I Love Friday

These weeks are seriously going by so fast. I think that might be what happens when you get into the groove of things (although I have to be honest I've felt like we are way further into February than just the 13th!).  Life has been pretty good to us lately and I am looking forward to some more positive things coming our way!

{ONE}

 via

Tomorrow is LOVE DAY.  I had all sorts of plans to try and do a Valentines photo shoot with Ellie but time just slipped away - maybe I'll get it done a day late.  I did try to do some more craftsy things with my girl (and two of the kids that I watch) to help me get out of my comfort zone a little more.  Last week we did some painting and holy cow did Ellie love it!  I have trained her well (and am a huge helicopter) that it was actually a very clean experience.  I did kind of cheat and do the project at one of my nanny houses....but progress.  This week I made cookies with the kids and this morning I made this recipe, I added in some chex cereal as well because Ellie is addicted.  Thanks Mel!!! it is so good. Tomorrow my MIL is taking Ellie for the day so that Thomas and I can head out to the Flower and Garden Show in Seattle and make a day date out of it.  We even looked through the program and have decided to go to one of the seminars - of course its the one about raising goats.  This flower show is near and dear to my heart since I grew up going to it with my mom, so many great memories and I love that I am able to share her gardening passion!

{TWO}

I feel like all I have been doing since the new year is work in our master bathroom.  On Monday I posted my inspiration board and really hope that I am able to achieve the overall look on a lesser budget.  After some further discussion we have chosen to go with a marble look tile and a dark grout - hopefully we can get that installed before the summer.  I just have a few places I need to touch up the paint this weekend and then dare I say it? I think I will be done with all the painting!!! Well at least until we pick out some mirrors and then I'll need to paint behind the existing mirrors.  It's coming along, slowly but surely and I am so excited to finally be done and to have our bathroom back!!

{THREE}

I also posted about my second Stitch Fix this week.  It was a total fail, except I did decide to keep the grey top.  I so love getting these fixes in the mail and trying on all the stuff.  After this one I did go back and make a few changes to my profile, so hopefully that will help me to get a better fix next time.  And if you have been on the fence and want to sign up, please do so through my referral link here, that way I can get a nice little bonus on my next fix!!

{FOUR}

You may have noticed the GoFundMe widget on my sidebar.  Thomas and I set that up so that we can fundraise to adopt a brother for Ellie.  Our goal is to raise at least half of the total costs for adoption, so that would be about $10,000.  Before we can even officially start the process we are needing to raise $2,500. that will pay for our home study, and re-application fee's with our agency.  One of my good blog friends has made our first donation and we are so blessed by her generosity.  Any little bit helps us get closer to growing our family and giving Ellie the blessing of a brother.  Siblings can bring so much more love, kindness, and fun into a family.  Since getting pregnant is pretty much not in the cards for us we are not going to be able to give Ellie a sibling the "easy" way, we were so pleased with our adoption experience with Ellie that we are going to go through the same agency again and hopefully bring a brother home for Ellie in the next 12 months!  The process is long, complicated, emotional and expensive but you really can't put a price on family!!  It is our hope to be a family of 6, so more likely than not we will go through this process a total of four times (unless we get crazy lucky with twins!!)  Anything will help us on this journey, whether it be a monetary donation or prayers for a quick and seamless adoption process, or sharing our GoFundMe page, it all means the world to us!!  Thank you.

{FIVE}

On Wednesday I had one hour that was kid-free and all to myself!! That rarely happens.  Thomas picked Ellie up on his way home from work, my nanny mom got home early and I had an hour to spare before it was time to head to MOPs.  So I did what any mom would do when she is kid-free and headed myself straight to Target and then the mall.  I probably went against #momcode and all I did was "shop" for Ellie!! Oh my word there are so many cute things out there right now for toddler girls and I want it ALL!!! But with an adoption and its costs in the near future I just got to enjoy looking at all the sweet clothes (not to mention but the baby boys clothes are so cute too).  I am on a huge floral kick right now and this top is so cute! Why can't I find anything like this for me? c'mon stitch fix get it for me!!! Then I headed over to Old Navy and am swooning over this this this this and this. I mean seriously. Of course you can shop all of these through Ebates and get cash back on all of your purchases.  If you haven't signed up for Ebates yet feel free to do so through my referral link and you'll get a $10 Target card and I'll get a nice little something on my next big fat check!!

Happy Friday Y'all have a great weekend and Happy Valentine's Day too!

♥ Ashley

Linking up everywhere today, click to see.