Feeling like it's a I-can-do-anything kind of day.

Months ago I painted the piano, but there were just a few spots that needed to be finished.

Like this weird material...I'm assuming it's for acoustics and to keep dust out. I opened my little lemon piano, pryed off the molding around the material, cut the brown felt and then tried re-nail the molding in.  It only halfway worked.  But worked it did.

 I rather like the looks of it.

  

Last but not least, the knobs.  When I bought it, there was only one tiny knob.  I have this pile of knobs, literally, like 15.  I was once upon a time going to make a hanger with a bunch of different knobs, hence the reason they don't match, but decided, I had to just keep up with my natural habit.  Chaos. 

Therefore, we have two different knobs.

  

Funny how those two simple things made the piano complete.  Now, if only I could get someone to sand the bench.

Kids room.

I've been trying to keep on on this blog, plus The Salt Project and I've found it's kind of hard.  So on of my goals for this year is to always write a post on Sunday.  I can't even remember when these photos were taken, but judging on how chubby little man is, it was probably in November or so.  He was just helping dad build some new dressers.   The dresser in the kids room was the one I used as a kid.  It was done.  It was a good dresser, even a cute one, but it was time to do get something bigger.  It took me a while to plan it all out, mainly because the kids share a room, that really isn't that big, and both of them still need to be in a cage crib.

Brother is excited to show you his new dressers. 

We got them from Ikea (of course).  It seems that everything is slower transitioning over to IKEA.  It's kind of hard to beat the prices, plus you can paint your own, plus it's hard to thrift for such specific items sometimes.  We also really like wandering through the store for whatever reason too.  The only reason I started taking pictures of their room is because we were all playing in Brother's crib and I noticed how bright the whole room is.  It would make an awesome plant room, it seems to be the only room to get some much light!

These kids are kind of starting to get along,  Aiko just seems to ignore him, unless he's talking when she is trying to sleep.  She'll yell at him when he starts babbling around 7 AM from her little closet crib and say "Brother, stop it, stop, stop it!"  While it's not exactly always nice sounding, it is kind of hilarious.  Poor kid just gets bossed by her already.  (I've also been trying really hard to not say "Stop it" to Aiko as well.)

 

I had originally planned on putting two cribs up in their room, but there just isn't enough space.  My cousin sent me a photo of a dresser that someone built into a closet, but then I realized we could totally make it into a crib.  While I love these old style closets, I don't love it in the kids room, too much wasted space in the middle.  As a bed, it's awesome.  

At first, it was really sad to put my 1 year old in the closet instead of her crib, now, it's her safe haven.  She loves it.  I found a bunch of cushions at the thrift store long ago and my friend covered them for me.  I had plans of using them outside on our deck, but decided they fit perfectly into the closet crib.  The closet crib doesn't fit a baby mattress, so we had to find something different.  Derek found this mesh baby gate thing and it wedges in there perfectly.  Honestly, she could not get out unless she climbed.  She's not really keen on climbing, so she'll be in there for a while. 

Just a few random things.  I made this ceramic owl, which is a bank, that can only be open by hammer.  The little elephant is from Aiko's birthday party.  I thought the hats were so cute that I should save him!

While I these dressers were unfinished, I really hate picking colors.  I just feel like they are SOOOO permanent.  Or rather, I'm just too lazy to go and paint them again, so I wanted to find something that was neutral plus could be used for years to come and still be cool. My color inspiration came from  the Various Varieties of Vegetables print in our home.  

Isn't it fabulous?  I do love my veggies.  Especially when it's made so pretty!

So, that's how we chose the colors.  But then the what to paint and not to paint?!  Ugh.  So many choices that will forever change to world as we know it right?  Does anyone else ever feel like it's SUCH a big deal when it has no right being so?  So much color drama, but it's my life. 

I'm all for painting everything, while the husband is not so.  So we compromised and I REALLY like the outcome.  Random, yet not, colorful, gender neutral.  It's a good thing the dressers came with knobs too, because knobs are a WHOLE different ballgame of color decision drama.  I had some iron owl ones (I know, owls are so out.) but I just liked the little bit of quirkiness. 

Hopefully, the kids do too.  I hope they have similar tastes to me, because otherwise, we could have a war on our hands.  

Other random notes:
While I don't approve of dolls, because I don't like playing dolls, I did have my mom make these super cute dolls for Aiko.  When Orion was born I felt like she NEEDED them.  I thought she would be cuddling and holding them, but really, she only cares for her beloved monkey, so they make for super cute decoration. (Don't even get me started on how hard it was choosing material and colors for them.)

Also, let's talk about this cross stitch my sister Hannah did for the kids room.  SO COOL right?   While she claims to not be crafty, she certainly is advancing into a crafter at an alarming rate. 

Other posts I did on the kids room.  Here.  Here. I've noticed that I completely change the room.  All the time.

