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10.02.12

Q and A (Little girl gifts and getting started organizing)

Another Q&A today!   I received this question from a friend of mine:

I am starting to make my Christmas shopping list and would love advice from a mom of little girls.  My daughter will be 20 months at Christmas time… what would be a good “girly” gift for her?  I have this boy thing down, but no clue on the girls stuff.

Well!  Glad you asked!  And I’m happy to answer.  Especially since we opened the subject of Christmas up yesterday and it seems many of you are like me and ready to start planning early.  Fabulous!  :)  I will be posting more Christmas ideas soon!  To answer your question, here are a few things my girls loved at that age (and for years after!) –

Age two and up with little girls is all about pretend!

 Tea parties become every day events so pretend food and dishes and tea sets are always a hit.  

Dress-ups are HUGE.  My girls were in some sort of dress-up every day from age 2 to 5.  Usually Costco has fun treasure boxes full of different dresses.  And of course – the princess dresses (and heels!) are always favorites.  Pretty much anything to do with the princesses will be a hit.

I got this tent for my girls when Addison was around 2 (El was 4) and they still love it.  We pull it out every few months.

Don’t forget accessories!  Shoes, hats, jewelry.  Even if your little one isn’t into this stuff yet, she will be soon!  Little girls like to be doing whatever their mommy is doing so things like…

pretend cameras,  

pretend ironing boards, 
pretend vacuums, 

and pretend brooms are all fun Christmas gifts.  Apparently they even work for the boys once in a while.  Although Kole never believed sweeping was a broom’s true calling.  :)

At 20 months, your little one might be a bit small to drive the Barbie Jeep, but she isn’t too small to be a passenger in it!  Maybe one of her brothers could take her for a spin until she grows into it?  You can set it to a slow speed for really little ones.  We got this when Ad was 2 and El was 4 and they LOVED it.  I can’t wait to get this baby reved up for Kole once we have a yard!  He has no problem with girl hand me downs.  It’s all he knows!  No shame around here.  Of course that might change once he is older than two.  :)

You can’t go wrong with dolls and stuffed animals.  

And this adorable Fisher Price My First Doll House for toddlers has been a favorite for years.  It is a PERFECT first doll house for a two year old.  My girls STILL play with this at least once a week.  Notice I’m CAPITALIZING a lot of my words so show you how much I truly LOVE this dollhouse.  Because I DO!

If you are looking for something a little more baby and immediately fun for a 20 month old, my favorite baby/toddler toy is the Fisher Price Laugh and Learn Learning Home.  All three of my baby/toddlers have loved this and played with it so much.  If you have a baby age one and up you will love it!  It’s the one baby toy I’m hanging on to for the grandkids to play with someday!  And you know I don’t hang onto much.  :)

Hope that helps give you a few ideas!  I included several more favorite toy ideas in a post I did last year  just before Christmas  – Christmas Gift Ideas – Our Favorite Toys.  That post also includes links to most of the toys so it makes for easy early shopping!  I’m going to put together another similar post for this year with new toys that have been a hit around here.  On to the next question!

I came across your website because I want to start organizing and de-cluttering.  I just love everything about your website and blogging.  I just wanted to ask you how you got started?   I have such a hard time.  I really want to do it, but I’m such a procrastinator or I feel overwhelmed.  After seeing all of your ideas I want to toss everything!  I think about it all day at work what I want to do but the minute I get home I lose all ambition.  Any words of encouragement would be great.

Such a sweet comment (thanks again!) and such a good question.  I didn’t really “get started” with organizing because it’s something that comes naturally to me.  I have been organizing my things and keeping things “just so” since I was four years old.  Probably before that, I just can’t remember.  :)  But there are a lot of things that don’t come easily for me (cooking comes to mind) and I know exactly how you are feeling.  So overwhelmed that it is easier to just do nothing.  My best advice is to make a list.  Walk around your house and write down all of the spots that need to be organized.  If you need to organize everything, just start with one room and write down what needs to be organized within that room.  Be specific.  If you’re tackling the kitchen, write things down like: silverware drawer, under the kitchen sink, etc.  Here is an example of one of my “to organize” lists.

 I always have a “to organize” list going.  Once you have a list in place, pick one spot to work on each night.  Even if it is just for 10-15 minutes.  I live by this motto:  Something is always better than nothing.  Turn on some fun music to get you going (that always helps me!) and then just DO IT.  All it takes is cleaning out ONE thing (a drawer, a cupboard, a closet) and you will be so happy every time you open it.  That will motivate you to want to organize more!  Everyone can commit to 15 minutes each evening.  Start small and before you know it, you’ll be an organizing pro!  

