Merry Christmas

Wishing everyone a safe and Merry Christmas. Hope your holidays are full or family and fun, laughing and good cheer. Don't worry about the amount of food you eat or gifts you receive, be thankful and enjoy the season.

From our family to yours.

Kerby

It was a Wiggly party

Hello there one and all. A little while ago I shared that my little man wasn't so little anymore and turned two! I cannot believe how fast this year flew by, and I suspect it's just going to get worse. Today I want to share some of his party details with you guys.

I'm not sure if anyone is familiar with The Wiggles, but Braxton is obsessed with them. He loves them and cannot get enough. I swear he might even like them more than Luis or I some days, and he definitely thinks that Emma is his girlfriend. Sorry ladies, he's into much older women apparently. Anyway, so with this fanatical love it was easy to pick a theme for his party this year. It was a Wiggly Party.

Pink Foxes are a Girl's Best Friend

Hello everyone and welcome to the weekend! Today I want to share some nursery art that I made for Miss P's room. Originally I thought that the gender neutral owl motif would be okay if we ever had a girl, but once it was confirmed that we had one on the way the gender neutral just wouldn't do. I have been trying to add more pink and girly things to the nursery to get ready for Miss P's arrival in 3 weeks (so soon!). 

The easiest thing I could think of was to make some new art for her room. I know that pink foxes seem to be the thing right now for girls, but I don't care. I love the idea of little pink foxes running all around the nursery.

The Big 2

Hello and happy Sunday! I don't have anything to share with you guys other than today my little man is getting a little bigger and turns two! I cannot believe how fast a year can fly, and how big my little guy has grown.

You are such a smart and funny little boy. You make us laugh everyday with a personality that is so large. You are stubborn just like your Mommy and love to laugh just like your Daddy. Everyday we learn something new and exciting, and I love that I get to share this amazing time in your life. I can't wait to see how you grown over the next 365 days. I want you to grow up and at the same time I want you to never grow up. We love you, always and forever.

We managed to have the same picture taken almost a year apart. And we will do this again every year until I can't force my children to do so, maybe eventually we will be the ones with our hands held.

Kerby

Mexican Unstuffed Pepper Casserole

Happy Wednesday everyone! Hopefully everyone is having a great week so far, and was able to enjoy the beautiful weather we had last week. I think Braxton and I spent half of the week walking around the neighbourhood playing in the leaves. Back to the normal rainy and wet fall that we are used to, and this momma definitely needs to find some indoor toddler activities that Braxton will actually do.

But back the topic of this post. A few weeks ago I talked about trying some new recipes and I wanted to share an easy dinner go to that has little prep work involved. It can also be changed about a hundred different ways depending of the mood you are in.

Updated Dresser: From Black to Blue

Hello everyone! Hopefully you all had a fun and safe Halloween and haven't eaten all the candy yet. Braxton still doesn't quite get the whole trick or treat thing, but he didn't hate it as much as last year. And he didn't seem to mind his costume too much either, so that helped. We just visited the grandparents again since our monster didn't want to walk up to people's houses. The sidewalk is much more exciting.

Today I want to share a before and after of a dresser I updated to fit into Braxton's big boy room. The original dresser we had in the room was a dresser I had as a kid. It was an antique that my parents gave me and I was terrified that it was going to get ruined. So instead of trying to keep it safe, we opted to give it back to my parents and replace it with a used dresser that we wouldn't care as much about. I was able to find this dresser off of a local buy and sell group on Facebook for $40.

Vanilla Cherry Nut Bread

Hello everyone, sorry for my month long absence. I didn't realize that it had been that long, and my excuse doesn't really work anymore. This little girl has been kicking my butt for the last little bit, but I'm hoping that I will stay feeling good until she gets here. In January, well after Christmas.

Anyway, back to more important things. Like food, that's always important. I was feeling a little bored with our dinner options and decided that I would take a look at my old "What's Cooking?" magazines by Kraft Canada. I don't know if they have anything like this anywhere else, but I hope they do. I love these magazines. The recipes are so simple and usually very good. While looking for some new dinner options (wait for those in the coming weeks), I found a few recipes for some sweet things.

