February | 2013 | myMCMlife.com

New Home Tour: Den/Playroom

02/28/2013

Depending on the angle of the photo, it looks like a den…

But 98% of the time it’s a playroom. (Technically, it’s a guest room, too, though it hasn’t been used as such yet. Someday it’ll be a bedroom.)

The closet is full of books, toys and games.

A few things to note about this room:

The sofa is vintage. We’d like to reupholster it someday but it’s not in bad shape and the pull out mattress is in excellent shape.

The rug is from Urban Outfitters. I purchased it for a staging project right before we moved in. We had it in the living room for a little while but it was way too small in there. It’s perfect in here.

This room is the smallest bedroom in the house but the super high ceilings make if feel big and the high windows and concrete wall make it very unique. I’m hoping a teenager will love it as a bedroom someday.

The play stove is second-hand, hand made but someone. I got it at a yard sale. It was Ali’s adoption day gift.

Ali’s navy table was a Christmas gift from Grandma and Grandpa. The metal folding chair is vintage from an estate sale in my neighborhood. I got it when I was putting together our first room for future foster kids.

The small guitar was a baby shower gift before our first placement. It’s still a bit too complex for Ali but she likes to bang on it, August Rush style. The blue guitar is really special to me. It was the guitar Jason first learned to play guitar on…it deserves it’s own post.

The TV is not attached to anything except power. Eventually we plan to get another Roku box for this room (which we use for Hulu and Netflix) and attach a DVD player. We’ll also need some kind of shelving for that.

The robot decals I won from a giveaway on Design Mom. Ali loves to give them kisses.

Ali’s favorite activities right now are the slide (going down and sending toys down) and sitting at her table to play with stickers

…

FYI, our architect is Ryan Thewes.

New Home Tour: Kitchen

New Home Tour: Living Room

New Home Tour: Dining Room

Leave a Comment » | Art, Art: house tour, Art: interior design, Art: modern design, Family, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: den, kids, new home tour, new house, parenting, playroom, toys | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Buried in Paperwork

02/27/2013

OK, not really buried. See that small stack of paper work? It’s 25 or so forms that I need to fill out before the home visit with our case worker tomorrow.

(The big binder jammed full of paperwork in the background is from our training, home study and 1st year classes from almost 2 years ago.)

I’m on deadline at work with one of the three magazines I design. I have worked the past two evenings trying to get that all wrapped up. One more day…maybe two…and I’ll be able to take a good, long, deep breath.

In other words, the post I had planned to write for today didn’t happen. Tour of another room in our new home coming tomorrow. I’ll be back soon.

Leave a Comment » | Family, Family: Foster Parenting, Family: Me | Tagged: busy, foster care, work | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

And Then There Were Two

02/26/2013

Oh, but not a foster placement. Boy did I confuse a few people on facebook! On the foster care front, our case worker is coming out on Thursday to check out our new home and move us back into open status, assuming all goes well. (GULP.) We could potentially start getting placement calls this weekend. (DOUBLE GULP.) Our home is as ready as it’s going to be, which made it easier for us to agree to watch our friends’ little boy Jaron for 4 days/nights with less than 24 hours notice. We joked that it would be good practice for life with two kids but dang… it was good practice! We learned a lot. It was almost as big of an adjustment as suddenly being parents to a toddler (our first placement). That was encouraging on two levels – 1. It was not as big of an adjustment. (We’re experienced now! Woot!) and 2. With our first major adjustment it got better after a week or two so I know that it would get better with two kids, also. The major difference, of course, is that we already knew and loved Jaron and his parents and we knew it would just be a few days. They also gave us a ton of directions on how to care for him, clothes, food, toiletries, etc. All of those things made it easier. It was still very stretching to have two almost-twin toddlers, and I know it was hard on little Jaron, too. One of the biggest things I learned: Being out numbered by munchins is no joke! It was much easier when Jason and I were both there to split the duties. He’d put one kid to bed, I’d put the other to bed. He’d carry one kid into the store, I’d carry the other. We both had at least 1 day where we were solo parenting both kiddos. Oy! But again, I know it would get better the longer we had to settle into a ruetine and get used to each other. Ali did really well sharing her parents. I hardly noticed any jealousy. There were a few periods when both kids wanted the one-on-one adult attention that they’re used to and I wasn’t able to meet both of their needs at once. They weren’t upset with each other but at one point while I was trying to warm up some leftovers for dinner (no way I was going to be able to cook!) and I had one kid clinging to each of my legs. It would have been comical if the shrieking/crying/whining wasn’t making me lose my mind. I even attempted to take a photo so I could laugh about it later but it don’t turn out. And I realized…What am I doing?! Just get the dang food in the microwave so I can sit on the floor and hug both kids at the same time.

