this is the story of a boy and his chucks.

G is just about to outgrow his first pair of Chucks. We had a wicked step-sister moment this afternoon as we muscled those sweet baby toes into the 4 inch soles...so I thought I'd better pay tribute now before the magic wears off entirely.

These sneakers were the golden ticket that warped him from babyhood to boyhood. How is this even possible? We first slipped them on not even 5 months ago. Back then, he was not even standing on his own and his first steps were nowhere on the radar. Today his Chucks take him on brave backyard adventures and he is more curious, busy, and carefree in them than ever before.

This is the short story of 5 minutes in G's shoes.

(Above) Sometimes we sit on the steps to watch squirrels or airplanes or blow bubbles together. Sometimes he stops to rest here after his treasure hunts, to inspect and inevitably taste his precious finds.

But never for more than 30 seconds. Then we are off and running.

We can count on the adventure leading us to the rock bed. This is where we sit or squat for quite some time, combing for the perfect stones. Most are discarded into the window well of the basement. One or two will make the cut and be grasped in his palms as we continue the adventure. I often wonder what qualities a rock must possess to qualify.

Somewhere along the line, he peers through the fence to point and bark at the neighbor's dog. The dog barks back. I startle. G keeps on woo-woo-woofing. He is fearless.

The adventure goes on and on...Sometimes I wish I could cast a spell and keep him in his little Chucks, contained in our backyard forever. But savoring our afternoon, brushing the dirt off of his 4" soles, and kissing his yummy cheeks today is about the best I can do...That and ponder what color his next pair should be? I love this adventure.

pashmina

Now that we're getting more settled in, we've been trying to make an effort to get out and check out some of the local haunts. I know it's mid-summer, but still I couldn't pass up this up. I've always wanted a pashmina scarf and I found this cute+colorful one for cheeep at an indian textiles store in our neighborhood while on our way to grab dinner at a great taqueria. All of the diversity + authentic ethnic businesses are one of the great perks of big city life.

P.S. I have a confession to make regarding yesterday's post. The walls of my craft room may have been a bit fabricated. They are in actuality as boring beige as that above. (This photo was taken in the same room.) I always run my images through photoshop before blogging them and I may have tweaked a little too much wishful thinking into the shots. Everyone had such sweet things to say about my wall color and a wave of guilt came over me. Forgiveness? There is a happy ending: I had been scheming on painting the room a pretty aqua blue, but now I'm considering a real blush pink. I hadn't thought of that!

coloring my world

Unpacking my craft room means restoring my sanity this week.
The contents of these boxes are coloring my world.
It's a really happy thing.
I feel like I finally have a space that is genuinely me.Now that my sewing machine is within reach, I really need to address the lack of window treatments around here. We are growing tired of the garbage bags taped over our windows at night! Anyone know of a great, simple curtain pattern? Or have first hand experience with Roman shades? I need a pep talk!Over the weekend, craigslist unearthed the best retro sewing table. I love the blue top, I love the little drawer, I love her great legs. Setting my sewing machine on top of her was just the icing on the cake.

scenes from an all-american summer & unofficial family reunion

Let's be honest. It hasn't exactly been all work and no play around here. We partied like rock-stars last weekend. My cousin Ashley got married last Saturday and so the whole gang was in town for an unofficial family reunion. (Aren't we cute and colorful?) My whole fam gets together maybe twice a year these days, so it's always cause for celebration. (Oh and Jeff & I got to take the wedding pics. I'll share more on the flip side of photo shop!)

Sunday/Monday we brought the party to our new house and amazingly had beds and bathtubs for all! Graham got to spend some quality time in the kiddy pool with his favorite cousin, Eli. It's so awesome to watch them run around together. My sil is a far better blogger than I and posted more pics (and video footage) here. Lucky us, my parents treated us to 4th row tickets to a Twins' game at their new (outdoor!) stadium. It was a four.hour.game. And they lost. Bum-diggity. Nothing a giant bag of kettle corn and a strawberry frozen lemonade couldn't soothe.1. The twins light up and shake hands when they score!
2. Good times in the kiddy pool
3. The lone ranger surviving the cardboard chaos.
4. The guys' major league fashion show.
5. Grahammy loves blackberries and backyard BBQs.
6. Best cousins. xo
7. Us! At the game! We love babysitters!
8. Our view from left field.
9. The swing and the miss. (His first road rash...Amazing how fast it healed!)

never underestimate

the power of a subtle hint. Jeff brought these home from work last night. I even found a vase to put them in. Fancy that. A splash of summer cheerfulness. Just what I needed to help get back into the swing of things.

