Lemonade Stand

Remember the sunflowers I was talking about in the last post? Well, we decided to set up a "lemonade stand" for the girls in front of their sunflower patch. They had fun, but I think next time we'll play flower shop instead of lemonade stand since my girls seem to be much more into smelling the flowers.

Does anything say summer more than a lemonade stand?

 Maddie decided to take a random nap in the grass...

Sunflowers

Maddie and I have been anxiously awaiting our sunflowers in the front yard. Finally on August 3rd one popped open! (I have no photograph because the weather has been kind of scary lately.) But I thought it was strange that it was the exact same day that 3 years ago Shaun took a picture of a very pregnant me in front of these sunflowers at a local park a month before Maddie was born.

 I was feeling a wee bit uncomfortable and cranky that day and did not exactly want my picture taken but looking back I am glad that I did. Not only because I love the sunflowers, but I just love when I can look at a picture and get transformed back to a certain time and place...when you can still feel the exact emotion you were having in the picture. I was beyond excited but also anxious, even a little bit scared. (Maybe a little bit hungry and annoyed at this specific moment haha.)It was such a special time awaiting the birth of our first daughter. I feel like I was a totally different person just three short years ago. I had no idea what I was in store for, how much having two beautiful little girls would totally change my life. I can't believe how fast the years go once you start having children. Three years ago I was standing in front of a sunflower patch with Maddie in my belly and now I stand in front of my own little sunflower patch with an almost 3-but-still-2 (Maddie is very specific about her age) year old little girl. Sorry....I didn't realize how much sunflowers could put me in a reflective mood.

Laundry Room Wishes

Now that we have finished the kitchen, I am of course thinking about what projects I would like to do next. Although I swore to myself that we would take a break from house projects to enjoy some relaxing family time together and I would like to stick with that. (Not to mention we really don't have any budget left after the kitchen haha) So for now I will stick with a project that I know we will not be able to do even if I wanted to. The people who built our house and lived here before us decided instead of doing a laundry room downstairs that they would put the washer and dryer in a hallway closet upstairs. I hate this about our house. The laundry "closet" is also right across from the girls' bedrooms so I am always worried about running the machines during naptime  or bedtime. If I had my way I would  have an actual laundry room. And it would look exactly like this room I found on Pinterest. I love every detail of this room from the light fixture to the copper sink to the floor. And maybe I would hate doing laundry less if I had a room like this!

The Maynards - Family Portrait

Meet Samantha. We met when we were two years old and instantly she became the only kid that I ever wanted to play with. Still to this day not much has changed in that department. ha

We had a plan when we were young that we would grow up to marry Brad Pitt look-alike-twin brothers and live together in a mansion decorated in all black and white. We would drive a Corvette and a Ferrari.

Fortunately that plan did not work out...I think what we've got is better!!!

(Almost) Finished Kitchen

Although I would have preferred to have "staged" the kitchen for photos, I decided to take advantage of the very RARE opportunity that both of the girls were napping to snap some pictures of the kitchen and even though I don't feel like these photos really do it justice, I just feel like it would be wrong not to share them with you! Some disclaimers...our budget did not allow for new floors (we would like to eventually do a wood color similar to the butcher block counter on our hutch which I think will really pull everything together) and I still have some decorating to do. For example, I really need to find some sort of decoration for above the window. And lastly, still not sure whether or not to paint the walls or leave them, but for right now we are leaving them.

Here is what the kitchen looked like when we moved in...

 

 And here she is now!

 The left wall was empty and we had a large kitchen island there at first and then put two craigslist hutches there. We purchased unfinished cabinets for the bottom and open shelves with a plate wrack for the top. We bought the butcher block counter top at ikea and put up some wainscotting for a backsplash. The corbels really pull the whole piece together. I love being able to have all of the extra storage, but also wanted this side to give the appearance of a hutch rather than just more cabinets.

Happy Birthday Claudia!

It has been a little hectic here lately (everyone has been sick and we've been preparing for Claudia's party this weekend...praying for good weather!!) But I wanted to wish my beautiful amazing lovely little Claudia a Happy First Birthday YESTERDAY!!!!!!! I literally can't believe it was a year ago I was terrified and nervously waiting ALL DAY at the hospital for the O.R. to open up (July 5th was apparently a busy day for c-sections as I was scheduled for noon and couldn't go in until 6 p.m.) The worst was that I hadn't been able to eat or drink since the night before. But of course, it was all worth it and I am madly in love with my little angel. We had a little bit of red velvet cake for the girls and Shaun and I yesterday and I have some adorable messy cake face pictures, but haven't had the time to edit them yet...sorry. So for now here are some pictures from a year ago. It's funny because I can still feel the exact emotion I was experiencing when I look back at each of these pictures. Terrified on the way to the hospital...sad to leave Maddie for the first time...NOT in the mood to have my picture taken!

Pensive...in the waiting room for hours.

And finally sweet relief and pure bliss with my little baby!!!

And here she is a year later...wow time flies.