My Book: DIY Chalkboard Crafts and a Giveaway!

I am excited to finally be able to share my book DIY Chalkboard Crafts with you today!  It was such a fun book to write and photograph.  In honor of the book's release, I am hosting a giveaway!  I will choose three lucky winners at random who will receive one copy of the book.  (This contest is open to residents of the United States only.  One entry per person).  To enter, simply leave a comment below. In your comment, let me know if you have ever used chalkboard paint before and if so, how you used it.  I will email the winners of the contest after it ends.  If any winner fails to respond within 24 hours, I will choose a new winner at random.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you or someone you know is interested in chalkboard crafts, you can order this book at Barnes and Noble or at Amazon.

Good luck!

Our Livia Eveline

We are thrilled to introduce you to Livia Eveline, who joined our family two weeks ago.

7 pounds 12 ounces

20 inches

We are over the moon in love with our sweet little Livvy and are thankful to God for her!

Coming soon?  Her nursery reveal!

An Update of Sorts

Hello, hello!

It has been awhile since I've written here and I've missed it!  It seems that things have finally settled down around our home, only to pick up again once our baby girl arrives.  She could come any day now and we are all anxious and excited to meet her.  Her room is almost finished and I am looking forward to sharing it with you.

How was your summer?  Ours was busy in the best possible way!  We crammed in as many family adventures as we could all while working on a pretty big project.  You see, I was asked back in February to write a book about chalkboard crafts and projects.  I'll share the final details of the book as soon as I can, although if you are feeling particularly snoopy, you can look it up here.  ;)  There are a few final details to work out, including the actual book cover, before it comes out in December. I'm pretty happy with the book so far and am even happier to be almost done with it!

I'll be back again soon to share the baby room with you, hopefully before she arrives!  Until then, I'll leave you with the pictures of one of our last summer adventures, because no post should ever be without pictures. 

Just a side note, if you are ever in Milwaukee, be sure to visit Purple Door Ice Cream.  It is divine.

Good News!

Our hearts have been full and thankful lately for a couple of reasons  Here's why:

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About 2 1/2 weeks ago this happened:

Now, let me begin by saying this. Young House Love is the first blog I ever read. Years ago I somehow found John and Sherry's blog and I haven't stopped following along with their house projects ever since. I was introduced to a whole new world of DIY blogs where people with normal lives and budgets actually like to fix up their house and do projects and take pictures of the process, just like Jason and me. Their blog is and probably always will be one of my favorite reads, so to have Sherry pin one of our projects on Pinterest left us feeling pretty honored! And apparently sweaty.

Then, a couple of days later, this happened, which left us sweaty and honored again! So now here we are, still pretty excited about what happened to this little blog.

Thanks so much for making us two of the happiest DIYers in town, John and Sherry. We'll never forget it!

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Way back in February I got an email asking me if I wanted a part in a pretty big project. While I can't go into much detail yet, I will tell you that this project is a huge reason why I haven't been writing much here lately. Any free time that I have (Jason, too) is consumed by it. I had my first big deadline Monday, which was exciting and terrifying at the same time. Hopefully the majority of this project will be wrapped up by mid-June and we can get back to normal around here, but we shall see.

To those of you who have commented or sent an email in the past month or two, I will try my hardest to get back to you soon. I'm sorry for the delay!

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Finally, the news that I am most excited to tell you about is that our family is growing! We are having a baby! I am fifteen weeks along and despite feeling pretty nauseous and tired in the beginning, I am feeling great now. We should find out in about five weeks if it is a boy or a girl. All three boys are pretty convinced it is a girl, but I will be happy with either. We are just thankful to God for another blessing and pray he or she is healthy!

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That's the scoop around here lately! Life is good and we're pretty blessed. We can't ask for more than that.

Celebrating Four Years of Oliver Levi!

Our Oliver was born the day after Easter four years ago, a sweet little surprise. I had been experiencing pretty strong contractions that Good Friday throughout the day, four days before he would be born. I remember being so uncomfortable sitting in church, silently trying to time my contractions in my head. That Saturday they subsided some, but I still was pretty uncomfortable.  Since I was still over a month away from my due date, I chalked it up to pretty strong Braxton Hicks contractions and we went to my parents to celebrate Easter.

The next day and a half were still uncomfortable, so Jason and I decided we would call the doctor the next day if nothing more happened that night. On our hour long drive home, I called my doctor who told us to come in right away so that he could check things out, reassuring us that everything sounded fine. I will never forget the look on his face as he examined me and said, "You're seven centimeters dilated already." He hooked me up to some machines there and monitored my contractions. After awhile, he told us not to panic, but to head home to pack and get to the hospital quickly.

We called my parents so that they could come and get Henry, went home to pack, and then left for the hospital. We had to take Henry with us while my parents drove the hour long drive to get him. After he was picked up, I cried so hard because I had never been away from him for more than a couple of hours. I felt a little cheated that I didn't even get to spend that last month of pregnancy with just him.

After he left, a medical student broke my water and things happened quickly. I didn't get an epidural because the thought of a needle in my spine scared me more than the thought of painful contractions. I was ready to push after about an hour at the hospital and Ollie was born shortly after. Since he was a month early, he was taken for a couple of hours to be monitored because of a little fluid in his lungs.  He was 7 lb. 2 oz. and 21 in. long. Had I gone another month, he would have been quite the chunker!

A couple of notes:  There are a lot of pictures in this post.  Also, the pictures in the beginning were taken with our horrid, old camera.

Happy birthday, Ollie! You are our funny, sweet, stubborn, loving little boy and we are thankful to God every day for you!