My energy levels are super low, so anything with no effort and minimal steps has me hook, line and sinker. This recipe for vanilla cherry nut bread hit all the criteria, so I gave it a shot. 

It's a..........

We are so excited to finally know that we will be having a girl! This little one was very difficult at the ultrasounds so we had to wait an especially long time to find out! With Braxton we found out at 22 weeks, and that was with a two week wait for the party. This time around it was at 25 weeks. I know it's only three weeks but it was killing me!!

We did very quiet reveals with our parents this time around, versus the huge party we had when we were expecting Braxton. I just did not have it in me to do another huge party this year, especially trying to get things done around the most "helpful" toddler ever. But everything was perfect.

I cannot wait until our little one gets here, only 14 more weeks to go. And I just scared the crap out of myself thinking about how much there is to do and how fast this time is going to fly by. Better get my butt of the couch and get some work done.

Kerby

Boo Sign

Welcome back and happy Monday again. Hopefully everyone had a nice and relaxing weekend. If not, hopefully you got a ton of things accomplished. It seems to always be busy here, even if we have nothing going on.

I wanted to share a craft I did a few days ago on a whim that I am actually quite smitten with. I had a small scrap piece of wood sitting around that I thought could be used somewhere, so I sanded it down weeks ago. It has been sitting around waiting for a new purpose. While finishing my scrap wood ghosts inspiration hit and now I have this cute little sign ready and waiting for Halloween.

Scrap Wood Ghosts

Hi everyone, I have finally gotten back to some crafting, which I am loving! Sometimes you can get so sidetracked with life and other things that you forget when you enjoy something so simple. I am excited to get back to doing something that I love so much.

Now as much as everyone hates to admit it, the weather is a changing and certain colder weather holidays are coming up. I skipped ahead a bit and made a fun and easy Halloween craft that will add a fun and spooky element to your house this year. All you need is some scrap wood, sandpaper, white paint and black paint. That's it. 

Velvet Pumpkin Tutorial

Hello everyone and happy Monday. I know, not the best day to say that but I always like to wish you guys a happy day. Maybe it makes a difference, who knows.

Back when this blog was even smaller than it is now (and it's still pretty small!) I shared these velvet pumpkins, but never did a tutorial. I am making more and decided that I should show you guys how to make these on your own.

Single Serve Peach Crisp

Hello everyone, today I thought I would go with a light topic after my last few posts. With summer slowly crawling to a close there are some new fruits in season, namely peaches. For some reason the only time I really want peaches is in the dead of winter, so this year I decided I wanted to buy and freeze some. That way when I had a hankering for a peach dessert in January, I would have the peaches in my freezer already.

But before I was able to get the peaches in the freezer, they slowly disappeared into my stomach. It's not my fault that they were so yummy. Before I knew it I only had four left, not really worth my time to go through the freezing process. So I decided that a very small peach crisp would hit the spot. I found a recipe for a double serving at The Baker Upstairs as a starting point and adapted it to fit what I had and wanted.

It's Not Always Easy - Our Infertility Story Part Two

Hey everyone, today I am going to continue on with the story of our infertility battle. Feel free to skip if it's not your thing, I promise I won't mind (this post doesn't have many pictures, one in fact). And if you missed the first part you can find it here. I do want to finish the story for those people out there who are fighting the same battle, so they know that there is hope. It can happen, you just need to fight for it.

I left off after three procedures failed, with no samples left and no money as well. By the time we were in a place to begin again it was just after Christmas in 2012. We went to purchase more samples from our chosen donor only to find out that they were indefinitely unavailable. By law they are only allowed to sell a certain amount of donor samples in general, as well as a certain amount to each location. So our donor was oversold and would not be available again at all. This was another setback because we had to start the process of selecting a donor all over again. It's a lengthy and long process, which is not fun at all. After a few months, we finally had a new donor selected.

