The Rest of Memorial Weekend

Besides the holidays, I've decided this is my favorite weekend of the year...

The anticipation of summer, lots of fun activities to pick from, enough time to tackle some housework and it always seems like our quality time together is multipled.

Since we were out all day Saturday, we never left the house the following day. And it was perfect. We tackled over 8 loads of laundry, all at various stages. I set up my art cart that I got as a birthday gift. And Theo was moved into his 'trundle' bed while the crib was moved out. Simply wild that we now have two big boys! We also played games, read, and never changed out of our jammies.

Vesper has started to gain more control over her hands and arms. And now she does this thing when she's on her back where she puts her hands on her knees. It's adorable.

Sunday was much the same. We had a big breakfast. A rousing game of family tag. More reading. And long naps. We ended the afternoon by visiting Livermore's airport to see the WWII aircraft. ALL the boys loved it.

The evening was capped off with a fire and a glass of wine. Such a satisfying weekend.

Fall Lovin'

Over at Newlywife today sharing some fall ideas! 

Already getting into the mood with lots of pumpkin baking this week. The only pumpkin puree I had on hand for our community group dinner night was THREE pounds. Holy Puree! That's a whole lotta of it. Have 3 extra cups that I want to use up before it goes bad. So that would make pumpkin chocolate chip bars and pumpkin scones with a maple glaze, so far.

Have already started craft prep for some fall decor. Should really clean my house this weekend so I can feel less guilty about decorating it.

We're going on a 'leaf hunt' today with friends so we can do a craft with them.

Now, if only this hot weather would cool it off!

In other {unrelated} current events...

E had his very first structured class outside of Sunday school this week. SO exciting. He loved gymnastics and is looking forward to signing up.

I made another pallet art piece for a girlfriend's birthday. I was so so so nervous about using so much stenciling that it kinda gave me a heart-attack. It turned out better than I hoped and looks pretty good...if you don't get too close. The felt wine bottle bag was super fun and oh-so easy to make! Maybe I should sell those on etsy?!

T has his year check up. Fit as a fiddle. And so hard to contain!

E officially passed down his car to his brother. He attempted to show him "how it's done", but T wasnt game for playing student. Again with the containment issues. Or maybe that's just brother-invading-my-space issues. ;)

 We got our electrical issues fixed too!! Hooray! Microwave totally works as does the outlets and oven again. Simple solution too which was so kind to our pockets.

Only rough stuff about the week was E scratched his cornea big time {still a mystery as to how} and was in lots of pain most of the day. Dr. gave us some ointment and drops and said it should heal on its own. We are praying hard that this is the case and will know more at our follow-up appt. My parents were bummed he didn't get a "raider's" eye-patch to go with the treatments. Guess I could make him one, but then we'd would probably have to see/re-read Peter Pan to give him some context. ;) That kid is such a trooper though!! I was really amazed by his strength and bravery that day!

IG ::Sharing the Love::

Those who know me know I kinda love Instagram. Kinda alot. It's basically the improved twitter since it's a feed of pictures with captions, although I never did twitter. It's a little peek into whatever the person is seeing, eating, buying, cleaning out of the carpets from their kids, etc...you get the idea. Even better are the fun filters and the square size. Truly, Instagram is so square.

Not too far into my discovery of this fun app, I started to venture beyond friends and family that I knew. It was kinda scary but I liked their style and taste so I thought it would fun to enhance my feed a bit. I started with bloggers I follow and it kinda spread from there. Now there are a few favorites that I pretty much love every single picture they post and they are quite inspiring. Yet they have no clue who I am or maybe even that I'm following. Maybe it's their photography, style, products they like, or ideas they share. 

Wanna know a little trick? If I see something I like, I take a screen-shot so it's saved into my photos. Maybe it's a paint color they used to paint their living room, or a new product they just bought, or a latest DIY project that I want to show W. And another trick I use to find new people is the "Following" section in news. It shows you who loved or commented on others' IGs. I've found a few more random people to follow from that.

So here are some of my "you don't know me in real life" IG-ers that I personally love along with a few of my favorite pictures. I found as I was making this that I'm 90% vintage and only 10% modern, preppy or classic. Guess I'm drawn to the whimsy, old, and hodge-podged. All that to say, these may not inspire you, specifically, but perhaps it'll just be an encouragement to use IG for inspiration. Find people who share things you love but take it up a notch.

I'm gonna get that 10% over now... ;)

IGer: Glitter Guide

She's got expensive and glamorous taste. And every once in a while there be something she shares that I could potentially put on a wishlist. ;)

On to the 80%...

IGer; Cubby Graham

Just started following him and can't even tell you how I stumbled upon him. But he does great things that make you wonder how come your iphone doesn't get shots like these. He does have a waterproof case which allowed for that first picture. I also learned about the trends of photoidgrams and ollograms..which uses that small extra lens for a special effect.

IGer: Miss Sew and So

Australia based with a cuuuute cottage house. She does great beach pics too.

IGer: Denise Bovee

IGer: Kirsten Rogers

Big following of over 9,000 people! She's a photographer by trade so you know her pics are going to be great. She also homeschools her kiddos so its fun seeing their daily adventures.Truly beautiful everyday living. It was hard only picking four.

