Erin, Author at The Sunny Side Up Blog

Ellie and Addison

05.03.11

In the news

A few news updates today–

#1) We killed Osama bin Laden!

What?

Already knew that huh? Well what about my second news update –

#2) I’ve been totally neglecting my blog!

What?

Knew that one too? Alright. On to family news that may be boring, but at least isn’t as obvious.

This last week has been kind of crazy for me and Kenny. I won’t go into all the details but the bottom line is that we found our dream home and then later realized that for a number of reasons it wasn’t our dream home after all. This house search has been a lot more time consuming and emotionally draining than I ever expected it to be. I’m not complaining. I know that the problems we’re having finding the right home are good problems to have. Even so, this last week has left me a little down and a little frustrated and a little burned out. We’re feeling like it’s time to just take a break from it all. Still look at possible homes, but not be as consumed with it as we have been. I’m ready to focus on other things. Like my kids again!

Hello children. How have you been? I’m sorry you’ve all been running on auto pilot for the last week while your mother has been so occupied with other things.

I’m also ready to focus on my current house. I’ve been putting off changing my decor in hopes that we would be moving soon but I’m feeling like sprucing up this house in the mean time would be a good idea and give me something else to focus on. I told Kenny that some MAJOR retail therapy was in order to lift my spirits. He didn’t look impressed. I told him that I’d settle for some MINOR retail therapy and he agreed only because he knows it will happen with our without his consent. :)

My parents came into town over the weekend to help us with the kids and with everything we had going on.

Aside from counseling us they also had a great time vegging out with the littles. Notice the healthy snack I prepared for everyone on the coffee table.

We celebrated my cute dad’s birthday together. It was so sweet of him to drive down to help us out over his birthday weekend. I asked him if this is what I have to look forward to? Just when you get all of your kids out of the house and think you’ve got it made you get sucked back into their drama! He told me yes – that is exactly how it is – and he wouldn’t want it any other way. I love my dad so much.

Other fun news in little Ellie’s world. She finally lost that other front tooth! We just love seeing her toothless grin and are grateful that for her sake she isn’t talking strange at all. :)

Addison is up to her regular mischief. Going through 3-6 wardrobe changes, hairstyle changes, and shoe preferences within the hour. This is a fun up do she has been sporting lately because it has been so hot here! We are having one of our Santa Anas and things are a bit toasty on the coast.

To do this I just started a low, side ponytail and then didn’t pull it all the way through on the last loop. Addison was loving this yesterday. For about five minutes until she decided she didn’t want a “princess bun” after all. This princess wanted a braid. I told my Royal Highness to forget it – I wasn’t about to re-do the do and a nice little power struggle ensued. She went to pre-school in tears but quickly recovered when she saw her friends. I said a little hallelujah/thank you prayer that for my last child I was blessed with a boy!

Speaking of my boy, he and I have been kind of into stripes lately.

And kind of into spending every waking minute together. Kole tells the best jokes.

He also loves home decor magazines. We read them together all the time. While I love a touch of cottage in my decor, Kole prefers more of a modern elegance. We are working together to find a style that will make us both happy.

And for my last piece of news (which is obvious by the fact that at 4:00 yesterday afternoon I was reading a magazine) my mom is staying in town for the rest of the week. YEA!

Things are already starting to look up.

xoxo, Erin

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Ramblings

04.29.11

iphoto issues

Ok – I’m going to attempt to explain my iphoto issues since several of you so sweetly asked and offered to help. (Thank you!) When I had my PC I just used folders to organize my pictures. I blog a lot of my pictures (as you all know!) so I developed a system where I organized my pictures by date and blog post. I found for me that I remember where my pictures are best by blog posts. For example, if I want to find that one picture I took of Addison in her big girl bed for the first time, I can remember the post I did about it and around the time I wrote the post and find the picture easily that way. OR I can look in my blog archives to find where it would be located. I take and keep a TON of pictures so it’s important for me to be able to find what I need quickly. So this is how I organized my pictures on my PC:

I had a 2010 folder – inside it a folder for each month – inside each month folder – a folder for each blog post. Also in each month folder a folder for “random pictures” from the month that I wanted to keep but didn’t blog. Example of my folders:

2010:
   January:
   Blog Posts:
   Organize something or other
   Scrapbook something or other
   Kids something or other
   January Randomness:
   February: (same thing as above – you get the picture)

Then I would set up additional folders for pictures I wanted to get developed for my kids’ albums. A lot of folders, but every picture had a happy home where I could easily find it.

When I got my Mac, I transferred all of my pictures over and kept my old pictures organized in folders on my computer exactly as they were. Then I started putting all of my new pictures in iphoto. I tried to set up the same system as above using iphoto albums (which worked fine). BUT…

Here are my issues with iphoto (you may want to grab a snack) —

1) It would take me FOREVER to bring over all of my old photos and organize them this way in iphoto so I now have my photos in two different places. If I’m doing a post that includes a new photo and an old photo I have to “import” or “export” the photos so they are in the same place. It’s a pain not having everything together.

2) It drives me nuts how in iphoto I can’t move the pictures around unless I’m in an album. If I take 10 pictures of my spring mantle and want to choose the best one to blog, I have to put them in an album in order to move them around next to each other to make them big and compare. So I make an album, move the pictures around, compare, pick the best one, delete the rest. Problem is – the ones I deleted are only deleted in the album – not in my “photos” – so they are taking up space on my computer and I feel like I then have to go back into photos and delete them again. LAME.

3) While it’s handy to have iphoto editing right inside the program, I like Photoshop much better for editing. The “enhance” which I use a lot (because I rarely have time to do any real editing!) doesn’t do a quick fix as well as the “auto smart fix” in Photoshop (in my humble opinion). :) So I find myself not using the editing feature in iphoto as much.

4) When I do use Photoshop to edit or to do something like make a new blog header, I can’t save what I edited/created straight to iphoto. I have to save them in a folder on my computer and then “import” them to iphoto. One more step. LAME.

5) When I make a collage in Picasa (because I love making Picasa collages – they are so easy and quick!) I again can’t save them straight to iphoto. Same as above, I have to save them somewhere else and then “import” them to iphoto.

It just feels like I am creating folders anyway to do some of this other stuff and leaving iphoto to edit so I have been wondering if I should just leave iphoto altogether and keep my old folder system which seemed to be much easier for me. Plus that way all of my pictures would once again be in one happy spot!

Maybe I just don’t know how to use iphoto? Maybe I can do a lot of the things I don’t think I can? Maybe there’s a better way to organize my pictures altogether? Maybe I need to stop eating the Cadbury Egg I just tore into?

I don’t know. I’d LOVE any tips, insight, or advice. Unless you’re going to tell me to stop eating my chocolate. Kindly keep that advice to yourself.

Thanks so much and have a great weekend!

xoxo, Erin

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Ramblings

04.28.11

Breaking up is hard to do

Hoping to find some time to spend in here today.

I’m in the mood to organize my various piles of “inspiration” that have been piling up.

I’m also in the mood to figure out a better system for organizing my pictures. I had a great system working until I got my new Mac. Love the Mac. Not so sure I love iphoto.

The two of us seem to have a love/hate relationship.

We might break up.

I’m seriously contemplating it.

On one hand I feel like I committed so the right thing to do is to stay and try to work things out. On the other hand trying to make this work is driving me crazy and a part of me feels like there just might be something better out there.

All I know is that we’re in a vicious cycle and something needs to change.

Advice? Help? A good therapist?

xoxo, Erin

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organization2

04.27.11

Closet clean out

I’ve been doing a bit of random cleaning. Spring Decor came down! That was fast.

I don’t know why, but I was anxious to get it back to the norm. Then something amazing happened a few days ago…

I asked Kenny to go through his clothes and tell me what I could send to Goodwill. And he DID! Funny that he hates stuff like that when I love it so much.

His clothes clean out inspired a little closet clean out. Kole still isn’t feeling great (took him to the doctor and learned it’s just a combo of shots + a cold + teething which = nothing I can do for him). But he did seem to perk up when he noticed we were organizing. That boy of mine just loves to organize!

