Emily turns 2!

I can't believe this little blondie is turning 2 today! She is such a fiesty little cutie pie! She has gotten quite a wild and demanding little personality lately. She's sweet and cuddly sometimes and loud and energetic the rest of the time. Her scream (both happy and mad) can deafen you from across the room. But when she is not screaming at you, she talking, talking, talking your ear off. Some commonly heard Emily phrases are "where are you?!" and "what you doing Mommy?" and "shush! be quiet!" and "I do it" or "Emily do it." She is very into doing everything herself now, including anything that has a buckle or snap or clip of some sort. She has to walk everywhere now, which means her and I are a slow team in public these days. She loves playing outside and riding her "bike," a tricycle. She occasionally picks up a doll but prefers brother's toy cars and trains. She loves her some Elmo and any sort of music.
Her she is dancing to Nicki Minaj's Idol performance. I am going to write to Nicki, Lady Gaga, and Justin Bieber to request they each make a childrens music album since my kids love their age-inappropriate music. I don't even listen to any of their music but my kids are obsessed! Not sure how that happened!

Happy Birthday to our sweet little Emily!

Brian's New Old School Desk

{the before}

Well, I'm up to no good again with another old school desk makeover. I'm seeing a trend here. The last thing I have time for is refinishing more furniture. But, sometimes you are at an antique store and see a grimy old desk that is covered with rust (no chewing gum though!) and you check the price tag and it is such a steal, that they are practically giving it away! And then you run into a good friend, who confirms your idea that this would make an awesome little desk for Brian. (It helps to have company when you are crazy.) Then you walk a few booths down and see an adorable old school chair that would fit perfectly with the old school desk and it is a steal too!! Does this ever happen to you?! No? Okay, well it happened to me last week. And after a few squirts of lime-away, some scrubbing, sanding and some red spray paint, Brian now has a cute new school desk that he never dreamed of having! (Sometimes your Mommy knows what you need even when you don't and this boy needed a red school desk and chair!)
{the after, isn't it adorable!?}

{a little cubby to stash away stuff!}

{I couldn't just leave it red, have to give it a little distressing!}

{We are starting to work on telling time on a clock so I bought him this cute little Pottery Barn Kids airplane clock}

He really does like his new desk and he and Emily have already had quite a few "mine, mine, mine" screaming matches over the chair!