Wren's Playroom Makeover!

I tried to do this post a while back and had everything loaded and ready to go...hit 'Publish,' and NOTHING! Everything somehow disappeared. Anyone who uses Blogger knows how long it takes for these pictures to upload, so for nothing to have saved was like a punch in the gut!

Buuutt...I am finally doing it again!

So here's the blank slate of what we started with. Her playroom is in our "bonus" room which is above the garage. Needless to say, the roof is an odd shape. But it makes for a great space and we love how it turned out!

And here's the AFTER: 

 The wall color is Asparagus by Behr. We wanted something gender neutral since eventually we'll have more kids {hopefully} to play in there, and we felt like it would be a good adaptable color for lots of different decor choices as we incorporate new kids and as Wren gets older. 

The original goal was to create little "nooks" for her, starting with a reading nook. I love this little spot. We try to bring her up here as often as possible before bed and we both take turns reading her a couple books. Since she was teeny tiny, we've been able to prop her in the bird beanbag and she stays in there really well. I found it at Target on clearance for like $10 or $15. The green chair was a gift from Grammy & Papa. The rocking chair was mine as a little girl. It's one of a small handful of things I actually have from my childhood and was a gift from my Great Grandmother, so it means everything to me! The rug is from IKEA, so cute and super cheap! And I didn't take a close-up of the ABC frame, but it was a DIY project that I did using an ABC stencil and some scrapbook paper. Eventually I'd like to add another picture or two in this area but it's good for now.

I talked about the bookcase renovation HERE. The car rug is also from IKEA. Josh was adamant that we have a place for her to be a little tomboy if she wants and I was on board with that. Plus her cousins are almost all boys, so they'll probably get some use out of it as well. So this is her little random play nook. 

These 1-10 cards are from Children Inspire Design. I got them when they were super cheap on Zulily, along with several other pictures you'll see both here in the playroom and also once I post pictures from Wren's bathroom redo (which is allllmost complete...pictures soon).
Aren't they so cute?!

Here's a closeup of the little spruce-up I did on the clothespins. It was a quick, cheap facelift to plain wooden clothespins using Tacky Glue and scrapbook paper that I already had. 

This picture is insanely blurry, but it best shows the start of her crafty/artsy nook. The chalkboard is from IKEA. It was originally plain, untreated wood, so I just added a coat of the same color I used on her bookcase. Looks so cute! The black wall decals are chalkboard treated from Grammy. All of the little stools/chairs around the room are IKEA as well. 

Below is a view of the other side of the room.  The table is from Land of Nod, a gift from Grammy & Papa. It's great because it has leg extenders so when she gets bigger it can grow with her, and also there is a  paper roll attached at the bottom right so it allows you to pull the paper all the way over the table. The toybox is a gift from Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Lisa and the boys. I didn't take a good picture of the Piggy, but you I got for really cheap at a thrift store and the colors go really well with the room. The rug was a gift from my friend, Jenny, at our baby shower. It was originally in Wren's nursery but was a smidge larger than we needed and then when I put it in this room, I fell in love so it found a new home! 

Here is the spot I created for showcasing her {future} artwork. For now, we are using some more of the Children Inspire Design prints, held by decorated clothespins. One of these days it'll be full of Wren's masterpieces!

And I know I shared this (very old) picture before, but I really can't get over how cute she is taking in a little easy reading. It's amazing how much bigger she is and how she can now climb up on the chair! 

She loves her playroom and we love having a nice space designated just for her to have fun and be creative and read and play. I imagine that as she gets a little older, we will use this room more and more!!

I'm finishing up a thing or two in her nursery and need to buy a couple things for her bathroom, and once both are done I will do tours of each. We have fun making special spaces for Wren and we really enjoy making this her cozy little home!

The Rewinds Continue...

This time, we're rewinding to early June. We headed to Southern Indiana to visit Josh's family.

Here's a picture of Wren with her great grandma, Mama. She was such a good girl all day and this is right before Mama taught us a fun new term. She kept kissing on Wren's neck and calling it her "Sugarbowl." So this is a new favorite term that Josh and I use with Wren. So cute.

 Wren also got to play all day long with her 2 cousins, MaKayla and JulyAnn.
MaKayla is the best big sister and she was so sweet with Wren. JulyAnn was born in September, just a few months before Wren.
I love MaKayla's face in this picture, you can see how sweet she is and how much she loves the babies:

And here are all three of the girls enjoying some girl talk, along with Josh's cousin (and the girls' mom), Jamie. 

Later on, Papa and Wren had a little cuddle time while she ate. 

We had a nice visit and we were glad Wren was good. It's a long day for her to drive down ~3 hours and then back home, but it's always fun when we are able to make the trip!

Call Me Crafty: Entryway Table Edition!

A few months back, we Josh and his dad painted our entryway and we debated between putting in a hall tree or doing a table of some sort. I had something in my mind and we eventually decided that a table would work best. I wasn't having much luck when looking until Wren and I took a stroll through a flea market and came across this little beauty:

We definitely didn't want to keep the light wood and the cream, especially given the color of the entryway, so I decided to go a little HGTV on it and it turned out great!

First I sanded and primed... 

Followed by 2 coats of paint... 

...and a drawer pull (1/2 off at Hobby Lobby!)... 

And it turned out beautifully! 

I love the curves and everything turned out surprisingly well. I wanted to add a coat of clear gloss polycrylic to make it shiny (and also to help prevent dents and scratches), but when I tested it on the back, it scared me. It was bubbly and we both already loved it so I didn't want to risk ruining it. So it stayed as it was. 

