House Love: Toy Room Gallery Wall

One of my first  projects in the toy room was to get my gallery wall up. I started it right as we moved from NC and then I slapped it up on the wall in Ohio (very disorganized and crooked), so I wanted to get it up and right to proudly display my babies. The only problem was that I decided I wanted to change the background paper to brighter colors to go in the toy room. So I stocked up on some coordinating paper from Archiver's, put them in the frames, spray painted a few additional frames I found at Goodwill and started at it! I used whatever I could find at that point to be my visual spacer...in this case it was the backside of wrapping paper. 

I'm super happy with how it turned out. The colors are such that I don't have to worry about needing to change them anytime in the near future, but I LOVE how I can just switch out pictures anytime I have a new favorite. I got the mini clips from Walmart and spray painted them to match my frames. And no, I did not come up with this myself. Again, I got it from someone way more crafty and all into tutorials from Pinterest :)

 

A friend of a friend did the Birth Stats for me. I thought I could do it myself in Photoshop but after 20 minutes of getting NOwhere, I decided it was the best $ I ever spent for her to do it for me and pop in the mail in no time. Let me know if you need her to do some for you - I can hook you up! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Easton's 1st Birthday Party - Rookie of the Year

The twins' birthday and Easton's birthday are 2 weeks apart. Makes for a crazy fall! I'm almost positive the future will bring one big birthday celebration for all the kids somewhere within those two weeks, but for my baby's 1st birthday - he gets his own! So that meant two birthdays in two weeks. (We have amazing friends and family, by the way, who gave up two Saturday mornings in the craziness of fall by coming to our kids' birthday parties). I'm so thankful we were a)here in NC with family to celebrate the big 1 and b) we were "settled" into our house to have family and friends over.

 

When we first told people we had chosen the name Easton, a handful of people asked if it was after the baseball brand "Easton." Even with my baseball-playing husband, it never occurred to me until someone said that the first time. So when I was thinking of his birthday, a baseball theme popped into my mind. Easy. Cute. "Personalized." Sold.

 

I had alot of fun with his party. Baseballs are so easy and decorations and ideas are everywhere! I was able to leave up a bunch of decor and use alot of paper products from the twins' party - basically all the red and white stuff so that made things that much easier.  

 

You know I had to cover up that fireplace...

 

I ripped down the farm wood shapes and threw up some baseball shapes and boom - baseball wreath!

I will use any excuse to put up tiny newborn pictures of my baby!

Favors were popcorn bags with concession type items: popcorn, fun dip, candy etc..

 

For food we had a concession stand where everything was $1 (1 year old).



Hot Dogs, Nacho Bar with lots of toppings, Cracker Jacks, Chocolate Chip cookies, Sunflower seeds and peanuts

Grill Master at work grilling hot dogs for everyone (not me. ewww gross hot dogs)

Of course another Whole Foods cake. YUM

I really thought Easton would be the baby to demolish his cupcake. He devours anything else we give him at meal times, but he was very slow and picked at it very civilized. Go figure...

Thankful Ryan's grandparents are still able to come to family celebrations like this!

this is just the winner of "funniest picture in this post" contest. My Dad in Caden's chair, sipping his drink, straddling a baby stroller. Bless him. :)

Now, for our shirts. This miiiiight be the one thing that I went a little pinterest overboard with. I saw it done at another 1st birthday party and had to do it. But instead of paying to have them embroidered ($$$), I thought I would whip it out no problem. Oh my. It probably would have turned out fine given a blank slate like the twins', mine and Ryan's shirt. I could have sworn Easton had this little shirt below, in the baseball type sleeve, with a baseball on it. Perfect! All I would have to do is put his name on the back. But when I pulled it out, (4 days before his party), it had a huge football on it with the words "touchdown." FAIL. So after two trips to Michaels, I decided I would just print a design on iron on fabric and iron it over his shirt. Attempt #1 - you could still see the words "touchdown" thru the fabric. Attempt #2 - after 3 layers of fabric, ahhhh, no remnant of football. However, it made Easton's shirt so stiff he could not bend over. poor baby - all because of mommy's vision gone wrong.

 

 

The twins LOVE Uncle Brent.

 

Easton LOVES him some Aunt Rha-Rha (who got kuddos for participating in the baseball theme!)

 

My little Buckeye is 1!

The Twins' 3rd Birthday Party - E-I-E-I-O!

Once upon a time, there was a mom who was trying to get settled into a new house, make it to the 956 "fall" fun activities for families, plan one child's big first birthday party and oops...yes, her twins' 3rd birthday. So this mom plopped her twins in front of the computer which had all of the evite invitations displayed and told them to pick which one they liked. The twins unanimously agreed on the "Old MacDonald" picture and the Mommy thought "whew, good. this will be easy and simple."

 

.....aaaaand the fairytale ended there. All my fault. But it ended there. If you didn't know, part of my job before having the twins was to plan fundraising events. I LOVED it. I love planning. I love the details, the big picture, the plan b's, c's and d's, I love it all. (except outdoor events - no, no, those are stressful.) Anyway, my urge to feel like I was contributing to something and doing something besides feeding, clothing and protecting my kids took over and the "easy, low-key birthday" turned big.

 

No regrets on my part. I do birthday's big because they are a BIG deal! Too many people do not get to celebrate their next birthday, or, I often think back to the time I didn't know if I would have any children to celebrate birthdays with! So keep that in mind as you continue with this post :) chuckle, chuckle. 

 

I did not put her headband in this way. Baby girl decided to give a nod to the 80's I guess.

She was SO excited about all of the "old macdonalds" around

Caden with his buddy Papa

Again....so 80's and so excited.

I love me some Hobby Lobby. A couple of 50 cent wood shapes and you have a wreath!

Can't take credit for most of the food ideas. I let other moms with more time than I have give me the inspiration on Pinterest   :)



Ummmm and I can't take credit for Barbie on the tractor. Gigi-original.

My attempt to cover up the eye sore that is my fireplace. sigh.

We do Whole Foods for our birthday cakes. I don't cook or bake, so I'm not going to mess up the main event when someone like Whole Foods is down the road and delivers this. Adorable!

Didn't we just bring them home from the Hospital?

That's my girl....

This is what it looks like when you tell Caden it is time to go inside for presents. Gone! Like a flash...

 This was the first gathering we hosted since moving in and it was awesome! The weather allowed us to open up all the doors so folks could just come in and out. No crowding or stuffy feeling. yea! Made us fall in love with the house even more- and so grateful for it!

 

 

The twins LOVE them some Aunt Rha-Rha...or is it the other way around ? :)

 We got the twins these power wheels at a consignment sale back in the summer for their birthday present. Caden got it quickly...Jenna was more concerned about being in front and directing traffic. Of course. They love them now - they go up and down the ditch like they are on a real 4wheeler!

 

Caden and Jenna, Happy 3rd Birthday! You are worth celebrating every day! The Lord knew we only had room for TWO firstborns! We are so lucky and blessed to be your parents. We love you both! Love, Mommy and Daddy