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Christmas
11.17.11

More Christmas fun (pinspiration!)

Ok.  I really didn’t mean to turn this into Christmas week on my blog, but I just can’t help myself!  I’m popping in to share a few of my favorite Holiday ideas from the wonderful world of Pinterest.  And then I’ll return from the North Pole and tomorrow’s post will NOT be a Christmas one.  At least I don’t think it will be…  :)

How fun is this!?  A hot chocolate “station” for the month of December.  If I had room in my kitchen somewhere to make this happen I would be all over it!  Especially if I had those fun numbered mugs.

This picture is a little grainy, but I’m so in love with this display!  I know.  Predictable me and my love for white pitchers and vases.  But don’t the green wreaths and the single ornaments look beautiful mixed in with the decor!?  They say Christmas without screaming Christmas.  Fun inspiration for my hutch this year.

Isnt’ this little guy cute!?  And so easy to make.  I love holiday treats like this that are easy and require NO baking.

My mom makes something similar to this with cinnamon sticks every December and her house always smells so heavenly.  I can’t wait to make this!  So maybe I won’t wait.  That’s it – I’m making this tomorrow.  Probably right as you are reading this post I’ll be in my kitchen making my Holiday Potpourri mix.  Can’t you just smell it!?

This is the most creative elf on the shelf idea I’ve ever seen.  She painted her kids’ noses red while they were sleeping and then left this note.  How fun is that!?  My girls would love it.  Our elf is going to get pretty creative this year!  (If you don’t know about the elf on the shelf, you can read about him here and see some fun places he likes to hide in our house.)

This is such a simple and inexpensive way to create a Christmas centerpiece.  Everything you need can be found at the grocery store!  Well.  Most of it anyway.

I’m so in love with the next three images.  They are all simple and creative ideas for a window display.

I especially appreciate the simplicity and how these are all things the kids can help with.  My girls love to help decorate for the holidays.

More white pitcher love!  Last one.  I promise.  This image got me thinking about all sorts of things you could put in them and on them to decorate for this time of year.

This is a fun free printable.  Wouldn’t it look cute blown up in a thick black or white frame?

An easy mantel display anyone can pull off.  Love the ornaments in the white vases.  (They’re vases, not pitchers so I didn’t break my promise.)

Another creative winter treat idea.  Ellie’s birthday is in January and these would be so fun to make for her class.  And by “make” I mean buy the sugar cookies and just decorate them cute.  :)

Or I could go with something simple like this.  Aren’t these snowmen adorable!?

Love this fun and simple place setting for Christmas Eve dinner.  Then the kids can eat them for dessert!

And isn’t this a beautiful decor idea for the front outside steps!?  Just cranberries, candles, and salt.  SO pretty.

I just love this cute and simple December snack idea.  Probably because we eat a lot of pretzels, cheese, and sugar snap peas around here.  Well.  I eat a lot of sugar snap peas.  Remember what my girls do with them!?

:)
Have a Happy Christmas Thursday everyone!
xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
11.16.11

Past Christmas Posts

**If you are new to my blog and found this post from Pinterest (hello and welcome!) click here for the Christmas ideas I just posted for 2012.  It includes all of these ideas plus several more from last year.  Christmas will be here before we know it!  Woot Woot!  Happy planning.  :)
Kicking off the week with my Christmas wrap station made me SO excited for the holidays!  I know we haven’t carved the turkey yet (excited for that too!) but December is upon us.  We have busted out the Chipmunks Christmas CD at my house which means it’s official.  Time to celebrate!  A couple of days ago I got the girls out of the tub and told them to hurry and get dressed and in the car because I needed to run a quick errand.  I went and got Kole dressed, put him in the car and found these two… 

in their Christmas dresses, wearing Santa hats, and playing with their Christmas Olivia pigs.  Guess I’m not the only one who is excited for this time of year.  :)

I thought I’d round up some of my past Christmas posts to share today for those of you who are new to my blog.  It’s always fun to share ideas and get a jump start on holiday planning!  Just click on the link to see the full post.  For those of you who have read my blog for a while and remember these posts, feel free to move along to the next blog on your list and have a happy Wednesday!  :)


Excited to make new memories this year.  :)
xoxo, Erin
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Christmas
11.14.11

Christmas Wrap Station

Can you believe we are almost half way done with November!?  This time of year always flies by and before you know it Christmas is right around the corner!  I love it.  :)  Last December, however, I wasn’t feeling quite so jolly.  The month got away from me and I was scrambling big time towards the end of December to get my shopping done.  Stores were crazy and I felt so rushed.  Then I spent two painful evenings staying up all hours of the night trying to get everything wrapped.  While Kenny munched on Cheerios.  I was less than impressed.  With both of us!  
Here’s a glimpse of that midnight madness wrapping party.  Cheerios and all.  I swore to myself never again.  Next year I would be so prepared!  I would get all of my shopping done in November!  I would wrap everything as soon as I bought it!  Then I could sit back and enjoy the holidays knowing that I was on top of things.  I would spend the last few nights of December cozying up to the fire and the Christmas tree watching It’s a Wonderful Life instead of destroying my house in a mad rush to get everything finished.  
So here’s a little something I did this year to help me accomplish just that.   

Remember a while back I posted pics of my messy scrapbook room?  I had big plans for this space.  
I moved most of my scrapbook supplies into Kole’s closet.  He just loves sharing a room with me.  

Then I turned my scrapbook space into a Christmas wrap station!  It’s actually a Christmas wrap and scrapbooking station because my goal is to do a little of both during the next month and a half.  

Doesn’t it look festive for the holiday!?
Here’s how I created a space that will be perfect to wrap all of my gifts.  Immediately after I buy them!

There are so many fun organizers that corral wrapping paper but I really wanted to just use what I had on hand.  My little trash can was a perfect solution!  Now all of my Christmas wrapping paper is in one place ready to go.
(See those white boxes on the floor – new Project Life kits that will be a priority after the holidays!)
I replaced my regular scrapbook paper with all of my Christmas paper and used the bottom slots to hold more wrapping paper and tissue paper.  That was a lot of the word paper…
On top I put out some Christmas letter stickers I hope to use and a shiny Christmas tree to spruce things up!  

I filled some organizers with pens, scissors, tape, and Christmas cards so everything is ready to go when it’s time to wrap.  
I also hung some fun Christmas scrapbook paper…

and this Christmas picture collage I made of my girls a couple of years ago.  
I set out my i pod with my favorite Christmas mix ready to play!  The red album is a family Christmas album I started a few years ago and I’m hoping I can squeeze in a minute here and there to work on it.  It never sounds appealing to work on this album after the holidays so I need to find the time to do it now while all things Christmas are so appealing!  Hopefully this happy space will help motivate me.  
I also brought a little Christmas cheer into this corner of the room!  
Easy to do by hanging some Christmas inspiration from magazines on the wall.
On the other wall I displayed past Christmas pictures and last years’ Christmas card.  

Then I turned Kole’s changing table into a place to store more of my wrapping supplies. 
(It’s not like he was holding still for me on this thing anyway!) 

I already had these fun galvanized bins that match the room and I knew they’d be perfect to house more of my supplies.  
Ribbon, gift tags, bows…everything I need to make my presents presentable.  :)
This is still Kole’s room of course.  
Even though I seem to be taking it over one scrapbook (or should I say Christmas) supply at a time.  

Now my gift wrapping supplies are all together and I have to say that I have loved this space!  Not only is it a perfect spot to easily wrap all of my presents, but it also brings a little Christmas cheer to the upstairs of our house.  I find myself wanting to turn on a Christmas tune or two and stay in here a while whenever I get the chance.

No more midnight wrapping parties for me!  This year I am going to be ready for December. 
BRING.  IT.  ON.  
:)
xoxo, Erin
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fashion2
11.11.11

Fashion Friday – rain and vests and scarves

Kicking this week off with a little rain gear!  I wore a lot of stuff like this at the beginning of the week while we were sloshing around in the rain.  Obviously without the belly.  (I was too wet to get a picture!)  The picture above was taken two months before Kole was born and I have to say that looking back at it makes me pretty happy I’m not toting around the basketball this Fall.  A basketball that soon became a watermelon which did bad things to my back, my personality, and my overall sanity.  BUT.  Still cute rain boots, right?   A gift from my sister from Nordstroms for my b-day one year.

