Maddie's Room

I promised to post some pictures of Maddie's room this week.  Here's a little tour of her room:

This is the view as you enter the room.  The rocking chair is right inside the door.

 This chair is a hand-me-down from my parents.  It moved to Michigan with me, and it was the reading chair in my classroom until Drew was born.  Then it came home with me, and we used it in Drew's room for five years.  Now we've moved it to Maddie's room, where it will probably stay until it becomes a classroom reading chair again some day.
My mom made the quilt on the back of the chair, and my friend Kristen made the quilt on the arm of the chair.  I found the little lined basket garbage can at the thrift store.

 While I was pregnant with Maddie, I kept seeing lots of decorating ideas using groupings of embroidery hoops with fabric.  I loved that idea, and I decided to do a group of hoops in Maddie's room.  I made the little house hoop with felt, and I bought all the fabric except the green fabric in the little hoop on the top left.  It is some leftover fabric from one of my childhood dresses.  I bought most of the hoops from thrift stores.  I have several extra hoops, so if I ever find some great fabric, I might add another hoop or two.  I love the oval hoop!

 Maddie's bedding is called, "Molly," and it is an older Pottery Barn set.  I found this set brand new on Ebay.  It was the first thing we bought for Maddie's room, and we based all our other choices on the colors and theme of the bedding.
The crib was Drew's crib.  It has drop sides, which are now considered unsafe, so we had to order the repair kit from the manufacturer.  Jim fixed the sides pretty easily, and the crib was ready for Maddie.

 I made Maddie's mobile, and I am really happy with the way it turned out.  I started out planning for the birds to sit on some embroidery hoops (like this one), but after several attempts to assemble it, Jim and I gave up, and I decided to go the branch route instead.  I truly love the branch, and I love that it spans the length of the crib.

 The framed piece at the head of the crib is a vintage embroidered verse of "All Things Bright and Beautiful."  I found it earlier this summer at a thrift store in South Carolina.  I love the little animals and the bright yellow frame.

 The drapes are Pottery Barn blackout drapes that I bought on Ebay.  I have dark denim drapes in Drew's room that make his room so dark.  He has always been a great napper, and I knew that blackout drapes would be worth the investment in Maddie's room.  I usually keep them pulled closed, and they really make her room nice and dark for daytime naps.
This little dresser is a hand-me-down from Jim's mom, and it was in pretty rough shape.  Jim did some repairs and then painted it and replaced the handles with these cute, colorful knobs from Hobby Lobby.
I added some trim to a plain white lampshade for Maddie's lamp.  The cupcake bank (from Target) was a gift from Jim's mom, and my parents bought Maddie the pink CD player (from Amazon).

 One of the things I really wanted for Maddie's room was a dollhouse bookcase.  I started checking around, and I found that most of them were around $100.  I decided to check Craigslist, where I found this one for $25, and the lady selling it lived around the corner from Jim's work.  The backing had a stain, so we removed it and replaced it with some beadboard.  Not only did the beadboard look better, but it was also sturdier than the old backing.  We painted the roof pink (it was originally green) for a better contrast against the walls.  The polka dot bins are from Babies-R-Us.

 My friend, Kristen, made Maddie this little basket with a vintage metal frame and some cute fabric.  I love it, and it is perfect for holding her stuffed animals.

 One of my favorite things in the room is the big tree that my sister, Nora, painted.  We added shelves to a few of the branches, and I love how it turned out!

 The changing table is on the fourth wall, between the closet and the door.  It is Drew's old changing table.

 Some of the baskets on the changing table and bookcase were gifts, and some were thrifted.

Jim and I made Maddie's bow holder using this tutorial.  I spray painted a frame from the thrift store, and then Jim helped me add some cup hooks along the bottom and staple the ribbon strips to the back.  It really works well.

I love Maddie's little room, and I love that it is a collaboration of effort from so many people who love her - the walls that my dad and sister painted, the hand-me-down furniture from our parents, the quilts that my mom and Kristen made, and all the other handmade and thrifted items really make her room special.

