Then, onto Vegas!! And Sydney's Room REVEAL!

I haven't even gotten to the Easter post yet. Yeah, I'm that behind...

Anyway, since we were already most of the way to Vegas, we figured we'd head over there after St. George to visit my sister, Michelle's family.


We just love driving, what can I say??




Especially with these crazies. Let's just say, on the way home, we drove in the middle of the night...

Anyway...

It was the ideal vacation for me, because we totally got our "craft" on! So, a while back (OK, last summer), my Mom and I helped Michelle make this cute queen-sized strip quilt for her daughter, Sydney's room. We had lots of visions of what the room would look like to match the quilt, but hadn't done anything yet...until NOW!

So, we planned on painting the room and then putting some flourishes around Sydney's name in block letters (that was already above her bed on the wall...) So we just had to paint over the pink and brown stripes and go from there! Michelle wanted me to paint the flourishes I painted in Claire's room, so that's where we got the idea. And in keeping it simple, we left the wall behind the bed pink, and did the flourishes in white, modpodged her letters with some turquoise paper, and painted the rest of the room a buttercream color. The end!


Workin'! Michelle looks hot even at work! (which is why there is no picture of me here...)

Gavin, hard at work! (He was actually really happy to be sanding-- but Jordan had him make that face :)

Sydney in her "paint clothes..." an old bathing suit, haha!

Here's the wall once the flourishes were done...just a few touch ups more and need to take some screws out...

And here it is completed!! We couldn't be more proud!

SO ADORABLE, right???

So, we also did a couple of other things:

For example, Claire learned out to make the plastic tiger bite her face..."look, no hands!"

And she also enhanced photos with her signature Chucky!

The kids also got their craft on!!

Um, the birdhouse, not the chair, Monkey.

A little better, but a brush would be nice...

(Ps. So you notice how the birdhouse is this weird blue color? Well, apparently that color is the mixed result of every paint available at the table)

They also got their "cry" on:



But not all at once, fortunately :)

I got my "nose gazing," or should I say, "nose coveting" on...

What a lovely new nose you have, Michellie :)

And then we got out Red Rock on!!

Notice how I wore the most idiotic outfit for hiking? What can I say...I was running out of clothes...






















We will be coming back. I mean, look at these cuties:

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree!

Seriously. Where does the time go? It's Christmas time again, and it feels like I was JUST pregnant.

The excitement and simultaneous dread of putting up the Christmas decorations came to the Taylor house this past week... Claire did NOT experience dread, and was very interested in the tree!

This year I got a couple of new ornaments :) Tai Pan, day after Christmas sale, of course! And no, I'm not usually an after-Thanksgiving day shopper, but Claire was already up at the CRACK of dawn and I had nothing better to do. Plus Tai Pan always gives a free item if you get there before 8am, and this year they were red and green peppermint votives, instead of a cheesy snowman candy jar like last year. (I apologize to those who like snowman candy jars...)

AND, I was triumphant in using...wait for it...wait for it.... the POWER DRILL!!! Yes. I used the drill. I used to call it a screw driver, but my husband informed me that the "power tool" kind is called a "power drill." (Yes, now you know where I'm coming from in the tool expertise spectrum.)

Well, I, ALL BY MYSELF put up this little beauty:

I drilled holes in the doorway corners, then screwed in the drywall screws, and zip-tied the garland to the screws. Let's be honest, Jordan told me this is how I should put it up, but when he was telling me this, we had planned for HIM to do it. But, he went to work, and I decided I need to be more self-sufficient! And there I was, drill in hand!!

*some people have marathons under their belts...I have a garland hanging*

FINALLY. Claire's Bedroom is DONE!!

Yeah, it only took til now. She's almost 10 months old. But, better late than never! But FIRST, I did a QUILT! My first one!! I basically picked out the fabric, pieced the strips together, added some cotton lace trim on some of the rows, got the black minky for the back, and then took it to a quilter who added the batting inside and quilted it on her machine. It totally has mistakes, but I think it turned out great, if I do say so myself :)

Up close:

And then this is the back: ( I absolutely LOVE the flower pattern that the quilter did for me!!)

Claire loves it, of course :) (Yeah, her PJ's aren't buttoned up yet...we have power struggles when it comes to getting dressed!)

And then here's her room!!! Remember from a post a million years ago, how I needed her nursery to match this painting?? (click here if you don't remember) (Hence the french toile and the strange baby nursery colors?) Well, now it does!

This is the south wall. I painted her room a cream color, added the red stripe there in the corner, and then freehand painted a flourish up the wall.

Then, on the opposite wall, I painted another stripe kitty corner to the first one, and painted a flourish to match, but this time going down the wall. Jordan recovered this "DI special" glider and painted it (a million years ago...before Claire was born). We then put up the pictures and the fabric flowers.

In the middle of the pictures is a framed mirror in which I etched her name. It turned out fabulous! (Jordan's idea :)

And, struggling to figure out what to put above and below that framed mirror, I finally decided to make some fabric flowers after seeing some at Material Girls. They were really easy, and it helps the quilt and bedskirt all tie together!

Here's another view of that corner of the room. I also did curtains--basically added fabric and trim to some cream colored curtains I got. And you can see the amazingly perfect-for-this-room rug I found!

And of course, all of Claire's hair accessories (or should I say head accessories?? She doesn't have much hair yet :) But it's growing!!) I have to say, I screwed these flower hanger things into the wall myself! *usually Jordan does that kind of stuff :)

And this is on the wall to your right when you come through the door. Cute magnets but don't really have any pictures yet! (just Claire's sonograms!)

Anyway, that's the room!!!! I've been DYING to do this post for SO LONG!! Anyway, humor me with a comment :) What do you think??? Was it worth the wait???