Last month, I decided to start sharing a monthly roundup of my Instagram pictures. Months seem to go by in a flash and this my little way of remembering these moments & sharing snippets of our day to day life [ the fun apps & filters make it that much sweeter ] This month we're getting settled into our home, and day taking little day trips with the kiddos, celebrating birthdays, learning to make homemade lattes & starting DIY projects [ hello Campaign Dresser, I'm talking about you] and more. Feel free to follow me at @mrsclh

Row One: Making the super yummy crowd pleaser, baked Vodka Cheese Ravioli // Riding the rides in Santa Cruz // Love how Avery's bedding and Soon to be roman shades look together

Row Two: Avery sipping his milk like a big boy // Discovering my latest Starbucks Addiction [ iced vanilla lattes at home ] // Starting to refinish my campaign dresser

Row Three: Avery laughing while watching 'The Three Little Pigs // My toddler the animal hoarder // I received this special print as a house warming gift [ thanks again Lauren!! ]

Row One: Avery holding tight to his Lobster while riding to Santa Cruz // Super spoiled thanks to one of my girlfriends housewarming gifts a Nepresso Machine [I've wanted one for like ever] // Celebrating Hasani's birthday with yummy deep dish Chicago style pizza

Row Two: Found a forest of Fiddle Leaf Fig trees at my local Home Depot // Hasani & I enjoying margaritas // Hasani's b-day package arrived, crossing my fingers he loves it

Row Three: Enjoying a homemade latte while I chill in bed // Our sweet little Avery taking an epic long nap // Sharing a picture of our Fiddle Leaf Fig tree [ say that three times fast, I dare you]

Hope your month of July was amazing and busy too, I'm getting sad that Summer is pretty much over around here. Tabari starts back to school in a two weeks and then its back to the daily grind, deep sigh I miss the Summer days when I was a kid and Summer was months and months.

PS: Only two days left to enter the $100 Gift Card Giveaway with National Builder Supply, enter here

Tell me does it feel like your Summer is almost over too?

If your like me then you've been seeing Fiddle Leaf Fig Trees pop up all over blog land. I loved that this pretty tree wasn't the typical palm houseplant, in the pictures it looked leafy and sculptural and freaking cool. There I said it the Ficus Lyrta aka Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, is freaking cool! Several months ago (Feb 2013) I was looking though Sunset magazine and came across this

article

about chic houseplants (I know so fitting, lol) I was really intrigued about adding three houseplants to our home, one being the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree. In addition to the Fiddle Leaf Fig tree, I love the

Black Aralia

, and the

Vriesia hieroglyphica

hybrid

(image via

Sunset Magazine

)

Over the past few months, I've spotted a Fiddle Leaf Fig Tree at Ikea,

but

it looked dead. In my opinion Ikea has a great selection of plants, but its it or miss in terms it actually being alive and kicking. I wasn't actively hunting for a fiddle leaf tree, but had it in my mind one would be perfect in our house. On Sunday morning, I stop in our local Home Depot looking for a new paint stripper for our

Campaign Dresser

, yup I just started working on refinishing it (it will be done this week and I'll share after pictures next week) Anyways, Hasani and I stopped in the house plant section when I spotted a forest of Fiddle Leaf fig trees!!

I was

ecstatic because they had several to choose from and at good prices (check out my Instagram picture

here

) From what I've seen around the Internet they can range from affordable to crazy expensive in upwards of hundreds of dollars. Our Home Depot, had two large size ones, smaller than the one in magazines for $99 bucks. Lucky for me that had medium sizes for only $15.99, during checkout I asked if these plants had a one year warranty (they do) because everything I've read they are hard to keep alive.

Here are two of the tree medium size Fiddle Leaf Fig trees, I spotted while at Home Depot. All three looked pretty healthy with only a few spots on the lower leafs.

Here's our new not the typical house plant in our home. For the time being I'm using this simple white planter, I picked up on clearance at Lowes. I love the idea of using a large woven basket instead of a basic planter, adds another later of warmth and texture. We have a large woven basket we use for Avery's toys that we picked up from Target months ago, I'm considering buying another one. But my plan is to pop into Marshall's and Home Goods this weekend because they have an amazing selection of baskets (for cheap).

Right now, I'm in the process of finding out what area of my home our new plant will thrive & we're also dealing with a curious two year old who loves to touch. I'm trying to teach Avery to '

look with his eyes and not with his hands

' parenthood, we are deep in the trenches of toddler-dom. Here's our tree in our mudroom / laundry room, I place it in here for morning filtered light.

I found this post from the

Gardenista

very helpful for learning to care of our new houseplant. I'm so looking forward to getting our living room & dining room areas more filled out in terms of style and decor and can't wait to see pretty images of our Fiddle Leaf Fig tree (like the one below) when I walk though our front door.