The Hunt

Like I have realized with all the Holidays since Easton has arrived, they are much more fun with a little one around! We ate lots, opened Easter baskets, enjoyed each other and some of us thought about what Easter means to us and were thankful for that and others celebrated the Easter Bunny! Either way today was a success and was great to spend time with the family!

 Easton's favorite part of his Easter basket was having a taste of each item, whether it be a shoe, a tie, a bunny rabbit, a bathing suit or food... he loved it all! He was a little too excited for his Easter egg hunt so he wanted to skip his nap (or at least that is what I convinced myself when he wasn't napping)

Once he saw the eggs on the grass...the hunt was on. He sat for a while and pondered how to reach the eggs and then crawled over, picked them up and was in heaven! He was happy with his empty eggs and all the excitement lead to his midday nap! And P.S. if you think this is picture overload of the hunt...you have no idea how many more I could add : )

Believing in Tomorrow

When house shopping we had multiple "must haves" on our list. One of them being a large yard. We now often wonder, what the heck were we thinking? Having a big yard is sometimes quite the chore for us   the husband. Since having baby E in our lives it is nearly impossible to both being doing yard work at the same time! Spring time is really when our backyard comes alive! We have made our outdoor room with our BBQ, fire pit, waterfall and seating area. The past couple of weeks we have been working hard to get this yard into spring time shape!

One thing that has stayed the same since purchasing our home is our rose bushes, we have finally learned how to "cut back" our roses in the winter to get the most beautiful blooms in the spring and summer. I have planted bulbs around the yard and year after year the bloom! I'm waiting for many of them to pop open this week! 

Spring time in our house means preparing our vegetable garden! The dirt has been turned and replenished and the veggies are in! Last year we planted a teeny tiny artichoke plant which has really become an eye sore, but LOOK! We have an artichoke! I am looking forward to Easton picking and eating our fresh veggies this year!

Outside my kitchen door I have my cooking herbs and of course some extra strawberries! Since I have my salsa garden out back and we have Mexican food constantly, cilantro is a must! 

And of course the cutest little gardener there ever was..sunglasses and all! (yes I did have to steal them from his Easter basket)

Mr. Babes Easter Basket

I have been preparing for Easton's first Easter Basket for about a month now! I ordered his Easter Basket from a cute Etsy shop. I got him a couple of books, sun glasses (that strap to his head), his favorite food pouches, a super cute neck tie, and a swim cover. I would like to add a stuffed animal and some other goodies!

After seeing him open presents at Christmas when he was 5 months old, I realized he might actually like getting an Easter basket...he really wont care what is in it, but will love taking everything out! Holidays really are so much more fun when you're a Mama!

Burlap Banner Tutorial

Spring decor is in full swing at the Stroud household. This past weekend my sister and I had a craft filled afternoon. I made my burlap spring banner for our mantel. She painted some cute Easter Eggs, check them out at handpickednotions. I added a simple tutorial for the banner. It is crazy easy...and to think I almost splurged $24 at Pottery Barn for their Easter banner. This cost me a total of zero dollars! I used all left over items from previous projects!

Step by step instructions

Now I just need to add some other "springish" pieces to complete our mantel! 

Kitchen Link Up

When we purchased our home we came into it knowing it was livable and it didn't need any work. Little did we know the transformations that would be in our future. I would say that our kitchen is now complete! If you refer to my previous kitchen post you will see some of the before pictures. When we bought this house the kitchen was smurf blue...so that was the first order of business, then came the cabinets, appliances, floors, counters, backsplash, wine storage cabinet etc. It is probably one of my favorite places in the house. I used to think it was too small, but now I realize it is just the right size for our family!

Our wine cabinet isn't at its fullest because we apparently just can't stop drinking it! I try to keep it stocked with an even amount of reds and whites. The husband I and I mostly drink white wine, but most of guests drink red.

I have seen many "eat" signs while blogging and pinning. But I wanted to create my own. I purchased the letters at Michaels and used chalkboard paint for the deep black affect. My back splash and farmhouse sink are both courtesy of my talented husband.

While I was pregnant I "nested" and installed some pull out trays in the cabinets. Our cabinets are so deep that it really makes the best use out of the space. 

 The chalkboard was on of the constants in our kitchen. My cousin came to visit to help with our wedding planning and preparation and we hung it. I use it for menus', holiday quotes, keeping track of Easton's growth. And tonight I plan of cooking up some posole. And yes I do realize it is spelled wrong in the pic : )

 We replaced the focus cabinet doors with glass and I still havn't figured out a "cute" way to display them. I keep our little memo/key station in the kitchen so that we can keep track of important items, especially the baby birthday parties! I purchased our family est sign from an etsy shop called Bosheree. They make great wedding gifts!

And below is a "kinda" before picture. I had already painted to get rid of the smurf blue! 

Friday Afternoon at Auntie's

This past Friday afternoon we headed to Corona Del Mar to visit Brett. She had a half day at work and it was about 80 degrees on the coast so you better believe we took full advantage and walked Easton to the beach. It was absolutely beautiful and made me appreciate where we live even more!

 On the way back to Brett's house we stopped off at the grocery store and loaded Easton's stroller up with fresh ingredients for dinner and walked back. Easton of course took his afternoon snooze with the fresh beach air.  When we got back we poured our vino (after chugging water, because we were so hot) and started cooking dinner for everyone!

Although I feared the ride home, since it was at Easton's bed time, I just belted out "Silent night", which remains his favorite bedtime song...and he fells asleep! Great way to kick off the weekend.