A Little Random Post

We've been staying busy here the last few weeks at our house, but I haven't felt like I have had a lot to blog about!  One of the things I've been doing lately is getting back to scrapbooking!  I had been missing it, so I decided to try to make a layout a few weeks ago.  I enjoyed it so much that I've made one a week since then!  All of these layouts are from sketches from Let's Scrap.

This first layout is from our strawberry picking trip earlier this summer.  

 This layout is about Maddie's being measured and weighed in the recovery room after she was born.  I used the paper measuring tape that they used to measure her (they let me take it home), and I cut it to her length.

 This last layout is about our visit to Jim's uncle's house last Thanksgiving.  Uncle Paul has a Hudson Hornet, and Drew loved seeing it!

 I've also been busy making baby food for Maddie.  I always bought the little containers of baby food for Drew, and I guess that while I hated paying so much for it, I just never realized that I could actually make baby food myself.  I've been using my Ninja blender that I got for Mother's Day, and it has been working very well.  It is so much easier than I though it would be, and it is definitely cheaper than buying the jars of food.

 I'm freezing the baby food in these covered ice cube trays (Oxo brand, from Bed Bath and Beyond) that my parents got me last Christmas (in preparation for baby food making!), and they have been working well.

 I've made four kinds so far - Butternut Squash, Apple, Sweet Potato, and Green Beans.  Maddie has tried the sweet potatoes and the apples.  She wasn't very interested in the apples, so I mixed the sweet potatoes in some rice cereal, and she loved those!

 We think that Maddie is teething.  She hasn't had any teeth pop through yet, but she has been very fussy for the past couple of weeks, and she has been chewing on her hands a lot.  Here she is asleep in her exersaucer.  She was crying in it while I was in the shower the other morning, and when I came out, she had fallen asleep.

 We have gotten out some of Drew's old baby toys, and she seems very interested in them.  She is getting close to being able to sit up on her own, and I think that once she is able to do that, she will be able to play with the toys much better.

Drew is getting excited about starting kindergarten in a few weeks.  We have gotten all of his supplies, and now we are just waiting for the first day of school to come.  He starts the last week of August.  He has been watching the Olympics with us these past couple of weeks, and he recognizes many of the countries' flags from watching Cars 2.  He will talk about cheering for Max's team (Germany) or Shu's team (Japan).  He told me that he remembers which flags are which the "bestest" by thinking about the cars.
I am hoping to blog about Maddie's bedroom next week.  We have finally gotten the last big things hung on the walls, and I am just waiting for a sunny day so I can take some pictures.  I hope you have a great weekend!

Summer Grilling

We have been using our grill quite a bit this summer, and one of our favorite meals to make outside is grilled tilapia.  I marinate the tilapia fillets for a few hours, and then Jim cooks them on the grill.  They are delicious! 

Here is the recipe for the marinade:
Tilapia Marinade
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons honey
4 teaspoons brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cloves garlic, minced
Mix ingredients and pour over tilapia fillets.  Let marinate in refrigerator for several hours, until ready to grill.
Drew was in a golf camp at Jim's course last week.  The camp was scheduled to meet Monday through Thursday mornings, but it was cancelled on Wednesday and Thursday because of rain.  When I told Drew that his camp was cancelled again on Thursday, he was pretty disappointed.  I tried to cheer him up by telling him that they were going to have a make-up day on Friday, but he was still sad.  I decided to do a little camp for him at home that morning, and that cheered him right up.  We started with a "swim" in the bathtub.  I let him wear his swim suit.  :)  Then it was craft time, and Drew chose to do play dough for his craft.  He had a great time playing with his play dough, and while he played, I made him some trail mix.

 This is the trail mix, which Drew called, "trailer mix."  I used craisins, chocolate chips, pretzels (they are shaped like letters - aren't they cute?!), and marshmallows (Drew pronounces that word as "marsha-mallows") in the trail mix.

 Maddie was sick with a cold, but she sat in her Bumbo (Drew calls it her "Dumbo") and watched her brother.

