Playroom Renovation

So for months now I have been wanting to organize Brayden's playroom. He has so many toys and they were always strewn all over the floor, in no order whatsoever, and we haven't been really strict about him cleaning up after himself. I finally decided it was high time we get some kind of order to it pronto before Mommy pulls her hair out :)

This is the BEFORE photo - total disaster....

This was us in the process of cleaning up and sorting through things, vacuuming, etc.

Voila! AFTER! We got the Expedit series bookcase at Ikea -- love the cubby holes; they provide so much storage. Everything is finally off the floor.

Larger view: There seems to be so much more open space and more room for him to play in.

The white baskets are from Ikea. The wire mesh baskets we found at Container store. They each hold so many toys. I love how it turned out. Its amazing how a bookcase can conform and organize a room. Now I just want to add some fun children's art to jazz it up a little...but coming soon. One thing at a time... :)

Oh! and last night Brayden even put his cars away in his mesh basket before bed. Woo hoo! So far so good.

DIY Rain Gutter Shelves

This past holiday weekend Ryan and I tackled a DIY project I had seen online a few months ago and had not been able to get it out of my mind for Brayden's room. It sounds crazy but the project is taking vinyl rain gutters and creating awesome bookshelves on the wall! Brayden loves waking up in the morning and reading books so I felt like this would be perfect for him to have bookshelves right above his bed for him to grab whatever book he felt like reading and keeping himself busy. It was super easy and very cheap - I think the whole project was about $45.00 - all supplies were purchased at Home Depot in the gutter aisle. Seriously. Check out the after photos:

4th of July 2011

For the 4th of July we headed to the Wagners house to watch the Lakewood parade that runs right down their street. It is a great time: they had hamburgers and hot dogs, cookies, snowcones and margaritas afterwards and a bouncehouse/slip and slide. It was hot of course, but super fun. This year Ryan and Kamilia came with Cooper and Charlee so I got some fun pics of the cousins. They have so much fun together, I love watching them play. Lots of friends were there too, which was a good time as well.

Our sweet family

The cousins

Relaxing before parade begins

B and Coop

Daddy trying to help Brayden get the candy being thrown off the floats

KT and Charlee

William

Sweet Brothers: William and Jackson

Brayden's favorite part of the parade - the double decker bus

Buddies. Grady and Brayden

Old friends.

Nanny!

Slip and Slide fun

They look so old. Sniff Sniff :)

She is such a doll.

Happy 4th - Hope everyone had a great holiday weekend! We sure did.

Denver Trip

Ryan and I got to go on a weekend trip to Denver together a few weeks ago. One of Ryan's best friends got married at Red Rocks Country Club outside of Denver. It was so nice to getaway just the two of us and also get out of the Texas heat for a few days. This was the first trip Ryan and I have taken together without Brayden since he was born! It was the first trip for me to be away from Brayden for more than one night since he was 5 1/2 months old. He stayed a few nights with my dad and Jackie and then Ryan's parents one night - he had a great time with both sets of grandparents so I don't think he missed us a bit. I enjoyed getting away for a little bit and getting some time with Ryan especially since he has been so busy this summer. Denver was beautiful and of course, the weather was awesome. Here are a few pics: