April 2012 - The Sunny Side Up Blog

Ellie and Addison

04.30.12

Productive Weekend

I just spent the last few minutes happily checking off a very long to-do list. I had the most productive weekend I’ve had in … well … forever! Why was I so productive?

Because I had three less people to take care of! On Friday afternoon Kenny packed the car and took the girls camping for the weekend. Kenny and I grew up camping and it is really important to him that our daughters have the same outdoor experiences that we did growing up. Since I’ve become more of a once a year “glamper” instead of a once a month camper Kenny decided to join a group of dads that do fun activities with their daughters once a month. Most of the time they camp, but they have also done other fun things (horse back riding, ice skating, etc.). The girls LOVE this special time with their dad. It seems they have a bit of their father in them and really enjoy camping! Kenny LOVES that they are spending time in the great outdoors. And I LOVE that all of this is taking place without me having to sleep in a tent. :) Win win win.

The captain of the ship.

And his overly excited crew. Ready for another adventure.

In flower and strawberry sunglasses no less.

Because the best rule of camping is to come prepared.

And because they also have a bit of their mother in them too. :)

So! Back to me and my most productive weekend! While the girls were roasting hotdogs and marshmellows over an open fire, Kole and I were having our own little party at home. We woke up early on Saturday (thanks to my two year old alarm clock who still hasn’t learned the beauty of sleeping in) and we headed out on a walk. It was a beautiful morning. Sun was shining, birds were chirping, and the ocean breeze felt better than ever. I just knew it was going to be a productive weekend! After our walk, we ran a few errands – including a stop at Staples which is always a favorite because of my never ending love for school suplies. Then we came home and while Kole took a nap, I tackled to-do #1: organize my magazines in my new magazine holder!

Ta-da! Isn’t it beautiful!? Kenny hung it a couple of weeks ago for me and I haven’t had two seconds until this weekend to go through my magazines. I tossed the ones I didn’t need and filed the keepers. Best birthday present ever! :)

The only spot we had to hang it that made sense was this corner next to the TV. I wanted it close to my couch (Kenny and I each have our own) so I could access it easily during my down time at night. My goal after 8:30 PM is to land on my couch and not get off of it. Unless it’s to get some popcorn. Or to plug in my laptop. Or now, to grab one of my favorite magazines.

I cut out some fun yellow scrapbook paper and labeled each cubby: Miscellaneous (for magazines like Pottery Barn, Ballards, and In Style that I get in the mail and want to save), Organizing and Decor (some of my favorite magazines ever!), Kitchen and Bath (my largest stack of keepers), and Church (for all of our church magazines).

Isn’t it lovely!? Everything has a home. I can’t wait to move it into my scrapbook room in the new house! It’s a good thing we’re moving because I’m running out of space to decorate in my current house. There isn’t a blank wall left! And that is a true tragedy. Indeed.

Below my white beauty sits my little stash of baskets. Tucked away behind the couch with all of the essentials we need to get through the day. The girls have their books. Kole has his diapers, wipes, and toys, I have my treasured magazines in a beautiful organizer, and Kenny has a happy wife. Once again a win all around!

Aside from organizing my magazine stash, here are a few other to-do’s I tackled during Kole’s nap time and bedtime:

– mini clean out of the fridge, freezer, and pantry
– cleaned out my purse and balanced my checkbook (I’m not in the negative Kenny – rest easy)
– organized all of the girls’ recent school work and Kole’s baby stuff for PL albums
– touched up a few walls with paint (something I’ve been wanting to do forever)
– watched the movie City Slickers while I cleaned out my in box. (I love that movie. Always makes me want a pet cow.)
– took lots of pics for future blog posts
– washed all sheets – including Kole’s crib sheet – which aside from cooking is my least favorite chore.
– cleaned the entire house top to bottom
– caught up on ALL laundry

Just in time for my campers to come home and unload. Bringing half of the outdoors home with them.

