{great minds}

So I was browsing through my Google Reader today (which as a side note is one of the best inventions ever. If you are a blog reader and don't use it, start an account...you will love it!) Anywho...I clicked on Elsie's blog, and look what I found! Chairs that are painted and upholstered *exactly* how I want to do our entryway bench! Great minds, huh?! ;)



If you have a sec, you should definitely check out her blog and her shop. She is one super creative chick!

{entryway}

I have a pretty good idea in mind for our entryway. First of all I'm thrilled to have an actual entryway, as our bungalow had nothing of the sort. You walked in, and boom, you were in the living room.

have a few pieces from the last house that I'm going to re-purpose for this area. The piece I'm most excited about, though, is the coat rack made out of vintage trim that I scored for $20 at a local antique fair.



Underneath the coat rack, I'm going to place a piano bench that I've had for probably close to 7 years or so. At the old house, it was used on our front porch and for extra seating in the dining room at times. The cats also loved to sit on it and look out the window. I'm going to give it a fresh coat of paint, and upholster the top with some foam. The fabric in the running right now is this lovely woodgrain print. Fitting for our new "woodland" home.



Between the bench and the coat rack, I'm thinking about purchasing this fun chalkboard fro Paper-Source. It is a generous size (23 x 28 inches) and would be a fun place to keep reminders and leave love notes for my boys.



I have a sweet wire basket that I'll hang next to the chalkboard to hold mail and chalk, of course. It used to hang in our dining room and hold a variety of pretties...



And to round out the arrangement, I'll find a fun print to hang. Maybe on a vintage wooden pants hanger like this...



I have a whole bag full of these lovelies that I saved from my grandparents' house. Love them.

Not sure about the wall color. The whole lower level is painted in various shades of yellow, which just isn't my favorite color, so that will need to change. Right now I'm thinking of a pale gray to go with the dining room, which I've already bought the paint for, but haven't had time to dig into.

I can't wait to put the space together!

{where do I start?}

So many updates to share...

Both of the boys have learned how to wave! I guess only a parent can understand how amazing it is to see those little brains figure out these things. Ben's wave is seriously perfect, while Landon is doing the wave at myself thing which is adorable. Ben also learned how to shake his head. Not really sure when that started, but now it is to the point that you can just say his name and he will do it. Yesterday he did a simultaneous head shake + wave which was hilarious.

Pic of Ben waving...not nearly as good as the real thing. :)


Landon has also started in the past week or so flicking his fingers over his lips and making noises...not sure how else to describe it but hopefully you get what I mean. It is so stinking cute. The funniest thing is when he goes from his newly learned wave right into the lip flicking. When he does that I just want to grab him up and kiss him all over.

We got Direct TV installed over the weekend and so far we really love it. Pausing live TV and having DVR = awesome.

Got a few more things done around the house. Not nearly as much as I would have liked, but progress is progress, right?! Dan mowed the yard for the first time and it looks so nice. It is so exciting to have a wonderful yard to enjoy. Mother-in-law and I were outside looking at all of the plants we have and there are so many...lilac bushes, peonies (can't wait to see what color they are), lots of hostas, tulips, iris...the previous owners did a great job landscaping. There is even a concrete birdbath with a squirrel on it...now if that isn't perfect for me I don't know what is!

Here are a few pics of the back yard that I took yesterday and of our view out the living room windows. It is so peaceful. I can't wait until the trees are all in bloom.








And on a personal note I'm feeling much more settled in the house and not missing the old house nearly as much. The convenience of the new house is really making up for the things I missed about the old house. I'm glad that first week is over!

And I'm much more rested today after a weekend of good sleep! After weeks and weeks of sleepless nights up with Ben, we decided to try letting him "cry it out" this weekend. I was nervous about this...it is so hard to listen to your baby cry like that. But I'm happy to report that night #1 included only about 10 minutes of crying followed by a couple middle of the night pacifier retrievals. And last night was about the same. I think Ben is learning that we aren't going to spoil him anymore. Smart boy. :)

Speaking of sleep...here are our bedrooms in progress. I need to hand all of our artwork and decorate, but the main things are in place. It is hard to photograph Ben's room because of the size, but you get the idea. I can't wait for his curtain fabric to come in!

Ben's room: He got one of the dressers we used to have in our master bedroom. And his Ben Harper poster is sitting in the corner waiting to be hung...





Landon's room - almost a carbon copy of their old nursery. The curtains were a perfect fit on the new windows and I had to use the same paint color...just love it too much.

The bookcase was my grandparents. I'm thinking of painting it white or a fun color and putting patterned paper in the background.


And of course the cute cabinet looks right at home...



And the master: we "stole" the boys' IKEA dresser for our room since we had to downsize to one dresser and it holds a lot more. I love how our curtains were a perfect fit and I can't wait to get the artwork hung over the bed. The tree print is from Walmart of all places!





