Cottage Bound!

Ah, the title says it all folks, Coral and I are livin the cottage life this weekend. This afternoon, my great friend Brittany is coming to pick me up, and we are road tripping it with the babies to her in-laws cottage. Who's Brittany? Im glad you asked because this is a friend of mine who deserves to be introduced to you all. Allow me to brag for a moment.

Well, as I mentioned before, Andrew and I moved to BC after we got married. When we found out we were pregnant with Coral we decided to move home so our children can grow up surrounded by family. We didn't take this move lightly. We have incredible friends in BC and we knew leaving them would be very hard. It was a sacrifice we were willing to make, but it was a sacrifice non the less. Our friends out there had become like family to us. Do you know how hard it is to find friends who are all in the same life stage as you (married, having babies) and where the husbands and wives are all best friends (meaning the husbands are bffs and the wives are bffs)? Let me tell you, its a rare thing, but we have so many friendships like that in BC. So, needless to say, leaving was hard. I was nervous about moving to a city where I hardly knew anyone. I was nervous that it would be hard to make friends, and that I would feel lonely. Then, Brittany Holt enters my life.

Britt reached out to me almost immediately after we moved. She told me about care groups that were going on in our church and asked if we wanted to be apart of the one she and her husband hosted at their house. She then asked if we wanted to go out for some coffee sometime (decaf of course since we were both pregnant). Talk about making me feel welcome! The first night at care group she asked if a group of girls wanted to come to her house every monday night to watch the bachelor. Yup, a true friendship started over watching the bachelor. I will forever love that show because of it. We spent those monday nights telling horrifying stories about giving birth and talking about our fears (haha none of the other girls that came were pregnant...I think Britt and I might have scared them from ever giving birth...sorry ladies).

Britt put together a baby shower for me here. She waited for the text that I had had my baby, and went shopping for the gender appropriate clothes. When she saw how tiny Coral really was, she went out that day and somehow found clothes that would fit her. She made several meals for us, and came over during the day to hold my colic baby so I wouldn't go insane.

Britt is the person who made this city feel like my home. Over the last couple years we have developed such a great friendship. We have play dates every week (I think Coral has a crush on Kiptyn). During the winter I don't have a car during the day, so Britt always makes the treck out to my house. We have the kind of friendship where we can talk about anything. She teaches me so much about life, babies, marriage, family, God. Umm shes also the friend that I text when I do another one of my crazy projects and it makes me so happy that she is also so eager to see what I have done.

So thats my friend Brittany. If you haven't met her, you should. And now I get the pleasure of spending a few days with her and her baby boy on the beach. Coral is going to love it. I am going to love it. And Andrew? Well he's away on a business trip this weekend.

So Im saying goodbye for a few days. Think of us as we drive with two babies in the car (don't worry I packed lots of snacks). I leave you with a precious moment between Kaya and Coral.

Kaya got in trouble for barking, and was put in her kennel. Coral felt bad for her, so she decided to share her nons (crayons) with her. Big deal for Coral because she wont share her crayons with just anyone. What a sweetie. See ya'll later!

Headboard Makeover

Hey ya'll! Remember in yesterdays post when I mentioned that I painted our master bedroom this past weekend? Well, here are some pictures of the room completed.

Yes I still need to scrape that paint off the glass of my dresser.

I wish I had taken a before picture for you but I didn't think of it. The best I can do to give you a glimpse of what it was before is this picture:

It was a very dark grey (from the previous owners). The color drove me nuts. I felt like I was falling asleep in a cave. I hadn't realized just how dark it was though until I held up a color chip to it. The color was one shade lighter then black. The color now is called "A touch of grey" and is very light with almost a hint of blue in it. I am very happy with the results.

Now, notice the yellow headboard in the first picture? This was our bed before:

It was plain and simple, but I wanted something that would POP. I wanted to add a little color to the room as well. So, promising Andrew that I would only decorate with what I already had in the house, I found a yellow curtain that I wasn't using, and I happened to have two other yellow curtains in the same color. That light bulb in my head turned on and I had plans for my new headboard and matching wall to wall curtains.

