Hanson + Taylor Swift.

One thing that I absolutely love is a good cover song. When I found one of my oldest favorites, Hanson, covering Taylor Swift it immediately brought a big smile to my face. Whether you are a Hanson or Taylor Swift fan or not, a good cover is always fun.

What do you think of this one? What is your favorite cover?

And the winner is....

Thanks to all of you for entering this fun giveaway! I'm so excited that one of you will be getting one of these fun boxes of Skippyjon Jones goodies from Kohl's. 

Here's the winner:

Hooray, Sarah! I hope you and your kids love these books!

Again, thanks so much to my lovely friend Ale for making this giveaway happen!

But Really...

While at Target yesterday afternoon, I found the perfect shirt for Dylan:

For those who don't already know, I'm telling you the truth- this shirt is perfect:

I'm thinking about going back to Target today to pick up this shirt in 4T and 5T- he needs it! Also, don't you think this is a fun perk of having a offbeat middle name? You'll never find a shirt that says "James is my middle name"... especially not pictured with flames and a motorcycle.

PS-You're running out of time! Enter to win a set of Skippyjon Jones Books. I don't care if you're a blog creeper- you deserve to win too! Click here to enter!

Chair Facelift.

When Ben and I first got married, we were given a kitchen table and chairs for free. Free! It was wonderful, as we only had a mattress (on the ground, of course), a tv, and a love sac at the time. The only drawback? The cushions of the chairs were in seriously bad shape. 

Of course that didn't scare me away- that's nothing some new fabric can't fix. Seriously, recovering chair cushions like these is a cinch. All you need is fabric and a stable gun. That's it. 

I wish I had some real before pictures of the chairs- they used to be a light tan color, with a green and tan plaid fabric on the chairs. A few years ago we got sold the table and all but one of the chairs. It was an accident that one stuck around- I thought that we had gotten rid of them all. It really has been once to have that extra chair though- it gets used all the time.

Two year ago I decided to paint the chair a cool aqua color and cover the cushion with a bright, fun lemon printed fabric. It was lovely, but it wore out. I know that I had a picture of this chair, but it has mysteriously disappeared. Anyway, imagine worn out paint with lots of chips and a dirty, ripped cushion. Imagining? Ok.

I decided to give the chair a fresh coat of paint (we had an extra can of spray paint left over) and I found some fun fabric at Hobby Lobby for $4 per yard. 

Looks great, right? This project took only a few minutes of my time and cost a mere $4. My kind of project. 

Also, don't forget to enter the Skippyjon Jones giveaway- it's only open for a few more days!

Hooray for a re-cap!

Dylan and I spent last week in Indiana where we had eight lovely days with family. There's way too much to post if I want to do a proper documentation of the visit, so please accept my photo collages with minimal blurbs... I can either keep it brief and get most things covered, or long and only cover 2% of the visit. I vote brief. 

As always, my visit was wonderful and went too quickly. Hopefully I'll be able to visit again soon!

1. Dylan giving his cousin Evvie the stink eye. Seriously. 

2. Digging for dino bones at the Indianapolis Children's Museum.

3. Holy cow, it's a digger. Dylan was in heaven.

4. It's Indy, so there has to be a race car to sit in.

5. Again in the digger. He was too excited for words.

6. Cousins in their matching pajamas... trying to get picture with smiles.

7. And now for funny faces.

8. Kiddos at the park, before Dylan fell and bit his tongue.

9. Another cute pajamas moment.

1. Family lunch on Sarah's bday. Where's Sarah?

2. Cousins swinging at the park

3. Yogurt at YoYo Mama- how cute is the decor?

4. Dylan on the motorcycle.

5. Dylan and Ashton were so excited to see each other!

6. Dylan on the carousel at the Children's Museum

7. Cake, ice cream, and cute paper products!

8. Screenshot of Ben's excited face- and Brent!

9. Cool artwork at Scotty's restaurant

Don't forget to enter the super awesome Skippyjon Jones giveaway! Comment here to enter!

A New Family Favorite + A Giveaway!

A few weeks ago, I received an email from my dear friend Ale (who happens to work for Kohl's) to see if I was interested in reviewing some of the Skippyjon Jones books, which are featured as part of the Kohl's Cares program. This program is amazing, because 100% of the profits from the featured products go straight to support kids' health and education initiatives in communities nationwide.

Of course I jumped at the chance to review these cute books- in fact, just a few days before hearing from Ale I was at Barnes & Noble and came thisclose to picking up one of the books. I had heard that they were really cute books, and I definitely wanted to read them to Dylan. 

Honestly, I was just expecting to receive one book in the mail, but instead I received this amazing spread:

That's right- 5(!) Skippyjon Jones books, 2 darling stuffed animals, 2 fabulous cook books (Busy Family Recipes and Campbells Best-Loved Recipes), Eat This, Not That for Kids, and the cutest shipping box I have ever seen. Amazing.

I've read the books to Dylan, and he just loves them. They revolve around a big-eared Siamese cat named Skippyjon Jones, who pretends that he is a Chihuahua. The books have the cutest rhymes and with some Spanish and Spanglish mixed in. 

His favorite was Skippyjon Jones and the Big Bones, because he's in a major dinosaur phase right now. The illustrations are adorable as well, and Dylan wanted me to keep reading the parts with the "scary" dinosaurs over and over.

These books would be great for any kids, from preschool through elementary school. Don't have kids? Already have a few of the books? These would also make such a great gift. Really, these books are fabulous and would be a great addition to any child's book shelf.

Here's where this gets really great for all of you:

I'm giving away the assortment of Skippyjon Jones books and the other goodies featured above! Hooray!

