I heart my new bathroom!

I love my husband. He has amazing skills, many that he has learned from his Dad. One such set of skills has scored us a new bathroom. It has taken longer than expected (doesn't everything, ha!), and we still have a few finishing touches and touch-ups to do, but we are LOVING it.

Our bathroom is not a very large space, but I think we have made very good use of the space we have, so it seems plenty spacious.

Making decisions it not my strong suit. Though I do end up making a good decision, getting there is a long process, with often too much thought. Myles is much quicker at making decisions, so this can be painful for him. However, he is glad that I take time to think things through. It took a lot of time to finally decide what I wanted to do for our bathroom, because we were changing everything. I knew I wanted a light and airy feel. Our bathroom has an awesome skylight, so I also knew I wanted to highlight the clean lines that it has, but without feeling too modern in style. 

Over whelmed with all the possibilities, I started with what I knew I wanted and then went from there. Number 1. I wanted a square sink. When looking at all of the sinks and vanities, I was only drawn to the square sink, I just love it. After picking that out I was able to make decisions that I thought would look good with it. Brown vanity, because it was pretty and I couldn't choose everything white and the mirror was a great deal at hobby lobby. For all the fixtures we went with brushed nickel to match what was on the vanity. The tile for the floor, we just used what we had gotten for the kitchen because it was a great match, white with a little bit of brown marbled in.

The vanity has worked out so great! Myles and I each have our own side of storage for our toiletries. I have however, taken over one of the drawers on his side...he was only using one :)

For the shower, we knew we were going to rip out the old shower and tile a new one. Our decision, here made for more labor and a longer timeline for finishing, but it was definitely worth it! We chose subway tile, with a pretty accent tile for the cut out, bench, and floor. 

I am so thankful for all the hard work Myles (and his Dad) put in, and how much care he took in making things level and straight. It means a lot to this perfectionist wife!

Shower in the making

Perfect for our shampoo and conditioner

The accent tile is prettier in person

The bench, we can shower forever!

I love it!

Now that the bones are finished (minus the molding), I can start thinking about how I want to decorate it and what kind of art to bring into the space.....oh the decisions never stop!

It must be nice...

Eli has really started to enjoy bath time. 

He usually splashes around, but today he decided to take a relaxing bath.

Doesn't he look comfy? 

Yes, he propped his legs up all by himself. 

However, no bath is complete without chewing on some rubber ducky.

Just relaxing, eating some duck. It must be nice.

My toot-a-roo turned 5 months this week!

Eli, you are getting cuter, and cuter everyday. 

Your smile is contagious

Your little voice is so sweet

Whats a mother to do?

Eli, you are learning more, and more everyday.

You have mastered rolling

You know how to play with your feet

Whats a mother to do?

Eli, you are growing bigger, and bigger everyday.

You like to sit up

You help when you eat 

Whats a mother to do?

Enjoy your sweet snuggles,

Embrace your slobbery kisses,

Laugh along with your laughter.

Play with you

Sing with you

Read with you

Sit with you

Smile with you

Love every moment with you,

Thats what this mother will do.

Happy 5 months! We love you!
<3 Mommy

4 months old!

Eli turned 4 months old a little more than a week ago and I have been meaning to write this post ever since!  Since both of my boys are napping now,  it seems to be a great time to do an Eli update.

Playing with the toy

Eating the toy!

This past month Eli has really gotten into playing. He loves to sing songs, be tickled, and wrestle around. He does it all with a smile on his face, and gives us sweet giggles too. We love that Eli has started playing back with us. We pretend to eat him, and he growls and gets us right back! It is really cute. Eli will actually play on his play mat, and will play a little with his toys...before he tries to eat them. When he is on his play mat under the hanging toys he will eventually get frustrated because he can't get the toys to his mouth. He pulls and pulls, but they just won't reach, its pretty funny. This month Eli has really enjoyed his toy elephant in the car, mainly because he can chew on the ring. We are thinking some teeth are in his near future.

Being tickled by Daddy!

Laughing...

Laughing!

Eli went to the nursery for the first time this past month, and attended his first vacation bible school. He did great and everyone loved him! For the last 20 minutes or so of each day at VBS I would bring Eli back to the 3 year old class I was helping with, the kids were so enamored with him. One girl said, "That is the littlest boy I have ever seen!". It was cute to see the 3 year olds love on him and ask question.

This past month, Eli also spent his first night away from home at Granny Boo and Grandpa's house, while Mommy and Daddy celebrated their 3 year anniversary!

