Hurricane Hadley

Hurricane Hadley strikes again! While we are in Illinois, Hadley and I are staying in the private suite in the retirement community where my grandma lives. Although I've tried to baby proof our suite, Hadley made mess. In just a few minutes, she removed the toilet paper and garbage bags from under the bathroom sink.

Cousin Reunion

On Tuesday, Savannah and Hadley were thrilled to see their cousin Mya (my brother Michel's step daughter) for the first time in three months! Savannah and Mya had a girls sleepover at Grandma Judy's house, and then Mya came with us to Tanners Orchard on Wednesday. We love Mya...and loved spending time with her!

Hadley adores Mya...and Mya does a great job looking after Hadley!

Morton Memories: Part 1

This week (Oct 19-26) the girls and I are in my hometown of Morton, IL for my grandma's 100th birthday party. We've enjoyed lazy days with my mom and sister...days filled with sleeping in, staying up late, playing at the park, swimming in the pool, and having play dates and sleepovers

On Tuesday, Savannah and Grandma Judy spent the afternoon riding the 4-wheeler and motorcycle around Duane's house and in the cornfields:

Savannah loved riding a 4-wheeler...

...and motorcycle for the first time!

Duane, Savannah, and Grandma Judy

(Hadley was asleep.)

The weather was beautiful, so Savannah and Grandma 

took turns reading stories to each other outside:

Hadley

(12 months old)

I wish I could sit on my haunches like this! 

From Duane's house, you can see my mom's blue and white house:

Parade of Homes

Last Saturday afternoon, the girls and I toured 4 new homes on the Parade of Homes. The Parade of Homes is one of my favorite (and free!) annual events. I love seeing current decorating trends and getting new project ideas. 

All four homes that we visited were furnished models in the same neighborhood. They were around 2,700 square feet and had a list price of around $475,000.

Savannah loved the bunk beds in this bedroom...

...while Hadley enjoyed playing on the couch in the bonus room below:

On this year's Parade of Homes, I took the following inspirational photos of  mud rooms, tile, and stairs to give me and Tal some ideas for upcoming projects.

1. Mud Room: 

Last week, Tal and Uncle Kenny ripped out our kitchen office:

In a couple months, they are going to build a mud room where the kitchen office used to be. Ideally, I would love a mud room like the one below that has bead board, a bench with shoe organizers, and coat hooks.

Like the photo below, I would love to have cabinet doors that keep shoes hidden:

 2. Stairs

In the coming months, Tal and I planning to remove the carpet on our stairs. 

We are thinking about painting the treads black:

For safety reasons, we would add a runner 

like this Blue Heron runner from Dash and Albert:

3. Tile

Tal is going to rip out the tile in our downstairs half bath and laundry room. We are thinking of replacing our outdated tile with a plank or wood tile like the one below: 

Front Door Makeover

Over the last few months, Tal and I have been making our entry more colorful and attractive. In August, we stained the inside and outside of our front door. Although it is 15 years old, our door is beautiful, solid wood, and 10-feet tall: 

However, over the years, it has gotten scuffed up and lost its glossy finish:

 (Below are some pics of me and the girls on the same day that I shot the "before" pics of our door.)

To update our front door, Tal and I used a sock to apply two coats of 

Minwax Gel Stain in Hickory and  then one coat of poly to the interior and exterior.

 

Then, a couple weekends ago, we used spray paint to change the 

door hardware, kickplate, and hinges from gold to black: 

We used black spray paint to update our door bell, too:

Our door looks brand new!

Random iPhone Photos

Life...unedited. 

These photos are dark, blurry, and untouched, 

but they capture everyday moments that I want to remember forever.

September 2015

Savannah (6)

October 2, 2015

The girls and I picked up Tal's birthday cake at Dairy Queen.

We ate some ice cream while we waited for DQ to personalize Tal's cake:

October 2, 2015

After picking up Tal's cake at Dairy Queen, 

we stopped by Food Lion to get some birthday candles:

October 2015

At our staff meeting, each grade level/department  had 30 minutes to decorate a pumpkin. The team whose pumpkin got the most votes got to wear jeans to school for a week! The specialists team and I painted a Frankenstein pumpkin to advertise our upcoming Monster Book Fair. The sign says: "Come see my friends at the Monster Book Fair November 4-18!"

 

October 

We have a climber!

Grandma Barbara gave Hadley this toy table for her birthday, 

and Hadley loves to climb on it:

October 10, 2015

Hadley fell asleep in my arms on her 1st birthday:

October 2015

The girls and I stopped at Krispy Kreme for an after-school donut:

October 2015

For Tal's birthday, the girls and I gave him a Manchester United jersey...with his favorite player's name (Wayne Rooney). Tal loves wearing it on Football/Futbol Fridays at work: