Erin, Author at The Sunny Side Up Blog

Uncategorized

01.29.13

El the ice princess

Sharing a few pics from El’s 9th birthday party today! I need to get them posted before I blink and it’s time to throw her another party. Ellie loves ice skating so we thought it would be fun to have an ice skating party. I was all for it because #1 – the people at the ice skating rink have the whole thing organized so there is little work for mom and #2 – her birthday is in January. This would make it feel like a real winter birthday! Something we don’t experience much around here. It all sounded great until we woke up the morning of the party. Kenny and I were like “what were we thinking!? Are we seriously taking 15 3rd graders ice skating!?” “Do you even know how to ice skate?” “No.” “Do you?” “No.” “What were we thinking!?” We had visions of party guests leaving with broken arms and legs for party favors. Minor moment of panic. :) But I’m happy to say that aside from a few trips and falls, everyone left in one piece and had a great time. Especially my 9 year old ice princess.

I had a cute winter-y outfit all laid out for her to wear but she told me that she wanted to wear sweats and could she please since it was after all, her birthday. How do you argue with that? I’m just glad she didn’t (in typical Ellie fashion) ask to wear her pajamas. :)

The rink was a little crowded since it was a Saturday. It was 75 degrees and beautiful outside so it seemed funny that so many people were bundling up and going indoors for ice skating. I guess we weren’t the only ones who wanted to “feel” winter. El had a great time skating with her friends. They are a darling group of kids and I loved seeing them having so much fun together.

After skating a while the party leader gathered the birthday group.

And everyone sang to El.

Everyone cleared the ice and she got to play some games with the crowd cheering her on.

Then our party guy (who was darling with El) picked her up and skated her around the rink several times while everyone cheered. It was so dang cute. She had her arms outstretched and was grinning ear to ear and later said that was her favorite part of the day. That and when they played Lose My Breath by Beyonce – requested by the birthday girl of course.

While El skated with her friends, Addie and I made our best attempt to stay on two feet.

Yes. The Olympics are in both of our futures.

I’m too old and Addie’s too young, but together we make the perfect combo.

You guys think I’m kidding but I’m not.

Winter Olympics 2014 – Russia. Watch for us.

After skating it was time for pizza of course.

Then El got to decorate her cake.

And then we all sang to her and showered her with love. She told me it was her best birthday yet and her huge smile throughout the party confirmed it.

Age nine is off to a great start. :)

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

01.25.13

A quick hello

I wanted to quickly share a little something with all of you. A sweet blog reader of mine named Cathy (who has become a good friend!) has a close friend going through a very difficult time right now. She is pregnant and is carrying her precious baby to term despite the fact that he has anencephaly (the formation of the brain is limited or does not occur). This couple is raising money to cover the cost of a memorial bench to have made in their baby’s honor. I am sharing this with you today for two reasons. Reason one is because Cathy has become a dear friend of mine so when she asked me to share this with my readers I didn’t hesitate. If it is important to her it is important to me. Reason two is because I have been blessed to be pregnant four times in my life. My first pregnancy was a miscarriage and it was incredibly difficult even though I lost the baby early on. I can’t imagine carrying a baby full term knowing that your time on earth with your sweet angel will be so short. My heart aches for what this couple will go through. My friend Cathy blogged about their story here and you can see the family’s facebook page here if you would like to learn more or consider donating. Thank you!

This has been a slow blogging week for me! Kenny and I are very much still in recovery mode. Moms don’t get sick days. I almost laughed when the doctor told me to “get lots of rest.” I wanted to say “have you met my two year old!?” :) Hopefully things will turn around and we will start to feel better this weekend. My girls are feeling better and have been doing their best to help entertain Kole.

Of course we all know what that means.

Poor kid doesn’t stand a chance.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

New House

01.24.13

New house update (exterior)

Well. This has been quite the week! We are all sick at my house. El had her b-day party Saturday and we were all feeling great. By Monday Kenny and El were sick and by last night the whole crew (minus Kole) had a cough, stuffy nose, headache, sore throat and fever. Dr. visits for all today! And plenty of Z packs to go around. Kenny has also been up to his own home remedies. Ever heard of a pie cleanse? I didn’t think so. You eat nothing but pie. He came up with that little trick over Thanksgiving and decided another pie cleanse is in order to cure his cold as well. Even in his sickest state (and he is really sick!) his sense of humor remains in tact. What a relief. ;)

Quick picture dump today. Things have been really moving along at the new house and we are having so much fun seeing everything on the exterior come together. A lot of planning is happening for the inside as well (almost finished designing the bathrooms!) but I think it will be more fun to share inside stuff when everything is actually being installed. Here are a few things that have been happening with the exterior the past two months…

My corbels were added to the front balcony. I love corbels. :)

Here they are working on the framing for the standing seam copper roofs. I will be so sad to see our framers go. We have loved getting to know these guys.