Now we just need to find a coordinating lamp and put some pictures up. So still a bit of work to do before it feels nice and welcoming, but this is a great start!

Catching Up: May!

The big event in May was a trip to Boston for Wren to meet her Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Lisa and her 2 cousins, Alex and Austin. And it was also our first time meeting Austin, who was born in January. So that is a series of posts--Wren had a lot of firsts on that trip (first flight, first trip to the beach, first time in the pool, first time seeing a cow!)-so there will be a series of posts all about our trip later on.

In the meantime, here are a few cute pictures from the rest of the month. Each year, Purdue hosts a big faculty/staff event called Spring Fest. There are all sorts of events for employees including a big picnic and a 5k walk, among other things. Our office always has lunch together and then we take a fun walk. For the past 3 years during the walk, I remember thinking how fun it would be to bring a baby in a stroller. Last year I was actually pregnant with Wren when we did the walk. So it was really fun to actually bring her this year!

We had picnic lunches...

She posed in front of the big P...oh so adorable! 

And then she napped for most of the walk! 

In May we also started her in swim classes. We had to miss several, and they were really kind of pointless at this age, but we wanted to get her used to the water since we have the neighborhood pool. Her classes started after she tried the pool out in Boston, but here's a picture of her and Daddy at swim class: 

Here's a little video of their time in the pool:

She also watched Daddy vacuum! The floor was already vacuumed but he had to do it again just to see her watch. :)

Wren's Flower Garden

In early May, we planted Wren's very own flower garden!
I can't get over this picture, she looks so tiny!

She was pretty excited to have her own little spot in the garden. (Notice I had to help her sit up...she was still a little wobbly at that point!) 

We planted lots of different types of flowers and they're starting to bloom this week. So she donned proper gardening attire and we headed out to see how things were going. She was quite pleased with her own green thumb! 

But she needed to check out the quality of the dirt. She even tried to taste test it to ensure the best outcome. 

Next, she checked out the durability of the various stems. "Yep, that one holds up pretty well to my pulling and yanking! Too bad I can't say the same for Mommy's necklaces!" 

Here she is without her sunhat. So adorable! 

And here is a closeup...I can't get enough of this sweet face! 

This Year's Garden

When we bought this house, we inherited 15 raised bed gardens, so we have a ton of veggies this year!

Here is a picture from our planting day back in May. As you can see, we also have pavers all around the gardens, which have caused us Josh quite the headache this summer! We have to figure out another option, or maybe we will have to pull them all up...we've Josh has been tossing around different ideas, but there is a bit of a weed issue and it's pretty hard to keep up with.

Wren helped us plant, but not before being slathered with sunblock. She wasn't necessarily happy about it...(I totally love her prissy hands in this picture): 

And she had a real issue with the sunhat! :) 

Here is the other side of the yard and the rest of the boxes. This picture is from the last week of June when we picked.

We have 2 types of peas, they are SO good! 

Corn:

Green beans: 

Here is a picture of the green beans (center) and the cucumbers (they'll climb up either side): 

Lots-o-tomatoes! (We have 12 tomato plants): 

Almost ready!! 

And here is our herb garden. Mainly, you can see that it is taken over by mint. Anybody up for a mojito?!

We have 12 or 16 different kinds of pepper plants: 

Wren was our little pea taste tester. She gave her (slobber) stamp of approval! 

We picked our first two carrots. They weren't quite ready, but we have several more yet to go. 

Other things not shown: okra, radishes, zucchini, turnips, kohlrabi, squash, and strawberries.
Next up, Wren's very own little garden!

Catching Up: February Photo Dump

February was a big month for us. There was a lot going on...here are lots of pictures...

We went to HuHot with Grammy & Papa. (Remember THIS post?) I was sad because this was the first time I had ever given her a bottle. It was still my milk, but in preparation for going back to work, and to avoid having to nurse in public, we packed a bottle. I did NOT like it! Wren didn't care--just give her her MILK!

Knowing that I would soon be heading back to work, we initially planned to take a quick family trip down to Florida to introduce Wren to the ocean and beach. However, we decided that we wanted to do some work in the house--getting Wren's playroom painted and working on our dining room, etc. So instead of the trip to Florida, we spent two days in Cincinnati. We went to IKEA and got some fun stuff for Wren's playroom. And we had fun showing her the silly hats and puppets! 

She couldn't hang with Mom and Dad...she zonked for a good portion of the trip! 

We had quite the haul...mostly for Wren's playroom! I have an update to do for that soon to show you how it turned out!

Daddy read her some books in the hotel room.

Then the next day we went to a big outlet mall. It was pretty chilly so Dad snuggled her up close! It was a pretty fun little family vacation.

I love this picture of them reading. You can see how into the book Wren is, Daddy is getting into the facial expressions, and I just melt at her little hand on his arm.

We went to Jeff and Laura's for the Super Bowl. She partied so hard that she needed a mid-game snooze.

We celebrated Valentine's Day. I posted about that HERE, but I missed this adorable picture of Grammy with Wren.

She took lots of naps...look at those lips!... 

And Greta and Laura hosted a Girls' Night to watch the Oscars. Wren was trying to indulge in Auntie's wine! (Obviously...there was NOT wine in there!) 

Big Brothers Big Sisters had our annual Bowl for Kids' Sake event, so we took the boys and Wren to bowl.

No babies were dropped or hit with bowling balls in the making of this photograph:

There was an 80's theme for the BFKS, so Wren decided to wear a little Polo shirt with her collar popped. I failed to get a good picture. :( But here she is that evening after we bowled:

I went back to work in March, so we packed February pretty full!