I can't believe it has been a year since we bought our house! When we bought it we knew that we would paint the interior right away. A couple of coats of bright white paint went up everywhere soon after we moved in.
We also knew that we would convert the den space into a third bedroom (back to the way it was originally). That project was completed a couple of months before Buckley arrived (though I have yet to show you the completed nursery).
The next project on our list is to paint the exterior. It sounds like a huge job, especially when you add in sanding down a majority of the house because the current paint is in such bad shape. 
When we pictured what we wanted the house to look like, we both agreed that we wanted a dark house with a bright door. We wanted to take our mid century ranch back to its roots, and the time has finally come!

These houses were ones that we used for inspiration when we picked our house colors:



 house pictures found via google

These are the colors we chose:
We also ordered this doorlite kit to go into our new bright red door.
 When it's all finished it will look like this:
We have already painted the red on the Dutch door in the back to get a feel for how it will look, and when we have the top open it gives us a pop of red in the house:
(I kind of love it)

I can't wait to see it all come together!
Our homeowners association makes you ask all of your neighbors if they approve and then the HOA has to approve it. I really hope we have no hang-ups and that we can stick with our original colors!

If you didn't see my post with the pictures Abi took of The Buck, definitely go have a look at Abi's amazingness!
(I posted it really late on Friday and I don't think many people saw them!)

Onto this last weekend(ish)...

Buckley was looking a bit like Elton John as he tried to protect his eyes from the sun:
Bennett and his best friend Avery read books in his bed:
(I love how dorky they are)
Friday night Chris and I went out for our first date night alone in a couple months!
We grabbed some amazing sandwiches at our favorite Lovejoy Bakers and hung out at Jamison Square while we ate them. I was also able to paint my toe nails in one sitting...which typically is a multi day process if I'm trying to do it during the day.
Chris got the Bahn Mi and I got their famous turkey sandwich.
Sooo good!
We finally decided on paint colors for the house:
(I'm working on another blog post all about it!)
The Buck started sleeping in his crib like a champ:
We picked some strawberries from our "garden."
(we use the term garden lightly because it's such a mess of giant weeds/dead plants right now)
These are the berries the slugs missed:
I caught some of Buckley's awesome morning faces:
(he is smiling SO much now and it melts my heart,
 I could literally stand for hours making goofy faces trying to get him to smile)
Chris made Benentt his first fort:
(He was really excited and immediately ran around gathering all of his toys to put in the fort. 
I'm not sure he actually played because there was no more room with all of his toys in it)
and then Chris built him a bridge for his cars to go into the fort:
Saturday evening we went to a semi-family reunion with Chris' family. Chris and I were relishing the fact that other people were occupying the boys and I realized that I didn't take any pictures.

While I attended my cousin's baby shower on Sunday, Bennett watched Toy Story 2 for the first time.
When I left he was sitting on the couch with Chris, but after a while he decided he'd rather stand and watch:
(Chris said that B pretty much stood for most of the movie. Silly kid.)
milk drunk:
Buckley and I at the shower:

Happy Tuesday Friends!
A few weeks ago Abi came and took some newborn pictures of The Buck and I haven't had a chance to share them yet! Every time I try to write this post something comes up or somebody wakes up so it never gets done. 

Such is life.

We love these new pictures just as much as our family pictures that she took a few months back.

Abi is amazing... 















 I think she captured our sweet boy perfectly.
Check out her brand spankin new photography website here!
We had no plans this weekend and it was amazing...exactly what we needed. 
We were able to relax, but we also got a lot of things done which is always nice.

It truly felt like summer with temps in the 80's on Saturday.
B enjoyed his kiddie pool:
(as did Chris)
He ran back and forth watering the deck with his hippo watering can:
The boys both took baths in the pool and dried off in the sunshine:
We had a few potty training successes...I think he may be starting to get it!
We had a family fro yo date:
and Bennett drew us a picture:
Sunday morning Bennett brought Chris his Father's Day present in bed and said "happy birthday daddy" as he gave it to him:
 and of course we had to make them for breakfast:
(B keeps calling them "monster" pancakes...maybe he's still a little young for Star Wars)
We said goodbye to newborn clothes:
(this guy is getting chunky and I love it!)
 and I made this rhubarb cake using the last of the rhubarb from the backyard:
(I love reaping the harvest of the previous homeowner!)
(it's a recipe from the 50's so there are some interesting ingredients like mini marshmallows and a box of strawberry jello powder...it sounds weird on paper but it was really good!)

Things are starting to get a little easier around here and we are all feeling much better.
Let's just hope it stays like that.

Happy Tuesday Friends!
So I really want to be posting more than once a week and post more than just updates on what we have done over the past week/weekend. 
Slowly but surely friends.

I'm lame posting this on a Friday but here it is...
(we've all been sick and these brothers have been keeping me quite busy...did I mention that having a toddler and a newborn=craziness?)

Anyways, this is what we've been doing this week:

Bennett read to Buckley:
I made our favorite carnitas tacos:
we had a mini date to the waffle window:
 Buckley slept a lot:

and we were finally able to take him to church:
 the boys fell asleep together on a long walk:
 Buckley had his first nap in his crib:
 and he took a nap while we had a backyard picnic:
 I made these cookies:
 and these muffins:
 I learned how to be efficient while feeding The Buck:
 our indoor-but-seeing-if-she-can-be-outdoors cat got stuck in our apple tree:
(then she jumped to the roof and then flew off of it)

Happy Friday Friends!