Pinterest is full of great organizing inspiration, but I have to add a caution with that one.  I think sometimes it’s so easy to spend all of your free time looking at blogs, Pinterest, and magazines for inspiration instead of just jumping in and doing the work.  I know I’m guilty of this!   So here is your homework: Read my tips for getting and staying organized and start with #1 – make a list.  The next step is to clean out and organize just one small space on that list.  Then check it off and you are one step closer to an organized home.

Let me know how it goes!

That’s all I have time for tonight friends!  Sorry it is taking me so long to catch up on questions.  I appreciate your patience!  If you’ve asked me a question, I will get around to answering it at some point.

Enjoy your day.  :)

xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
10.01.12

Iphone pics

Hi everyone!  Hope you all enjoyed the weekend.  Here are a few pics I took with my new iPhone.  I’ve decided I love more than just my ringer.  Like the camera.  And the Pinterest app.  :)  
Friday morning – getting ready for school (do you love my kids’ idea of how to get ready for school?).  I clearly didn’t have the focus figured out.  Plus toppling kids don’t make for the best practice material.  
 Figured out the focus by the time we got to school.  Hello my sweet first grader!

 Roses by our front door.  

 Lots of decorating this weekend.  Inside my house it is officially Fall!
The weather outside my house is hotter than ever.  

Dinner with friends at Cheesecake Factory.  We went for the seasonal pumpkin cheesecake and they didn’t have it yet!  BUMMER!  They get it October 1st – we were two days too early.  We had to settle for Snickers Cheesecake (poor us, right?).  It was so good I had a dream about it last night.  :)  Guess we’ll just have to go back again for the pumpkin!  Until then I’ll be doing double time on the treadmill.

Kenny and I stopped by Lowe’s to look at BBQ grills and they have their Christmas trees out!  WHAT!?  It was still September.  I should have been appalled, but I was ecstatic.  Made me simply giddy!  I was worthless the rest of the night.  I couldn’t focus on BBQ grills.  All I could think about was twinkling lights and happy mail and Chestnut’s Roasting on an open fire.  In fact, it made me want to start planning for the upcoming holiday season ASAP.  I do like to be on top of things you know.  :)

Have any of you starting thinking about Christmas yet?  I have a few posts in mind to help us all jump start holiday planning.  Are you ready for that?  Or do most of you like to get Halloween behind you first?  I’d love to hear if I need to be patient or if your thoughts about Christmas line up with mine:  BRING IT ON!

And on that note… Happy October! 
The countdown begins today!  

:)
xoxo, Erin
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New House
09.27.12

New House Update (we have stairs!)

OH my word.  This week has been nonstop!  I have been rocking a pony tail for weeks now and things just don’t seem to be slowing down.  I’m feeling the need to do a time management post in the near future because I have really had to work to figure out a way to manage my schedule so that I can fit everything in.  Like time to shower.  Building a house is so much work!  My mom keeps saying “I tried to warn you….”  :)  But honestly, even though we’ve reached a new level of crazy around here I am loving the process.  It is so amazing seeing something that was all in my head actually come to life!  Here is a peek of what things are looking like so far…
 The gate into our little neighborhood – I was standing in front of where our driveway will be.
Nothing to do with the house, but I think the view is pretty so I’m sharing it with you.  :)

Things on the outside haven’t changed much.  I can’t wait for the second floor to go in so I can start to see the personality of the house.

The window that is popping up high on the left of this picture is the window over the stairs.  We have a playroom and a “future” theatre room for Kenny that will go over the garages.  I just changed things up a bit and added a closet in the playroom.  I had to take some space out of the upstairs laundry room to do it, but I’m so excited to have a place to organize all of the kids’ toys.  I’m already dreaming of storage options for that closet!  I’m going to have to spend a lot of time at The Container Store after this house is built.  Darn!  :)

This is the formal living room you will see right when you walk in the front door.
This is the right wall of the living room.
Addison dancing around the hallway in her Smurf pajamas.  The kids clearly already feel at home.

This is our main living area – the family room.  I’m putting in a fun oval window in that square up high and then the TV built-ins will be below with a fireplace in the right corner.

