August Cara Box Reveal!

I am back again this month for my monthly Cara Box reveal! Things are changing a bit with the Cara Box, so this will be my last one for a while. Instead of making it a monthly thing, Kaitlyn (who is expecting her first baby) has opted to make it quarterly...giving participants a little more time to get to know each other and get the boxes together. The new format starts next month, but seeing as how I will  have my hands full for those few months, I will likely not participate until the match-up in December!

Anyway, I digress. Onto this month's CaraBox!

This months theme was "Seasons of Life", which centered around the way we were matched up (single or married, childless or a parent..). Given that theme, I was paired with two fabulous mommas that I have had the pleasure to get to know!

First, I was paired with Whitney from Mama and Mister. She and her husband live in Utah and have a cute little boy named Ryder, as well as a lab named Cash. Whitney was so fun to get to know and we found that we have a TON in common! Stop by and say hi and see what I sent her!

The second momma I had the pleasure of getting to know was Jessica from Bluebird Sisters. She and her adorable family live in Texas and she, too, has been an absolute blast to get to know! We also have a lot in common and it was nice talking to a mom with a child a little older than Preston (her "Bird" is almost 4...and so cute!). She sent me the sweetest box:

As you can see, it included a pretty Family themed picture frame, Cheetos (a huge pregnancy craving -- yum! Preston and I may or may not have already eaten the whole bag), a pink mustache scarf, number magnets for P, matching bows for the girls, and an insulated tumbler. What's funny is that I never even told Jessica about my obsession with tumblers. I literally have, like, 5 and drink out of them every.single.day. This box was definitely "me" and I appreciate all of the thoughtfulness that Jessica put into it!

You can see that someone else was very interested in the box as well and couldnt wait to get his hands on his number magnets!


If you are interested in joining the new and improved Cara Box head on over to Wifessionals for more information on how to join next month!!

High Five for Friday - v. 7

Happy Friday!!

1)) A little family time in the pool!

2)) I took Preston to Target for a "quick" trip. He did such a good job that he got popcorn as a reward....and on the way home he proceeded to dump it all over his carseat. Don't let the face fool you -- he thought it was hysterical to eat it off of his lap.

3)) Her royal highness lounging in the pool. She lives a rough life.

4)) Seriously, this kid looks like he is 12! When did he get so big?

5)) Ed picked Preston up from daycare for me one day this week because I was really busy (read: my pedicure was taking longer than anticipated). He sent me this picture with the caption "You Suck". I should also note that P is cutting his 2 year molars, so really, this is not an anomaly.


Go say hi to Lauren Elizabeth to join us next week for H54F!

H54F - v. 6

I'm a little late getting my High Five for Friday up! This week has been busy with nesting projects and general craziness. So, without further ado --

1)) P is very interested in hats lately. Don't let that full you, though. He wont actually wear one that fits his head...he's only interested in DADDY's hats.

2)) Another recap from our trip to WV -- this was us on the plane before take off. Both pretty happy for 6 am!

3)) I got my first sponsored product review in the mail this week! Stay tuned in the upcoming days for a review and giveaway!!

4)) My friend, Amanda, threw me a "sprinkle" last weekend, which was so fun! It was nice to celebrate with so many wonderful friends. These are 3 of my closest friends -- 2 of which were in my wedding (and the third being married to the best man in our wedding). Love being so close to friends! 

5)) Incase you missed it -- THE DRESSERS ARE DONE!! Hallelujah! If you want to know more about what we did - you can check it out here!

Have a great weekend! 

Annd head over to Lauren Elizabeth to join in on the fun! 

Dresser Reveal (Finally!)

I wrote a month or so ago about some DIY projects that I wanted to complete before the girls were born (see To-Do Lists). I am happy to say that some of them have been completed, like the office organization and the chair/table recovering. Preston's baby book has made progress, but still isn't done. Hey, I still have a month, right?!?

Anyway, that very weekend my mom and I went yard-saling and found a dresser set that I wanted to re-do for the girls nursery. Preston's dresser used to be my dads and after some stripping (of the dresser...not me) and staining, Ed made it look brand new. So, I decided to save us a huge chunk of money and re-do dressers for the girls. How hard could it be, right?

