DIY IKEA kitchen hack.

As many of you know from my Christmas post, Santa brought Eloise a kitchen for Christmas. Specifically, an IKEA kitchen. And more specifically, a hacked IKEA kitchen, by yours truly. There has been lots & lots of interest in this hack, so I thought I would share!

To start, here is the original kitchen. It isn’t awful, but it’s a little plain & boring (in my opinion!). We opted to get the top section as well, but you can get just the bottom here if you want something more compact.

DUKTIG Play kitchen IKEA Encourages role play which helps children to develop social skills by imitating grown-ups and inventing their own roles.

{via IKEA DUKTIG Play Kitchen}

For the holiday season, IKEA ran an IKEA Family special where you got both pieces for $79 (normally it is $99) which is a GREAT deal for a play kitchen (considering most are over $100 & some are over $500, what?!).

So, in full disclosure, I am not the first one (& won’t be the last either) to hack this kitchen. I perused this Apartment Therapy post to get some ideas. I wanted to give Eloise a kitchen that was really similar to ours, or what I want our kitchen to look like (a lot of my sake since it will be in our house/living room for years likely!) so I decided to give her a two-color cabinet (white on top & grey on bottom), marble countertop& a white subway tile backsplash. Traditional with a modern twist – pretty much my style, right?

I don’t have really any “during” photos since I didn’t plan on doing a tutorial, but this is what I basically did:

  • assembled the top piece (without the microwave door)
  • assembled the bottom cabinet (without the stove or cabinet doors)
  • primed the top, cabinet, & doors
  • painted the stove & microwave doors (using this silver spray paint)
  • painted the top piece white (using Benjamin Moore Cloud Cover)
  • painted the bottom cabinet (using Benjamin Moore Cinder)
  • replaced all of the handles (using these IKEA TAG ones)
  • added marble contact paper to the countertop
  • added backsplash (I drew grey “grout lines” with Crayola marker on a white foam core poster board)

And for those of you who are more visual, here is a picture:

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Finally, I made Eloise a tiny little oven mitt (using this tutorial as a guide) & appliqued hand towel (this was my first time & doing non-straight edges was tough!) using this Dwell Studio fabric I have had around for years (which I first used to make these IKEA upholstered stools). Santa also brought her these IKEA utensils & veggie basket, & Aunt Anya (Yaya) brought her these adorable green dishes.

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At some point, I hope to “style” her kitchen a little more & add some cute decorations, but honestly, she is at the point where everything is thrown on the floor, & I don’t keep extra décor in my kitchen, so I don’t even really know what to add. A faux plant or flowers maybe? For the sake of the photos, I used the little hooks on the backsplash (there is a little rail there if you can’t tell) to hang her utensils & oven mitt, but in real life, she is still too little to reach those hooks & just pulls really hard on whatever is hung on them, & the hook pops off!

Also, one thing of note: there are removable plastic legs that you can add for height which we left off (for now) since the kitchen is a good height as is (she can barely open the microwave, for reference). But it is nice to know we can add height as she gets bigger.

Does your little have a play kitchen? Did you add any personal touches?

M

This post contains affiliate links.

eloise {month seventeen}

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{lion: jellycat via Nordstrom // onesie: Carter’s // skirt: DIY from Amanda // bow: Hadley Girl (Liberty of London Eloise print) via Brickyard Buffalo}

{month seventeen} This past month went so quickly (I blame the holidays!) that I was genuinely surprised to see the reminder pop up on my phone to do Eloise’s monthly photo shoot & blog post! Seventeen months. How is that even possible?

Eloise is a bundle of energy these days & so, so busy. But can we first talk about those pigtails! I have been able to put her hair up in pigtails for a little while, but I feel like her hair is just now long enough that it actually helps holding her hair back. Though it doesn’t hold her bangs out of her face, which is the biggest issue with her longer hair length. Most days, Eloise will keep a bow (on a clip) in her hair to hold those bangs back.

Talking is something that we have noticed so much more in the past few weeks – Eloise is a chatterbox. She just learned how to say Papa (sounds like Baba) & is overjoyed. She has said Dada in the past, but since we call Aaron Papa instead of Dada or Daddy, it makes much more sense. In the late afternoon/early evening after we have had our afternoon snack, Eloise (& Sadie) are always waiting for Papa to come home. If I say Papa, she will run to the front door & yell Papa! Eloise also says quack quack, woof woof (but more just the F sound), Mama, and a few other simple sounds. In addition, she also learned recently to click her tongue, so she often does that during playtime. A lot of the time, Eloise will just rattle off all of the sounds that she knows, so it sounds a lot like this: Mama quack quack quack woof woof Papa Papa Papa Mama Mama Mama quack quack.

