Dakota Kate's Nursery Sneak Peek

Everything has been coming together nicely!

The first weekend of this month I had been sourcing materials for a DIY Board & Batten project for the nursery walls. To my dismay, the trips to Lowe's had me very disappointed in both the selection and the lack of customer service. The second trip, I asked Scott to accompany me and he witnessed firsthand the lumber staff flat-out tell me that my project just wouldn't work and I couldn't really do much unless I purchased a skill saw because they don't do project cuts anymore. I've seen DIY Board & Batten projects all over the Internet/blogs and just couldn't believe that everyone else had been able to tackle this project, but that apparently I couldn't.

So per Mom's suggestion {who is a big-time DIYer/Renovator anyway}, the following weekend I headed over to Home Depot...and I should have started there first! They were FANTASTIC! From the initial trip where I had 2 people jump in to help me, to the employee who helped me figure out how to save $65 on the lumber alone. I ended up with 2 best-buds: Eric & Walt who helped me get ALL of the lumber for the board & batten project for $10. Yep, you read that correctly...TEN DOLLARS! They were so helpful and did all of the project cuts for me. They also had suggestions on how to put it on the wall safely, securely & most efficiently. {for instance, using non-toxic wood glue rather than liquid nails...using thinner luan plywood so I could use my nail gun with 5/8" brads rather than have to individually nail by hammer}. So after adding 2 gallons of Behr premium paint {again for a pregnant woman, so they were low-VOC}, some odds & ends supplies and my lumber, the total cost came out to $65 for the entire room to be redone!

Here's a sneak peek after putting the battens up...

And as to the Nursery theme that I've been keeping "secret"...well since we're having a little China doll {haha-watch her end up looking more like Daddy than Mommy now!}, I decided on a Chinoiserie-themed nursery. Check out these incredible hand-painted canvases my Mom created for the nursery-see the pink pagoda! Doesn't everyone wish they had a GIGI?!?!?! LOVE THEM!

Alright, here's the revised Mood Board too...slightly altered to incorporate the Chinoiserie theme. And the palette is softer too with the palest of colors {I decided on light pink Foo Dogs, rather than hot pink below}. There's the hint of exotic mixed in with Palm Beach preppy in pink & green...hello Lilly Pulitzer is my mostest favoritest designer so this was fitting!

More to come soon!

V-Day

Mason's Valentine's Cards for his buddies at church...These were from Tiny Prints...And these we won from a blog giveaway on The Johnson's {HERE} from the Lily Pad Boutique {HERE}
Mason checking out his personalized Valentine's Day card {also from Tiny Prints}
He looked so proud!
We actually went to the Pediatrician first {updates to come} and then met up with Carson and Leah for a park playdate.

What fun!

I'd say it was a lovely Valentine's Day...

And here's the card Mason made for Daddy...

Bits and Pieces

Mason has successfully broken all of his soy crayons into jagged fragments.

Maybe this is part of his "creative process", but I'm opting to NOT buy him $6 organic crayons until he grows out of this destructive phase. We'll be sticking to the clearance $0.25 Crayolas from now on...
The boy loves to color though!

A Crafty Christmas

When the little bookworm tires of reading, we have to keep busy or he finds mischief on his own like {HERE}

At our Santa Pancake Breakfast, we walked away with several crafts like this ornament...

And this one...

And of course some Reindeer Food for Christmas Eve.

But back at home, we've been busy with artwork too. Mason drew a lovely snowman and then we did a salt art treatment on top...

And we potted some parsley in our reindeer pot {what fun!}

And made a mile-long gingerbread man chain...

And his little tree had to have a tree-topper so we took a clean tin can, paint, felt, pompoms, and lots of cotton balls...

It looks like CHRISTMAS around here now!

On the 2nd Day of Christmas

Well, it's the Countdown to Christmas...

Of course, this morning Mason tried to shorten the wait and he pulled a few extra links in hopes that Santa would come earlier. Good thing I cut extra paper strips.
We made this felt mitten ornament at storytime yesterday...

The empty Christmas tree in his room eagerly awaits more homemade ornaments.And today we made some paper snowflakes. Well technically, he colored them and Mommy cut them out {scissors + toddler = DANGER!}

Mason's been creative and enjoys the crafts too. In fact, he found a new use for a wrapping paper tube...it's a prosthetic arm extension.

How to Keep a Busy Toddler Busy

He's sooo bored of TV all the time. Can you blame him? I can only take so much of Mickey Mouse & Handy Manny too.

Sometimes he just blatant yells, "Mommy entertain my growing brain!"

And I feel the pressure constantly...of the need to enrich and nurture my bright young tot {ha-isn't everyone's child a "brilliant genius"?}

We made just a couple of crafts for Thanksgiving...

So I've taken on the task of pulling him away from the TV {bad Mommy!} and we have a craft planned out now everyday until Christmas. Let's see if this will help us survive the monotony.