To the left side is our outdoor entertaining area.  There will be french doors along that left wall leading outside.  I’m sure the kids will be in and out and in and out 20 times a day and I’ll never be able to keep them clean.  But I bet I will be so happy that they have a yard to play in that I won’t even care.  Actually I bet I will care.  Because I can’t help it.  :)

Next to the outdoor space is our breakfast nook.  I debated over and over if I should put in windows along the wall of the nook leading to the entertaining area or french doors.  Windows are on the other nook walls so it would have looked more symmetrical, plus the doors will be slightly blocked by a table and chairs.  Plus we already have the doors off the family room.  But we finally decided to put in doors anyway.  We figure if we have people over it might be nice to set food up on the table inside and open the doors up outside so people can go in and out to get food.  What do you think?  Did I make a mistake?  Actually don’t tell me if I did.  Only comment if you are going to say – good idea.  I would have put in doors.  ;)

Now we are entering the kitchen!  Woot Woot!!  This picture shows my bay window.  We basically turned the whole house the way we did so that I could have my bay window.  And I am still debating how it is going to look because it pops out so far and didn’t turn out quite the way I pictured.  I’ll share more details once I figure things out myself.  Or I won’t because I’ll remember that nobody but me really cares about this bay window.  Or I will because Kenny is so sick of hearing about this bay window and I need to talk to someone about it!

Here’s the kitchen layout.  Bay window on the right.  Oven and cabinets along that back wall.  Behind that wall you can kind of see the food pantry.  Butler’s pantry to the left (the formal dining room is across the hall).  The work bench is close to where my first kitchen island will be.  We decided to go with two smaller islands vs. one big one.  I hope I like it!

Fridge/freezer and cabinets along the left wall.  I am still debating minor kitchen details.  Like how many clear cabinets vs. closed cabinets, what the counter tops will be (leaning towards quartz), etc.  I can’t wait to be hanging out in my kitchen!  Toasting Eggo waffles and microwaving frozen pizza for all!  ;)  Speaking of microwaves, we are leaning towards getting this built-in microdrawer:
Do any of you have a microdrawer?  Love it?  Hate it?  I would love to hear what you think if you’ve used one before!  Because I never have.  And the microwave will be the most used appliance in our house so it’s pretty important.  :)
We have stairs!!
View from the top.
 The girls were so excited to finally be able to walk up the stairs and see where their rooms will be.
The girls’ rooms are connected by a bathroom they will share.  Their two rooms have french doors leading out onto a balcony.  They haven’t put the floor down, but in this picture you can see how the balcony is framed.  We have such pretty views so we included balconies on the front and back of the house.  Kenny felt like Kole wasn’t getting a fair deal since his room is on the side of the house without a balcony with views so we added a fun pop out window that will have a bench seat for Kole (with organized baskets below for me! – ha!).

Hot air balloons are always flying by our house so we thought it would be fun to have balconies to sit on and watch them.  And I could write posts all day long on how I’m planning to decorate the front balcony for Christmas each year!  Building the house is only the beginning!  :)  Now if I can just find time for that shower…

xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
09.26.12

Everyday pics

The girls and their “friends” enjoying afternoon pasta and tea.  
More friends making themselves at home in my closet.  
And in the bathroom.  
And in the backyard.  
 Guess those trucks come in handy after all!   

What my trash looks like after a trip to the grocery store.  
Ditching the bulky boxes and tidying up my pantry always puts me in an instant good mood.   

Girls headbands were driving me nuts so I moved them to a new location.  
Temporary fix.  
The new house stuff is completely taking over my current house.  
Every where you look there are plans and brochures and sketches and samples.  
I need an office!  So I’m designing one.  Hence the mess that is making me feel the need for an office.
  :)
My boy is up to his usual tricks pulling everything out of my cupboards.  
Bowls are always a hit.  
Moving the pillows all on one couch never gets old.  
 And pausing only briefly for a favorite part of Toy Story 3.  

There is just something about a sleeping toddler.  PEACE.  :)  Kole cracks me up.  Every night I go in to check on him before I go to bed and every night he is in this same position – sideways in his crib with his feet on the wall and one arm over his forehead.  And yes I know he is getting too old for his binkie. It’s not a crutch for him.  It’s a crutch for me.  :)  With everything going on lately, I just don’t have the strength to deal with taking it away.  When Ellie was 2 1/2 we tossed all of her pacifiers and told her that the binkie fairy came and took them and left a toy instead because she was such a big girl.  Worked fabulously.  One tough night with a few tears and she was over it.  I have a feeling things might not go so smoothly with my little buddy so I’m admittedly procrastinating.  And yes, I know he is in Christmas pajamas in September.  I just couldn’t resist.  :)

 But I’m not completely overlooking Fall.  Picked these up at the grocery store yesterday.  
The mini white pumpkins are my favorite!  
 I’m going to use them for my hutch like I did last year.

Kenny bought me the new iphone 5.  I’ve never had an iphone before.  I got this phone and started a Facebook page for my blog all in the same week.  I feel so…  2012.  :)  
I’m sure it’s amazing but I haven’t had two seconds to play around with it.  
Kenny asked me how I like my new phone last night and I said “I love my new ringer!”  He said – “I buy you the iphone 5 and your favorite part is the ringer?”  
But it’s the song Call me Maybe! 
“Hey I just met you… and this is crazy, but here’s my number… so call me maybe….”  
 Perfect ringer, right!? 