This has nothing to do with anything, but aren’t these make-up organizers cute!? They are from the Fossil outlet and have been perfect for traveling.

The big one opens revealing several zipper compartments. I just love zipper compartments. My mom bought me these for Christmas last year after we saw them shopping together and I said “Mom! Buy those for me for Christmas!” Makes her shopping easier. I’m nice that way.

And the closet after my clean out party! I should have taken a before picture. Not the cutest look, but at least it’s organized. My closet is the only place in this house to store tall decor items so the top shelf is where they all land. I have so many fun ideas bouncing around in my head for how to organize my next house closet! Just need to get my next house closet first.

A few years ago I bought these brown hangers (some from Costco and some from the Container Store) to give the closet a more cohesive look, but do you know what drives me crazy about them? They get SO dusty. It really bugs me and I dust them often. Anyone else out there dust their hangers? Should I not have admitted that?

I decided to hang my jeans instead of throwing them in my dresser since I’ve spent more on them than any other item of clothing I own!

Love seeing all of Kenny’s dress pants and shirts so orderly. That will be the first thing to get messed up. His belts and ties are on a tie rack on the side of the closet…

and my belts are just looped on some hangers.

I use racks like this one for skirts. I bought this at Bed Bath and Beyond and it’s a great option to help save space in tiny closets.

This one hanger can hold four skirts and several scarfs! Or four skirts and just one scarf if you only own just one scarf like me. I tend to buy scarfs and never wear them. And you know if I’m not wearing something, it’s off to Goodwill!

I also took a minute and straightened our random “catch all closet” in the guest room. It holds Halloween costumes, my old prom dresses, the ironing board…

and other miscellaneous crap we can’t seem to part with. Semi organized clutter is what I like to call it!

And what were my children doing while I was having a closet clean out party? Kole was fussy so I told the girls to do whatever they could come up with to keep him happy.

This is what they came up with. I love that they first put a pillow in the laundry basket for him this time. And that Addison is playing with an ice pack (??). And that Ellie is in her pajamas at 4:00 in the afternoon. And that this picture is a bit blurry because I took it with lightning speed so that I could capitalize on five minutes of the kids entertaining one another. Typical afternoon around here!

xoxo, Erin

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Ellie

04.25.11

What I want to remember

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a great Easter weekend. I have to be honest and say that our weekend wasn’t the best. Nothing awful or even worth mentioning happened. It was just one of those weekends where things weren’t clicking. The girls seemed to be fighting a lot. Kole got all of his one year shots a few days ago and hasn’t been feeling well ever since. He was so fussy all weekend – just wanting to be held – not sleeping great. Not his normal self at all. Kenny and I have a lot going on and are trying to make some really important decisions. We couldn’t carry on a conversation for more than three seconds without being interrupted and we were just both on edge. A little tired – a little stressed – a little burned out.

I got Addison and Kole to bed early tonight and when it was time to put Ellie in bed she said out of the blue – “mom, you know that part in Dumbo when all the animals are with their mommies and Dumbo visits his mom and she rocks him with her trunk and they are so sad because they can’t be together? That part always makes me want to cry. I don’t ever want to not be with you.”

I don’t know what made her think of that because I can’t even remember the last time we watched Dumbo, but her words suddenly made me forget about the stressful weekend. They made me think about the real reason we celebrated today. How grateful I am for the Savior and how grateful I am for my family – even though at times they seriously exhaust me to the point of no return! I got in bed with her and we snuggled and I told her how we would never be apart and how much she means to me. Then we had an equally deep discussion about how stressed she is about losing her other front tooth which is so loose that it hurts when she eats and how she does NOT want to say words funny like in the song “All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.”

Anyway – I was planning to post a few pictures of the girls at the annual egg hunt at the park or of them in their new Easter dresses all ready for church, but I changed my mind.

Because the conversation I had with Ellie is what I want to remember about Easter this year.

xoxo, Erin

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Holidays

04.22.11

Easter Weekend!

It’s Easter Weekend!

I’m sure we’ll eat lots of candy…

enjoy snacks in our Easter tin (since I don’t use it to bake)…

attend our annual local egg hunt…

and jazz up a few Easter Eggs.