Roof is finished and chimneys are framed!

Then the paper was added to the roof to keep out the elements.

Roof tiles are loaded and windows are almost completely installed. YEA!

Fireplaces have been installed. I chose a grey herringbone pattern for the inside. LOVE. I’m probably not going to add wood and light fires in them. Just admire the grey herringbone. ;)

And here are a few pictures of the pool in progress –

So cool. It was fascinating to see the process and how quickly they had that baby knocked out!

Of course as soon as the hole was dug we had a huge rain storm. Several huge rain storms actually so for a while everything was a muddy mess! Fun to tromp around in though.

My favorite thing so far has definitely been seeing the windows/doors installed. Like so many of you commented on – it makes it feel more like a real house instead of a construction site. :)

My favorite windows are the three on the front of the house.

And the two little square ones on the front of the garage. :)

Progress! I have to say that one of my favorite things about the building process so far has been meeting so many wonderful people. From the framers to the plumbers to the electricians to the landscapers – they have all been the best. So much fun to work with. I love taking them up some muffins/bagels and juice and chatting with them all. I usually can’t stay long because my little man is waiting for me in the car and the two of us don’t handle separation well. :) It is still way too dangerous to let Kole loose on the scene! But I love popping in when my schedule allows it to see what has been done each day. We are getting an inspection next week and then it’s time for drywall! We will also be starting the siding and rock on the exterior very soon. Bring it! I’m ready to move in. :)

Enjoy your day everyone! Fingers crossed you are all well! It is no fun being sick. Oh and thanks for the sweet comments on El’s birthday post. I know all moms can relate to the happy/sad feelings that come when your child turns another year older. (sniff) I can’t think about it or I need more tissues.

And we are already knee deep in tissues around here. :)

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Ellie

01.21.13

Dear Ellie,

You did it. Even though I distinctly told you not to. You turned nine years old yesterday. NINE! These birthday letters are getting harder and harder for me to write.

Just ten minutes ago you were my vivacious four year old. You loved tea parties and Little Bear and playing with your sister Addison.

And now, ten minutes later, you are nine. You still love playing with your sister Addison, but Little Bear is “for babies” and you’ve traded in your tea sets for mom’s iPhone (which you sneak any chance you can get!). You love listening to pop music and you wear a retainer at night and I find myself looking at you often and thinking to myself – oh my word. It’s happening. She’s growing up.

Even though you are growing so quickly Ellie and I am starting to see small glimpses of “pre-teen,” you are still the sweetest little person imaginable. You love life and it shows in everything you do. I was reading your birthday letter from last year and the year before the other day and now I feel like I can just say ditto to everything I mentioned in them. The things I love so much about you haven’t changed one bit. You are still so happy and kind and creative and loving.

Here are a few things about you right now at age nine that I never want to forget:

You are obsessed with Pandas Ellie. Panda toys, panda clothes, panda books. You love it all. You love to sneak my cell phone and watch clips of pandas on YouTube, dress your pandas up in clothes, and you are always telling us interesting little facts you’ve learned about them. You even make up panda jokes and stories and songs. You keep us pretty entertained with your panda obsession Ellie. :)

You especially love to draw pandas. Actually you just love to draw period. You are always drawing something and you have such a talent for art. You have already far surpassed how well your daddy and I can draw (although you and I both know that’s not saying much!).

A couple of weeks ago you found a drawing that you liked of an animal on-line and within two hours you had drawn around 20 animals. They were so adorable I had to take a picture. You named them all of course. And numbered them all in order.

And then everyone in the family had to pick their favorites. Because you always love for all of us to pick our favorites. :)

You have a passion for creating things Ellie. Pictures, stories, songs…

or even just new inventive ways to play with your toys. Your creativity is endless and I am always excited to see what you will come up with next.