Kole loves my ringer too.  Whenever the phone rings we both get so excited and start to dance.  
But then I answer the phone and the music stops and the party’s over and mom’s occupied and Kole is NOT happy.  So we turn the song on my ipod after my call and dance some more.  I’m tempted to give all of you my cell phone number so Kole and I can dance the day away.
But for some reason I don’t think Kenny would be as amused as Kole and I would be.

:)
 The girls currently have secret “pass codes” on their bedroom doors.  You have to place one hand on the hand drawing and type the code in with your other hand to enter their rooms.  

Not just anyone can enter and I had to block out the code to post these pictures.  
It’s top secret.   
I’d share it with you but then I’d have to kill you.  
Love my girls.  They’re always good entertainment.  :)  

Kenny took these before church one Sunday.  He said “smile” and the girls both popped their knee up in an identical pose almost as if it had been rehearsed.  I swear they share a brain.  
Let’s hope it’s their daddy’s.
:) 
xoxo, Erin
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Q and A
09.24.12

Q & A

Thank you thank you for all of the fun comments and Facebook love everyone!  You all made me feel very “liked.”  :)  I really appreciate all of the support and I’m truly honored that so many of you include Sunny Side Up in your daily routine.  I’m answering a few of your questions today so grab some chips (I could go for some Baked Lays right about now) and read on!

Thanks for the inspiration!  Question:  Do your girls play in their good clothes?  Where do you store their shorts – maybe I missed them?  My girls are 7, 3, and 1 so I get lots of ideas from you!

Three girls!  Triple the fun!  And the drama.  :)  Those are good questions.  About a year ago I completely stopped buying my girls shorts.  They have never liked shorts or pants much (not stylish enough for Addison and not comfy enough for Ellie.  Ha!  See what I mean about the drama?)  They always want to wear dresses and skirts so I buy a lot of skirts with the shorts sewn in them and a lot of leggings and tights to wear under the dresses/skirts in the winter.  It works for us because it never gets too cold here.  As far as the girls playing in their good clothes, I have totally changed my way of thinking about that.  When they were little I bought them so may cute outfits and then hardly let them wear them.  I kept “saving” them for a special occasion and before I knew it, they had grown out of the outfits completely.  I dressed them in their $5 Target tops day after day and the more expensive outfits sat untouched in their closets (a waste of money to only wear a time or two!).  So now I let them wear their good clothes.  To school, to the park, everywhere we go.  Because school and the park is their life and they grow so fast!  And yes, the clothes get dirty and trashed, but then I feel like I really got my money’s worth out of those nice outfits!  So aside from a few fancier dresses for church, my girls wear their “good clothes” every day.  :)  I’ve adopted the same way of thinking with my clothes.  I used to not clean up much because I’d think “I’m just going to be cleaning, at the park, and running kids around all day.”  Well yeah.  That’s my life right now and I don’t see it changing anytime in the near future!  I can do mom stuff in sweats or wear some cute jeans and a belt and at least feel better about myself while I clean and run kids around all day.  And feeling better about myself makes a world of difference.  K – that last part really had nothing to do with your question.  Bur you know I tend to ramble.  Ask me a question and you will get an answer times three.  :)

I was wondering how your girls do in dresses at school?  My daughter also loves wearing them but I can’t picture her playing on the playground without her undies showing or getting her dress all dirty.  

Ok – this was a major problem for us that I just solved last year!  I mentioned above that I try to buy skirts with the shorts sewn in them, but a lot of my girls’ dresses and skirts don’t have them.  Ellie loves the monkey bars at school and I knew she was toppling upside down daily flashing her underwear for all to see, so I started looking all around for some shorts that would be good to wear underneath dresses.  And check out what I found at Target!

They are called Monkey Bar Buddies (how fitting!) and they are perfect little light weight spandex shorts made for girls to wear underneath dresses/skirts.  They run a little small so Addie (who is usually a size 6) wears a 7/8.  I found them on-line here, but check your local Target first.  I bought a pack of two for around six bucks in the girls’ clothes department.  PROBLEM SOLVED.  :)

Totally silly question here!   My two oldest kids are the same ages as your girls and I am wondering what kind of hangers you use in your girls’ closets?   I still have the baby/toddler hangers but they are getting too small for their clothes.  However, the adult plastic hangers are a bit too big.  Which plastic hangers are you using?  Only an organization freak would worry about such things!

Not a silly question at all!  In fact, I’ve been asked this question a lot.  Here are a few pics of the hangers I use for my kids…

 Pink for the girls.  
Green for Kole.  