Here's all you have to do:

Leave a comment on this post, and tell me your favorite book from childhood.

(I loved The Berenstain Bears)

One entry per person, and the givaway closes at on September 9, with the winner announced on September 10.

Photo dump.

1. Dylan fell in love with the display dog at Old Navy.

2. Playing dead on the big boy bed.

3. Swings at the nearby park.

4. Oscar fighting the cat in the mirror.

5. Fun at Thanksgiving Point's Farm Country. Yes, that's a backwards fireman hat.

6. Fun with the train that grandma sent.

7. Craft time.

8. My freakishly great hair day... had to be documented.

9. Happy boy with his ice cream.

A Sight to See.

Alright friends, this is a fabulous and ridiculous story from March of this year...

See the above picture? It's an enormous painted canvas (5 feet wide, 3 feet tall) that matches my basement colors and style perfectly. My mom and I couldn't believe our luck when we found it at Pier 1. A downside? It had a major rip on the left side. Ummmm, who wants a canvas with a big rip in it?

Well, after looking at things a little more closely, my mom and I realized that the rip wasn't that bad at all- if we taped up the back you would really never know that anything happened in the first place. Bonus- it was super marked down as a result of the rip- originally $150 down to $50. I asked the manager if we could have an additional markdown due to the rip (something that I never do- bargaining/negotiating makes me feel like a jerk), and she let us have an additional 30% off! Enormous, lovely canvas for $35? Done and done.

That's the fabulous part of the story, now we're on to the ridiculous part...

So we're all excited about this awesome canvas. We haul it out to my car and realize that it will not fit in my car or my trunk, no matter what crazy arrangement we tried to make. It wasn't going to work. What did we end up doing? We put the canvas on the roof of my car and held onto it on each side as we drove home. 

We had to drive super slow so it wouldn't go flying off, which a huge group of people outside of Outback Steakhouse time to see what a sight we were...They definitely started pointing and laughing at us. We looked ridiculous, no lie. Luckily, our drive home was very short, so the ghetto transport of our purchase didn't last long. Whew.

After a little duck tape help, the canvas looked good as new and was promptly hung up behind my basement couch. 

The End.

Goodbye to the crib.

Since Dylan is almost three, it seemed time to for him to move out of his crib and into a big boy bed. I have been putting this off for some time for various reasons. First, he's my baby and I want to keep him a baby for as long as possible. Second, I didn't want to buy him new furniture when I knew there was fabulous, quality furniture* available-ish to him.

*The furniture that I'm talking about is the bedroom set that I had growing up. It's great quality and my parents wanted me to have it. The bad news: it was in Indiana. 

Through a series of fortunate events, my extremely heavy bedroom furniture made it to my home-- my living room to be exact. That gave me some motivation to get Dylan out of his crib- I didn't want that dang furniture to remain in the middle of my living room for months on end. 

I was a little nervous about moving Dylan to a regular bed, as he clearly loved his crib. Once I tried to take the steps toward a toddler bed by taking off the front rail of his crib, and Dylan had a royal meltdown- lots of tears and shouts of, "Fix my bed, fix my bed!"

Luckily, my nervousness was for nothing- as soon as he saw his new room setup he yelled, "It's my big boy bed!" He has stayed in the bed all night and hasn't fallen out either. Naps have gone really well too- he stays in his bed and sleeps a good 2-3 hours.

Here are a few pictures of the old and the new- nursery to big boy.

His happy little nursery. Pay no mind to the fug carpet- I usually have things partially hidden by a white rug, but it's in major need of a cleaning. Also of note- the windows on the right are blocked by my white trash version of blackout blinds. It's a tin foil sandwich- poster board on each side, foil in the middle. 

Here's a look at is not yet finished big boy room:

Cute, yes, but still needs a little help... I have grand plans including artwork, throw pillows, and decor. Trips to Hobby Lobby and Ikea are in order, so I will definitely show you the finished product when I get to that point. 

This bedroom set also includes a desk, hutch, drawers, and a bookcase... none of which would really fit in Dylan's little room. It's not a problem, though- they've been relocated to the basement and put to good use:

Again, this little corner has miles to go in terms of decor- a few splashes of color and a good looking rug will be a huge improvement for this space. 

You all know me- I love a good decorating project... any ideas or suggestions for either of the rooms?

Friday Favorites.

Today I'm sharing a few of my favorite things... 

Favorite Wish List Item

Pretty much everything at Plum Street Prints

Looking for the coolest iPhone or iPad case in the land? Here they are. They're not exactly cheap, but they're a lovely balance between individual and professional. You bet I'm saving for an iPhone case. 

Favorite Class at the Gym

Body Pump

I've been getting into weight lifting lately, and I just love this class. In one hour I'm able to work every major muscle group through not too heavy weights, but tonnnnnns of reps. The teachers at 24 hour fitness are always great too, and the workout is set to great music. 

Favorite internet sensation

mckayla is not impressed

Ever since McKayla Maroney tushed it and ended up with the silver medal in vault, her "not impressed" face has made the rounds all over the internet. I think it's hilarious- there are numerous websites solely devoted to the "not impressed" picture and are making all sorts of funnies:

Favorite Beauty Buy

Jergen's Natural Glow Foam

I decided to try this out last week after running out of my regular lotion. I love it! It dries much more quickly and there is no stinky smell! Hooray! The results seem to be the same and I feel like the foam is much more convenient, as I don't half to walk around the house with no pants on for 30 minutes while waiting for the dang lotion to dry. Sorry for the tmi.

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What are some of your favorite things?