Five on Friday!

Hey all!  Happy Weekend!

 

I'm a little late to the party so let's get right to it!

 

{ONE}

 

Henry finally caught his first fish!

 

We had spent a total of approximately eight hours over two weekends in an attempt to catch one fish. 

 

We were soooo happy for our little guy! 

 

 

In case you're wondering, Nemo, as the fish was named, was sent back into the lake.

 

 

We had a great time!

 

 

{TWO}

 

This is how I found Eliza napping earlier this week. 

 

She's hilarious even when she's sleeping!  Love her.

 

 

{THREE}

 

Wallpaper!

 

Can I just say that I want all the wallpaper?!  I want to bathe in it...I want to comb its hair...I want...wait...did it just get weird?  Anywhooooo.....

 

So, here's the deal - Jon and I recently visited our local Sherwin Williams store to purchase some paint samples, we came back home with three paint samples and three wallpaper books!  EEK!

 

I'm beyond excited about the idea of wallpaper in Little Miss. Eliza's big girl bedroom.

 

I'm leaning toward the top one.  Which one is your favorite?

 

 

Oh and of course the kids saw the paint samples and wanted to help.  As you can see, Henry removed his shirt, because apparently that's what painters do - he was so excited.  LOL! 

 

Now, let me just say - this was a nerve-wrecking moment.  Seriously, paint and kids can be a mess sitting at a table in a controlled environment.  AmIRight?! 

 

Now imagine both children running across a completely unprepared room while holding fully loaded paint brushes.  I was terrified they were going to paint the floors, the windows, or each other.  Luckily, it ended well.  Phew!  No windows, doors, or cribs....or children were painted during this operation.

 

  

{FOUR}

 

Speaking of Henry and Eliza...

 

How in the world are they both big enough to do this?? 

 

 

Gosh, this was a beautiful day.  The month of June has been a rainy one here in Michigan.  There have been few days like this.............

  

 

{FIVE}

 

A few days ago I blogged about my homemade-chalk-paint and stenciled-number-chairs!

 

Check it out here to get more deets!

 

 



Thanks for stopping by!

 

Want to be friends?  Click over there to follow me -------->

 

Thanks party peeps!

 

Cheers,

 

Marie :)

 



I'm linking up with, Darci, April, Natasha, and Christina for the Five on Friday link-up Party!

I'm linking up with A Little Bit of Everything, Momfessionals, and Grace and Love for my Friday Favorites!
I'm linking up with September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for the Oh Hey Friday linky party!



Stenciled Number Chairs

If you follow me on Instagram then you may remember a picture from a couple months ago of me re-painting our dining room chairs.  Well, I'm finally kinda-sorta done with them.  I have yet to apply a coat of polyurethane.  However, I just couldn't wait another minute to share these chairs with all of you. 

 

These chairs were purchased about seven years ago for $8.00 total from a beautiful Victorian home located here in our town.  The matching table was also purchased.  Unfortunately, I didn't have a way to get it in my car at the time, so I left it there.  Sad face.

 

.........Actually, now that I think about it, I believe I told the homeowners that I'd come back to get the table in hopes that I could find a way to bring the table home.  Hmm...Hopefully they weren't waiting too long for my return.  Oops!  ;)

 

Long story short, these chairs cost next to nothing and I recently decided to give them a makeover!

 

 

I was inspired to do this project by an Instagram picture posted by the amazing Joanna Gaines.  I also loved what she had to say about her home:

 

Source

 

"At one point I noticed my kids weren't thriving in the home bc the space was too perfect for them to play in. That was the defining moment for me with design. From that point forward I was inspired to create a space where my family could thrive and let the imperfection be the beauty bc no one really wants perfect at the end of the day."  -Joanna Gaines

Awesome-sauce, right?

I couldn't agree with her more.  I always noticed the crumbs and dust in and on the chairs.  I noticed smudges and I always found myself wiping and cleaning them.  I couldn't let them be just chairs.  The chairs looked too..............perfect.  They needed more..............imperfections.

