Hi, it's been a while...

“Hi” blog world!  We’re back from our amazing anniversary trip to Hawaii and I wanted to do a quick post since it’s been so long.  We have been busy living life- how fun is that??  We thoroughly enjoyed our vacation and the little cowboys had a great time while my parents stayed with them {thanks again}.  

I look forward to updating the blog with more deets on all we have been up to- including beautiful vacation photos, Kal's fabulous paint party, introducing the newest members of the fam – our adopted pup Cocoa B and twin calves born to the K&K herd.  I'm sure there's more I'm forgetting as well.

*If you don't follow me on Instagram, I'm kelleysbaker.  I've been totally slacking on the blog and Facebook and twitter updates but my instagram isn't so bare. :)

Friday Favorites} Fall Decor

Happy fall y'all!

Fall is absolutely my favorite time of year.  I've had my fall decorations up most of September because I just can't wait but I thought today would be the perfect day to share because it's certainly one of my favorites!

Erika/Narci/Andrea

  

Our home feels most like "home" to me in the fall.  It's the colors, the decor - it all just feels right.  We moved into our home in the fall almost three years ago - so obviously I was in the fall mood when buying new things for the house and picking out paint.  I don't have a lot of decor but I just switch out a few flower arrangements and add pumpkins here and there.  The picture doesn't do the above arrangement justice - it features burlap ribbons (favorite) and some white pumpkins.  I need more white pumpkins in my life!

I added candy corn and candy pumpkins to my little apothecary jars.  

Now if I could just stop eating them.

And lastly the tablescape... more mini pumpkins (courtesy of my sweet neighbor) another chalkboard and more candy corn.  

Tonight the little cowboys and I are headed out with the our neighbors to pick pumpkins for the front porch.  Pumpkin picking - is anything more fun?!  

We can't wait!  

  

Kallahan is Three!

Happy birthday to our littlest cowboy.  

If I don’t do this post does that mean that you’ll remain two, Kallahan?  Oh I wish!  

You’re my baby and knowing that you’re my last makes it harder to accept that you’re moving out of the baby stage.  But we're excited for you to grow and learn and want to celebrate your special little life as much as we can.  You've LOVED planning, talking and having your recent paint birthday party {post coming soon}. 

    

Kallahan, you are such a neat kiddo.  I think daily (numerous times) that I want to freeze time because I want you to remain in this exact stage.  You are starting to verbalize more and say the sweetest and funniest things.  Just this week you told me, “love you mom.” – for the first time ever!  It was the most precious thing I have ever heard.  You haven’t been the fastest at learning to talk (you continue to receive speech services on a biweekly basis) so those three words just melted my heart.  I tucked you into bed and just sobbed after I closed your bedroom door.  One of the best moments of my life for sure.  Obviously, you are showing great signs of improvement. 

You are super smart, kind, generous and very playful.  You play well with others and even alone (so much different than your big brother).  You love doing anything with your brother and think that he's the greatest.  You LOVE to make other's laugh and will stop at nothing for a good laugh... hence some crazy comes out in you like jumping off furniture and saying naughty things (we have our hands full with you buddy!) But your little smile can light up the room and you give the best "huggies!"  You're pretty easy to forgive ;) 

We are so proud to be your parents and we love you very very very very very very much!!! Thanks for making our life 1,000,000 times more wonderful. Happy third birthday “little” man!

We are excited to see what lies ahead for you this year. 

It's not easy taking pictures of you either, silly boy.  But you're so happy.  WE LOVE YOU!

Come On In! Master Bedrooms

Happy September!  I can't believe this is my first post of the month.  Where does the time go?  We haven't been up to anything too exciting so I thought it'd be fun to link up with Andrea today for her "Come On In" series...

So, come on into our master bedroom.

  Our bedroom is located in the far back end of the house. This is the view when you first walk in.  The room is painted Harvest Gold.  We found this color when decorating my parent's house.  It's the color of their living room and this is the second master bedroom we've painted this color - it's very calming, warm and makes for a good neutral.  Our bedroom furniture was our very first purchase after we got married - now ten years ago {wow!}.  It's a nice merge of both Tyler's and mine own style.  It has a western feel but not over the top.  We updated our bedding almost two years ago when I fell in love with this bedding from Rod's.  My mom was so sweet and gave it to me for Christmas.  

