Post-Ottawa summer shenanigans!

There was pre-Ottawa, there was Ottawa, and now this is post-Ottawa... we managed to soak up another wee summer getaway, folks.

Our friend (and Lowell's former colleague), Kabir, paid us the absolute honour of including us in his son's traditional Bangladeshi wedding. There was one other Caucasian lady in a sea of beautiful Bangladeshi folks, so it was a good thing we had some Indian clothes to blend in as much as humanly possible (which wasn't much- haha)!

Lowell wore his kurta from our friend Zab's wedding. Truth be told, we lost the pants and made a desperate last minute stop at a store that sells such things in Calgary. PHEW. Pantsless husband averted. Thanks to Zab & Ruth for getting married and including Lowell in the wedding party so he had such fancy duds on hand!

The sari I wore was lent to me by my friend, Saara. I neglected to receive a tutorial and felt overly confident that You Tube videos/instructions would help me out no problem. Well, after 30 minutes of Marti and me attempting to have some semblance of success wrapping me in the sari, I realized we were getting nowhere fast and I'd be better off pleading with one of the many Bangladeshi women at the wedding. When we arrived, I sheepishly sauntered into the venue with yards of sari randomly draped about when a very kind bridesmaid came to my rescue. She scurried me upstairs and did me right up nice. She even went so far as to pull bobby pins out of her bridesmaidy hair to secure my outfit. For me. The little white girl who had no clue what she was doing. I assured her, however, that I had some safety pins in the car, so her lovely hair do remained in tact... but how nice was SHE?!

Seriously. How beautiful is this bride?

I loved all the colours. All the women were so vibrant and stunning (but especially the bride of course).

We thoroughly enjoyed being a part of their wedding day, and considered it a privilege to be acquainted with so many wonderful people. The Indian feast didn't hurt either (I loooooove me some butter chicken and naan bread). Thanks so much, Kabir!

This is apparently a very culturally typical couple pose.

While we partied Bangladeshi style, our boys were busy exhausting Uncle Lando & Auntie Marti on what turned out to be their busiest day of the summer (they own and run the Sled Parlor). Haha- oops. Sorry guys. And THANKS!

At Lowell's old stomping grounds, we got some serious family visiting time in.

Like, with Grandma & Grandpa T as well as Great Grandma...

Grandpa teaching his grandsons some essential tool skills.

Lowell used to play with those Tonka toys, and they were lovingly passed along to our boys for much fun sand play!

Big smiles with Great Grandma!

Story time with Grandma!

Grandpa made the boys a toy box! I painted it (a white-ish/vintagey/distressed look), and now it's a perfect fixture in our living room. Remember us when you become a millionaire toy box maker, Grandpa!

I just think it's adorable that the boys have a toy box made by their Grandpa. And also, Auntie Erin gave that giant bear to Fraser when he was born, and it seems to appear in a lot of our photos! Well done, Erin.

 As always, we enjoyed catching up with Uncle Dave, Auntie Lori and their passel of adorable and goofy gals...

Carmen

Charlotte

Remember Evelyn? Who got kicked in the head by a horse and scared the daylights out of all of us? Well, she's fine. She's juuuuuuust fine. xox

Lynelle

 

Carmen and her mom playing an impressively lovely duet!

Before heading home, we enjoyed a slew of other aunties and uncles including Uncle Stephen- one of the admirable men Stefan was named after. Stephen, his wife Tricia, and their three kids live in Zanzibar, so this was the first time that Stephen & Stefan met. And cute it was... they even matched!

Stephen has a son named Ian, and the T family name rests on the shoulders of these three cuties...

Jubilee & Hope are delightfully adorable big sisters!

We had a very idyllic afternoon of playing around Uncle Lando & Auntie Marti's property, and picnicing at their little lake.

Some of the clan even ripped around on jet skis. Fraser was a total poser...

But Auntie Joni? She's the for real deal. She is Stephen's mom (Lowell's for real aunt), and a GRANDMOTHER. Sooo speaking of hot Grandma's...

And thus concludes our summer traveling. We also had tons of fun and project time at home sweet home this summer, but that's 10 other posts for sometime in the next 10 years!

Now to embrace leaves, boots, sweaters, scarves, and most importantly... the pumpkin spice latte.

jeepers creepers

After inadvertently capturing a TON of footage like this, I have come to the realization that this is in fact what our children see 85% of their waking hours.

Sorry boys.



Ridiculous, yes. But that, my friends, is how mama ends up with gems like this.

ROOM MAKE-OVER: big boy edition.