Even though Eloise is learning to vocalize more, she is still a great signer. More and please are probably her most frequently used signs. She uses more to signify more of something, but also if she wants something new (& then you have to figure out what it is that she wants!). When she wants to do something & she isn’t supposed (or has something that she isn’t suppose to have & I take it away) she will sign please, & it is heart-breaking. But, signing has helped us so much in terms of being able to communicate with Eloise & I think it really helps keep all of us from being frustrated over not knowing what Eloise does or doesn’t want.

We started really working last month on it, but Eloise is officially a one-nap-a-day gal! She still has days where she looks ready to go down for a nap in the late morning, but I usually try to do a fun activity or even offer a small snack to help her get thru to lunch. That late morning time is also one of only a few times a day where Eloise is consistently fussy (or grumpy) the other being right before dinnertime. That convergence of hunger & tiredness is brutal sometimes! But, back to my point about one nap per day, it makes it so much easier to be out of the house for an extended period of time, which is so nice most days. I have switched when we go out of the house to run errands, or meet for playdates now to the morning (just after breakfast) as opposed to in the early afternoon which worked better with two naps. Eloise’s daily schedule usually looks something like this:

8 AM – wake-up (yep, a late waker!)

8:30 – breakfast

9 – playtime or errands/playdate (I also often get ready & shower during this time & Eloise will hang out with me in the bathroom in her exersaucer)

11:45 to 12:30 – lunchtime, sometimes it is earlier, sometimes it is later

1 PM – naptime (usually 2.5 to 3.5 hours, on rare occasions 4!)

3:30 (or after naptime) – snack & playtime

5 – Papa is usually getting home

6 to 6:30 – family dinnertime (we try to eat together every night)

7 to 7:30 – bathtime & bedtime

Our schedule, for the most part, is pretty consistent. Eloise has been on a schedule since about 4 months & it really works for all of us. Having that big chunk of time in the afternoon during her naptime is glorious & I am doing my best to be as productive as I can (or on occasion letting myself relax & rest!). That is the time I do projects around the house, DIY, blog, clean the house, etc.

Eloise LOVES to dance & it is the cutest thing I have ever seen! Any time she hears music, she starts to move her body side to side, or bend her knees & bounce, or shake her head. Seriously, the best! I have been trying to get video of it, but so far I haven’t been able to catch it without her catching me with my phone out! Pictures & video of her are tough these days because as soon as she sees that phone, she wants to play with it. It stinks because I feel like I don’t get to capture as many candid moments as I would like to anymore, but it is also a great reminder that I should be present with her in the moment & not worried about my phone.

Eloise, much like her Papa, wants to be helpful & she is a great little helper. She wants to be a part of everything, which is good & bad, but I am really trying to find ways that she can contribute. Over the holiday, my dad & Aaron built Eloise a learning tower which allows her to stand on a stool (of sorts) up at kitchen counter height so she can see what is going on & help out. The stool needed to be sanded & painted, so I will share a picture once we get it back.

As most of you know, Santa brought Eloise a play kitchen for Christmas (& I plan on sharing it soon, along with all of my hacks) & it has been a hit! A lot of the reason I think Eloise likes it so much is because it gives her a play area when she is standing. But I have really  noticed her pretend play in the kitchen so much & I hadn’t seen it before Christmas. She will get out a cup or bowl & a spoon & stir, & then offer samples of her dish to anyone who is willing to try. She puts on her little oven mitt before she opens the oven.  She puts her cup up to the faucet to get water & then drinks out of the cup.