And speaking of cute rain boots, I’m still over the moon about Hunter rain boots.  
They come in so many fun, bright colors!  I fell in love with the green Hunters two years ago and still hope to someday own a pair.  They would just make rainy days more fun, wouldn’t they?
These two also make rainy days more fun.  This is an older picture too, but these boots still fit!  And my girls still love wearing them.  Rain is SO exciting around here because we rarely have a change in the weather.  San Diego has no need for a weather person.  You can pretty much bet that it will be in the low 70’s and sunny in my neck of the woods.  In July.  And October.  And January.  And April.  And every other month I didn’t mention.  So when we get a rain storm everyone gets excited and brings out their winter wear and people crash their cars (because we only know how to drive when it’s 70 degrees and sunny) and all sorts of crazy things start to happen. 

This is another fun gift from my sister.  Last year for Christmas she gave me this Michael Kors vest (also from Nordstroms).  I love it so much and am always bummed I don’t get to wear it more so as soon as the temperature drops a few degrees I bust it out of the closet!  

I wear it with just a plain colored turtle-neck underneath.  
Or I’ll take a fitted long sleeved top like this grey one from Express…
and put the vest on over it.  I love how puffy and comfortable it is!  Feels like I’m wearing a pillow. 
 A stylish, comfortable, warm pillow.  :)
K.  So since we’re talking Nordstroms, I have to share with you my most recent finds.  Went there last week to try on boots that Kenny is getting me for Christmas.  He doesn’t know he’s getting me boots for Christmas yet, but he is.  Anyway.  Didn’t find a pair I loved BUT as I was cruising around B.P.  I spotted the most beautiful scarves!  They were so soft and warm and fresh and fun!  They are called Ruffled Pointelle scarves and it was love at first sight.  I don’t have many scarves because again, not needed much in my climate, but I do visit Utah and other cold places now and again.  I quickly convinced myself I couldn’t go one more day without one of these scarves!  But which one!!?  They come in so many fun colors!  I debated between the two colors I knew I’d wear the most (cream and grey)  and then finally did the only sensible thing left to do and bought them both!  
These scarves are only 22 bucks by the way!  What a bargain!  

Here is the grey one.  I love the different shades of grey together, but this scarf will go with so many other fun colors too.  See!  A staple, right!??  Even if I’m sweating to death in it!   

This is a simple green V-neck sweater from Forever 21 I bought last Fall.  
 And look how much more fun it is with my new cream ruffled pointelle scarf!  
Now I’m wondering how I lived without these my whole life!  And I’m so tempted to go back and buy more in different colors!  But since I know that might be a bit much (especially since my cold weather days are few and far between) I’m thinking they would sure be fun Christmas gifts! 

Kole agrees.  He wants his in turquoise.  
I wore this sweater and scarf with my Italy boots the first time, and then wore it again to the park last Saturday.  Since my boots are not exactly park attire, I wore it with my Uggs.  
Which are seriously almost falling apart because I wore them so much when I was pregnant. 
 My feet (along with my stomach and butt) were also starting to resemble watermelons.  
The morning at the park was a fun get together for Addison’s Kindergarten class.  

The whole family was invited to come and play and visit and eat.  Addison was so excited to take us to meet all of her classmates.  She picked out her clothes, accessories, and hair style for the occasion.  Ellie just wanted to be in whatever was the most comfy.  Kenny decided to wow us all with one of his many Chargers sweatshirts.  

And I was happy as a clam in my favorite color green and my new scarf.  
Some might call us a bit predictable.  
I like to think we are just a family who knows what we like.  And are comfortable in our own skin.  
And yeah.  We’re a bit predictable too.  
:) 
Have a great weekend everyone!  God bless our Veterans!
**Linking up at The Pleated Poppy  
xoxo, Erin
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Ramblings
11.10.11

Random Thursday

Have you ever taken a picture of your TV before?  I do it all the time when I see decor ideas I love.  Isn’t this picture collage cool with different mirrors?  I so want to do this somewhere in my house.  I just don’t have a wall to do it on.  Next house for sure.  Genevieve is my idol.  I LOVE her show.  And I want her to come and decorate my house.  Like tomorrow.  Or the next day because tomorrow is looking a little busy.  

