On a Rainy Day....

Today it rained, a lot.  I decided that instead of keeping Hayden cooped up in the house, I would let him go out and splash around in the puddles.

He had so much fun and I tried desperately to capture some of it (while at the same time trying to keep my precious camera dry with a grocery bag and umbrella.) Because of all my efforts trying to keep my camera from getting wet, I didn't get to concentrate much on composing cute shots, I just kinda shot blindly and hoped for the best :P  Anyway, Hayden loved it and was asking to go back out after lunch but mean old mommy made him take a nap instead...

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Our Shoebox Gift

I first heard of the ministry of Samaritan's Purse when I was a kid and my grandmother would make up a shoebox for a needy child every year.  I remember thinking it was so cool that a kid in a far away country was getting that box full of fun goodies!  Fast forward to when I was a college student.  I made up my first shoebox with my boyfriend (now hubby) and it was such a blessing that I decided I would do it every year.  Sending a shoebox gift has become a yearly tradition for my husband and I and this year we started teaching Hayden about it.  Though it is hard to explain to a 2 year old that we are buying gifts for a child that doesn't have many (if any) toys but he will understand it more each year.  It's never too early to teach our children to give to others! 
I am so glad that our church supports this ministry every year.  It is so fun to see so many getting involved and excited about sending the shoeboxes.  And we don't have to worry about finding a drop-off location, we just bring our box to church!
So Sunday, we picked up this pre-printed shoebox to fill with goodies!
(you can use any regular sized shoebox or the clear plastic ones with lids as well!)

And last night we took Hayden to shop for the 'boy.'  We chose to get gifts for a 2-4 year old boy since that is the age that Hayden is and that way he could help us choose the gifts.  Over the years, we have done different age groups for both genders.

Hayden was excited to 'go shopping for the boy' even though I know he didn't fully understand what we were doing.

(though I wasn't planning on it, we let him choose something for himself {the toy story doll, Jesse, that is in his other hand.} once we got there because I quickly realized he was not going to be able to pick things for the box until we let him get something...but after that, he was great at helping choose several gifts for the box and didn't try to keep them for himself or get upset when we told him that they were not his toys.)

It helps to take your shoebox into the store with you so that you can see exactly how much you can fit in the box!

We picked out toys, candy and other things until our box was full.

And this year, I paid the postage for our box online so that I could print a barcode and track our shoebox!  We will be able to see what country our box went to this year!

I encourage all of you that if you don't already, find a worthy charity to donate to this Christmas season.  No matter what budget you're on, we all have something we can give.  We are on a very tight, one-income budget but we don't ever go without and our son always has Christmas and birthday gifts (and plenty of them) so I don't let myself think that we can't afford to donate, even during the years when we don't have as much as previous years.  This donation is small for sure but it makes a big difference to a needy child and that warms my heart.  I hope that in years to come, we can afford to make a bigger difference in others' lives during the holidays.  It truly does the heart good :)

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Santa Baby

Hello and happy Thursday!  Isn't he a cutie?  I babysit this lil guy and today I just could not resist getting the camera out and snapping a few photos of him for his mama :) 

  Go here to see a few more!


All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

3 Ingredient Chocolate Muffins

Ever since I made these, I have wanted to try it with chocolate cake mix.  So when my mom came to visit this last time, she brought goodies (like she always does) which included a chocolate cake mix and a can of pumpkin.  I decided last night (when I was having sweet cravings) that today I was going to make muffins with it and add some white chocolate chips we had leftover from some cookies we made.  They turned out super yummy!  And, they are a healthier choice than regular cake since they have pumpkin in place of the oil and other ingredients.  (Pumpkin is a great superfood!)  Also, I should note that I couldn't actually taste the pumpkin in these muffins.  But, the pumpkin did give them a thicker, moist consistency perfect for muffins and also made them healthier :) 

Here's all you need....
(like my slightly damaged clearance cake mix box? ;)  My mom is a bargain hunter, that's where I got it from! 

Combine the pumpkin and cake mix, then add as many white choc. chips as you like!  The batter will be thick.  I actually added a little milk this time so that the batter would be a little easier to work with. 

Just ignore my ugly old muffin pan.  It's served me well ;)

Ahhh, yummy goodness :)  Great with a glass of milk!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Vintage Fall Mantle

Well, this is my first ever 'mantle post.'

We don't have a fireplace and I have always been jealous of all the bloggers with their mantles decorated for the seasons ;)  Especially at Christmas, I always long for a mantle to decorate for the holidays.  I'm not so much interested in the actual fireplace since we have a 2 year old and one on the way (although I'm sure it would be nice to cuddle up by the fire once in a while when the kids are in bed...)  Anyway, I decided that since I gained some new wall space with the addition that I would add a mantle to the room.  The main purpose of our addition is a 'playroom' for overflow of toys and other kid/baby 'things' that take up a lot of space but I didn't just want the room to be a toy pit.  I wanted it to have some style at least especially since it opens to the living room and is also in direct view of the kitchen.  So, I thought the room would be a perfect place to put my much desired faux fireplace or mantle.  Well, I searched and searched on craigslist and was getting nowhere.  I had a pretty strict budget for my mantle and none of what I was seeing was in my price range.  Finally, I decided to call around some local thrift and antique stores and I finally found one! 

