Posts Tagged ‘home’

Sofa Fort City {Sponsored by Wayfair}

Tuesday, November 17th, 2015

SofaFortCityBanner

Our big (ugly) family room couch is one of those sausage-casing monstrosities, where all the cushions are attached, with built-in recliners and cup holders. It’s truly hideous. But while we’re in the “Oh my god where did you get that yogurt?!” stage of children, there’s no point in having NICE furniture, so I settled for comfy and functional in a beige color that hides dirt.

The biggest problem with that kind of couch (besides ugly) is that it’s pretty useless when it comes to couch forts, and couch forts are an essential part of childhood. Luckily, when I was trying to fancy-up our living room last year I found a nice mini-sized couch that a) is also a good dirt-hiding shade of beige and b) has two nice huge cushions that make an excellent fort wall. The kids LOVE that couch – it’s the perfect size for them to spread out and watch iPad, set up all the dolls into elaborate tableaus or just climb all over while they hit each other with lightsabers. Lovingly, obviously. Lovingly hit each other with lightsabers.

I got an email from Wayfair saying they put together some super cute sofa fort plans and asking if my kids would be interested in building one. They even sent a super cozy Lush throw blanket to get us started. Check out their fun ideas:

wayfair blanket fort plans

We chose the Dreadship Blanket and got to work rearranging the furniture, finding supplies and collecting throw blankets and pillows.

Real life talk: This is what passes for “super clean and organized” in our living/play room. It’s half grown-up, finished space (art! mirrored table! fireplace! throw pillows!) and half kid zone (toys! more toys! even more toys!!!). Please ignore the photobombing cat.

couch fort resize

couch fort resize-2

And here’s what happened when we created our own Dreadship Blanket:

couch fort resize-3

couch fort resize-6

couch fort resize-5

couch fort resize-7

couch fort resize-9

couch fort resize-13

couch fort resize-11

couch fort resize-15

couch fort resize-16

couch fort resize-17

couch fort resize-22

couch fort resize-21

couch fort resize-23

couch fort resize-24

couch fort resize-25

couch fort resize-27

couch fort resize-28

couch fort resize-30

couch fort resize-32

couch fort resize-34

couch fort resize-35

couch fort resize-36

We left the fort up for a week before I wanted my living room back for a grown up event, but pretty much any time they want to rebuild a couch fort I’m on board. It’s the kind of fun, creative, independent play that ends up with about 80% cooperation and only 20% screaming at each other. In case you don’t have multiple kids, those are REALLY good percentages.

Thank you again Wayfair for the fun idea!

My Week(230) in iPhone Photos

Sunday, March 29th, 2015

It snowed again yesterday. They had to move the Easter Egg hunt at church inside because of snow. I can’t.

Sunday:

sunday1

Home Depot is always a family event

sunday2

Weirdos

sunday3

TA DA!

Monday:

monday1

Actual babywearing in action: cleaning, sorting, folding and putting away clothes to consign/donate/keep

monday2

Snack time

monday3

A girl of many skills

Tuesday:

tuesday1

Big kid, little kid fun at the aquarium

tuesday2

Eye appointment

tuesday3

Anyone want to buy a really soft wrap?

Wednesday:

wednesday1

Happy grocery store helper

wednesday2

New Ebay score = success

wednesday3

Not so into the monthday photos this time

Thursday:

thursday1

SASS

thursday2

SIT DOWN

thursday3

Another Ebay find. I might be in trouble.

Friday:

friday1

Peeping bunnies

friday2

Her 100% self styled Easter outfit

friday3

I would be way better at eating healthy if they hadn’t put that 5 Guys in town

Saturday:

saturday1

BABY GOAT PILE

saturday2

Baby goat stand

saturday3

Baby who also stands, but I’m way less happy about this one

I registered the big kids for super fun Mystic Seaport summer camps this week. Which made me think “Oh yeah, summer is coming, I’ll need to do something with the kids.” But unfortunately, planning for summer did not make summer come. Remind me not to complain AT ALL about a single hot day once they FINALLY get here.

April should be better though. A little warmer. More stuff to do. Evan’s birthday (no big party, just some fun). BABY GOATS. And my own birthday, which will probably go entirely uncelebrated besides the Facebook mentions, but since I’m turning a very boring 33 that won’t bother me much. I’ll be pretty happy with a nap and some Mexican food.

My Week(229) in iPhone Photos

Monday, March 23rd, 2015

I am suffering from a severe case of OMFG WHY ISN’T IT WARMER OUTSIDE YET. It’s making me hate everything.

Sunday:

sunday1

We bought a children’s museum membership basically JUST for this thing

sunday2

Caroline says this hat is totally her style

sunday3

Evan takes checkers very seriously

Monday:

monday1

I bought a new rug

monday2

Go away Mommy

monday3

LASHES

Tuesday:

tuesday1

Baby in a cage with a sister to entertain him = I can get stuff done

tuesday2

Meeting the fishes

tuesday3

Caroline said he needed to be more stylish

Wednesday:

wednesday1

I had to put the baby in a stroller, so I put a wrap over him.

wednesday2

Giant boxes are the best part of childhood

wednesday3

Possibly regretting the demo he just did in the dining room because now he HAS to build that bench I asked for (stay tuned…)

Thursday:

thursday1

Reading her horse book to her horses

thursday2

Attitude for days

thursday3

Officially the cutest Tula

Friday:

friday1

THERE IS A SKUNK IN THIS PICTURE

friday2

She wanted to participate in our babywearing meetup

friday3

It snows for TWO DAYS

Saturday:

saturday1

Helping with the bench

saturday2

Pizza picnic

saturday3

Then THIS happened and decided I needed more babies immediately

I am seriously having a hard time caring about anything right now because I’m so done with winter. If I could open the front door and let the kids play on the porch I would be SO READY to do some spring cleaning but since it’s 28 degrees out I just want to go take a nap. And I don’t want to cook anything. Or go anywhere. Or talk to anyone. Or blog about anything.

The kids and I are all playing hooky tomorrow because half day + appointments + cranky baby = too much of a mess to handle. I’m hoping it resets everyone’s attitude because we ALL need it.

Home For The Holidays {Wayfair Giveaway!}

Tuesday, December 9th, 2014

If I posted a picture of my house right now, I’m pretty sure Wayfair would throw me out of their Homemakers program. But since they totally understand my aspirations to one day have a catalog perfect home, they’ve kindly sponsored a post so I can at least DREAM about getting organized. 

We’re hosting a bunch of people this year, not for Christmas exactly but for Caroline’s birthday party the weekend before. Don’t ask how party planning is going, the answer is AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH. But even if I’m running around like a crazy person writing a menu 12 hours before the guests show up we’ll have a house full with more company staying at hotels. No matter how behind I get, I am committed to the house being MAGICAL and FESTIVE and WELCOMING, so here’s a look at how I’m getting my home ready for the holidays.

christmas baby

Linc is totally ready for the holidays with those jammies

(more…)

How Does Your AeroGarden Grow?

Thursday, November 6th, 2014

Thank you to Scotts and AeroGarden for sponsoring this post and giveaway!!

I got an email from my friends at MiracleGro asking if I might be interested in an AeroGarden for review. I ignored it.

Want to know what happened to my last houseplants? Dead.

Wondering how long my cute indoor herb planter lasted? Not even long enough to sprout.

Ask me how many tomatoes I got from my garden this year. NONE. (And yes, I did plant tomatoes.)

But they followed up. And it looked so cute. And after I explained “NO REALLY, IT HAS TO BE FOOLPROOF” they assured me it is. So far, they’re right.

miraclegro aerogarden review

(more…)