Smile And Wave

The Day Ruby Turned Five

We had another simple celebration for Ruby's birthday this year. We had only been in our new house for two weeks and were still swimming in packing paper and stacks of half opened cardboard boxes so I let go of my grand expectations and kept it doable. Sometimes it's all about managing those expectations, huh! 

Ruby requested chocolate cake with whipped cream on top so I made a naked cake with four layers (because I had four cake pans) and made our own whipped cream after seeing how easy it was to make from a friend of ours in Colorado. I added some Pokey sticks in the shape of a five and she was a happy girl. We had the extra cake in the fridge all afternoon and by the time everyone was ready for seconds, the kids said the whipped cream tasted like ice cream. It was delicious!

I stayed up the night before hand-painting packing paper with black acrylic paint. Now, before you wonder at my incredible effort to make custom wrapping paper, understand that it was the obvious choice for a lady that had it exploding from the tops of boxes in every room. I also had plenty of black paint and foam brushes and little desire to go back to Wal-Mart with a child or two in tow to purchase the one thing I forgot. Necessity (laziness) is the mother of invention. 

She decided she needed a Star Wars themed party the night before her birthday (before I ran off to Wal-Mart for balloons and candles) but she'd switched things up so much from her original idea, I was hoping she was flexible.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, playing, working, and enjoying our backyard fire pit. Smith decided to start pulling up on things so Brett stuck him in an empty box to help contain him. I had to chase Ruby around the yard to get her picture. With her new numerical standing has also come a little more willfullness. I can take it.

I owe Ruby a big party next year. It seems we make big life adjustments right before or after both big kids' birthdays and sometimes that means our energies are aimed at all of the other things. I'm so thankful that they could care less about having a Pinterest worthy party as long as they get cake and have a few balloons to kick around all afternoon. I'm still going big next year.

I'm so thankful our three kids' birthday's are spread out nicely throughout the calendar year! I'm not sure how anyone manages to do birthdays back-to-back!

Stopping to reflect on where we were this time last year is something my Grandmother always does when we all get together and is probably one of the reasons she has the best memory in the family. This time last year we were welcoming Brett home from deployment and preparing ourselves for our little mystery baby. It was such a special time. Like a familymoon instead of a honeymoon. Doing all I can to remember how much we've made it through in the last few years and how thankful I am for where we are now.

-Rachel 

The Puppy Snatchers, The Pixels, and The Princess

Halloween was like, weeks ago, but I need documentation of our costumes this year. This was the first time since Halloween 2011 that Brett had been in town to celebrate with us so I kind of suggested he just go with my plan and wear the beatnick looking garb and carry the fish net holding a fake dalmation through the streets because IT WAS FOR THE CHILDREN.

I thrifted almost everything for our costumes this year, down to Smith's two dalmation suits (one to keep him warm and one to go over the Ergo so people could still get the gist of his costume), except for my wig. I tell you, Springfield thrifts always seem to have exactly what I'm looking for! We purchased the kids' costumes from Target before we moved because I expected things would get a little crazy trying to do it all at once here in Springfield and have gladly surrendered my desire to have them wear something incredibly artistic and creative. Princesses and Minecraft are a big deal around here right now so store bought and easy was the name of the game for the big kids this year.

We got to rejoin the annual Rountree Halloween Parade and ran into some friends we hadn't seen in a long time. We got to spend a hot minute with the Sheltons and their adorable handmade costumes before getting distracted by all the puppies!

Apparently, there's a big group from the Springfield Little Theater that dress up together every year and it just so happened that their Cruella hadn't shown up just yet so I grabbed them for a picture. Last year they all dressed as minions. How fun is that! 