So on to the fun stuff. These two are so sweet together.

This boy is a messy eater! Lord, have mercy…He’s so stinkin’ cute though. Smiles and laughs easily.

They two both get kissed a lot by their parents so they love to kiss each other as well. So cute!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Ali thought the chalk would make good lipstick…her latest obsession.

Hi, Lucy! Yes, I still love you.

Flashback… one year ago:

2 Comments | Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends, Family: Me, Family: Precious/Ali | Tagged: adoption, Ali, buddies, friends, Jaron, kids, parenting, toddlers | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

New Home Tour: Dining Room

02/25/2013

Our dining room is sunny, shiny and functional. It’s pretty minimalist for now, which helps with keeping it clean when you have a 19 month old. It overlooks our courtyard and natural light pours in all day long.

I’m very happy with our impulsive decision to get the big version of the IKEA MASKROS light for this room.

Besides the planet-size chandelier, the biggest statement of the dining room is the exposed concrete block wall that runs along the face of most of our house, including the courtyard.

This room gets some pretty amazing sunlight. Lunch time is particularly nice.

It may not look like it since it’s all sparkly clean for these photos, but we’re one of those weird families that all sits down together to eat here every evening. We hold hands and thank God for the food and then we all sit together until everyone is finished. Strange, huh? I love having six chairs even though we only use 2 plus a high chair most days – it feels like we’re always ready for more.

In a dream world, I’d add a rug under this table but with the amount of food that ends up under the high chair, I don’t see that happening anytime soon. A tarp maybe, but not a rug! This sweet puppy helps a lot with food clean up but she’s a picky eater. Lucy won’t eat any vegetables except raw onions, very little fruit and no seafood.

This big blank wall is just begging for art. I know what I want to put here but it’s not going to be cheap to get a giant canvas or poster made. So we wait. Good thing we like white walls. We’d also like put a credenza or hutch against that wall.

FYI, our architect is Ryan Thewes.

New Home Tour: Kitchen

New Home Tour: Living Room

4 Comments | Art, Art: house tour, Art: interior design | Tagged: dining room, home, home tour, house tour, mid-century modern, modern | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Phone Photo Friday

02/22/2013

I went to the doctor’s office to get an antibiotic for my upper respiratory infection and they made me wear the flu mask of shame in the waiting room, just in case. Blah. Doctor’s orders: taking the day to rest today, if my cute little girl will let me.

Most of my Phone Photo Friday pictures are from my Instagram feed. Follow me @mahlbrandt if you’d like!

1 Comment | Art, Art: Phone Photo Friday | Tagged: cell phone photography, Phone Photo Friday | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

New Home Tour: Living Room

02/21/2013

My other favorite room in our house is the the living room. It’s the perfect spot for my morning quiet time, for playing together as a family, for an afternoon cup of tea while the toddler naps, for chatting with visitors, for a late night crackling fire in the fireplace.

Eventually we’re going to get a big soft rug and a sofa that better fits the space. I love these birds and how the sunlight moves across the blue wall like geometric clouds.

I absolutely love the clerestory windows and the light shelf below them. We have strings of LED lights up there for a soft glow in the evening.

That’s a pocket door that ~~leads into~~ hides my work room (office, laundry, crafts). I always wanted a pocket door.

We’re still deciding on some large scale art for that big white wall on the right.

