Our lives the last few weeks

The last few weeks around the Devine home have been full of fun, plus a few surprises, like:

Valentines Day strawberries.

A sweet valentine from my sweet boy. Pierce wanted me to have this so when he grows up and gets married, I'll always have something to remember him by. Man I love that boy.

Cooper's last baby tooth finally came through! Finger-as-a-teether days are over! Why is this a big deal? Because he's actually been sleeping better... as in, sleeping all night. Happy family here. 

The Kentucky weather continues to surprise us. In the last couple weeks of February, we signed Pierce up for t-ball and he's been practicing hard (in warm weather, I might add)!

I finally got to catch up with my sis in law, Abby, over lunch. Miss seeing her like I used to. (My sweet friend, Christy, is on the left. Don't see her enough these days either!)

Cooper got allergy tested! The big surprise here is that he wasn't allergic to anything they tested for. Could be that he was too young for an allergy to show up on a skin test. But, what the allergist first believed to be a "classic asthma case," he now thinks might be a deep, prolonged infection which could be causing his breathing issues. The verdict is that we still don't really know what's causing his breathing issues, but if it is an infection, the hope is that this next month-long antibiotic will clear it up. He also put him on Singulair and Flonase once a day. He's also still on Pulmicort once a day! Lots of meds but at this point I just have to trust the doctors and hope that this concoction is the answer we've been looking for! P.S. If you don't know Cooper, you really should! He's so laid back, so go-with-the-flow. We were in this office for over two hours and not once did he whine or cry! In fact, we laughed... a lot! He's just so sweet and precious. Love this boy to death! 

Pierce took his first trip to Lexington with daddy and Uncle Patrick for ESPN College Gameday. He's a little Cats obsessed lately. Wonder where he gets that from.

Finally got my new headboard up! The bedroom still needs some accessories, but it's slowly getting there. I was having the hardest time finding bedding that I liked, so I just decided to go with white again. I found four new pillows on clearance at Target for $7 each and called it a day!

Daddy turned 33! Pierce and I made him a strawberry cake (his favorite) and Hamburger Helper for dinner. Ok, so I hate Hamburger Helper but Chris loves it, so I guess I can handle it once a year.

We're just having fun! Everyday at our house there's something funny happening. Pierce started the tradition of high-fiving after the dinner prayer a long time ago. We do it every night and now Cooper is getting in on the action! We also dance to Pierce's favorite tunes and play basketball in the living room. Whatever your family does for fun, I hope you are enjoying these precious moments because as we all know, our kids grow up much too fast. After you say grace tonight, how about giving each other a round of high-fives? I promise it will make you laugh!

Working with What You Have

One of my favorite design blogs is by Emily A. Clark. She recently wrote a blog about working with what you have and finding unique ways to remedy some ugly design choices you either inherited when buying your home, or made years ago. Ugly backsplashes, oak cabinets, etc.

I love this concept because most of us can't afford to just replace our cabinets or hire a professional to paint them white (man I wish I could), or buy a new living room set because the one we chose seven years ago is now looking kinda crappy!

Anywho, she's right. So that's what I'm doing in the master bedroom now. We finally got a new king size bed (Pierce made himself right at home in the middle last night) and I'm faced with a few design dilemmas. (By the way, we bought a Restonic memory foam mattress. Never in my life did I ever think I'd spend this amount of money on a mattress, but it is so worth it. Chris's back actually felt good this morning. Worth the investment!)

The dilemmas:

Oak dresser

Oak amroire

    

The inspirations: 

New headboard! Upholstered taupe/gray color.

Making oak work with blue walls and gray headboard:

I don't hate the combo of blue and brown, just hope I can pull it together! Also thinking about painting the amroire but not sure what color yet. Red, gray, green, and white are all possibilities. 

I'll let you know how it all turns out!

When kids take over your house...buy more storage!

Our house is not large at all, and we've always had storage issues, even before two boys were brought into the mix. So what's a neat freak, organized-crazed momma to do? Buy more storage!

