Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Family Pictures

Since our oldest child was born we have always gone to the photography studios that supplied instant gratification! We schedule an appointment, take some pictures and walk out 1 hour later with photos in hand to disperse to various family members.
A family friend recently started doing photography and I was so excited to try her out. Though it was nice in the past to have pictures taken and receive the prints the same afternoon, I was tired of the same old poses and backgrounds. Our family friend was willing to meet us anywhere we chose to do outdoor shots. We chose a local park, where the kids could run around and play. Though it took us about 2 hours to get all of the shots that we wanted, it was a lot less stressful for me not having to hold the kids down screaming and crying to take a picture in a blank white room. Without further adieu, here are our family portraits all courtesy of Lynn at Portraits by Lynn.

A totally impromptu moment where Reese grabbed Aidan in a big hug!


Randy and I looking at each other with googly eyes.


Family portrait


Love, love, love this one!


Pretty as a princess.


My handsome little prince.


There are so many more, I don't know how I am ever going to choose!

Freebie dresser and a fail

We have had my cheapie college dresser in Reese's room since she was born. It was a perfect fit flanked by several matching shelves to give her open closet a built in look. A little girls dream closet!

When we moved into our current house, the dresser was really starting to fall apart (I don't know why, it was only 8 years old!). Though we had glued and screwed it back together, the drawer fronts continued to pull off when you opened the drawer.
I had been trolling Craigslist and found a white Ikea Hemnes 8 drawer dresser listed for $100. It was too good to be true! Even though I contacted the seller immediately, I never heard back. Unfortunately, someone must have beat me to it!

Recently, my neighbor asked if I knew anyone that would be interested in a dresser. She was trying to clean out her garage and she was willing to give it away to get rid of it. I jumped on the opportunity and snatched it right up. I cleaned it up and drug it upstairs to my daughter's room. It fits perfectly on the wall by her closet and provides so much more storage.

My neighbor thought that I should paint it, but the chips in the paint add to the shabby chic feel that goes perfectly with the rest of the furniture in the room. I do plan to add some different pulls eventually, hopefully some dainty glass knobs to dress it up a little bit.

The old dresser found a new home hidden in her closet. It houses clothing that is out of season and therefore is not used as much.

I had added some cork board to the changing table/dresser in my daughter's room to make it functional for displaying artwork.

Unfortunately, the adhesive included with the cork board was not strong enough and the cork fell of within a few days. I reattached the cork using an adhesive spray that I had on hand and again, the cork fell of within a few days. I have not gotten around to replacing the cork, but hopefully some gorilla glue or other adhesive will be effective in keeping it in place because it is looking pretty ugly now!


On a positive note, roofing and siding has started on our house and we should be ready for a reveal in about 2 weeks! It is looking so good, I cannot wait to share!