Easter Recap 2016

It is my long term hope that eventually readers beyond immediate family and friends will gain something positive from my writing. A laugh, creative inspiration, design idea, etc. But above all, I want to have my own words years from now to bring back vivid memories of fond family days. Here is what our Easter weekend looked like this year.

My husband is gearing up to leave for a month of training in Louisiana. Usually the Army is fairly decent at providing a little extra family time before and after periods of long separation, and this one fell perfectly timed with Easter weekend. We loved having him all to ourselves for four sunny, spring days before we kissed him goodbye.

On Friday, we headed into Nashville for the afternoon. We enjoyed a family breakfast at one of our favorite spots, the Barista Parlor, and then took Eloise to meet the Easter bunny at the Opry Mills mall. Her reaction was marginally improved from her first visit with Santa. She was still very cautious, but she did crack one small smirk this time! I considered that a big win, but Brad just wants one of those hilarious pictures of her screaming bloody murder. Maybe next time, love.

After our meet and greet, Brad was a total trooper and supported my hunt all over town for a particular Old Navy toddler tank top sold out in her size online that I had my heart set on. We did finally find it, and that night I made my first successful shirts using my new Silhouette for Eloise to wear on our Orlando trip in May. I can't wait to post a peek and beginner Silhouette tips soon (stay tuned). She will certainly be the Magic Kingdom and Harry Potter World's best dressed! Brad and I watched the last movie of the Hunger Games series on Friday night. I fell asleep on the couch a happy girl, my head on his shoulder and both cats snuggled on my lap.

When new neighbors move in, we always head over with warm cookies in hand to welcome them. Call us old fashioned, but that simple act of kindness built the foundation for an amazing friendship with our current neighbors Dave, Mandy, and their 4-year-old Noah. We swap babysitting duty for date nights, and Mandy and I are creating a garden together for our families to share this summer. She's got the green thumb and I've got the ideal garden space. Last night they brought over delicious homemade dessert just because. It is such a blessing to have neighbors that make us feel so safe and cared for.

On Saturday, they invited us to join them at Patti's Old Time Settlement for a big Easter egg hunt. Patti's is a historical log cabin village in western Kentucky. It was well worth the drive to experience their "reminder of when things moved slower." The gardens were beautifully in bloom and a perfect backdrop for Eloise's first big girl egg hunt. I was a little surprised that even for the youngest age group, parents were not allowed in the roped off area of scattered eggs for the first few minutes. There were audible gasps from multiple moms when they told us to stay back and let go of the little hands we squeezed. It was many of our first time letting our babies go do something completely on their own with peers. When I nervously set Eloise down, she took off with her little basket in hand and started gathering eggs. I cried bittersweet tears and Brad video taped. We are such goon parents! So many kiddos were frozen with fear, but Eloise was confident and determined. I am endlessly proud of the little girl my baby is becoming.

Noah just adores Eloise. Watching their friendship blossom is the cutest thing, and the rest of our afternoon was full of swoon-worthy moments. Noah is full of such sweet spunk and character, and I love that Eloise has him to look up to.

We decided to capitalize on the glorious late sunshine of early spring when we got home and work out in the yard. Taking pride in home improvement projects is one of my favorite things about owning our first place. We spruced up the front yard with trimmed hedges, fresh mulch, and a face lift for my favorite little tree. I had been asking Brad to create a stoned edge flower bed around it for months, and he seriously delivered! I love the new colorful view out our front window. I'm so thankful for the small things he does for me that create big happiness. All this while Eloise played quietly in her pack-n-play next to us, giggling and waving at every passing dog.

I spy a Ruby pup

Easter Sunday was actually our quietest day. I voiced a desire to attend a worship service, but Brad just wasn't feeling it. We haven't found a church family here that feels right, and that's okay. My mom reminded me that the best part about faith is the flexibility to express it each in our own individual ways. There were plenty of grateful moments throughout the day that allowed me to appreciate what Easter is all about.

