Happy Halloween!

From a spooky witch (who knows how to cast a spooky spell).

And her not so spooky black cat (who just wanted to be comfortable this year).  

As always, they are quite a pair.  

And let's not forget Santa.

Because when you get on a roll with a Snowman and Elf costume, Santa is the obvious choice.  Plus I figured I had ONE more year before my little dude figures out what's going on and starts to care.  

(But if not and I have TWO more years, Rudolph here we come.)

Unfortunately, Santa isn't too fond of his hat.

Or his suit.

 And he certainly doesn't care for holding still long enough for mom to get a holly jolly picture.

Santa only seems to care about  RUNNING.

And hanging out next to the water (or anything else that screams danger) as close as he can possibly get in attempt to give his mom a heart attack.

Luckily he's got a certain kitty who stresses about him even more than mom and doesn't leave his side.  

Enjoy your day!  Be safe!  And get ready to eat LOTS of chocolate.  

(Or a McPumpkin.)

Either will do, but the chocolate is what I'm looking forward to most.

:)

A million ways

Sometimes when life gets hectic and overwhelming, a certain emotion starts to nags at me.  

Guilt.  

Guilt that because I'm dealing with one child I can't be there for another.  Guilt that I can't volunteer in my girls' classrooms like I wish I could.  Guilt that we are going yet another night without a healthy home cooked meal.  Guilt that the house is a mess or that laundry isn't done or that e-mails sit unanswered.  

Different seasons of life bring different trials and obstacles and there are certain times that being the kind of mother you want to be is harder than usual.  I have been feeling this a lot lately.

 Whenever I feel overwhelmed and the guilt starts to creep in, I remember a favorite quote:

I think of this quote and I remember that it's ok.  It's ok if right now I can't volunteer.  It's ok if right now chicken nuggets are one of our main food groups.  It's ok if the house is a mess and laundry isn't done and e-mails are sitting unanswered.  

It's ok if I'm not a perfect mom.  I can still find ways to be a good one.  I can make sure that every day my kids know how much I love them.  I can take a minute to listen to the poem Ellie wrote.  I can tell Addison how proud I am of the way she straightened up her room.  I can chase Kole around the house  making him squeal with delight and then scoop him up and smother him with kisses.  I can wake my kids up in the morning and tuck them in at night with hugs and a smile.  I can make sure that they know how special they are to me.  Every single day.  

A million little ways to be a good mom.  I remember that quote and I do the best that I can.

And the guilt goes away.

Or at least subsides for a bit.  :)

i phone pics

Happy Friday everyone!  I only have a minute to post today so I thought I'd share a few recent i phone pics.   

We went to the park one afternoon last week and were the only ones there.  Love that!  

My kids had a ball.  

 Especially this one.  

I love this picture because it appears as though Kole actually sat and posed for me.  Um no.  He was running all around the fountain, sat and glanced up for 1.1 seconds and I snapped a picture.  

I've gotten extremely speedy thanks to this boy.  And if you think my camera skills are fast, you should see me chase this kids down the grocery isles.  Lightning.  

The fam on "walk to school day."  Although Kenny and I were the only ones walking since the girls decided to ride their scooters.  They were so excited to ride all the way to school.  Right up until we started going up all of the big hills and they realized just how long of a hike it was.  Then they wore out and decided maybe driving to school each day wasn't so bad after all.

Overall it was a good workout.  Especially for Kenny.  :)

Addison went to a birthday party and brought home these glittered beauties she made.  I said "oh how beautiful!  I love them!"  But was thinking now what in the world am I supposed to do with those?  Gear up for glitter all over the house.

Heading to school.  Poses in front of the roses.  

Kenny just loves it when I do this.  We're running late and he's trying to get the girls in the car and Kole has escaped out the front door in his pajama's and I say "let's just snap a quick picture, shall we?"  