And a whole lot of new laundry to fold.

xoxo, Erin

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Ellie and Addison

04.27.12

two islands and everyday pics

I SO appreciate you all! Thank you to everyone who shared kitchen tips/opinions/advice. I seriously read through the comments three times with a notepad in hand! I think a few of you have talked me into adding a mini fridge in the island (great suggestion!). Having two dishwashers was mentioned and that little feature has been in the plans since day one. I’m all over it! Some of you mentioned that you couldn’t picture the two island thing. I have been doing a lot of research to figure out if I want to do this and I landed on this picture:

This is not at all what my kitchen will look like, but it does give you an idea of the two island concept. This picture came with an article discussing why two islands like this are better than one large island when designing a big kitchen. They basically pointed out all of the same things my cabinet guy mentioned. Our kitchen is similar to this picture in that it is a big square shape with the stove behind the island and the main sink to one side and the fridge on the other. These two islands are approximately the same size mine would be if I did two. One would be for food prep with another sink and dishwasher (and maybe a mini fridge!?) while the other island would have bar stools and would be for eating/entertaining. Picture these two islands connected to make one HUGE island. That is the other option. Just thought I’d share this picture in case anyone is a visual person like I am! In fact, I’m such a visual person that designing this house on paper has been really hard for me. We had a 3-D rendering done of the outside of the house and I was like “Oh! Is that what it looks like!? Kenny said “yeah – you designed it! Didn’t you know what it would look like!?” But unless I get a clear visual it’s hard for me to picture exactly how everything juts in and out. So different than seeing it flat on paper. Several of you have asked if I will share my floor plan. Yes! Of course! I will share so much of this process with you that I bet by the time this house is built you will all be so sick of reading about it! If you stick with me through it all that is! I just want to wait a bit to post the floor plan because we are still making minor tweaks and changes. There will be a lot more to share once our plans are final and have been approved by the city and we are breaking ground (hopefully sometime around July). Right now we are dealing with boring stuff like city codes and the structural engineering (snore). I can’t wait to get to the good stuff! More kitchen layout meetings please! :)

I didn’t have time this week to pull together a Fashion Friday post, but I bought some really cute stuff at Banana Republic! Hoping to share it all next week. For now here are some random recent pics…

A few from our Spring Break in Palm Springs:

We were always the first ones at the pool in the morning…

and the last ones at the pool in the evening. We took a three hour break mid-day for Kole’s nap which worked out perfectly because that was when the pool was hopping with people. We timed things just right so that we were almost alone in the pool most of the week. Loved that!

Of course, I spent a great deal of my time not swimming, but chasing. Kole swam a little, but seemed to prefer running around behind all of the lounge chairs in the dirt. I was ok with it because I learned a long time ago what to expect when you travel with little ones. Lower your expectations and you will have a fabulous time! Remember: It’s not a vacation. It’s a family trip. Jut viewing it that way makes a difference for me. I wrote a post all about it a few years ago. :)

And a few pics of our annual weekend walk. We always let Kole out of the stroller for a bit….

and then the girls run ahead while one of us wrestles with Kole to get him back in the stroller.

The girls had a trial run for their upcoming dance recital. They had to go to dance class this week with full hair/make-up/costumes on. It was the first time I’ve ever put make-up on them! Kind of fun. :)

Well. Not so fun for Ellie. She was SO not impressed. She likes her dance (hip hop dance to Lady Gaga’s “Bad Romance”) but the costume was WAY too itchy (shock) and the make-up drove her crazy. She couldn’t wait to come home and take it all off and get back in her pajamas.

She wouldn’t even let me take more pictures. Just the one above and then a nice “enough mom” pose.

My little ballerina on the other hand…

was a TOTALLY different story. What a ham! She loves her dance. Loves her costume. (Who cares about comfort when you are wearing something so sparkly!?) And especially loved the make-up. So funny. She was beyond excited for me to put it on her. “And can you put some of that stuff on my eyes mom!? The stuff that makes them colorful? And can I have some lip gloss? The sparkly kind! And that black stuff on my eye lashes? Do it just like yours mom!”

Then I couldn’t get her away from the mirror. :)

When we got to class they used her as an example because her bun was in the perfect spot on her head (high – not low). It was her day to shine and she grinned ear to ear the entire class.

I’m in trouble with this one.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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New House

04.25.12

Kitchen ramblings

Some of you have asked if my new kitchen will be white. Most of you know that the answer is YES!

(Old picture of my current kitchen. Decor is totally different now but I’m too busy designing my new kitchen to take a more recent picture of my current one!) :)

I have loved white kitchens all of my life. I’m proud to say that I loved them even when they weren’t the trend! I insisted on making our current kitchen white when we built our house ten years ago and at the time dark cabinets were all the rage. I love the clean look of white and I especially love that it is the perfect backdrop for any and all decor. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of white kitchens!