IGer: Joy Prouty

So I've left my favorite for last. She's also a photographer by trade in Southern California. In fact she posted about a garage sale she was having and it killed me to watch the feed that day and the days leading up to it. Would have loved snagging some of her vintage finds! She gets asked all the time if the pictures she posts are taken with an iphone. They are hard-to-believe good. And her love of farm life and wide open spaces make my heart skip a beat! And with over 3,500 pictures, she keeps her followers happy with all her artwork!

So, do you follow anyone whose "follower" numbers triple or more the number they are following?! Anyone whose pictures you look forward to seeing? Perhaps you found a few more to add to your feed if you use IG. 

{disclaimer: don't worry, Mom. I'll show you how to use it again soon!}

Frolic

My favorite part of this spring season has been all the beautiful mustard plants growing wildly in vacant fields that are squashed between areas of development. They always look so inviting. Just begging to be explored with arms stretched out and fingers brushing against the waving weeds.

 On our various weekly errand-runs, I'd been hunting for fields that were accessible. Many of them are surrounded by barbed wire or are just out of our way to drive to. Then last week I found one that we could just walk into to-- right passed the "private property" sign. ;)

 I loaded the kids up in the van, grabbed my camera, and went out to the field. I taught Ezra about my love of open spaces, wild weeds, and carefree spirits. {He insisted on taking his pasta claw with us.}

{he was there too; in his typical fashion...taking the world in while tucked comfortably away on Mama's back...}

An afternoon well spent. Love my little men.

Unofficial Birthday Wishlist

William and my birthdays are both next month. And my mom has a gift. A gift of giving. She has impeccable taste and you can tell she really enjoys it. But there is a caveat: she really likes to surprise you. In fact, she's been known to not get you something if she knows you may be thinking she's getting that for you. That would be why I'm labeling this my unofficial wishlist. I'm figuring she wouldn't get anything from it anyway. ;)

{no particular order}

New to Ikea this spring. I can think of a dozen and one great uses for this beauty. I'm loving this color and the mint green option. So cute yet so functional!!!

Yes, I already have a "s" but it's by far my favorite mug! I go to great lengths {uh, like washing it by hand} to use it multiple times a week. I could totally see a "j' being added to my monogram collection.

I've seen these necklaces from allora handmade before, but not until recently did I get excited about them. I could really use a deep red, lemon, mustard, or pacific one to add a pop of color to my mommy uniform.

A store credit to Shabby Apple. I've been eyeing these dresses and skirts for quite some time. Great quality with a vintage feel. They definitely aren't cheap so you shouldn't buy one if you're thinking about getting pregnant any time soon...which kinda happened the last time I was looking at buying one. ;) And they just came out with their "color block" collection--so many fun bright colors!

Some crafting supplies: a roll of kraft paper, liquid chalk, chalkboard contact paper...things that have been lying around in my amazon cart, waiting to be purchased.

And I'll end on a really really high {as in expensive} bag. I've had my eye on the Marc Jacobs' Petal to the Metal line since it came out last fall. This sure is the perfect gray bag. Makes me drool.

Anyway, back to reality. Got to make dessert for our first Life Group meeting and finish prepping for Easter! Huzza!

Happy Friday, y'all!

Recently Purchased Pretties

So, I must confess...I'm not above retail therapy. I've been a very good girl up until recently on that front. We've already declared as a family that this year will be a fallow year as we re-build our savings, W focuses on his first year at the firm, and I caring for two little ones which includes a very dependent baby. That trip to Hawaii will have to wait until next year. So these were very small purchases, but fun ones nonetheless. I needed a little bit of fun...fun pretties in the mail will do the trick.

I'm looking forward to some packages on our doorstep these next few days...

 

I bought this fabulous card for W for love day. When I saw this, it just screamed perfect! The pipe, the hat, and the saying...fits W to a tee. :)

Theo told me he'd rock this hat if I bought it for him. So did I hesitate to press purchase? Heck no!

We're cooking up something memorable for Mama Judy's 70th birthday so these vintage style envelopes will come in handy. I'll have some extras so I'm excited to mail to friends! How fun to send something in one of these in place of a boring ol' white one.

This delightful little pair proves that sponsorships really do work. Ha. It's my first purchase off someone's blog--there was a 10% discount so I thought "why not?"

What's brightening up your winter?!

Garage Sale Tales

Saturday morning rolled around and we were ready to get our garage salesman on. Our fabulous DIY-in-training must have also been excited to get out there because he turned out to be our 6:15 alarm that morning. So early! But we had work to do; setting the rest of our treasures up and out for all the shoppers to see. The only bummer part was we didn't really have any 'big' or 'really desirable' pieces-- most of it was what I would call 'fluff' decor. I honestly think that much of it sold because of the tips we used.

Garage Sale Success... Oh, let me count the ways...

1) Staging-- totally, utterly completely true! We got several comments from our neighbors that they all loved the way it looked. It reminded them of a boutique or antique fair set-up. Success #1!

