Busy like the elves

So I got my tree done last week, and I decided to keep the momentum going on Friday by finishing the mantle and decorating the front porch.  Then on Saturday, after the Y and dropping some stuff off at Kim’s, I wound garland through the stair railing and hung big ol’ ornaments on our (dead, to-be-replaced-in-the-spring) tree out front.  After a very productive afternoon, we took the night off to go out to eat with Ryan and Sandra.

We were back at it on Sunday.  We hit the ground running trying to take some family pictures on the front porch.  (BTW, it’s difficult to get a 10-month-old to smile at all much less in the direction of a camera without anyone behind it.)  Then, on top of the usual laundry, general cleaning, and grocery shopping, we also got our outside lights hung.

Of course, we had a little helper.  Connor directed from the sidewalk and then, as any good supervisor would, he had to get involved when things weren’t going the way he wanted.

He wrapped things up by doing his A Christmas Story impression.  Luckily, it wasn’t QUITE cold enough for his tongue to stick.

I got really brave and decided to tackle the big tree by the driveway.  Since I got my new prelit tree, I had many strands of white Christmas lights begging to be displayed.  I’m a Christmas-light snob and hate when people just throw a strand of lights on some tree branches or they start off with good intentions but run out of lights and consider the job done.  WRONG!

We want to add a couple more strands of lights up from that one line at the top so that what people see is a triangle of lights.  Otherwise, I’m happy with how everything looks.

Now who wants to come over after Christmas and unwind all those lights from the tree?  Maybe I can keep them up and turn it into a new landscaping look…

Getting my Christmas on

I was productive last night.  I got my new tree decorated, put out a few Christmas things, and put my mantle mostly together.  Here’s how it looks from my vantage point on the couch, looking over the laptop with the TV on in the background.

Notice something wrong up there?  Yep, I still need to get Connor a stocking.  I hope to find one that looks like the McHusband’s and mine but if I can’t, then I’ll just get something that goes with them.

Does everyone already have some holiday party or get-together this weekend?  My first Christmas event is Monday when we girls get together, but the McHusband and I are going to dinner with some friends this Saturday and we’re looking forward to catching up with them.

Otherwise, I will just be happy to be at home after all our traveling last week.

TGIF!

Vanessa’s Baby Shower: The Decorations

First of all, I have to thank Heather for the majority of these pictures.  I had asked her to show up a few minutes before the shower started because she is a great last-minute helper.  Luckily she had a few minutes after assisting with kitchen clean-up to snap some photos.

I did just a little bit at the front door to help get people in the fiesta mood as they entered the house.  The pillow that refused to cooperate says “Bien Venido.”  My idea, but my mom’s handiwork.

Just inside the front door was the favor station with my sign and little bags of Chicago Mix popcorn.

On to the main event!  I taped store-bought fans to three of the back windows and placed my oversized flower arrangements in front of the fan-less windows. 

I had the idea to do the flower arrangements but once again my mom was the sweat.  She made all the paper flowers, but I did arrange them on the sticks (with some input from her).  She’s also behind the papel picado (that’s the banner thingie) on the table.  We saw the doilies on our way out of Michael’s and I knew we had to use them.  So we cut them in half, strung them together, and then I pinned them to the tablecloth.

So that’s the food table.  The drink table itself wasn’t too interesting, but the background was fun.

Another mom-and-me project.  I asked her if she could sew plastic tablecloths together and she said yes.  She had to play with the material a little but she figured it out and voila!  I had a very cool backdrop.

Vanessa opened gifts in the den against a wall that has two built-ins and a fireplace.  I had to dress those areas up so I spray painted wine bottles and dug into my stash of paper lanterns.  I also used lots of paper flowers thanks to guess who?  Yep, my mom!

(We’ll get back to that pinata in a minute.)

I asked people to fill out little cards with either advice for Shawn and Vanessa or well wishes for their baby girl.

Then Shawn and Vanessa opened it later together and read everyone’s messages.

We’ll talk about food and people soon!

The nursery (for now)

First a disclaimer: The room isn’t DONE done.  But it’s ready for a baby (even if I’m not).

The view from the doorway, which isn’t all that different from the sneak peek that I shared a couple weeks ago.

The dresser was the McHusband’s and started off like this:

The McHusband did a great job of repainting it.

And I did a great job of picking out its new knobs.

And to complete our 360 view of the room, here’s the twin bed that I really wanted to keep in the room and luckily it works to keep it up against the wall.

My mom made the curtains, but I  had the idea to use galvanized pipe as the curtain rods.

The bookshelf works for now.  I have a feeling it’ll be an evolving project.

From top to bottom:

I do have a little secret to share.  One of the reasons I’m so happy that the twin bed is staying in the room is that it provides a lot of convenient storage for baby items we’ll eventually need but that don’t need to be out right now.

A HUGE shout-out and thank-you to the McHusband who put up the board-and-batten treatment and the crown.  He did a fantastic job and I can’t express how much I appreciate him working so hard to make my vision happen.

I was really happy to find a small gray ceiling fan that worked perfectly in this room.

One thing that’s missing?  A rocker.  I waited until all the furniture was in place before ordering one because I wanted to make sure it would fit.  It’s going over there in the corner between the crib and the window where the kid-sized rocker is currently playing placeholder.  The baby may be here before the chair, but I think we’ll live for a couple of days.

I’ve got a few things for the walls, but I’m not quite ready to affix them yet so I’ll do a nursery update at some point to show you how the room ultimately looks. 

Maybe there’ll even be a baby in some of those photos.

What a weekend!

I. Am. Exhausted.

But for many good reasons.  Last week was a very busy one in general and then I had a houseful of VIP’s from Friday through Sunday.  See, my baby shower was held at my house on Saturday and you know the women in my family can’t just have a party.  We have to go all out for everything from new puppies to second birthday parties to what the McBaby may or may have between its legs.

Shannon and the McHusband worked on some finishing touches in the McBaby’s room Friday night.  Shannon painted.

And they installed a fan, assembled a crib, and hung curtains. 

I was busy helping them as necessary but I had to bake cookies, frost cupcakes, and make cheesecake bars.

I made it back upstairs in time to help with the important stuff.

Bri and Sam arrived after Mexican food (And margaritas; yes, you do detect a hint of jealousy.) and a trip to Harris Teeter.  They and my mom got busy with food prep and party décor, fueled by wine and good conversation.

We got the nursery pulled together enough for it to show well at the shower on Saturday.  Here’s a sneak peek.

Shannon, the McHusband, and I went to bed around 1:15 but Bri, Sam, and my mom were up another 45 minutes or so.  I don’t know what time those three were up the next morning, which was really the same morning, but they were up and at ‘em by the time I got downstairs around 8:30.

I have lots more to show-and-tell regarding the shower, but I have to make sure I do it justice because of all the hard work my wonderful hostesses put into it.  I’ll be back with details soon.

PS  Happy Birthday to Bri today!