So speaking of my NEW white kitchen…it is off to a good start! Today was so fun. We met with our builder and cabinet guy for a couple of hours. I had so many pictures to show them – so many ideas of things I’d love to incorporate in my kitchen. I did change the plans from three ovens to two. I also made sure the microwave was in a prime location. :) I’m thinking of bagging the warmer too. Will I ever really use it?

(Kids! Your dino chicken nuggets are ready! Guess I’ll put them in the warmer until you get downstairs!)

;)

I mentioned in our meeting that I don’t exactly love to cook. They laughed and told me that with this kitchen it was time to start. They were on board with most of my ideas. But. They are trying to talk me out of my big island. And I think they might be right. When we first sat down with my architect my “house wish list” included a big kitchen and a big master closet. My architect went above and beyond my wish list and gave me a really big kitchen and a really big closet. Kitchen and clothes storage will not be a problem in this house! Because I have a large, square kitchen I was picturing one large island. My cabinet guy has been trying to convince me that I’d rather have two separate islands (each would still be plenty big) instead of one extremely large one. A few things he pointed out to me:

1) Two islands fit better filling up the space in our design. (It’s hard to explain this without sharing the floor plan – but he’s right on that one.)

2) A huge island can become an obstacle that is a pain to walk all the way around. Traffic doesn’t flow as well.

3) A huge island can be difficult to clean (hard to reach in the middle!).

4) With two islands specific zones are created (one island for food prep and one island for eating/entertaining).

5) Two islands would mean more cabinet space.

I think that last point is what sold me. As much as I love the look of one big island, I think they have me convinced! (Although I still keep going back and forth and probably will until I absolutely HAVE to make a decision since I suffer from DMD – decision making disorder.)

We discussed style for the cabinets in my kitchen and butler’s pantry along with different options for my oven/range/hood. I could NOT wipe the smile off of my face! Kenny was a good sport. He sat and nodded and smiled and let me take charge. He may have looked just a tad quesy whenever my cabinet guy said “that’s a great look…we can do that…it will just cost a bit more…” but I’m happy to say that he made it through the entire meeting without breaking into a cold sweat or passing out in his chair. Success!

Our next step is to decide on our kitchen appliances so we know exactly how much cabinet space we have. I’ve been debating our appliances so much over the last couple of weeks that I had a dream the other night about a Sub Zero fridge and a Wolf oven range. In my dream we had moved into our new house and the knobs on my oven range were all red and I wanted black. Then the new fridge wouldn’t open and I was stressed because Addison really wanted some string cheese. HA! I woke up thinking “black knobs and easy to open fridge door…got it.” I have a feeling that won’t be the last dream I have concerning this house. I can see why so many people say that when you build a house it is a part time job and becomes all consuming! Which is why I’m blogging about it tonight! I can’t get it out of my mind!

Another thing I think I was talked out of today was a built-in bench for my breakfast nook. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of benches in breakfast nooks….

Source: houzz.com via Erin @ Sunny Side Up on Pinterest

Source: bhg.com via Erin @ Sunny Side Up on Pinterest

Source: thekitchn.com via Erin @ Sunny Side Up on Pinterest

Aren’t they charming!? But a few good points were brought to my attention:

1) When one person wants to get out, everyone has to shuffle out…
2) Not super comfortable – especially for adults…
3) Locked into this look…
4) A pain to clean if someone spills something (a regular occurence for my crew).

So I’m thinking that as much as I love the look, function is key and a simple table and chairs will be most likely be filling my breakfast nook.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Does anyone have one large island or two regular sized islands? What do you like/dislike? Kitchen warmer – useful or not so much? What about benches for your dining nook? Pros/cons? Any other kitchen thoughts/suggestions? What would be a must have for you if you were designing a kitchen? Anyone else ever have a dream turned nightmare about not being able to open your new fridge when your daughter is in desperate need of some string cheese!? Talk about stress!

xoxo, Erin

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Food and Cooking...or lack thereof

04.24.12

Recipe Round-Up

I knew this week was going to be a busy one so I did something I normally never do. I sat down Sunday night to make a meal plan. I may be organized when it comes to my home and time management, but you all know I have never had it together when it comes to cooking. I wanted to just make a couple of my easy stand-by recipes so I went to my blog to look a few up. It took me too long to find what I was looking for so I decided I’d make a post with links to all of my recipes. Hopefully this will help me the next time I’m in the mood to whip up something in the kitchen. I’ll put this post on my sidebar and update it every time I share a recipe. These recipes are far from gourmet, but if it’s a favorite of mine you can count on it being kid friendly and easy to make. So maybe this post will help one or two of you as well! Just click on the link to see the full recipe.