I bought these hangers at Babies R’ Us.  I bought the pink ones when Ellie was a baby.  They work great for baby clothes and also work great for older kids’ clothes.  They have held up so well and a pack of ten is only three bucks.  A great solution to your hanger problem – from one organization freak to another.  :)  (You can find them here.)

Question about the dividers.  I have a couple sets of them (I think?  Or something that looks the same!) and I love how they divide drawers but the ones I have are always coming loose.  Not sure if I am doing something wrong… it sounds like you are happy with yours and they are not an issue?

The dividers I use in all of our clothes drawers are the Dream Drawer dividers.  You can find them at Bed Bath and Beyond, The Container Store and of course, on-line (here).  They are my favorite dividers and I’ve never had any problems with them. 

They adjust to any size of your drawer and even come with black felt tabs that go on the sides of the spring so your drawers don’t get scratched.  I tried another brand once (Martha Stewart I think) with dividers that went horizontally and vertically and I didn’t like them at all.  They didn’t stay in place and just felt flimsy and cheap.  I took them back and got more Dream Drawer dividers!

I love that they keep things organized without taking up a lot of drawer space.  I have them in almost every clothes drawer in my house.  They divide my exercise clothes and swim suits, pajamas tops and pajama bottoms, and yes – even my white socks from my dark socks.  The possibilities are endless!  :)   (It’s true.  Dividing socks by color is fun for me.  Admitting it is the first step.)

Ok – I hunted all over Target this past Sunday trying to find this cute little notepad and NO LUCK!!  Any idea which section it was in?  

Man!  I feel bad!  Several of you went to look for my favorite new Target find and couldn’t find it.  I found mine in the office supply section.  Same place they carry file folders and paper clips.  There was a section of organization products and this was there among other things.  I couldn’t find it on line but I found these by Real Simple that are the exact same thing.  Hope that helps!

I just discovered your blog and love love love it!  Your organized home makes me drool!  I have two girls under 3.  My 3 year old has a huge collection of kitchen play stuff which she plays with every day.  I tidy up and re-arrange her kitchen play stuff every night but I still feel that the many cups, saucers, etc.  creates a lot of eye clutter in the playroom.  Any suggestions on how to store the kitchen stuff?  


First of all – thank you!  Very sweet of you to say.  :)
Ahhh!  The kitchen collection.
 Yes.  I know a thing or two about that.  :)
Our play kitchen is in the corner of our playroom.  

The main thing I focus on with “kitchen” accessories is to not have too many of them!  I have taken countless toy dishes, food, etc. to Goodwill over the years.  I like to store all of the accessories inside the kitchen.  As soon as things start getting too cluttered, I clean it out and only keep my girls’ favorite kitchen toys.  
 I keep the food in a basket next to the kitchen.

Favorite bowls, plates, pots and pans on top.  Easily accessible and easy to clean up.  A goal for any kitchen!

 Utensils are just tossed in the sink.  

 A few random bowls and tea sets are stored inside the “fridge.”  

Toaster is stored in the oven and cakes in the dishwasher.  Maybe not the goal for any kitchen, but it works for us.  :)

If you have more kitchen accessories than you can fit inside the kitchen itself, another option is using nearby baskets or bins to contain everything.  We have loved these bins from Target for miscellaneous toys in the playroom.  This picture was from a couple of years ago.  Currently the bins are full of trains and trucks.  :)  Still shows some clutter, but I think it’s important in the kids’ space that they can easily see and reach and clean up their own toys.  Hope that helps!

I’m only half way through the questions I was going to answer tonight so I’ll answer the rest another night this week.  If you have a question for me, ask me in the comments.  I’m still working on getting my email button linked to my email address.  The last to-do for the new design!

I should go to bed but I need to finish watching my latest obsession – Property Brothers on HGTV.  Nothing like a good before and after!  Or handsome brothers creating dream kitchens.  I’ll take them both please.  (The before/afters and the dream kitchens, not the brothers.)  Actually… on second thought…  You can throw them in too.

:)  
xoxo, Erin
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Blogging
09.21.12

A new look!

Hi everyone!  So sorry about the lack of posting this week!  Forget the face lift.  We went for the full body makeover!  :)  Which ended up being a bit time consuming.  You all know that I love to make my own blog headers.  And I love to switch them out with the seasons.  (You can see past headers and how I make them here.)  You also know that things are so busy for me right now that I don’t have much time for making my blog headers and switching them out with the seasons.  But I was getting tired of the Easter Eggs.  They just seemed so… Easter.  :)  So I called my darling friend Haylee who is an amazing graphic designer and enlisted some help.

