Labor Day Weekend Getaway

This year for Labor Day, dad and I decided to take a trip down to Florida to see Grandma and Grandpa.  They moved from Georgia to The Villages, FL at the end of last year and we haven't been able to make a trip yet to see their new house so the long weekend gave us the perfect opportunity.

While we were there, we decided to venture out one day to Homosassa Springs to see some manatees.  This was the first time seeing manatees in person and it was so neat!  Dad and I were at this state park for over 2 hours and definitely got to see more wildlife than we expected.

We took a 20 minute boat ride out to the Springs and got to see a baby alligator on the way.

Once we made it to the Springs, we saw lots of other wildlife and fish.

 

Here are some pictures of their house.

They have a really nice outside space.  They also have a pomegranate tree!

Love how everything is so open!

We had a great trip down there for Labor Day weekend!

Fall FREE Printable

Fall is here y'all and I am super excited!!  When it comes to this time of year, I am super anxious to start pulling out the decorations.  Since only living in the house for 4 years now (wow, where did the time go), there was very few decorations and I have slowly added each year.  Mostly DIY, but I wouldn't have it any other way.  When you are on a tight budget, DIY decor is the way to go!!  Plus it's super fun!!

So of course, Pinterest is covered in all sorts of fall stuff from clothes, to decor, to food and then I came across this...

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How cute is this?  Plus it's FREE!!

You can print it out either in 8 x 10 or 10 x 13.  I will definitely be doing this tonight and putting it an 8 x 10 frame to add to my decor this year!

Over the years, I have picked up frames from thrift stores or Goodwill just to have on hand because frames can get expensive.  And we always have some spray paint lying around so this will be one inexpensive decoration I can add this year to my collection!

Just in Time

So I posted on Hope's baby shower just in time!

Baby Emmalyn Ana Epps was born on September 23, 2013, 5 lbs, 17 3/4 inches at 7:47 PM!

First ones to arrive and patiently awaiting her arrival!  Landon definitely kept us occupied! 

Showering Baby Emmalyn

On August 25th, family hosted a baby shower for Hope to prepare her for the arrival of baby Emmalyn.  Yes, Emmalyn from Army Wives for all you Army Wives fanatics!  I have been slacking on blog posts lately and thought I better get this done before the baby actually arrives.  The due date is scheduled for October 24th, but her belly is growing fast and now her ankles are slowly disappearing!  Anybody that knows Hope, knows how small she is to begin with so Wayland, her husband, is actually get a kick out this seeing her get so big.

The shower was great - lots of yummy food, family, friends and of course, lots of gifts!

I took a ton of photos, but I'll just share a few.  

Owl Diaper Cake

I Love Duck Dynasty Burp Cloth!

Nanny, Tabatha & Hope

Hope's Mom's Side of the Family

Beautiful Quilt Hand Made

We had a great time.  Now it's just waiting time!!

Stair Makeover Update

It's Friday!! Thank goodness!! So many things have been going on lately, good and not so good, but it's life and things happen for a reason so you just got to keep on going.

I have a few blog posts coming up - Hope's baby shower and a Labor Day weekend trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house in Florida, but I just have to find some time to get to it.

For now, I thought I would share that we have finally picked out a color for our stair makeover!!

I had a pine stair tread that I bought thinking we were going to stain them and then I had another vision.  I bought 2 paint samples from Home Depot and went home and painted the tread half and half.

Warning - bad iPhone photos ahead!!

After searching the blog world and Pinterest, we found a cheaper solution so dad thought it would be a good idea to paint that kind of tread to make sure the paint went on smooth and blah, blah, blah.  Of course, we took his advice.  This time when I went to Lowe's to buy the tread, I had them cut it to length so we could walk past it a few days to make sure this was the look we were going for.

We really like this look and Cody walks by everyday talking about how good it's going to look so that makes me even more excited.

Now it's time for me to order the supplies!! I swear this project will get done before this year is over!!  

My First Before and After

This past Sunday was Hope's baby shower and of course, in true Jessica fashion, my thinking cap went on.  I love being creative and practical at the same time, all within a budget.  At that time, it was hot and heavy yard sale season so I was on the prowl for ideas.  What is something that they will need, nobody else will get and something that I can use my creativity? 

And then I found this?

I know, you're jealous right?

Immediately, I text Hope to see if they wanted one.  I wanted her to know what my plan was so they didn't register for one or buy one themselves.

I must admit, mom definitely did a lot more of the hard work on this makeover than I did.  She did the upholstery work, as well as the monogrammed E.

Sanding, 2 coats of primer and 4 cans of ivory spray paint, here is the final product!

I am so excited about this makeover and how it turned out.  It was the perfect chair for her to use during the shower & now in the nursery.

I am sure many sleepless nights will be spent in this glider rocking baby Emmalyn to sleep.

Step 1 - Stair Makeover

So this post has been a long time coming and I am finally to that motivated stage that I am ready to get this damn project over with!!  I know when it is all said and done, it is going to look great, but just getting there has seemed to be the issue.

So of course, after my inspiration photos / blogs here, I couldn't wait to get started on our stair makeover.

And it began!!  I got out a razor blade, a pair of needle nose pliers & a flat head screwdriver.  I took the razor blade and made a cut into the carpet so I could start ripping it up.  Oh yeah and I did this one night while Cody was gone, but he came home & caught me in action.  Luckily for me, it was perfect timing!  I had pulled with all might and about tumbled down the stairs, but he walked in just in time to help me catch my balance!

Let me tell you that ripping up the carpet was a hard task, but I was not about the let the carpet win!  I pulled and pulled and pulled until all the carpet was up.  By the time I was finished, I had scratches up & down my arms from the staples that were still in the carpet.  I should have had long sleeves and gloves on my list.  You live and you learn!  

Next came time to pull out all of staples.  If there wasn't a gazillion, then I don't know how many there were.  I didn't think I was ever going to get done.  I did do this process over several days since this was not an easy task either.  I tried my hardest to pull most of the staples out when pulling up the carpet, but there were still a lot left.  And, of course, they used the toughest and longest damn staples.

Here are some pictures of our progress!    

Oh yeah, and this may look all pretty, but white carpet on stairs is a definite no! I was fed up with steam cleaning them all the time!

 No more carpet!

**I went to Home Depot and got 2 paint samples so we are moving this process right along.  Next we will decide which color to go with and start purchasing our materials!