One last egg hunt around the house led Eloise upstairs to the playroom where her basket was waiting. My favorite item the Easter bunny found for her this year was Eloise the Elephant from the Etsy shop Dunlap Love. She came with an imaginative story about her love of picking wildflowers and learning to be a good friend. The shop owner, Kaylyn, is a huge advocate for adoption. Proceeds helped her own family bring their daughter Eloise home from China and now assist other adoptive families with the financial strain. I love the quirky, whimsical friends of Dunlap Love, and I love contributing to a greater good even more. Plus Kaylyn has great taste in baby names!

We decorated eggs together Sunday afternoon using the really cute circus set I posted about a few weeks ago. Correction: Brad and I decorated. Eloise just spilled purple dye everywhere. I will definitely look for a similar set next year though. We really enjoyed it ourselves, and I think Eloise will too as she gets older. The rest of the day was a blur of board games, watching Aladdin, and plenty of Cadbury eggs. It was a perfect holiday.

Monday we played catch up on small tasks around the house. I scrubbed the floors and got my flower boxes prepped for my succulent garden and birdfeeders hung. Brad made us a yummy grilled chicken dinner and packed for his departure. We truly soaked up every fun and productive moment of this weekend. I am never glad to see time apart arrive again as frequently as it does for us, but it always gives us greater appreciation for what time we do share. I know our first weekend back together in May will be just as sweet or even sweeter than this one was. Let the countdown begin.

Witt Family Easter 2016 + our favorite photobomber

Hope you had a happy Easter doing the things that make you smile with the people you love most!

Friday Funnies

Happy Friday! We made it through another week. I hope you've been graced with the same beautiful spring weather we've been enjoying. To help roll your work week into the spirit of the weekend, here is what made us laugh the hardest at the Witt house this week:

There's a new bunny in town, thanks to Siri. My 14-month-old daughter is fascinated by the home button on my iPhone, so she and Siri are becoming accidental fast friends. As we were rushing out the door I gave Eloise my phone (mom of the year) to get her to sit still while I put my shoes on. Then I said to her, "Are you ready boo-boo bunny?" Boo-boo, one of her many nicknames, has gained a seasonal twist lately with Easter just around the corner. Then Siri chimes in.

I highly recommend listening to Siri say "boobs boobs the bunny" if you need a laugh. The pink bunny Grandma got Eloise for Easter is now affectionately known as Boobs Boobs. Obviously.

I am a bit of an obsessive neat freak. All things must have a home, and I start to feel a little twitchy if things are out of place. You can imagine my delight (and poor Brad's horror) when we caught Eloise organizing her books the other night!! Pulling them all out of her coffee table basket, spreading them out on the floor, and then one-by-one returning them to their rightful place has become a daily activity. Other things she enjoys organizing are puzzle pieces into her mini grocery shopping cart and salad dressing out of and back into the bottom fridge shelf. We laugh so hard watching her toddle back and forth, just the tip of her little tongue sticking out, huffing and puffing, concentrating so hard on which item to put back next. She is absolutely my girl!

Life is bittersweet. The sweet? Our summer trip to Italy! The bitter? Expired passports. At least we had a good laugh at these babies. Don't even get me started on our new pictures. The photo guy made me put a Walgreens shirt over my cute white top so I wasn't a floating head, and then he awkwardly tucked my hair for me. Brad looks like he just committed a felony. Let's just leave it at that.

B+K Circa 2006

Get a whiff of this. Brad tells a lot of the same funny childhood stories about a thousand times each. Just when I thought I had heard them all, this gem surfaced. When they were little, Brad's older brother Preston told him a normal bottle of cologne was actually pheromone cologne. He convinced him that for a small fee, he would share a portion of the magic with him and it would instantly make them both babe magnets. I'm not sure which part I enjoy more, Preston's idea of pheromone cologne or Brad spending all of his birthday money on his lucky purchase.

I couldn't resist sharing the Easter bunny picture my mother-in-law sent me of Brad and Preston. Who needs pheromone cologne when you're rocking red cowboy boots and Pharrell's famous hat before it was cool?

Cheers to the holiday weekend! May your days be sunny, your baskets overflowing, your chocolate eggs plentiful, and your bunny visits minimally traumatic. Happy Easter everyone!

A Room for Adventure

I set a lot of personal goals to help get me through our first deployment. For whatever reason, birthing a tiny human just wasn't enough to show for my nine months of independence while my husband was in Afghanistan.

