The Beginning of 2014's Projects

The last time I got on my blog was well over a year ago and I posted that I'd try and frequent my blog more regularly and then life happened and I never got back on.  Anyway, I've been making an effort to get several of my projects completed and crossed off of my "To Do" list.  Pinterest continues to amaze me and my list seems to be getting a lot longer as I'm sure everyone who loves Pinterest can feel my pain with the endless list of fun projects.

At the end of March I thought that it would be SO cool to try and get one project done a day... but really who was I kidding!  The first three days were a success but by day 4 I was still working on project three and I was swamped with my daily duties of motherhood and keeping up our household.  So, I decided that as I get a project done I'll share it on here so that I can look back on all of the fun or not so fun projects that I completed through out this year. 

Project one commenced on April 1st.  I made my girls a hair bow holder for their bathroom.  I had purchased all of the materials that I needed over a year ago (including the staple gun) but never made the time to actually do it until now.

Project two began on April 2nd.  I updated, consolidated and laminated our girls weekly chore chart.  I also made a chore chart for the upcoming summer.  When the kids are home all day our home can get a bit messy with toy clutter so during the summer our kids have extra chores.  I printed both the updated chore chart and summer chore chart back to back on card stock and then laminated it.  I don't like to waste laminating pouches so doing them back to back gives me two charts for the price of one thermal laminating pouch.
                                          FRONT                                                  BACK

Project three began on April 3rd but it took me longer than a day.  I organized and entered in the data from many many receipts into our Quicken program so that I could print out reports for our taxes.  It was not a fun project.  Next tax season I am hoping that I've kept up to date better so that it's not a huge time commitment like it was this year.

Project four began today, April 19th.  I am organizing our play area for our four kids.  I am organizing their toys into bins, printing labels on card stock and of course laminating them.  I only needed five labels but I created more for my girls room and my laundry room so that I didn't waste any laminating pouches.  I really love my laminator!  I'm not sure how long this project will take me but I'll post an update when I'm done and include a photo of the play area.

It's been a long time!

Wow! It's been a long time since I've entered blog land. We've been super busy with the girls in swimming, gymnastics and soccer.  And now that we are expecting another little one this coming September I've found myself exploring Pinterest and many fun ideas for the home and nursery.  In fact Pinterest has become my inspiration to start blogging again.  So, that being said  I hope to use this blog as a way of documenting our family's special occasions and funny stories as well as share my favorite recipes, DIY projects and craft projects.  I hope that everyone has had a happy and safe 4th of July!

Blog Update

I have been so busy I am rarely able to get on the computer to do anything other than check my email. But tonight I thought I'd do a little update.

This past weekend we celebrated Reilly's 9th birthday, watched her play in 3 soccer games, and the two little ones and I briefly went to Relay for Life to walk with Geege and Tim.

These past few months Ellie Mae has learned to army crawl, eat baby food, and has grown out of tons of clothes. She has also cut 2 new teeth and loves watching her sisters play.

Maddy is my little fire cracker. She is a very curious and determined little girl. She loves to color, play at the park, and watch as many shows of Dora, Diego, or Kai-Lan that she can get away with in one day. The picture below is one that I took today after she got her hands on her Desitin and rubbed it all over herself like it was a tube of lotion. (FYI: It was a bit of a challenge getting it off of her, out of her hair, and out of the carpet... it's oily)

I find that my days are consumed with feedings, diaper changes, giving baths, helping with homework, laundry, dishes, and general house cleaning. But I look forward to Wednesdays because my mom watches the girls while I meet up with a sweet group of ladies to discuss the bible (we're currently studying the book of Daniel).

Nick had shoulder surgery a couple of months ago and has recovered from it amazingly. He is still going to PT but he's made great progress! His current position at work is extremely time consuming... he's doing the job of 3 captains and he's been assistant coaching Reilly's Spring Select soccer team.

Well, that's it for the update... heading to bed!

Our New Changing Station

Okay, so I didn't want to buy another changing table because really, how long is Maddy going to be in diapers!? Right? Well one Sunday morning when I was getting Ellie Mae ready for church she had an "explosive diaper"... and when I say "explosive diaper" I mean explosive! As I was changing her WET diaper I was sprayed with the yellow seedy material well known to all breast feeding mothers. It went all over my clothes, our sheets, and the carpet below. As you can imagine we were late for church that morning. After this incident Nick highly encourage me to purchase another changing station if that's what I wanted... and I did. I found this really great changing station to match her crib.

One Month Old

Ellie Mae (October 8, 2009)

1st Wedding

Ellie Mae attended her first wedding on September 27th in Hermosa Beach.

Maddy loves...

playing on Ellie Mae's swing.