We may or may not make attempt #2 to put Kole in Addison’s old bunny Halloween costume. Probably not though since the first time we tried he was less than impressed. I’m sure it was the pink ears and feet. If they would have been blue, maybe he wouldn’t have that “are you kidding me mom!!?” look all over his face.

Happy Easter everyone!!!

xoxo, Erin

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organization2

04.21.11

Shoe Organization

I dream of having a mudroom. A big beautiful bead boarded out mudroom. And in our next house, I will hopefully have more room than I currently do to make that happen. But for now, the only place for shoes, coats, and backpacks is in our garage. I shared how I organize our shoes a while ago when I did a post on garage organization. That was working ok…but a little something made me decide to re-think things. And that little something would be the new mini van. Since I’m now a mini van mom (sad how easily that rolls off my tongue these days) the new ride is taking up more space in the garage than the old one leaving no space between it and the shoes. Luckily the van beeps like crazy every time I park so I am able to avoid hitting the shoe rack, just not able to avoid the beeping van headache that often follows.

Plus having our shoes this close to the door always resulted in a messy pile of shoes just waiting to be tripped on.

Plus I bought the girls new summer flip flops. And flip flops this cute just seemed to need a fun new home! Plus let’s face it. I was just in the mood to organize something.

I didn’t do anything major, but just a little rearranging made a huge difference!

Wa-la! I bought one more shoe rack and moved all of the shoes from the front of the garage to the side under the racks we use to store garage tools, coats and backpacks. As cute as the mudroom I’ve designed in my head? No. As practical as the mudroom I’ve designed in my head? Definitely.

Do you love how our coats are mixed in with yard tools? Ha! Lovely I know. If we were planning on staying in this house longer, I would have put in a new rack and separated things better, but I’m still holding out hope that we’ll find a house we love sometime in the near future and this set up works great in the meantime.

I decided to bring down all of the girls shoes from their bedroom to free up more space in their closets. Most of mine and Kenny’s shoes are in our closet other than our “slip on quick and go shoes” (Uggs for three months out of the year and flip flops for the other nine)

Speaking of flip flops, this fun little basket is a new home for ours! So easy for the kids to grab and go AND easy for them to keep picked up and put away.

All boots fit on the top shelf. Want to see my secret for keeping boots standing up straight and tall?

Floppy boots bother me so I’ve always just stuffed a few paper towels in them! When Jen posted on her shoe organization, she mentioned using magazines for her boots. I loved that I wasn’t the only person bothered by floppy boots! And magazines are another great solution!

Want to see my favorite part about my new little shoe system?

When the kids come home from school, the van door opens, kids step out, and immediately put their shoes away on the rack. They empty backpacks and hang them along with their jackets. The “after school mess” is taken care of before my kids even enter the house!

No shoes come in the house, no shoes in front of the door to trip on. I had to snap these pictures so quick to catch Ellie in action! Luckily she’s so used to me taking pictures of every mundane thing we do she didn’t even question why I was running around snapping pictures of her taking off her shoes from all angles. All par for the course around here! :)

Our Bougainvillea vine, while beautiful on the outside of our garage…

always creates a lovely mess for me on the inside of our garage. I have to sweep the garage out at least every other week. So worth it though. I just love that vine!

Then I bought a new rug that matches the one in my kitchen to complete my little project.

Now that my shoes are out of the way it feels like the mini van was made for my garage!

See what I mean…rollin’ right off the tongue…

xoxo, Erin

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Travels

04.20.11

Fun blog and more beach!

