It's the Weekend | Number Nine

Prego belly and lots of prints. 

It's been raining again and I always love this weather. Just give me all of the coffee and we will all be okay. This week has been pretty normal in the grand scheme of things. I am no longer feeling sick from the flu from last week. Once I felt caught up in most areas of our lives, this week just carried on per usual. 

Next week, we are going on a mini-vacation up to Estes Park for a few days and I am looking so forward to just getting away and relaxing. This is the first time we are taking Marin with us to a hotel. We've been talking up the trip for weeks and she is very excited about the hotel pool. We might also take her to her first movie in a big theatre. I do wish we would have had her travel with us at a younger age, but it's better to start now than not at all. Vacation is so close and we are so ready. 

Here's where I've been clicking this week. My inner nerd is showing with one of these. There's some food posts per usual and some home stuff. I've also really been realizing how much screen time our kiddo gets and I'm not alright with it. It's too much. The girl loves Daniel Tiger with a passion and I love being able to keep my house somewhat picked up while she watches, but I also realize how bad it is to be in front of a screen too much. I'd like to change that. 

Heres are some decor worries to abandon. It's going to be ok. Your home is a process. 

Here are 6 household rules that you hated growing up but totally understand. Mom was right. 

I'm pregnant and I love food. I'd love to make this granola bark. This maple bacon grilled cheese (with Brie!!) looks amazing. Yum. 

I've been thinking a lot about maternity leave and returning to work. Here's how to win at work after maternity leave. 

Some fellow musicians have a kickstarter for their new album. These are good dudes that make great music and love Jesus. Win, win, win. 

In an effort to out myself as a total nerd, I am so excited that the X-files will be coming back to TV this fall. New episodes!! 

I need more ideas for less screen time in our house, especially ones that don't take a ton of prep. Here are 15 things to do instead of tv and 75 TV free activities for toddlers.  We played with homemade play dough at our Tot class the other day. The recipe is so easy and doesn't have anything weird in it. We will need to make this soon...

Have a great weekend! 

It's the Weekend | Number Eight

This week has had it's ups and downs. Early Wednesday morning, around 2am, I woke up suddenly and started puking all over our bedroom. It was pretty horrific, especially being 6 months pregnant. We are still working on getting the stain out of our carpet and I'm pretty sure I ruined some of our bedding. Sad stuff. But, now I finally don't feel like I've been hit by a truck and am ready for a busy Easter weekend. My husband has been a gamer with me being sick and cleaned up after me without a complaint. He's pretty awesome.

One awesome thing about this week is that we had new kitchen appliances delivered. The ones we had in the house were old enough to drink a beer, if you know what I mean. The fact that they were still somewhat working it a miracle. We are getting a dishwasher too but it won't be here for another week or so. I can't wait to cook with my new oven and my fridge is so new and shiny. I'm nerding out as a homeowner at the moment. It makes our kitchen look so much better! We used our tax refund money this year to purchase them. 

Anyways, here are the places I've have been clicking around the internet this week. Some wellness stuff, some parenting articles, and of course some food.

A good reminder that health looks different for everyone. 

I always need ways to drink more water, especially while I'm growing a little human in my belly.

Marin hasn't really traveled with us a lot. I hope to change that. Here are some traveling tips for kiddos. 

If I didn't work for a church and Easter Sunday wasn't crazy, I would make this casserole. 

I'd like to bake these avocado brownies in my new oven this week too. 

Did you know that kids that use touchscreen devices sleep less at night? Not great. 

We are also supposedly all parenting wrong. Who knew. 

Have a great weekend! 

Hollen Home | Marin's Big Girl Room

When we were expecting our first kiddo, we decided early on that we weren't going to have a pink, princess nursery. I wanted something that was fairly neutral. We went with lighter green walls with lots of black and white accents. You can see the before and after of Marin's nursery here.  I've loved this room for the past 3 years.

When we found out we were expecting again, I started clearing out our office space in our spare room in preparation for our newest little one. Once we found out we were having a little boy, we decided it would actually be much easier to keep Marin's current green room as the nursery and make the office spare room Marin's new room.

I wasn't sure if she could be convinced to have a different room and give her little brother her old room, but once I mentioned that she could paint one wall whatever color she wanted, she was sold. I knew what was coming. Marin is all spunk and all pink. Most of our lives are covered in glitter and princess pink.  I now have the one thing in our home that I didn't think we ever would: a bright pink wall. I actually kind of love it. Only painting an accent wall and then painting the trim white really helped.

