Trimming the tree...more Christmastime photos

When we got our Christmas tree we brought it in later that afternoon and decorated it that night. I love watching my kids put ornaments on the tree and marvel over the twinkly lights. I know they won't want to help with this tradition forever, so I try to take it in while it's still fun for everyone. 

Ben snapped a few of these pictures from outside our front window. I love seeing him use his creative talents.

Here are a few more shots of Aurelia in our baby santa outfit. Later I moved her nearer the tree and she stared at the lights and watched her brothers hang ornaments.

Growing up we had to take turns with the honor of putting the topper on the tree after all the other decorations are on. We started doing that with the boys this year...

Surprisingly enough, with a new baby and three kids total our house looks more festive than it ever has this time of year. We've got a fun mix of handmade, gifted, store bought and kid-made decorations  throughout the house. My only regret is not buying a matching stocking and holder when I got the boys theirs years ago. Target no longer carries the silver letters we put on each boy's stocking, nor the type of stocking we got them. They are currently out of stock of the holders that we hang them from, so I'm waiting for them to either restock or hopefully still carry them (or something similar) next year. It's not the end of the world but I just think it would be cute to have them match or at least coordinate. 

More on our Christmastime festivities to come...

Little Sister's Nursery

We've finally put the finishing touches on our little girl's nursery. I had so much fun putting together a girlie room! We painted a few months ago, which included painting our main living area as well. It took a couple days and the nursery stayed empty for a long time afterward, but we are thrilled with the result. Ben + my brother Cody also scraped the popcorn ceiling off in the nursery. It's something we'd love to do to the entire house but would be quite the undertaking. So we started with that room since it's small and would be empty for painting anyway. I love the way it makes the room look instantly brighter and bigger.

Here are a few pictures of the room before it's transformation. It started out as Malakai's nursery when we moved here, he was 9 months old. We have 3 bedrooms in our teeny house, and the 3rd was a guest room until we transformed it into a play room and then a nursery for Desmond. Nearly a year ago we moved Malakai into that room with Desmond so we could remove all toys (distractions) from where they would be sleeping and have a dedicated "play room" in Malakai's previous room. When we found out we were expecting, naturally the playroom would become baby #3's nursery.

{just after we moved in, March 2010}

{after we moved the boys to share the 3rd bedroom and turned this one into a playroom}

When we found out we'd be welcoming a baby girl I thought we would leave it green and add dark pink accents. I loved this green in our previous home, but it was a much bigger room with 2 windows and wood floors. I didn't love it as much in this house; with less lighting it didn't look as cool and light. The more I looked around for inspiration I started to change my mind. I fell in love with the idea of a light grey nursery with coral and peach accents. Somewhere along the way I decided to include arrows to represent their meaning in Psalm 127. 

Once we got the crib and started putting some pieces together I got more and more excited about the color scheme. I had a hard time finding both coral and peach pieces but was able to acquire several things through our baby shower, gifts, and DIY projects.

The teething rail guard is a must right off the bat because of all the horrendous teething marks the boys left on the crib. I made this simple no-sew version from some peachy fleece Ben's mom bought for me. It matches the peach on the quilt she made as well. I wanted to make a crib skirt but couldn't find the perfect fabric, or the time. I ran into a queen sized bed skirt we had on our guest bed years ago tucked away in the linen closet and made it work by clipping it to the crib support underneath the mattress, making it adjustable as well! It's not perfect, but it works to make a nice hidden storage area under the crib for sheets and other things.

Much of the decor came from the decorations at my baby shower. The pom poms above the crib, the bunting and scripture above the changing table, the letter P on the floating shelf, even the curtains which my mom sewed up from the table runners. The basket that I have the diapers in held a gift from my friend Carina. 

Liz also painted the gorgeous peonies (which were on the invites she had made for my shower) and made the wooden arrow sign above the shelves.  Malakai made the decorations underneath. 

I love the simplicity of our little nursery and the way the bright coral and peach colors really pop in contrast to the neutral grey walls and dark espresso furniture. I'd still like to add some softer peach accents, and I may in the future or as our needs in this room change.