Some fun news today! I’m being featured on I heart Organizing! If you’re like me and love to organize and haven’t checked out Jen’s blog you are in for a real treat! I discovered her blog a few months ago and was hooked immediately. It’s seriously one of the first blogs I check now. Oh the sleep I lost pouring over her past posts! So many great organizing and decorating ideas and tips. I just love it all and am so excited to be mentioned on such an inspiring blog. Thanks Jen! It’s so much fun finding other people who share my passion for organization. And to celebrate my love for organization, tomorrow’s post is a fun new shoe system I created a couple of weeks ago after being inspired by one of Jen’s posts. YEA! I’m excited to share it. :)

But for today I wanted to answer a few questions in yesterday’s comments. Do you love how I answer questions in my posts instead of in the actual comments? If you ask a question, do you check back in the comments for the answer? I would forget, so I assume everyone else would too. Ha! Probably not so. I need to work on answering questions in the comments. Further my quest to become a real blogger. Do you also love how I get so sidetracked and can’t stay on the topic at hand? :) Back to the questions – several of you asked where we stayed in Maui. We own a week each year at the Westin Villas in Ka’anapali, Maui. That is why we vacation in Maui so much. Yes. It’s an amazing place to stay and I would totally recommend it for a family vacation! The villas are huge (like mini houses with full kitchens and washers and dryers) and we love that we have a room seperated from the kiddos. The timeshare thing was a perfect solution for us because we wanted to make family vacations a priority, but we can sometimes be too practical and were afraid we wouldn’t travel because it’s so expensive, so much work with the kids, etc. This way we have something set every year. We can go to Maui, or trade and stay in other amazing places like when went to Cancun with my family two years ago. We can also use points (part of the timeshare system) and stay in Westin hotels all over the world. We did that for our ten year anniversary and went to Italy. You have options! Optionality is my favorite word. :) Anyway, if anyone is interested in learning more I’d be happy to answer questions. Just send me an e-mail – my link is to the right.

A few more beach pictures…

I have to say one of my favorite things about this last trip was seeing Addison have so much fun at the beach. Ellie has been a beach girl from day one. She has always loved the sand and the ocean. Addison – not so much. Usually she is afraid of the ocean, doesn’t like getting dirty, too hot, too sandy, sunscreen in her eyes…always something. She has never loved the beach. I don’t know what changed since last summer (maybe just an age thing?), but to see her throwing all caution to the wind this trip and truly enjoying the ocean made me so happy!

I too can sometimes be a bit hesitant to swim in the ocean. Especially here in San Diego because the water is alway so cold.

But the water in Maui is incredible and this trip, I felt like a little kid again! Swimming and splashing in the waves.

And yes Traci! Those are Ka’anapali waves!

They are huge!

I seriously got laughing so hard. I think I had more fun playing in them than my girls did one morning!

Kenny was laughing at how hard I was laughing. My cute friend Josie who is 7 months pregnant took these pictures and I’m so glad she did. Even though I look like a total dork, these pictures just make me smile. Fun memories with my girls. I seriously think I’ll be washing sand out of our hair for the next three weeks!

Ahhh…yes. It was an amazing vacation. And now. Reality. My friend Shari commented yesterday “Re-entry is brutal. Hang in there.” Man is that ever the truth! The last few days have been crazy trying to unpack and get back on top of things. We are still on Maui time going to bed too late and NOT wanting to get up in the morning. Yesterday I did manage to go grocery shopping.

Got all of my healthy snacks washed and ready to go. Felt good about that. On today’s to-do list?

Good times around here.

Have a great Wednesday and if you have a minute check out Jen’s fun blog! You’ll just love it. :)

xoxo, Erin

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Travels

04.19.11

While in Maui

We’re back! We have been in Maui this last week and had such a fabulous vacation! We left Kole in Utah with my parents (because taking a one year old on a vacation = no vacation) and just took the girls. Maui is one of our favorite vacation spots and this trip was our best trip yet. Our girls are finally hitting that magical age! They were so much fun! We also invited some close friends of ours and we all had an amazing trip.

Enjoying the view at our resort. The pool leads straight to the ocean and is simply breathtaking!

While in Maui…

We enjoyed beautiful scenery…

and woke up each morning to this gorgeous ocean view off of our balcony.

We strolled along the path from pool to pool.

The pirate ship pool was especially a hit and seemed to call our names at least once a day.

Fears were conquered when Addison went down the little slide…

and when Ellie went down the big one.

Kenny and the girls spent a great deal of time swimming.

I spent a great deal of time lounging and reading next to the pool.