 We spelled Drew's name with his trail mix pretzels, but we had to get a little creative to make an E.

That night we decided to grill our dinner.  I had made this pork the night before, and we used some of it to make some grilled pulled pork pizzas for dinner.  I got the idea and instructions for the pulled pork pizza here.
We started with some small circles of rolled-out pizza dough, brushed with oil.  We found that our grill was too hot, and the bottoms of our dough circles got a bit blackened.

 Drew rode his bike in the sprinkles while we worked on the pizzas.

 After we flipped the crusts, we brushed them with barbecue sauce and topped them with cheese, pulled pork, and pineapple bits.

 Jim closed the lid and let the toppings warm and the cheese melt.

 The pizzas were very good, and we plan to grill pizza again soon.  If you have never tried grilling your pizza, I would encourage you to try it.  It is fun, and it keeps your house cool!
In keeping with the camp theme of the day, we finished our evening by making s'mores on the grill.  Jim and Drew made some sticks from old hangers, and we got to work toasting our marsha-mallows.

We put our s'mores together,

 and ate them.  They turned out great!  Drew had never tried s'mores before, and it had been forever since Jim or I had eaten them.  We loved them so much that we've already made them again!  :)

We've really been enjoying our grill this summer, and I hope that I've inspired you to do something fun with yours before the summer is over!

Summer Visit With Family

The past few weeks have been busy ones for us!  My parents were here to visit us for about a week and half during the last week of June and the first week of July.  While they were here, we took a little trip down to Bowling Green, Ohio to visit my grandma.  She and Maddie met for the first time that day.

 My aunt and uncle also came over to my grandma's nursing home while we were there, and we were able to see them too.  Drew played Memory with my mom for part of the time.

 Four generations

 During the time that my parents were at our house, Grandma Becka read lots of books to Drew, and Poppie played a new game with Drew, called, "Balloon Lagoon."

 Jim and I celebrated our ninth anniversary that week, and my parents watched the children for us so we could go out and celebrate.  Jim brought home roses for me, and we went out to Maggiano's for dinner.

 Maddie had her four month well visit that week.  She weighed 14 pounds, 15 ounces and was 25 inches long.  She had to get two shots that morning, and she got the ok from her doctor to start eating cereal.  I made her rice cereal, and she ate it pretty well.

 She was more interested in her toes toward the end than she was in her cereal!

That week, we also celebrated the Fourth of July and my mom's birthday.  We went thrifting that morning (Salvation Army had all their clothing half off), and we planned to go out to Rackham for the fireworks that evening, but we had some very strong thunderstorms (with hail!), and Maddie was pretty fussy from her shots, so we decided to just stay home.

 On July 6, Maddie, Drew, and I left for South Carolina with my parents.  We broke our trip up into two days with a hotel stay in Lexington, Kentucky.  We went swimming in the hotel pool that night, and Maddie loved it!  She kicked and kicked!

 Drew liked swimming too, but he is still very cautious in the pool.  Here he is with his swimmy "muscles."

 We had a nice, relaxing week at my parents' house.  My dad has a large garden in the back yard, and he and Drew went out to pick blueberries one morning.

 Drew ate about three blueberries for every berry he put into the bucket.

 Drew also helped make some cocoa krispie treats

 and some homemade ice cream!

 Maddie got held a lot (which she loved!).

 We got to see my sister and brother and their families several evenings.  Here is a picture of the cousins, my two and my brother's son, Ryan.  Because of the age differences, they didn't really play together very well this time, but hopefully, they will play more in the future.

My parents drove us up to Cincinnati this past weekend, and Jim met us there.  We all stayed in a hotel there that evening, and then we came home on Sunday.  Maddie woke up with a bad cough, sneezing, and a runny nose on Sunday morning at the hotel, so we had to take her to the doctor on Monday to rule out croup.  She just has a cold, which I have also caught now, so we are staying home a lot this week, trying to rest and catch up from our busy past few weeks.