Show Us Where You Live-Nursery Edition

This week we will be looking at Bennett's room! This is one room that I love because I had so much fun choosing all of the fabric and all of the accessories! I call it "Sophisticated Baby!!" I found this really awesome plaid dupioni silk at Milling Around. Well, it was SO expensive! I looked up the manufacturer and they told me a few places that may have it cheaper. I ended up finding it $20 cheaper per yard! I was thrilled!

Welcome to Bennett's room! This is the wreath on the door to my hospital room door. It hangs on his door now.

This is the view right when you walk in the door. I think the panels turned out great. My friend, Emme made them and everything else you will see in here.

Here is the glider that Pops (my dad) bought for his room. The shelf above is really a mantle that I bought from Lowes. I stained it to match his crib. All of the items on the "shelf" are sweet things that were given to us and older sentimental items.

This lamp shade was one thing I wanted so bad! My old boss and his wife gave it to us.

These little bronze booties are my dad's. I think they are so sweet sitting in Bennett's room. Aunt Rebecca gave him that little tooth fairy pillow.

Here is his dresser/changing table. We have another shelf that can go above the changing pad when we get out of diapers! I keep his diapers in the top drawer so they don't take up too much space on top. The hostesses of my last baby shower gave me the sweet scripture board on top. I love it. Bennett already has a little library too!

Here is Bennett's crib. It is a convertible one! Neil and I painted the little paintings above the bed. I used an overhead to make them. The bedding is SO luxurious. I think it turned out so cute! I found the mobile on Target.com. It is so contemporary. The little camera on top is for our video baby monitor. I really enjoy having it so I can look over and check on him all night!  I have now taken out the bumper pad.  He is starting to roll over and I am so scared of SIDS!

Here is Bennett is in "wheels!" He loves this little car. We have a phonebook underneath so his legs don't dangle!

Thanks for stopping by today! Stay tuned for next week's room!

Lite Brite

As a child, my mom loved her Lite Brite.  I have heard stories about how she would "play for hours!"  These stories were brought up a couple weeks ago on our family e-mail chain.  My aunt, uncle, and mom were all writing back and forth about their favorite childhood toys.  So, I got my mom a Lite Brite as part of her birthday gift!  She was shocked when she opened it tonight!  It was like watching a kid at Christmas!  

Now, they make a "flat screen" Lite Brite.  This thing is FANCY!  There isn't even a cord that makes you sit close to the wall.  There is even a compartment that hold all of the colored pegs!

  

After dinner, we had to try out Mr. Fancy Lite Brite.  We decided to do the fireworks sheet.  

It turned out great!  We were so excited to break it out and get to work!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY EVE MOM!

Memorial Day Weekend Fun!

First let me say that I feel like every time I start a post I begin it with "We had a great time..." Now that that's out of the way...

  We had a wonderful Memorial Day Weekend!   On Friday, we went out to Neil's Aunt Catherine's totally awesome lake house.  We consider her house our dream house!  We just got to sit around by the pool and relax.  Green made some grilled chicken and we ate and chit-chatted.  

(Brace yourselves...lots of pictures!)

Grand-Machine and Bennett were having so much fun.  Bennett's swimsuit and shirt are 

A-dorable!  I asked Neil if he would wear a matching swimsuit and he immediately said no!

Here is Bennett's first time in the pool!  He really seemed to like it even though it was pretty cold.

Connor was enamoured with Bennett.  He was being so sweet to him.  He is going to be a great BIG brother!

This was after Bennett had his nap.  Grand-Machine loves to play!

Nana loves her Bennett!  Can't you tell?

We also had a fabulous time today on actual Memorial Day.  We went to Catherine's for lunch and family time.  It was fun to watch all of the little ones play in the pool.  Daddy took Bennett in the pool today. 

I thought this picture was a cool action shot!  I had to include it of Scott and Emily.

For our second Memorial Day party, we went to Chateau Buteau.  They blew up their pool and had so many fun toys!  This pool was Bennett's favorite!  I think he liked that he could sit (with help) and splash!  He really likes playing with Georgia and Mason.  

I think he is going to be a Water Baby! (I hope!)