This picture was taken this last 4th of July with Haylee and her cute sisters (and kids).  These girls feel like my sisters too.  Our families have been close friends forever and I love them!  They are all so beautiful and talented and FUN.  One of my favorite things about visiting my hometown is getting together with these girls.  I told Haylee my plan for the blog – yellow and blue and sunny and happy.  :)  Then I sent her the pictures and she went to work.  She did an amazing job putting it all together.  Then we spent the past few nights staying up way too late getting everything uploaded and working just right and now YEA!  A new look for Sunny Side Up!   

And a button!  Can you believe that I’ve been blogging for almost four years and have never had a button?  I’m dedicating this button to my blog friend Katrina who kept asking me over and over if I was going to make one and then finally gave up and made one herself to put on her blog.  HA!  Now that’s a loyal reader.  :)  Katrina – this button is for you!  And for anyone else who wants it.  :)  (code is on the sidebar)

I’ve also decided to join the party (albeit a bit late) and get a Facebook page for my blog.  I’ve told you all before that I don’t tweet and I’m never on my personal Facebook page.  I’m rarely on my computer during the day (aside from monitor/answering emails) and the blog takes up most of my computer time at night.  But I’ve had many requests for additional ways to follow this blog so I set up a Facebook page to make it easier for those of you who prefer to follow blogs this way.  I don’t know how often I’ll be posting on Facebook.  My plan isn’t to pop in every 20 minutes and bore you with what I’m eating for lunch.  Because if you’ve read this blog for 5 minutes you already know that I’m eating a turkey sandwich.  But I do promise to always update my Facebook page when I publish a new post.  And I may include an occasional picture of what I’m up to – kids, projects, shopping, new house stuff.  The everyday.  Ok.  Maybe I’ll be boring you with pics of my turkey sandwich after all.  :)

Didn’t Haylee do a great job with the Facebook header too!?  Love it.  And I would love for you to “like me.”  But only if you want to.  I asked Kenny if he would “like me” last night when the page was up and running and he said he’d have to think about it.  So you can think about it too.  But in the end I hope you do.  :)  You can find my new Facebook page here. 

Haylee – I can’t thank you enough for giving my blog a new look!  And we finished just in time for you to start working on my Christmas cards for this year!  ;)  (Haylee has designed my cards for the past two years.  Once Kole came along I was done making them myself.  No explanation needed.)  

2011 Christmas Card:

Kole was such a pill last year!  Cried the whole photoshoot.  Remember this post?  :)  
2010 Christmas Card:

Haylee is amazing and does such a beautiful job.  You can check out her fun website Hey Hay Designs if you are interested in having her make your holiday cards this year.   As soon as she is finished making mine.  :)

{Thanks again Haylee!}

SO happy to have a new permanent look for my blog!  Now I can focus on the posts.  And new house stuff.  I made lots of decisions this week!   Kenny called Tuesday afternoon to see how my morning had been and I informed him that we were upgrading our toilet seats.  Who thinks about toilet seats?? Someone who is purchasing multiple toilets, that’s who.  Always a good time around here.  :)  
Enjoy your weekend everyone!  

xoxo, Erin
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Blogging
09.18.12

Under Construction

My blog is getting a facelift.  California style.  A nip here, a tuck there, a little botox on the side.  ;)

Things are TOTALLY under construction right now so please excuse the mess!  It will take a day or two before I get everything up and running the right way since I can’t put life on hold for my blog design.

But oh how I wish I could.  
:)
Enjoy your day!  
xoxo, Erin
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Ellie and Addison
09.17.12

I want to remember


I want to remember that Kole’s favorite movie is Tinkerbell and whenever I turn it on he is absolutely glued to the TV.  It’s the only movie he will watch from start to finish.  I have tried to get him to watch Cars and other “boy” shows time and time again but nothing holds his attention like the fairies of Pixie Hollow.  It is adorable and hilarious and strangely appropriate for the life he lives surrounded by so many girls.  This bit of information should come in handy someday.  :)

I want to remember that not long ago Ellie was so upset about some bushes and flowers we pulled out of the front yard that she decided to run away.  Apparently they were favorites of hers and she didn’t appreciate the change.  She packed a suitcase and told us she was leaving for good.  Trying desperately to keep straight faces, Kenny and I asked her a few important questions –
“What will you eat?”  
“I guess I will have to go to Vons and steal some donuts.” 
Where are you going?
“To Utah to grandma and grandpa’s house.  They have a pool and grandpa is retired now.  He will play with me.” 
She made it out the door and to the mailboxes and then slowly came back and told us maybe she would run away tomorrow.  We told her we were so glad she decided to wait because we would miss her more than we could handle.
Later I checked her suitcase and she had packed two swim suits and a pair of pajamas.

