playroom

Posted on September 27, 2020 by tandem in love

our house. it’s been a long story. we’ve been wanting to finish our house since we moved in years ago. LOL much like anyone else who buys an older house not suited to their style.

anyhoo, if you know us…it’s been a long process because my hubby, who’s talented, loves to do it himself {not even his day job…just a side job} and it’s taken foreverrrrrrrr to finish. well that day had come. over the summer, the downstairs basement was finally finished. hallelujah! total game changer friends. game changer. we now have so much more usable space and we love it!

i’ve been dying for the girls to have their own play area. a place where we can house most of their toys. a place where they can freely play without interfering with anything or anyone. i envisioned them having the cutest play area!

once the dry wall was finished, rich and i couldn’t wait to put it all together. we are currently still putting together the finishing touches to the other areas of the basement but the playroom needed to be done asap! i knew i wanted a rainbow painted in there. i knew i wanted a wardrobe space, a table, chalkboard, etc. i shopped feverishly to find the right items and quickly, it all came together!

voila! the cutest play space for my girls! i love it down there just as much as they do! every corner is too cute and feels so fresh!

thanks to my hubby and my mother in law for their help in getting this space done and ready for the girls! we all love it so much!

[we love the rainbow wall!]

[a remodel of the playroom and a remodel of this play kitchen]

[let’s play dress up]

[cute little rolling tray that i decorated with brush lettering]

xoxo

american girl doll

Posted on September 25, 2020 by tandem in love

olive never really had any interest in AGD until her friends had interests. and so it begins!

the first part of our day started out with the girls picking out their doll. it was eerily quiet in the huge store, usually bustling with lots of people. we walked in and started perusing the cases of dolls and olive knew immediately which one she wanted.

ellie, on the other hand, had some difficulty finding one. obviously they are sisters and look alike but we didn’t want to get the same doll. a very sweet salesperson helped us out and we found one for ellie that was similar but not the same doll as olive!

of course we bought accessories and spent a billion dollars on their dolls and stuff. ahhhhh! now for the really big moment down below!

*****

PICKING OUT THEIR DOLLS

[ready to shop]

[the choices]

[decisions, decisions, decisions]

[we got one]

[they actually have different dolls, believe it or not]

[talking to dada]

[she’s so excited for her doll]

[showing off their goodies]

*****

so this was the day. the BIG day olive wanted to get her ears pierced! she hemmed and hawed for months and every time she said she was ready, she backed out. this time she was serious and told me over and over that she was ready to get her ears pierced. of course she was solid ready when we were sheltering in place during a pandemic and all nonessential businesses were closed. doh!

when everything opened back up, i was ready to make the appointment and make a big deal for her! as i always do! i planned for us to go downtown, hit up AGP, get her ears pierced, and have lunch! we did just that!

once we were in the room where she gets her ear pierced, she started to get nervous. i did my best to calm her and ensure her that she was going to be so brave and that it, seriously, is just a quick pinch! she wanted to believe me but become super somber as the lady cleaned and marked her ear. i gave her a tissue and she covered her face as the lady pierced her first ear. she still wasn’t convinced and started to wince once the lady went in for the other ear. but once it was done. once it was over. once her two ears were pierced, she was allllllll smiles!!

i was so proud! she was super happy and olive had her ears pierced! wahoooooo! she also got her doll’s ears pierced as well! they both had blue matching earrings. so cute!

GETTING HER EARS PIERCED

[excited to get her ears pierced]

[measuring]

[wincing for the actual pinch!]

[very somber feeling to get the other ear pierced]

[second ear!]

[super relieved and excited to have her ears pierced]

[all smiles]

[matching earrings]

*****

after she got her ears pierced, we celebrated by having lunch at their restaurant. what a fun experience! they have chairs for you and your doll and your doll gets a bag of goodies! we ordered our food and reveled in the experience. we loved seeing all the other parents and girls with their dolls, most were celebrating their birthdays!

once we finished our lunch and dessert was served, we headed back to the car on this beautiful day to head home. overall, it was quite the day…we had the best time, things were accomplished, and so much fun was had!

LUNCH AT THE AG RESTAURANT

[waiting patiently]

[isn’t she sweet]

[menu]

[she makes the cutest faces]

xoxo

school pictures ’20

Posted on September 18, 2020 by tandem in love

oh sweet girls. we love school picture day!

i was on a hunt for cute outfits, like any mom out there knowing that picture day for the kids was coming up!

one of my favorite places to shop for the girls is zara. now mind you, i don’t shop there for myself, i cannot stand their lack of customer service, unfortunately not many people are friendly who work there, and their return policy is obnoxious, but yes…i like their kids clothes. LOL

i ran over there to check out what they had and found the cutest outfit for Ellie. i struggled to find something for olive. they had darling items for her but not quite what i wanted for school pictures.

so ellie was set. bow. check. socks. check. shoes. check. now i needed something cute for olive! a day later or so…i thought i’d check out h&m because they also have cute items for the girls! plus, they are so inexpensive. yassssss. and there it was…what to my wondering eyes should appear, a mustard colored romper and a matching cute shirt! voila! olive had her school picture outfit and it happen to match ellie’s!

obviously i did not plan that but it happened to work out perfectly! they both looked so darling for their pics! something else that i love is that ellie’s broken arm is documented in this school picture as well! her big ol’ cast and sling front and center. hahaha!

we actually did family pics the night before in a field and allllllll the mosquitos attacked us! of course ellie got bit right on her forehead. if you look closely, you’ll see a big pink spot on the right side of her forehead!

they’re so cute! i can’t believe they are in preschool 4 and first grade! they are growing up so fast. these pictures just prove it…i’ll be sad when ellie loses those baby cheeks. welp!

[oh ellie belle…the faces you make]

xoxo

apple pickin’ ’20

Posted on September 13, 2020 by tandem in love

we love going on our annual apple picking trip every fall!

although i struggled to find a good orchard that we haven’t been to {bad weather and a pandemic to blame}. we’ve frequented a few good ones several times in the past but we wanted to try something different. not that the orchards we’ve been to were bad, i just like to change it up. sometimes it’s a good thing to discover a fun new place or it backfires, but you have to take that risk, non?!

we decided to go to jonamac orchard. it was b u s y. it was hard to physical distance yourself from others {we did go on the weekend…hence how busy it was} and because it was so packed, it stymied our fun. or maybe we were just apple orchard burnt out?! LOL

plus, the apples were sooooo picked over and so many lanes were not ripe. we were given 6 lanes to pick from and that is not a lot when there were that many people there with you. feeling a bit defeated as that was our purpose – to find delicious apples and have fun picking from the trees. instead the trees were bare and we were dodging people left and right down the lanes.

we scored quite a few goodies in their shop though! kettle corn, fudge, drinks, doughnuts, and a bunch of other things we didn’t need. hahaha! that was a highlight for sure! we were all hungry so our family {my mom, sisters, nephews, brother in law} decided to head to a restaurant nearby for some grub as the kitchen at the orchard was packed and there wasn’t a lot of seating and the flies and bees were viciously attacking everyone. gah! we didn’t want to eat and constantly keep swatting away the bugs. that would not be fun!

oh my goodness. yes, i sounded a bit like debbie downer with all the issues that we had but it was fun to go, we did get some yummy apples and spent quality time with our family! ending our trip at the restaurant was a perfect way to cap off our afternoon of fun! relaxing, eating, air conditioning, and drinking!