We ordered three samples of the new donor and waited patiently for them to arrive at our doctors office so we could start a new cycle. They arrived in early 2013 and we were able to call in our day one to start a new cycle. This time around when we went for the first round of blood work/ultrasound we were taken back by a nurse who had to show Luis how it administer the drugs. It was decided that I would be taking Puregon at it's lowest dose, as well Ovidrel (if needed) and Prometirum after the procedure. The first two drugs were to be given via needle, the third was a pill that I had to take subcutaneously. Sounds fun right? The needle for the Puregon was like an epi-pen, so Luis was shown how to load the drugs and use the needle. While the Ovidrel if needed was a real life needle, and huge.

So away we went after our first visit to wait until 7:30 that night for Luis to give me my first round of the Puregon. This was the worst thing ever for both of us. Imagine having to give your hysterical wife (who is terrified of needles) a needle in her stomach while she is shaking and crying. We had to do this every day until two days before the procedure. The only benefit to having a medicated cycle was that there were less travel days to get the blood work/ultrasounds done. I believe there were only four or five trips this time. But, there were around nine needles on top of all of the blood work. The purpose of the Puregon was to help my follicles grow larger and possibly release more of them, but at such a low dose the later was very unlikely. This was also to help guide my body into doing exactly what the doctor wanted it to do.

The Puregon had horrible side effects for me, I was sick to my stomach with abdominal pain and headaches. As per the doctor, this was normal and to be expected. I worked through all of the pain and discomfort of this cycle and I have no idea how I did it. And I will say that I am so happy that I had benefits through work at the time that paid for the fertility medication. The total cost of the Puregon for the first cycle was roughly $1200, which was 100% covered. Not everyone is as lucky as we are when it comes to benefits through work, so this was a blessing.

On the last day that I had to go for the blood work/ultrasound it was determined that I would have to take the Ovidrel shot as my follicles had reached perfect size and my hormones were exactly where they should be. So we rushed to the pharmacy to get this medication which without benefits would have cost $300. Crazy how much medication can cost sometimes (to recap we are at $1500 and one medication still to worry about). This shot was to be taken around 4pm with no Puregon that night. After which we would get a day off and then the procedure would occur. The Ovidrel was to force ovulation when the doctor wanted it to occur so the procedure would have a much better chance of success. Oh my goodness if I thought the Puregon shots were bad, this one topped all the shots combined! Poor Luis, I can't even imagine how horrible this experience was for him.

Here is a picture of what my stomach looked like a few days after these shots were finished (please ignore my pasty white skin):

After a day without needles (yay!) we headed out of town for the procedure, which given the painful track record I was very nervous for. Once we arrived and were in the room I was in a full blown panic, to which Luis dutifully held my hand and told me it would be okay. And you know what, it was. I had zero pain or discomfort and the procedure took only about 10 minutes. I could have cried I was so happy. After the last three times and all the pain I felt, it was so refreshing that the procedure was normal. And I was able to return to work the next day, so that was clearly a monetary bonus as well. Before we headed home, we stopped to pick up the Prometrium which had a price tag of $300 with three repeats.

Starting the day after the procedure I was to take 2 pills every 8 hours until it was clear that I was not pregnant, or until the 12 week mark of the pregnancy. This was not the funnest thing I have ever done, but if it would get the job done then I would power through it. The side effects of this drug were horrible as well because they mimic morning sickness. So you would have no idea if you were actually pregnant or not!

There is a 28 day wait between the procedure and the pregnancy blood test, in which they ask you not to take a home pregnancy test because the Puregon and Ovidrel can stay in your system for upwards of 14 days and would result in a false positive. We had never had this problem because my period always occurred right on time to let us know that the procedure failed. But this time the date came and went while I suffered through the "morning sickness" of either the drugs or real pregnancy. This was such a mental game because you tried to not convince yourself that you were pregnant because the symptoms could be from the drugs, but it's hard not to get excited.

The day before the blood test we decided that we were going to take a test as it had been 27 days since I had taken the drugs, so they should be out of my system. And really, what's one day? So I went into the bathroom and took the test, then ran out and told Luis I couldn't look. He had to go in after the 3 minutes to look for the both of us. I'm such a chicken, and I'm okay with that. So after forever and a day, or roughly two and a half minutes Luis went into the bathroom and asked how many lines was pregnant. I told him we wanted two. He clarified that we wanted two lines, and I just about beat the crap out of him. I think I may have even yelled at him, asking how many lines. He walked out casually and just said "Two". I just about died of joy right then, as I started crying and jumping up and down. We still went for the blood work the next day and they called to give us the good news.