I rolled out the rug, pulled out an old chair and a few tables to try to get multi-levels going and make things more appealing. I also used baskets to hold books, CDs, and DVDs in. A coat rack held the small number of clothes and jackets we were selling. And I used our backyard chalkboard as a "welcome" sign too. Just small touches.

We also found it helpful to hang up tarps in the back of the staging to cover the rest of our garage...that was not for sale.

2) Free Box

Definitely had people looking in it, until a family took the entire box's contents early on. But I guess that was the point: getting rid of all the stuff in there. I could have put on the sign to only take a few items, but it wasn't that big of a deal. I just had to laugh because I didn't expect one person to take it all at once..and so early on! :) I also put my years collection of Real Simple out for free and a woman took them all but paid me for them. That worked well too! Success #3 & #4

5) Refreshments--My parents stopped by in the morning to take E on a walk and brought us some donuts! We put the extras out for free and then W got the fabulous idea to sell some bottled water and sports drinks. We sold quite a lot of them throughout the morning and got rid of our extra donuts. People seemed to be happy--so were we! Success #5

6) FUN--In addition to getting rid of a good amount of stuff and making some money, we had a great time with our neighbors. We're really lucky: our neighbors are a lot of fun.There were about 8 houses participating.

W did some pre-sale perusing with E and came back with this! Our neighbor didn't get it sold, but E had a blast on his first "Mo-mo" ride. I got a free bulletin board from another neighbor so I can actually do the burlap project now. And another gave us all the newborn boy clothes she had. Success #6

The sale ended with us all hanging out and kids playing before a few of us headed to the pool for a cool down. I think a neighborhood BBQ is officially in the works now!

Now, we still probably have a good truck load of stuff left to haul away, so sadly, our garage isn't completely clean just yet. And by the following day, I was completely exhausted and good for absolutely no activity. But we made enough on fluff for a sweet date night-- as well as covering the dump fee for whatever we can't donate!

Big Shoes To Fill

It's A...

Our technician was super sweet and played along with our little game. Said it made his day and he couldn't wait to tell the Misses about the idea. Ha! 

We headed out to a delicious sushi meal with a bag of goodies from my parents.

They were so sweet to get a little swim outfit for both E and his baby brother. :) So weird saying that. It's just so crazy to know already before he's even here. We enjoyed being the only ones to know during dinner and when we got home, texted the masses {family and friends} so they could be on the fun too. We're jokingly saying that we should go into the 'groom-making' business for all our friends with adorably cute and awesome girls.

Here are some of our favorite responses...
"yay yay YAY for another boy!!!! I think Ezra is one lucky little man! And you, too, who will one day be made much of by THREE men!!! :)"

"Oh yeah. I'm thinking, between you, me & Tim--that we gonna have an army of boys. Congratulations, man."

"Really?? I'm so surprised!!! Well I have loads of girl clothes for when she comes along. I think Ezra will be such a great big bro and let's face it, every boy needs a brother. Someone to wrestle with. ;)"

"Sweet. More potential grooms for Autumn to chose from. Congratulation, Papa!"


"Nothing wrong with two boys...until they're teenagers. Just kidding. Love ya."


"Omg!!! I'm so excited for you! It really is true that every pregnancy is so different. Crazy!! Yahoo! So excited for you guys. E is going to be the best big brother!"


"OMG!! CONGRATS!! Yay for Swenson Testosterone!! Yay for Swenson Brothers!!"


"Haha!! I knew it!! :) You're an awesome boy Mama and your boys will be close buddies, which I think is so great!!!! Love it!!!! :)"

We are definitely excited for the future bond that E and this little guy will have. As well as, getting to build up strong, God-fearing men to protect, provide and serve their future families!! What an amazing job we have ahead of us. Phew.

Now comes the next hardest part....deciding on some good solid names that we both love.

The Poll Is Closed

So the gender poll on the left-sided tool bar is officially closed! Hoot hoot! Looks like the majority are voting girl this time around. Last time, majority voted boy and were absolutely correct. As my mother always pipes, "Time will tell!" with this one. 

In fact, time will tell us TOMORROW! That's right, W & I are headed into the bladder torture test tomorrow afternoon during his lunch break. 

Here's our silly/fun game plan:

Go into ultrasound with index card with very short quiz for the technician...

Have technician seal answers in envelope. Pick E up from my parents. Give them the sacred envelope. Parents go out shopping for uber cute gender-specific outfit. Wrap that sucker up. Bring wrapped gift to our house just in time for us to head out to dinner and they put E down for the night. We have a delicious meal {yet to be decided, but I'm voting sushi} and open exciting gift while they're curled up on our sofa watching a movie...with my dad most likely fast asleep, snoring.

Perfect, yeah?

In other sibling news: we are ALMOST done with E's big boy bed. It would have been finished last night but we ran out of staples after upholstering the headboard. So the side-panels will have to wait for tonight. We've been chipping away at it a few hours a night...hence the limited posts last week. I normally throw together thoughtfully write my posts at night after E's in the bed. But here's a sneak peak to wet the ol' palette until tomorrow {hopefully!!}

It's been such a fun project to do with W & I've learned a ton!! More on that later...