Costco run.  It’s crazy to me how much we buy in BULK now.  Every time I make a Costco run I am reminded of the fact that I now have a full on FAMILY to feed and take care of.  Duh.  But I still feel like a 16 year old so much of the time that sometimes this fact hits me over the head.  Like it happened over night.  Like I went to a sleep over at my friend Koni’s and we watched Dirty Dancing (because nobody puts baby in a corner) and we ate an entire pizza and stayed up late talking about the cute Senior who was flirting with me in school.  Then we went to sleep and I woke up and was 34 and married to that cute Senior who was flirting with me in school and we have three kids.  And we buy everything in bulk.

And these are my thoughts when I buy super sized paper towels and fishy crackers.  If you didn’t think I was crazy before, you do now.  

My girls and their go to spot for TV viewing.  Why they would rather sit there than on a perfectly comfortable couch with back support and a better view of the TV I’ll never understand.  
Heading to school.  Kenny takes the girls most mornings on his way to work.  He is super dad and I love him for this.  It makes things so much easier for me in the mornings.  That way I only have to focus on getting two people ready and out the door instead of four people.  On days that Kenny has early meetings and can’t take them, Kole and I head to the school in our pajamas.  And the girls get mad at me because I don’t know the “super secret passage ways” that daddy uses to take them to their classes.  I’m glad the three of them have their morning bonding time.  Kole and I have our morning bonding time too.  It includes breakfast, cleaning up the breakfast mess, an episode of The Wiggles (so that I am able to clean up the breakfast mess), and exercise.  
I mentioned in the post I did about my exercise routine that I’ve gone through stages with my babies where I couldn’t go to the gym and do aerobics like I love to do.  I’m going through one of those stages now.  Kole is NOT having it at the play care at the the gym.  Major separation anxiety.  Bawls his head off until they come and get me and then clings to me for dear life for an hour after, afraid I’m going to leave him.  With my girls, this stage was so hard for me.  I felt like I would never have “me time” again.  Mom’s can’t even go to the bathroom alone at this stage!  Let alone exercise.  But I have something this third time around that I didn’t have when my girls were babies.  Perspective.  I now know how quickly this stage really is (even though in the thick of it you feel like it will never end).   So I am ok without my “me time” at the gym.  Kole and I have been walking every morning together.  Sometimes with friends (pic above is with one of his favorite walking buddies at the beach) and sometimes just the two of us.  I am cherishing this time I have with my little buddy.  Who will have no problem being away from me before I know it.  And when that time comes, I’ll go to aerobics.  And to the bathroom by myself.  And I will miss my little shadow.  

Cleaning out my purse and balancing my checkbook.   Julie and Elizabeth (my “grand kids” as Ellie calls them) wanted to help.

These two could play for hours together every day.  They can’t wait to get home from school, change into their pajamas, and play play play.  Their creativity and imagination is endless and I love peeking in on them to see and hear what they’ve come up with this time around.    

I find so many funny little notes and stories around the house that Ellie writes.  She amuses me like nothing else.  This note I found was so random it made me smile.  I bet you didn’t know that Cheetahs are freaky.  :)  

Major rainstorm last weekend.  I loved it.  It made it actually feel like Fall around here.  

Kenny took the girls camping at some cabins with a group of other dads/daughters.  They had a blast stomping around in rain boots and roasting hot dogs by the fire.  And while I didn’t enjoy the clean-up that followed their little weekend adventure, I did enjoy some peace and quiet in the house.  I put Kole to bed early and a certain werewolf and vampire kept me company.  :)

Cleaned my make-up brushes today.  I keep thinking I should do a post on my favorite make-up.  Just for fun.  But I never get around to actually doing it.  Kind of like my hair post I promised so many of you.  Thanks for being patient.  It will happen at some point.  :)  

A few weeks ago I decided to try a new recipe.  I made a chicken/chili soup.  It took forever to chop everything up.  Then I got ambitious and decided to also make banana bread/muffins at the same time.  WHAT was I thinking!?

 I got in over my head quickly and made a huge mess in my kitchen.  Which always puts me in a bad mood.  But the chicken dish did turn out pretty good.  Kenny really liked it.

The first two batches of banana bread/muffins turned out great too.  But then when I was cooking the third batch, I got distracted upstairs with the kids and didn’t hear the oven timer.  