You love writing notes and you express your feelings this way often.

I get fun little notes and pictures from you all the time El and they make my day. I save every one. :)

You also write and draw to express your feelings when you are upset or mad. This note is a favorite of mine. You were upset that your dad had to fly to San Francisco again for work. It pretty much sums up how we all feel when your dad has to travel.

And that is final. :)

You have such a special relationship with your little brother and sister Ellie. I couldn’t have dreamed up a better big sister for them.

You love them. You watch out for them. You would do anything for them and you show it every day. You show it when you stop playing with your toys because Kole is calling “help me!” You show it when Addie is sad or upset and you instantly run to make her laugh and cheer her up. You show it in the way you talk to them and play with them and take care of them. And you especially show it in the way you make them feel.

You make all of us feel loved Ellie. You are so full of love and happiness. Some days if I’m feeling down I know I just need a good dose of my Ellie. :) You walk in the door and just like that, I am happy again. It’s impossible to not smile when you are around. The two of us always talk about how you are so special to me because you made me a mom. You are special because of that Ellie. You are special to me for countless reasons and I can’t imagine my life without you in it.

Happy 9th birthday Ellie! I love you to pieces.

xoxo,

mommy

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

01.17.13

Valentine’s mantel – 2013

Can you believe it? It’s time for another Valentine’s mantel post. Seriously? I’m still writing 2012 on everything. Time slips away too quickly. Or perhaps I’m just a tad scattered lately. Most likely a little of both. This post is heavy with pictures so I’ll make it light with words. You know. In case you have other things to do today besides read my blog. Although I can’t imagine what… ;)

Remember my Christmas mantel? With my new bff – silver reindeer sporting the bling? I was sad to take him down. Really I was sad to take the whole mantel down. So I didn’t.

Instead of creating a “winter” mantel like I did last year,

I just combined the some of my Christmas/winter look with some Valentine friendly decor and came up with this.

My Valentine’s mantel for 2012.

I mean 2013.

I left up the winter candles and ornaments in the apothecary jars…

and then filled some of my random bottles (I love collecting random bottles) with Valentine candy.

Pink and red and aqua. Oh my.

My only new addition was this adorable little heart bottle from Michaels for just over a dollar.

It makes me smile. (I love collecting things that make me smile.)

The silver pine cones remind me that it’s winter since our weather doesn’t.

And of course our heart tissue banner. My girls so look forward to hanging this up every year.

If you’re new to my blog, you can see how we made it here.

Can I just interrupt this post to say something? Taking pictures of this mantel is SO difficult because of that impossible mirror!

To take the best picture at eye level head on, well, you can see my head. Drives me crazy! I have to be so tricky to hide myself in these mantel photos. You weren’t aware that so much thought and effort goes into these pictures, were you. You weren’t aware of my mad “how to hide yourself from the mirror” photo skills, were you. You probably think it took me ten minutes to take these photos in between homework and dinner with not much thought and a crazy two year old running in between my legs. Well. That part might be true. But still. MAD “how to hide yourself from the mirror” photo skills I tell you.

That is why you’ll often see a picture of my mantel from this side angle…

or from this one.

And once in a while – BAM – my skills slip (happens to the best of us) and I find yet another mantel picture like this on my camera. The moral of this story is #1 – if you have a blog and like to take pictures of your mantel, think twice before you include a mirror in your decorating. And #2 – if I ever promise to make a post light with words, don’t believe me. But you already knew that one, didn’t you.

(And that is why I love you all so much. You just let me ramble on and on and on…. )

Back to the mantel! Here are some pictures from past Valentine mantels just because I’m having too much fun for this post to end.

This was last years mantel. It lasted for about 10 minutes until my girls noticed there wasn’t any candy involved.

So I changed it to this. Which is similar to my Valentine mantel from the year before…

This mantel was featured on BHG’s website – a post full of fun Valentine mantel ideas.

And now we can add this picture to the mix.

They are all pretty similar, but by just changing up a little something here and there, you get a new look for each year.

And with that sage advice, I can officially end this post.

You and I both know it has gone on long enough.