And finally, I have been really trying to offer Eloise utensils at every meal. She is not super coordinated with them yet, but can get them to her mouth once loaded with food. Sometimes towards the end of the meal the utensils turn into play things & we take them away, but for the most part Eloise is really eager to eat her food off of a fork. I have also been offering her meals on a small ceramic plate or in a bowl. I got little appetizer plates & bowls from Crate & Barrel for about $1 each & they are perfect. It has been great to see that Eloise (mostly) will keep the plate or bowl on her tray or table & not toss it on the floor. It is tremendously helpful to know that she won’t throw dishes on the floor when we go out to eat. We have one plastic bowl we use for snack time & two versions of the EZ-PZ mats but neither Aaron nor I want to exclusively offer Eloise food on plastic plates. Maybe we are crazy or super naïve but the less plastic plates & bowls we have in our house, the better. It is slightly different with glasses & we use almost all plastic glasses & cups for Eloise now, but we are hoping at some point to transition her to small glass cups too, at least for meal times.

{weight} I would guess 25 pounds.

{hair} dark (reddish) brown.

{teeth} 12 teeth plus four molars. Hopefully we get a break before the two-year molars start making an appearance!

{eyes} dark brown.

{clothes}  12 to 18 months (some still fit but quickly growing out of), 18 month (also growing out of), 18 to 24 months.

{diapers} full-time cloth {bum genius freetime, pocket, & elemental} & honest company size 4 diapers at night with a bum genius diaper cover.

{feeding} during the day, three meals, an occasional morning snack, & one afternoon snack. sippy cup of milk with every meal.

{likes} books, mama & papa’s cell phone, toys that squeak or rattle, singing & music, dancing, Sadie, standing, FaceTime, bathtime, her snack cup, shoes, mama’s (diaper) bag, clapping, putting things inside a bag or box, taking lids off of things, talking (Mama, Papa, quack quack).

{dislikes} having something taken away from her, diaper changes, not eating when someone else is, being hungry.

{nicknames} Bug{s}, Love Bug, Baby Bug, E, Wheezy, Kiddo, Love, Bugaboo, Ellie or Elle.

Happy seventeen months Eloise!

M

This post contains affiliate links.

Eloise meets Santa {2015}!

We went down to see Santa at the downtown Nordstrom with our friend Beatrice last year {see that picture here} & decided to make it a tradition! This Santa Claus is a particularly busy one, so we have opted to always go early in December so I can include copies of pictures with some of our Christmas cards {but not so early, like on Black Friday, when there is an 8 hour wait!}.

This year we headed down on December 1st & tried to get there as soon as the doors opened. We weren’t the first in line, but didn’t have too many people in line in front of us. Even still, the entire thing took about 90 minutes, & it was right during nap time, so I was just waiting for a meltdown to happen {&, spoiler alert!, a tiny one did}. Eloise was really into the decorations & lights, but was pretty antsy the entire time. The kid just does not want to stay still {& I don’t blame her!}.

As you can see below, Eloise was very stoic at first, & then she got really sad.

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So we called it good with the first picture & Eloise was much happier to roam around Santa’s workshop/window display while we waited for Beatrice to sit on Santa’s lap {that also didn’t happen & B was not happy to see Santa either!}.

Do your littlest love or hate Santa Claus? I always feel so bad for Santa when he has to pose with kiddos who really just don’t want to sit with him!

M

eloise {month sixteen}

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{lion: jellycat via Nordstrom // dress: Gymboree (old from summer) // thermal longsleeve sshirt: Old Navy // leggings: babyGap // moccasins: Freshly Picked // Santa hat: handmade by Aunt Kelly (same as last year’s)}

{month sixteen} Even more so than last month Eloise seems like such a toddler these days! She is super mobile & walks (& runs!) all over the place, wants to do everything herself, & shakes her head “no” a lot… Yep, toddlerhood!

Eloise is super smart. We have always known that, but it is amazing how much she knows & understands. Just this morning when we took her monthly picture, she knew exactly what was going on. She saw the camera & immediately {attempted to} put on her Santa hat, grabbed Leo, & was climbing up in her chair (though she still needs a little boost)! She gave me a few shots & then decided she was “all done” which she didn’t sign (like she normally would at the end of a meal or something) but by taking off her hat & climbing down off of her chair. And beyond just this morning, we have noticed that she takes instruction & direction pretty well. We can ask her to get something or do something & normally she will!