It was much easier then what I had thought it would be. The length and width of the curtain fit perfectly, so there was no cutting that needed to be done. I took a thin white blanket that I had and stapled it onto the headboard first to add a little extra padding. Then I simply stapled the curtain over top of the blanket. I only put staples on the back and bottom of the headboard so if I ever get sick of the yellow, I can remove it without it being damaged.

Next I decided to add some decorative flowers to it. The big grey ones I made out of felt. The smaller flowers were cut out of fabric and glued on.

I love how it turned out and it gives the room that little punch of color that it needed.

So thats our bedroom so far. It still needs some funky pillows for the bed, end tables, maybe a funky light, and a area rug.  What do you think? Do you like the color I chose? Do you like what I did with the headboard?

Home Sweet Home

Wow....The Hodgsons have been busy (have you noticed the lack of posts? To much to do, so little time to do it). But let me tell you what we have been up to. First of all, I cant explain to you how weird it was being at home on Friday without Coral. Yes Coral has been babysat before, but all our babysitters live at least 20 minutes from us, which means she really only gets babysat when Im going out somewhere and is being dropped off, not when Im just randomly home by myself all day. Also, yes we recently went to BC, and Coral didn't come with us, but it felt so different this time. It was just weird being in our house without her. It constantly felt like something was missing. It almost felt like she was just having one big nap. I found myself cringing like I normally do when I heard our neighbors loud truck start, or when Kaya would bark. I also found myself working hard, nonstop, as that "must get as much done while Coral is sleeping" feeling was still there.
That being said, I did enjoy my little break from being a mommy. It was nice to be able to wake up and have some breakfast without worrying about a poopy diaper or a hungry baby. I tried to rest and relax, I really did, but for those of you who know me well, knows that this momma has a hard time sitting still when I have projects on my brain. I started my morning off by painting our master bedroom. Our bedroom is big, and it took what seemed like forever, but I honestly didn't mind. I had my music turned up loud and was enjoying myself. The rest of the day was spent attacking that never ending to-do list of mine and then going to a wedding. Andrew and I had a great time at the wedding. It was nice not having to worry about the clock and knowing that we could stay up late and sleep in the next day.

Andrew and I woke up Saturday morning and we were ready to go see our baby. Ah I wish I had a video to show you what I was greeted by when I got to my parents house. We parked across the street from their house, and as I was walking across the road, I saw children. My nieces Emma and Chloe, nephew Kaden and Coral were all running towards me, screaming with delight with their arms wide open. My heart melted. Coral had acted as if we were never even apart. She gave me a hug and then went right back to playing with her cousins. It was so much fun to watch her try to be apart of all the big kids games. She follows Emma around everywhere she goes. She watches the big kids and tries to mimic them, running when they run, laughing when they laugh. I love seeing her with my parents as well. She just adores both of them. My mom gets right down on the floor with her and plays games, make believe, and reads stories to her. My dad chases her, takes her for walks and sneaks her lots of junk food like ice cream and cookies. They have so much energy for all their grandkids.

Of course we didn't leave Port Rowan empty handed. When Andrew and I drove down to Port Rowan we were shocked at how empty the car looked (no kennel for Kaya, no car seat for Coral)....well it was packed to the brim on the way home. My loot?

Some new toys for Coral. My mom was cleaning out her toy room and Coral took what she wanted.

This big picture frame that is going in my newly painted bedroom . The picture frame is from an art gallery on Grandville Street in Vancouver, 1979.

This picture frame, from the same gallery, PLUS a bunch of more smaller frames. This is going to be used in Corals playroom, turning it into a chalk board for her.

The best loot of all, FREE landscaping for our backyard! 

My parents back yard is like a jungle. It has the most amazing landscaping done to it. So we dug up some trees and perennials for our backyard. Trust me, the last thing I wanted to do last night when we got home was dig up our yard and plant stuff, but Im so glad I did. It looks great so far. Everything we took spreads and grows like crazy, so right now it may look a little bare, but by next year it should start to fill out more. We also took six trees for our back yard. They are tiny right now....they look like we planted sticks in the ground. But they are rosa sharons, which grow really fast.

So, thats all. A newly painted bedroom, landscaped backyard, clean house and a trip to Port Rowan. Now Im exhausted. Time for some coffee.