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

organization2

01.15.13

To-organize list and progress made

Alright friends. You’ve heard it here before. The first step towards having an organized home is making a list. Go through your house room by room and make a list of each space that needs a makeover. I just love a good makeover! Makes me excited just thinking about one! Be specific. Putting it all on paper will help take away some of the overwhelmed feeling. Then just tackle one drawer, cupboard, closet at a time. That’s what I do anyway. :) Here is my “to-organize list” for 2013:

{Touch-up} (these are areas that are already organized but need a 20 minute straightening)

– garage

– pantry

– fridge

– closet – Kenny’s side of course :)

– girls’ closets/drawers

– girls’ bookshelf

{Total makeover}

– create files for each of the kids (transfer kitchen drawer papers)

– clean out kitchen paper drawer

– DVD’s (new system!)

– closet under stairs (box up!)

– Halloween/fall decor (box up!)

– Christmas (box up!)

– re-organize playroom bins

– bookshelf in guest room (box books – make room for toys)

– scrapbook room (box up scrapbook supplies!)

– sort/organize kids’ recent school work (add new folders)

– re-organize Kole’s closet/drawers

– bunk bed storage (box up!)

So! This might not look like a lot, but I have less than a year and I’m well aware that with my current schedule, time is limited. I will be beyond thrilled if I can complete this list before the move. I’ve managed to complete a few of my “touch-up” areas – spaces that are organized but needed a quick clean out. Organized spaces always need a bit of re touching… or they don’t stay organized. :)

Here is what I’ve accomplished so far (nothing revolutionary, but progress is progress, right?)

I took our Christmas decor that I usually store in trunks throughout our house…

and I boxed it all up! It’s ready for its new home. But it will have to chill in the garage for a bit first. :)
I have to add that I already have plans for how I’m going to store all of my holiday decor in the new house and I can’t wait! I think I’m more excited to organize my new house than I am to actually live in it. I know. That’s not right, right? :)

The stuffed animals/dolls moved into the trunks because I’m going to pack up most of the stuff in our closet under the stairs (where they were previously living when not played with). The girls helped sort their toys and even though they refused to part with anything (because each toy is a beloved friend who is real with real feelings – thanks a lot Toy Story) they did agree to sending less played with toys to grandma’s house. That was the only solution I could come up with after debates and tears. (Sorry mom… you were saying you needed a few more stuffed animals right?)

This weekend I bought groceries and did a quick pantry clean out. I didn’t take a recent picture, but aside from different things in the clear containers it looks the same as the picture from my original pantry organization post.

Then I moved onto the fridge…

I pulled all of the food out.

Then I pulled all of the shelves out.

Then I washed everything super clean. That’s the trick.

Don’t just wash things clean. Wash them super clean.

Then I put everything back where it belongs. This is a pretty complicated system.

Am I moving too fast? ;)

I labeled our water bottles.

And I washed and cut up all of the fruits/veggies so that they are ready to eat/serve.

Then I patted myself on the back and went to give Kole a bath and didn’t take any after pics (the ones above are from an earlier post I did on fridge organization). But, like the pantry, it looks pretty similar.

Like I said, nothing major, but at least I’ve checked off a few things on my list! I’m in the middle of boxing up the bookshelf in our guest room and it is a MESS. I can’t find more than 15 minutes at a time to work on it so it might just be a mess for a while. Actually I have quite a few messes going on around here that I’m anxious to tackle. Check out the current state of my scrapbook room (a.k.a Kole’s room):

Christmas wrapping station is still up, I’m going to have to sort though 10 layers just to see my desk, and there is a pile in the corner that is blocking the door so that I can’t even open it all the way.

It’s driving me mad.

But I have to be patient.

All in good time. :)

Have you started a list yet? Any progress made?

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Christmas

01.11.13

Random December

Ok. I know we are well into January. And who wants to see Christmas pictures in January? But I’m behind. So very behind on posting pictures that mean a lot to me. Pictures that I want to always remember. This blog is a lot of things to me and one of them is what it started out as – my personal family scrapbook. So yes. Christmas pictures in January. Kenny is asleep on the couch and I’m watching one HGTV home improvement show after another. It’s catch up time. :)

We spent a lot of December evenings taking the kids to look at lights and especially loved visiting the San Diego temple. It is always beautiful, but at Christmas time it’s simply breathtaking. We visit several times each December and talk about why we celebrate Christmas. It has become a favorite tradition. Clearly my kids love the nativity. So do “Softie” and “McKena” – the stuffed animals that accompanied us on every trip. :)

Love this picture.

I also love that El is wearing a coat and a skirt. Winter in San Diego!