Still a lot of random things to be put away...


Whew! That was quite an update. Hope everyone had a great weekend and your Monday is off to a great start!

{photos}

I added a link to a website of the new house pics over to the right...check it out! Mostly before pics at this point, but new stuff to come soon!

{warm fuzzies}

I must say that this week has been a lot more difficult than I thought it would be. I miss our old house so much it hurts. It feels like a death in some ways. I'm trying to allow myself to mourn, while also trying to focus on all of the exciting projects I want to take on in the new house.

I think more than the physical house, I miss the life that we had there, the memories we made, and how much fun I had turning it into our cozy nest for 5 very eventful years of our lives. I miss all of the cute arrangements of things I had on the walls, in the built-in cabinets, on the kitchen counter.

Now that we are in the new house, I have a million + 1 ideas of how to decorate and turn this house into our home. I desperately want to get all of those things out of their boxes and find them new homes. But I know that it is going to take time, lots of time. The boys make it difficult to have a spare minute to do anything, especially now that they are in the crawling/standing up/I think I can walk so I'm going to try and fall over and bonk my head stage. It is exhausting keeping track of them. And it is hard for both the hubby and myself to accept the fact that if we want to get anything done, we have to rely on family to help watch the boys. I know we both can't wait for the day when we are self-sufficient again. While the boys are a joy, it is also very frustrating at times. Just keeping it real folks. Parenthood isn't all warm fuzzies...it is actually about 20% warm fuzzies, with the rest being split up between exhaustion, frustration, and just overall running on fumes. At least it is when you have twins and both work full time. OK...enough of this pity party.

I'm trying to break down the organizing/decorating efforts into small and manageable projects. It is amazing how getting even the smallest thing accomplished can really lift your spirits. For example, yesterday I purchased a lovely oil rubbed bronze shower caddy at Walmart (because we no longer have Target...but that is a story for another day). I attached it to the wall opposite the shower head with a command adhesive hook and voila! Instant happy moment for Mandy. When I got in the shower this morning it was so nice to have the shampoo etc. up off the the edges of the tub. It is definitely the little things.

My apologies for this long, rambling post sans pictures...I promise I will try to take some soon, even if they aren't very impressive. :)

{firsts}

As we settle into the new house, there are of course plenty of "firsts" happening. First night sleeping there, first spill on the kitchen carpet (can't wait to get rid of that), first Mandy meltdown (it was bound to happen), and two of my favorites so far, the boys' first baths and our first family dinner.

I think the boys like the tub. We retired their baby tub a few weeks ago so they are super happy to have the entire tub to roam around in. Dan likes to slide them back and forth and make a wave pool. So cute.



You can really see the waves in this one of Ben. Of course the memory card was full after I took this one so I didn't get one of his cutie pie face.


And last night was our first family dinner. The hubs made his yummy spaghetti and meatballs and we sat amidst the boxes, empty and some still full, and enjoyed time with my parents and my 2nd mom, or as I so lovingly refer to her, Queenie Joyce.



No decor pics yet, as the house is still in a sad disarray. With the boys it is going to take me much longer than I would like to get things looking pretty. But it will happen. Patience, Mandy, patience.

{whew!}

Well, we moved into the new digs this past weekend. Overall, I must say that it went pretty well. My emotions were a wreck, and still are a bit, but logistically it was great. We found two young guys to help us move all the furniture and heavy stuff and a coworker loaned me a ton of boxes from her recent move. It all just fell into place. The boys even slept well the first night...let us sleep in until 8 on Sunday morning which is pretty much unheard of around the Ford house these days.

Last night and this morning were a little rocky, mostly because we brought our last two family members of the feline variety to the new house. I forgot how traumatic a move is for cats. We only have one cat carrier so we picked up Chloe first (Dan had the honors on that one) and I went back to get Melvin after the boys had their bedtime bottles. He did not want to go...I had to put the pet carrier on its end and basically dump him in head first. Sorry Melvin...it was for your own good!

Once we got them home, they moaned and cried pretty much all night. I think they felt a little bit like this....


They roamed from room to room, checking out the closets and other little nooks. We had a hard time finding Chloe this morning... finally found her sleeping next to their litter box in the closet. Familiar territory? LOL :) Hopefully they will be better tonight...poor things.

I wish I had some photos to share but life has been way too hectic for photo taking. The house is coming together though, and as soon as I get some actual decorating done you can be sure I'll be sharing a plethora of pics. :)

Oh, and we have the inspsection on the old house today so please say a little prayer for us that it goes well! *fingers crossed*

{SOLD!!!!}

Oh. My. God!!! We sold our house last night! I seriously can't believe it...somebody pinch me!! The first offer we received was really low, so the hubs and I weren't feeling optimistic that it would work out, but we countered back and forth a few times and they accepted our final counter offer! What a huge relief. Looks like we hopefully won't have to make any double mortgage payments. I don't usually get all cheesy on here when it comes to my religious beliefs, but I feel like God's hand has very much been in this whole process. From finding the perfect house for our family that we could actually afford, to selling our current house so quickly in a market where houses sit for months or even a year before they sell. Thank you God is all I have to say!

