the latest

We just finished the process of refinancing our home. We'll save a nice amount of money every month, but it was a NIGHTMARE of a process. I'm so glad we won't be doing that again anytime soon! Thankfully my wonderful husband took care of every little detail and all I had to do was gather a few documents here and there. Thank God everything turned out well after missing the window once and having to apply for an extension (at the fault of our broker). So beyond glad to be done with that!

As the weather warms up and spring fades into summer we are in full swing planning to re-landscape the backyard with my father-in-law. It was actually our Christmas gift from Ben's parents to re do the yard and we are so excited to have nice grass! When we bought the place the yard was pretty nice, but unfortunately as it sat on the market, empty, nobody took care of the grass. So the leaves from the two towering maples fell and created a ton of muddy holes that were then filled by weeks and subsequently moss.

Unfortunately our raised beds that were here from the beginning weren't very well built. There was no foundation to secure them to the ground and they were all warped. We decided it would be best to take them apart and rebuild after the ground gets torn up with the rest of the yard. I won't be planting anything until we can rebuild, which is a bummer because who knows if I'll even make it in time to have anything edible, we shall see!

Desmond and Malakai are growing bigger and smarter every day. Des is really talkative and very close to crawling forward (instead of scooting backward). He can move himself from sitting to crawling and back. He's all over the place these days! Malakai loves to "see Desmond" and is doing much better at interacting with him gently...most of the time.

Ben + I finished reading The Hunger Games trilogy last week and are possibly going to see the movie with his parents this Friday. We have really enjoyed reading them simultaneously and talking about all the drama. We've been able to go out quite often with thanks to numerous family member willing to babysit.

Work has been busy as ever and I'm doing my best to keep up, which is one of the main reasons I haven't been updating here lately. I save blogging for times when the kids are napping simultaneously, IF I'm caught up on work that I can do from home. Since the boys haven't been cooperating by napping at the same time I've been behind on work and thus not blogging. I'm finally caught up for the moment since they finally slept for a few consecutive hours during the day!

Speaking of sleep, Des has been transitioning to only sleeping in his crib and it's been so great! He only comes into bed with us when he wakes to nurse after 5am and we both go back to sleep for a couple of hours (if Kai lets us). There have been a couple of rough nights between both kiddos the last couple weeks, but not unbearable! This morning though for some reason they both woke up at 5:45am ...OUCH!

There's surely a lot more going on that I'm missing, but that's just a quick recap of what is at the forefront of my mind at the moment...

tile to laminate: our first big house project

On Saturday we accomplished our first big makeover on our home. Everything else we've done, like peel wall paper and paint has been fairly low-key in comparison. On Saturday Ben and 3 other guys tore up our tile flooring in the dining room + kitchen to replace it with laminate wood flooring to match the rest of our house. We've been wanting to do this since we bought the place 18 months ago.

Reasons we hated the tile:

• First, it was just plain ugly. 
• It was super unforgiving when it came to dropping dishes or little ones falling.
• It was installed incorrectly (which made removal easier) so it had many cracks.
• Grout is disgusting and annoying to clean. 
• It broke up the main living space of our already small home, making it look smaller.
• It was cold and uninviting.
• I could think of a thousand other reasons...

Needless to say I was a bit jealous that I didn't get to take a crack at it with a hammer along with the guys. Ben said they all had a lot of fun with the demolition. Malakai and I went to my parents' place to hang out for the day to stay out of the way and to avoid inhaling tile + saw dust. 

Thankfully it was also easy to get up, it only took an hour. Apparently the tile was heavily glued to the previous linoleum floor so it all came up together to reveal the subfloor.

Then came work on the underlayment and laminate flooring. 

{my husband hard at work}

The biggest reason this project has taken so long to get to (besides time + money) was finding the right floor to match the existing laminate that we have in the rest of our house. We found something REALLY close right away but I was determined to exhaust all our options for a perfect match before settling. We went back to the original match and it turned out great. 