Don’t love that Kenny was at the bottom of a hill looking up to take this picture, but I don’t have many pics of me with all three of my kids and because of that I cherish this one. When I look at this picture I can’t help but feel incredibly blessed. These three mean the world to me. You were in the mood for a little sap now weren’t you.

Playing around with camera settings trying to get a good picture of the Palm Tree lights.

While juggling a two year old on one hip. :)

Grinch time! We took the girls to the Old Globe Theatre in December to see The Grinch. Such a fun play. We enjoyed it so much that we all decided it needs to be an annual tradition.

One of my Cindy Lou Who’s. :)

Kenny and Ad messing around waiting for the show to start.

Too fun. Fingers crossed next year my little man can join us. Verdict is still out on whether he will be able to hold still or not… hmm.. fingers crossed the year after next my little man can join us. :)

Fun spending time with family over the Christmas break. I didn’t take too many pictures this trip, but I love this one with my mom and sister. Yes. My sister is there. She made me mad so I cropped her out. Ha! Kidding. :) Her decision. We were on our way to lunch with friends. Much needed girl time!

Shopping with my kids and mom a few days before Christmas.

We took turns. One of us shopped while the other one entertained the littles.

Last minute Christmas shopping at its finest!

It was a great December. And now I’m caught up. :)

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Uncategorized

01.10.13

Goals and Windows

Well crap. I’ve gone and blown my New Year resolutions already. You know. The two goals I set every year and never achieve: go to bed earlier and cook more. Since it’s well past midnight and I am still up and since I can see the box from Domino’s pizza still sitting on my counter from dinner I’ve decided my goals need some tweaking. New goals for 2013: never go to bed before midnight and order take out at least once a week. No. At least twice a week. There. Goals I will actually accomplish. :)

I spent my evening sending out e-mails for the new house so now there isn’t much time left to blog. Things with the house have been busy and exciting! I’ll share more soon but since I’m short on time here are just a few pics I took yesterday. We have windows! They are camping out in the garages and are being installed tomorrow. YEA!

We chose double hung windows for the front and sides of the house (grids on the top half only) and the full grids for the back of the house.

Kitchen bay window.

Master bedroom window. I think? It’s late.

French doors.

More French doors.

And transoms for above the french doors. :)

I can’t wait to see them installed. It’s finally going to start looking like a real house!

I’m off to bed and will share more soon. Enjoy your day! And I officially give you all permission to tweak your New Year goals if you so desire. I’m feeling much better about 2013 already.

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Ellie and Addison

01.09.13

Seriously mom?

Another picture??

I have some fun pics of my kids we had taken in the Fall that I need to sort through and post, but out of them all this one has to be my favorite! Oh my word little buddy. The look on your face says it all!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

organization2

01.08.13

Organizing in 2012 – a look back

Well! The holiday break has definitely come to an end. My kids went back to school today and like always I had mixed emotions. Bummed that the party is over and the regular routine will ensue – and also ready for the party to be over and for the regular routine to ensue. I love having my kids and Kenny home with me all day but for the love! I couldn’t get anything done! Our house is such a mess. Unpacked bags from traveling, boxes of Christmas decor still out, piles of laundry, new toys all over the place with nowhere to call home. I made a tiny dent today but it’s going to take me a week to get back on top of things. So while I’ve made my new 2013 “to organize” list (which I’ll share soon!) I have yet to actually organize anything. Please tell me I’m not alone. It will make me feel so much better. :)

Before I embark on a complete organizing frenzy this week I decided to write a quick round up post that includes most of my organized spaces from 2012. I know most of you have seen these posts before, but I need to do this for myself to remind me that #1 – Most of my 2012 list was checked off and completed and #2 – it took me a whole year to do it. Pace yourself Erin. Rome wasn’t built in a day…

I haven’t taken a recent pic of this list from last January, but aside from Kole’s room/closet everything has been checked off. It helps so much to have a list! Even though sometimes I stray away from it and come up with new spaces to organize, the list gives me direction and helps me focus in on what our main problem areas are.