Another new thing this month, Eli has started to sit in his highchair. His highchair is a special hand-me-down from my grandparents. All of my bothers, sisters, and I have used it at their old house. It is fun to have it in our house now. He still a little on the small side for it, but he does pretty well in it. He especially likes like play with his fish on wheels while he sits in his seat.

Vroom! Fishy pops a wheelie!

Eli is growing fast, and it is so fun to watch him! He is a complete joy, and is such a sweet and funny little guy! We love you little bug!

Fun on the Fourth

We had a blast celebrating the forth with our family! Myles's older brothers were visiting and we all joined a group from our church at the Rangers game. The game was great! Rangers won 13-4. It was fun to watch Eli enjoy the ballgame atmosphere! There was so much stimuli, talk about a dream come true for this baby! Lots of fun lights and sounds to be excited about! 

Eli's first fourth of July was accompanied by many "firsts". Eli's first ball game, and first fireworks.

Eli was great during the game. He love to be in on the action! We are so thankful he is a happy, easy going baby!

Eli and I getting ready for the game...he likes my hair

Eli and Daddy

Family pic...Eli open your eyes, silly.

Granny Boo, Grandpa, and Aunt Lauren

Uncle Marvin and Eraina

Eli and Uncle Marvin

Aunt Kristi and Titus

Picture with the Grandparents! 

Myles and I in line for some yummy ball game dinner!

Yum

Happy boy!

The seventh inning stretch wasn't quite sufficient for Eli, so he took a little 8th and 9th inning snooze. His eyes popped open as the applause erupted when the Ranger's won. 

Sweet boy!

Sleeping on Dad

So cute :)

His cat nap was perfect for him to be able to enjoy the firework show!

Eli watching his first fireworks!

We loved watching Eli experience everything. I think I watched more of him than the game!

I hope you all had fun celebrating the gift of freedom! Happy Fourth!

Artsy Fartsy Friday-Tree Painting

As I have said before, I have never taken any art classes. So my knowledge on how to draw or paint comes from a mixture of what my mom has taught me as I would do art and projects growing up, and what I learn from doing. 

When I decided to start to try to paint, I had no clue what type of painter I was. (I still have no clue, I just know some things I enjoy). 

The big question at the beginning of any drawing or painting is what do I draw or paint. For me this is just about the hardest part. I am not good at coming up with what to paint/draw. With painting, the question of what to paint becomes even harder because you have to add in the question, what style of painting do I want to do. If I decide to paint a flower, do I want that flower to be realistic or somewhat abstract? Do I want it to have texture? Do I want the painting to be of just the flower or should I do something in the background? SO many questions, and so many decisions is hard for someone just starting to paint to sort through. This is probably one of the biggest reasons I don't paint more. I simply just don't know what to paint, or where to start. 

Before starting my big tree painting, I had started several paintings but had not finished anything. 

Enter Myles. He loves it when I paint, and sometimes I thinks he gets more excited about me painting than I do. I love him for that :) Anyways... Myles wanted me to paint him a big painting of a tree, and he said I had to finish it. I drew out some ideas I had, showed him, and he chose one. We then went to hobby lobby and got not one, not two, but three huge canvases. This was both scary and exciting.

When we got them home I started drawing out the design for the tree on the canvas and got started painting. I only knew what I wanted to do for the tree so I started there.  

Once the tree was about done, I knew it needed something in the background. I added a different color...

but it still needed more. I didn't know what I should add, so I looked online at paintings for inspiration. I remembered some paintings I had looked at (and LOVED) before online and thought painting a city in the style that artist had done would go perfectly. (I would post the link of this artist's site, but I can not find it.)

After adding hills and the city, I thought the painting still needed something else. I decided to add more detail and texture in the grass. I thought it would be interesting to do a different type of "grass" on each canvas, and I really liked the way it turned out!

So with the grass added and a little more texture/ variety of color in the background, I was finally finished.....I don't ever think I declared it finished, but I haven't done anything else to it in over a year, so it is pretty much finished. However, I do still need to sign it. 

From doing this painting, I learned that I really love painting colorful paintings and BIG paintings. Kids love my tree painting. Some of my favorite compliments on it have come from kids. Eli has also always loved the tree painting. When we were living in college station, we had it hanging over the dresser we used for his changing table. He would always look at it while getting dressed or his diaper changed.

The painting has also made a fun backdrop for taking pictures of Eli. The picture below, we used on Thank you cards. (Many of which I still have not mailed out, sorry!)

Now the tree painting has a home in our hallway. I really love it there. Eli still looks at it when we are walking through the hall, sometimes I stop and let him get a good long look :) I am glad he likes it. 

I hope your Friday is Artsy Fartsy!