While Eloise is still getting one more tooth (that last canine!), I feel like we are in a lull of teething. This one isn’t bothering her too much, & she isn’t supposed to be getting her next set of molars until around 2 years. {Though I have heard from lots of mamas that those 2 year molars are the worst! I am not looking forward to that this summer!} Eloise went in for her second appointment with the dentist earlier this week & got a clean bill! She wasn’t thrilled about it, but she did lay on the chair long enough for the hygienist to brush her teeth & check her new ones, & for the dentist to do a quick examination & swab on some fluoride. My guess is that it was the time of day (during her usual AM nap) that caused the crankiness during the appointment rather than the dentist. Eloise is pretty open to us checking her mouth & teeth if we are concerned about something, & we have gotten into a good habit of brushing her teeth every night. She actually seems to enjoy it, especially since we have more than one toothbrush for her (all from the dentist) so we can give her one without toothpaste so that she can brush her own teeth!

In the past month we have been working on dropping down to one nap, & I think we are finally making the transition this week. Most days when we are at home, just Eloise & me, I can tell that she is ready to go down around 10 AM or 10:30 (she gets up around 8 AM). But sometimes we have to be out & about during that morning time, so she doesn’t get a real nap. Starting last month though we started taking Eloise to daycare one day a week (& two days a week this month!) & since she is a toddler, there is only one nap in the daily schedule. It is good & bad, but is sort of acting as a forcing function for us to drop that extra nap which is probably a good thing in the long run. So now she gets up around 8 AM and goes down for a nap between 12:30 and 1 PM. It seems like a snack around 10:30 or so seems to help with any residual fussiness, and then we eat lunch around 11:45 or noon. Fingers crossed she starts taking two to two-and-a-half hour naps now (or maybe even three?) because I think she still needs that much sleep.

So day care. I don’t know if I have said much about it, but I will do a quick re-cap: Aaron, thru work, has a back-up care benefit that allows us to take Eloise to day care (or have a nanny come to the house) in the event that the primary caretaker (that’s me!) is unavailable. It is a set amount for the year that is very (very) heavily subsidized. We didn’t even realize it was a benefit until earlier this year, & then by the time I sat down & filled out the paperwork & got Eloise on the schedule, it was November. So we are taking advantage of all this time we have & she is going twice a week this month. While I absolutely miss her terribly while she is away, it is SO nice to have 5 or 6 hours to myself, especially this time of year when I have committed to one billion craft projects & things around the house. Plus, I think it has given us all a really good introduction to child care which is great because in a few years Eloise will be in some type of pre-school. The bummer part is that there are lots of germs at daycare, hence us all being so sick over Thanksgiving which was from her first day!, & also that it is so expensive, outside of this particular benefit. It would be great to have the option to send Eloise to part-time daycare, but honestly, it is like another mortgage payment for this particular center, so I guess we’ll have to win the lottery first!

Eloise has started really talking these past few weeks. By that I mean actually saying words, rather than babbling sounds. Most of the time she will parrot what we are saying or if we say what something is & point to it. It is pretty fun to hear her speaking & I know the coming months will be full of so much speech development.

{weight} 24 pounds.

{hair} dark (reddish) brown.

{teeth} 11 teeth plus four molars & one final canine coming in on the bottom.

{eyes} dark brown.

{clothes}  12 to 18 months (fit perfectly!), 18 months, & 18 to 24 months (still long in length).

{diapers} full-time cloth {bum genius freetime, pocket, & elemental} & honest company size 4 diapers at night with a bum genius diaper cover.

{feeding} during the day, three meals & one afternoon snack. sippy cup of milk with every meal.

{likes} books, mama & papa’s cell phone, toys that squeak or rattle, singing & music, Sadie, standing, FaceTime, bathtime, her snack cup, shoes, mama’s (diaper) bag, clapping, putting things inside a bag or box.

{dislikes} having something taken away from her, diaper changes, (sometimes) her car seat, not eating when someone else is.

{nicknames} Bug{s}, Love Bug, Baby Bug, E, Wheezy, Kiddo, Love, Bugaboo, Ellie or Elle.

happy sixteen months eloise!

M

this post contains affiliate links.

Pinterest Christmas: Toddler Felt Christmas Tree {Linky Party}.