BTW – tomorrow we are meeting with our builder and cabinet guy to start planning the kitchen layout! I’m so excited about it. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve! Our cabinet guy sent over a sketch of my kitchen with what he thinks would work in the space. He has included three ovens and a warmer.

Clearly we need to get to know each other a bit better. :)

{WHITE BEAN CHILI}

{EASY FRUIT DIP}

{CREAMY PASTA}

{BANANA BREAD MUFFINS}

{SALAD IN A TORTILLA}

{CHRISTMAS PRETZEL HUGS}

{HALLOWEEN TREAT}

{SUMMER SALAD}

{TRI-COLOR PASTA}

BON – APPETIT!

xoxo, Erin

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home decor 2

04.23.12

Spring picture frames (3rd times a charm)

Popping in to share a quick picture frame update!

Since it is currently Kole’s turn for the birthday spotlight, we are seeing plenty of this little guy when you walk in my house.

So I decided I’d use pictures of the girls to update my dining room frames for Spring. Fun. :)

In December I replaced the yellow frames with white frames and scrapbook paper for more of a wintery look. Which I loved because we don’t get much of a winter here. Changing around my home decor is the only way to feel the seasons! But now for Spring I’ve gone back to the yellow frames.

I chose some of my favorite pictures I took a few years ago of the girls…

The yellow/aqua combo is making me so happy and while the winter theme was a fun change, this definitely feels a little more… sunny. :)

And now. For your viewing pleasure. I present. A look back at the frame switch around. I call it “tour through the seasons.” Oh yes. You are THAT lucky. (And I am that sarcastic.)

{THE “BEFORE”}

{FALL}

{WINTER}

{SPRING/SUMMER}

Sometimes little changes make a big difference. And sometimes little changes make a little difference.

I’m not sure where I’m going with this, but either way, change is good.

Enjoy your day!

xoxo, Erin

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fashion2

04.20.12

Fashion Friday

I know. Can you believe it!? I actually managed to pull together a Fashion Friday post. Nothing too exciting. Just what I wore this week. I’m going to have to make this a quick post since I went to dinner with friends tonight (got home at 10:00 because we can’t stop gabbing) and then caught up on American Idol with Kenny (listening to his ever so witty commentary the entire show). Now it’s after midnight and I’m getting an “I had a crazy day and then talked too much with girl friends and then humored my husband for the rest of the evening” headache. Do you ever get those? Tylenol just doesn’t cut it.

Simple navy tee from Banana Republic. The roses near the right shoulder turn it from a wear around the house tee to a wear out and about tee.

I think I’ve shared this Forever 21 top before. Have I? It’s super short so I wear a black tee underneath it. My fancy up-do is becoming a staple lately. And by fancy I mean not fancy.

Purple top is from Banana Republic. I bought it when I was pregnant with Kole. It’s maybe not the most flattering top post baby, but I like the sleeves and it’s comfortable. You can tell from the three tops I’ve shared so far that comfort was on my mind this week. You can also tell that our weather hasn’t been as humid since I’m sporting straight hair. Ok. This is a fun game. What else can you tell from the picture? I can tell from my rambling that I need to go to bed.

I bought this blue top a couple of weeks ago. Forever 21 for 10 bucks!

I love it for Spring. It’s so lightweight and feminine.

I wore it for the first time to Kole’s first Easter Egg hunt. Funny now I’ll probably always think of that when I wear this shirt. Or I won’t. But now that I typed that I for sure will. Can you tell it’s late and I’m tired tonight? Have I mentioned that already? When ever I get overly tired I start to ramble and laugh a lot. It’s like I can’t talk enough and suddenly everything is SO funny. My sister does the same thing. We think we are HILARIOUS when we stay up late together. Then we wake up the next morning and wonder what in the world was so funny the night before. I wish my sister was here right now. Kenny is asleep on the couch and he just isn’t cutting it.

