instafriday ~ christmas edition

look at me doing instafriday!
i guess all this being cooped up inside with eleventy billion snow/ice days is good for something. :)

actually i have been amazed at how much i am getting done around the house lately with it being so crummy outside.

i have soooo many instagram pics, i just decided to go with the ones from Christmas.....in collage form.
because there are a lot. you're welcome. :)

okay, i guess these were right before christmas.

left to right, top to bottom:

1. a little mama carmen's coffee date with my big boys. making the most of our 3rd snow day in december..... which was a lot considering they only attend school twice a week.
2.  hot date with my main squeeze for our 13th anniversary.
3. having a big time with my saw buddy at potter's house christmas party.
4. christmas gifts for the wonderful teachers in our life. i had so much fun making these!
5. gorgeous anniversary flowers from pigmint...the best flowers. good job, baby. A+++
6. christmas parties for dayyyzzzzz.
7. my mom treated me to go see The Nutcracker by the russian ballet. amazzing. and male dancers have suuuper tight pants. just have to say it. i know i should be more mature about that, but seriously.
i did love it though, so festive and fun and we got to dress up. :)
8. family movie/picnic night watching the grinch. i love our cozy family nights.
9. same night...cozied up with my man in our super hawt sweatshirts.

1.  sweet smile...on our way to our first christmas get together. this 45 minute car drive felt like such a sigh of relief.  after an insane month, it felt so good to finally have the celebrations of christmas starting.  i felt like i had made it. 
2.  my little sister got ruby a crown. it was a hit. :) good job, hannah!
3. i have always loved this sweet vintage light up tree of my step mom's. such a sweet christmas memory.
4. my dad and step mom had the house looking so festive and fun for our get together. it was such a sweet night. i love spending time with family.
5. she let the boys drink red punch out of christmas mugs. so special and fun. :)
6. the night before christmas. AJ and i had everything ready to go by eleven. i felt super pumped about that!  it's always so fun to set everything out with him. we're both so excited. :)
7. christmas day was so fun with my sweet little family. they have precious happy hearts and were thrilled with everything.
8. sissy girl slept in so she opened her stocking after everyone else. we all had a bawl watching her open every little thing.
9. AJ and i have always just gotten each other stocking gifts. we usually both stretch the rules on what will actually fit inside a stocking, but this year he totally cheated! i am one blessed girl.

1. the day after christmas we headed out to kansas to AJ's parents. we always love going there. i was honestly so looking forward to the 5 1/2 hour car trip to just have some time to relax. i'm telling you, december was a marathon.
2. we immediately got to work relaxing.....in our matching tube socks. #hot
3. & 4.  the boys had a blast going on several four wheeler rides in the snow as well as getting to go snow-tubing!
5. we played so. many. dominoes. this was my favorite thing. playing games with grownups. eating yummy desserts and laughing and talking. our kids are all finally old enough to stay pretty entertained so we actually had more adult time than we've had in a few years. it was so nice.
6. ruby. because, ruby. :)
7. love birds. it took 5 shots to get this one of us looking semi-normal.
8. pam's made-from-scratch cherry pie. oh my word. it is amazzzzing.  with a hot cup of coffee. yes, please. i was living a dream and i didn't want it to end.
9. pam is so great about getting the kids involved with baking. the little ones were helping her make pizza. they love it and she is so patient with them.


and lastly i want to leave you with a little video of what we heard every single time we drove at night for all of the holiday season.
lucky for you, you can turn your volume down. ;)

"look mommy, lights! boys!"




happy weekend, y'all!

p.s. i'm itsgoodtobequeen if you want to find me on insta. :)





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diy play kitchen

i've known for quite a while that i wanted to diy a little play kitchen for ruby for christmas.
i had pinned some ideas on pinterest.
i had thought i would build something out of an old cabinet.
eventually i realized i needed to just re-do an existing play kitchen for time's sake.
i scoured craig's list and thrift shops for months until i finally found one from a neighbor for $40.
it is small and just perfect for her.  yay!