Here is Bennett during his first wagon ride!  Georgia was so nice to share her wagon and let Bennett ride. 

All in all it was a great family-filled weekend!  I got a little bit of much needed sun today too! 

Family Birthday Lunch

We were so excited to meet in Nacogdoches for Mom and Aunt Carolyn's birthdays.  Aunt Carolyn's birthday is 5/24/55, Mom's is 5/29/56, and Uncle Mike's is 5/21/57.  Notice a yearly trend?  I think my grandmother was one busy lady!  

We got up and were having a great morning.  Bennett was so happy and just played for about 2 hours before falling asleep mid-play!  I laid out an outfit for him to wear and this is what Neil decided to put on him!

We left Shreveport around 11 to make it to the Clear Springs Cafe in Nacogdoches.  When we arrived, Bennett wasn't acting too happy.  This is unusual because he is always excited to be at loud lively restaurants.  He really took to Courtney and loved having her and CAL take care of him!

Here is the birthday girls' birthday cake  Yes, that is their picture on it!  I got it at the Dough Basket in Shreveport.

The birthday girls!

Carrie bought all of the festive hats and leis for us to wear!  It was a blast!  We are all wearing our Lemm Acres t-shirts!  You can order one here.

CAL loved Bennett!  Bennett loved CAL too but, I think he was feeling bad.

Here's the group!  L-R: Mom, Aunt, Snort, Steve, CAL, Neil, Bennett, Me, Jason, & Scarrie.  We missed you Uncle Mike!

Bennett was very fussy like he was hurting in the restaurant.  I didn't know what was wrong!  He was just whimpering...it was the saddest thing ever.  We were trying to feed him and console him.  He didn't want the bottle and then he threw up in the parking lot.  Poor baby.  We got home and took his temp and it was 100.3.  I called the doctor and she said to give him some pedialyte and Tylenol.  We did this and he cried for 1 solid hour!  I took his temp again and it was 101.5!  Talk about scared!  I called the doctor again and she said to give him a little more Tylenol.  He finally went to sleep and woke up feeling like a new man!  We are so glad that Bennett is feeling more like himself!

Happy Birthday Aunt Carolyn! (today!)  Happy Birthday Mom! (29th)

Show Us Where You Live Fridays-Dining Room

Here is our dining room where we eat every single meal.

I mean some of our meals. We eat in front of the TV most nights!

This table is one of my favorite bargain finds! We got this at Discount Building Materials for only $99! I know...amazing! We sat in random folding chairs for about 3 months until we found our chairs at World Market. Neil and Beck put them together and it took them one whole Sunday afternoon to complete the task.

We also got the mirror at Discount Building materials for cheap! I made the sconces on either side of the mirror and by made I mean I bought everything and stuck the stems in the sconce.

Here is a close-up. It was the first time I tried to make something like this and I like how they turned out!

Our dining room is in our front living room. I like the chandelier too. We have a matching light over our sink in the kitchen.

Thanks so stopping by our dining room. I would love to have you over for dinner...Just call me and we will set it up!

This might become a problem...

I don't know if you know this but I LOVE kids clothes!  I cannot resist a good deal to save my life!  A BIG thanks to Abbie for showing this website she found with some sweet deals for clothes!  Look what I got BRAND NEW for $4.95.  Yes. $4.95!  

http://www.littlelavender.com/shop.asp?action=details&inventoryID=112470&catId=10697

I am amazed at these deals.  They also sell Hollywood Baby samples for around 50% off the regular price.  I have paid over $100 for 1 outfit with them before!  (Disclaimer: I have only done this 1 time and it was my first kids clothes show to ever attend!)  Anyway, they have samples from Remembering Nguyen.  This is where I ordered Bennett's crawfish outfit.  They have some really cute stuff!  I also got this for $14.95!  He is going to wear it on Memorial Day (if I get it in time) and on the 4th of July.

http://www.littlelavender.com/shop.asp?action=details&inventoryID=112470&catId=10697

Just wanted to pass this information along!

Show Us Where You Live Fridays-Guest Rooms!

