Happy 2nd Birthday Tobias!!!

***I thought I had posted this earlier on Friday but apparently my internet had different ideas...so this is a day late. But still has the same meaning :-) Enjoy pictures of my little guy throughout his first 2 years of life!***

I can't believe my little boy is 2 years old already!!! Totally insane. It has gone by fast but I have enjoyed every single minute of it. He is such an amazing toddler and I can't wait to see the man he becomes. I'm excited to see what interests him, what sports he might play, activities he'll be involved in and what he chooses as a career (he can already say "agriculture" and "engineer" thanks to his grandpa and great-grandpa). I pray every single day that he grows up to be caring, loving, hard-working, respectful, humble and a God-fearing man. I pray that he learns from his triumphs and failures. That he has a giving heart, one that is compassionate and wants to help those in need not just in our own community but across the world. But I pray mostly that he is able to change the hearts of others to bring glory to God. Because God is the one that brought him into this world and gave him life. This amazing life that we are able to experience with family and friends. Life that we are able to enjoy because of His glory and awesomeness.

"Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him." -Psalm 127:3

"People were also bringing babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. When the disciples saw this, they rebuked them. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.'"
-Luke 18:15-17

"See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"
-1 John 3:1

"Praise the Lord. Blessed are those who fear the Lord, who find great delight in His commands. Their children will be mighty in the land; the generation of the upright will be blessed."
-Psalm 112:1-2

"Praise the Lord. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."
-Psalm 106: 1

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOBIAS JAMES!!! WE LOVE YOU!!!
- mommy and daddy

New Bookshelf and Renovations

We have been doing lots of renovating at our house lately. Mostly for Tobias's toddler room so once our sweet little baby girl is born she can move directly into the nursery. Tobias's room has been taking a lot longer then we thought it ever would. We did stray from our original plan though by adding bead board and chair rail around the whole room. But I definitely do not regret that decision. It looks amazing! And I'm so excited to see it all get put together. Here are some sneak peaks (they're from my phone, hence the very long pictures):

This is the closet. We've (by "we" I mean my dad and Trey) built custom shelves for it and a divider with a lock so half of the closet will be for just Tobias and the other half will be much needed storage that he won't be able to get into. Oh, and that's his bedspread, the Madras Quilted Bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I love it. It's so boyish and fun!

The bead board and chair rail we added...all primed and ready to be painted.

My very enthusiastic helper. He was "painting" with a caulking tool.

Recently Tobias, my mom and I took a quick trip to the Twin Cities and did some major shopping at IKEA. What is now Tobias's toddler room used to be Trey's office when he worked from home and our storage room. Since our house was built over 100 years ago we have hardly any built-in storage. Which means we have to get quite creative sometimes. The closet in Tobias's room is now divided, half for him and half for storage. But the rest of the contents in that room had to get moved out. And put somewhere. Some of it went to the attic, a bunch got put into a garage sale or donated...but the rest needs to be put in a different location. So...IKEA comes to save the day. A lot of what is getting moved are books and office supplies. I have an "office" downstairs in our living room that has the potential to be nicely organized but let's be honest...it never is. So we bought two bookshelves from IKEA with lots of potential to store those lovely office items and stay organized. We chose the Fjalkinge Shelving Unit with 2 Drawers.

We put up one yesterday...and I am already in love. It is amazing! I can't wait to get the other one up and put the rest of our clutter (that is currently sitting in our hallway upstairs) away. Here are our "process" pictures of all of the "junk" that needs to go on the shelf or put somewhere else. Eventually I'll go through it all and probably throw away about a third of it. Eventually.

And here is the shelf put up! We attached it to the wall so it is extremely sturdy, just in case some little guy decides to climb it. He's not much of a climber, except for on chairs, but you never know.

And my little helper. He's so hilarious with that cheesy grin :-)

"Finished" product. There's a clock sitting on the very top that will get hung and I'm sure the shelves will change about 100 times before I figure out what I like/want for organization and prettiness.

Again, my little helper.

There's still a lot of things on the floor that will go on the other bookshelf once it's built. And I'm debating on what style of baskets I should get for the bottom shelf storage. The cream containers aren't doing it for me anymore. Plus I've had them for about 5-ish years and they're a little worn now. Time for something new anyways. And more stylish!

He's all ready to work! Gosh, he sure does pose for the camera. Too funny :-)

Anyone else have an old house with little built-in storage? What are your creative storage solutions or techniques that you use to stay organized? I definitely could use some advice!