In the summer the foliage in the backyard is so thick we can hardly see our neighbor’s house. In the winter, Ms. Dawn gets to watch us having dance parties in our living room while she stands at her kitchen sink. We don’t mind.

We only keep a few toys in the living room since we have a den/playroom and Ali has a bedroom for her belongings. It’s nice to have a few smaller toys for her out here, though.

I put this flow chart where I’d walk past it every morning on the way to work.

I found this in Jason’s grandma’s basement a couple years ago.

We wanted to keep the living room separated from the kitchen and dining room but still feel like one big open great room. This floating wall was the perfect solution for us.

Yes, we scarred our beautiful fireplace with the dreaded big black box. Let’s face it…we use it more than the fireplace even though we’re really not much of TV watchers. Ali sometimes watches 1 or 2 shows a day on Netflix, like Dora the Explorer, Yo Gabba Gabba or Seseme Street. It’s a nice down time for all of us and some days is the only way I can get dinner made or laundry folded.

Thanks for stopping by!

FYI, our architect is Ryan Thewes.

Introducing… Marcus James

02/20/2013

If you recall, last week I explained that the reason we were unexpectedly watching our friend’s son is because the friends who were planning to babysit him had to suddenly up and go to Kansas to pick up their new one month old baby boy. They had been matched with a birth mom and had less than 24 hours notice to decide and go. They filed their adoption papers on Valentine’s Day and are currently still waiting in Kansas for the Interstate Transfer documents to come back so they can leave the state. Here are a couple photos of their little sweetheart:

They’re still in need of funds for their adoption if you’re interested in helping out. More information on their blog site.

1 Comment | Family, Family: Adoption, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: adoption, baby, Family, friends, marcus | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Ketchup

02/19/2013

I’m really thankful I had President’s Day off because I’ve had a very full weekend. It started on Tuesday night when we started watching our friend’s 15 month old son Jaron for 2 nights and 2 days. When he left to spend the weekend with his aunt and uncle, Jason was already gone to Orlando and I got hit with a cold. Ali and I had a couple low-key days and then Jason and Jaron came back on Sunday. Little J is heading home this morning with his parents. Yay for him, and for them…and for us! We joked about how it was a trial run with having 2 kids (since we’ll be reopening our home as foster parents soon) but, boy, we really did learn a lot.

I’ll be back soon to reflect on what I learned, as well as share a ton of cute pictures of these two little buddies. I also have a bunch of photos to share of our house that I was finally able to upload but haven’t edited yet. I need a little time to play catch-up and today I’m back to work. Bear with me. I’ll be back soon!

I leave you with this one picture for now. One of the few times we braved leaving the house with two kids was to go to Lowes to get mulch. They did awesome! Having two adults helped a lot! I pushed the car cart with the munchkins while Jason pushed the big flat cart with the mulch.

2 Comments | Family, Family: Extended Family and Friends | Tagged: catch up, Family, friends | Permalink
Posted by mahlbrandt

Kids Room: A Theme Developed

02/18/2013

When I started pulling together the bedroom for our next kids, the ones who will join us through foster care, I really didn’t have a theme in mind. I was just trying to use what we had. The woodland friends curtain was from the kids room at our last house and what prompted me to use green for the accent wall color. The bedding was also from the previous room.

I ordered a Nashville road map from AAA because it was a way to get a large, colorful, free piece of art for the wall. I also thought it might be helpful for older kids to see where our house is in relation to where they used to live.

As I was going through our art collection one day, I decided this room would be a nice place to display our Hatch Show Print posters. (Hatch is a historic letterpress print shop in downtown Nashville that’s famous for their concert posters.) Jason wanted to throw my old acoustic guitar away but I saved it, thinking again about older kids.

As I looked around the almost completed room, I noticed a lot of music related items and considered replacing the woodland friends curtain, even though it had been my starting point. Just yesterday it hit me! The theme of the room is the one thing every kid who lives here will have in common: Nashville. Our house is not far from Hatch Show Print in downtown Nashville. We’re also close to Shelby Park so we see lots of trees, owls and squirrels here. I love when something comes together organically like that.