Everleigh Isabella Kelley - 21 Months and Counting

Better late than never.. 

So at just about two weeks late, I thought it was high time to finally post Everleigh's 21 Month photos. :) Immediately after these photos were taken (on Wednesday the 25th), we found out that my mom had to have triple bypass surgery back in my hometown on that FRIDAY (the 27th)!  What the WHAAAAAT?!  She had been feeling bad and was admitted into the hospital that Monday but we NEVER thought she'd end up having major heart surgery that very week.  Two days later Everleigh and I flew into town to be with her...arriving literally 10 minutes before they whisked her off into the surgery room.  Craziness but so glad I got to see her beforehand.  Luckily, all went well and she was sitting up by the next morning and WALKING by the next evening.  They certainly don't mess around with those surgeries anymore.  After spending a few days back home with my mom in the hospital, Everleigh and I flew back to Dallas last Monday evening just to unpack and RE-PACK again for our scheduled trip out to visit Chad's family in California a day later.  To say that this last week and a half have been nuts.. is certainly an understatement!  

We had a great time in California though (blog posts about that coming soon) but we are ALL happy to be back to our normal and mostly boring routine.  :)  

So without further ado, Everleigh at 21 months :) :)   

 

Everleigh Isabella Kelley - 20 Months and Counting

It seemed only fitting that two seconds into Everleigh's mini photo shoot for her 20th month this past weekend, our little bear would throw a raging fit.  All because I tried to stand her up in her ducky bath.  Inside the house she loves that thing. Outside, apparently not so much.  Even though I had a number of other cute photos to choose from (for her main monthly run-down), I thought the tantrum shot pretty much captured the essence of what has been new, exciting and "oh-so-fun" here in the Kelley casa this month.  Seems like the "terrible two's" might be in full swing at our house these days.  From leg thrashing to the biggest crocodile tears you could possibly imagine... tantrums are in full effect.  Couple that with non-stop allergy issues AND cutting her molars....and you have one HELL of a good time!  :( :(  Poor thing is handling it the best she possibly can I have to say...and for that I'm truly grateful.  

Luckily though...her happy go-lucky self comes soon after every meltdown.  And my phone usually always does the trick to distract her ;)  

So...without further ado..

Everleigh at 20 months.  :) 

And of course to catch up on all her other monthly posts, click on the links below.  

19 Months, 18 Months, 17 Months, 16 Months, 15 Months, 14 Months, 13 Months,

1 Year Birthday Party, 1 Year Photo Session, 1 Year Photo Session - Behind the Scenes

DANCE, Everleigh!! DANCE!!

This is her....dancing.  ;)

Smiling softly after another mini meltdown...over who knows what.  ;) 

And she's IN!! Finally! :) But not for long..lol. 

Definitely preferred to play with the water from the outside.  :) 

And then we tried the sprinkler.. 

Set on low...to tease her just enough.. ;)

Until she got her head wet..lol.  :) 

Restoration Hardware - Star Light Hack

Since we moved into our Frisco house back in late August, I've been on quite the mission to make use of the MASSIVE amounts of cardboard that we've been able to accumulate as we've purchased new furniture over the last 9 months.  It seemed like such a waste to just throw it all away.. especially since we had so many empty walls to contend with.  I figured the first place where I could get away with trying to make cardboard "WORK"... would be the playroom.  

Taking inspiration from things I'd seen on Pinterest... My latest craft project, slash obsession, was trying my hand at our very own marquee style star light.

When I saw this Restoration Hardware Baby and Child image on Pinterest, I just knew that I could easily replicate the star without the hefty price tag.  $320!?!?! Yikes!  Thanks, but no thanks.  And this, my friends, is when my hoarding tendencies come in handy.  ;)  

Enter the biggest piece of cardboard I could find in our stash.  (Didn't take long... we have TONS! ;) Carpenters hoard scrap wood, this DIY'er hoards cardboard.  Sad AND true.  ;)

 In case you care to try and replicate this little cardboard gem, here are my very ROUGH instructions.  (I'd be happy to elaborate if needed!) 

