Erin, Author at The Sunny Side Up Blog

Scrapbooking

03.01.11

Project Life Process

I don’t exactly have album layouts to share today. Lately real life has been getting in the way of Project Life. :) But I do want to show you all what Kenny got me for a little Valentines gift this year. (Cue angels singing in the background…)

YEA!!! My new kits! Two of the Amber kits for my girls and one Turquoise kit for Kole. Talk about the best Valentine surprise ever. Isn’t it romantic!? ;) Now that I have my hands on my beautiful new kits I am SO motivated to get caught up so that I can start using them. Hoping that by next Tuesday I have LOTS of layouts to post.

I wanted to answer a question one reader had after my last Project Life post: “how do you keep track of the other stuff that goes with the pictures so when you scrapbook you have it all there?” I’ve had other similar questions on how I organize and assemble these albums so I thought I’d share my process – for any fellow scrapbookers out there who get as excited about all of this stuff as I do! :)

Step 1 – Go through photos. I organize my pictures by blog posts since I share most of my favorite pictures on my blog. For example, in my 2011 folder I have a January folder and in the January folder I have two other folders – one for January blog posts and one called January randomness (pics I am keeping from the month but didn’t blog). So if I’m working on Addison’s album, the first thing I do is go through my folders of pictures for each month and choose what I want to develop for her album. I put everything I’m going to develop in another folder titled something like “Addison’ PL March – June 2010” This step takes the longest for me because not only does it take a while to select the pictures, but I also have to crop and save any vertical pictures I’m using (directions on developing two 3×4’s as one 4×6 in Photoshop here). Luckily most of my photos have already been cropped/edited so I don’t have to add that step to the process. Blogging has made this all so much easier for me.

Step 2 – Upload photos to print. I’ve used on-line sites before, but I get really impatient with the whole shipping thing. There is a photo store near my home that is a bit pricey, but produces high quality prints so I usually just pay a little more and go there so that I can pick up the pictures an hour or so after I make the order.

Step 3 – Organize photos in order. I use my blog and picture folders to help me organize the pictures into piles in the order I will use them. I group them in themes (Disneyland, picking lemons, random February pictures, etc.) and spread them out all over my work space. You can see to the left that I was sharing a work space with Addison and her Valentines. :)

You can see in this picture I posted two weeks ago the piles of pictures on the right. (You can also see why I need a bigger scrapbook room!) :)

Step 4 – Add additional memorabilia. Any little thing I think I MAY want to add to these albums I keep organized in my PL drawers in my scrapbook room.

I have a pile for each of my girls (the work is organized on the left of the drawer). Here is a picture of Ellie’s stuff from March 2010 through today…

After I put my pictures in piles, I go through all of the paper pile and add anything that goes along with the pictures. (I date EVERYTHING I save for my girls (write the month and year on the back before I stick it in the drawer) so it’s easy to see what goes where. I decide what is really special enough to keep and trash the rest. Now that I’ve added their work to each picture pile, I’m almost ready for the fun part…

Step 5 – Before I start assembling the albums I do one last thing. I go through my blog and see if there is anything I want to print for their books. I know I mentioned this a lot when I first shared Ellie’s album, but I have to say again that blogging has made the journaling for these books so easy. Here are a few examples of how I’ve added material from blog posts to my albums…

On Ellie’s first day of Kindergarten I used the PL journaling cards to explain what was taking place in all of the pictures which left no room to write about the things Ellie told me about her first day of school.

I had blogged all of the little things she mentioned about the day so I just printed the post and added it to the book in an 8×11 sheet protector. These are the little things I cherish that I never would have written down or remembered if I wasn’t blogging.

In December I had written a whole post about all of our December traditions so I just printed the post and added it in with all of the Christmas pictures.

Here I added Addison’s “Quotable Quotes” from the summer of 09′ (just like the post I did yesterday) and printed it straight from my blog with the picture on it and everything. Blogging makes it so easy!

Step 6 – Assemble the albums. While I enjoy this whole process, assembling the albums is the most fun! These albums make the creative process so easy. Stick the pictures in the slots, choose the color/card scheme, and do a little journaling. Before you know it a beautiful album is coming together right before your eyes. :)

And that’s it! My process in a nutshell. Hope that answered any questions. Hope you too can find some time to scrapbook this week (if it’s something you enjoy). And I hope you all have a lovely Tuesday!

xoxo, Erin

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Quotables

02.28.11

Quotable Quotes

Addison’s Latest: (Fall 2010 – Winter 2011, age 4)

“I thought yesterday was the day after tomorrow!?”