Here are the before pictures:

This is the front of the tall dresser (chest of drawers? armoire? whatever.)

and this is the other shorter dresser. Again, don't ask me what they are called. I call them both dressers. Tall and short to be more specific. I didn't take a picture of this one fast enough before we started removing the hardware, but you get the idea. 

And this is the finished product:

My original plan did not include making them shabby looking, but after what felt like 700 coats of primer and paint we found that the drawers would no longer fit in the dresser.  Ed had to do a ton of sanding and re-working to make them fit and we discovered that we actually liked it better this way AND it goes with the vintage-y look of their nursery. 

In addition to the paint, I also painted the drawers pink, added glass knobs, and lined them with a fun floral wrapping paper. It was a lot more work than I anticipated, for a number of reasons. After we started sanding the finish off we found that red dye was leaking through and near impossible to cover up (hence the 700 coats of primer and paint), then because the dressers were so old the pulls were oddly spaced so we had to fill them in and drill new holes. Add to that the humidity, and oh, a hugely pregnant woman working on them and yeah...it took a couple of months. All in all, though, I am really happy with how they turned out. I honestly couldn't have done it without help from my mom and Ed, though, so a huge thank you to them! 

Now to fill them with lots of girly clothes :-)

High Five for Friday: Recap Addition (v. 5)

I have been missing from the H54F posts for a couple of weeks so have some cute pictures from those couple of weeks!

1)) This is an anomaly! Zoey is infamous for running at the mere sight of Preston...most days she lays behind the couch where he tends to not bother her. On this day she was snuggling with me on the couch and he decided to join us...she even let him touch her. Amazing.

2)) Our good friends from Memphis, Mike and Brenna, spent a couple of months in Hawaii for Navy business and sent Preston a cute package with a lei and some Hawaiian animal crackers. He loves the lei so much that we had to put it on the shelf in his room!

3)) I have been busy trying to get things that we need for the girls, especially things that we don't think of because we already own ONE. I was at Once Upon a Child a couple of weeks ago and picked up a second Boppy pillow. Someone took it as her own almost immediately. Even today the cover is still off and Preston and Zoey take turns laying on it. Perhaps I need a third Boppy?!?

4)) Don't let this photo fool you...we have had no birthdays in our house recently. This has been my latest ploy to save sanity at the grocery store. This day in particular Preston was melting down but I HAD to go to the store. You will notice he isn't even wearing pants. Oh, we were so that family. Anyway, I got him a balloon to make our trip a little less disastrous. Anything with "Melmo" on it is awesome in this house! Also, I just threw this balloon away yesterday. It lasted three weeks. I'd say that's a good $3 spent.

5)) Oy. This photo still makes me crazy. I couldnt find Zoey for over an hour (while Preston was napping) and walked all over our yard, which is like 2 acres, yelling for her. I called my mom sobbing absolutely certain that something horrible had happened to her and/or that someone had taken her. On my last loop around the house I found her. In the flower bed outside our front door. I'm not even kidding.

** Don't let these photos fool you....we do have a second dog. A 7 year old chocolate lab named Bella. It's not that I dont love Bella (and choose not to include her). Bella is just smart enough to avoid most of the shenanigans.

If you want to participate in High Five for Friday head on over to see Lauren at Lauren Elizabeth and link up!

Stella & Dot Mystery Hostess

Hey ladies! Who is up for some online shopping on this lovely Tuesday morning?!? As I might have mentioned in a previous post, I am in the midst of hosting an online mystery hostess show for Stella & Dot as a fun fall line launch!

Just like the poster says, for every $25 spent you will be entered into a drawing to win the hostess rewards. Right now they are totaling almost $75 in free jewelry and half off shopping! There are a lot of fabulous pieces for both summer and fall and with almost 50% off the line under $50, you are sure to find something that you love!

To shop this fun show (and be entered automatically to win) just shop through this link: http://www.stelladot.com/ts/85br5

The show will be open until August 17 and the winner will be contacted directly!