 Oops.

And I haven’t cooked since.

Have a beautiful Thursday everyone! 

xoxo, Erin
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home decor 2
11.09.11

Small decor changes

Sharing a few small decor changes.  Because well, I have pictures of said changes and I figured I better hurry and post them since I’m itching to break out my Christmas stuff and change everything yet again!  
I originally had these fake pomegranates in my newly spray painted basket…
but decided to replace them with some pumpkins and gourds fresh from my garden.  No.  Not really.  I don’t know why I just typed that.  They’re from the grocery store.  But didn’t that sound cool?  Fresh from my garden.  The one I tend to in my spare time.  ;)
I actually do have some mini pumpkins fresh from my mom’s garden that she gave me when we picked up my kids after our New York trip.  The girls had fun picking them.  

Small touches of Fall in the kitchen…


and in the living room because I replaced all of the fake white pumpkins with real white pumpkins.  Fresh from my mom’s garden.

I love the white pumpkins.  Aren’t they just the coolest?  Each one has such a unique shape.  So simple and perfect.  They make me happy when I walk by them every day.   It’s the little things, isn’t it?  
Added a fall wreath next to the hutch.  One I’ve had for a while.  
Lately these have been sitting on the corner of my hutch.  Man.  I’ve fallen off the wagon when it comes to scrapbooking.  I’ll have to put scrapbooking right up there on my to-do list next to planting a garden.  :)  I don’t have much left to do to finish these albums for my girls so I’m hoping to do that before the year ends.  Then my number one New Years goal will be to start the kids’ new PL albums!  And stay on top of them!  Because I never am!  Even though I set that goal every January! 
While I was in New York I stumbled upon a HUGE Anthropologie.  The smell beckoned me to come in.  As it always does.   
 So many fun displays in that store.  

I fell in love with a wall.  A wall full of aprons of all things.  But they were seriously the most adorable aprons.  And I thought – hmmm – maybe that’s why I don’t enjoy cooking!!??  I don’t have an adorable Anthro apron to wear in the kitchen!
So I picked out my favorite and brought it home with me.  After paying for it of course.  
So far it hasn’t made me want to cook anything. 
But it sure looks cute hanging in my kitchen!  Maybe I’ll break it out over Thanksgiving.  And wear it while I “help” my mom.  It will look cute in her kitchen too.  :)
I bought one other little thing from that larger than life Anthro in New York.  I’ve been looking for a cute dish towel that brings together the new colors in my kitchen and this little bird just spoke to me. 
He chirped please let me come and sit by your kitchen window!  

After I got him home I realized he would have a few feathered friends…  

Guess I’m into birds lately!

Which seems to be fitting this time of year.  
:)  
xoxo, Erin
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organization2
11.07.11

Kids’ Closet Organization

So did everyone see the Charger/Packer game today?  Man!  We had a fighting chance at the end and blew it.  Such a bummer.  And I had my Christmas list all typed and ready to present to Kenny!  Guess I’ll have to hold onto it a little longer.  Like until the Chargers WIN.  Timing is everything, remember?  :)

You may also remember a while ago that I mentioned we decided to rent a storage shed.  Our house hunt continues, but in the meantime we are running out of space in our current house so renting a storage shed is our temporary solution until we find “the one.”  Ellie currently sleeps in our guest room but the closet in the guest room was a catch all for random extras.  Things we weren’t using, but didn’t want to get rid of.

The right side of the guest room closet held old Halloween costumes, coats, and old prom dresses and dance team outfits from High School.  My high school memories are so dear to me and I just can’t seem to part with this stuff!  

The left side of the closet held other random items.  “Organized clutter” is what I called this closet and it always bugged me.  It looked messy and I knew we weren’t maximizing the space.  Meanwhile, the closet the girls were sharing in Addie’s room was bursting at the seams and there was no place for the girls’ small toys.  (Kole has completely taken over the playroom and the girls have too many little toys/accessories that he can choke on.)  Clearly a closet make-over was in order!  (Do you hear my squeals of joy at the thought!?)  :)

First step was to empty out the closet completely.  

Then I boxed A LOT of stuff up for the storage shed.  
Next I moved all of Ellie’s clothes into this room and started sorting and organizing them.  