Kenny made pancakes every morning for the girls while I exercised. Then the men were in charge of the BBQ at night. Minimal cooking was my favorite part of the trip.

Some nights the kids dined on our balcony.

Some nights we ate out. We made sure to go to totally unique Hawaiian restaurants.
Like Hard Rock Cafe.

We rented a convertible and cruised around the island.

We went whale watching and were literally feet away from five whales and two dolphins. The first hour was magical. The second hour (that I spent throwing up in the bathroom) – not so magical.

After years of enduring sea sickness an executive decision was made. From now on I will enjoy boats from the shore.

While in Maui we witnessed breathtaking sunsets off of our balcony.

The kids spent a lot of time by the water.

And in the water.

We enjoyed calm mornings at the beach.

And a bit rougher ones.

Kenny and I did a little snorkeling.

And managed to sneak in some couple time here and there.

We enjoyed a Hawaiian Luau. Because no matter how many times you’ve been to Maui, the trip isn’t official without visiting a Luau.

We learned the secret to the tasty pork…which made it suddenly seem not so tasty.

The kids learned how to “hang loose.” (sort of)

We shopped for souvenirs at Crazy Shirts. Because it also wouldn’t be a trip to Maui without buying a crazy shirt for someone. (Love that you can see Kenny at the cash register and me taking the picture through the glass. An unplanned family portrait)

I paraded around the island in my “Scarlett O’Hara” hat. Determined to keep the sun away from my face. Determined to keep the wrinkles at bay.
And truth be told, maybe just a little bit determined to resemble Scarlett O’Hara.

We missed our little buddy, but so enjoyed some special time with just our girls.

We completely relaxed and had a magical vacation… while in Maui.

xoxo, Erin

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Giveaway

04.15.11

A winner and a layout

Thanks to everyone who participated in the giveaway! It was fun hearing from so many of you! I was going to have Ellie randomly choose the winners so tonight before I put her to bed I told her to pick a number between 1 and 219. She said “eighteen hundred.” So. Not only did I realize Ellie wouldn’t be picking the winners after all, I also realized we need to set aside some serious time for number practice. :)

I used a random number generator which selected #32 and #97. Winners are….

Pam who said “I would love one of those big summery tote bags! It would be perfect for schlepping all of our gear to the beach. Love your blog!”

AND

ReenieK Designs who said “LOVE these bags ! How cute is that little carry all bag!! That’d be great to keep in the car for my daughters little toys!!”

Congrats to you both! Just click on the “e-mail me” button on the side of my blog (top right) and shoot me an e-mail with your contact info. I’ll make sure Mary Beth gets a hold of you!

Sharing a quick layout I did last week for Kole’s baby album…

Journaling: Your first summer! 2 months old and chillin’ by the pool in your shades. You are one laid back, easy going baby! And we can’t get enough of you!

Love this picture of my little dude! I have to say though that I’m not making a lot of major progress on his book. Just throwing a page together here and there when I have a minute. I don’t know how to scrapbook for a boy. I’m trying really hard to keep things plain and masculine. I told myself I wasn’t going to use my standby paper flowers on any of his layouts, but then I caved. Convinced myself they looked like sunshines and were ok… just this one time. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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Giveaway

04.13.11

Thirty-One giveaway!

SO excited about today’s post! I’m doing a giveaway for a darling reader of mine who I have loved getting to know better. Mary Beth Schindler, a consultant with Thirty-One, is sponsoring an awesome giveaway where two of my readers will win $25 towards any product they want in the current Thirty-One catalog!

Thirty-One is a faith-based company that sells all kinds of purses, totes, bags, kid’s items, and more. I love their bags and especially love that almost everything can be monogrammed or personalized. Check out their current catalog (just click on “View Our Catalog at the top of the page) and see what they have to offer. So many cute options! If you love everything, you can e-mail Mary Beth asking to be on her mailing list to get deals and specials. She’ll also send you a paper copy of the catalog for you to flip through. If you are looking for extra income she’ll also be glad to answer any questions about starting your own business with Thirty-One.

