Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!

The spirit of Christmas in our house with a little boy is undeniable. He loves his toys! Unfortunately we had to wake him up this morning (at 9:30 I should add), and he opened his presents, played for a short time, and then we had to leave to go to my husband's parents house, then my parents house. Well, taking an eighteen month old boy away from his new toys is not a good idea. Pretty much 'ruining his life' type of cry! He got over it once he opened more presents at 'Abui's' house, and then more presents and Ya Ya and G's house! We had some awesome B's and G's that my brother made, and got spoiled rotten by our parents! I can't decide what my favorite gift is, but I think it is my new wireless printer, the perfect gift for a grad school student! You know those commercials of the little boy in the car cruising across the country, and you can print from anywhere? I am lucky to have gotten that great printer! Hell ya!

But, the best present of all was seeing the glow in Aiden's face when he got to see his new presents. That is truly a priceless look. And, he is so cute and thankful for his gifts. He really loves everything and loves to play with his new things. We are even letting him stay up late today to play some more because we were not home all day!

This Christmas was truly something out of a story book. Sometimes I think my life is also a piece of a story book, maybe that is just a good outlook to have. This Christmas was so different than last, and I can only imagine how it will change year to year as Aiden gets older. I certainly am looking forward to using the Santa bribe in return for good behavior... is that bad?

Merry Christmas blog world!

Winter wonderland

Today we got around 13" of snow! Woo hoo! Aiden also successfully kept on his mittens and enjoyed playing in the snow! While I did not get much of this on camera because I did not want to ruin my camera, it was super cute!

My husband was in Washington, DC for work all week last week and came back with an adorable present for Aiden, a WWII Bomber jacket! These are all the wonderful things you get to do when you have a son! I don't think he would be as good at picking out dresses.

Even our dog was trying to keep warm in this cold weather! 

Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas! This is Aiden's second christmas, and I am so very excited! He actually understands how to open presents, although he does not quite get the concept of Santa Claus coming to our house. I cannot wait to say "you better be good, or Santa won't come!" Next year... 

Here was Aiden last year at Christmas time - 

Merry Christmas! 

Laundry Detergent DIY

I have been trying to become more efficient when using things around the house, so when I stumbled upon another blog describing how to make your own detergent for a whopping $20 dollars, I jumped right on that! After having a kiddo, Berto and I do laundry every day, at least a couple loads!

So, we went to the store and bought Borax, Baking Soda Washing Soda, 3 bars of Fels-naptha soap, and two containers of Oxyclean (all found in the detergent isle), regular baking soda (cooking isle), and some lavender vanilla essential oil (found by candles). You can choose whatever oil you like, or go without it if you are looking for more of a scent free wash.

Get your husband to shred the Fels naptha (or Ivory) so you don't have too! This also works in HE machines as well! 

Cheesy-looking Fels-Naptha....

Mix all ingredients together, except the lavender oil! I used a big trash can with a trash bag in it! Then I pulled out the bag (flex bag) and swished it around until all ingredients were mixed together well! I started to poor the amount into jars for our family, added some drops of lavender oil as I added more, then shook the jar!

The beautiful new home of my 8 dollar Wal Mart glass container with some vinyl letters I had laying around the house! 

To use, just add one tablespoon to your load of laundry! :) Enjoy!

For the love of the name

Last year I fell in love with Pottery Barn stockings for our son! We plan on ordering one for every kid we have! They are so classic, yet still whimsical for a child. The best part is, the images change every year in the catalog, yet the same basic concept stays the same.

Here is Aiden's stocking!

Since my husband and I were so blessed to be able to have a baby right away, we are going to carefully plan the next baby, and hopefully we will be able to do this! Note: See, everyone thinks Pottery Barn stockings are amaze-balls! 

So, on to the name thing. We have told many people are future children's names. But, no more. I find it funny, when someone knows what you were going to name your child, and they name them 'your name!' Although, I know you cannot possibly claim stake to a name of an unborn/unmade child. it is a bit ridiculous. I guess that means we will look like the copy cat's when our next child is named after someone else we know! But hey, it is not like there are no other Aiden's in the world! :) 

And, that console table, it is coming together, but needs a few more things. I am not a big fan of my handle holders that I have on there at the moment, they are black, on an ebony table. I have not decided if I want to replace them, or paint them. So, we shall see! Happy stocking day!

Sna-Sna-Sneak peak!!

So, I finally caved and bought the console table from World Market that I have been wanting! After a few months of searching on Craig's List and coming up with nothing but junk, the one I wanted from WM came on sale for $50 dollars off! Plus, I had a 10% off coupon! Ah, I love it! Check back in the next few days for the decorated version of the console table! Here it is at the moment....

I also bought a 'sun' mirror at Home Goods the other day for over our bed in our bedroom! Although it is going to be a few months until the finished product is up (still need to get chairs for the sitting area), this mirror is super cute I had to share! It was on clearance for $35 and I could not pass it up! Here is the sneak peak bedroom mirror!

