Cute owls for the playroom!

I do not have a tremendous amount of design talent, but I love doing kid rooms. There is so much less pressure - if it is colorful and cute, then it works. Mixing and matching can be a lot of fun!

I was first inspired by a precious owl pillow from Garden Ridge, so I went with bright colors and a few friendly owl accents:

The playroom includes all of Amelia's toys, her art table, books, play kitchen, and a small nook with a TV and DVD player for quiet movie time. We needed comfortable but fun seating for movies (and for Mommy/Daddy when we need to be in there with her). These bright green saucer chairs from Garden Ridge are perfect! Fun and funky, but really comfortable! Even suitable for my 6'1" husband. A lot of kid chairs are terrible for him.

The cute frames were only about $5 from Kirkland's, and I bought an owl poster from Hobby Lobby to cut up. You can save a lot of money by purchasing a big poster and cutting to fit into several small frames vs. searching for many small prints. I have even done this for some frames in the main part of the house - no one knows it was once "just" a poster.

So there you have it... one more cute and happy room for our new home!

Fit for our Princess: #Cinderella bedroom decor

Amelia's new bedroom is really coming together! She requested a Cinderella theme, and I tried to mix "grown up" elements with temporary Disney princess decor. She is already five years old, so I want to be able to remove the Disney part of it once she outgrows that phase (it'll come soon enough... sniff sniff). By selecting removable Disney decals, we have the option to remove them later. A few major elements like the color scheme and framed art have a more grown-up feel.

For this grown-up but kid-friendly Cinderella bedroom, I pulled together these great items: 

• A comforter set in blue tones with a sparkly pillow made for a perfect princess bedroom look. This comforter set and sparkle heart pillow are Sweethearts by Teen Vogue (Ordered from Belk)
• The focal point above the bed is the "a dream is a wish your heart makes" quote from the popular Cinderella movie soundtrack. This beautiful wall quote came from RockABabyWallQuotes and was a challenge to install, but not impossible. It looks fantastic.
• My favorite "big girl" look in the room came from the wall art. The gorgeous Cinderella-themed 8x10 photographs via AnaPontesPhotography on Etsy are sophisticated, but they still fit within the Cinderella themed bedroom.
• The Cinderella bedroom color scheme is light blue, of course, but we decided on black elements and furniture instead of a more childish white. The wall quote, frames, and furniture are black.We also have a swirly-edged black shelf hanging over her dresser.
• To add the Disney princess to the room, per our daughter's wishes, we selected a set of Disney Princess peel and stick wall decals, ordered off Amazon.com. We used the small blue icons (bird, shoe, etc) to "sit" on top of each light switch plate and outlet and they are so cute!
• We also added a Cinderella "Pillow Pet" type doll to the bed, which was also ordered via Amazon.com 

We are adding black picture frames with glittery crowns and hearts (from Hobby Lobby) to sit on her dresser also. It's looking great! This Cinderella themed bedroom is definitely the happiest room in our house!

Snowy anticipation: Frozen

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures' FROZEN will be in theaters this November!

Brand new teaser trailer just released:



That snowman is awesome, right?! We will be in line to see this one in a few months.

iPhone shuffle

 My iPhone pretty much rules my life. the calendar tells me where to be, when to make a phone call, when to go to the bank... it even beeps to remind me to pick up my kid from wherever she may be that day. My iPhone houses my email, some great impromptu photos, and music.

Today, I touched the music icon and hit shuffle:

-Cirque Du Soleil
-Taiko

From Mystere Live. Steve and I saw this before we were married, on one of our very first vacations together. Las Vegas!

This was the trip where I won $50 with my first coin in a slot machine (and promptly lost it within a day, since I erroneously believed it was "so easy!". I think they rig that front lobby slot machine for this very reason.)

#WW: Rain or Shine

We are still living amidst boxes and trying to get settled in the new home. Amelia loves her huge playroom, her lovely Cinderella bedroom, and the perfectly inclined sidewalk for a scooter ride.

We have enjoyed the quiet neighborhood on a cul-de-sac street. No traffic!

She scooters, rain or shine:

My 5 yr old's favorite Ipad apps

Amelia is growing up very quickly. She is starting to read and spell, she can count, and she even knows a good bit of Spanish! Recently, we cleaned up the iPad to make room for more "grown up" apps.

No more monkey preschool lunchbox - I am most sad about this one! It was a big favorite of ours, but she has sadly outgrown it.

Here are some suggested apps, tested and approved by a savvy almost-kindergartner:

Where's My Water?
This was originally installed for me. I really enjoy the challenge of figuring out each level. I have gotten far enough to where it is really difficult, but Amelia can breeze through the first few levels. She is actually quite good! Pretty soon, she may beat me to the end.

#WW: Adventures in the sun

We took a break in between the moving chaos to enjoy five days at the beach with family. Photos are from my iPhone because (1) we forgot to pack the Nikon, and (2) the cord to the waterproof camera is packed inside a box, somewhere in this mess of a new home.

Amelia loved her very first waverunner ride! We saw at least five dolphins and went "super fast"!

Being Supermom: What my 5-year old taught me today

Like most moms, I do it all. I cook, clean up toys, chauffeur, stay at home, pop into to the office, support, cheer, play, and never take time for myself. My husband's demanding job does not allow me to make evening girly plans, because I can not count on when he will be home to watch Amelia. Going out on weekends would mean rarely seeing him and barely having time as the three of us. So I suck it up and do it all. I get tired and lose all patience; I am a troll when tired. Moving, of course, has put me into an even deeper realm of stress and fatigue. But I trudge through it.

Trudge, trudge, trudge.
Miserable, sore, and troll-like.

Packing and moving

Oh, the joys of moving
(Read to the tune of "Twelve Days of Christmas")

12 heavy boxes (times ten!)
11 paper cuts
10 stairs-a-climbing (times fifty!)
9 bumps and bruises
8 days of shopping
7 hot baths
6 sore muscles
5 scrapes... and... dings!
4 twisted ankles
3 frantic phone calls
2 bad headaches
and a new (messy!) home for them and me

Truck day is on Saturday! The new home will be a disaster for a while, but at least we will be in one place. I cannot wait for some relaxation again soon!