Here’s a newish dress I wore to church last Sunday –

Whoa! Time to adjust the camera settings. :) But isn’t this picture cool and ghost like?

Ok. Now I’ve got the lighting figured out, but what in the world was I doing with my hand? I look like I’m about to curtsy for y’all. I said “y’all” because Kenny and I are going to take a little trip back to Virginia next month so I’m practicing up on my “y’alls”. I said this was a “newish” dress because I bought it last summer in Utah and Sunday was the first time I’ve worn it! I sort of forgot I had it and re-discovered it when I cleaned out my closet. Yea for an upcoming trip and a re-discovered dress! :)

It’s just a simple peasant dress. Fun detail on the top and gathers above the waist.

I want to find a belt to wear over the gather above the skirt but haven’t found the right one yet.

The shoes I wore with it are from Nordstrom Rack. A neutral wedge! How very predictable of me.

I am literally falling asleep mid-sentence with my laptop on my lap. (My mom will not be impressed.) Enough rambling for one night. I’m off to bed! But I’m going to take some Tylenol first.

Even though I know it just won’t cut it.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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organization2

04.19.12

Master Closet Organization (take two)

On to the rest of my master closet re-do! To truly appreciate this minor turned major project you first need to witness the sad state my closet was living in. I now present to you the before and after!

(drum roll please…)

{BEFORE}

{AFTER}

Ahhhhh. Like I’ve said before, all is right in the world when all is right with your closet. :)

Couple things that were driving me crazy about this closet:

1) It’s the only place that I have to store extra home decor which always makes it look like a cluttered mess. I don’t handle clutter well.

2) THE HANGERS! I began hating my big brown hangers two weeks after I bought them. They took up SO much room and they were total dust collectors. I don’t handle dust well either. I was running out of room and couldn’t squeeze one more shirt in this closet. Kenny’s solution was to buy less clothes. Silly man. My solution (the right and only solution) was to buy new hangers.

And that’s exactly what I did. :)

After researching a variety of hangers I finally decided to get these Huggable Hangers because my main goal was to save space. I bought these at The Container Store, but you can also find them at Target. My Target didn’t have the grey ones and I wanted grey. I also wanted an excuse to go to The Container Store. :) They aren’t too expensive ($1 a hanger so $10 for a pack of ten) but when you are buying over 200 hangers it gets a bit costly! I justified this little purchase to my husband by swearing that these hangers are coming with us to the new house and I won’t buy new hangers again for a long time. And let me tell you – I really meant it! I LOVE these hangers! LOVE LOVE LOVE them. Nothing slips off of them, they are so thin and lightweight, and they seriously doubled my closet space!!

The baskets I shared in my first closet post hold hats, belts, scarves, and travel bags.

They fit perfectly on my side of the closet. And don’t they add a nice pop of color!? They make me smile every morning when I waltz in to get dressed. :)

I mentioned that I majorly cleaned out my clothes. Three huge black garbage bags to Goodwill. I can honestly say that I only kept what I really love and wear. When I’m sorting through clothes I always ask myself two questions: Is this something I love to put on? Did I wear this last season? If the answer to either of those questions is no then I toss it! I also organized my tops by color (aside from the extra warm stuff I keep at the far right). I do this often because it makes it easier for me to find and put away my clothes. And because let’s face it. I suffer from OCD. Just a tad. :)

Next to my tops are my jackets and coats.

Next to my jackets and coats are my skirts and dresses. (Jeans were relocated to my dresser.)

Here’s another thing I love about these hangers.

They come with clips you can attach for skirts and slacks. Perfect!

You may remember when I shared my bathroom drawers that I mentioned my curling irons and blow dryer have been moved because the drawer that used to hold them now looks like this:

To solve that little problem I bought this fun Chevron basket to hold my curling irons.
Up high and away from little hands!

Some of my shoes are located in our little make-shift mudroom in the garage, but most of them stay in the closet. Lined up nice and neat until a certain someone gets her hands on them…

So that’s it for my side of the closet!

Kenny’s clothes got a makeover too. :) I organized all of his slacks, dress shirts, collared shirts, and long sleeved shirts together.

His belts and ties are organized on this little tie holder I’ve had for years from Bed Bath and Beyond.

