Saturday, December 31, 2011

Summer Wonderland

It is December 31. It is 72 degrees outside. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining at all, but that is just CRAZY. Awesomely crazy!

So, on this New Years Eve, we played outside in t-shirts and I did an outdoor photoshoot in which my subject wore a tank top. just crazy. Ok, enough about the weather. I hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Ours was lovely. We went to my in-laws for a couple of days. We opened a lot of presents and ate a LOT of sugar. My kids were absolute angels for the 3 days we were there. Traveling with 2 small children is always interesting, but they made it easy and enjoyable. My three year-old waited patiently for 3 hours while we went in a circle taking turns opening presents. I was amazed by this. He snuggled on my lap and watched as everyone else opened, then excitedly opened his gift and returned to my lap. It was heavenly and I was a proud momma. We did have a few days once we got home where they made up for all that behaving, but at least they were good for Grandma. :)

I had fun making many of the gifts we gave this year. I'm pretty sure I remembered to take pictures of them before I wrapped them up. If I can figure out which camera they are on, I will share some of those with you later on.

I did finally complete my garage makeover a couple of weeks ago! I had been wanting to turn it into a playspace that we could utilize during the "winter". Of course, it has been plenty warm enough lately to play in the backyard, but i'm sure we'll get lots of use out of it. I started by cleaning out the garage and "kid-proofing" it so I didn't have to worry as much. I made sure all the pruning shears, insecticide, etc. were up out of reach. I also was able to get rid of a bunch of junk in the process. It was AWESOME.

This is our b-ball court


Sister thinks she is big. Someone should tell her that she is tiny. I would, but she scares me. She and I had a mexican stand-off today for nearly and hour. I told her to pick up her cup after she threw it on the floor. She screamed at me. For an hour. All she had to do was pick up her cup. She did twice, but then threw it on the ground again and screamed at me some more. Finally, she decided that she was ready to pick it up and put it on the table. It only took an hour. I might have my hands full with this one. But isn't she cute. :)


This is our "electric car/LSV" aka golf cart.  Thanks to Obama's tax rebate incentives, whatever, this little darling gets to take up space in our garage. Actually, when the weather is nice in the evenings, we do take family cruises around the hood quite a bit. So ya know! It's alright I guess. 


I saw this magnet board idea on pinterest. I took an oil drip pan from walmart ($10 in the automotive section) and hung it on the wall. My friend Charissa, had the brilliant idea to get these wooden animals and stuff from Hobby Lobby (around 50 cents each) and put magnets on the back for the kids to play with! I love it! And the kids think it's pretty cool too. 

I hung this ziplock on the pegboard so the magnets don't end up all over the garage floor. Of course, they still do, but a momma can dream, right?


And our lovely ikea easel. Little Miss Priss likes all things artsy. Maybe she will be my little crafting buddy in the future. :)

So that is our new improved garage. I especially love it while I'm getting dinner ready in the evenings. I open the door that goes into the garage and let them run amok. The kitchen is close enough that I can hear them and peek in on them easily. Do any of you have any fun ideas for entertaining kids in the winter time and warding off the stir-crazies? 

I hope you all have a safe and fun New Years Eve! 
-Mica

Monday, December 19, 2011

Home Sweet Home

I don't mean to brag, but my hubby and I just spent 7 days on the beach soaking up the sun, eating guacamole, enjoying adult beverages, and changing no diapers. It was....heavenly.  After all we have been through this year, we knew we would need time to just decompress, regroup, and spend some quality time together. We stayed 4 nights at a spa resort and had resort credit to use toward spa treatments. Both of us were able to get 2 80-min massages, and 80-min facial, an 80-chocolate wrap, a 30-min massage, a manicure and a pedicure. um. yes. it was awesome.



We then transferred to a smaller resort in Cancun that was absolutely gorgeous with amazing food and very friendly staff. For the most part we just vegged out. We layed on the beach, ate, I read 4 books, we got pampered, ate some more, played Jenga and Connect 4 in the Lobby Lounge (both games are seriously underrated!), played Nerts, and ate. We also managed however, to have some quality conversations. We talked about where we go from here. What we learned from the past year. How we are different. How we are the same. What we would like to accomplish this next year. Experiences we would like to share as a family. We came home feeling rested and refreshed and missing our kids terribly.

I did fail to mention one minor detail of our trip. 6 days before we were set to fly out, my husband went and did this:


Which resulted in this:




Beach vacation + cast = bummer

In 4 more weeks, he should be back to his old self. In the meantime, he can't play basketball (the cause of the cast in the first place), work out, shower easily, etc.  He also can't do dishes, cut his own meat, change diapers, buckle carseats, take out the trash, bathe the dog, bathe the kids, write (he is left-handed!).  So...stinks for him. Also stinks for me :)  As always though, it could be so much worse.

This week should hold plenty of fun for us. On the books: a fun photo shoot!, a family movie night, dinner with friends, a painting project with my sister, a trip to the museum, some snow tubing, editing some photos, finishing some wedding projects (I can't wait to show you all the fun stuff we've made. I'll have to wait til after the wedding though) making cookies, and finishing Christmas gifts.

I hope that you all enjoy this week. Avoid the malls if possible! :) (that is my goal from Nov-Feb). Have a blessed day!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

So much to be thankful for

The last couple of weeks have been full of friends, food, family, food, fun and food. We hosted several holiday events at the house. One included 9 overnight guests. One involved a craft night with my girlfriends. It was a busy couple of weeks, but one full of rich blessings and quality time with people we love. And did I mention that there was some yummy food involved? Thanksgiving is, by far, my favorite holiday.

I've been knocking some crafts off of my TO DO list. My favorite creation is THIS:


My new planning center. I love having my grocery list, calendar, TO DO list, and menu all in one pretty little place. I covered the backboard of the frame with a fabric scrap I had laying around and printed the calendars and things off the internet. eventually, I'd like to replace them with a little bit cuter ones, but I was anxious to get this finished. <3

My old planning center looked like this. argh! mess=stress. :) now, it's all nice and tidy.


I also created this nice little graphic to hang somewhere, yet to be determined. It has all of our family's important dates. now there is no excuse to forget :)


My upcoming projects include refinishing a table that has bothered me for 4 years, and reorganizing my garage. I want to make it kid-safe so that we can play out there in the winter. i see many painting sessions, bike-riding, and other fun winter activities taking place out there! My brother's wedding date is quickly approaching as well, which means I need to get busy! I have bouquets to make, flower girl dresses to sew, a brunch to plan, and lots more fun projects! 

Although the holidays are here, as well as the busyness that comes with them, I cant help but take a step back and be thankful for all the many blessings in our life. Although 2011 has been a very challenging year, it is one for which I will be forever grateful. I hope each of you found much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving as well.