While finishing up the trim Ben's dad and brother also replaced the door from the dining room to the garage. This happened to be our Christmas present from his parents last year, but we had to redo the flooring before it could work. Neither of these pictures show that, but it looks great!

{the finished product!}

After being out of the house since 7:30 that morning and only a 45 minute nap for Malakai after driving him to sleep, I got to come home at about 6pm and see the finished product. It was like walking into someone else's home. Really it was such a funny feeling to leave with the house fairly in tact and come back with it looking completely different. What a blessing to not have to worry about any of the construction and mess and just come home to something new and beautiful!

Here's a direct comparison. The angles of the photos aren't a perfect match, but you get the idea.

Thank you so much to my father-in-law, brother-in-law David, and our friends Brad and Jacob (and their wives) for giving up a significant portion of your Saturday to work on our house and make it more of a home for us as we prepare to welcome little brother! 

what we've been up to...

As I mentioned last week I've been keeping myself busy with items on my to-do-before-baby list like just about anyone in their 8th month of pregnancy. It seems whenever I get some good momentum something keeps me from moving forward. Mostly it has been my own physical limitations. After going to the chiropractor last week I was careful to no re-injur myself but my rib ended up going back out yesterday. I'm not sure if it's still out and it flares up or how all that works, but it's likely I'll need to make another trip to the chiropractor very soon. Sitting down to update around here is because I've been mandated by my husband to take it easy today as to avoid any additional injuries. I'm so stubborn determined that it may not last long. It's not like I'm being irresponsible or doing anything dangerous, just every day activities like unloading the dishwasher and playing with my son and whoops, excruciating pain.

Aside from being very busy with baby related things, I've also been keeping busy with toddler and birthday related things. Of course Malakai keeps us busy all the time and I try to spend all his awake time giving him the attention he deserves. During the day we play out back or at the park when mama has the energy and when Kai cooperates long enough to let me get him dressed. In the evenings we have some quieter playtime in the ever transforming playroom.

{jealous of my outfit?}

 During nap time I've been working on birthday presents. There are 5 September birthdays in our immediate family and 8 when you include our extended family. After 3 attempts I finally finished my brother's present...

{jersey-knit rag rug}

And then there's our house that seems to be falling apart around us. Our a/c has gone out 4 different times this summer for different reasons. We ran it all summer last year, a much hotter summer, with no issues. We also happened to have had a free year of home warranty then. Now that we don't have the warranty in place, everything is dying. The a/c is still out as we wait for quotes on a particular part and Sunday night our electrical panel got very hot and smelled like something was burning up. More money out of our pockets.

Last night we finished purchasing the "must haves" from our registry with the discount code (I moved my due date up so we could get the coupon from Target before baby). It was a really frustrating process because the discount wouldn't come off of all the things that were on our registry because they "reset" the baby section recently which apparently changes product numbers so they don't match even though I scanned the exact item when we registered months ago...say what?! The customer service gal was super rude about the entire thing and it just about ruined our evening.

I've been hoping to update about a lot of different things: the progress of the playroom (formerly the guest room), our garden, baby prep and other household related things but the time if flying by and my head is already spinning. We'll see how the next few weeks go...

Thankful on a Thursday: ambitions

I know I've been quiet around here the past couple of weeks. I think that's pretty normal for the end of pregnancy. I've been plagued by some aches + pains (which was in fact a separated rib) amidst trying to complete that long before-baby-to-do list. It's interesting trying to find balance.

I had ambitions of doing a detailed update of what we've been up to and such today, but that's not going to happen. Last night Ben + I couldn't fall asleep because some recent goings-on were ruling our thoughts and we just couldn't stop talking it over. We got to sleep just after midnight, but I woke up again at 2am. I tossed + turned until just after 3am and decided I needed to just get up for at least a while. I did a whole lot of nothing and then attempting to sleep again just after 4am. When morning came and Kai was ready to get out of bed, mama had only slept 3 (non-consecutive) hours. Ouch.