I moved some of my home decor to my laundry room cabinets, but still store most of it in this closet…

I’m excited that in my next house I’ll actually have a place for home decor.

But this works for now.

Remember how I said my new hangers saved me so much space?

Check it out! I fit all of my clothes and still have SO much room! Looks like it’s time to go shopping!

So that’s it! Master closet is completely organized. A project I was thrilled to check off my list!

Thanks for hanging in there with me! I hope I didn’t crash any computers with picture overload.

I got a little excited about this one. :)

Enjoy your day!

xoxo, Erin

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organization2

04.17.12

Master Closet Organization (take one)

Well. I was hoping to share my complete master closet makeover with you today but I’m going to have to break it up into two posts because I took TOO MANY pictures. Not the first time. Certainly won’t be the last. This closet ended up being a major undertaking. I started it in January and didn’t completely finish it until March. And it’s not that it’s that amazing of a makeover or anything. It just took forever because I went through every. single. article of clothing I own to decide if I should keep it or toss it. And I tossed a lot. Several bags went to Goodwill. New organizers were bought. Lots of organizing took place. And now everything is right in the world. Because everything is right with my closet. :)

Aside from my clothes, I also needed to organize some accessories.

So I bought these fun baskets from Target. (Ten bucks each baby!)

Then I made some fun labels for them. A lot of fun was going on at this point.

I decided to just use the same labels I made for my linen closet. Quick and easy. (I just circle punched some scrapbook paper.) Plus I have a thing for clothes pins. And for the color yellow.

It’s hard to see my handwriting in these pictures (click on the pic if you want to see it closer.)
Or instead I’ll just make it easy for you and tell you that these baskets hold HATS, BELTS, SCARVES, and TRAVEL BAGS.

My belts.

Kenny’s hats.

My scarves.

Our travel bags.

Before my closet makeover most of this was dumped together in an over crowded plastic bin.

Now everything has a place.

In my closet, not on my hutch. :)

I’ll show you their real location and the rest of this little project tomorrow!

But aren’t we off to a lovely start!?

xoxo, Erin

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Ellie

04.13.12

Ellie’s dream house

Such sweet comments from my last post! I know I’m sounding like a broken record…thank you for your comments…you’re all the best… but seriously, thank you for your comments…you’re all the best! Your kind words really do mean so much to me and I am completely convinced that I have the best blog friends out there. I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to respond to a lot of you today. We spent the last four days in Palm Springs and drove home today. I’m exhausted! It wasn’t a vacation, it was a family trip. And let me tell you – there is a big difference between the two! A vacation includes some relaxing and with my two year old along for the ride, there wasn’t much of that going on. But we did have a great time. We somehow always do, despite the fact that a great amount of craziness accompanies traveling with three little ones!

Sharing a quick picture of Ellie’s dream house today…

This is Ellie’s dream house. It is a cookie. Everyone in her 2nd grade class was supposed to draw a picture of their dream house. Now you would think with all of the “new house” talk that has been going on around here that her dream house would have included Nantucket elements along with rock, peaked roofs, white moldings, and a porch. But nope. That would be her mom’s dream house. Ellie’s dream house is a cookie. Because she likes cookies and she thinks it would be cool to eat her house.

I love 2nd grade. And I especially love my 2nd grader.

What was I thinking spending a fortune on our architect when I could have just hired my daughter!?

Speaking of our “new house” we submitted our plans into the city this week!! YEA! I’m excited.

It will most likely be three months before they are approved. The fees you have to pay and the hoops you have to jump through to build in California are just plain crazy! This state definitely plays by its own rules. But I am SO excited about how my house is turning out! It’s just so very… Erin. :) It has been so fun seeing all of the elements and styles I love come together to make my home. We are meeting with our builder tomorrow to discuss next steps. He has been getting bids and also wants to give us an estimate of what my “dream home” is going to cost us to build. I’m thinking tomorrow will either be a very good day or a very bad day for my husband. So cross your fingers for me that we get good news and Kenny doesn’t blow! ;) We are also getting ready to meet with our cabinet guy to start designing the kitchen! BRING. IT. ON. I have been dreaming about this kitchen for years now. You know. The one I’m going to organize and decorate and bask in its glory while I cook in it as little as possible. Of course, with my Ellie around, we will be baking plenty of cookies.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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Ellie and Addison

