Around Here: Our New Favourite Book

*This post contains sponsored links- as always, I’d never write about a product I didn’t 100% love (full disclosure)*

2015 Has been flying by, friends. I can’t believe that I’ve let time get so away from me- I haven’t given you all a life update/behind the scenes here since my Year in Pictures post for 2014 (whaaaat!?). So today I’m sharing some of the happenings around here, but mostly sharing these sweet photos of my babes with their new favourite book. I posted a photo of the book open to my sister for National Siblings Day on Instagram and had lots of texts asking all about it, so- Let’s talk about this sweet book really quickly, then get on with our update, shall we? Mostly because I can’t wait- isn’t it adorable?

Last year I spotted this post from my friends at Pretty Providence to make a DIY children’s picture book. I loved the idea and bought a mini photo album right away. Then it sat there (like too many things) and I never printed photos for it. THEN I spotted this! Pinhole Press has tons of adorable photo gifts (which you know are my favourite type of gift) and this Mini Storybook of Names and Faces was calling my name. I love that I just had to drop in the photos, and type in the names- that’s it. The hardest part was deciding who to put in the book because we have ginormous families (no joke). I also love that it’s a board book- my kids don’t do paper yet and with how much they’ve been carrying this guy around it’s holding up incredibly well.

We’ve been having more babysitters than normal lately (you’ll hear why…) but every baby sitter has to sit through them flipping the pages and naming every person in the book. Over and over. I can’t complain, I’m so glad they know and love their cousins, Aunts, Uncles, and Grandparents. They even give kisses to the pictures sometimes and it makes my Mama heart melt. Other than the puppy puppets in our home- it’s now the most fought over item, and that’s a win right? I can’t even handle this next photo, it makes me laugh so hard! This is a regular scene in our home right now.

Anyways, a little about what we’ve been up to. Emmitt and Aubrey have been fighting colds and fevers and even though I registered them into daycare for one day a week so I could get some work done during the week, it’s been a month since they’ve been able to attend! I have to say, I’m really missing my alone time! They’ve both always been quite stubborn (but in different ways) and lately that’s been kicked up a notch. Miss A has been exercising her defiant streak and Mr E seems to think he can cry until he gets what he wants. We’re working on it- I’m thankful for the nicer weather so we can get outside and let them run free.

With their new behaviour has come some wonderful things too though- we’re loving how their personalities are becoming so apparent, they may be twins but they’re certainly nothing alike! If you follow along on Instagram, I’ve been posting lots of photos of their newest love- holding hands! They want to do it everywhere, I can’t get enough! They’re also getting so clever, Aubrey has more words than I can count and even though Emmitt doesn’t say as many words, he jabbers like crazy and understands almost everything we say. 

We’ve slowly been picking away at home renovations- we finished our bathroom (phase one anyways!) and have been working on the basement. We’re turning our half of the basement into a laundry room, play room, and TV area. I tiled our entry way, Shane re-strung the stairs, and we’ve finished the framing, electrical, and insulation on the basement. Now for drywall! Some days it feels like it will never get done, but we’ve been trying to get a babysitter every weekend (if only for a few hours) so we can get some solid work time in. We’re also slowly making our upstairs more livable. We are working on putting photos up in our hallway (I have papers the size of our frames taped to the walls right now) and trying to get an organization system in place (the amount of clothes I’m getting rid of is insane!). We also were gifted a new mattress (score!!) and treated ourselves to some Nate Berkus sheets before Target Canada officially left us (the saddest thing ever!!) You can see a sneak of our bedroom in these photos.

We did take a bit of time ‘off’ and headed to Vancouver for a family birthday and visited our good friends (Ashton from Bespoke Decor). I even managed to check out the PoppyTalk store before it closed! We also took the week of Easter to relax with out of town family, I hit the Wildlife Park and enjoyed an impromptu baby shower for one of my sister-in-laws. Speaking of Easter- E & A are SO good at finding those eggs! We couldn’t believe that we didn’t need to explain it to them. They saw their cousins grabbing eggs and they were off. Emmitt found them so quickly, I was a proud Mama. Aubrey had a bit of a love affair with chocolate… like she attacked it and tried to steal everyone else’s. It was cute in a monster-like sort of way. We realized after the dress was covered in chocolate that we had forgotten to get a family photo. C’est la vie!

That same week I decided to purchase a ticket to my first ever blogging conference, SNAP! And I couldn’t be more thrilled, but it’s sent me into a flurry of preparation. It’s next week, y’all! Business cards, booking flights and hotel, preparing posts, contacting some of my favourite bloggers that I’d love to meet in person… it’s a lot to cram into a couple weeks! Not to mention some of the other business-y things I’ve been up to. If you have any tips on conference going, I’m all ears… and if you’ll be there? Drop me a line!

I have to thank you guys like crazy, just over a week ago I launched my first e-product, ‘Never Run Out of Ideas Again’, a mini e-course, and you have made me over the moon happy with your love and support! I am also working on creating a bunch of hand lettered designs for *exciting, exciting* my new Etsy store which I hope to open next week! I can’t just do one thing at a time, it turns out! If you have any requests for hand lettered prints… you know where to find me ;).

That’s probably enough about me for now, although I don’t think there could ever be enough photos of these two. I’d love to hear what you all have been up to! Have you been enjoying a slower paced 2015, or have you been running off your feet and looking forward to some downtime? Let me know in the comments or shoot me an email! Also… if you get one of these mini books for your little ones, tag me on social media to show me! I’d love to see :)