Our crib and changing table/dresser have lasted us since Malakai was born 5 years ago. They've got some cosmetic wear and tear but we still love them. The glider is new and was a gift from my parents, we love it so far and I can't wait to rock sweet little sister in it soon! 

40 bags in 40 days: a long overdue recap

During the 40 days leading up to Easter we chose to participate in a decluttering challenge called "40 Bags in 40 Days" lead by Ann Marie who blogs over at White House Black Shutters, one of my favorite blogs these days. It wasn't so much about getting to 40 bags as it was about being motivated to rid your space of clutter and be happy with your home and the belongings you choose to keep in it. I really enjoyed it and am so thankful for the continual motivation it has given me to keep our home free of "junk" that clutters our physical spaces.

In my initial post I shared our current pictures which will stand as the "before" pictures to the following "afters". Although, for us this is an on going challenge in some spaces more than others. If you'd like to check out the progress along the way, you can follow my instagram account or look up #bngblogdeclutters on instagram, twitter, and Facebook. 

Being pregnant made the decluttering even more challenging. Some days I was too sick, some days our entire family was too sick. Other days I was just tired, but I'm happy with our progress and how far we've come. 

I can honestly say there is only 1 area that is still in need of some big decluttering, the kitchen. I decluttered the surfaces and a few small drawers during the challenge and a few more recently. However, due to the size of our kitchen it is a huge challenge to even have the floor or counter space to empty cupboards to declutter while entertaining children. So we are saving that project for a time when we are kid-free. It's not even something I could do on my own if Ben were to have the kids for example because I cannot safely reach the top shelves or lift some things that would need moved. All that to say, we will get to it in the future but it's not even messy enough (because it's too small to be) to be too worried about it. 

Here is a reminder of what our house layout looks like...

Our main living space in the back of the house is almost always free of clutter so there wasn't much to be done there. I have however, started a new rule for the kids both for decluttering reasons and for my own safety- all toys are to stay in the playroom or the hallway just outside of it (because it's wood floor where they like to race their cars). This minimizes clutter but also keeps the danger-zones down to a minimum. Last pregnancy I had a not-so-fun run in with a toy on the floor, so I've been extra careful about avoiding silly accidents like that.

This is what that space looked like after decluttering back in April. We have since updated our dining set, garbage can and paint in this room. I will post an update on that and the nursery when they are complete.

Currently the garage is in disarray yet again because it's our "catch-all" space when we've got big projects going on. Over the long weekend we painted the living room, hallway and the playroom that will be little sister's nursery. Furniture was displaced to the garage for the most part and the work station for paint supplies was set up out there. Pictured below is a before decluttering and after decluttering (before painting mess). Most of our work here was purging toys, clearing off the work bench and rearranging to make zones for things. Separate spaces for toys, tools, laundry, pantry items, overflow shoes, and craft supplies. We still have some organizing to do, which will mostly be taken care of once we get some shelving up. Ben is planning on building this shelf for the toy storage bins.

The boys' room got a big change when we got them bunk beds at Ikea in March. It was the ONLY way to fit 2 twin sized beds in their shared room. It's been a roller coaster of a transition, but they love it and the space it saves is amazing. We're also in the process of repurposing their closet which mostly holds Ben's music equipment by moving that out and making space for the extra chairs to our new dining room set, which are taking up too much room in the garage. Plus I don't like the idea of them being exposed to extreme temperatures and our projects as they go on out there. This room currently has no toys or books, it's just for sleeping and getting dressed because Desmond can't handle nap time if there are toys to be had. He can barely be kept from climbing all over the beds! This will change as he grows older and as we need to move the toys from the playroom/nursery to their room.

The playroom/nursery got a pretty major declutter, and now that it has been painted will be completely rearranged. This will involve taking the desk out and either selling it or storing it at my in-laws. The closet here houses all the kids' hanging clothes, baby stuff up on the shelf, baby blankets, and items that they have yet to grow into or have grown out of in a dresser. The dresser also doubles as child-proofing for the entrance to our crawl space which is in the floor of this closet.