In my opinion, there's always time for a quick picture.  :)

We have a fun weekend ahead.  Our designer and cabinet guy (who are both from Utah) are traveling down to go over design and get all of the measurements for our cabinets and built-ins.  I'm so excited to have them at the new house!  We almost have things finalized for the kitchen and I can't wait to go over details again in the actual space.  Toss in a Halloween party, a quick trip to the Pumpkin Patch (that we were hoping the girls would forget about this year but no such luck), a program at church, gymnastics for the girls and speech for Kole and I'd say things are booked.  Plus I started an organizing project that is half way finished and all over the dining room table and it's driving me crazy.  Fingers crossed I can squeeze in a minute to finish it up.  Fingers crossed I'm still alive at the end of this weekend.  If I am I'll have lots to blog about.  :)

Enjoy your day!  

A wasted evening and a feature

Well.  I just completely wasted my evening.  I had grand plans to post something fabulous.  I take that back.  I had grand plans to post... something.  And then I watched Parenthood (so good by the way - made me cry).  And then I watched a few other shows.  And I ate chips.  Too many chips.  And now it's late.  And I feel guilty.  For not posting something.  And for eating so many chips.  So now I'm just going to organize some pictures (you can see how I organize pictures on my computer here).  And then go to bed and call it a day.

And do better tomorrow night.  :)

p.s.  I was recently featured on the blog Skinny Mom (where moms get the "skinny" on fitness, food, fashion, and family).  They wrote and asked if they could feature me as one of Skinny Mom's favorite family blogs.  I said um.. YES!  And thank you!  Then they asked me some questions and I answered them.  You can read those questions and answers here.  So fun.  Thanks to everyone at Skinny Mom!

K.  Now I'm off to bed for real.  After I organize some pictures.  And maybe just eat a few more chips? NO!  I'm putting them away.  Tomorrow night I'm going to post something real and eat carrots.

Garage Organization

Garage organization!  It has been on my mind lately.  And I'll tell you why.  My garage is a MESS.  Seriously.  It's driving me crazy right now.  Aren't garages hard to keep clean?  They are such a catch all for anything there isn't space for in the house.  Whenever life gets busy, my garage is the first thing to go.  

Plus, as you know, there is a certain little buddy of mine who has made it his mission to un-do everything I've done in this space.  :)

As soon as I get a chance I need to spend a few hours cleaning things up again, but the main problem with my current garage is that I never completely organized it to begin with.  We did a few things that help keep our garage in order...

like adding some storage above the garage door,

putting in hooks for our ladders,

hanging yard tools and coats on racks,

placing shoes on additional racks, 

tossing flip flops in a designated basket,

and of course, I went completely type A one afternoon and organized and labeled all of our mini odds and ends (screws, nails, drill bits, etc.).  I'll never forget the day Kenny came home from work and I proudly showed him this.  He gave me a look that said you have now officially gone off the deep end... maybe staying home with the kids wasn't such a good idea after all...  

:)

 The rest of the garage is a lot of storage sort of lined up along one wall.  "Semi organized clutter" I like to call it.  Boxes hold holiday decor but they aren't labeled.  Kids' toys are tossed around randomly.  There isn't a set place for a lot of the stuff we have along this wall.  (I was going to take a picture of my garage mess today and then before I knew it, it was dark, but trust me - it's not pretty.)  :)

"Semi organized clutter" is NOT going to happen in my next garage!  Every time I'm at the new house I spend some time hanging out in the garages visioning how I'm going to organize everything.  I can't wait!  We are going to "lose" a lot of stuff in the move, let me tell you.  It will be a great opportunity to simplify.  If I wasn't moving, I would pick a day and completely re-do my current garage.  There are so many effective ways to store garage items in an organized way.  Here are a few of my favorite organized garages on Pinterest that have given me some great inspiration...

Better Homes and Gardens

Simple shelving is a great way to display items often used.  The bright colors of rain boots and baskets make the garage a much happier place.

Better Homes and Gardens

Peg boards are perfect for organizing tools.  I've seen so many fun peg boards on-line lately.  Such an easy, in-expensive way to corral odds and ends.