We then ran into some of the big kids' friends from their new school and started the Halloween route collecting candy with them. We got about twenty minutes into it when my little dalmation and our princess had both had enough of the rush and the cold (it got down to 34 while we were out) so we took a little break and warmed up in the car with some hot chocolate before heading out for another round. Smith got his tummy filled and decided to nap the rest of the night while I carried him in my Ergo and the big kids were reenergized and ready to fill their buckets. We finally called it quits two hours later, got the kids home and tucked into bed, and watched some Netflix in front of the fire with some soup from the crock pot. It was kind of perfect.

The morning after we headed out to the pumpkin patch for a school planned gathering. They got to run through the corn maze, ride the horse, chase the barn cats, paint pumpkins, and take in two magic shows. The best part of going to the pumpkin patch the day after Halloween is not having to wait in line for ANYTHING. It was a beautiful day and I'm glad we didn't completely skip that tradition just because we were moving states.

This boy was pretty content to be carried in the Ergo all weekend and I was pretty content that he doubled as my portable heater. I'm going to miss that part when he decides he's too busy walking and running everywhere to be bothered with being worn. These days are passing quickly!

So, that was Halloween this year! Now we have Thanksgiving upon us and I'm about two days away from putting up our Christmas tree! Looking forward to savoring both.

-Rachel

A Boy/Girl Shared Room Tour

I think this may go down as the most promised room tour in blog history. I'm pretty sure I started working on transitioning Ruby and Sebastian's shared room in our two-bedroom craftsman in Colorado over a year ago but it's been such a year of change that some things just needed to take a back seat to others. Like changing all the diapers.

We are one month out from the last night they even slept in this room and are finally sleeping in their own rooms for the first time tonight in our new rental. As much as they pined for their own rooms while sharing this one, they had a hard time when it came to sleeping alone at night. I loved knowing they took comfort in each other's presence, even if it was only before bedtime!

The kids started out in this room with two twin beds but we switched them to bunkbeds soon after Brett got home from his deployment to give them more floor room to play without stepping all over each other. We also thought we might have to add Smith's crib to this space but managed to keep him in our room for the time we had left. We went with the natural wood bunkbed from ikea and while it fit our budget and the kids love it, one of the slats broke the week after we put it together and it just feels like it might not make it through another round of rough housing. 

Despite it's prefab limits, it did fulfill our kids' wildest dreams to sleep in a bunk bed and it really opened up the once crowded room. It was a great option for our temporary situation and now resides in Ruby's room where it is likely to be used for a bed/hideout combo. 

Smith wasn't crawling when we were here but he loved to lounge in the pouf from Target and roll around on the rug while one of us read a story to the big kids at bedtime. 

I covered the dark wood built-ins with blueprint copies that I hand drew. You can get the specifics in this tutorial. It brightened their small room instantly and made it feel more modern. We don't have any built-ins in their rooms at our current house but I may do something similar to Ruby's closets. 

I wanted their room to feel cohesive but not overly styled so I chose items to display that worked well with the black, white, and yellow color palette that repeated itself throughout the space. 

I also let them choose handmade quilts. I was going to make matching black and white triangle quilts but got hung up after finishing the first one. Thankfully I had another quilt in our stash made from all of my favorite vintage fabrics that Ruby was excited about. The afghan was a thrift store find and is so cozy as an extra layer when it gets cold. The yellow shams are from Target and the black and white pillow is from ikea.

I think it's important to fill a child's space with memories made and this perler bead bowl not only fit that bill but also helped contain some of Ruby's treasures. A good mama friend of ours helped Ruby make one during an afternoon play date at her house and we were both pretty thrilled to take it home! Thanks, Diane!

The white bookshelf and bins behind that sweet baby are from ikea. I can't rave about cute bins enough when it comes to kid's rooms. They give all the little pieces a home and hide the clutter that can feel so suffocating. Keeping them at their level means they are fully capable of putting their toys away without much help, although I feel like that might be a life long lesson.

It was important to me to add a little bit of plant life to their space so I kept a cactus up high where it couldn't poke a curious visitor and a Mother-in-Law's tongue plant that wasn't high maitenance. I also added some texture and repeated the geometric theme through a wall hanging I made back in May. The Let Them Be Little print was c/o Life, Love, Paper and is a great reminder for me when I'm expecting too much.