{I'm already so much happier with this room just after painting and removing the textured ceiling!}

The front living area which we just call "the front room" is more of an adult space and a major blind spot from where we spend most of our time, so we have a baby gate up at the start of the hallway to this room to keep it limited access. Malakai can open the gate but he knows not to without permission. Here we have our desk and computer, a piano, a sitting area, my sewing/craft table, preschool supplies and more. The coat closet also houses craft supplies and gift wrapping in addition to the current seasons jackets, hats, scarves, etc.

The desk got a major overhaul when I finally went through our file system. I also put some little used files that we still need to keep around in a file cabinet in the garage that we acquired from my in-laws (thanks guys!) which made room in the drawers to actually access the files we need to use on a more regular basis. I purged a LOT of kids' artwork but also kept a lot, reorganizing it by school/church/etc. I also removed a lot of stuff from the top of the desk to give us more work space.

My craft cabinet got emptied out and rearranged. I do still have crafting supplies all over the place, mine and the kids' but they make more sense now rather than a little bit of this and that all over there are kid craft storage areas and then my craft and sewing storage based on material and need. Some of it is in bins underneath the oversized chair (which I love, but most people don't).

I boxed up a lot of books from the shelf, things we want to keep but don't need to display. I also got rid of some and did away with some knick knacks and picture frames. In doing so I tried to make this room a bit more kid friendly so as Desmond grows older he can come in here without being a hazard to himself or our stuff. This will also help if we need to move our preschool homeschooling back out here once the baby's room is in use for little sister.

In our room (which I haven't taken progress pictures of yet) we started by clearing out everything underneath the bed. Clothing has been a big challenge because while pregnant I'm constantly reevaluating my wardrobe based on what no longer fits (so it needs stored), what does fit (so it's in the closet or dresser) and what will likely fit as baby + I grow (in an underbed box). It's an on going process, but I did get rid of a lot of non-maternity clothing that I hadn't worn in ages. Ben also got rid of a lot of clothing and shoes so that helped free up space in our closet. The shelf above the hanging area in our closet has always been difficult for me because I can barely reach it. I toss things up there (we had stored anything from bedding to sweaters there) and it just became a heaping mess. Ben cleaned it out and now half of it is for clothes I've "outgrown" and hooded sweatshirts/other things too large for the dresser or hanging and the other half is our bedding.

Our dresser has more space thanks to purging things and I cleaned up the area next to my bed where the yarn had been been taking over from half done crochet projects. I also have a vanity in this room which I use for some clothing storage but mostly cosmetics, hair products + accesories as well as belts, jewelry and a few keepsakes (my sad and dusty wedding bouquet being one). This needed major decluttering and dusting which took a while but it is so much more useful now that it's done. I do my hair and makeup here rather than our one tiny bathroom.

Speaking of, we did a lot of purging of items in the bathroom as well. Expired vitamins, medications, lotions and shampoos we weren't using, etc. It's not exciting enough to post pictures of, but it's nice to have the space. We also got a new shower curtain with a see-through panel at the top that lets more light in and makes the room feel a bit bigger.

So there is our progress in an attempt to declutter and simplify the way we live. It has been a much longer process than just the 40 days, but getting organized and serious about it over that time really created new habits in us that will help us to live with less clutter, which is essential in a house this size and our growing family!

decluttering progress

We've made quite a bit of progress on our decluttering journey since starting March 5th with the rest of the "40 Bags in 40 Days" crew. I've shared some before + afters on Instagram and Facebook as we went along. It's great motivation putting your messy house on display, and it's been encouraging to get cheers from friends along the way as I share the progress.

Motivation to Declutter- 40 Bags in 40 Days

I came across Ann Marie Heasley's blog, White House Black Shutters last summer through Pinterest when she had started her "Summer Simplify" series. She shared inspiration for simplifying spaces around the home. I tackled quite a few areas and shared my success on Instagram along with her and other followers.

Now it's time for spring cleaning and our house (and garage!) could really use some decluttering and simplifying. Anne Marie came along again with 40 Bags in 40 Days and I was sold. Over the 40 days of lent you focus on areas that need to be decluttered and/or purged of the overflow. She even has a printable chart (see linked post above) to help you plan and keep track of your progress. I've got my whole house mapped out on one and am ready to start TOMORROW!