Welcome to week two of the Pinterest Christmas series for 2015! {See week one here!}

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This week I am sharing a felt Christmas tree I made for Eloise. Like most toddlers, Eloise is busy & curious, so a Christmas tree in the middle of the living room sort of seems like a disaster waiting to happen. The idea of not having a tree for these toddler years is out of the question (I LOVE having a tree!) so I thought I could make something to at least distract her a little bit. And who knows, maybe it will keep her from playing with our real tree? #wishfulthinking

{original Pinterest link – Felt Tree}

Supplies:

  • Felt (assorted, see details below)
    • 1 yard stiff felt (I bought dark green premium felt but it wasn’t stiff enough to completely hold the tree’s shape)
    • 1 yard fusible fabric stabilizer (to remedy my above problem; I used Pellon Pelted 71F Single-Sided Fusible Ultra Firm Stabilizer)
    • 1 yard green felt
    • white
    • red
    • light brown (for Santa’s face, reindeer, etc.)
    • dark brown
    • blue
    • yellow
    • red
  • Scissors – fabric scissors work best on felt!
  • Sewing machine
  • Buttons – 28 + 4 assorted red buttons (I bought a package of assorted buttons at JoAnn’s)
  • Ribbon – thin ribbon (1/8 in.) works best for attaching to the tops of the ornaments
  • Elastic – thin elastic for securing the ends together (to form the tree)
  • Ornament templates – see here
  • Needle
  • Thread
  • Iron

For this project, I basically followed the original tutorial. I had to tweak it a bit since the measurements were in metric, but for the most part it worked!

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First, I cut the felt for the tree. I opted to sew the two big pieces of felt together right away. It is cleaner if you follow the original tutorial & wait until all of the stitching is done on the top of the tree, but oh well. I also didn’t have super stiff felt for the underside of my tree.* I didn’t satin stitch the lines on the tree mostly because I didn’t have a double needle for my sewing machine (nor have I ever used one!). I opted to try out one of the fun stitches I have on my machine – the leaves were a nice touch I think!

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Next, I sewed on the buttons, 24 of them, all over the tree. I tried to scatter them around the tree & looked to the original tutorial for guidance on placement & distance. I also discovered, during this step, that my sewing machine sews on buttons! Yep, you read that right, buttons! And it is the absolute coolest thing I have ever done! Sewing buttons on by hand isn’t hard, but it is time-intensive (at least for me), so this saved me SO much time! Then I added the four buttons along the edge that will button up the tree. And finally I added four elastic loops to the opposite edge.

The final step was to make all of the felt ornaments. Not an easy task, but the entire point, right? I first printed out the ornaments (three pages) & cut them out. Next I traced each cut-out on the coordinating felt color (I looked to the original tutorial); I just used a pen, but in hindsight I would have tried a vanishing marker (they are sold in the sewing section). Then I cut out each piece of felt in the color that I needed for each ornament. I eye-balled the smaller pieces & didn’t worry about making anything perfect. I tried to machine sew as much of the ornaments as I could since I find it faster than hand sewing. I also attached the ribbon loop for the top of each ornament with a sewing machine (using a forward & backward stitch, repeated) with the ribbon ends sandwiched in-between the front & the back of each ornament piece.

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Eloise seems to like this tree, but isn’t super interested in it. She is, however, leaving our real tree alone, so I call that a win (& SUCH a surprise!). She is mostly just pointing & staring at the tree. When she does play with this little felt tree though it is awesome that the ornaments stick to the tree without having to be hung by the loops, because it will be a few years before she has the fine motor skills to hang those ornaments from the loops on the buttons! Her favorite thing is to take the star off & put it back on, so definitely include that if you make this for your toddler!

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*Sidenote: As I had mentioned above, I didn’t get stiff felt (the Joann’s I went to didn’t have it, at least in an obvious place), so I added the stabilizer to the back. The tree originally stood up on its own without the poster board, but it was dented & not very sturdy. In hindsight, I should have realized I needed to make an adjustment with the felt before I sewed on ALL of the buttons… it wasn’t awful to iron the stabilizer at the end, but be really careful because if the iron is hot enough to adhere the stabilizer, it is also hot enough to start melting buttons. Uh oh. Also, be sure to have water in your iron so it can steam – that makes the biggest difference when trying to adhere the stabilizer!

Thinking about making this project? Feel free to leave questions in the comments or link your own in the Linky Party below! Also be sure to check out Kendra’s Pinterest Christmas projects over at The Gilbertson Family.

Are you DIY-ing anything for your kiddos this year?