I saw this really cute cabinet in Target's ad last week and knew it was just what I had been looking for. Plus it was red...bonus! I ordered it online (free shipping!) and Mr. D put it together last night. I wanted a new table for a few reasons:

1. I hate matching furniture and the table we had before was too predictable.
2. The wall the old table was on is huge! The table was just too little, so I had scale issue on my hands.
3. More storage, of course!

Here's what it looked like before: 

Cute table, nothing wrong with it, just a little too small.

Here's the new cabinet: 

Even though this cabinet came in a box from Target, the quality is much better than I was expecting. And I love the red!

Here's another thing I love about sharing my home with two sweet boys: I get to find unique places for all of their toys. Your home can be stylish and full of toys at the same time. So what's in the new cabinet, you ask? Games!

Pierce and Cooper are my life! I love having some of their things in the living room because I think they need to be part of making our house a home. That's also why the storage ottoman (shown above) is filled with toys, and my favorite clock / bookshelf has two shelves just for Cooper's books. 

Having limited storage and lots of toys doesn't have to make your home a cluttered mess. Find unique ways to hide all the toys, or even display some. This is what makes our house one big Devine home! Plus, it gives you an excuse to buy cute furniture every now and then!

Preschool Update

I wanted to do a quick update on Pierce. He's been in preschool since August and has made some crazy progress! Shout out to his teacher, Mrs. Katie!

She has some amazing abilities to be able to teach a bunch of four year olds the kinds of things Pierce is learning now. Around Christmastime, I caught up with her about Pierce's progress and asked how he was doing. My concern with Pierce is that he'll start kindergarden as a four year old. I'm nervous that being the youngest kid in his class will have negative affects on him down the road. She said that he's the youngest preschooler in class now, but also one of the smartest! Well that made me feel a little better...

He's able to count to 100 (one of the few in his class who can), can count by tens to 100, knows how to spell every color, can spell every child's name in his class, can spell a few random words, like cat, mom, dad, Cooper, Devine, pig, cow, etc., can count backward from 20, and can recognize every number from one to 100 (i.e. 92 is "ninety two," not "nine two").

That's pretty good if you ask me! Proud mom here!

Today they're working on recognizing and putting together simple sentences using the words: I, a, it, is. She's having them construct simple sentences like "It is brown" since they know their color words. He's also learning how to sound out worlds. He sounded out "it" tonight and I was so excited!

Next up is math and learning how to add numbers. I'm excited for this second phase of preschool because I really think he'll learn so much from now until school starts in August. The only thing he's lacking is coloring. He hates to color! I don't think he's ever actually colored a full picture. His color worksheets have him correctly coloring what color it says because he can recognize his color words, but it's just a bunch of scribble around the word. His handwriting is getting really good though!

So I'm assuming this is good for a four year old, but I have nothing to compare it with. I'm still very proud no matter what and am growing in confidence that sending him to kindergarden in August is the right thing to do.

P.S. I never liked to color either!

Some of My Favorite Online Shops

I absolutely love shopping online! At least half of all my Christmas purchases were made online last Christmas, and there are a few reasons why I prefer this method of shopping.

1. You get better deals. This is especially true if you sign up for emails from your favorite stores. You'll be the first to know when a sale is going on and most stores will even email occasional coupons. Your inbox can definitely become cluttered but for me, it's a sacrifice I'm willing to take! Most stores also have great shipping deals these days, so shipping charges aren't usually an issue like they used to be.
2. You get a wider selection of unique items. This sort of goes along with number 3, but you can literally find anything you need online that you're not likely to find at Target or Pier1. Unique, antique items are everywhere! 
3. I get to shop at cool places that aren't around me. For me, this is the coolest thing about online shopping. Some of my absolute favorite stores are ones that I've never been to in person. But I kinda like that; it means I'll have something in my home that no one else around me will. 
4. I'm too darn busy to go shopping all the time! Two boys, full time job. On the weekends I spend time with my family. When I do actually go shopping, it's usually a trip to Target!