I chose fairly small areas and even broke some up into two days, for during the week. Saturdays are for bigger projects that Ben + I can take on together or one of us can spend time on while the other keeps track of the kiddos.

This is a layout of our teensie not even 900 square foot home to give you an idea of what we're working with here...

Our Playroom

The day Desmond was born I took photos of our finished playroom and that morning I mentioned sharing them with you in the update I posted minutes before going into labor. 4 weeks later, here are the photos of the boys' playroom.

This is the 3rd bedroom in our house that was once a guest room, it's right next to our main living space so it works perfectly as an extension to that area. We felt the need for a playroom when Kai was too distracted by the toys in his room to go to sleep. Since we transitioned him into a "big boy" bed he started to play instead of go to sleep, which was inevitable.

Since Desmond would be in our room for around 6 months we didn't need a nursery just yet. We've decided to evaluate whether Kai is ready to share a room when the time comes. If not, we'll transition the playroom to a nursery. For now, I love having all Kai's toys (aka mess) in one place.

{Kai at his table and toy storage}

{word art that I made + framed}

{the back of the room + a close-up of a bulletin board I decorated}

The clouds with raindrops are decorations I had made for Desmond's baby shower, the pennants are made of ribbon + foam sheets from the Dollar Tree that I just glued to an old cork board. The football toybox used to be his Uncle Cody's, the glider rocker is from Kai's nursery. I'd like to paint the dresser at some point to match the rest of the room. The alphabet painting above it is something I made with watercolors because Kai really loves to find and point out letters, but I wanted something unique to our space. I'd like to eventually add some curtains as we just have mini-blinds right now, but it's not a priority. 

So that's our playroom, when it's clean. Most of the time the floor is covered in toys. Pretty soon we are going to put away even more of his toys to help him focus on individual things when he is playing and to keep us all from stepping/tripping on things. 

the layout

I didn't have the layout of our house to include in this post. Ben just made one earlier this week so I added it and thought I'd share it to put things into perspective. I know it always helps me to see layouts when I'm trying to imagine how everything fits together. I'm a very visual learner.



So there you have it, without all the furniture. Makes it look kind of big. Maybe we should get rid of our furniture...

home sweet home: 1 year.

It's hard to believe that we've been homeowners for a year (officially yesterday). It's even harder to believe that we've lived in this house for a year already. Somehow time goes by much faster once you become a parent.

(hint, click the link above for the "before + in process" pictures from last year).

There are many things we want to do to this house, structurally and aesthetically, but most people feel that way about their home, especially their first home. It could be said that this is a starter home and that we should eventually move on to something bigger + "better"...but I don't think that's how things will work out for us. I want to have my kids grow up in one home and one neighborhood. I don't mind a small home, in fact I prefer it over a large one. I don't want my teenagers to hide in their own little wing of our house that's so far away I can't holler at them when I need to. I don't want to have to text or IM someone in my own house when it's time for dinner.

I'm sure that someday we'll remodel and add on. Thankfully we have plenty of property to build on and still have a substantial backyard. This will most likely be many years down the road, but in the last few weeks Ben and I have found ourselves plotting and dreaming.

What will happen first and probably within the next 6 months (if finances allow) is the replacement of the tile floors in the kitchen + dining room. We plan to just extend the laminate from the living room into that space, granted we can find matching laminate. I'm very picky about this. This project will also include replacing the door from the house out to the garage. The new door is actually a Christmas present from my in-laws, but the floor needs to happen first because of the structure of it underneath the door. Basically some pretty shoddy craftsmanship took place.

Here is the overall layout to start:



Anyway, I've never really posted photos of our home all put together or the decor details. So here is a little tour of our first (and possibly our forever) home.