Then when the girls were in school I threw away half of organized their toys.
Then my favorite part.  Creating a place for everything!
So are you ready for the “after” pictures?
Ellie’s closet on the right:
Ellie’s closet on the left:

A big improvement!!  Aside from the fact that it looks so much better (and seriously makes me giddy every time I put something away in it) this closet is completely functional and a perfect set-up for my girls’ toys.  I used every possible ounce of space plus it’s so easy for them to put things away and keep everything organized.  I triple exclamation mark LOVE it!!!
A place for everything and everything in its place.  And suddenly all is right in the world.  
Or at least in the closet.  :)
I found these simple labels at Michael’s (I think they’re for wedding invites?) to organize all of the girls small toys.  I wanted something simple I could just write on and change out when necessary.  

Top of the closet organizer holds Addison’s nebulizer and meds.  Then I just organized the toys and gave everything a happy home!  I found these fun clear containers with aqua lids at Home Depot of all places.  They were so cheap – just a couple of dollars each.  I stocked up and walked out of the door hauling a huge stack of these organizers on one hip and Kole on the other (who was doing his best to squirm out of my arms of course).  Good thing he didn’t because if we were going down I would have saved the organizers!  ;)

Break down of the toys:

My girls have LOVED having their toys so organized and accessible AND away from Kole!  They can pull out a box or two and make a big mess and then clean up is a cinch.  The best part is that I don’t have to deal with “mom!  where is Tinkerbell’s purse!?”  (A purse that is smaller than a penny)  We now know that if we still have it around, it’s in “doll accessories” — of course!  

The right side of her closet has short sleeved shirts on the bottom rack and bigger toys to the left in storage containers from The Container Store which used to be on the floor in Addison’s closet.
Because everyone needs a designated place for their fancy shoes.  

Dresses hang in the middle.

And long sleeved shirts are on the top.  There is also an additional top shelf that I used for larger toys/blocks.  
Once last glance at each side.  Because it makes me happy.  :)

And one more before and after to see how far this baby has come.  
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Nothing like a cleaned out closet.
And now my week is off to a good start!  :) 
Hope yours is too!
IHeart Organizing
xoxo, Erin
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fashion2
11.04.11

Fashion Friday/SYTYCD

Friday is here!  Made it through another week.  Barely.  I swear I’m still recovering from Halloween.  At least that’s the excuse I’ve made all week as to why there hasn’t been a decent meal on the table and why the same load of laundry has been sitting in the dryer for five days surrounded by piles of dirty clothes.  And the reason I’ve been eating so lousy (seriously need to chuck all of that extra candy out the window!).  And the reason I was terrible about taking pics and don’t have a lot of outfits to share with you today.  But I’ll share what I’ve got!  
And the first thing I’ve got is quite a show stopper!  Modeling the latest in elf wear…
Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  You know the funny thing is that I honestly grabbed my camera to take a picture of this after putting it on Halloween morning just out of habit.  It has just become part of my routine.  That’s how committed I am to Fashion Friday people!  Then I laughed at myself and took one anyway.  Not at all going to be surprised if this outfit doesn’t show up on the cover of Vogue soon.  Very flattering for all body types and a must have for Fall.  ;)
This is a simple jacket shirt (at least that’s what I call it) that I bought at Nordstroms (Brass Plum).  I just wear a white tank under it.  I bought it a couple of years ago when I was going through my green phase. 
I bought so many green tops one year.  I didn’t even notice it until I organized my closet and color coordinated everything.  Then I went “WOW.  Over half of my closet is green!”  And that was the end of my green era.  It was fun while it lasted.  
Wore it with my favorite first love Sevens.  
About to take another pic of the outfit and decided Kole brushing his teeth was more interesting.  I can’t even tell you how many tooth brushes we’ve gone through in the past three months.  He steals them and wanders off “brushing” his teeth and then we never find them again.  I know someday I’m going to be cleaning and hit the mother load of all toothbrushes.  He’s gotta be stashing them somewhere…
The rest of the week was boring and I wore stuff I’ve already shared like the top above.  It was HOT here this week so we broke out the summer clothes again.  San Diego is weird that way.  Sometimes October and November are our warmest months.  

