Name Sign

Our sweet friends, Kristi and Dan, recently welcomed their baby girl. They were very patient and waited until her arrival to find out what they were having. To our absolute excitement it was a little girl (and future bff for Ella). I wanted to give them something fun and pink to bring some girly-ness into her precious nursery ( I also bought supplies to make one for Ella). 

I combined several ideas from pinterest and other blogs to make this fun and very easy name sign. Here are some pics from the project. 

First, I painted the canvas yellow. 

Then, I put down the stickers for her name and painted over it in pink.  

After it dried, I peeled the letters off and had a cute little sign!  

You can use this project for so many fun things like quotes around the house or an easy gift. Hope everyone enjoys this beautiful weather and has a wonderful weekend!

8 years

So hard to believe that today marks 8 years of James and I being together. We started dating when we were 16 and just starting our junior year in high school. I love that part of our story is that we have been together for so long and had so much life together. Although, we have our fair share of embarrassing pictures through all of the awkward stages of high school and entering college. 

It has been really amazing to sit and talk about how much has changed and how much we have changed over the last 8 years. I could have never pictured how much happiness would fill our lives and that 8 years later we would be expecting our first baby girl! God has been so good to us and I am looking forward to the many more years to come.

Also last night, we got to celebrate by going to one of our favorite spots, La Duni. We are really trying to soak up date night time, since we know that will look very different after Ella gets here. If you have not had a chance to have date night at La Duni in Dallas, I highly recommend it! Also, grab one of their mango lemonades...they are amazing (and the chocolate cake, of course!)

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday!

Grilled Chicken Spinach Pasta

I made this yummy recipe from pinterest the other night. I would definitely recommend trying it (and it had some great leftovers for lunch the next day!)

James and I both really enjoyed it, but agreed we would add a few things next time. Some of our ideas were:

- a little italian sausage for some more spice

- veggies (zucchini, squash...)

You can find the recipe from the original link above. Hope you enjoy!

pinterest loves

Here are some of my favorite pinterest find this week. I have made a few of the wonderful recipes I have found this last week and will share some of those! They have all been really yummy!! Here are some things I would love to try or just think are wonderful!

How cute are these treat jars? Great for a gift! 

Halloween Treat Jars

I love all things pumpkin, but have never tried these! I wonder if they can possibly compare with nutella crepes. 

Pumpkin Pie Crepes

Such a wonderful reminder to see all of the time. This is a truth that I need to remind myself of more often. 

It Is Well With My Soul 

Thought this was such a cute idea for a baby shower activity. It would be something sweet to look at later. 

Wishes for Baby

  

James and I really love coming up with new traditions for our family. We know that we want birthdays to be a very special day in our house and I thought this was such a cute way to start a birthday...cake for breakfast! 

Cake Batter Pancakes

Check out each of the links to see some wonderful etsy shops and blogs that have come up with these wonderful ideas!

Happy Tuesday!

Edna Mae's Pancakes

James and I made these a couple of weekends ago and they were so yummy. We got the recipe from the Pioneer Woman cookbook, but here it is...

Edna Mae's Pancakes (from Pioneer Woman Cookbook)

7 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/ 2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Butter

Stir the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt together. Stir in the sour cream. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla then add to the sour cream mixture. 
Melt some butter in your skillet then pour the batter and cook away! 

They were the perfect morning treat and I would highly recommend them! 

Also, our sweet friends got us some delicious maple syrup on their trip to Vermont. It was the perfect addition the the pancakes! I don't think we will ever go back to normal syrup!

Crib Set Up and Painting Pics

I finally sat down and uploaded pictures from painting the nursery and setting up the crib. The pictures do not show the color completely true to what it really looks like. It is a grayish blue (but brighter than it sounds).

Kerry with primer

Color is complete and the clean up has just begun. You can also see all of the baby/old guest room things in the closet that looks completely different now. 

This is actually try #2 after we originally unpacked it. You can read more about our crib adventure here. 