M

Pinterest_Christmas_Logo_Edit

Here are the instructions if you are a new to linky-party:
•click on the blue button at the bottom of this post – the one with the frog
•add a link to your Pinterest Christmas blog post in the URL field (please do not link to your home page but the specific post page)
•for “name” write a short descriptive name for your post
•if you would like to put the Pinterest Christmas button on the bottom of your post, we would love to see it there!

a {late} thanksgiving turkey!

So I know it is December & Christmas is in the air, but I had to share this adorable shoot of Eloise dressed up as a turkey. We dressed her up in this costume for actual Thanksgiving, but since she wasn’t feeling well, we thought we should give it another shot!

And for those of you wondering where this costume came from, it is from Aaron’s sister Cari who dressed her three kiddos in it & has saved it over the years! Thanks Aunt Cari!

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The sweetest turkey ever, right?

M

Pinterest Christmas: Toddler Fingerprint Tree Cards {Linky Party}.

Welcome to week one of the Pinterest Christmas series for 2015! I am SO excited to share my projects with you this month!

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First up is a {pretty} simple project I did with Eloise. I like to include her in cards I send out, like her feet in the shape of a heart for Valentine’s Day last year, or her footprint on her birthday thank you notes. This was the first time we used paint on her fingers, & I am glad the paint was non-toxic…

Toddler Made Christmas Tree Cards:

{original Pinterest link – Toddler-Made Christmas Cards}

Supplies:

  • {white} cardstock – for the cards; I cut each one into quarters
  • Paint – I used acrylic craft paint in 5 colors
  • Sponges (optional) – I picked up some cheap ones at the grocery store
  • Green paper – for trees; I used one dark green & one light green sheet
  • Scissors
  • Glue stick
  • Marker – I used a fine point Sharpie which is my go-to!
  • Wet wipes – to clean up messy hands!

This project is pretty straightforward, albeit messy, & I would suggest doing it with your toddler right after mealtime, or when he or she is the happiest!

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First, I cut out all of the trees. I started by cutting my green paper into three strips (they were 12 x 12 sheets) & then eye-balled a good triangle shape. Then I cut out all of the trees. {In hindsight, I should have waited to cut the triangles out & let Eloise paint these longer strips. There may not have been as many “ornaments” on each tree, but she is little enough I think this would have been a better route.}

Then I cut my white cardstock into quarters. I was originally going to do a 4×6 or a 5×7 card, but it seemed so wasteful!

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Next, I opted for painting. I squeezed a small blob of paint onto the sponge – three on one & two on the other. I let Eloise dip her pointer fingers into the paint (with some help) & then helped her press her fingers onto the trees. I tried to get about three or four prints on each tree. She was super interested in the sponge (so I gave her a clean one to play with in an attempt to keep paint from getting everywhere!) & also wanted to eat the paint. Big surprise. It was difficult for me to see her eat that paint (well, lick her fingers) because it definitely wasn’t organic, edible paint, but oh well!

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Because there was paint, well, everywhere, I placed each completed tree on newspaper to dry. Once dried, I glued three trees on each card, alternating the light & dark green trees. Finally I added “Love, Eloise 2015” on the bottom of each card.

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I saved one of the cards for our fridge (& it will ultimately go into Eloise’s baby box for safe keeping!) but the entire point of these cards was to include them with our holiday cards. We don’t have a lot of family that lives close by, so I think it is fun to send a little something special in the mail when we can!

Thinking about making this project? Feel free to leave questions in the comments or link your own in the Linky Party below! Also be sure to check out Kendra’s Pinterest Christmas projects over at The Gilbertson Family.

What are you DIY-ing for the holidays? Do you include your kiddos?

M

Pinterest_Christmas_Logo_Edit

Here are the instructions if you are a new to linky-party:
•click on the blue button at the bottom of this post – the one with the frog
•add a link to your Pinterest Christmas blog post in the URL field (please do not link to your home page but the specific post page)
•for “name” write a short descriptive name for your post
•if you would like to put the Pinterest Christmas button on the bottom of your post, we would love to see it there!

happy thanksgiving!

I just wanted to pop in & wish you & yours a very happy thanksgiving! We are spending the week with my family & are enjoying all of the family & friends!

Last week we did our family photo shoot (for our holiday cards) & we just got them back – LOVE! You can see the pictures on The Happy Film Company’s blog, & the little video/slideshow below.

Happy turkey day!

M

our trip to texas {san antonio & austin}.

