I bought these glittered letters from Michael's and with a little hot glue they give my basket I made for my front door a fresh new look! I love them, you can do a lot with them creatively (which I’m really working at, not so easy for me) and the package comes with different shapes and designs to add a little something with your words! I find myself walking around Michael’s trying to have an open mind these days! Or maybe the snow was on the ground to long for me this year! Either way Mario’s happy because it’s cheaper than buying a new wreath for our door! :) Have a great week everyone! We are having nasty weather all week so I hope you all have sunshine days in your neck of the woods! ~Amy

This is a picture of a historical home's gates in our neighborhood. We love to take our dog Chloe on her walk by this historical home. It is a Queen Anne style mansion that was built in the late 1800's. When our trees start to bud and everything starts to bloom and look pretty I'll take some pics of the property to share, it's really neat. It's on quite a bit of land and they have children's events, weddings and give tours of the property. Every year I like to check out the landscaping it’s great to get ideas from!

We decided to try and grow our own pumpkins this year! Ethan and Emma are very excited, Mario was a little unsure until I told him how much money we will save on our pumpkins this fall! I love to decorate for fall and pumpkins are a must!!! We are going to try and plant some white pumpkins and regular pumpkins too. But the French heirloom pumpkins are my favorite. I'll keep you updated on how it goes. Emma is excited because I told her we were going to try and grow Cinderella's coach! Wish us luck.:)

We liked the school house light we bought for our kitchen so much that we decided to put one in the kids room. I think it turned out nice! Have a good week! ~Amy

Ethan has been asking me if we can redo his room in Spiderman from pottery barn kids for his birthday, but I just hate to see his puppy dog bedding go! It's just so cute. The bedding, bed and nightstand are all from potterybarnkids! I love their furniture and it's great quality! I told him maybe we could get that hermit crab he's really wanting instead and he seems ok with it! My little boy is growing up so fast with a personality all his own!

This is my new window treatment that we put in our hallway at the top of our stairs. I got it on clearance at Lowe's then dressed it up with some trim from our local Hancock's and what looked cheap now looks very elegant! I love trim!

Ethan wanted to stay up late the night before Easter so he could try to catch the Easter bunny! But from the looks of it he fell asleep before he could catch a glimpse of that sneeky bunny! Maybe next year Ethan! ;)

Emma showing off her new tutu!

We have a lot of fun on our Tuesday dance class day! We finally got Emma's costume for her recital and it is adorable! :) I'll post a pic of it soon. The girls are working hard I can't wait until the recital! ~Amy

Our Easter basket fun!

Emma and Ethan got to take a sneek peak at what the Easter bunny brought them before we went to church! Looks like a lot of fun!

The Easter bunny brought Ethan a new Dr. Octopus!

I really do believe we own every Dr. Octopus toy that was ever made! We don't know why he loves Dr. Octopus so much!

Emma hunting Easter eggs!

It snowed on our Easter (I know its crazy) so we improvised and hid our eggs throughout our house! At least the snow is now melting by the next day! Spring has to be around the corner for us, right!!!

Our Easter Dessert!

We wanted a special treat for our Easter dessert, so we splurged and bought a chocolate pie from Kathy's Pies. It is a very well known bakery here in our area and it was delicious!

Happy Easter!

Easter always brings back a lot of childhood memories for me. I remember every Easter we would head over to my mother's parents house and have a big family lunch. Since my mother came from a big family (9 brothers and sisters) it was always a lot of fun. All of us cousins would always line up in front of my grandpa's old work truck and have our picture made! Then we would hunt for Easter eggs in the yard. At Christmas we didn't get together probably because everyone was so busy with activities, but Easter was always a family tradition. We plan on starting some traditions of our own with Ethan and Emma! I know how important they are because now that my grandparents and my mom are gone the memories are even more special to me! Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all make your own special memories. ~Amy

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

We hope everyone has a fun St. Patrick’s Day! And yes don't forget to wear your green!!! We hope everyone had a great weekend! Our snow is FINALLY melting. But now we have a muddy mess in our yard, but I'm not complaining at all. I am just so excited to see our grass again. It's been about 3 months since we've seen the ground! We went to our friend’s 25th wedding anniversary this weekend. It was a surprise party given by their 2 daughters. After we left the party I felt this reconnection with Mario and we stayed up late and just talked! With work, everyday responsibilities and the kids sometimes it's just so nice to find the time to sit back and really appreciate each other! We will be married for 10 years soon and Mario is still my best friend! And after seeing our friends celebrate their 25th it just made me stop and think how special that really is. Have a great week! We will update the blog with some pics later this week. ~ Amy

Ethan's Artwork

Ethan is quite the artist around our house! We now have his beautiful creations on display which consist of Spiderman and all the villains, robots, dinosaurs, crabs, lizards and most importantly his family!!! Have a good week! :) Amy

Kitchen Remodel Halfway Through

Here’s the progress so far on the kitchen. We stripped all the wallpaper, repaired plaster, hung new damask print wallpaper, textured and painted the remaining walls a deep chocolate. Next we installed new stainless steel appliances. Then hung two new light fixtures a chandler in the eat in kitchen and an antique school house light fixture. We purchased the school house light fixture from a local architectural salvage. I talked to the owner and he said it was from 30’s - 40’s sometime and was pulled from an old school house here in Iowa. We brought it home and after about 8 hours of scrubbing with steel wool and mineral spirits we clear coated the base and hung it. We were so happy with the finished look of this light fixture we went back and purchased another one to hang in the kid’s room upstairs. This time we opted for the chrome finish instead of the bronze finish we got for the kitchen. Next we plan on putting in nice walnut butcher block counter tops, tiling the floor, and installing a nice farmhouse sink. ~Mario

My Grandmother's Bible from the late 1800's!!!

Most people that have been to our home know we have a thing for antiques of any kind, but this one holds a special place in my heart! This is my grandmother's Bible she gave to me. She is still alive, 92 this year, and we talk at least twice a week and she can entertain me for hours with stories of her life! She is still very sharp for being her age and I am lucky to have her in my life! This Bible has been in my family for over 130 years! I keep it in this antique walnut bookcase which has doors on it that close to keep out the dust. I no longer use it b/c of its condition, but it has definitely been a conversational piece in our home! I wanted to share it with you b/c of it's rarity and I think it's very beautiful! Have a good day! :-)

589th Thing That You Can Fit In A Bug That You Thought You Couldn't!!!

We have fit a 6ft Japanese tree, 15 bags of mulch, floor length mirror, 3 5 gallon boxwoods, a lawn mower, 7 ft Christmas tree, 5 rolls of sod, children’s sandbox and 50 pounds of sand, 3 32 gallon trash cans, 4ft by 11ft pool, kitchen table and 2 chairs (we got some lookers on this one at Target) 32 inch LCD TV along with our 2 kids in their car seats snug in the backseat safely and 2 adults!!! That’s just to name a few!!! And finally as shown in the pic an 8ft by 11ft area rug!!!