I think this is brilliant

Stephmodo is another one of my go-to sites for pretty things. When I read this I knew she was a genius! So, what does a wannabe genius like myself do? Copy!

Imagine the last push to get out the door. You're on the floor, getting coats, bags, and shoes on everyone. Wait, they don't have socks. Now, you hear the complaining about not wanting to go all the way upstairs to go get the socks. Honestly, you don't blame them - you don't want to either.

I happened to have one extra basket, made a quick liner, labeled it (of course) and throw socks in it. It's brilliant, it's easy, and it makes getting out the door just a little bit easier!

What else can I copy? What do you do to help get going on your errands a little easier (besides hiding your head in a bucket and never wanting to leave the home)?

Candy Bar Contest

This is a fun activity we did growing up and we did it last night for Family Night. Let me tell you, it was a hit! The premise is pretty simple. Buy a bunch of candy bars, cut them up, everyone takes a bite and then votes. Thumb up meant it was your absolute favorite. Thumbs sideways meant you could take it or leave it. Thumbs down meant I don't want this in my mouth any more. I. made a chart, of course, and kept track of points. We gave 5 points for thumbs up, 3 points for thumbs sideways and 0 points for thumbs down. We ended up have Crunch bar and Almond Joy tying for the win, with Reese Fast Break coming out dead last. Tom couldn't believe I was taking pictures of the whole thing - some men just don't understand the pull of blogging.

There are so many ways to alter this for you - girl scout cookies, ice cream flavors, jelly belly flavors, etc. etc. I cut each candy bar into 8 pieces and because of this, they didn't even eat a whole candy bar by the time the night was over, but they thought they had eaten so much more. My favorite part was I. saying "Is everyone ready to vote? Cast your vote on 1,2,3...." She made that up herself and insisted that she was the only one who could say it because she was in charge of treat. That girl. . .

Grateful Sunday

I have gushed about my husband over and over, but I am grateful for this guy. Who wouldn't be in love when your husband spends 2 hours cleaning your fridge. We're talking using the shop vac, moving and sweeping underneath it - - you know, he's a keeper.



Yesterday morning, we had snow, it all melted by the time the sun came up. We still went to the park and what fun we had. M. wouldn't keep on her mittens and squeal when she touched snow. G. insisted on wearing his snow boots for the 1/8" that was left. I. just loves the snow - everything about it. It was fun.



We are all healthy - what a week this was, but I except for some runny noses (which may be a result of the park adventure) we're doing good.



The girls are officially in their room, and I love it. It took us 2 months, which is about the norm for us in painting and putting up moulding. The girls love it, and now I can relax a little bit. I'll get up pictures, but I'm so intimidated by my subpar camera.



I got M.'s hair in pigtails and it delighted me everytime I saw them.



Company - Tom's parents will be here this week. Everytime we have someone visit, I like to use it as an excuse to "fluff" the house a little bit. Not sure what this will entail this week. Dad-in-law said he needed a project, which we've got plenty to do! yeah!



Have a great week - reading your comments and your blogs ALWAYS puts a smile on my face. Thanks.

Laurel

Ready to join the party

Now, normally I'm pretty indifferent to being invited to parties, but since this one takes 10 minutes, I just invited myself! The Nester, who is pretty darn fabulous according to me, has written a series of posts on how to make a great room in 10 minutes. They are great tips, she has such a good sense of style. Anyways, tablescaping wasn't exactly on the list, but that's what I need a lot of help with. I have this console table at the bottom of my stairs. I love it, I really love it. I just have a hard time knowing how to accessorize it. Along comes Nester with a post on tablescaping and this (minus the Halloween stuff, it was pretty bare):

became this in 10 minutes:

Please excuse the horrible camera. My sis let me know yesterday that my pictures are horrible and I should just go get a new camera, but I'm pretty sure that's not going to happen. Sorry.

OK - I didn't follow her instructions exactly ( I do not own any crystal spheres - or trays) but a little this and that and it makes such a big difference. What do you think?

Go check out Nester - you'll love her, everyone does.

PS - after looking at these, I went down at looked at the pictures of my kids. They ARE level, I even took a level to them to make sure. They sure don't look like it in the pictures.

Bananas, Rice, Toast, and Applesauce . . . .

a couple of days of eating that, and we're good to go, at least I am. Something's not right with M.'s tummy, and I. was throwing up last night. Poor G. - he has no symptoms, but I'm treating him like he does. Anyways, while they were lying on the couch feeling miserable, I was getting some custom monogramming done (you all know you can contact me and I'll see what I can do if you are interested). They seemed so content, so I just kept sewing. I have a dear dear friend who has a birthday coming up. I made this pillow for her, and of course, I love it. I know I could sass it up a bit - add buttons, or trims. But this fits my friend. She doesn't need all that extra stuff.

Then, my kids needed me and the pillow ended up following me around waiting to get the bottom sewn. I noticed it looked great in so many places.