I apologize for the slight absence this past week from the blog. we unplugged & enjoyed the past week on a family vacation to TEXAS y’all!

it was great to have some family time to explore new cities & to hang out with friends. the entire purpose of the trip was to attend Jess & Cale’s wedding (Aaron was a groomsman), but we went down early to visit my very good friend Meg & her family (we have known each other since we were 12 & have been friends ever since! i also know her husband from high school, so it was a little reunion of sorts!).

{san antonio}

{eloise loved looking at the planes from the gate while we waited. she even waved at the ground crew guys, but I am pretty sure they didn’t see her!}

{eloise was catching up on some reading during the first part of the flight.}

{after lunch, eloise napped. hooray!}

{we had an amazing lunch at Bird Bakery & I wish I could go there every day. they have amazing sandwiches & cupcakes!}

{eloise & violet (Meg’s daughter). it is hard to believe there is only 8 months between them (Vi is 6 months)! they are BFFs already.}

{we headed down to downtown san antonio to the Riverwalk we had heard so much about. Meg suggested we take a river cruise & it was awesome! we learned so much about the history of the Riverwalk & the city, & it was so gorgeous!}

{#imonaboat}

{there was beautiful architecture all along the Riverwalk.}

{a group shot! eloise’s morning nap was a no-go hence the pacifier in the middle of the day!}

{& then we ventured down to the Alamo. I had no idea it was in the middle of downtown.}

{there was a gorgeous old & huge tree right near the Alamo.}

{the obligatory family shot in front of the Alamo.}

{the girls weren’t too keen about the fur trapper hats, but they sure were cute!}

{we hit up Bakery Lorraine for lunch & I had to try the French macarons. they had an Earl Grey flavor, so it was pretty much my favorite thing ever!}

{Meg & I took the girls to the DoSeum which is the brand-new children’s museum in town. it was such a great place & even though the girls are little, there were things for them to do. there was a little town & eloise had fun exploring all around. she loved putting the mail in the mailbox!}

{we played a few games of Settlers of Catan. it was fun to play after a few years & it makes me want to play at home!}

{I had my dresses for the wedding (I had three sent – one back-up size & one back-up style which you will see below) sent to san antonio so I didn’t have to do an eight-day rental. I was a little nervous since I would have had just one day to find a dress if none of the dresses fit, but Rent the Runway did not disappoint!}

{austin}

{this little one was so good at the wedding rehearsal & so ready for lunch!}

{picking up aaron’s wedding suit. it was a formal wedding, but no tuxes. the guys looked great!}

{we watched the first half of the huskies vs. ducks game, but it was too late to stay up for the entire thing! it was a sad loss, but I am proud of UW for not letting it be a blow-out!}

{shenanigans with eloise. those are her shorts on her head!}

{this was the outside of the chapel at the venue. “A” is for Anderson!}

{after being with just mama all day while papa was celebrating pre-wedding with the groom & the wedding party, eloise was so happy to see aaron after the ceremony! she had seen him thru the window as he was waiting to walk down the aisle & was pretty disappointed when he had to walk right past. she did pretty well during the ceremony with her pacifier & a stolen set of crayons (from the little boy in the row in front of us) that she used to make really pretty artwork all over the inside of my satin clutch… but she didn’t scream or cry, so no complaints!}

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{the wedding party’s table. the bride & groom sat in that little settee in the corner! the dinner menu was BBQ, so we stripped all the kiddos down to their diapers for dinner, & I tucked my napkin in like a bib!}

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{this was our family photo from the guest book. I love instant photos!}

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{we asked the pro photographer to take a family photo (hence the great lighting!) & then we filmed a little bit for Jess & Cale’s video photobooth! my dress was this Marchesa from RTR & I was so in love! We still aren’t sure what was going on with Aaron’s hand!}

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{one of my favorite new photos!}

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{I had the BEST wedding dates y’all!}

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{we made sure to get a group photo with the new Mr & Mrs Anderson!}

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{this is one of me, Hailey, & Carmen. yep, that’s a booster seat in my hands; we shared it between eloise & lily for dinner!}

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{my back-up rental dress – which was this Monique Lhuillier – was a twin to the dress that I made for Eloise for the wedding. & we had to get some photos in our matching dresses before I had to return them!}

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{you can see the back of Eloise’s dress here – a huge bow!}