Martha Stewart

Painting your peg board is a cheap and easy way to bring even more color to your garage space.  Who says garages have to be dark?  Love this idea.  

Martha Stewart

I also love these simple storage shelves right by the back door with extras like paper towels.  And how brilliant is the basket for balls!?  Perfect idea if you have a house full of boys! 

 Monkey Bar Storage

This picture shows how you can truly maximize your space by getting things up and off of the floor.  I love the way everything is lined up!  I'd be so happy to pull my car into that space every day.  

Monkey Bar Storage

Another fabulous way of hanging/storing everything vertically.  

Love these long hooks for string and tape.  I have things like this in a drawer in my current garage and I am always digging through it trying to find something I need.  This solution is so much better! 

Country Living

A wall of hooks!  Genius!  So easy to find what you need.  

Family Handyman

Labeled baskets are another great garage option for keeping random odds and ends easy to locate.  

Lovely Living

A Bowl Full of Lemons

These last two pictures made my heart skip a beat.  Talk about organization!  Every single thing has a place and a label.  You sure wouldn't waste time hunting for what you need in these garages!  I'm a big fan of clear containers because they allow you to easily see what's located inside.  I'll take it!  :)

Garages usually aren't a fun space for people to organize, but what a great feeling once you do.  I think of how often I am in and out of my garage every day - emptying trash, getting in and out of the car, grabbing outside toys for the kids.  It's a space I want to enjoy and these inspiration pictures have given me so many fun ideas for my new garage.  Hope they have inspired you too!

Happy Wednesday everyone!  

A roof! With some sap on the side

Hi friends!  Sharing a few pics of our new house progress.  I love the framing stage!  It moves so quickly and every time we stop by there is so much more to see.  Here are some pics from the last couple of weeks -   

Kenny standing on the girls' upstairs balcony.  

Upstairs hallway.  Every time I walk up here I picture myself in my pajamas in the morning waking the kids up for school.  :)  It will be strange being on a different floor than them.  I think I'll love it and hate it all at the same time.  

This is a picture of Kole's room upstairs and you can see the outline of a door framed.  We discovered some empty space next to his room because the roof is pitched behind it so we are going to create a cool little addition.  We're thinking of putting in a bookcase and making it a secret door that opens into a little hang out for him.  I love the idea of a secret door!  It's so... secretive.  Although now that I've shared it with everyone reading this blog maybe it's not so secretive after all.  :)  I'm picturing a fun space for all of his trains.

The girls beg to go to the new house so they can rake and play in the dirt in the back yard.  We could move in and not even put grass in that yard and my kids would be so entertained.  

Dirty - but entertained.  :)

These pics were taken a couple of weeks ago.  They were just starting the roof.  

 Kenny and Ad on the front balcony. 

 A view of the back of the house.  Roofless.  :) 

 This is how things were looking a little over a week ago.  

And this is a picture from last weekend.  We have half of our roof!  Very exciting.  Now it's finally starting to look like the house that has been in my head for years just waiting to come to life.  :)

It's a bit surreal seeing this house take shape and several times when I have been walking through it I start to feel emotional.  Partly because I'm sleep deprived (which always results in easy flowing tears!), and partly because I see our future in this house.  I see Christmas morning in the family room.  I see birthday parties in the back yard.  I see friends over for dinner - preferably prepared by Kenny at the grill so that I don't have to mess up my kitchen.  ;)  I see my girls walking down the stairs all dressed up for their first date.  I see all three of my kids growing up and Kenny and I growing older together.  I see good times and bad times and every time in between in this house.  And sometimes it makes me want to cry.  Happy tears, but tears just the same.  I am a visual person and I love picking out cabinets and fixtures and paint colors and picturing what this house will look like when it's finished.  But even more than that, I love picturing all of the memories that will be made in this house and how over the years this house will become a home.

And I am going to stop writing now because Kenny so enjoys teasing me when I get sappy and I have just given him an abundance of material for weeks to come.  :)

Enjoy your day!