We excitedly told our parents after the positive blood test because we could just not wait. Slowly told our friends and family a few weeks later, and officially announced at the 3 month mark. 6 and a half months later we had our amazing son in our arms and felt truly blessed that we had the means to be able to fight this battle. We will never regret anything we went through because how can it compare? Looking back you wonder how you did it, how you put yourself through all of that. But one look at your baby lets you know that you would do it a hundred times over just for the little one in your arms.

This cycle, if we did not have benefits, we figure would have cost roughly $4000. All in we figure this roughly cost us $12,000 (excluding the drug cost which was covered). It was five plus years worth of expensive purchases and vacations to Cuba or the Dominican. I cannot even imagine what other people are forced to go through in their battles, but hopefully you will get your happy ending (or your BFP for those who know the lingo). 

And that's the story of how we were able to conceive Braxton. It was along and painful journey with a very happy ending. Maybe I will share our next story when the next one comes along, or maybe not. It's not as long but still a little different. For now I think you guys might need more pictures and less words.

Kerby

It's Not Always Easy - Our Infertility Story Part One

Hey everyone, time to get a little serious and personal today. I am going to talk about something that people usually don't talk about, or possibly don't even consider. Something that people never think will happen to them or to anyone they know. Infertility. It is the silent and heart breaking battle that 1 in 6 Canadian couples are going through right now. When you think about it that way, it's pretty scary that at least one person you know has gone through or is fighting this battle right now. And the saddest part is that you probably won't even know it.

 

(source)

The New and Improved Deck

Hello and happy Friday! Hopefully everyone has lots of sun and fun in their future this weekend. I finally have that bigger post to share with you guys! It took me a bit to get the after pictures, but better late than never.

We love our deck, but we realized this year that it might not be that safe for an energetic toddler. The deck was close enough to the ground that steps weren't really needed, but high enough that Braxton could fall and hurt himself. It was between 6 and 8 inches from the ground, not something Braxton would look for while trying to get off the deck. Here are a few pictures from 2009:

Toddler Fun - Part One

Hello there and welcome back. Today I want to share a fun activity I saw on Pinterest forever ago and thought I would try with Braxton (the original pin is here, if you would like to take a look). We had a few super hot days where we didn't want to be outside for too long, so it was the perfect time to give a toddler activity a try.

You only need a few supplies: a plastic zipper bag (or two if you're me), some washable paint and some painter's tape (masking tape would work as well). I poured a large amount of the washable paint into a Ziploc bag, then doubled bagged it. With my history, one bag would have caused a large mess. Better safe than sorry.

Use the painter's tape to tape this bad boy to a window or glass door. I taped mine to our back sliding door, please ignore any drool stains. And I forgot to clean the toys and such from the deck, so please pretend they are not there. Thanks a bunch, you guys rock.

Then try to get your toddler to acknowledge that you even did anything. Seriously! It took Braxton about two hours to even pay attention to the paint bag, even when I started playing with it. He just ignored it and decided that we needed to wrestle instead.

Feeling my utter defeat, he gave me a few pity hits and went on his way.

 

No one can say I didn't try. Maybe it was the fact that I used white paint? Maybe I will dig out the red washable paint and give this another try. If not, oh well. Not all toddlers like the same thing. Back to the drawing board I guess.

Have you guys tried any fun toddler activities? Feel free to share. I want to gather a bunch for the upcoming cooler weather (boo!) and new arrival. Momma is going to need some fun things to keep everyone happy this winter! Wish me luck on my next adventure into toddler fun.

Kerby

Vanilla Sprinkle Pudding Cookies with Chocolate Chips

Hello, hello. It's me again, with yet another recipe for you guys. I'm hoping to wrap a few things up to share with you guys, but it's hard going when it's so nice outside. Braxton has a love for swings, so he spends most of the day trying to convince me to take him back to the park.