Can't believe it's already time for another weekend. What are your plans?

in case you were wondering

where I've been for the last...um...2 weeks... Just in case you were beginning to worry...I'm still alive and thriving. I've just been stuck here, on the floor, inhaling fumes from a couple gallons of polyurethane. The devastating neurological and carcinogenic effects have yet to ensue.

Adventures in home owning #4: I had fully intended to be nearly unpacked and settled by this point, but it's funny how much things change when your rose-colored glasses fall off. How your perfect, just turn the key new home becomes a war zone of projects. The day after moving we began to notice a lot of loose ends around here. Like a the (smelly soaking wet) new carpet in the (slightly flooded) basement. Like the freshly stained (paint smeared) hardwood floors that scratched and scuffed on the drop of a dime. Like the sparkling new upstairs toilet (that needs to be plunged every other time you flush.)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, we still love this place to pieces. Really, we do. But I do believe it's safe to say that next time, if ever there is a next time, we won't be so quick to fall for the flip. In hindsight, we shouldn't have been so blindsided by some of the cut corners around here. Live and learn.

Call me an obsessive-compulsive perfectionist, but my experiences as a homeowner in the last 2.5 weeks have only reaffirmed my mantra: If you want it done right, do it yourself.

As I was saying, our beloved hardwood floors began scratching and scuffing the split second our belongings hit them. They had been nicely stained, but not sealed. We're changing that. Slowly but surely, we're managing to push our pile of still-packed cardboard boxes from room to room as we put 3 coats of poly on every square inch of this place.

But before you feel sorry for the Cinderella shown above, I can assure you, I've had a trip or two to the ball. More on that later.

I am enjoying my quiet, quality time with the floors. It makes this place feel more like our own.

(And even though the boxes make fabulous baby barricades, I won't miss them when they are gone.)

organized chaos

Hard to believe we've lived in our new house for almost a whole week already. It's high time I took a break from all of the settling in and parked myself in front of the computer to write about it all, don't you think?

Wish I could say we're all unpacked and living happily ever after. We're up and functioning with the essentials. I was hard pressed to find a few neat+tidy scenes of our new life to share. The laundry is done. Can I get a woot-woot for that?Before I recount the details of the last 7 days, I must thank you so sincerely for all of your kind words about our new place. All of your comments were exactly the boost I needed to survive the cardboard jungle last weekend. You really know how to make a girl covered in dust, sweat, and packing peanuts feel amazing. You are honestly the best.

Last Saturday the moving crew (dad+mom+2 little brothers) arrived promptly at noon. The day went something like this:
Load SUV. Load van. Load trailer. Load pickup.
Pizza.
Pray nothing flies off the open bed trailer on the freeway. (If so, my windshield would be the first thing to go!)
Arrive at new house.
Rejoice that windshield and earthly possessions remain intact.
Unload SUV. Unload van. Unload trailer. Unload pickup.
Meet the neighbors. Stop & chat.
Return to apartment.
Ice cream.
Repeat the load/unload procedure x3.
Burger King.

The guys were amazing.
They did almost all of the muscle work without complaining.
But the body odor was horrific.
My mom and I were the cleaning dream team.
We scrubbed and vacuumed and swept around the moving men.
We held down the camps.
We packed up one fridge and unloaded it into the other.

While we were distracted and fussing over fridge shelves, G kept busy by cracking open about a dozen eggs all over himself and on the new kitchen floor.
Wish the camera had not been packed at that point.
This place was quickly christened with messes and mishaps.
Makes it feel like home.
This week has been exciting and frustrating and overwhelming and still surreal.
Back in the day, before we were homeowners, we thought we were busy people. Now we feel busy on a whole new level. The project list is long. I need an extra dose of patience and contentment while we work to make this place our own. I know it's going to be an unending work in progress.

I think we are going to love loving our home.

home.

It's so surreal--we are homeowners. We closed on Tuesday afternoon. All along, a part of me couldn't let go of the possibility that something may fall through, but instead everything worked out more smoothly than we could have imagined. Even after shaking hands and being handed keys, it still felt so unreal. I need to pinch myself. We just bought a home. We get to live...here.