This side was an ever changing space with two different versions of this gallery style wall art and a place for trying out new storage solutions. The frames are all ikea, the prints are from Artifact Uprising, the metal tag is vintage, the crocheted bow is from Calikatrina, and the rest is handmade. The tutorial for how I saved the woven basket from the garbage bin can be found here. 

My take on kids' rooms is that you can help design one that is fun functional for the kids without grinding against the rest of your home's aesthetic. There are ways to compromise that everyone can live with. There are also times to let them have that incredibly loud, clashy, plush blanket and those other items that we were all probably drawn to as kids because letting them express their little personalities through color and print, even ones that make our skin crawl, is valid and important. It's about finding that happy place between introducing want we want for our kids and making room for what's really important to them. Thoughts?

You can find my post on more specific ways we helped our son and daughter share this space over on A Beautiful Mess. I hope it's helpful to anyone else trying to figure it out, too.

-Rachel

Other Sources// You're the Bestest print, RBTL. Bunkbed, rug, white bookshelf, yellow bins, IKEA. Dresser, wall map, afghan, wooden kitchen, vintage. Pouf, Target. Quilts and curtains, handmade by me. Yellow elephant plush, SleepyKing.

Pumpkin Carving and Pumpkin Wearing

We've only been in our new rental for two weeks and there are still boxes to unpack in every room except the kitchen but that wasn't going to stop us from enjoying this festive season. We picked up a few pumpkins and mums at deeply discounted prices the day before Halloween to get our front porch looking the part and then got to work on some pumpkin carving.

Ruby chose a white pumpkin and had me trace and help her cut out a black cat. She loved it so much she couldn't bear the thought of throwing the negative cut out cat shape away! Also, her pumpkin wasn't moldy, just a bit dirty from the lot. 

Sebastian is my kid that never wanted slimey stuff on his hands as a little kid and is sensitive to textures but he didn't mind cleaning his pumpkin out at all. 

Smith was taking it all in from his perch next to me. He's so much quieter now that he can sit up on his own and is usually content to stay in one spot for a bit as long as there's something near him to explore.

Soon after the photo above we had a major diaper issue that called for a complete outfit change. The kids kept working on cleaning out their pumpkins while I took care of things inside and then brought Smith back out to enjoy the beautiful weather.

Except remember that part about how he was so content to sit still? 

Yeah, never mind. 

-Rachel

Holiday Ad Sale

With the return to blogging after our big move back to Missouri and the holidays freshly upon us, it's time for the annual Holiday Ad Sale!

All ads will run for 30 days after approval and can be purchased for HALF THE PRICE of a regular ad through the end of the month. Just in time for Christmas shopping!

Click through to see ad prices and then enter the coupon code 'coldoutside' to receive 50% off at checkout. 

Take advantage of the coziest time of year to share your shop with the lovely readers of Smile and Wave!

-Rachel

Contributions to A Beautiful Mess

Here are a few of the recent contributions to A Beautiful Mess over the last few weeks. I'm excited to be showing up over there a little more often once we get settled into our new house and already have a handful of ideas for holiday projects! 

First up is this decorative clay bell tutorial. Someday I'd love to learn to throw my own pottery so I can make ceramic bells but until then I'll settle for decorative ones. These are fun for adding to gallery walls, unused doorknobs, or even as holiday decor. I am planning to make a few more in white and gold and might try adding some glass glitter to the edges!

I've also shared a fun way to keep your little artists busy. Get the full tutorial over here.

Last but not least, I've got tips for making a shared bedroom work. Hoping to have a full kids' room tour to share by the end of the week. Life got a bit crazy in October with our move back to Missouri so blogging just had to take the back seat for a bit. Longest break ever? I think so. Let's not do that again!

xo,
Rachel