Making our house a home.

I gave you all the tour de casa Romenesko a few months ago, and our house looked a little sad because we still had our Christmas tree up, but there weren't any decorations or lights on it.  There weren't very many decorations on the walls, and there were two entertainment centers in the living room.  

I am pleased to announce that our house is really starting to look like a home, and I'm loving it more and more every day.  This is largely due to the fact that I've had the largest stretch of time not traveling for work since we've moved into the house, so since I'm in it all the time I want to make it look nicer because I don't like looking at ugly things.  Which is why I married such a stud.

I think that another reason that I've been doing so much in our house lately is because LIVING UP NORTH SUCKS and the weather has been awful and it's been the longest winter OF ALL TIME.  No, seriously.  All of you people on the east coast that were posting on Facebook a couple weeks ago "80 degrees?  I wanted spring not summer!!"  Well EFF THAT because it's still WINTER here.  Don't be complaining about nice summer weather when other people are trudging through the SNOW when they are supposed to be planting flowers.

This is what I woke up to last week.  I think it was Wednesday?  Anyways, that's a picture of my neighbor SNOW BLOWING HIS DRIVEWAY IN CARHARTT COVERALLS IN APRIL that I creepily took before going to work.

This is Peter shoveling part of our driveway when I made him wake up because I was in such a crabby mood because of the stupid snow.  (Let's just take a moment and thank the heavens it wasn't snowing mid-April last year when our wedding was only 2 weeks away.  Seriously, that would have been BAD.)  I had ice cream for lunch last Thursday because I was so depressed about the weather.  I don't usually complain about the weather.  But it is snowing in April, so I'm allowing myself a free pass.

The snow just melted on MONDAY and GUESS WHAT.  I'll show you what.

THERE IS A 50% CHANCE OF SNOW ON FRIDAY.  Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Ok, let's move on to less depressing things like all of the pretty decorations that I've been telling Peter where to hang putting up in the house!  Look at what adults we are!!

These pictures are above our couch, but I didn't take a picture of the whole wall because we accidentally hung them too high... So I'm going to get around to lengthening those strings sometime...

Only one entertainment center!  No Christmas tree!!  Pretty decorations!  And new lamps!!  When the TV gets hung on the wall EVENTUALLY, the clock will probably move a bit.  But there was a nail there, so I decided what the hay and hung the clock there anyways.

Can you tell we love baby Nora who's not such a baby anymore?  And my mom.  I felt that I should put a picture of my mom in the living room since she was the person who came up with the living room decor.  And I love her.

Decorations above the cabinets!  Chickens!!!  Both of my grandma's had chicken decorated kitchens, and since I have the chicken clock from my Grandma Ann's kitchen, I figured that I could put a couple of chickens above the cabinets to tie it all together.

I would love to put lights above these cabinets like the other ones have, but unfortunately there isn't an outlet that's discreetly hidden in one of these cabinets like the other ones (for the microwave).  (Peter had to drill a hole in the top of the cabinets so I could get my lights up there.)  (He's so manly.)

Look at how clean our house is!  I've been spring-cleaning up a storm lately, and every morning before I leave for work I tell Peter "DON'T YOU MESS UP THIS HOUSE!!"  He doesn't.  He's actually quite clean.  But I just feel the need to tell him that because it's important.

Our multi-cultural bathroom with trinkets from Hawaii, St. Thomas, the Florida Keys, Mexico, Ecuador, and South Africa.  The frames are American though.  Well, they are from Kohl's, so they were probably made in another country...  But it's the multi-cultural bathroom, so that makes it better, actually.  Anyways.

We finally have a guest room that's a GUEST ROOM and not a JUNK room!  Complete with a curtain and lamp!  Come visit us, please, we spent good money on that mattress. 

I have been looking for a new comforter for MONTHS and FINALLY found one that Peter said, "Hey, I like that!" so I immediately purchased it, and then when it arrived I put it on our bed and rolled all over it so that he couldn't take it back.  And then last weekend I got some throw pillows and now the look is complete!  The walls look green in this picture, but they're actually light grey...  What color curtains should I get?  Also, if you look REALLY closely, I put a picture of me on Peter's nightstand (the one on the left) because I've been told that I'm not a very attractive sleeper, so I thought that if Peter wakes up in the morning and is like AH! She's scary!! he can look at the picture of me looking all beautiful on our wedding day and remember that he loves me and I'm not usually scary.  Not that he only loves me for my good looks or anything.  Please, he's not that shallow.  (But I put a picture of him on my nightstand too because I did only marry him for his good looks.)  (Just kidding.  I just wanted a picture of my handsome steed on my nightstand.)