Which is why I wore this summer top for a fun date on Wednesday night.
SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE 2011 BABY!!  
Kenny and I realized this was our 5th year going to see SYTYCD live and it has become a tradition I hope never ends.  
 We went with our fun friends Marc and Ann again this year.  This is a picture of all four of us last year.
And here are some pictures of us in front of the arena this year…
My cute friend Ann had on a fun outfit so I made sure to get a full length pic so you could see the clothes!  Our husbands were rolling their eyes at us.  We were like “ok – now take a close-up, now take a shot that shows our boots, did we look fat?  K – take that one again.”  Kenny usually humors me and my picture taking for a good 2-3 minutes and then he is DONE.  With a capital D.  

But he was good to let me get a quick shot of the two of us.  Kenny knows how much I love this show and always pre-orders our tickets so we can get awesome seats.  Then he grins and bears it through picture taking because he knows how much my pictures mean to me.  
That is a good man.  
One who has been trained well.  :)
Pics from past seasons of SYTYCD.  This show never disappoints!  The dancing was incredible and we all had a great time.  
Went to the grocery store today to get stuff to make dinner and instead bought a frozen pizza and the new People Style Watch!  I’m ready to kick off the weekend NOW.  Looks like some great tips on jeans in this issue.  You know I’m all about a pair of good fitting jeans.  
And since I’m not sharing anything too fabulous that I wore this week, here’s an outfit I love on my sweet Ellie.  

Skirt and top are from The Gap.  I love this on her because it just seems to fit her personality.  And it’s not “itchy” so she’ll actually wear it.  Win win.  

And here’s Kole a.k.a “Ariel” in his or should I say “her” latest ensemble.  This is a long shirt that Ellie wears with leggings.  Honestly, about three times a day I turn around and Kole is out of his regular clothes and wearing one of Ellie’s shirts.  I can’t help but laugh out loud every time he waddles in the room in something like this!

Ellie and her dress up doll.  The two of them are pretty tight.  And I’m sure they will be.  Right up until Kole grows up and sees these pictures.  :)

But for now, Ariel doesn’t seem to mind one bit.  
Have a great weekend everyone!  
xoxo, Erin
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Uncategorized
11.03.11

Sharlie’s story

Just popping in quick today to share some news I received about a fundraiser going on for a very special girl named Sharlie.  Sharlie was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis when she was a baby.  She and her little sister, Lexi were both diagnosed with the disease.  Lexi passed away when she was just 14 years old, but Sharlie is still fighting the disease.  She is now 32 years old, married and has a darling 4 year old little boy named Harrison.  Sharlie’s health has been deteriorating and she is currently on a waiting list for a double lung and heart transplant.

I don’t know Sharlie personally, but I have a close friend who does and she has spoken so highly of her and her family.  I can’t imagine all they have been through and wanted to help spread the word about the fundraiser they are doing to help earn enough money for her lung/heart transplant.  It breaks my heart to think about that sweet little boy losing his mom.  I can’t begin to imagine how scared her family must be.  If you have a minute, please check out some of these links to learn about Sharlie and her beautiful family.  I’m also sharing links where you can learn more about the fundraiser going on in my neck of the woods this Saturday for those of you who live in the San Diego area.  It could be any of us.  I’m sure that spreading the word about this or donating anything at all would mean the world to their family.

Thanks so much and have a beautiful Thursday evening!


Sharlie’s angels — give forward


Sharlie’s story


Fox 5 news clip


Filling lungs with love

xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
11.02.11

Fall Wreath (pinspiration!)

 Remember a while ago when I posted some fun fall ideas from Pinterest and I included this letter E wreath?

Such a simple way to personalize your decor.  I loved it so much that I decided to make my own version!

I bought this letter “R” at Pottery Barn Kids for just 10 bucks.  

And then painted it in my new favorite aqua color.  Of course.
  

Then I attached it to my fall wreath with some ribbon I had on hand.  So easy!  

Such a quick, simple way to add personality to an otherwise ordinary wreath.  