Little Brother | 9 Months

My main-little-man, today, you almost had me in tears.  Not sad ones, but sweet, happy, relief.  You had me going there for a while.  I was real worried about my once super chubby brother.

 

My happy baby was no more. You just seemed MAD about everything. You were loosing weight, not pooping and just plain ticked about everything.  You cried, a lot.  I just didn't know what to do.  I even went to the Doctor, he didn't seem to understand how different you had become.  Eventually, I decided that I should stop nursing you, your poor guts just seemed to hurt all the time.  Everyone seemed to notice (and tell us) how unhappy you were.  We tried all sorts of things.

 

It took some time, a few weeks actually, but you started to change.  You were no longer birthing poops.  You were smiling.  You were trying to crawl, you were being a happy boy.

Today, you are 9 months.  Today was the first time you actually played and were happy about it.

Mama is so very happy that you are happy.

Blend it with Blendtec

Let's talk about one my other loves.  My blender.

The Twister

I know I exaggerated, but not with this statement.  

I use my blender AT least once a week.  (Haha, I just wrote month instead a week, but that wouldn't be a great statement.)

Truly, truly.  Especially since my little man stopped nursing.  He's hungry ALL the time and loves to eat. 

What do you feed a 9 month of baby?  Almost anything it seems.  I make my kids green smoothies every day.  I'm a super lazy preparer too.  I don't chop things up nice. It doesn't always taste very good either. Sometimes it takes a little trial and error.  

  

I freeze most of my produce before it goes bad so we can just throw it in the blender.  I don't even cut out the seeds in my apples.  I do, take out the stem.  (Mother of the year award right?)  I either break or chop up carrots and throw it in the blender.

Luckily, these bad boys can chew up anything and everything.  Solid, frozen apples, frozen carrots, frozen half peaches, frozen kale, pineapple.  These guys can do it all.

I really love this new Twister jar.

Perfect for baby food, pizza dough, guac.  Ya know, the thicker stuff.

My kids both know that when the blender is going, it means they will be eating something soon.  It really does make my life easier.  The photo above shows I've used it 543 times.  Which, I had to send in my old base that had over 1500 uses on it.  But it's got a warranty of 7 years or something crazy and they sent a new one in 3 days.  I've had the blender a little over three years and if you do the math?  I actually use it way more than just once a day! 

This blender is on of the few appliances I let sit on my counter, mainly because I get sick of putting it away all the time.  

Since I'm a footzoner and kind of a health nut, I tell all my clients that they need to get on the green smoothie boat. It's one of the easiest and fastest ways to get anyone the proper fruits, veggies and grains in their diet.  Especially if you have little kids, big kids or husbands who need a little shot of good food in their lives.  

Now, I know they are pricey, believe me, I know.  But really, the blender helps my family and I be healthier with the green smoothies, plus, we totally have made our money back.  Now, my aunt and my two sisters both own one, because we use them that much.  

If you've been thinking about it, just do it.  It's totally worth it. E-mail me if you have questions.

Also, if you are looking for a good Green Smoothie book, I suggest this one.  It's not a diet, it's a way a life. 

*This is a sponsored post.

Other posts about green smoothies. Here.

The lower lights

I've got a new tradition.  My gal Alex and I have been buddies since college.  She invited me to the Lower Lights concert, which I had just heard about from my other blog here.  Alex and I have always been kindred spirits, from our Construction Management program, to our girly outfits and our love for Anthropologie.  I also knew that she would TOTALLY wear these holiday crowns to the concert and be just as excited as I was about it.  

The concert was at the Masonic Temple in Salt Lake City. It is quite the building.  So many cool things and so little time to check it out.  You can't tell, but the ceiling looked like the sky. 

I wasn't really quite sure what to expect, I had only listened to a few songs (here.)  Check them out.

The concert was phenomenal.  It was so. much. fun. I also believe that they sounded so much better in person too actually.  They had a bunch of additional singers and fiddlers.  

Amazing.

At the end of the concert they allowed people to come up and dance.  You better believe Alex and I went up.  My only regret was that I didn't bring my family.  They do allow kids at the concert.

Thanks so much Alex.  It opened up a whole new world.  

Twos

Lately, the husband and I been discussing our parenting skills.  Are we doing okay, are we creating a monster?  Are we doing enough?  Is she eating something that makes her crazy?  Are we disciplining her correctly?

She's as stubborn as she is short, and she's super short people.  Her shortness seems to make her inhumanly strong.  I mean, I know that she is two.  She's only been on this earth for a short 27 months, but she sure knows how to rock our world upside down.  Don't get me wrong, I love the little stinker, but she's starting to worry me.  We've started time-outs, giving choices and then giving consequences.  

Does she get it though?  I mean on one hand, she is two and then on the other, she IS two.  I've been reading parenting books and they don't seem to have much more than a couple paragraphs on two year olds.   We need help people.

I need help on how to handle the tantrums, the fits, the bi-polar personality. What suggestions do you have for my little two year old.