Hunkering down at Home...

This weekend was a very relaxing one in our household. Friday night our friends, the Falciones, brought us over dinner. I was able to snuggle on their little man (Christopher is 12 weeks old) and envy the fact that they are "over the hump" in regards to the fussy first 12 weeks. I am READY for the fussy evenings to be over. Not. Fun. But we're halfway there...

Holding Christopher

Cute shot of Izzy Lou

Over the past few days Jaime has been out of town, so we've had Luke at our place a few times. Izzy LOVED having a playmate and I LOVED having him over to wear her out. Plus, the two of them together is quite simply so stinkin' cute. They fight over toys like brother and sister, but they know each other so well that to watch them play and "talk" to each other is priceless.
Luke got Izzy a little kitchen kit (as she loves to help daddy cook and pretend cook) that has "Chef Izzy" on it and a ton of real cooking utensils (wooden spoons, spatulas, wire whisk, et al). She loves it and carries it around with all her supplies.
Showing off
Izzy always has to be doing what Delaney is doing...tummy time and all!

Saturday morning we went to a Fall Festival in Carmel (pony rides, fire trucks, pumpkin picking, etc.) and Izzy had a fun time picking out pumpkins with daddy. Her favorite part of the trip was getting a red fireman's hat to add to her dress-up repertoire at home.

She liked this one best, I knew because she tried sitting on it...I guess to leave her mark :)
And finally, Mike saw this (above) piece of wall decor in the Pottery Barn catalog and wanted to replicate it. He spent Saturday in the garage cutting, painting, banging up the wood and assembling to create this:

His rendition is not square like the PB one is, and has colors that compliment our family room. This is now hanging above our leather couch, in the room right off the kitchen. It's such a fun piece...and didn't cost us $399 plus shipping! Mike actually had all the supplies and paint in his garage so it was FREE. My kind of price tag :)

While Mike was crafting in the garage and working in the yard, I spent a large portion of the weekend cleaning the house. My entire Keel side of the family is coming into town next weekend for my Great Aunt Jane's Memorial service. Lots of family staying with us and at a local hotel...and we're hosting Friday night dinner and Sunday brunch, so the house needed a good cleaning. The basement was the least amount of fun (this is Mike's "man cave" and office space), as it isn't cleaned nearly as often as the rest of the house. But the carpets being steam-vacc'ed was the most rewarding, as you get instant results from your cleaning! Love freshly steamed carpets!

We also finished the dining room-turned-toy room project. I bought several different storage pieces for all the toys, books and dress-up, so as the room looks organized and presentable instead of mass chaos. We are LOVING having our living room back to an adult space (there are still toys in here, but they are hidden in the armoire under the t.v.) and not cluttered with toys. Drove me crazy, constantly picking up/putting away (one of my faults, yes). Now the toys can be strewn throughout the toy room and it is out-of-sight, out-of-mind for me. I can handle that room being messy and not feel like I have to pick it up before I go to bed (like I had to in the living room). Was one of Mike's novel ideas that has transformed our house. He even brought in the Kangaroo Climber from outside (after cleaning it up) and Izzy just LOVES being able to play/climb on it indoors (thanks, Mom!). The winter will be lots more fun with so much to do in her new toy room (plus, the nanny is fired up for all the new play space, too!).