Despite all that and the things that are still "wrong", I have plenty to be thankful for and need to sit down to remember them in gratitude and humility before my God.

This week I'm thankful for...

811. this morning's visit to my chiropractor. Rib is back in place, hips are back in alignment...let's hope they stay that way!

812. a trip to Starbucks for my first PSL of the season and a cinnamon swirl coffee cake. I haven't indulged in either in a VERY long time.

813. getting the creative juices flowing as I make birthday gifts for family members, it has been such a nice outlet that I haven't cultivated in far too long.

814. a blessed outcome despite many long phone calls and hold times with Target over registry + online ordering issues.

815. connections. We've had issues with some functions of our home once again, but Ben has a co-worker who hooked us up with a friend and a discount.

816. friends who are willing to give of their time + resources. Ben + the guys are putting in laminate floor to replace the tile in the kitchen + dining area in 2 weeks. I can't wait for it to be DONE!

817. Malakai's sweet nature. He gives hugs + kisses and says mama's clothes are "cute". He'll also give the occasional back rub and scalp massage...which often ends up as playing mama as a drum and flinging her hair in her face. Boys...

818. Ben's patience and ability to comfort. I would be lost without him as my other better half.

819. My mom + mother-in-law once again who both came to the rescue this week to babysit Kai while I prepped for an event coming up at our church this Sunday.

820. the nap that I'm about to take. I'm convinced that I will fall asleep and wake up feeling refreshed.

What are you thankful for?

won't stay fixed...

Our a/c went out in early July and thankfully it was fairly cool so we weren't suffering too badly. Unfortunately it cost us $850 and that was with a generous discount on the service charge, but it was worth it. Then earlier this month it decided to go out again, for a different reason. The people who installed our system 10-15 years ago took a few too many little short cuts with things that didn't matter until now. Another $35 after a very generously discounted service call, plus Ben doing a little bit of work with the repairman on the phone, and we were set once again.

After lunch Malakai grabbed me by the hand to drag me into his playroom. One of my favorite things that he does. On the way over I walked by a vent and the air blowing out was a bit stuffy. I poked my head outside to listen for the pump running, and it wasn't. These were the same indicators that something was wrong the last 2 times. So I called Ben and after a meeting he'll be heading home to see if it's something he can fix.

Meanwhile Kai and I found relief in the kiddie pool out back (more so me than him really) and now we're waiting for daddy to save the day. Sadly for him he has to climb up into the very hot attic to assess the situation. It's highly likely that it's upwards of 120 degrees in there. Pray for him, that he doesn't get too hot or have to be up there long, and that he can figure it out so we don't have to call on our repairman as I'm thinking we've probably run out of favors.

Stay cool + happy weekend,

growing my first garden

Most of my growing up was on a large ranch just outside the city limits from where I live now. We almost always had a garden. We at least had pumpkins if only from tossing the previous ones out into a patch of dirt somewhere.

The last 4 years we've lived in homes with plenty of yard space for gardening, but I didn't take the time to try my hand at growing something on my own. Most of my hesitation came from having little to no success at keeping house plants or easy plants alive. I'd often forget about watering them or keep them in the wrong type of environment.

A good friend of mine has a very impressive vegetable garden and I finally decided to take a try at growing my own. We already had the raised beds, one full of strawberries that I decided to pay closer attention to this season. Of course the weather here didn't cooperate very well for strawberries and then I ran into a few pests: strawberry snails + sugar ants. I used google and surveyed my facebook friends who advised eggshells, coffee grounds, and human hair! Coincidentally I had just cut Kai's hair so I used all three and was able to save a lot of the strawberries. They turned out okay, but I've learned that ever-bearing strawberries should be moved to new spots and who knows how long those berries have been in the raised bed since they were here before we were.

