Chalk it Up!

I've been drooling over adding chalkboard paint to my kitchen for a while.

I bought a can of chalkboard paint while I was still pregnant with Peyton with plans to paint an area of my laundry room...that still hasn't happened. I figured it was time to put that can to good use. I don't have a lot of wall space in my kitchen because there are 4 large windows, so I had to figure out a good way to incorporate it into the space.

I stopped by The Dollar Store one afternoon to see if I could find some inspiration (and something cheap). Here's the little beauty I picked up for a whopping $6.



I liked that it had the distressed look, with a little red tint to the frame, which would match the walls in my kitchen.


I slapped on some painter's tape*

And I ended up with this!

And a look from afar

I love it! We make a menu every week, but before we just wrote it down on our grocery list to help plan what we needed to get. That piece of paper always got misplaced or thrown away, and then there would be a night where we couldn't remember what other items we had planned on making for the week. Or we'd forget that we needed to lay something out of the freezer, and then we'd have nothing to make and would end up going out to eat. Having this menu up on the wall makes it so easy for me to take a quick glance over and see if I need to set something in the fridge to thaw, or marinate something and it acts as a general reminder as to what we're having that particular week. Stylish? I think so. Functional? Definitely! Now if I could only get someone with pretty handwriting to come fill it in every week...any takers??

I still have plans for the laundry room that include the chalkboard paint, but that will have to wait until another burst of inspiration hits...don't hold your breath!

* A note on the painter's tape. I do not have a steady hand when it comes to painting, and painter's tape is always my friend. However, you have to apply at least a few coats of the chalkboard paint over the mirror, letting it dry in between coats. Dry paint and painter's tape do not mix! After my first attempt, when I pulled all the painter's tape off, all the chalkboard painted peeled away from the mirror because it was attached to the tape! So, I just had to do it freehand. That's why you'll notice in the close up photo there is some paint on the inside edge of the frame.

Can You Help?

Can someone get this girl a toy? Because apparently she has nothing else to play with besides door stoppers!

Uh-oh, she spotted me.

Peyton is EVERYWHERE now! She's still pretty much "scooting" or army crawling, but she can get up on her knees and rock. She actually started scooting the day she turned 5 months old. Now that she's more mobile, she's doing better about not wanting to be held all the time. Today I couldn't have asked for a better baby! I think she only cried twice when she noticed I had left the room for a second.

I still need to write my update post about Peyton at 6 months, but we don't go for her check up until next Thursday...between the doctor's schedule and my ability to only go on Tuesdays or Thursdays, it pushed us way back from her actual 6 month "birthday". I still can't believe she's already 6 months old, where is my baby going??

What To Do?

I have a problem. See all these clothes?

And these?

And these?

These are all clothes that either Peyton has outgrown or that were Baileys and Peyton never got the chance to wear because the seasons were quite different when they were born. So what's the problem?

Nick and I have had several conversations about whether or not we'll be having another child. And when I say conversations, it's more like...

Me - Are you 100% certain you don't want anymore kids?

Nick - Yes.

Me - But you might change your mind?!

Nick - No.

End of conversation. And there are some days that I think two is a perfect number, any more and I might pull my hair out! But then I'll think back to moments like these

Bailey being held by one of our friends in the hospital

One last kiss for Peyton while she was in my belly

Nick holding Peyton for the first time

Bailey holding Peyton for the first time



and I know I still want one more baby.

So the problem with the clothes, is that I know I should get rid of them, since all indications point to the fact that we will not be having any more kids, but I'm having a hard time parting with them. I feel like giving them away is essentially the same thing as waving the white flag. Ok, I give up. We're not having more kids, end of story. But I don't know that I'm ready to give up the "fight" just yet. Even though I can say things like all indications point to the fact that we will not be having any more kids, doesn't mean I'm ready to stop pleading my case.

These clothes are all still sitting in Peyton's room right now, waiting for their fate. To be passed on to a new home and little girl? To be held onto on the off chance that this crazy woman can convince her husband that they should have one more child? I just don't know what to do.

First Day of School

Somehow, this sweet little girl

is now a big preschooler!

I was so worried about how she would do on her first day. Since she was 3 months old my mom had kept her everyday. This was such a huge blessing in so many different ways. Saved us money, I didn't have to worry about how well she was being taken care of and it allowed them to have a special bond. On the other hand, it meant she had little to no interaction with other little ones. This was really the main reason we went ahead and started preschool this year. I wanted her to learn how to play and make friends.

Bailey and I were both nervous about the big day. The night of orientation the kids stayed in their classroom while the parents went to the sanctuary. Bailey did great! She gave Nick and I hugs and kisses and then started coloring. This really gave me hope. The night before her first day, she and I were lying in her bed after reading her bedtime story and we were talking.

B-Let's talk about school mommy.

Me-Ok, do you have questions about school?

B-Yeah. How do you make friends?

This little convo seriously broke my heart. After more discussion about making friends and what to expect for her first day, I kissed her goodnight and closed the door to my baby's room, knowing the next day I would be opening the door to my big girl.

Nick had taken the day off work so he could go with us on the big day. In true Maxwell fashion, we were pushing it to the last minute to get to school on time. We get there, walk in the classroom, and I know immediately there's going to be trouble. Bailey's obviously nervous, and there are two little boys just screaming in the classroom. The teacher is holding one little boy and the other screamer is being held by his dad. I really think if Bailey hadn't seen this, she would have been okay. But seeing those two little ones crying made her even more nervous and scared, and as soon as we tried to leave, the waterworks started. Standing in the hallway with her, Nick was manning the stroller with Peyton, I was trying to console her and tell her everything was going to be okay. I was trying so hard not to cry, because I knew it would only make the situation worse. Thankfully, the preschool director was standing close by, and as she saw me about to lose it, she stepped in and saved the day. As Bailey willingly went with her into the classroom, Nick, Peyton and I headed out the door. I cried the whole way to the car, not caring that I looked like a blubbering mess.

Let me tell you, the 3.5 hours I had to wait until I could go pick her up were some of the longest in history. I'm pretty sure the clock simply stopped moving at one point. I was standing in the hallway outside of her classroom at a prompt 11:50 (only 10 minutes early, although I wanted to go much sooner!) waiting to squeeze my munchkin. When the teacher opened the door and started dismissing kids I kept a look out for my braided beauty. After what seemed like forever, she came rushing out of the classroom with a big grin on her face and one important question to ask me. "When can I come back to school?"

Hello World

Hello out there! Wow, it's been a while...again! I've had a terrible case of nothing I write sounds good to me so I just end up deleting everything after I spend the time writing it. Never heard of it? It's a serious condition. I hope it's all behind me now.

There's really been quite a bit going on around the Maxwell House lately. Peyton seems to have chilled out a bit and is starting to enjoy playing by herself more. Bailey started preschool and got her ears pierced. We're working on "No Eat Out September". I've made several batches of homemade baby food for Peyton. I'm working on redoing the Recipes tab on here, this time focusing on my husband and I and our adventures in the kitchen (go ahead, click on the icon right below the header and check it out...ya know ya want to!). Peyton turned 6 months old and has been scooting/crawling all over the house for the last month!

My plan is to go back and detail some of these moments in length on here. This is after all, supposed to be a place for me to record the details and milestones of my little family. Until then, I'll leave you with one photo.