I know it is not cleaned yet! We had a little incident putting it up. I did not measure the head of the nail that was screwed in... and it did not fit. Well I thought I could get it, and dropped the mirror, which happened to slide - not-so-pleasantly- down the wall leaving a lovely black mess on the freshly painted walls. AGH! Nothing was taking it off, so I went to my handy dandy Magic Eraser by Mr. Clean, and it came right off! This sucker also takes of crayons for all you mom's of toddlers! 

I also put some things on our end table in our family room. We are trying to teach Aiden the value of things and that the things that are not his, he cannot touch. Well, it does not work so well for an 18 month old. But, we keep trying because he needs to learn at some point. The little bird is from Home Goods, which he loves. He picks it up, and tries to chase you, all while growling with the bird! He doesn't get that every animal does not growl. Note to self: start working on animals!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow for the decorated console!

Honey-do list!

This Christmas break I took it upon myself to make a to-do list during the time I have before the semester starts again! Well, most of this is going to be for my lovely husband to do, because I can't/do not want to! 

This is our horrid laundry room! It is messy, unorganized, and blah, I hate it! We painted and replaced the floors when we first moved in (Buh-bye linoleum!) This needs some love, and I have great plans for this room for the break, it is just a matter of getting the stuff and putting it together! Some of it involves a shelf right above the washer and dryer, a small lamp, and an entry bench with some baskets! 

Don't mind our partially painted door! This was supposed to be replaced way back because having a doggy door (there when we bought the house) to the garage breaks fire code, and we are in the process of finding a steel door that is 31.5 x 79.5 that is a white 6 panel door... this task has become harder than we thought it would be (a custom door costs around 300!) YIKES! Check out my new sun mirror for our room, found on clearance at Home Goods for 35! This is the only room in our house with the white baseboards, eventually all of them will be white, not nasty wood colored! 

Boo doggy door for making our laundry room cold! Brrr!

This lock does its job. But, it is just placed there, not screwed in, so we need to get on that! :)

See that hot pink spot?! It is from anti-freeze because our home was empty almost 3 years before we bought it! It was winterized, and they spilled it everywhere, including all over our carpet in the family room. Hopefully within the next year we will be putting wood floors in the entire first level! Also, there is some yellowing from rugs never being moved (or pee) who knows?

Sneak peak at the girly (farmhouse) guest room! :) More to come!

This is my boring wall at the bottom of the stairs. I am in search of the PeRfEcT console table to put here. I have found some I love at World Market, but have not had the guts to go spend the dough on them! This should be complete before school starts again! 

Also, I did not take a picture, but I am going to have him also rip out our juniper that lives outside our garage. It is ugly, smells like cat pee, and is the gigantic mansion to hundred of bees! GASP! They hibernate in the winter, therefore their mansion will be BULLDOZED in the winter! :)

That is it for now! I will let you know how my husband does with his 'honey-do' list!

Well hello there, Christmas break

A big sigh of relief! AHHHHH! Finals are over and I can finally focus on some crafty ideas and decorating! Since we closed after the semester started, I have constantly been busy with school work, tutoring, and being a teaching assistant for my old Statistics professor! I bet you didn't think I was that good at math, did ya?!

Well, first off, Aiden's bathroom. It is adorable, and whale themed! Sadly, he usually showers with us unless the occasional poop explosion, diaper bead explosion, or the latest adventure of playing in the toilet water forces us to bathe him!

Do you remember the bathroom?

Well, it is extremely hard to find suitable artwork, at a decent price, for a children's bathroom. So, I ventured over to Etsy, and decided I would look for things I like, and make them myself for a fraction of the cost!

Here is one piece of artwork I hung over the towel rack!

The frame was $16.99 at Target and the photo cost $3.18 at target! I should add, ordering this from a private seller, it was $23.00, without a frame!

I also started working on a series of canvas's that I saw on Pinterest! Which, is the best site ever! I am planning on getting rid of the towel rack in Aiden's bathroom and painting some shelves to put over the toilet that are functional. The towels are going to go below the sink, and I am not sure what I will use the towel rack for, all I know is that I do not like the unbalanced effect it gives the bathroom! Here is a hint to what I am working on!

I also sort of copied, in a 'I admire your oh-so amazing design skills', my friend from high school, Katy's blog! Check out her more than amazing blog, that I one day aspire to be, here! I have had this problem with my dresser since I got it! Before, in our condo, our television was on my dresser, leaving me very little room to do anything cool! Now, the television is on my husband's dresser, so I have my dresser back! Woo hoo! I never know what to put on a dresser to make it 'fill' the room! So, here is where Katy was basically my inspiration!

The light in the far corner of the room will be going very soon! I had some extra mirrors and frames so I used those for the back-drop of the dresser, the light is from TJ Maxx for $34.99 (my splurge!) and the little decorative vase fillers are from Target! The three tea light holders are from Goodwill for one dollar! (Score!) 

And... just for fun... here is a little of what Aiden is working on! :)