On Memorial Day weekend I decided to plan veggies in our two other raised beds. A couple weeks before Ben was sweet enough to clear the beds of weeds and debris, then we worked together to add more nutrient rich soil. I planted Jack-o-lantern pumpkins, sweet dumpling squash, "slicer" tomatoes from starts, carrots, and sugar snap pole peas. I built a lattice out of bamboo arches and gardeners twine for the peas to climb. It only cost me $5 which was much cheaper than buying lattice or something premade for them to climb.

About 10 days after planting, the first sprouts started to come through. I was so excited that my garden was actually starting to grow!

Malakai and I would go out every morning and check on the veggies. He loves helping...



I was surprised by how fast things were growing, especially the pumpkin leaves, which were visibly bigger every day!

{I made markers out of a cut up milk jug}

Another week went by and everything continued to grow as I kept the weeds and pests at bay. I didn't use any chemicals, just suggestions I found through google and  knowledgable friends.

I did my best to keep up with the watering, but as our summer schedules got busier it got more difficult. Thankfully we've had pretty cool weather so nothing scorched. Ben then set up some sprinklers on a timer thanks to some timers that his dad let us have. Now we're able to water the garden automatically at 5:30am every day. On particularly hot days I turn on the sprinklers for a bit in the afternoon or evening too.

About 6 weeks after planting our garden had filled the raised beds!

{towering tomatoes + climbing sugar snaps in the background. spreading pumpkin + squash up front}

A little over a week ago it became evident that my garden was trying to take over the world...

{those tomatoes have cages in there somewhere + the pumpkin is creeping into the yard}

I had my friend Jamie come over to look at my garden and give me some advice. She was so sweet to help me out. She advised me on how to contain my tomatoes and how to tell when things were ready to pick. 

{peas + maters}

The next day I went to work on tying up my tomatoes with the gardener's twine I had from the structure I made for the sugar snaps to climb. I weaved some of the smaller branches back in to the cages and tied the heavier ones to the cages. Then I tied them up around both plants a couple times for added support. I also trimmed some of the limbs that would have just snapped from the weight of the fruit anyway. I also harvested 50+ sugar snaps. It took me about 45 minutes which ended up being a rather large and lengthy pain in the back. Gardening while pregnant isn't easy!

Earlier this week I picked another 50 or so peas and spotted a pumpkin forming! I'll be picking all the carrots this weekend + planting more in their place.

I shared the sugar snaps with our extended family and will probably have enough to pick new ones at least once, if not twice more. Now I'm just waiting on the tomatoes to get big and red while I pray that bugs + birds don't get to them first! Any tips are greatly appreciated.

I wish I could say that growing our own food has inspired Malakai to eat more veggies...but it's just not true for us yet. He at least tastes them before spitting them out, we'll keep trying!

What's growing in your garden?

Happy Weekend everyone!

Clean Sweep + 16 weeks

I love the weekends, but they go by entirely too fast. We just start to get into a groove of having Ben here all or most of the day and suddenly it's Monday morning again and he's out the door before we even wake up.

We had an impromptu dinner at my in-laws on Friday night followed by chasing Malakai around the yard in the beautiful weather.

Saturday was reserved for finally going through the garage, "Clean Sweep" style. During Kai's nap we  moved the car out into the driveway, swept the floor and taped down labels. We had a section for trash/recycling, donation, garage sale, storage, and keep/unpack.

I wish I would have taken before, during, and after pictures like I usually do. We were so in the zone and trying to make the most of our time before Kai woke up that I didn't think about it. I did take the advice of a friend and took pictures of things that aren't useful but have sentimental value so I could donate them or throw them away. How did I not think of that sooner?! Such a great idea for things like my counselor nametag from outdoor school and the box full of elementary school artwork that my mom snuck over from her storage.

Once Malakai woke up we tried to bring him out to have a snack in his stroller so we could keep working, but that didn't last long. So decided to leave the rest for after lunch on Sunday. Plus we had Ben's grandma and aunt come by to visit. They were seeing the house for the first time. Malakai was in a terribly cranky mood, throwing fits for seemingly no reason at all. I think he simply woke up on the wrong side of the bed and wasn't ready to entertain new people.