I want to share another pudding cookie variation with you guys. The last recipe turned out so well I thought I would try to change the original recipe up again. These were originally made for an Easter get together, so I wanted to add some fun colour with sprinkles.

(Here are my Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies, and the original recipe from Pinterest.)

Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies

Hello again everyone, I told you I was going to try to post a little more often. First I have to get my butt back in gear and get some things done. As I mentioned, I have a few recipes that I did awhile back that I am going to share with you guys now. Hopefully this will let me catch up.

I stumbled upon a pudding cookie recipe on Pinterest that looked so amazing that I wanted to give it a try. But when I went searching through my supplies, I found that I didn't have all of the ingredients. So I tweaked the original recipe to work with what I had on hand.

 

Mint Chocolate Pudding Cookies                                                                

1 cup butter, softened                              3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar                                 1 pkg. chocolate pudding
2 eggs                                                    1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour                                       1 tsp. baking soda
1 pkg. mint chocolate chips 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Beat butter, both sugars, vanilla, eggs and pudding mixture in a large bowl until smooth. In a separate bowl sift flour with baking soda.

2. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until just combined. Add the chocolate chips and mix until just blended.

3. Drop cookie batter onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. As per the original recipe: "They may not seemed fully baked, but they are. Do not over bake!".

4. Let cookies cool on the cookie sheets and once cooled move to air tight container.

These cookies were pretty good, but I have to admit they were even better straight out of the freezer. Seriously, they lasted longer at room temperature than they did when I was trying to keep some for later.

I think this was a recipe tweak that ended up being better than I could have guessed. I was planning on using the mint chips for a completely different recipe, but I am so glad I used them here instead. I cannot wait to make these bad boys again.

Anyone else change a recipe and end up with something amazing? I always love it when that happens.

Kerby

Linking to:
Tatertots & Jello - Link Party Palooza 8/21/15 

Happy Canada Day!

Hey there everyone, just wanted to say Happy Canada Day to all the readers that reside in Canada. I hope you all have a wonderful day and spend it with your friends and family. 

Big News...

Hey there everyone, I'm still alive I promise. I just wanted to give you guys a quick hello and an update about where I've been for the past few months.

We are happy to announce that we are expecting baby number two at the end of the year! And the morning sickness kicked my butt this time around. I am just starting to come around so hopefully I will be able to stick around a little more from now on.

That's all for today, but if the weather stays on my side I am hoping to have a big post for you guys shortly. So dear mother nature, please keep the rain away!

Kerby

Big Boy Room, Almost there

Well it's finally done. I told you I would have an update about the big boy room soon, and here it is. I can't believe how long things can take sometimes, especially when you have a toddler that has decided that naps aren't for him anymore. It's a daily struggle, but so far I am "winning" (if you can call a cranky toddler a win).

[If you missed out on previous posts, you can find the plan here and the first update here]

Today I want to share the completed room as far as construction goes. I still have quite a bit of decorating to get done, but so far I am happy with how it has turned out. I left off after we had just finished the painting and were about to start the trim. We used primed 4-inch MDF boards for the trim (the same that we used in the nursery) and did two coats of white semi gloss paint before they went up:

Once all of the boards were ready Luis broke out the miter saw and trimmed the room out. It didn't take too long for him to power through this, even with a closet to trim out with low shelves (I'm sure he was really loving me while he did that). 

As it can go when you are renovating, unexpected things can happen. The first thing that happened was that the ceiling needed to be painted something fierce. The previous owners did a terrible job with painting pretty much everything, so we have slowly been updating every painted surface. The second thing was that the new trim wasn't covering the gaps between the flooring and the walls:

Not exactly what you want to see after you have put up new trim. A quick run to the hardware store for some quarter-round and a few extra cuts and nails and the problem was solved. Now it was time to fill the holes, mud the joints and corners, caulk along the tops of the trim and do a coat of the trim paint.

How's that for a huge change? Doesn't it look so amazing now compared to the old yucky trim? I'm ready to do this in the rest of the upper level and main floor today. Luis has some objections though. I guess I can wait and just enjoy this room for the time being.
 