I want to remember how Kenny lights up whenever he talks about our kids.  We had short meetings with each of the girls’ teachers last week to set goals for the school year and it made me smile listening to him talk about our girls.  His eyes sparkle and he speaks about them like they are the most amazing little people in the world.  I always knew he would be a good dad, but he has exceeded my expectations beyond measure.

I want to remember the way Kole climbs on me and says “lap!”  My lap is his favorite place to be and you won’t hear me complaining about it.

I want to remember the way that Ellie calls a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup a “Reese” and a Jolly Rancher a “Jolly Ranch.”  They are two of her favorite treats and I don’t think she knows the right way to pronounce them.  I haven’t told her the correct way because I think her version is better.  I hope nobody else tells her for a long time.

I want to remember that when Addison was getting ready to start Kindergarten Kenny told her how important it is to do well in school.  He said “if you work hard in school you can be anything you want to be when you grow up.”  Addison said “Good!  Because I want to be a mom!”

I want to remember the way that made me feel.

xoxo, Erin
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organization2
09.13.12

Organized kids’ closet/drawers

Thank you so much for all of the sweet comments yesterday about the flood in my home town.  I really appreciated the kind words.  Such a tough situation.  My mom and I talked several times throughout the day and she was constantly overwhelmed by how many people jumped right into the mess to help.  It’s always so touching to see a community come together during times like this.  I am so proud to come from such an amazing little town full of some of the nicest people you could meet.  I wish I could be there right now.  But somehow I have a feeling that “my crew” wouldn’t be that much of a help.  :)  
I’ve been in a total funk ever since I heard the news about the flood (and especially about the state of a very close friend’s house) so to cheer myself up a bit tonight I decided an organizing post was in order.  Organizing (and posting about organizing) is always an instant upper for me.  My secret go-to drug.  :)  I always say this, but my house really is the most organized when I’m feeling sad or stressed.  Organizing lifts my spirits instantly and I turn to this quick fix time and time again.  Today is no different!  
I try to stay on top of my kids’ closets and drawers by constantly getting rid of clothes that don’t fit or that they aren’t wearing.  You’ve seen Ellie’s closet before:
I’m happy to say that since this closet makeover last November we’ve stayed on top of this space and haven’t had to re-organize it since.  Addison’s closet was another story.  I don’t have before pictures to share, but because of Addison’s love for fashion combined with the fact that she gets all of Ellie’s hand me downs, her closet and drawers were BUSTING at the seams.  I spent a few days over the summer and completely re-organized the space.  I got rid of a lot and took bags of clothes to goodwill.  Felt SO good.  
Here’s what her closet looks like now:  
SO much better!  
A quick breakdown of how I’ve organized her clothes – 

 We are still laying out outfits at the beginning of each week.  LOVE THIS.  It is working so well for us.  These are her outfits for this week.  As is usually the case, she was in a dress mood.  :)

I hang these clothes with their “accessory sacks” on the upper right side of her closet where they are easy to grab and layout for each day.  

 Everything else to the left of her weekly outfits are long sleeved tops that aren’t worn as much.  Winter clothes for the couple of months that it cools off around here.

 There is a shelf above these clothes where I store the girls’ pillow pets.  
I make every ounce of space count!

Below the winter shirts is a shelf I use for the girls’ pony and pet shop village.  I keep these toys here because this shelf is easy for them to reach and they play with these toys often.

 Below that shelf is where I keep tank tops and short sleeved shirts.  Weather appropriate clothes for most of the year.  For the few months it cools off here, I flip the racks and put the warmer clothes down below and summer tops up high.  That way Addie can reach her clothes.  :)

This is the right side of the closet.  

 The middle is open shelving where I store a few extra games.  The lowest shelf holds all of the girls’ “breakables.”  Random ceramics they’ve made, piggy banks, a tea set.  All that girly stuff that they want to be able to reach, but that also needs to be up and away from a certain two year old.

The right side of Addie’s closet is for all of her dresses.  
This girl loves a good dress.  :)  I put the fall/winter dresses on top.  

 Summer dresses down below.  We are still wearing sleeveless stuff around here.  It has been so hot lately!

Below the shelves are some drawers that were way too stuffed full of clothes before.  Not anymore!  The drawers in her closet hold:

 Swimsuits.  
Ballet clothes and tights.  
 Beach summer camp suits on the right and our sad “winter wear” on the left.  
HA!  Yup.  That’s all we’ve got.  

 I cleaned out so many clothes that by the time I finished I had two empty drawers!  Love that.  I’m sure they will be filled soon, but what a nice feeling in the mean time.

Addison also has a dresser in her room so I went through those clothes as well (seriously, this little project took several days!).