I think it’s Pintastic!  And my roses agree.  :)

xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
11.01.11

2011 Halloween Wrap-Up

So does anyone else have a Halloween hangover today?  I swore when I went to bed last night that today I wasn’t going to eat any more sugar.  Not ONE MORE piece of candy or chocolate.
Then I woke up and had peanut m&m’s for breakfast.  
And now it’s after 10:00 in the morning and Kole and I are still in our pajamas.  The house is a disaster and we just can’t seem to get moving.  I think it’s going to take a while to recover from the last four days. 
{Wrapping up Halloween 2011} 
You may remember that last year for Halloween my little man was a snowman.  Well.  He {melted} my heart in that costume.  Literally.  And you know how I feel about Christmas.  

So when I saw this elf costume on-line I knew it was the one!  
I too dressed up as an elf and Kole and I were Santa’s happy little helpers.  Can’t you just tell how happy we are!?  This picture of him cracked me up.  
This was the only picture I have of my full costume.  I borrowed it from a friend and wore it last year too.  Nothing like a little Christmas cheer in October!  I think I was telling Addie not to rub her freckles off.  
Speaking of my little Strawberry Shortcake and her freckles – she was such a doll this year.  LOVED her costume and was so excited to wear it.  

The festivities started last week when my girls got to wear their costumes to dance class and make up their own dance to perform.  Oh my word.  Those little ballerina’s were the cutest things ever!  We downloaded the Strawberry Shortcake theme song for Addie’s dance.  I may have to share the video some time.  It was adorable!  Then they did their usual warm-up and then the mom’s got to dance with them.  Addison and I  shook things up big time.

Then it was time for Ellie’s hip hop class where they too got to wear their costumes and perform.  Ellie loved her costume this year, but thought it was itchy (she thinks all clothes other than pajamas are “itchy”) so the second she was done performing she tore off the wig and changed.  Then the hip hoppers worked on some routines and Addison jumped in and joined them.  She wants to do everything her big sister is doing.

The girls had so much fun at all of the festivities with their friends.  I love their ages right now!  Everything is so magical.

We had a lot of fun at Kenny’s office party.  His firm goes all out every year for Halloween.  I didn’t take a lot of pictures because there was a Haunted House for the kids and my girls must have gone through that thing over 20 times.  They came out the first time with wide eyes and said “that was SO SCARY mom!  Let’s do it again!!”  So we did.  Again and again and again.  

They always have a pumpkin carving contest and I loved the entries this year.  These two black pumpkins were pretty cool.  But my favorite?

The McPumpkin.  

How clever is that!?  I LOVED it!  
Kole and I at our church Trunk-or-Treat party.

He was such a pill that night.  Wouldn’t let me set him down for the first hour.  Running away from me the second hour.  Santa wouldn’t have been impressed.

Girls at their class parties.  Ellie had her costume off the second the parade was over.   We both agreed that next year she is wearing her pajamas and being a “sleepover girl.”  I was able to help for a total of 2.2 seconds in each classroom because Kole had other plans for us.  Plans that involved me paying 100% of my attention to him and him alone. I have to admit, I’m pretty pumped that this was my last Halloween with an 18 month old.  There are some things about his age that I am just NOT going to miss!

And other things I will miss.  Terribly.  
What a mommas boy.  :)

Trick-or-treating was a lot of fun.  Kenny took all three kids out while I handed out candy.  I had some fun Christmas magazines I was anxious to read, but I didn’t get to open one of them.  We had non stop trick or treaters for three hours straight!  I loved it though.  It’s my favorite part.  Especially seeing all of the little ones in their darling costumes who have practiced their “trick-or-treat!  thank-you! and happy halloween!”  Half way through the neighborhood Kenny brought Kole back to the house because he was running away and not having it in the stroller anymore.  Then every time I opened the front door to hand out candy he tried to escape so I finally just put him in his high chair, turned on Wonder Pets and loaded him up with enough food to last a life time.

The girls with their loot!  Kids had a blast.  Another successful, yet slightly exhausting Halloween!  
K.  Guess I’ll go get dressed now.  Back to reality.  
On second thought.  Those Christmas magazines are still sitting on the table.  They seem to be calling my name much louder than the dishes sitting in my sink….
xoxo, Erin
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Holidays
10.31.11

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween!

From Lemon Meringue and Strawberry Shortcake

and from one mischievous,
speedy,
dangerous,

yet cautious,

excited,

curious,

  happy little elf.  
:)
xoxo, Erin
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