It is amazing what some paint and new trim can do to transform a space. As you can see above we did not replace the window or door trim, we will do that when we replace the window and door. We aren't exactly sure when that will happen, but since they both work fine on a daily basis they aren't at the top of the list.

Now that the room is toddler friendly, we moved Braxton's bed and some furniture in here. He loves this room and he spent the first 20 minutes play screaming to hear the echo and grinning after each scream. 

 
And speaking of lists, here's the updated to-do list for the big boy room:

- Remove everything from the room
- Remove closet doors (we are going to go with no closet door until Braxton is a little older. I like having the closet open so I don't need to worry about him getting his fingers caught or the cats wanting to hide in there)
- Remove old trim
- Prime over the dark green and paint walls lighter tone
- Install new trim and paint white
- Paint window trim (we will be replacing the windows eventually, but until then the trim needs to be painted)
- Find bedding (we are going to leave the mattress on the floor for the first little bit until Braxton is used to having no rails)
- Make art to hang on the walls
- Make teepee to fit in his room
- Make some pillows to make the teepee comfy
- Get storage solution for clothes in the closet

So close! I am hoping to get the storage solution shortly as well as making some art. The teepee might take a little bit, but Braxton won't be in the room sleeping for a little bit. Until then, I am going to sit back and watch him Benny Hill style run between all the rooms upstairs joyfully screaming his face off.

Kerby

Healthy Carrot Apple Muffins

Hello again,

Today I have another recipe to share with you guys. I promise that I will have more than just recipes eventually. Sometimes it is just easier to bake during nap time instead of trying to not be loud doing other things. Our floors squeak really bad in our hallway that all of the bedrooms are in. Like, you better be a ninja to get down that hall if Braxton is sleeping because one wrong move will wake him up. With his big boy room at the end of that hall, I can only work in there while he is awake and someone else is watching him. So nap time baking it is.

Luis asked me to make something a little bit healthier this time around, and I agreed completely. I decided to make a healthy muffin that we could enjoy as well as Braxton. Maybe I would feel a little less guilty if I ate three of these, right?

Easy Vanilla Icing

Happy Friday one and all! I've had quite the lazy week, but with the warm weather finally getting here I am starting to feel motivated!

I mentioned back when I shared my Bunny Ear Cupcakes that I made the frosting from scratch. Today I want to share the recipe with you guys. It was so simple to make it will definitely be my go to frosting from now on.

Bunny Ear Cupcakes

Happy Easter everyone! I hope you are all spending some quality time with your loved ones and eating a ton of chocolate bunnies right now. I have been baking up a storm getting ready for Easter dinner, and I cannot wait to enjoy all my hard work. Today I want to share a cute Easter treat that everyone will love, and it will only take a few ingredients and an hour of your time.

Easter Bunny Bunting

Hello again, surprised to see me? I know I have been all over the place with my posting over the last few weeks. Sometimes it gets so busy that I forget that I haven't done anything I can show you guys! We are still plugging away at Braxton's big boy room, I promise that some day I will have an update for you!

But back to this post, I have another quick and super cute Easter craft that will literally take you five minutes to do. I know that these are all over the internet, but they are just too cute not to share.

Quick and Easy Easter Wreath

Hello, Hello. Hope everyone is having a great start of spring! I kid, because there is currently four inches of snow on my front lawn. I think Mother Nature is a little confused. But a confused Mother Nature doesn't stop the fact that Easter is this weekend. Like everything else this holiday creeped up on me as well. 

But I was a little more prepared than usual so I have a fun and easy craft to share with you guys. As I have said before, I have never really gone all out for any holidays other than Christmas and Halloween. With Braxton though, this needs to change! I am slowly trying to build a fun supply of holiday decorations that he (and I) can enjoy thoughout the years.

Today I am sharing a $15 Easter wreath with you guys that took me about a half an hour to make.

Chocolate Crunch Bites

Hey there everyone, I have another baking post to share with you guys. Hopefully I'm not boring you with all the food related stuff. Once the weather gets a bit nicer and we can get to work outside, I won't have any time to bake! I love to bake, so it's nice to get my fill while it's still chilly out.