Here are a few of my favorite places to shop online:

• West Elm. This modern home furnishings stores has everything from furniture, to accents, to seasonal decor. I love it because of its unique selection of rugs (I was thisclose to buying this chevron one for the living room). I've also been kicking myself for not buying this pendant for the kitchen. Being the online shopper that I am, why oh why did I just go to Lowe's and pick one out? Bad decision. I did buy a few Christmas gifts from West Elm this year. The quality and style this store offers is a reason I keep going back.
• Crate&Barrel. What is not to love about Crate&Barrel? I've bought countless items from here and again, the quality always wins out. Because of my fondness of bold colors, this store is definitely one of my all time favorites. Most items are timeless and have such crisp, clean lines. Love everything this store has to offer, and it's probably a good thing there's not one in Louisville!
• CB2. This store is ultra modern. Some items, I have to admit, are even a little too bold for me! However, I have purchased several things from CB2 and I've loved them all. It's affiliated with Crate&Barrel but again, the difference is that CB2 takes modern contemporary to the next level. My favorite design team, The Novogratz, have their own line with CB2, which I think is pretty cool. One thing I do love about CB2 is its selection of funky pillows. I would totally put this one on my couch, wouldn't you?!!
• These are stores I've never purchased from before, so I can't attest to their quality and service, but I do browse their sites often and they do have some cool pieces: C. Wonder, Chiasso, Z Gallerie (We actually do have a Z Gallerie in Louisville, but I've never actually bought anything there. Super cool store, though.)

These are a few of my favorites! If you have a favorite that I missed, let me know. I love discovering new stores!

Mixing Stripes and Patterns

After seeing this picture that I posted on Instagram...

It became blatantly clear that I need new curtains. I've been mildly looking for new curtains in the living room recently, but it's definitely a goal now! These are a few years old and just a little too bland for my taste. The problem for me comes when trying to mix patterns. 

This is the area rug in my living room from West Elm...

And this is the accent rug from Crate&Barrel. (Cute turtle, huh?)

I love that the large area rug picks up on the orange and white from the accent rug. I think they pair well together. 

So how do you pair contrasting patterns? I don't think you necessarily need to have solid pillows if you have a patterned rug, or solid curtains next to a lamp shade like this one:

The trick is to use colors that pair well together, and repeat those color combinations throughout the room. You'll see orange, red, blue, and yellow patterned pillows on my couch, which match the colors found in the accent rug (across the room). The same goes for the pops of red found in different places throughout the room. Let's just say that I love color! I also love a little funkiness when it comes to decorating. 

That's why I think either of these two curtains from Pier1 would look really cool in my living room. They're bold in color and complement the decor that I currently have: 

I'm leaning toward the second one, but I'm a sucker for decorating with red so the jury is still out. 

Don't be afraid of color in your home. And please don't ever give up and just default to beige or white! More on that later...

Kitchen Home Improvement Goals for 2013

While there are several (hundred) improvements I'd like to make to our home this year, I've taken a step back and decided to focus instead (and not freak out my husband) on a few that I think will make the biggest impact. Here's what I'd like to accomplish in the kitchen:


1. Backsplash. Genevieve Gorder has called this the "secret sauce" to any kitchen and I have to agree. Our kitchen, as it stands now, is seriously missing this important ingredient. Subway tile has always been one of my favorite choices because of its simplicity and clean lines.

image courtesy: about.com

2. Kitchen faucet and sink. Our builder-grade sink and faucet are just lame. This is something that I've been wanting to change for a long, long time! 

3. Dining chairs. I have my eye on these two selections from Pier1. Ours are currently 7 years old and have worn extensive abuse from my two boys! I love the first one, but it's quite a bit more so I'm watching for it to go on sale. I also think red is the color to go for this time since my walls are now mustard. Love that contrast. 

I also think that color will complement my curtains nicely. (Also a Pier1 find.)

4. Hardware. New knobs for the cabinets are the lowest priority for the kitchen, but since I've gotten rid of the silver/pewter light fixture and door knobs, and recently replaced the pantry hardware to match, I'm thinking the cabinet doors would naturally be next. 

Stay tuned and see what my ideas for the bathrooms are!