This picture is not hung on the wall yet, but I have it on our dresser and wanted to put it on my blog because I love it.  I love this picture SO MUCH because my mom and dad have a picture JUST LIKE THIS ONE from their wedding day.  Standing in front of the same church window, looking lovingly into each others' eyes.  Their picture is hanging in their bedroom, so it's only fitting that our picture be hanging in our bedroom too.  We actually don't have anything on our bedroom walls yet because I really want the other dresser that goes with our bedroom set before we decide where we're pounding nails in the walls.  (I FINALLY got Peter to agree to getting it so now we're just waiting for a holiday sale at the furniture store.)

Anyways, our house is getting more homey now, and it makes me really happy.  Now if the weather would cooperate and we could put our grill outside, that would be fantastic!

Also, I was serious when I asked you what color curtains I should get for our bedroom.  This is a more realistic picture of the wall color, but remember that is has to match the NEW comforter, not the old one.

Baby Mania

I know it's been a while since I posted, but I've been very, very BUSY.  (I am aware that I have been saying that at the beginning of every post lately.  I'll take that as a sign that I need to start posting more.)

March was a big month for BABIES being born!!

Friends having babies is the best EVER.  Because I get to love on them and snuggle them and kiss their sweet smelling skin.  And then I get to go home and eat ice cream for dinner and sleep in on Saturday because I don't have any kids of my own.  And it's fabulous.  I have to be honest with you though.  After Peter and I got to see our friends' twins, we got home and had the following conversation at the kitchen table:

Sara: Doesn't seeing those teeny tiny babies make you want to have a little baby of our own??

Pete: Yeah.  It really does.

*Sit in blissful silence for about 37 seconds*

Sara: Let's get real.  We're not ready for that shit.  Literally.

So, we will continue loving on our friends' babies until we're ready for that shit.

The SECOND best thing about friends having babies is that I get to cook to my little heart's desire because they are going to be busy changing diapers and trying to sleep.  My cousin Kelly came up the weekend after THREE babies were born so that we could cook and bake away.  We were also baking for my sister Jenna and her husband because Jenna's on bed rest until her baby comes in the middle of May.  That's a lot of food!!

Carrot cake cupcakes.
A bottle of wine or two may have been consumed while cooking.
No one was injured.

Yum.

Blueberry muffins.  Super delicious.

Banana bread...

... that we had to taste-test.

Peanut butter cookies.  Very, very scrumptious.

We also made some real food, not just treats, like this beef stew.
Last weekend I made this stew for Peter and I, and I sliced off the
tip of my thumb.  That wasn't very fun.

After we made all this food, I had to go deliver it and see some babies!!  First, we met Craig and Katie's twins, Henry and Oliver.  But I didn't give them any food because they were moving in a few days (talk about busy people) and were cleaning out their fridge.  I had the privilege of being the photographer when Craig and Katie got to hold their boys for the very first time.  It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen.  Ever.  I cried.

Now let's look at how cute their babies are, including their son Noah, who I could just eat up he's so sweet!!

Oliver on the left, Henry on the right.  If you ever have the opportunity

to hold two itty bitty babies at once, I urge you to take it.  I was SO happy.

On the brink of TEARS happy.  LOOK at how LITTLE they are!!!! 

Oh, I love them.

Best buds.

While Craig and Katie were in the hospital with their babies, I got to watch Noah.

LOOK AT HOW ADORABLE HE IS.  There was only one second when I didn't like him very much because he pooped through his diaper, and I had to give him a bath.  Little stinker.  BUT LOOK. AT. THAT. FACE.  So I was only mad at him for a millisecond.  

Do you see why I couldn't stay mad at this handsome stud?

Feeding Oliver his bottle.  He ate like a champ.

Noah was munching on some coasters.

Peter holding baby Oliver.

I'm holding Henry and Peter has Oliver. 

We weren't showing favoritism for Oliver, he was awake a little longer so we snuggled him more and didn't disturb Henry.

I went down to Illinois to visit Jenna for a few days and help her out a little, but I MOSTLY went down because I got to see THIS LITTLE MUNCHKIN BUTT.  (Sorry Jenna.  But I know you know it's the truth.)

  

Now let's look at how well this little lady cleans up for Easter.  What a sweetie pie.

Two days after Henry and Oliver came into the world, our friends Kim and Stew welcomed their precious little girl Maggie into our their lives.  She's a cutie, that's for sure.

Sweet, sweet baby girl.  

Peter held her for only a second before she pooped.

We seem to bring out the best in babies.

Peter likes to sleep like this too sometimes.

It's WAY cuter when Maggie sleeps like a burrito.

Can you see why I haven't been posting?  Did you just DIE because of all of the cuteness in this post?  Aren't you just SO HAPPY that all of these people are having babies that I can love on?  I AM.

Now I'm just impatiently waiting for Jenna to have her baby so that I can go see ANOTHER baby.  Seriously.  I'm going to faint from all of this loving and cuteness!!