For the month of April, they also have a great deal going towards the All-In-One-Organizer: Spend $31 and get this great organizing tool for only $9! Or, use it as a personalized Easter Basket for your kiddos. I need to check that one out because anything called an “All-In-One-Organizer” is right up my alley. :)

These are the bags that Mary Beth sent me and I have LOVED using every one of them!

This huge bag titled “Summer Stuff” and a matching draw string bag have come in so handy! I have had these two bags all over the place.

They have come in especially handy when we are heading to the park…

or the beach. I fill them with toys, snacks, water, my camera – anything and everything. They are the perfect size for hauling around all of my gear – and I’m a serious over packer!

When all I need is just a few snacks, I’ve used this cute little snack bag. Perfect for some crackers, fruit and water bottles for my girls. I learned quickly with little ones not to go anywhere without snacks!

Mary Beth also sent me these darling “littles carry all caddies” with an E for Ellie and A for Addison. Aren’t they adorable!? They come in so many fun styles. My girls have LOVED these.

They are the perfect size for toting around all of their little treasures like their My Little Ponies or their Polly Pockets (along with several outfit changes because who knows what Cinderella will be in the mood to wear at any given moment).

They also have these fun little pockets on the back for additional “friends” to hang out. :)

This was Ellie on her way to school one morning with her little caddy.

She had it filled with her favorite toy dogs to take for show and tell. :)

These are just a few of the fun bags Thirty-One sells! So if you’d like to win $25 towards your own bag, purse, or tote, just leave me a comment on this post and I’ll pick two winners on Friday. Now if I was a “real blogger” I’d throw in something about mentioning this giveaway on facebook or announcing this giveaway on twitter. But since I don’t tweet and rarely visit my facebook page (wonder if it’s still there?) I won’t fake being a real blogger. BUT I do really like Mary Beth and I do really like these bags so if you want to spread the word about this giveaway, that would be cool. :)

oh.. and p.s. these bags have been kid tested and mother approved. ;)

xoxo, Erin

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Ramblings

04.12.11

Thanks! and Project Life Tuesday

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your kind comments on yesterday’s post. Your well wishes and prayers for me last year truly did mean so much. One sweet commenter (hi Joy!) wrote that “so many things went wrong that day and so many things went right.” That statement couldn’t be more true. Even though it was such a terrifying experience, I will always believe I was being watched over that day. I have to say, I feel so much better after writing all of my thoughts down about that day last year. It has been on my mind so much lately and I think it’s the reason I was so emotional when Kole turned one. It has all been coming back to me and in a way I’ve been re-living the experience over and over again in my mind. So I’m sorry. I’m really not normally such a drama queen (ha! Kenny will beg to differ when he reads that one).

And can I just say that I swear I have the sweetest readers in blog land! Your comments are all so kind, insightful, uplifting… just the best. Hearing from you and getting to know some of you makes me incredibly happy and is one of the things I love most about blogging. I like to think that we are all great friends. And this blog is one big slumber party you’re all invited to! :)

Just a few Project Life pages to share today from Ellie’s book. Ironically they are from this time last year and this first page is about the Mother’s day a few weeks after my surgery. Needless to say I was feeling especially grateful to be the mother of my three sweet kiddos.

Some pictures from when my sister was in town helping me recover along with some of Ellie’s artwork from that month. I didn’t have any vertical pictures for this page so I just cut one of her little drawings into four pieces to fill in the middle of the page. It’s a self portrait along with a sun, butterfly and grass – in case you couldn’t tell. :)

My mom’s surprise 60th birthday. Oh my goodness. I’ll never forget the look on her face when she walked in the door and saw her whole family there. Priceless. She was SO excited.

And Ellie’s “new hair style” note. A favorite of mine for sure. I added the original note in her book, but I’m thinking I may have to take it back out and save it for me. I can’t read it without smiling.

Then random pictures from last summer in Utah. In Addison’s book I did a whole page for her 4th birthday party with family, but in Ellie’s I just collaged the pictures in Picasa and created one 4×6 (top of the left page). I love that even though there are a lot of the same pictures in each of their books, they also have a lot of different pictures and each layout is unique – created specifically for each child.

That’s all for today! Hope your week is off to a great start!

xoxo, Erin

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