 This is Tyler's night stand.  He keeps out a picture of his late granddad with his granny alongside a picture of us.  Tyler idolized his grandfather and is now living his dream working on the family ranch - carrying on a legacy.

With the new bedding, I've tried to add a few turquoise accents throughout the room.  The same year my mom gave us our bedding my sister gave us these crosses and some new accent pillows.  It all tied in the new with the old very well.   

 This is my wee little night stand - that's actually a jewelry chest.  It serves the purpose of holding a cup of water well and this sweet picture of baby Keeler.  We've had the frames above since we were in college.  A couple of years ago I replaced one of the western prints with a sweet little Mother's Day poem that Keeler made in preschool. 

 This is the dresser in front of our bed.  Again, more pictures and our TV.

I love our little window seat next to our bathroom.  I've always said I'd like to add a cushion but haven't got around to it.  In the corner I have a collection of our wedding pictures.

 This is the view leading out of our room with our chest of drawers.  Guess what, more pictures.

 If you follow me on IG, you might of caught on that some fall decorating recently went down.  I'll try to get a post up soon.

 Thank you for dropping by today!  

Friday Favorites!

Woohoo, it's Friday AND it's a three day weekend!  The week flew right by.  We're trying to figure out the school routine but this week was a bit hard and tiring because we were so busy almost every evening with random events.  I'm so thankful for the three day weekend so we can relax and get caught up on some things.

Erika/Narci/Andrea

I'm linking up today to share a few of my recent favorites... shopping edition! ;)

With the reality of our upcoming anniversary trip to Hawaii finally setting in AND quickly approaching, I decided to spend a little time online this week to pick up a few fun items. 

While searching, I stumbled onto the cutest online clothing boutique, Dainty Hooligan.  It's certainly going on my Favorites list!  They carry so many cute items and all the pricing was very affordable ($20-$40 range).  

I'm romper obsessed!  I think they will be a great item to take - I can quickly throw them on over a bikini OR dress them up with jewelry for evening dinners.  Here's a few of the items I ordered:   

Cassidy Fringe Detailed Romper

Coastline Romper With Pockets - HOT PINK

As an added perk, it's FREE SHIPPING WEEK at Dainty Hooligan.  

No promo coded needed (expires August 31)

Kohl's is always a Favorite!  I bought Tyler some items (shirts, sandals, etc..) and was issued some Kohl's cash - which is always the greatest.  I really didn't need anything else but was so excited after I started looking around... 

I picked up this adorable leopard crossbody purse.  It'll be great for traveling and will go with everything... since leopard is a neutral, right?!  Pinterest certainly says so.

My other great find were these Lauren Conrad leggings.  Seriously y'all, I already own three pairs (accumulated over the past two years) and they are the BEST leggings EVER!  They are so comfy, wash well and don't stretch out throughout the day (I hate that!).  Best of all - right now they are on sale for $4.99!!  Yes, $4.99!!

They look cute with a long flowy shirt.  But I also wear them in the winter with my boots over them.  Very versatile.  Buy now, thank me later!

Lastly, my Favorite littlest boy is turning 3 next month.  For his upcoming paint party I ordered him this cute applique shirt off Etsy from Bethanie's Bowtique.

::big cheeeeeese!::

He was soooo excited when it arrived in the mail yesterday so we had to try it on.  

Thanks for stopping in and check out the link ups!

Amy/Karli

Life Lately & Favorite Things...

We survived the first full week of kindergarten!  Keeler is loving it. One of his biggest anxieties was over the cafeteria food but after a few days he is not even mentioning it.  He took his lunch one day but hasn't asked to again.  He loves recess and almost beams when we talk about his teacher.  I am so proud of him.

I'm busy planning Kallahan's upcoming 3rd birthday.  We're doing a "paint party" at my sister's house.  When I brought home the invitations last week, Kallahan was so excited.  He carried it around for hours.  He wanted to show it to everyone that came over and even asked to take it in to Subway to show the workers, ha!  My sister and I are having so much fun working out the details and Kallahan's excitement is really making it that much more special.  I think we nailed the perfect theme for our little artist.