So excited for Ella's room to be coming together! Haha I am holding the tool like I actually built it. James can take all the credit for putting this together! 

Poor shaggy dog...he has finally been groomed after it taking FOREVER to get an appt.

This is pure joy, relief, exhaustion, and excitement for the crib being done!

Overall, we were so thankful for our sweet friends for helping us paint! Also, we are so excited to see Ella's room gradually coming together. Our goal is to have her nursery done within the first week or so of November. With the holidays and getting further into my pregnancy we would love for it to be done by then. I will keep you posted as we make progress!

The Crib Adventure

Getting the crib was something I was so excited for. I could not wait to pick out the place that our sweet baby girl would be cozied up sleeping (let's all pray she loves sleeping there). I researched quite a bit and looked into reviews, asked friends, and knew the style I was looking for. 

After putting all of those things together, we decided on the Kendall Crib from Pottery Barn. We found it this summer and it was down $200 from it's original price which made me overly excited!!! My sweet mom offered to get the crib for us, so we went ahead and purchased it while it was on sale. A few weeks later the crib came in and patiently waited in our unpainted nursery. 

link

This weekend after painting the nursery, we could not wait to put it together. It was like a right of passage for James to build his baby girl's crib...so we got to work. As I was sitting on the floor and he was unpacking I noticed a "hugh gash" in my words and a "dennnnttt" in James' words on the side of the crib. We were able to take the piece back and trade it out at Pottery Barn and were ready to try this again. 

Then... we set up the crib and the warning labels (yes...the ones that are melted on) were on the outside (instead of the inside where they are supposed to be). Me and my impatient self did not want to take that crib up there again, so we made a target run and 30 minutes + some goo gone love later we had ourself a beautiful crib. 

Overall, it is a great crib. I love the look and it is very sturdy. Although, I wish some of the little things had been checked we are so happy to have it all together now! 

I will post some pictures of the set up tomorrow...

rise and shine...it's taco time

This cool morning called for making some yummy breakfast. I had to run to Whole Foods to pick up a few things and saw there breakfast burritos (that James and I love!) I figured I was better off buying the ingredients to save a few pennies! So here is what we are putting together...

Here is the basic-

Whole Foods organic tater tots (2-4 per burrito)

Eggs 

cheese

Bacon(we used 2 strips and cut up little pieces between 3 burritos)

Whole Wheat tortillas 

salsa

Optional add ons-

mild italian breakfast sausage

bell peppers 

If you are ever looking to make these for a group or having friends over for breakfast, it is great to wrap them in foil and put them in your crockpot on low. It will keep them nice and warm for when you are ready to serve. 

Don't get me wrong, I am well aware this is not my usual granola and yogurt breakfast, but such a yummy treat for a day off! Hope everyone has a wonderful Labor Day!! 

Oh, and if you do not feel like making your own I highly recommend Whole Foods or Torchy's Tacos breakfast burritos in Dallas! Both great places for a yummy and cheap breakfast taco! 

painting the nursery

Well I am pretty sure I won't ever be able to convince James to paint a room again. By the end of this project we went between several "visions" for the nursery and about 7 swatches that I stared at on the wall in "every light." By we I mean myself and my patient husband of course. 

We went between robins egg blues, to grayish pink/purple, to pale seafoam and landed on "Quiet Rain" which I would describe as a grayish/bluish/purplish color. It is one of those colors that is hard to explain, but works perfect with what we wanted to do in the nursery. I have put a picture of the swatch from online below. This is the first step in getting the nursery ready and it is so exciting to start this process. I can't wait to turn that little room into a home for Ella and place where many late nights and sleepy walks back and forth will happen. I am sure that room will be filled with every emotion at some point and I really can't wait for that. 

Also, we are so thankful for our sweet friends Kerry and Logan for helping us paint the room! It is such a blessing to have all of the help and get this project knocked out! 

Here is the color-

I love the name of the color too (not that it really matters), but quiet rain just seems cozy! 

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday and enjoy your long weekend!