It's Christmas time in the Prose House

Lots of hustle and bustle going on this month...already! It's only the first week of December. Ahh...scratch that...Oops!

Clearly, I'm not keeping up with my posts! I'll try to play catch up in the next couple of days! It's the weekend before Christmas!! Where has the time gone? I've got lots of posts coming up with fun and easy decorations around the house & our holiday playdates! Stay tuned!

Well, as requested, I will share some pictures of our holiday home! :) Enjoy!

Our fresh Christmas tree!
Every year, a new ornament or special Christmas decoration is added to my collection. I love it!
This garland on our windows, is decorated with my husband's childhood ornaments.
He kept them at his parent's home for years, until finally he gave in & brought them home! I love showcasing them along the garland!  

Big thanks to Lindsay Faye Photography for taking these great shots of my boys!





 Well, these are just a few pictures for now. I'll add more later & tell you how I spruced up my candles around the house in another post!

Happy Weekend!

 

A Thankful Heart

Just a quick post to finish out the month of November. I'm ever so grateful for my friends and family who continue encouraging me to keep the blog updated and projects coming! To those close friends, especially, who remind me daily, how my little DIY spirit, keeps them inspired...thank you and I'm so happy to hear it!

I also want to give thanks to my husband. With out him, I'm lost. It's because of him, working so incredibly hard that I'm able to spend my days with Jack and plan fun projects to share with you. I'm the most blessed wife and mother.

Me and my guys on our flight home from Thanksgiving in Miami!
I hope each of you had a wonderful November and great Thanksgiving! Here's to the upcoming holiday season! Cheers!

Trick or Treat Parade {Part 2}

Like most parents, I want to capture every moment possible on film, on video, on my iphone! But, when I can't, I'm just grateful to be in the moment. This moment, was the sweetest... and a double bonus that I snapped the picture!
"TWIK O TWEET!"

My little puppy was so excited to walk with us to get "CAN-DY!"

Here are some more pictures of our toddlers on parade!


Goodie Bags!

Each of our Parade participants recieved a fun little goodie bag for marching with us! I found the cute labels on The Creativity Exchange. If you like, click here to check out the blog to print your own!




 We are so grateful to live in our wonderful neighborhood. Our street was lined with decorated houses and sweet neighbors loving the parade! There's even a house that gives hay rides each year! We were thrilled that our friends were happy to join us again this year for a fabulous time!

Here's to next year!

Trick-or-Treat Parade! {Part 1}

As you know by now, I love making a big deal out of any get-together or celebration. Our 2nd year trick or treating with Jack, was no exception! We held our 2nd annual {Trick-or-Treat Parade} for Jack and all his pals.

I love Halloween, and now even more with a little one in tow! Like most, I love the Fall colors, the pumpkins, of course, but I love keeping it festive with fun and friendly, spooky Halloween decor.

Before we get to the fun stuff, let me show you how we kept it festive around the house, this month for Halloween. I entered these photos in a contest for HomeGoods Halloween Decor, didn't win, but hey, there is always next year!! I'll share in {Part 2} the DIY printables I used for this banner.

 
 

Puppies, Minne Mouse, a fireman, and snow white...It must be the {Trick or Treat Parade}!!!
Just a few of Jack's buddies waiting in costume before we start the parade!




Our little puppy refused to wear his ears but loved getting candy with his friends! :)  

We made it successfully around the neighborhood, 7 kids in our Trick or Treat Parade! Although, some wanted to go inside each house & visit the neighbors, some wanted independence to run, some just rode the wagons and waived...we had a great time! Thanks again to all our friends who came to trick or treat with us! Stay tuned for {Part 2 of our Parade} for more pictures!

Looking forward to next year!

Fall is here! Florida style!

Fall is here, but the summer weather will linger on for a few more weeks. That doesn't stop us from enjoying pumpkin patches, hayrides and some family fun. Anytime I can spend some time outside with my handsome boys, is perfection! Here are a few shots from some of our "Fall" adventures in sunny {and hot} Florida.

Our favorite by far, was our visit to Sweetfield Farm in Masaryktown. {Don't ask me how to pronounce it, we still aren't sure!}

We visited the farm last year, during the Spring for their Sunflower Maze, Jack was only 5 months old! We were very excited to take Jack to the farm this year. Pig races, a corn maze, pumpkin patch, and lots of farm animals and games!

Jack was cheering on the piggies during their race! 

Riding the tractor for the hayride to the maze
Jack was asleep before we finished the maze. 
If you haven't been to Sweetfield Farm, here's the website! I highly recommend it! http://sweetfieldsfarm.com/events/fall-maze/

We've been to a lot pumpkin patches this month! This one, we visited in Lakeland, near a beautiful Swan Lake.
I'll take this one! 
 

Hope you're all getting outside and enjoying the Fall activities with your families. 
Stay tuned for more Fall & Halloween pictures! 
Happy Fall!





It's jammie time!

I received a sewing machine for my birthday. I've been sewing things ever since! I'm a beginner, but I am really enjoying it and trying a ton of new things. So, you never know, you might be a recipient of a sewing project featured on my blog!

Here are the first little pj pants I made for Jack!


