Landry

I took some fun pictures of Landry the other day!

Here is just one but if you would like to see more please hop on over to my photography blog.

annakphotography.com

The Nursery

Well the nursery is finished and anxiously awaiting baby!

I mentioned before that I ordered the bedding set from CSNstores.com and they didn't dissappoint! The price was great and the services was, again, wonderful. The bedding actually arrived 3 days before it was supposed to and that's pretty much unheard of up in this neck of the woods. If you are an online shopper I would highly recommend CSNstores. The variety is amazing and like I said earlier, the service is superb.

And now, on to the nursery reveal.

First come the before pictures.

This first picture is from the day we moved in. This room was kind of a minty color with a lovely wall paper border and some accordian shades.

The first thing we did when we moved in was replace the carpet, take down that border and the shades and then paint.

This was Luke's room for a while so I went with a shade of blue. It's from Benjamin Moore and it's called Province Blue. I really liked it then and I still like it now so I didn't change the wall color.

When Luke was in here there were baseboards and decorations but I took these photos after I had taken all that out in preperation for the next part of the transformation.

So here is what the room looks like now...

We added board and batten around then entire room and replaced the baseboards and frames around the doors.

I think the board and batten really help the crib stand out. Here you can see the adorable new bedding I ordered from CSNstores.

The Firetruck sign was something I made years ago when Porter was a baby. Same with the chalkboard above the changing table. When we finally have a name for this little guy I think I will write it up there on the board.

I think my favorite piece of furniture in the entire house is the changing table. We picked it up at a garage sale before we had Porter. It has been through some cosmetic changes in the past few years but I love the shape and bones of it!

We have had these curtains for about 5 years now and I love them still but they needed a little pick-me-up so I added the ribbon stripes along the bottom. I love how they turned out.

And another favorite piece of furniture is my rocking chair...

We saved up for this chair for quite a while and finally bought it when Luke was a baby. It is sooooo comfortable! The perfect addition to the nursery.

I bought this lamp a few years ago for really cheap and I just took some scrap fabric and recovered the shade. It has been in the older boys` room for a while now but I repurposed it to go in the nursery. The colors were perfect and I think it will be great for those late night feedings. The firetruck was something I bought probably 7 years ago. I got it at a great price and it works perfectly in this room.

So that is the nursery! It is ready and waiting to welcome this little guy in the next few weeks!

New Year, New Ideas

Welcome to 2011! While I still have a lot of catching up to do from 2010 I decided to start right away with 2011.

I've been in a bit of a slump lately when it comes to updating and continuing on with the never-ending home projects I've got on my list of "To Do's" but I'm getting back on the wagon!

First up...

The babies nursery!

I've got about three months to get this thing done and I've decided sooner will be much better than later.

I've decided to add some board and batten around the room and maybe do a little painting but I'm most excited about getting a new bedding set for the crib.

We moved Luke out of the nursery and downstairs to be in the same room as Porter and Walker and I love that they get to share a room but I needed three matching quilts for their twin beds. I thought about doing something different and using some modern bedding but decided to stick with some Log Cabin Style quilts. Luckily I had some store credit saved up from working at Upon the Shelf so I was able to pick out some really great quilts. Well now it's time to update the nursery and since I no longer work at Upon the Shelf, I've had to look elsewhere.

I've done a lot of research on many different websites and I found the perfect set with the perfect colors on two different sites.



Both CSNstores.com and Overstock.com had the set I wanted and I was super excited that it was cheaper on CSNstores.com!!!

I've ordered from CSNstores.com before and have loved their speed, selection and customer service so I am really excited to use them again.

If you're looking for new bedding for any room in your home I would suggest checking out CSNstores.com. They have a huge selection and like I said, they are really great to work with!

More Christmas...

I made an advent calendar a few years ago but it needed some TLC to be able to function for us this year. After a little attention...

She's finished!

And I love her! I got this idea from my sister, Kara (pretty much copied her exactly) and I've seen it around blogland a few times before so I can't take the credit, but it's fun and whimsical and I'm in love!

This past week all the ladies got together and made some hand-dipped chocolates. Again, I can't take too much credit. The first day I didn't show up until about half-way into the day due to a horrible cold and then the second day I didn't show up at all!!!


But the girls were awesome and gave me a bucket full anyway. I put them in these adorable little Martha Stewart boxes to give to coaches, teachers and neighbors.

Thanks Ladies!

Merry Christmas to All!

Here are some photos of our house decorated for Christmas!

Tonight we wrapped all the family gifts and the bottoms of the trees are full of gifts!

The boys are getting excited and I'll admit... so am I!!!



*** I'm linking up to the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes. Click on the link below to check out some amazing ideas for decorating your home for Christmas!

The Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes

Joulu and Pukki

A couple of months ago we lost our sweet dog Katie to a car accident. It was a very sad day. It was wierd not having an animal around the house so we decided to get a cat. But then when we went to pick up the cat, we couldn't decided between two... so we got them both!

Meet Joulu and Pukki (pronounced Yola and Pokey).


We've been learning a few Finnish words from Emilia and when she taught us how to say Santa Claus (Joulupukki) we knew it would be perfect for the cats' names.

Porter picked Pukki...


And Walker picked Joulu...

Sadly, the excitement didn't last too long. :(

Just a couple of weeks ago, both cats went missing. We had let them outside for a while when it was about -30*. Usually they go out for a bit then wait by the door for us to let them back in. Well the next morning I realized that I hadn't heard any ornaments hitting the ground during the night (so far they've knocked over an entire tree and one of my nativities).

I started looking around and couldn't find them anywhere. I thought maybe I had left them outside all night but they weren't by the door. So then I figured they must have found a warm place to stay for the night and they'd be back soon.

About 10 minutes later I got a call from my brother, who lives a few miles away, and he told me that he had one of my cats at his house. He had been at our house the night before and I'm pretty sure both the cats climbed up underneath his truck and hitched a ride to his place! Unfortunately Pukki was the only one at his house. We have yet to find Joulu... I'm afraid he's not coming back, but we can still hope!

So by now I'm pretty sure Emilia must think we are the worst pet owners in the world since we've lost two since she's been here!

We'll try to do better.

Festival of Trees

A couple of weeks ago all the ladies took a day off and went to the Festival of Trees Luncheon in Prince George. The food was great, the trees were beautiful and the company could not have been better!

Here are a few pictures of the day...

This first one was one of my very favorites because it was so unique!

This was another favorite of mine. I loved all the colors on the start white!

Emilia even skipped classes to come with us. :)

It was a really great day and I hope we can do it again next year.