We gave Marin a big girl bed for Christmas that just sat in a box until her big girl room was completed. The matching dresser, an awesome little chair, and a new white bookcase were added as well. I bought her a little rug. My mom made her awesome pink curtains and she has some awesome princess bedding. It all has come together quite well.

Now when the sun hits the front side of our house, Marin's room glows a nice pink color all the way out into the hallway. She loves her new big girl room. I can't quite believe we have a bright pink wall.

Next up in nesting....A revamped baby nursery. Stay tuned.

Sources:

Rug: RugsUSA

Bedding: Walmart

Bed, Chair, & Dresser: American Furniture Warehouse

Bookcase: Amazon

Paint Color: Behr Sweet Chrysanthemum

Wall Art: Hobby Lobby

It's The Weekend | Number Seven

Prego Belly & Sidewalk Chalk 

This weekend I hope to finish our little gal's new pink room. We still need to build a bookcase and get her rug in her room. It's very pink and it's very fun. After that project is finished, I get to move on to the little boy's nursery. I am officially in my third trimester and I keep realizing how quickly time is flying. Holy cow, we have 12-ish weeks left!!! I feel like I was just starring at a positive pregnancy test at the end of October, while on vacation.

Here are the places I've been clicking this week. Lots of it has to do with food because I feel like I'm constantly hungry. Some links are about parenting because I've obviously had that on the brain. Some are about paint. Food, family, and home. Those are the things on my brain lately. You can look forward to a post on Marin's new big girl room and some more mom guilt rants in the near future. I'm sure of that.

Someday our kids will probably share a room. These bunk bed ideas are pretty awesome. I would sleep in them.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately | Why Kids Need Real Play

Lunch can get boring. Here are ten sandwich free lunch ideas.

15 tips on how to be a successful parent.

I'm all about white trim in my house. But, painting things black can also be awesome. 

This chocolate banana smoothie is right up my alley right now. This cobbler looks awesome as well. 

Speaking of food, Joy the Baker Over Easy: Sweet and Savory Recipes for Leisurely Days and Food, Health, and Happiness: 115 On-Point Recipes for Great Meals and a Better Life are my current reads.

I also just started reading Chasing Slow: Courage to Journey Off the Beaten Path and I am loving it.

Have a great weekend! 

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It's The Weekend | Number Six

Our very neglected garden beds. 

It's been raining the last few days around these parts and my heart has been so happy about it. It reminds me of my season of time in the northwest. I just want to go play music and drink tons of coffee. If only that were a distinct possibility right now. But, it is the weekend and I don't plan on even leaving my house today if I can help it. 

I do enjoy finding great things out on the internet. There are lots of people doing some extraordinary things and I like keeping track of those things. Sometimes though, the internet is a cesspool of disgusting and hurtful things. Last night I was perusing Facebook and stumbled onto a video of a man beating a small child to a pulp. Due to the automatic play feature of most videos on Facebook, I didn't even realize what I was watching until it was too late. Ryan knows how it affected me I'm sure my pregnancy hormones were no help.  I was disgusted, frustrated, almost in tears. I went into my child's room and kissed and hugged her for good measure. There are nasty things out in this world. It took everything I had within me to get that image out of my head and to fall asleep last night. We watched a lot of funny cat videos and I read my new book in an attempt to drift to sleep. 

Anyways, sometime the internet is sucky. But, the links below help me realize that not everything out there is frustrating and ugly. This week, we are talking pizza, making a house a home, some parenting stuff, and the idea of gardening. Enjoy. 

I am making this pizza this week. I've been craving those artichokes. 

To continue on the pizza craze, because we love pizza in this home, how about some pull apart pizza bread for good measure?

I am always thinking about how to make our house a home.  I love the idea of embracing your story for your home. So often I get caught up in trends and what everyone else is doing. Just do you. 

This is a bit of a read but I thought it was interesting: How Parenting Became A Full Time Job. 

I also found this interesting....Visualizing the data of parenting.  

I've been thinking about gardening this year again. It's been a few years and I think Marin would have a blast. Here is some great gardening 101, especially with kiddos. 

Bedtime hoops...Four questions you should be asking your child at bedtime. I love this. 

Have a great weekend!