Here is the tutorial that I used for the jammies for those of you interested in making some too!
http://mycottoncreations.blogspot.com/2010/07/christmas-eve-pajama-pants-tutorial.html

Again, they aren't perfect, but made with love. Project Runway won't be calling me anytime soon...but hey...maybe in the future?? Only if I can make an entire Spring collection of pj pants...maybe?? I don't know, but I'm proud of these I made for Jack.

Hope this inspires you to get out your sewing machine and make something new! If you don't have a sewing machine, old fashion, needle & thread works too! Or...you can email me some measurements...and I can practice more & make some for your little one!

Thanks for visiting!

More DIY-ing!

I can't tell you when the DIY kick first began, but it's been in full swing for the last few months. I wanted to share a few of projects with you. And, as requested, the tutorial for the jammies I made for Jack.

I've been super excited about my bench seat, cushion and headboard that I made for the kitchen, well, it's finally done! Here's the finished project! See further down for more pictures of the process from start to finish. I couldn't have done this with out the handy work of my mother-in-law, as most of you know, she's the queen of DIY projects.

I finally found a pedestal table for the kitchen, now I'm waiting for the black kitchen chairs to arrive from Overstock.com. $2.95 shipping? What?? Awesome site. Check it out! And the frame on the wall...those were Ikea cabinet doors, I painted white & added a clip for Jack's art. We made a Halloween ghost-handprint. He loved it!
 
Here are a few pictures we took during the process! These projects were all made with love, not perfect, but it was fun! Even Jack helped out!
 
Here's how it came together:
The headboard & chalkboard were from the same piece of FashionWall board from Lowe's(I have to give credit to my mother-in-law for knowing exactly what wood to use) Lowe's cut the pieces for us to the dimensions I needed. For the headboard, we added quilt batting, fabric & used the staple gun to layer and attach. For the chalkboard, we used extra crown molding we had leftover in the shed & used that to frame out the chalkboard. Then I used chalk spray paint . Easy breezy! :) Total cost for both projects... $45!
 
Hope this inspires you to start those 'pinterest projects' you've been putting off or encourages you to use what you have to mix things up a little. :)
 
Thanks for reading and hope you enjoy!

Fifty Shades of Grice

So, have I mentioned how much we love having our friends, the Grice Family, visit us? They're some of our favorite company to have visit Chateau Prose. Not to mention, our boys are the perfect little buddies, we always have the best time. Casey and Daphne, we love you and can't wait for the next time we are together, except of course, if "black Betty" arrives. Or, stories with TMI.... Then, Daphne and Cooper can stay. ;)

A few fun things we did together while our company was in town...
The boys decided a morning rock concert was in order! 
The cutest little Longoria fans you've ever seen, right? 
We went to the Rays game and had a great time. The Hancock Club was good to us and the little old ladies sitting behind us, were smitten with our little boys. The camera man must have loved them too, because we were featured on the jumbo tron during the game!

The next day we went to The Florida Aquarium. It was a rainy day, but we didn't let that stop us from having a great time.
So many laughs and memories were made, the best company to have, just good ole' fashion, fun. We love you guys and we're so grateful for your friendship.

DIY-ing!

I have been on a DIY kick lately...A few small projects here and there, but my big project was to make an ottoman for our living room. This was certainly a pinterest inspired project. I fell in love with an ottoman that was WAY to expensive and decided to take matters in to my own hands, literally! It took me a couple days to finish, I utilized nap times and after bed for my little guy, so I was able to work on my ottoman with out toddler interruption!

 Here was the tutorial I used from Tulip and Turnip Blog, I found on pinterest.

http://tulipandturnip.blogspot.com/2011/08/diy-upholstered-ottomancoffee-table.html

Here is the semi-finished product.
First, I needed to find a cheap coffee table. I scoured Craig's list, but found this one at Salvation Army Store for $25. My budget for the project, was $50. I spent a total of $65, so I came close. 

Next, I painted the legs and shelf below to match the rest of our furniture. I used a dark brown spray-paint. After painting, I measured out the foam size to cover the top and sides of the coffee table. I attached them with my glue gun. Then, I added a layer of batting, just to make the table a little cushier.
 
Now, the fun part. I used a staple gun to upholster the fabric to the table. I chose a velvety gray fabric to keep it neutral in our living room. This was the hardest step. I think I must have gone through 50 staples!! I didn't take any pictures with this step, the staple gun wore me out!

Well, it's finally done...for now anyway. I plan to add tuffed buttons to it or a trim on the bottom, but for now, this will do! :) I'll try to post an updated picture soon!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more!

Olympic Fever

As many of you, may already know... I have Olympic fever! I have really enjoyed watching the Olympic games this year. I've stayed up way too late watching events and I've been obsessed with all things Olympic themed on Pintrest. In the near future, I'll share the "Vacation Olympics" that I put together for all the kids on vacation with us in the Keys. Complete with events, medals and even an opening ceremony....Stay tuned!!

And for the decorating event.... Here are some contenders for gold! These are just some simple and cute ways I updated our mantle in honor of the Olympics and Team USA.

Our patriotic decor reached to the kitchen too. For the pennants, which you know I adore, I'm am always re-using Jack's birthday pennants. I folded and pinned back the colors I didn't want to show with the pennants and added plastic medals to the candles. Use what you have! Most of these things are decorations for the 4th of July, so go on...get creative!

These are simple little details, but that's what I love! Hope you enjoy reading and Go TEAM USA!