Directly on the heels of completing Stefan's room/the office, I became inspired to say good-bye to Fraser's baby room and hello to Fraser and Stefan's BIG boy room. Sort of makes it seem like Stefan's room project was a colossal waste of time, but fear not... it still functions as an office/reading/play area. Plus, the play pen is set up in there as it's still Stef's napping room. (They nap in separate rooms because they sleep sooner and longer that way and baaaaasically that means their mama gets a better nap and is less grouchy. hehe. Every once in a blue moon I still manage to out-wit my one and two-year old children).

See? Proof that the office/reading/play room still oozes awesomeness. (And yes... we broke down and re-painted it since the make-over... cue Julie's happy dance).

Let's dive into the boys' room!

The initial motivation to re-do Fraser's room was that at two and three quarters (or "two and tree torters" as Fraser would say), it was possibly time to move the Frase-man to a big boy bed. The bed was mine growing up, and in fact the only bed I ever slept in as a single gal... so fun that my child is now using it!

The decor/theme inspiration came with the quilt. I saw the quilt, I liked it, I bought it. Pretty simple process, folks.

Airplanes? Okay then. We'll go with an aviator theme.

I then found paint to match the quilt.

I wanted a feature wall- something I could do myself but wasn't totally the most common thing on the face of the planet. Stripes are easy but they're also popular. But stripes of varying sizes? I like to think that they're much less common and more unique... yet still simple.

Before I dove into the paint job, we took some pictures of the boys with the zebra wall, then I shed a few tears (like, actual literal tears) as I prepared to paint over it. I LOVED the zebra wall (thanks Rhonda!), but it was time for a change (sniff, sniff).

Fraser kissing his beloved zebra wall buh-bye.

 

Tears. Shed.

Pardon the pun, but this decal was a pain in the butt to remove (hehehe)...

Paint job done.

I saw the sign, I liked it, I bought it.

Now to get themey. I got my hands on some aviator hats and went nuts with the ol camera. Helloooooo feature pictures!

The picture above the crib was taken by our friend Danielle while she was hanging with the fam. Thanks Dan!

When touring this room, a friend- noticing the extraordinarily plain crib set up- asked, "Where does Stefan sleep?" Ummm, in the allegedly super boring crib. haha! He's warm in his sleep sac, and his stuffy and water bottle seem to keep him sufficiently content. But in any case, sorry about the lack of crib fanfare, Stef. ;)

Once again, my lovely friend Tiffany is to thank for the frames. Her frames have definitely taken over our home and I LOVE it. be-filled.com is where you can check out her delightfully beautiful products.

I saw the airplane clock, I liked it, I bought it.

Also, it totally matched the room and is- hello- an AIRPLANE, so obviously the purchase was necessary. Some might even argue providential.

The shelf. It was an old one of ours which I painted then put cute books on.

The chair. When we put the bed in the corner, there was kind of an awkward space between the bed and the closet, so I mentioned to my mom that perhaps there was a old chair that I could paint and place there. Lo and behold, my mama was hanging on to this chair that belonged to my grandparents. I painted it up right nice, and it works perfectly. Plus, my grandparents are now represented in the room- win win!

The dresser. This was the antique dresser that I got a killer deal on when refinishing Stefan's former room, so we just dragged it right down the hall to it's new little home.

F-R-A-S-E-R blocks. They were a gift from our friends Kim & Greg when Fraser was born, and they're the only thing that survived the room transition... way to go Kim & Greg ;). Now we should probably get our hands on some S-T-E-F-A-N blocks lest the youngest begin to develop a complex (this is not a hint, Kim & Greg...  hahaha... but if you could advise as to where such blocks could be purchased, we would be forever grateful)!

Et voila.

And now some pictures that Danielle took of us enjoying the room as a family...

hahaha! This is a common sighting in our household.

We're still waiting on a red vintage hanging airplane for the corner above the dresser, then it will be DONE done. That is until I become inspired again... haha (sorry Lowell). This painting/project business has become somewhat of a disease. And a highly contagious disease at that. My pal, Chelsea, and I take turns burning ourselves out with projects, claiming that we're sick of it, swearing off painting for life... then promptly becoming re-inspired after seeing (or even hearing about) the other's recently completed project. It's a sickness (and I think our husbands will agree), but at least it's a fun sickness that results in pretty things!

Feb 2015 edited to add...

We finally got the big hangy vintage airplane thingy! And Kim & Greg responded to our super subtle non-hint, and sent us 'Stefan' blocks. AND Danielle found us a perfect little red wooden airplane. THANKS GUYS! So here it is... the room is FINALLY complete.

Thanks Kim & Greg!

Thanks Danielle!

And that's a wrap, folks! Until we transition the boys to bunk beds... ;)