Later while I put dinner together Ben took Malakai to play out back. He got these incredible pictures of him discovering the dandelions. It made me wish I had been out there, and surprisingly enough it made me not hate the weeds as much as I usually do.

{look at the little seeds floating away, so pretty}

After dinner Kai decided to make another discovery. That the bed in the guest room (soon to be playroom) is like a bigger version of his. He looked so tiny when he climbed up and pulled the quilt over himself. I know that once our 2nd baby is here, Malakai will probably never look tiny again. 

{my mom made this quilt out of fabrics from my childhood: other blankets, clothes she had made me or my dolls, etc.}

On Sunday we did our regular church routine. Malakai did better with me leaving him in the nursery than he has been lately and was very pleasant with the volunteers and other children. The past few weeks he's been pushing and tantruming...not my favorite. 

Once we got home, Kai napped and we went back to work on the garage. He woke again before we finished, but we had gotten enough done that Ben could do the rest himself. Our trunk is now full of things for donation and everything in the garage is much more organized. There are still a few boxes to unpack, but at least we know what's in them and where we want it to eventually go. Once we have our garage sale we will have even more room. Right now we have our upright a/c from the old house, space heaters, a tv, and a ride on toy taking up most of the space. We're hoping we can make some good money to put towards Kai's surgery. 

Later that night we unpacked our DVDs for the first time since we moved just over a year ago! Shows how much time we have for watching movies around here. We actually decided to get rid of about half of them and added them to the garage sale pile. It felt so nice to know that we'll soon be rid of a LOT of clutter. I am really looking forward to the empty space in our future. 

Next, before the garage sale, we are going to go through all the closets and sort out clothes and other unpacked boxes. I'll mostly be working on this during nap times and Ben will help after bedtime during our rare free evenings. Is it weird to be excited about this? 

After finishing the garage Ben took the weekly belly picture. I had to laugh that I was wearing a really cute and put together outfit for church that morning and we took the picture in a t-shirt and jeans. Oh well. 

How far along? 16 weeks.

Total weight gain/loss: 7 lbs! Seemed like a lot to me, but I can't remember how much I had gained at this point last time around and Dr. M says it's just fine. 

Stretch marks? nope

Maternity Clothes: still a mix of small maternity and medium sized pre-pregnancy clothing. I've found myself digging out all my long tops. I have a feeling I'll need to store some shorter shirts already. 

Sleep: pretty good this week.Especially last night after all the work we did over the weekend. I find myself rolling onto my stomach and back lately. 

Best moment this week: Ben hearing the baby's heartbeat for the 1st time.

Movement: yes, lots! I can't wait for Ben to feel it. 

Gender: ultrasound scheduled for May 26th!

Labor Signs: nope.

Food Cravings: stirfry, vanilla ice cream, brownies. you know, healthy stuff. 

Belly Button in or out? in

What I miss: my pre-pregnancy jeans. I'm stuck to the same 2 pairs over and over right now.

What I am looking forward to: the ultrasound in just 25 days (yes, I'm counting down). 

Weekly Wisdom: get ready early. I'm so glad we're starting to get all the big cleaning and organizing items done now before I'm too big to lift and bend (although I'm careful about anything heavy). 

Baby Brain Moment of the Week: forgetting the words to things all the time. For some reason, with both pregnancies I seem to have trouble with words for describing furniture and fixtures. Last night I couldn't think of the word "knobs" when talking about the sink fixtures. 

What did you do with your weekend? Was it sunny and beautiful like it was here? 

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!

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!

social hangover

Just when I think I've been super busy, last weekend's events reminded me that my day to day isn't so full after all.

In preparation for our friends coming to stay and our housewarming we had been unpacking (still, I know), deep-cleaning and decorating the house (finally). I don't have a lot of pictures of our newly decorated walls or the lovely faces that came through our doors on Saturday, instead I'll show you this horrible photo...