It was perfect! ...or so I thought...  You see, the mantle is very distressed and old.  It is painted white and it is hard to tell in these photos but the paint is all crackled and coming off. 

It looks very charming and has tons of character which is why I fell in love with it!

But after we got it home, I realized that the shabby style of the mantle wasn't really the style of the rest of our home.  I'm not really sure how to describe our style but I have always considered it to be more of a sophisticated casual.  I like to keep it nice but not too nice.  I want it to be comfortable but stylish.  Anyway, our home is casual yes but shabby and rustic...not so much.  SO as much as I adore the finish on this old mantle, I think I will be painting it.  It will still be cute and old but not as shabby.  Although I couldn't resist decorating it with a little vintage vignette before I paint it :)  It definitely has character....but maybe just a little too much for our home. 

Anyhoo, back to my Fall mantle...

I 'borrowed' the old window I got for Ava's room and hung my homemade acorn wreath on it.

Wrapped it in some leftover burlap (don't ya just love burlap??)

Ahhhh, I love the stripes we hubby painted in there.  They look so great, can't wait to see how it looks when the floors aren't concrete....

So, our room is almost finished!  We are having the carpet installed this week!  Then I can 'move in.'  I'm excited to show off the room when we are done.  I am loving how it's coming together so far!  Remember my Ballard Knock-Off Drapes?  They will be in there (along with some matching throw pillows, maybe???)  Ahh, can't wait!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

Hayden's $25 Craigslist Dresser: From Drab to Nautical Fab!

Finally!!!!  I got this dresser months and months ago and it's finally finished!  I found this ugly old dresser on Craigslist and got it for a steal at just $25!

Of course, it needed a lot of help....it had about 4 or 5 different kids of hardware on it and the top had some water damage on the right corner.  We worked hard on it and put a new top on it....

We added some trim to cover the edges...

used some wood filler and did some sanding and priming.  I didn't get a pic of the dresser primed but I used the grey gripper primer. 

Then, we painted it a navy color in satin.  It was very hard to find the right navy color.  I wanted something dark but not purple-ish or so dark that it looked black.  I started off with one color in a different brand of paint and a semi-gloss finish.  After several coats, I decided I hated the color and the sheen.  I chose a different navy and finish and used Valspar hi-def paint (our new FAV paint, we will never use another paint!!!)  The color is called Victory Blue and it's an Olympic color but we got it in the Valspar (literally THE only true one-coat paint I have ever used, it covers amazingly!! Have you seen the commercial where they used red paint to cover the black and white stripes?  That's this paint!!)  Anyhoo, we painted one coat of that color in satin and added the hardware.  We had to drill new holes for the six smaller drawers so that took a little time.  I added some brushed nickel hardware, I thought it went great with the navy as well as the nautical decor I am doing in Hayden's 'big boy room.' 

Anyway, here is the finished product!  I'm pretty happy with it myself!

 
Sorry for the not-so-great after pics....I had to take them in our partially-finished bonus room and it wasn't working out too well....

(the color variation in this corner of the photo is just from my jacked-up image, it does not look like this in real life!)

So, I sort of lost track of how much I spent total on everything but I would bet that I spent around $75 including the paint, primer and hardware (and the original $25 for the dresser.)  For less than $100 I got a great (solid, real wood) dresser for Hayden's new room!  Beats this smaller (and, in my opinion, less cute) dresser from Land of Nod for $799!

(source: Land of Nod)

Here is a before & after :)

I can't wait to see how it looks in his room once we get everything done in there (which, who knows how long that will be!) 

p.s. I'm linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick's Before and After Party!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!

My (frugal!) Fall Front Porch

Welcome to our front porch all decorated for the Fall season!  I am sad to say, this is about the only decorating for Fall that I have done this year since we have projects going on around the house (including a room addition that is nearing completion....I hope!!)  I can't wait to show it off to you guys when it's finished.  I'm calling it the 'playroom' but it will be a mulitpurpose room for the kids to play, watch movies, extra seating/elbow room for when guests are over, etc... 
Anyway, enough of that!  On to the front porch :)

I did something similar to last year with putting pumpkins in my planters.  I had high hopes of making these cute pumpkin topiaries I saw on Pinterest, but alas, it would have been a little too pricey to make them with buying all the pumpkins needed to make them.  So, instead I found these fun giant gourds for $6 and then just placed a small pie pumpkin on top.  They were cheap too, I think $4 each.  The garland is leftover from last year so I consider that 'free.'  ;)

The wreaths on the windows are from last year as well.  I just hing them right back up for this year!

So, there you have it!  Nothing spectacular, I would have loved to do so much more but this year we are putting all of our money towards projects (and baby rooms ;) 

p.s. I'm linking up to Rhoda's Fall Door Party!

All photos taken by Kristen (blog author) unless otherwise stated. Do not copy/save or print without permission. Thank you!