 Top drawer holds pajamas.  

 Next drawer holds skirts.  
I use the Dream Drawer Dividers in a lot of my drawers.  In this drawer they separate leggins/capris from Ad’s socks and underwear.  Do you love the cloud over her underwear?  Figured I don’t need to air all of our dirty laundry on this blog.
K.  That was a bad joke.  It’s past midnight right now so I get a pass.  

 Next drawer down holds pants.  Which my girls don’t love so I don’t buy much of them.  

The bottom drawer is still where we keep the barbie dolls.  
When I straighten things up they look like the picture above.  

Then days later they look like this again.  It’s ok.  I’m good with chaos.  As long as it’s controlled chaos.  

:)

p.s  This week has been busy with new house stuff so if you’ve emailed me and haven’t heard back I’m so sorry and I will get back to you – probably over the weekend.  After I de-stress from this week by re-organizing our junk drawer.  :)

Enjoy your Thursday everyone!  

xoxo, Erin
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Ramblings
09.12.12

A sad day

Hi everyone!  I was planning on posting something quite different than what I’m sharing tonight.  My mom called me this afternoon to tell me she had been evacuated from her home.  It has been raining steadily since Sunday in my hometown and the rain caused a huge dike to break.  My mom’s home wasn’t hit, but many close friends’ and neighbors’ homes were destroyed.  It has been so sad today hearing the news about the flood and seeing how many of our friends were affected.  My dad, along with others, spent the day shoveling mud out of a close friends home.  Luckily no one was hurt, but so many homes/belongings have been ruined.  My mom said they were told to evacuate so quickly they didn’t have time to grab much.  She grabbed a quilt my grandma made and a diet coke.  That made me smile.  Way to prioritize mom.  :)  The dike is located right next to where I went to High School (I’ve walked over it hundreds of times) and when I saw the news clip today I couldn’t believe it!  So much water.  It was heartbreaking seeing my beautiful home town in such a sad state.  I feel like I need to be there helping in some way.

Click here to watch a news clip of the dike that broke and some of the homes that were flooded if you are interested.

I don’t really know why I’m blogging about this except that this blog is always a reflection of what’s on my mind and right now, this is all I can think about.  I woke up feeling sad this morning remembering September 11th.  Then this happened and officially made it a very sad day for me.  Hope your day went better than mine!  I am going to bed tonight grateful that my family and friends are safe.  And hoping that things will feel a bit more sunny tomorrow.

xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
09.10.12

Favorite Fall Posts

It’s happening!  Football has been on all weekend, my pumpkin spice candle is emanating the most intoxicating scent, and Kenny is right now at this very moment working on our Fall line-up (a spread sheet he creates to organize/plan all of the TV shows we record on our DVR this time of year).  Let the season begin!  Who doesn’t love Fall!?  Such a great time of year.  We always have warm Fall weather in San Diego (and the leaves on our Palm trees don’t budge) so I try to bring as much “Fall” into my home each year as I possibly can.  To get excited for the upcoming season, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of my favorite posts from last Fall.  (You can click on the link below the pictures for the full post with more details.)  YEA!  Seeing all of these pictures again makes me want to break out the gourds, hang the Fall wreath on the door, and buy some Halloween candy!  Fall 2012.  If all goes as planned it will be our last Fall in this house.  I know it will be a special one.  :)

And last but not least, the link below is to my favorite quote which seems especially appropriate this time of year: 
{Let Gratitude Be Your Attitude}  

Enjoy and Happy Fall!  

xoxo, Erin
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organization2
09.07.12

A favorite Target find (to-do notepad)

Thanks for all of the sweet comments yesterday!  So much fun hearing from all of you.  Well worth dealing with all of the spam.  :)  I’m popping in quick today to share my new favorite Target find.  Because what fun is a new Target find if you don’t share it with everyone else?

You all know that I love a good to-do list.  My time management binder is never too far out of reach.
Usually I use my sticky notes to organize my “to buy” lists. 
I love that I can grab the list and toss it in my purse when I’m heading to a specific store.  
Well last week while I was in Target I noticed this fun notepad and had to have it!  
So stylish and I love its simplicity. 

Two lists: TO BUY and TO DO.  You can tear the page off and tear apart the separate lists if you wanted to take one or both of them with you.  I still use my time management binder most of the time, but once in a while on busy days I have loved jotting down my TO DO’s and TO BUY’s on this little baby.  It even has a place to the side for your check mark {done – check!}.  Could it be any more simple and efficient?  I think not.  GO Target.  Or should I say GO TO Target.  And get one of these notepads.  A very happy purchase indeed.  The end.  
Enjoy your weekend everyone!  
xoxo, Erin
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