It was sitting on my counter on the landing and it looked great:

I love it on my white couch.

I love it next to my console table.

I love it on the stairs.

I even love it on my green couch (which is freshly professionally cleaned!!)

I like it so much, I'm going to make some and put them in my shop. Email me if you have questions!

Grateful Sunday

I'm sick today . . . . . I stayed home from church and am trying to keep some food down. Yuck! It's been going around and I guess you can just cuddle sick kids for so long before you get what they get. Needless to say, I am grateful for:

Valentines Day - heart shaped meatloat, pink mashed potatoes, and strawberry salad. Complete with candles, linens, and anything to make my loved ones feel loved.

I'm another year older - and it was properly celebrated.

I'm done thinking - have a great week.

A Spring Tease

Tom brought home some flowers yesterday that make me yearning for Spring, perfect for a morning where there is a dusting of snow on the ground. We planted daffodils in a planter in our front yard last fall. Now, I'm really hoping that we will enjoy them in a couple of months. I'm craving being outside. We've got an entire backyard to landscape, and I just get so impatient waiting to go work on it. For now, though, I'll enjoy a little spring in my home:

On another note, I followed the many many many blggers out there and embellished a shirt for I. to wear to school today. Her jeans have all been getting holes in the knees, so I patched a pair up with hearts for her. I do think they look pretty cute. So easy - how can GAP get away with charging so much for a shirt that I can make while the noodles boil? Seriously, if people knew how easy it was, would they still buy it?Have a great Valentines Day

Birthday Traditions

I love to make a BIG deal out of my kids birthdays. Well, I would love to, but I always seem to be running around doing it last minute. We have made some traditions, now, that are fast and the kids HAVE to have. Let me share a few of our favorites:

Breakfast Cereal - They get to pick ANY cereal they want to have - they don't even have to wait for their birthday to eat it. This is a big deal, because I never buy sugar cereals, and I usually/always pick what's on sale. This year, G. picked Lucky Charms, which makes everyone happy. I love M.'s morning bed hair!

New Shirt - I can iron some Wonder Under on fabric, cut out a number of the year they turn, do a quick stitch around it, and it becomes a favorite shirt! Quick, cheap, but super fun.

Birthday Banners - Now some people go all out with banners, but I am not a scrap booker. I just buy some paper and make it real quick. I always think I'll make a more permanent, nicer banner, but then I don't get around to it. My kids love seeing their names up. We also leave it up for at least a week, partly because I forget to take it down, partly because they love it.

Newspaper number on window - this is strictly my husband's tradition. He gets up real early, and cuts out the number our of Newspaper so it is really big. I've told him to stop announcing to our neighbors how old I am, but he loves it. I've tried to upgrade to some different type of paper, but according to Tom, newspaper it always has been and so newspaper it will remain! No picture, because I kind of think it's tacky, but we still ALWAYS do it.

We go off and on with other rituals, but the ones above are must haves for my kids. I have gone all out and done BIG themed parties, but honestly, I think in the end they don't care as much as I wish they would. I've noticed in my 6.5 years of being a mother, it's the little things that count. These are certainly little things, and they certainly count!


PS - I'm loving my new rugs I got from the Target Design stuff this month. I got 2 of them and put them on both sides of my island - they are big and I love it! Hope they don't get trashed in the next month.


PPS - G. took this picture of me - hope I'm always this smiley when my kiddos see me!

Grateful Sunday

This past Sunday, while we were visiting my parents, my Dad said he missed reading my Sunday posts. I didn't know anyone really even read these! Everywhere I look around, I see something I am so grateful for and feel especially blessed. These include

• A terrific week with my parents. Tom has all the pictures on his camera, so they are saved on his computer. Anyway, we really had a fun time, my kids feel totally loved, M. got to meet my grandparents, etc. etc. Thanks Mom and Dad
• My little G. turned 4, I can't believe it!! We celebrated at Grandmas with a dinner of chicken nuggets and toaster waffles, and a rousing couple games of Bingo! When we returned home, we went off to Toys R Us for G. to spend his birthday money and to cash in on a marble run that was to big to fit in our suitcases. His little playgroup is coming over tomorrow to do a little more celebrating. It takes very little to make G. happy, he's the best!
• I love this upcoming week. Not only is it my birthday, but also V-day! We have sugar cookie dough in the fridge, pink shirts for my girls waiting for the hearts to be appliqued on them, boxes of chocolate conversation hearts. It is going to be a great week!
• I have the best husband, enough said.

Winter Inspiration

This time of year, I crave white - all white! I always gravitate toward neutral earth tone colors, but even then, there is something beautiful about white. These images just scream to me:

We don't have much going on - the carpets are getting cleaned as well as the couch (I'm kind of giddy at this), so we are trying to stay out of the house and just let those floors dry.

PS - I stole all these images of Layla's The Lettered Cottage. She is one of my go-to girls for inspiration. I could have looked around forever, but I didn't have to - Layla does it all for you! Go see.