**** Safety Note **** 
Although I've seen lots of other projects on the internet where cardboard and string lights come in contact without any issue, you probably shouldn't leave this light on overnight or when someone is not in the room.  Curious as to how hot these globe lights would get, I left them on for over an hour, and they were still cool to the touch.  Even though I'm fairly confident there isn't a fire hazard associated with this hack, please use caution anyway.  Better safe than sorry!

RESTORATION HARDWARE - STAR LIGHT HACK

- Using a template I had printed out of (6) 11x17's taped together... (cause I'm not good enough to free hand a star this big), I used an Exacto blade to cut out my star shape.  

- I then cut out long 4 inch strips that would be glued to the edges to give me the "lip" I needed on both sides to account for the wirey mess in the back and the bulbs in the front.  

 - Using globe lights I had found at Target awhile back, I penciled in, (and cut out) the number of holes for the number of bulbs that came in my set.  (Note here that I'm apparently REALLY, REALLY bad at counting cause I cut 26 holes for 25 bulbs... DOH!) Imagine my surprise when I THOUGHT I was done.  ;)

I was pretty rough with my holes, just making them big enough to fit the bulbs in.. but not really caring that they were perfect little circles, realizing that they'd be covered up anyway.  (I used my Exacto for this step too... the sharper the blade, the easier it is to cut these out)

Taking craft paint I had on-hand, I chose blue for the inside and red along the outer edge.  (This was just one coat of blue into the project.  I added another one shortly after just to darken the whole thing and make it less splotchy.) 

I then took off all the lights that came in the set and set them aside to reassemble as I went along.  

Turning my star over after everything had dried, I started at one corner and worked my way around the star, bulb in the front, wirey mess in the back.  Pretty simple.     

Ta Da!!  26 holes for 25 bulbs.  Lol.  Geez Louise. Still pretty cool if you ask me.  

A couple minutes later, I cut out a smaller cardboard star to fit over my missing hole.. 

like it was MEANT to be there all along!  :)  

 

Sorry about the crappy Iphone photos.. 

I definitely owe everyone an updated Playroom post...coming soon!

Everleigh Isabella Kelley - 19 Months and Counting

This face and those expressions have made us the happiest parents we could've ever hoped to be.    

Thank you for 19 months of pure AWESOME Baby Bear!!  

We love you soooo much! 

To catch up on her other monthly posts, click on the links below.  

18 Months, 17 Months, 16 Months, 15 Months, 14 Months, 13 Months,

1 Year Birthday Party, 1 Year Photo Session, 1 Year Photo Session - Behind the Scenes

Hahahaha.. Love this last one.  :)

Date Night with My Chef at FT33

In the 19 months since Everleigh was born... (when our overall focus on life seemed to shift towards our tiny little human)... it's been rare that Chad and I get to enjoy date nights.  With his work schedule and our limited time together as a family, we usually just stay home to enjoy our baby bear on his days off.  

At the expense of very LONG consecutive work days, we've had the opportunity to enjoy two very RARE Friday nights together in the past month and a half.  If you know us well at all, you know that date nights always involve eating.  And drinking.  A lot.  At awesome restaurants we've been meaning to try.  :)  

This past Friday we had reservations at FT33 in Dallas.  :)  The chef, Matt McCallister, is the recent winner of Food and Wine's Best New Chef Award in the Southwest, so we were eager to see what his restaurant had to offer.  

Surprisingly, we didn't overdo it this time.  Just one item per course. Per person.  ;)  And an awesome bottle of Chablis to start off the night.  

house made charcuterie board: 

 pickled carrots, pickled butternut squash, lardo, mortadella, mustard, jam

  

beef sugo, wild mushrooms, local kale, tagliardi

hanger tartare, fermented onion, gremolata, egg yolk, turnip

skate, pork belly, confit potatoes, celery, maitake mushrooms

ricotta gnocchi, ramps, celery root, spinach, mushrooms, ham broth

sorrel sponge cake, tarragon, mint, pistachio meringue

  

goat cheese panna cotta, strawberry 3 ways (dried, compressed and whole), 

olive oil / poppy seed & basil cake

AND my love.  :)  My hot date for the night.  #chefchadkelley