Here's where the story gets a little gross. When we first moved into our house, we decided the huge bonus room over the garage would be the perfect "cat room" until we could afford furniture to make it worthy of human entertainment. We stored their litter box, food, and water in there and thought they'd live like king and queen with more toys scattered about than their little hearts desired. Well, maybe they felt a bit too entitled, because things went horribly wrong one afternoon when a terrible stench hit me at the top of the steps. One of our beloved feline friends had been peeing all over the perimeter of the room for what had to have been months! The carpet is that great shade of beige that hides everything maybe a little too well. I suspect there was a lingering smell of sorts from the previous owners that made them feel territorial, because they had never had litter box issues before. I didn't notice the problem until it was too late. It really stunk. Literally. 

Needless to say, the cats' belongings were demoted to the furnace room, and the bonus room was upgraded with brand new flooring. We opted for a spill-proof, scratch-proof, kid-proof, cat-proof linoleum that looks like beautiful antique, grey wood. The new flooring paired with the arrival of little Eloise sparked my desire to set up the perfect room for adventure! 

I always feel a little sad and claustrophobic when I go to friends' houses and their living rooms are overflowing with primary colored plastic. I totally understand that space is often limited and toys multiply faster than bunnies on date night, but I had personally always craved a separate space that would give our living room a fighting chance against the tornado that is toddlerhood. I thought setting up a playroom where my husband and I could witness the imagination of our girl together would be the perfect deployment project and goal. There's nothing like picturing your family together again to help make deployment days speed by.

My inspiration for the playroom came from Pinterest, the land of all great design inspiration. I wanted to focus on a travel theme with shades of ocean blue and pops of geometric black. A play teepee was a must for me, and I wanted to incorporate the old TV stand we had painted and stained before we were married to save some money. A big bookcase for our future bookworm (a genetic guarantee given both of our love for reading) and a fluffy area rug that you could melt into were also on my must-have list. 

This room is where Eloise crawled for the first time. It is where my friends and their little ones all congregate for play dates. Eloise loves to dump an entire puzzle on the floor of this room, sort it piece by piece into her grocery shopping cart, and push it right into the middle of her teepee. Our 4-year-old neighbor Noah likes to host dance parties here to the tune of the hand-me-down ball-a-palooza toy that was once his. On many Friday nights, our family can be found in this room snuggling and watching a Disney movie together. On the day of his homecoming, I was so proud to show Brad this beautiful, safe space I set up for our daughter to play, grow, laugh, read, learn, and most importantly, adventure. 

The top and bottom center pictures were captured by my sweet and talented friend Jill of Jillian Knight Photography on the morning of Brad's homecoming. I've added a few items since then, and as all good playrooms do, many things have evolved as Eloise's mobility and play needs have changed. Here is more of what it looks like now (after a massive toy pick up, of course). 

I'm a sucker for bold stripes, so the teepee was an easy decision. My favorite part about is it's location versatility. The material is meant to be used indoors and outdoors! It's so easy to fold up, take outside, and set up camp in the backyard on a sunny afternoon. No biggie if you forget to bring it in right away, rain or shine. How cool is that? It is a total kid magnet, too.

I have to give my mom credit for the floor poofs. Not only are they adorable, but they have served their purpose in every way she thought they might. From foot rest, to extra play date seating, to husband video game perch, to cat bed, the poofs do it all and look great while doing it. They even served as Eloise's stabilizers when she was learning to pull to stand and taking her first few steps. 

The matching aztec print woven bins and the bottom two drawers of the bookshelf are great for "organizing" toys without really organizing anything at all. Just scoop and dump. Stacking puzzles, books, and toys low within Eloise's reach encourages safe and independent play. I think both elements are key for a functional and cozy playroom. 

 

I love looking down the long hallway to see an inviting, happy room with such beautiful natural light. Despite all past pee incidents (none reported since the playroom overhaul!), I also love spotting two of the playrooms most frequent furry visitors enjoying an afternoon nap in the sunshine. 

What is the best part about your playroom, and what are your favorite playroom family memories? 

I'd love to hear from you!