This is a before + after of the grout in our dining room + kitchen. I already hated this tile before, but I had no idea that it was this dirty! I've cleaned these floors frequently since we moved in 6 months ago. I simply focused on the grout with an abrasive bristle brush, and look what I've been missing!

The only thing worse than having lived with this dirt for so long without knowing it is that this discovery came after I had already washed all 100+ tiles on my hands + knees with steaming hot water. As if I didn't have enough to do the day of our guest's arrival, I scrubbed all the grout clean and then wiped the floors down again. Yes, I cleaned the floor 4 times in one day. I wanted to die. (insert dramatic tone here).

I calmed down quite a bit once our guests arrived. I decided to just let the messes that were undone wait for the next day and just hang out and relax for a while. Meeting their little baby Liam was so overdue, and he's just a doll! (photos coming soon...). That night we watched Community + 30Rock before bed and it felt weird to sit and relax for an evening after not doing so for more than a week.

On Saturday it was go-time once again. I started baking fairly early to get the rest of the brownie cupcakes done. I had already made the other treats earlier in the week (recipes coming soon...). Ben did some finishing touches outside, we tidied up our room and I was still setting up the food when our first open house guests arrived at 1pm.

We showed the house, ate food,  and visited with friends + family until 4:30pm or so when it was just us and our house guests again. Then we went out to dinner and the babies made a mess of the place and passed out on the car ride home. Us parents weren't far behind.

Sunday after church I did some family photos for our friends, which I'll post about later. When we got home to our house, just the three of us again,  Malakai wanted to explore the neighborhood a bit before dinner. He chased his shadow, went up and down the curb a dozen times and felt the textures of concrete + dirt.

It was a whirlwind of a weekend. We were surrounded by people for 48 hours straight. It was great, I'm thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to relax in the calm after the storm.

How was your weekend?

Thankful on a Thursday: motivation

We're expecting house guests tomorrow and because I'm a special kind of crazy, I also chose this weekend for our open house. Both of these things have surely been the motivation we needed to get our house together.

We've painted and installed the new kitchen faucet that we bought before we even owned the place. Half of our house now has stuff hanging from the walls. I've unpacked and set up the entire guest room.

Just to give you an idea of how far our house has come in the last 6 months, here is the progression of our guest room.

When we moved in, March of 2010 this was the "catch all" room.

It stayed this way until we got our other bed out of storage from Ben's parents house. Then we had to move the big things out and the boxes against the walls.

Then we brought the ab lounge out of retirement for a bit. Except, the laundry used it more than we did.

{can you even see it in this photo? ha!}

That's what it looked like just last week. Giant 7 foot tall stack of boxes was long gone but there was still a mess of toys and the boxes to the left to contend with. 

Today it looks like this!

{map of Oahu, repurposed wine-rack, and Malakai}

{overflowing bulletin board, craft cart + sewing machine that I barely know how to use, dresser with more craft items on top + inside}

The entire bottom shelf of that craft cart is full of gift bags, gift boxes, and tissue paper that I've saved for the last 3 + years. From bridal showers, our wedding, birthdays + other holidays and of course baby showers. I saved it all and just reuse one since I have something for EVERY occasion in there.

I'm beyond excited to have this room done. It has been the door that always stays closed when people stop by because of it's scary mess. Who am I kidding, that door is closed when it's just us to keep Kai out of it! 

Tonight we put the finishing touches on the rest of the house. I'm really looking forward to decorating these bare walls! 

This week I'm so thankful for...

331. feeling at home in our "new" house. 

332. my mom stopping by to lend me a jelly roll pan so I can make this for the open house. 

333. fog in the morning and sunshine in the afternoon.

334. a quiet moment to myself to finish up this post and get to baking.

335. all the friends + family who are coming to see us this weekend.

336. Malakai's growing personality.

337. Ben's non-stop hard work on the job and at home.

338. the baby gate that arrived in the mail on Monday. 

339. our self-soothing sleeper.

340. inspiration.

What are you thankful for?