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{we went to Torchy’s Tacos for lunch & it did not disappoint!}

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{we made our way to the “greetings from Austin” mural & Aaron set up the timer on my phone for a great family photo!}

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{& there just happened to be a French patisserie right next door to the mural. So we wandered in & found ourselves with a half-dozen macaroni to-go!}

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{Austin is a really young town & very hipster. I feel like this picture is a good representation somehow – a huge aloe vera plant & a silver airstream!}

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{downtown Austin.}

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{this was a great mural right down the street from our rental house: living the good life in Austin.}

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{we learned at the Alamo about how there was a Mexican cannon in our possession & we basically said “come & take it” & then they did… this was a nod to that great act at Frank’s.}

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{our cute little rental house. In a bit of an up-&-coming neighborhood, but so nice on the inside!}

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{we drove out of Austin to The Salk Lick for some BBQ lunch. It did not disappoint!}

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{my two lunch dates hamming’ it up!}

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{posing with the BBQ pit. That thing was impressive!}

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{we had a few hours in Austin before our flight so we headed to the Thinker which is a children’s museum that focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts, & math (STEAM). Most of the museum exhibits were too old for Eloise, but we did find a few that were perfect! It was nice to get some wiggles out before the flight.}

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{a giant light-bright! I was in love.}

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{Eloise loved the lights too!}

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{Eloise & Aaron running round with our buddies Andy & Lily (who were also on our flight!)}

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{Eloise fell asleep almost immediately on the flight – & we had the entire row again, thank goodness – but after the flight attendant announced that the fasten seatbelt sign was off & then om & then off (a billion times), she woke up… she was really pretty good the entire flight & only fussed when we tried to put her in the Ergo to sleep. She was awake the entire time we de-boarded, got our bags, & walked to our car. As soon as we got her buckled into her seat she was out!}

except for the piping hot weather (it was in the mid-80s!) we LOVED Texas. seriously, it was a really fun place to visit. luckily we had a rental car (which you absolutely need) & got to explore all over san antonio & austin. if you ever get a chance to visit, we highly recommend it!

eloise did really well traveling, & we were super (super) lucky to get the entire row on both flights! it helped tremendously to have a bit more space for her to wiggle; aaron & I sat in the aisle & window seat (respectively) & eloise bounced around between sitting on the seat, climbing up & down, & standing. the hardest part of the trip was that eloise slept terribly the first three (out of four) nights we were in san antonio. like the worst she has ever slept. I think part of it was the time change, part of it was sharing a room, part of it was teething, etc., etc. even though she wasn’t sleeping well at night, she napped fairly well (even with one nap per day on some days) & wasn’t really grumpy from lack of sleep. when we got to austin for the second part of the trip, we all slept so much better! we rented a house on AirBnB & it was perfect. we wanted a kitchen, two bedrooms, & close to downtown & freeways, & it met all of those requirements. I also set up baby gear rental which changed my life! we brought down our own car seat & stroller (both check for free on the plane) but didn’t want to worry about bringing other gear down, especially since Meg had a highchair & Pack N Play for us in san antonio. so I searched before we left & found I Love Baby Rentals in Austin & set up a rental for: a Pack N Play, audio monitors, booster seat, & activity table. it was delivered & set up at our rental house, & then picked up by the owner – so awesome! I highly recommend this if you are traveling with littles!

thanks for having us Texas!

M

eloise {12 month photos}

I just got eloise’s one year photos back & I am so excited to share them! she did so well during the shoot & I am really happy with the way they turned out. prepare for LOTS of photos! {& how did she get SO big?!}

{sidenote: right after we got eloise’s six month photos taken, we were told that our photographer Melissa was bowing out of her business to spend more time with her family. great for her, but so sad for us. I LOVED her! but, she referred us to a few other photographers (that had a similar style) & we found Alicen who shot these photos of eloise.}














{dress: June & January (no longer available) // moccasins: Freshly Picked // green tee: Old Navy (same but different colors) // chambray pants: babyGap (no longer available) // lion: jellycat via nordstrom // onesie: Lil’ Giggles Etsy Shop // bloomers: Carter’s (no longer available) // bow: Lululuvs // shirt & bloomers: Peek (similar top & bottom) // party hat: DIY // E light: Michael’s}

love you eloise – our sweet toddler!

M

{see eloise’s newborn & six month photos.}

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