I took the day off of work yesterday to paint in the new house. I have to say that it was such a great feeling to be fixing it up and making it our own. And to have a day all to myself was so nice. But man am I sore today! We are also having a half wall installed in the front room where there used to be a railing. It was very shaky and not up to code so the wall will be much safer for the boys. Here are a few pics...

There will be wooden trim along the top of the wall that I'll paint white (and baseboard too of course)


Ben's room...


Before of the built-in in Ben's room...


And now! Just need to paint the shelves...


I can't wait to put some cute owls in there! I also think this from Urban Outfitters would be a great accessory. It is supposed to hold jewelry but I think it looks great on its own...

And I'm LOVING this rug for Landon's room (also from UO)


I swear I could spend sooo much money right now on new stuff for the house!

That is all. :)

{what a weekend!}

It was quite a weekend for the Fords. On Saturday, we were able to go over to the new house and start painting! The blue room is being painted to same shade of brown that the boys' nursery is currently (tree branch from Sherwin Williams). I'm sooo excited to see the blue go...can you tell?! :)



Sooo much better!


Mother-in-law is a great helper...she even looks good when she's taping down drop cloths!


The boys supervised...errr...napped while we worked.


What a life!


The green bedroom is being painted a nice neutral beige...a good backdrop for my idea of brown and orange accessories. This will be Ben's room and he is inheriting this Ben Harper poster that is currently in our office. I think it will be great to add color and whimsy to the room.


And of course I had to take a picture of the yard with the SOLD sign!

Things are moving right along with getting the house ready to move in. We have a contractor there today replacing the shaky railing at the top of the stairs with a half wall. Will be much safer for the boys and another wall to put furniture along as well.

For Easter yesterday, my parents came over and we spent the day at home eating finger foods and playing with the boys. They were so active yesterday...wore us all out! Here they are with their gifts from Grandma and Grandpa...



And I couldn't resist the obligatory bunny ear shots...

AND, Ben got his first haircut yesterday! I couldn't take his mini mullet any longer, so I broke out the scissors, took a deep breath, and started cutting.


Not bad if I do say so myself. Look at that cute neck!


It was quite a weekend, that's for sure. Next Easter will be a lot more fun since they will be old enough for an egg hunt. Or new yard is just perfect.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

{sweeeet!}

That's what I thought last night when I was handed the garage door opener to our new garage!!! Ahhh...how exciting to be able to park in our own driveway and pull into our very own garage. No more maneuvering around the neighbor's cars to fit into the just big enough space in front of our house. No more trying to look around our neighbor's ginormous truck to see if anyone is coming before pulling out. No more dodging traffic to get the boys into the car. Absolute HEAVEN!!!

And I'm pretty excited about the house too. ;)

And I don't want to jinx it, but we got very promising news about selling our house last night as well. Keep us in your prayers!!

{ready or not}

I haven't been in much of a blogging mood for the past week or so. I think I'm just mentally exhausted from everything that is going on around me. The biggest of which is...

We're closing on the new house tomorrow!!! Yikes and Yay!! I have such mixed feelings about this. I'm excited for the great and needed changes the new house will bring. The convenience of having the boys' rooms on the main level, and not having to walk through their room to get to ours. No more creaky stairs. A driveway and garage! A nice big yard with room for a swingset for the boys. Lots of great things.

But I'm sad to be leaving our current house with all of the memories we have made in it.

Celebrating our first wedding anniversary.

Our first Thanksgiving here when my parents brought most of the food and I made my first pumpkin pie. I was so proud of my table setting. :)


Got Mom's approval on my pie :)

First snow...and it was a doozy!!

Our first Christmas was so exciting...getting to decorate an entire house and especially the mantle. I was in heaven.

Finding out my Grandpa had terminal cancer, and sitting on the stairs crying on the phone with my mom. Not all of the memories are wonderful.

Hosting a Mother's Day tea for my mom and mother-in-law. What a fun day that was.


Finding out we were going to be parents and telling my parents that they were going to be grandparents.


My baby shower...a great day with family and friends.


Spending many warm summer evenings on the porch swing with coffee in hand and a good magazine. My favorite spot in the house and I am going to miss it dearly.


Bringing the boys home and wondering what the heck we were going to do with them.

And the past 10 months learning how to be parents and going through the biggest roller coaster of our lives.

I know we will make many more new memories in the new house, the first being the boys' 1st birthday!! I can't even believe that is less than 2 months away. Insane. I'm trying to focus on these things, while still allowing myself to be sad as well.

BTW...anyone have tips on how to move successfully with two babies?