04.12.12

So happy to be here

Yesterday, April 10th, was a special day for me. In Kole’s birthday letter I mentioned a scare we had soon after he was born. On April 10th two years ago I came awfully close to losing my life. A little too close if you ask me. :) I know many of you were reading my blog during that experience and your kind words and support were a big part of what helped me through it all. Last year on April 10th, one year later, I was extremely emotional. In fact, I was surprised that the anniversary of the experience was affecting me as much as it was. Our family was on a vacation in Maui at the time (April 10th always falls during my kids’ Spring Break) and I couldn’t stop crying. I stayed up really late on the night of the 10th writing down all of my thoughts and feelings – sort of just remembering and reliving it all. I titled the post “I remember” and with butterflies in my stomach I hit publish. All of the sudden I felt so much better. A wave of calm swept over me. Like I had to remember and write and cry and get it all out so that I could move on. I spent the rest of that vacation with my family with a full heart, truly living in the moment and so grateful to be there. The experience I had two years ago changed me. It made me realize how things can change in an instant. How precious our time is here. What a gift every day life is. You realize this quickly when you are suddenly in danger of losing that gift. I wasn’t as emotional yesterday on April 10th. Time has a way of easing the pain of certain memories. This week my kids are out for Spring Break and just like last year, I spent April 10th vacationing and swimming with my family. And remembering. Several times throughout the day – when Kenny was so quick to help with the kids, when Ellie laughed going down the water slide, when Addison hugged me, when I was chasing Kole and he looked back and smiled (checking in to make sure I was far enough away not to catch him but close enough not to leave him) I sent a little prayer of thanks up to my Heavenly Father. I’m so happy to be here.

Then at the end of the day I uploaded my most recent pictures from my camera. They are pictures from our every day life. More reminders of the precious gift I’ve been given.

Grocery shopping with my buddy (thank goodness for the seat strap on grocery carts and for bagels from the bakery – the only way we make it through the store). Happy in the produce section…

over it by isle 9.

Parent Day in my girls’ classrooms.

Dinner with girl friends.

Heading to Kindergarten. I love age 5.

My little camera man – always ready to assist.

My girls – always acting silly.

My man. Holding our baby in one arm and a pink barbie purse in the other. Lucky me.

Little explorer.

Open House. The girls love showing off all they are doing at school.

No training wheels! WOOT WOOT! I don’t know who is more excited – the girls or their parents.

Actually I do know. Parents hands down.

Thick as thieves.

Fly little man!

A quick dance to start the day.

It doesn’t get much better than this.

So happy to be here.

xoxo, Erin

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organization2

04.10.12

Under the bathroom sink…dun dun dun…

Crossed another organizing to-do off of my list the other day! Slowly but surely that list will be finished this year. I was on a roll after taking pics of my bathroom drawers so I decided it was time to finally tackle under the bathroom sink. This is a spot that usually makes me cringe. Such a major catch all, isn’t it!? I set a little challenge for myself to use organizers I already had instead of heading straight to The Container Store. As you may remember from this post, I’m now at a place where I’m organizing my organizers. Ha! :)

I used to have the girls’ doll clothes organized like the above picture, but when I re-did Ellie’s closet I included the doll shoes and accessories with all of the other toys. Now this whole drawer is just for doll clothes – makes it much easier for the girls to put things back where they belong. So I took the yellow doll shoe bin and and an extra green matching bin I had on hand, grabbed a few other organizers, and finally went to town under my bathroom sink.

SO much better. I cleaned out a whole garbage sack full of products! Isn’t it silly!? How much stuff we keep that we don’t ever use.

Now my larger, most used products are all together – easy to spot and grab when I need them.

In the yellow container I have all of my travel size stuff. I’m loving this! I used to hunt all over my bathroom when it was time to pack for a trip. Now everything travel related is all together in one spot. Makes me want to vacation. :)

I’ve had my nail polish caddy for years now and it fits nicely in between the other containers under the sink. Perfect for when the girls are begging for a pedicure party.

Nothing matches and this isn’t anything revolutionary, but I cleaned and organized this baby in under an hour and it feels great! I no longer cringe when I open this cupboard. And the really nice thing is that since I have a childproof lock on this cupboard it should actually stay this way. Always an added bonus around my house. :)

Happy Organizing!

xoxo, Erin