, he has a honey-do list a mile long to help get our house put together. By the time we are both done at the end of the day, we barely have the energy to speak to one another. When he is not here working, he's out on the streets, working 12 hour nights in the freezing cold on about 5 hours of sleep. I don't know how he does it. He is my busy bear.


Then there's me. I am tired and frazzled on a daily basis. My hair stays in a greasy ponytail unless I can find the energy to shower and dry my hair at night after the babies go to sleep. My clothes don't fit like they used to. I want to lose about 10 pounds. I want to eat better and exercise, but I find myself stuffing my face with M&Ms for comfort after a long day and Lord knows I can't get away for a 30 minute workout. I could wake up 30 minutes early, but Harper is the lightest sleeper in the world. Any slight noise coming from the elliptical in the garage or slipping out the front door for a run would wake him. A gym membership is not in the budget. I want a few minutes to put makeup on at the start of the day. I want to feel "pretty" and put-together again.

The mom guilt is in full force nowadays. I am so busy trying to keep Hollin happy, that I feel like Harper is left spending a little too much time playing on the ipad. On the rare occasion that I do get a few minutes to myself, I am ridden with guilt if I don't spend them with my kids. All I can hear are the sweet old ladies telling me to "Enjoy every minute because they go so fast."

I am living the life that I wanted as a stay-at-home mom, but there are times when I just want to feel like Ashlynn again. I sometimes miss getting dressed in matching and well-fitted clothes with hair and makeup done on MY time. I feel like I've turned into that mom that I said I'd never be. The one with the greasy ponytail and spit-up stained clothes.

I am a tired bear.

I know there is light at the end of the tunnel. It took a year for me to feel "thinnish" again after Harper was born. I know that Hollin's colic will eventually go away. I know that Jimmy will (PLEASE Lord) be switched to day shift sometime in February and I won't have to fight my two bears alone at night anymore.

Life is great, but tough right now. And "You can fight a bear for a little while."