This home tour thing that Kelly is hosting is just so much fun to me! I really like touring everyone homes and showing ours too! Our guest room became our guest room when we found out I was pregnant! Bennett's room used to be our guest room. The guest room used to be our office. We moved our "office" into the deep closet in our guest room. It looks like there is going to be an office edition so, I will hold off on that today! Here we go:

This used to be our bed until we "outgrew" it! We really like our king-size bed! When I saw these panels at Target a couple years ago-I had to get them! This room used to be red, but I really didn't love it. We changed it to ivory when we made it the guest room. I got the pillows at Hobby Lobby (my fav!) a few months ago.

This "night stand" is really our filing cabinet! The vase is from Hobby Lobby. The front picture is of Neil and me and it is the very first picture we ever took. We look so young in it.

This the corner in front of the bed. We got the chair from World Market. We had the chaise lounge that matched it, but I sold it on Craig's List when I got pregnant! There was no room for it with the bed and all.

We love having guests! Please come over and stay a while...if you don't mind a screaming baby at times!

Fiesta Supper Club

We hosted our new Supper Club at Casa de Lewis that my friend, Erinn started. We are really enjoying meeting couples with kids. Tonight we had Mexican fare in honor of Cinco de Mayo. We had it a little late in the month though! We made fajitas and a sombrero cake! Different people brought different foods to help out with the menu. Ashley let me borrow all of the fiesta decorations to make the place look festive! We had a great time and can't wait until next month!

Here is the table scape plus Jeff. The sombrero cake is on the bottom left of the picture.

I think these little Mexican flags made the back porch look really festive and fiesta-y. I took this picture before most of the people arrived. It was a full house!

We tried to line up all the babies for a quick picture. Some of the babies didn't make it to the picture and a couple were mad (Bennett included). This was a total mom idea! Jenny even put Keegan in the picture and he was asleep! haha!

Neil and Benito. He can't grow hair on his head but he can grow it on his face...weird! (ha!)

Happy 5 Months!

Bennett is 5 months old today! I cannot believe my baby is growing up so fast! He is such a big boy now! He is pretty good natured and smiles most of the time. We are so proud to be his parents!

Bennett is almost sitting. He can rest on his hands but, is a little wobbly. I think he looks adorable when he tries to sit!

He is not a fan of the whole spoon-feeding thing. We really need to work harder with him on spoon-feeding. The doctor said to start with rice cereal before we try the yummy stuff! We are planning on making his food with the cool processor/steamer that Nana gave us for Christmas.

Bennett is sort of sleeping through the night. He wakes up several times to have the pacifier put back in his mouth. We really don't have to feed him at night any more. When we get to the night when he sleeps without having the pacifier put back into his mouth-this mom will be one happy camper!

Happy 5 months old Bennett! Mommy and Daddy love you to the moon!

Mother's Day

Our Little Family on My First Mother's Day!

This is one Mother's Day I will never forget...my first one! I actually got to celebrate last year because I was pregnant but, this year I got to hold my baby! I guess they were both "firsts!" We got up this morning and got all ready for Sunday school and church. Grand-Machine, Nana, Gammy, Gigi, Grim and Uncle Andrew met us at church. The only people missing were Pops and Aunt Becky. After church, we went to eat at the P-Club for lunch. Apparently there were a lot of people because we were sent down to the 15th floor for our lunch. It was totally fine with us! The Stuckey's, Long's, and Yates' joined us. Before we ate, Carolyn put a little t-shirt on Connor. It said "I'm a Big Brother!!!" We are so thrilled for Carolyn, Chad, and Connor! Baby Yates is due on his Daddy's birthday. How sweet!

Lunch was good but the company was better. I love when a lot of the family gets together. It is always a great time.

William & Emily Stuckey and Connor Yates

Emily and her Grandmommy (Neil's Aunt Catherine)

Bennett loves his Grand-Machine and Nana.

Bennett loves Gammy!

Bennett and his grandmothers.

Gigi, Grim, and Bennett.

Happy Mother's Day to me!

This was Bennett giving me my gift from him and Neil. Neil put the bag on his arm! (ha!) It was a gold chain for my sentimental coin that was given to Janine when Neil was born.