This is another recipe that I thought was going to fail, but it came together and ended up being amazing. I am not a fan of these, too much peanut butter. But by the way they are being gobbled up by everyone else, they just have to be good. My parents even requested seconds, which is darn amazing if you know them.

Chocolate Coconut Bars?....No Chocolate Coconut Balls.

Hello, hello. Welcome back! I'm not sure if you guys saw my Pi day fail, but I also tried another recipe that day too. It was a day of almost double failure, but at the last minute I was able to salvage this recipe and make it even better.

The original recipe was for coconut cream bars using only four ingredients. I tweaked it a little bit because it was a huge batch. Maybe that was the source of my failure, maybe not. I will show you my failure while I share the recipe, so follow through until the end to see how it all pans out.

Big Boy Room Progress

Hey there, I am so happy to be able to share some progress in Braxton's big boy room with you guys. It doesn't seem like we got a ton done, but when you spend four days painting in every spare moment you have (including naps and baby-free hours) it feels like you climbed a mountain.

Last time I showed you the room it was full of crap stuff. As a refresh to what the paint colour used to be, here is a picture of the room cleaned out:

Rec Room Wall Update

Hello there, can you believe that the warm weather already took a turn? It's been chilly here for a few days, seems like Spring is teasing us. I just have to believe that warm weather will come.

We have been doing a lot of little things around here the last few days, and today I have a very easy but great way to spice up a blank wall. Here is the only blank wall we have in the rec room:

Pi Day French Silk Pie Fail....

Hey there, with a title like that how can you not get excited? If you follow me on Facebook then you know that the pie I made for Pi day failed horribly. It happens sometimes, I'm just glad that I tried this recipe out before I could have brought it anywhere. That would have just been embarrassing.

Twinkie Cupcakes

Hello again everyone, we have been bust little worker bees here. We are still trying to work on the big boy room, and now hoping to get the house spring ready as the snow melts. Let's just say there is a few weeks worth of doggie landmines in the backyard calling my name. I'm trying to repress that fact for now.

Today I want to share a recipe I found while cruising Pinterest. The idea sounded so amazing that I just had to try it. The original post from The Baker Upstairs is here.

Double Chocolate Banana Bread

Hey there, and happy Friday. Another week has gone by and it's one step closer to summer! I know, I'm really dreaming big here. Let's just get past winter before I start thinking about summer, right?

So, how do you like the title? There is nothing better than chocolate or bananas. Put the two together and you have magic people, plain and simple. I adapted my banana bread recipe into something that cannot be described, you need to make this so you can eat all of it. In one sitting.

Big Boy Mood Board

Hello everyone, hopefully everyone is enjoying the warmer weather. Braxton has been itching to go outside and walk for weeks, so I have been indulging in sunny walks whenever I can.

That being said, my little guy isn't so little anymore which is bumming me out. Braxton has recently started to try climb things and his crib is the main thing that he is testing out. We are terrified that he is going to fall out because we have hardwood floors upstairs, so we thought we would start the process of a big boy room. He has always been slow to transition (i.e. stubborn as heck), so starting early is probably in our best interest. I cannot believe that I am already starting plan out Braxton's big boy room.

We are going to move him into the spare bedroom, which has just been a storage/dumping ground for the last few years. Here is what it looks like currently. Please excuse the mess, we are in the process of moving everything to store, sell, donate or throw away:

Quick Sewing Storage Solution

Hello again, so glad that it's not been another two weeks! I cannot wait for the nice weather and spring to get her so that I can air my house out. It feels like we have been cooped up forever and a day. It will also help with getting all of the dust, stale air and germs out too.

I don't really have anything too exciting to share today, but it has made my life much easier and my closet much cleaner. My grandmother passed her sewing machine and serger down to me last month (super excited about that!) and I had no where to put them. I don't have a dedicated craft area because our house just isn't big enough, so I needed to find a permanent home for these.

I have a cedar chest that used to hold my wrapping supplies, but decided that it would be put to better use by storing all of my sewing equipment. Here is a before shot with my super duper helper: