Decor Fun

I've been having some fun redecorating my main floor.  I changed up our color scheme since we painted in December and went from apple green on the walls to a neutral cream which i love because i can change up accessories and have more flexibility with my decor.  I also tiled the backsplash (!!) as you can see in these two photos- but i'll do a post on the backsplash later.  Matt and i made this chalkboard ipad stand for the kitchen- it's a project off of Shanty to Chic's blog, it was SO easy and i love it! Most of the time i use my laptop to look at recipes and cook from but i think using the ipad will be safer (i'm always worried about getting my laptop wet) and now i have a cute stand to put it on! i decided to paint it coral and distress it with some glaze because i'm trying to add in pops of coral throughout the room.

 Here are my wall shelves that i've been redecorating also, there are a constant work in progress but i just finished that coral frame when i painted the ipad stand and the milk jug canisters came from target.

I also made this chalkboard for my entryway.  I'm hoping to put up new quotes every so often :) Both this frame and the above coral one i painted came from poppyseed projects, however these types of frames are turning up everywhere now- i spotted some at hobby lobby and micheal's

I love spring weather when its time to plant and make the front porch cute again.  I opted for a red theme with the flowers as well as the door decor.  I got that M on THIS site and the cute chevron burlap ribbon came from hobby lobby.

Antiques & Crepes

First Fridays in Kansas City are fun and most people know about all of the happenings down in the crossroads district- all the galleries are open and there are usually food trucks and what not, before we had kids we would go alot more frequently. Well on Friday some friends and i checked out the west bottoms antique shopping- we went for good juju and were pleasantly surprised to find several other unique antique boutiques open. If the weather hadn't been so disgusting it would have been a really fun area to walk around and see a few other shops that we didn't get to.  btw why did it snow in May? I don't know but this weather is stupid.  We also went to Chez Elle and got crepes for dessert, they were so good! :)  Here are some fun pics of what you will find down in KC's west bottoms vintage shopping district. 

One of the reasons we got together was because our good friend Kim came in town, she moved 2 years ago and we miss her so much! It was so fun to have a girls night, i think we all needed it :)

fancy hot chocolate! (because we needed hot chocolate in May?!!)

All the crepes were delicious and i hear the Lobster Bisque is award winning.  Chez Elle is def worth a visit!

Lessons in Parenting

It's no secret that two-year olds have their fair share of difficulties.  The terrible twos should be called the testing two's because that's really what they are doing- testing boundaries and testing your patience.  My sister-in-law is supermom- literally, she has 6 kids, 3 of which are triplet boys(!)- and she was so nice and sent me a library of books when i got pregnant with Max.  Well i'm here to tell you that one of them has basically changed my life. I have read and re-read Love and Logic Magic for Early Childhood, and i have been employing its power for a few months now, but more consistently in the last month, and the other day at the park i had a huge pay-off that i want to share.  

First off as i was reading this book i was almost laughing at some of the scenarios- for instance there is this one story where a family is having friends over for dinner and her 2 year old son is being rambunctious and testing limits and trying to climb up the stairs or something, she then says "Uh-Oh" ___insert child's name___ that's so sad we don't do that and then places her child at her feet where he plays happily until the dinner is over, no fight, no argument or tantrum.  Laughable right?! How does your 2 year old take it when he's told No? Because mine launches an all out Level 5 tantrum and screams to the top of his lungs.  Seriously his scream sounds like he's being burned in hot oil, it's not pretty.  However i kept reading and decided to give this "Uh-Oh" method a try.  Basically Love and Logic says to show empathy and not anger and then show quick and firm consequences without warnings.  At first i was not sure how i felt about the no warnings but the book explains that in the real world there are no warnings and it is a disservice to kids who receive multiple warnings before any consequences, for instance it states that a teenager who was always given lots of warnings might think that they could have sex at least 3 times before getting pregnant.  Yes it seems like a leap to go from not sharing your toys with your sister to being pregnant, but the more i read about parenting it seems like all the experts say the first couple years of life are crucial signs for how a child will behave for the rest of adolescence.  Anyhow- back to my two year old.  So every time Max has been doing something unacceptable- throwing something in rage, screaming outbursts at being told no, taking toys from his sister, etc. we say immediately "Uh-Oh, That's so sad, Max is screaming so he needs to take a time out" and then we take him to our time out room, which is our downstairs half bath and put him in it.  He then proceeds to kick and scream and i say lovingly through the door "When you are ready to be nice you can come out"  When he quiets down i open the door, kneel down, ask him if he's ready to be nice and give him a hug and say i love you.  Well lately it seems like half our day is spent in time-out, and it has been clear that he has been understanding that when i say "Uh-Oh" he knows whats about to happen so he runs the other direction.  However i got to see true love and logic magic at the park on Monday.  

We were at a park that had larger play structures and this one had one of those dome monkey bar things that is made of metal bars- i looked over and Max was half-way up it! I rushed over to get him down and of course he was not happy about being pulled off. As i held him to the ground i told him that he wasn't to climb on that, that if he did it again we would have to go home and suggested that he go down the slide again.  A very frustrated Max said "Noooo climb up it, climb up it!" and as he started to climb up it again i said "Uh-Oh, that's so" and it was like magic he jumped down interrupted me and said "Max go on slide" and ran off to the slide without any other attempt to climb on the dome the rest of the time we were at the park.  I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty awesome, and i felt like super parent for a little while. You know your a mom when such a small thing is the highlight of your week :) So if you need some help parenting a small child i highly recommend this book.

A second book that i just finished today actually and highly recommend for anyone raising, teaching or concerned about boys is Raising Cain.  It sheds so much light on how to raise an emotionally stable boy and shows some of the problems that we face through culture and society and how to overcome them.  I feel like shouting from the rooftops that everyone should read this book!

What are your favorite parenting books? Please share in the comments!

Family Photos

 A few weeks ago when we were on our spring vacation we got to take 2 different sets of family photos.  This shoot is with my mom and step-dad and brother.  i really love the way they turned out.  I chose the color scheme :) and who doesn't love a good navy/red/white combo?! A friend of mine from high school who is now a photographer took them and did a fabulous job.  If you are in the Nashville area and need a photographer please look up Shauna Lynn Photography, you can go to her website HERE.

Ethnic food for us!

We really like to try new restaurants, and if they are cool small locally owned joints they get bonus points in our book.  Last week we tried two new places that i thought worthy to share and spread the word about.  I'm also a fan of groupon and both of these places we tried out because we had groupons for them.


1. Saffron Indian   We really like indian food- chicken korma might be one of my all time favorite meals, and add some freshly baked Naan- yum!  So when the Saffrom groupon came up i nabbed it not only because it was an indian restaurant but it's less than a few miles from our house.  We frequent Swagat which is in zona rosa, and its good, but i was willing to give another local indian place a shot.  Well last night when i got home from TOFW i was really not in the mood to cook so i called them to see if i could use my groupon on a to go order and they said yes.  I placed my order and drove over to pick it up after stopping at a red box.  Dinner and a movie at home for us!  Now i'm not gonna like i was actually nervous to eat my order because when i picked it up there was only 2 people dining in at 7:45 on a Saturday night.  only 2 people?!  it's a small restaurant in kind of an awkward location and it is new, so i was thinking that either they are serving some form of food poisoning and i would be up all night puking my guts out or they just were struggling to get their footing as a new place.  Hoping with all that i might that it was the latter i gave a decent tip because in all honestly i felt really bad they didn't have more patrons and went home to eat.  Well i am very very happy to report that their food is SO good.  Matt and i both felt that it was as good if not better than swagat and we would happily eat there again.  The inside of the restaurant definitely leaves a lot to be desired, but the prices are less than swagat and lets be honest, they need your business, so give um a try!  We ordered Chicken Korma & Chicken Tikka Masala and an order of Naan, loved it all.

2. Nica's 320.  I have to say i probably never would have gone here without the groupon, when you look at the menu it looks like a creole/cajun style restaurant, which it is in a sense, and that's one cuisine that i'm not too fond of- i don't love spicy food.  However i was pleasantly surprised.  Nica's is in the cross-roads right across the street from LuLu's noodles, and it's more of an "international" menu than just creole or cajun- there are mexican, thai and caribbean influences in the very creative menu.  We started with the 'I am Smokey' Tamale which came with a thai flavored slaw and cinnamon black beans- it was a good start and then our entree's came- Matt ordered the 'Dr.John' risotto, which in our opinion really should be called a jambalaya not a risotto, but either way it was good. I ordered the BBQ sesame salmon salad which was delicious.  Whenever we have a groupon we tend to spend just as much money as if we didn't have the groupon because we order apps and dessert, which is exactly why lost of money-savers dont fool with groupons, alas i am not the best saver. Anyhow we ordered dessert and i am SOOOO glad we did.  Seriously i think we might just go back for dessert- we got the bourbon bread pudding and it was ahhhhhh-mazing.  I didn't snap a photo, but just take my word for it, you need to go try it.  they also had beignets which i would love to try as well, with an order of the bread pudding of course :)  

my salmon salad

 Matt's 'Dr.John' Risotto