After closing, we went out for a celebratory dinner at an amazing little pizza place in our new 'hood. Then of course we stopped by {our. house.} to unlock the front door and soak it all in. It was really heartwarming to watch Graham run from room to room, up and down the stairs, and all around the backyard, exclaiming "da! da!" (Whatever that means...) His glee was just the icing on the cake. I think he's really gonna flourish here.

I'd be a complete liar-liar-pants-on-fire if I told you it's all been pure bliss. The truth is that a twinge of buyer's remorse and doubt hit me like a ton of bricks circa Tuesday night. Maybe it's all of the cardboard boxes in my life and the big bad move coming up this weekend. (Next time we are hiring the professionals.) Maybe it's the drained savings account. Maybe it's my reservations about the neighborhood and busier street. Maybe it's the giant responsibility & commitment of a mortgage+yard+house. Most likely, it's a little bit of everything.

I've been praying for God to quiet my fears and fill my heart with joy and thankfulness over this beautiful new place. We are tremendously blessed. This space has truly everything I'd ever dreamed to find in a home. Whenever I think about how I will fill all of those darling little built-ins, I can't help but smile and regain my confidence in this place. God is good. We're going to be one happy little family here. I just know it.My top 10 favorite things about our home:
1. Inviting red front door
2. Open staircase
3. Hardwood floors
4. Cozy fireplace + pretty mantel
5. Cute built-ins. A necessity.
6. The upstairs bathroom. {Clearly, Graham's pretty amped about the tub, too.}
7. Sparkling stainless steel kitchen appliances
8. And granite countertops.
9. All the yummy wainscoting
10. Our massive backyard deck.We move in Saturday! Pray for sunshine!

ruffled up

I've been meaning to share these pics for a couple of weeks. Oh my--summer is already slipping by so so quickly. We are in the midst of packing up (for the 3rd time in 1 year, no jokes) and moving into our 1st house! We close 1 week from today and couldn't be more delighted. All of the packing and dust is a huge drag, but I'm trying to keep in mind how amazing it will be to unpack into our very own big new space.

I love these photos Jeff took of G and me at the park. I'm really proud of this pink ruffled t-shirt I made using this tutorial. You should make one too! Just 2 plain, identical t-shirts on the clearance rack at Old Navy + my scissors, sewing machine, and an entire pin cushion. It has become a staple in my summer wardrobe. There's just nothing like the satisfaction of making something that looks J.Crew-caliber and knowing you did it for practically pennies.
It's been awhile since I've gushed about Graham's latest antics. He is 14 months old. Pretty nuts.
He's walking running everywhere these days. I don't know how I'll ever keep tabs on him in our big new house. It's hard enough to keep an eye on him in a 1,000 square foot apartment!

He has an irrational fear of grass. (See above.) It's the funniest thing--whenever we set him down in the green stuff he lifts up one or both legs, scowls, and whines. He's fine walking in it, but hates the way it prickles his bare, chubby legs.

He's beginning to climb. Oh my. He's even clever enough to pull up a toy to use as a step stool. Am not encouraging this behavior.

We've taught him a little bit of sign language. Just the basics. He consistently uses more (and borderline abuses it), milk, all done, bye bye, and up.
We're still working on change, water, please, thank you, love you, book, car, fan, eat, help, and sit...
3 real words have emerged from his sweet, endless babble:
"Dada"
"Tickle"
"Hello"
Peculiar first words, I know. His first hello came out today at the park, clear as a bell, when he walked up to a little girl by the slide. He hasn't repeated it since, and certainly not to anyone over 3' tall. Funny.
He also barks at anything with four legs. We are working on that.

dada's day

I got to spend a really lovely day yesterday with 2 of the dads in my life. I can't believe Jeff has already celebrated his 2nd father's day! It seems like only yesterday he was sweetly encouraging a frustrated, post-partum me as I tried to figure out how in the world to nurse our ravenous newborn son... Now he is an all-star dad who works hard every day to support our little fam and spends his precious free time on the swings at the park with the monkey child.

I love how much G adores him. If we had a nickel for every time G has said 'dada' in the past 5 months, we would be independently wealthy for the rest of our days. I'm praying that one day G will grow up to be just as strong as caring as his dada.

G and I made this little clay handprint for Jeffrey last week. Our chunk of Sculpey clay was super dry and tedious to work with...I think it's safe to say this was officially my first and last craft project using bake-at-home clay. {Next year we are making one of these for sure!}