Hopefully by sharing some of my organized spaces from 2012 it will inspire us all to kick it in gear this year and see what we can accomplish! (Que the Rocky music in the background…)

Ahh.. the pantry. Technically this makeover happened in 2011 but it was towards the end of that year so I’m including it in the round up anyway because it makes me happy. This set up has worked so well for us. Our pantry doesn’t always look this picture perfect, but it really is easy to keep organized because the baskets conceal so much and everything has a defined place. That happens because I don’t mix things up in the kitchen that often. Maybe that’s the secret to an organized pantry? You have to be a boring cook.

{January}

In January I found a solution for our crazy amount of stuffed animals (that my girls refuse to part with) and I shared my time management binder (recently updated to a time management notepad). I also got the kids’ bath toys, hair accessories and cupboards under control.

{February}

In February we talked about jewelry solutions and I shared how I organize mine. I also shared how I store cords and cards. Then I ended the month by finally tackling our laundry room cabinets.

{March}

In March I cleaned out and organized the girls’ bookshelf and organized all of my bathroom drawers.
(**sidenote – the bookshelf is currently a mess thanks to my 2 year old sidekick, but I’m happy to report that the bathroom drawers are nice and in tact! One out of two for the month of March – I’ll take it!)

{April}

In April I moved from the bathroom drawers to under the bathroom sink. I also finally organized our master closet. That was a time consuming project and one I was so happy to have checked off of my list!

{May/June/July}

Over the summer I posted about some of my favorite organizers. I also created a craft cupboard in our kitchen to organize our craft supplies/school work. I have to say that this is one of my favorite spaces ever. My girls use this cupboard every single day. I’ve hardly touched it myself and it still looks like this! That is the sign of a true well organized space. One that the kids can easily use and keep clean themselves. So many of my spaces look great for a week or two but without my constant straightening go back to being a mess. That’s when it’s time to re-evaluate what is and isn’t working and come up with something better. This craft cupboard is better. :)

{August}

In August I shared some tips for organizing travel with kids and I finally came up with a solution for our morning outfit drama. It was needed and way overdue!

{September}

In September I tackled Addison’s closet and sorted/organized the girls clothes. (I do this 3-4 times a year so that it never takes too long.)

{October}

In October I went a little crazy with Martha Stewart office supplies and re-organized my home decor inspiration pics, my built-in binder, and all of our recipes.

Things heated up with our new house in Nov/Dec so there wasn’t much time for organizing, but here are two more of my 2012 solutions that have really helped me stay organized…

My magazine rack that is always stuffed full of good reads. Love this.

And my favorite green file box/folders that I use to organize my kids school work until that magical day when I have time to scrapbook again.

Even though I’m sharing a lot of spaces today, this really is SO doable when you break things up and just do a little here and there. Tackle one or two spots a month. That is my goal for 2013. I don’t have an hour or two at a time in my schedule right now so 15 minutes a day will have to do. Eventually progress will be made and your home/life (because the two are very much correlated) will run more smoothly. I’m ready to start now.

Que Rocky music in the background…

or any other music you like.

But Rocky is playing in my head.

Bring it on. :)

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Kole

01.04.13

Love language

The two of us have our own.

Happy weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

Leave A Comment

Christmas

01.03.13

Christmas card displays

I love Christmas cards. Who doesn’t!? They make the happiest mail. Seeing so many pictures of people I love always puts a smile on my face. So much so that I never take my cards down right after Christmas. They usually linger until at least February or March.

I used to tape all of our cards on and around the pantry door in our kitchen.

Then last year I painted an old frame aqua and used it to display some of my cards.

I started taping the rest of my cards to the wall next to the frame, but I was having a hard time getting them to stick on the wall so I never got all of them hung and I had to take them down early. I was so bummed!

So this year I was prepared! I bought painters tape (a suggestion from a few sweet readers!) and went to work. I hung some of my cards on the wall and woke up the next morning to this —

SO disappointing! Kole and I just shook our heads.
I guess painters tape wasn’t the solution. At least not for my crazy wall.

I didn’t have many options left.

So I taped my cards to the front door. And good old scotch tape did the trick! Not one card has fallen. When I ran out of room on the door I started taping them to the wall next to the door and those are staying put too. I’m not sure why. But I’m not going to question it. Kole and I just smile and call it a Christmas miracle.

The last two years I have hung our past Christmas cards on our stair banister, but this year when I started hanging the garland, my two year old sidekick had other plans. Pulling everything down was just too much fun for my little buddy so once again I was forced to mix things up. Flexibility has become my middle name ever since a certain someone arrived on the scene. :)