This week I have so many favorites for you! I’ve had a busy week and I feel like it’s not going to get any less busy until the house is completed. Tonight we have Ian’s work Christmas party, which should be fun. If you didn’t know, my brother in law works with Ian, so my sister will be there tonight too!! Whoohoo! More sister time!
This weekend we’re fiiiiiinally potty training Alexander. Yes, we should have done this sooner, but meh, we’ve been busy. He’ll use the toilet just fine, we just need to do the whole big boy underwear thing and stay home for the weekend to really finalize the no diapers thing. (Although, he’ll still wear diapers for bed for a while.) If you have ANY tips for us, leave them in the comments!
Ok, on to the favorites!
I started using this moisturizer serum over a month ago when I got a small size in my Play Box. Obsessed, I ordered this pack and LOVE the thicker version as well!
If you want a skin care set that won’t break the bank, this $22 option includes a cleanser, moisturizer, and eye cream! It’s also received Allure’s Best of Beauty award! I would suggest this to people who currently aren’t really taking care of their skin, or want to take it up a notch.
Target currently has a BOGO on kid’s clothes and I ordered Alexander this and this. They’re cute and comfortable, so he can wear them to church in the colder months or I can throw them on him before he runs out to play! For that price, I’m happy to get both!!
I picked up this sweater from H&M this week and I LOVE it!!!
I’ve been in a tea mood a LOT lately, and this tea or anything mint have been my favorites. I still drink them black, but feel like I should try them with milk. Haha, maybe they’ll stain my teeth less.
That being said, I have a teeth whitening kit for you that I love. I got feedback from several of you that your dentist whitening tubes were suuuper expensive, so I found a kit alternative online. It’s currently 10% off.
These sugar cookies are delicious and SUPER easy. I like to make a few batches and give them to our doctors, the UPS/FedEx/USPS guys, etc. I want to do the kind with shapes, but honestly, our rental house has NO counter space and it kind of hampers how often and what we bake. In the new house I have a TON of room to work, so expect posts on food waaaaay more often.
These shark socks are the most hilarious white elephant gift ever. If you don’t have time to have them personalized for a size, just order these. I love a great white elephant gift!
Those are a few favorites! 
If you didn’t see on Instagram, my house is BLUE!!! Like, super blue. Lol. I seriously hope my new neighbors don’t hate it. LOL. I love it though, it makes me happy. As far as progress, the trim guys are done (which means bookshelves, fireplace, cabinets, wainscoting, etc.) so the painters get to start inside today! The final grade outside (them flattening out our lot) is today as well, and the landscaping/fence/sod/sprinklers begin on Monday! I picked very specific trees to go with the house because it’s so dang tall. I wanted something that will balance the two-story and give a bit of height to hide two stories of blue siding. No seriously, It’s a tiny, tall house. Ok, not tiny, but definitely the smallest in our neighborhood. Here’s the tree I selected:
Since there is only 3 of us, I really wanted something around the size of our last house just slightly bigger with a bigger yard. This made us opt out of houses with 5 or 6 bedrooms because how many guest/office/workout rooms do you need? Haha, we will have less storage space than the last house, but I’m ok with that. We could stand to have less junk that we keep for no reason. Less storage room hopefully equals less junk and clutter. So we literally have 3 bedrooms on the second level and a guest in the basement and that’s it. Nothing crazy. It actually reminds me a bit of my aunt’s historic home- a hosting floor on the main level with all bedrooms upstairs. (Although hers is HUGE and the ceilings are like 12 feet high. I don’t know how workers did that in 1887!!! Blows my mind.
I’m so excited to be able to have a home with room to have friends over (many at once) where everyone has room to sit comfortably! Did I tell you Ian and I went around and wrote Bible verses on the framing before they added sheetrock? We wanted our faith to be part of the literal foundation of our house. 🙂 Hilariously, the day after we did that they sheetrocked over it. Haha, good timing!
Here’s a few random pictures of the house inside: 
Ok, I’ll post pics once it’s done! Sorry those are so dark, I took them at 5:10 last night and it gets dark SO EARLY!!!
Happy Friday, friends!
Yay, Color!!! I’m so excited to see the finishing touches!!
Potty training: don’t get frustrated, he’ll get it when he’s ready. I would ditch the diapers as soon as you can stand to do a little laundry. Get a waterproof mattress cover, put a few extra towels under the sheets and let him figure out waking up wet is not fun. Both my boys were totally opposite potty trainers. Titus easy, fast, no accidents. He liked the instant candy reward. Die-cast Planes figures for #2. Solly was not interested
for-ev-er!! Candy, toys, sticker chart, nothing motivated him. With him we’ve had to restrict drinks the couple of hours before bedtime. He can have a drink before bed,actually my kids go to bed with water cups, it’s the hour or two before bed time I have to watch. To motivate him to wake up dry, he got a full sugar cube in the morning (worst mom ever?). Only thing that would work. I only had to do it maybe a week. But it worked!! Hah. So all in all, you’ve got to find his die-hard motivator. And a couple other tips I won’t post here ?. Good luck!!
Your new house sounds wonderful and I LOVE that farmhouse sink. We recently renovated our kitchen and I wanted to do a sink like that but we would have had to cut the doors of our cabinets and that led to a whole host of other issues but if I was building from scratch it would be a no brainer! I can’t wait to see pictures when you move in!
I wanted to chime in on the potty training. My two sons are 17 & 19 and I never even approached potty training until they were a few months past their 3rd birthdays. Too much hassle and you know what? When we did it was easy. Talked about it with them, put underwear on them and BAM by the end of a weekend it was a done deal. No games or prizes just use the potty, you’re getting big! I still put them in a pull up at night for awhile but once those were dry for a few consecutive nights those were history too.
I say this because there’s a lot advice from well meaning friends to hurry up and potty train but as the mom you know what’s right. You can either be cleaning up messes and changing underwear all day or wait till they’re ready and streamline the process.
Wishing you all the best!
xo,
Kellyann
I think nothing is more awesome than having a blue home. I can imagine that your house will look fantastic once it’s done. That tree is tall!
StyleSprinter Blog by Katya Bychkova