I also needed that awesome crayon-holder-thingy and a photographer to capture all of us having a coloring contest! 

Let's start with the chairs!  ;)

Here's a before picture:



After:

 

 

Now, let me start by saying that I was too cheap to go and buy a bunch of chalk paint, so I took upon myself to mix up a batch of homemade paint. 

 

I found a recipe using white wall paint and baking soda.  Yes, baking soda!  It worked great. 

 

As for the stenciling - I found the perfect sized stencils from our local grocery store.  I stenciled the backs of the chairs with some black paint that I already had on hand.  After it dried, I carefully dabbed a small amount of white paint over the black paint to diminish the boldness of the numbers.   

Oh and in case you're wondering, each number represents the day of the month of each family member's birthday.  The chair below belongs to Little Miss. Eliza.
 



 

So there you have it!  My Stenciled Number Chairs. 

We're off to bust out those coloring books and crayons now!  See ya' later fake plants and lanterns, there's a coloring contest about to go down!

Thanks for stopping by!

 

XOXO,

Marie :)







Our Lake Michigan Getaway 2015

Attention!  Attention!  This is be the world's largest and longest picture heavy blog post in all of blogging history!  Okay, well, I don't know if that's actually true or not. 

 

I just couldn't help myself when posting these pictures of our amazing time in South Haven!  We had so, so, soooo much fun!

 

I'll keep it simple; less words, more photos. 

 

Okay, here we go!

 

ARRIVAL

 

We used our bikes as our primary mode of transportation and it was pretty darn awesome!   

 

 

Now, to be clear, we didn't actually stay on Lake Michigan.  We stayed about a 3 minute walk away. 

There was a public access very close to our rental and, as you can see, it was gorgeous!

 



Look. At. That. View. 

 



 

DAY TWO

 

 Miss. Eliza's Birthday!

 

It was rainy, but we made the most of it be visiting the local shops, antiquing, and by going to a local bakery to find some goodies to celebrate Miss. Eliza's second birthday! 

 

 

DAY THREE

 

 Another rainy morning, but with a pleasant afternoon.  We went to a park after the rain had settled and did some more shopping!  We also waited for Grandma Terri and Grandpa George to arrive!

 

 

 

Grandma Terri and Grandpa George arrived and the kids were soooo excited!

 

*Grandpa George re-enacting a part of the book*  He's hilarious!

 

S'mores! 

Oh and Grandma and Grandpa brought a homemade pie and we sang Happy Birthday to this guy!

 



 

DAY FOUR

 

Beach time!  It was chilly, but the kids had a blast!

 

 

DAY FIVE

 

Another cool day on the lake.  As you can see, one child is dressed as if it were 85 degrees, while the other is dressed as if it were 32 degrees.  She maintained her stubbornness by refusing to remove her winter/spring clothing.  The actual temperature was in the low 70s.  LOL!

 

 

 

We had a sandcastle building contest.  Mine is on the left (red) and Jon's castle is on the right (blue).  Please vote for your favorite below.......clearly it's the one on the left.  ;)

 

 

 

DAY SIX

 

My world right here, folks. 

 

Oh and this is what Henry keeps calling his "school picture" for this coming school year.  Yeah, wish my luck with that one.  Haha.

 

He even has his sister doing it! 

 

These kids are so funny!





I mean, seriously...does it get any better?

 



 

That belly.  Love.

  

That face.  Love.

 

Oh...and that "school picture" again!

 

 

Why does she look like she's eight years old in this picture?

...and Henry looks like he's sixteen?! 

 

 

DAY SEVEN

 

Our last day.  Sad face.  We took one last bike ride to a public beach access (one we hadn't visited) and I managed to take some beautiful photographs of the kids. 

 

These were peaceful moments.  Happy moments.

 

 

 

 

 

Are you still there?  If so, thanks for sticking around!

 

We had an amazing time!  There's nothing better than sharing this amazing place with these bundles-of-adorableness! 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

XOXO,

Marie :)