{a panorama view of our front living space. The door on the left is the front door}

{our piano, wedding, + family pictures. Dandelion canvas screen print from Urban Outfitters}

{details: close up of photos, a pillow I made for my grandpa, a blanket made for Kai, photos + books on the shelf.}

{our bedroom, just off the front living space}

{details: DIY chalkboard frame, photos on our dresser of places we love, frame for Kai's art, my wedding bouquet}

{the bathroom, super boring but better than before}

{Malakai's room, right next to ours. Details: turtle prints top right from Etsy, curtains sewn with fabric from Kauai by my mom, Turtle painting done by my amazingly talented aunt Sarah}

{Guest room next to Kai's room. old photo-See how little Kai is! Details: wine rack as magazine holder, framed map of Oahu where I have family and we honeymooned}

{overflowing bulletin board, craft cart, dresser full of craft supplies + random clothes}

{Living room + dining room: at the back of the house where we spend most of our time. Details: upper left print from Red Letter Words and canvas print of baby Kai, sideways bamboo art in dining room from Target, arrangement of photos from our wedding rehearsal in 2007.}

{Kitchen: to the left of the dining room in photo above. Yep, super teensy. Details: DIY chalkboard on the left, red + black plates behind the sink, Target.}

{Details: cluttered fridge art + countertop, black + white photo taken by my mom, brush paintings done by my talented aunt Lorna}

That's our house, all 900 square feet of it! We also have a one car garage where the washer + dryer, toolbench, waterheater, and tons of unpacked boxes remain. Oh yeah, and somehow we fit the car in there too. 

We haven't decided what to do about the bedrooms in preparation for the arrival of our new baby in October. Oddly enough it may depend on gender. If we have a girl I'd love to turn Kai's room into her nursery, I think the green walls would pair really well with honeysuckle pink accents. Then we'd move Malakai into the guest room and store the bed and other things. If we have a boy I'd like to do greys + blues in the current guest room for the nursery as it's already a great light blue that would go well with some grey contrasts. Those are just my ideas for now anyway!

Thanks for taking a look around. I always think it's fun to get a sneak peek into someone else's home. It helps to get to know them better when you see their personal style. 

Happy Monday!

PS don't forget to enter my current giveaway!

Thankful on a Thursday: energy

It has been 4 weeks since the nausea (not morning, but more like all day and especially at night sickness), indigestion + heartburn, headaches, and just plain exhaustion settled in. Since then our house has become a complete disaster area. Literally 4-5 loads of laundry sat in baskets unfolded and rummaged through each day to find what we needed. Dishes piled high until Ben had a free evening to take them on. Clutter gathered all of our desk and in the middle of the dining room table. There had been just enough room at the edge to keep Kai from reaching the mess and to for us to eat dinner there. I could take pictures to prove it, but since I haven't even posted pictures of what our home looks like on a good day, I don't think I want to start with the mess.

Thankfully I've had some energy returning to me and Ben has had more free evenings this week than the usual week. Last night we got all but 1 load of laundry put away while we waited for Malakai to fall asleep (the daylight savings thing has really put a damper on our routine). Today I hope to get the other load, plus one that is currently washing all put away, the clutter organized and out of the way and generally cleanliness and order restored to our home. The perfect motivators: renewed energy, and houseguests tomorrow!

So here's my thankful list and then I'm off to burn up this energy before it disappears!

I am thankful for...

551. feeling a bit better today than days past.

552. new games with Malakai that we invent together. playtime is so fun these days!

553. the hope I have in God's provision for the money we'll need for Kai's surgery + new little Bean's birth.

554. a "new" free phone. Somehow I got a free upgrade and am getting a certified pre-owned LG Octane to replace my 2 year old EnV2. I'm guessing this will be my last phone before everything is a smartphone.

555. our small home that keeps us living simple. I'm actually EXCITED for a spring clean to make more room in this place.

556. Swap Mama's. I discovered this site after a google search for used maternity clothes (all my old stuff is too big). LOVE it! I am able to swap a bunch of my clothes for maternity stuff just for the price of shipping, score!

557. lists. I've always loved lists, but being able to use my chalkboard in the kitchen not only saves on scraps of paper all over the place but it also saves my poor tired pregnant brain from forgetting important things.

558. white noise. Everyone in this house (especially Kai) sleeps soundly thanks to the heavy rain sound on our alarm clock.

559. being pregnant. I'm so thankful for the new life growing in my belly. We can't wait to find out the gender so we can plan, but that hasn't stopped us from buying baby stuff already!