so this is what it started out looking like:

it was the perfect size and shape.
perfectly ready for me to sand and paint and update!
it sat in our attic for a few months until....you know...the weekend before christmas.
of course.
it needed a good amount of sanding and then i painted it with 2 coats of valspar paint {tropical spray, i think} that i had left over from her dresser.

most of these photos are from my iphone....sorry about the quality.

i used a silver drawer pull that we had on hand for the "towel rack."
i whipped up a little towel with some terry cloth material i had and some fun floral fabric.
and then added her name, because the cutsier the better, right?

all of the "oven knobs" are knobs from hobby lobby.
oh my gravy. have you looked through their knobs?
they are amazing.
they're often half off which is a far cry from their very similar looking counterparts at anthro.
i mean. she just needed crystal oven knobs, right??

the sink knobs are also from hob lob...i have a giant crush on mercury glass.

the "back splash" is scrapbook paper {also hobby lobby} that I just mod podged on.
i painted the burners silver with some silver paint that we had from painting ornaments. :)

seriously, we used so much that we already had.
i spray painted this hook that i found in my box o' odds and ends.
i made her the little pot holders when i was making her towel.
i love them...so little and cute and seriously probably took 10 minutes to make.

my mom got her the cutie pie red, wooden pots & some play food for kitchen.
she plays with them all constantly. :)

before and after!

christmas day!

it was so fun surprising her with this.

i'm not sure who was more excited, ruby or aj and i....or the boys. 

we were all so pumped to see her open it. :)

she did not disappoint. 

she loved it and got right to work playing with it. :)

this was such a fun and rewarding project.
i love it when what is in my head actually turns out. :)

what about y'all? diy anything fun lately?



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christmasfied

our home is looking cozy and christmasy.

this is our first christmas in this house and it was so fun to decorate. 

i love pulling out all of our boxes and spreading christmas cheer throughout the house. :) 

the kids love to help decorate the tree with us.
we have a tradition of putting on a christmas movie and decorating the tree together.
i usually get a little stressed out at some point but try to hold it together. ;)

i love our family tree.
we put tons of vintage tinsel and all of our ornaments on that one tree.
i love my fancy, girly ornaments right next to a homemade kid one. :)

we decorated the weekend after thanksgiving and i spent the better part of the weekend adding stuff all around the house.
it's not perfect for sure, but it's happy and christmasy and makes our home feel so cozy. :)

avery made this lego nativity to set out. :) 

love his creativity. 

we have loved doing the jesse tree this year....i found the free printable ornaments and jesse tree study guide for free on ann voskamp's blog.

bottle brush trees are so sweet, right?
plus vintage fake snow and little vintage silver deer...such a sweet little vignette.

i may be slightly obsessssed with my antique ornament tree.
i'm thinking it would be weird to have it up all year long.....

antique ornaments are one of the only things that i collect and i loooovvveee them.
vintage tinsel....vintage ornaments....all stuffed into a milk glass vase.

christmas cards displayed on the piano.
ignore that chandelier hanging in the way....seriously we need to raise that sucker up.
we've only lived here since march.

that's when avery and finley were four and two....and avery kept pinching finley's nipples while i was trying to create a christmas card photo shoot.
ha. it was so frustrating at the time. makes me laugh now.

vintage christmas apron.
red plaid mug i picked up at the thrift for 99 cent.
i'm so trendy with my plaid.

we did a little easy christmas crafting on our bazillion snow days last week.

more vintage of course.

dining room....i love decorating these shelves.

the shelves are just barn wood that AJ attached to the wall with heavy duty brackets.
they are one of my favorite things in our house.

the little tree is just one that i had on hand.
i spray painted it silver this year to give it a midcentury feel.

advent calendar...the kids open a window each morning and read the verse.
simple and sweet.

even the bathroom shelf got a little christmas love in the form of a big ol' strand of vintage tinsel shoved in there.

avery's room and the stairs to the playroom got some lights as well.
not fancy, but super fun and exciting for the kids.

so that's our bits of christmas cheer!

merry christmas, friends! :)

{linking up to the nester's christmas tour of homes}.

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