 Last week, Keeler started coughing.  His teacher said that several of the kids were experiencing allergies and this said cough.  We watched him closely but then all the rest of the family started feeling ill too...no fun.  The little cowboys and I managed to get over it and never really felt bad enough to miss school or work.  However, Tyler caught it and has been hit hard.  The poor guy has gone to the doctor three times, received three steroid shots and was placed on some powerful antibiotics and cough medicine.  The doctor said it's so bad it's almost to the point of pneumonia... eeek. For this reason our weekend was pretty low key and revolved around taking care of daddy and trying to make sure he got some rest.  We were all going stir crazy... I tried everything to keep the boys entertained and out of his hair - we spent hours playing Lego's, had a tea-party (don't tell daddy), did some arts and crafts, watched movies and someone may or may not of eaten almost an entire sleeve of Oreos...emphasize on the filling!  We're hoping and praying that daddy gets to feeling better very soon.

The end of the month also means it's time for a really fun link up:  

FAVORITE THINGS PARTY!

I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika to share one of my favorite things under $10.

Here's mine:

Blackberry Pomegranate Iced Green Tea To Go Packets

I love this tea!  I bought my first package a while back and found it way too sweet.  

   

However, I have started mixing the packet with the big 33.8 fl oz bottles which diluted the sweetness and now I love the taste. It's my little afternoon treat.  I'm a big hot green tea drinker in the morning but this a great way to get the antioxidants and a little caffeine boost on a hot afternoon.  Plus it's low calorie, easy and convenient!

I'm looking forward to checking out everyone's favorites!

Keeler's First Day of Kindergarten

Today was a big day in the Baker house, Keeler started kindergarten!  This is his first year in public so he's in a new school.  Luckily, he was already acquainted with his teacher by visiting on field trips he took in preschool.  He also ended up knowing a handful of children in his classroom.  

Regardless of this, for the last couple of days he's been saying he doesn't want to go and that he's scared.  On Tuesday night, we had "meet the teacher" so that settled his nerves to have us with him and get to see his room.  He went to bed the night before school very well.  This morning, he got dressed right away because he was really excited to get to wear his new Under Armour shoes.

  After we had a nice breakfast (thanks daddy) and brushed our teeth, Keeler was great about letting me take some photos.  Kallahan was also very excited to pose which is completely out of character for these two. 

We were a bit curious how Kallahan would do without Keeler all day at Granny's house.  She said he was happy as could be.  They stayed busy running errands.  When I stopped in for lunch he was watching her cook while eating "cucums" (cucumbers) but did ask about 20 times when we were going to go pick up Kee.

We went as a family to drop Keeler off.  I love that Tyler has the ability and desire to take part in these momentous occasions.  I was filled with emotions as I watched the three of them stroll into the school.  Once we got into school, I made sure I had myself together and focused on holding a smile and encouraging Keeler.

Our little boy is so grown up!

  His teacher was so sweet and met him at the door.  {She was Tyler's preschool teacher when he was little, how cool is that?!} He hung his backpack in his locker and then I walked him into the classroom.  I couldn't take my eyes off of him. When his eyes caught mine I frantically waved, smiled and gave him a big hug.  His eyes swelled up with  

tears... I felt a knot in my throat but held it together.  I leaned down and told him to have a great day and that we'd have a water balloon fight when he got home.  I said, "you're going to be okay."  And in perfect timing his teacher came right over and took him by the hand and led him to a group of little boys playing blocks.

And indeed, he was okay.  More than okay.  He was great.  He was excited to let us know that he had three recesses and made some new friends!

I am so proud. Proud of the amazing little man is he becoming. 

Go get ‘em Keeler! The world is waiting…

When I posted Keeler's picture I received several questions on how I did his chalkboard so I thought I'd share for FREE. Instructions:

- Click on the chalkboard image and save (right click) onto your computer

- Upload image onto Picmonkey.com

- Fill in the blanks with the text tools.  I used Sketch Block, EcuyerDAX , Janda Sylish Script and Stroke Dimension because they are great "chalk-like" fonts.

- Lastly save, print and pop into a cute 8x10 frame!