560. forgiveness. My husband is so patient and forgiving and Lord knows I need him to be when I'm feeling sick, tired, and just plain cranky.


What are you thankful for this week?

spring purge

I want to do an ENORMOUS spring clean purge of our house. We have boxes and boxes in the garage and in our closets that we haven't opened since we moved them here almost a year ago. We did a garage sale and donation just after we packed up our previous house, but now it's time to do it again. I want this to be the biggest boldest purge we've ever done. I want to get rid of clothes that I've saved forever, items that might even be slightly sentimental, and paperwork that we've held on to for longer than necessary.

However...

I still feel like junk (I know, I'm such a whiner). Last night as I was going to sleep I mentally pictured items in my closet that I would throw in the box. I even thought about all the stuff in our guest room that will most likely become Kai's new room before baby comes. I literally started to mentally catalogue stuff in to different boxes. Donate, trash, recycle, garage sale, keep. You know, Clean Sweep style. Oh how I wish we had HGtv. Anyway, I eventually fell asleep so I didn't finish. As soon as I'm feeling better (if not sooner) I'm definitely ready to make room in our small home. I can't wait! The nesting phase must hit earlier the second time around...

Do you do a spring cleaning? How do you keep your house from getting too cluttered? I'd love your ideas!

nothing post

I'm working on a couple posts, but I won't finish them til next week. And since it's so late in the day on a Friday I just decided to share this little nothing post with the few that are reading blogs right about now.

Today was an especially interesting one around here. I got up at 5:45 with a very sleepy and crabby Malakai. He wanted me to hold him (love) but didn't want to fall asleep. I finally put him down to get dressed and he fell back to sleep at about 6:45. Silly bean.

So I had a rare morning to myself to get ready, make coffee, life journal, and even do a little bit of work.

Then Henry got dropped off and even though Malakai had just woken up 5 minutes prior, he went spastic. Running all over, doing this really fast marching in place thing with his legs that he does when he's over the top excited. Then he started throwing toys all over. He was TOTALLY showing off for his friend.

Once he had his breakfast and calmed down a bit I started to clean up some clutter only to spill my coffee all over the clutter, and my laptop, the floor, the raggedy upholstery on the dining room chair...mess. It's really hard to clean up a spill when all your toddler wants to do is put his hands in every part of it simultaneously. My computer survived, the floor is clean, and the chair got soaked with some stain remover and is drying in the garage. I need to reupholster them anyway.

Later the boys threw all 80-some plastic balls out of the ball pit. I tried to get them to help clean them up, it didn't work very well. It was cute, so I let it slide. Then they did it again an hour later. Gotta love boys.

{not a great photo, but I just enjoy the look on Kai's face}

Malakai also decided that slamming a giant plastic blender (toy) into my hand whilst I was changing his diaper would be the best idea. It wasn't. We're still working on the no hitting. Also, the sharing. This is a really difficult stage for teaching fairly complicated concepts. Like, how come I can hit my hand on this toy to get it to make a noise, but I can't hit my hand on mama's face to get her to make a noise?

Anyway, last night Malakai did this really cute thing, and because this post is about nothing in particular I'm going to tell you about it.

Ben was watching something on tv. I can't remember what, maybe Malakai was watching Elmo? That's not the point. Ben was laying on the rug in front of the couch and Malakai climbed up into his lap and laid himself down like Ben was the best ever comfy lounge chair. He did this for about 10 minutes and it was so sweet. I'm pretty sure Ben wasn't very comfortable in this position, but he was enjoying the moment and didn't want to ruin it by moving.

{love this}

This weekend I'm finally redeeming my Christmas gift from Ben from 2009. Yep, 2009. It was a giftcard for a haircut + massage at my favorite salon + day spa. I already used the haircut, but had trouble finding time to schedule the massage. I can't wait! I also scheduled myself a bang trim just before since I'm out doing things for me and I really need it.

And here's a photo of Ben + I at La Perla Pizzeria. It was on our little point + shoot camera, but I forgot about it when I did my update post. I like it, so I decided to share it.

{even though the bottle looks like it's stabbing Ben's eye}

Happy Weekend!