Me: “Addie, be careful not to touch that curling iron.”
“I didn’t mom. Look! My fingers are still on!”

Addie talking to Kole while watching the wicked Queen first appear on Snow White –
“Cover your eyes buddy!”

Ellie: “Mom, you should have another baby…I’m having six kids when I’m a mom.”
Addison: “Not me! Kids are too much work. I’m having two babies and when they have dirty diapers I’m calling a babysitter to change them.”

Me: “Guess what Ad! I have a new job in church. I’m going to teach primary so I get to be in the same room with you and Ellie!”
Addison: Are you teaching my class or Ellie’s? If you’re teaching Ellie’s class and not mine I will be heart burned.”
Me: “Did you mean heartbroken?”
Ad: “I will be heartbroken and heart burned.”

Ellie’s Latest: (Fall 2010 – Winter 2011, age 6/7)

“Mom, can I bring two “friends” (toys) in the car instead of one?
“no.”
“please!”
“no”
“PLEASE!”
“I said no Ellie.”
“But mom! It’s groundhog day!”

“Mom, will I for sure have to get surgery some day?”
“No.”
“But Bobby said I will.”
“Bobby must be confused.”
“Well he’s the tallest one in our class mom.”

“Mom, I didn’t get waffles AND I had to do homework. This Saturday has been a flop!”

Me: “What did you learn in school today?”
Ellie: “We learned about frogs and toads!”
“What is something you learned about frogs and toads that you didn’t already know?”
“That you can’t cut them in two and share them with someone else.”

“Ad, did you know that if you don’t go to heaven you go to this really scary place where Satan lives and it’s full of garbage and… guess what else Ad?”
Addison: “What?” (eyes as big as saucers)
“Bumblebees!”

Saying the prayer at dinner: “Please bless that Kole isn’t so fussy tomorrow and please bless that I can have a play date next week and please bless that me and Addison can go to Legoland someday….”
Me: “Ellie, you need to remember to bless the food.”
“Please bless this food that it will be yummy. Amen.”

xoxo, Erin

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Ellie

02.25.11

Random Friday

Thanks so much for the great tips after my last post! I really appreciate your comments. A lot of food for thought. :) (yeah – it’s late and I’m tired)

I’ve eaten SO GOOD – for like three days. And now I’m ready for some peanut m&m’s. My mantle is calling me! Kidding. Kind of. A couple of health problems I have that need tweaking: (whenever I say the word “tweaking” I think of Tom Hanks in You’ve Got Mail. Love that movie. Love the way he says “a project that needs tweaking“….) Anyway, my problems, aside from the obvious one that I can’t stick to the point. First of all – the water thing. I love water and I feel lucky that I don’t like soda. Aside from a ~~major~~ minor obsession with root beer during my pregnancy with Kole, I never drink the stuff. BUT even though I drink water with every meal/snack, I know I don’t drink enough of it. To be honest, the reason I don’t is because it is so inconvenient having to use the restroom every time I turn around! Most days I’m running errands with at least two of my kids and it’s so much work to drag my whole crew into the bathroom. Lame excuse? Maybe. But it’s the truth. My other problem is that I don’t eat a lot during the day. I get busy running errands, taking care of the kids, working off of my trusty to-do list, etc. A lot of the time having to stop and fix something to eat just feels completely inconvenient. So I don’t do it. Then I get the kids in bed and sit down. And I eat dinner. And I eat a snack. And another one. And another one. Quickly I realize how hungry I am from the day and I eat too much. SO. More water (less errand running?) and more frequent, healthy meals/snacks during the day. And definitely more You’ve Got Mail watching.

Several of you have e-mailed me about my workout routine (how I fit exercise in and what I do) so I’ll post about that sometime next week (even though it’s nothing too exciting). :)

Sharing a few pics I came across tonight that I took of Ellie and Kole in December –

She is my best little babysitter! Honestly, even though having three kids is crazy (complete madness at times) in some ways it feels so much easier than when I just had one and even two. I think the age difference is MAJOR. My girls are just such a huge help. They keep Kole completely entertained and out of trouble. I probably hear five times a day “Mom! Kole almost put a barbie high heel in his mouth! Mom! Kole almost got stuck. Mom! Kole almost tipped the chair over!” Key word here being “almost.” They are extremely cautious and diligent with him and I rely on their help a lot.

Speaking of my best little babysitter Ellie, the other night I told her she had WAY too many “friends” in her bed and she needed to take some off. (She has been sleeping in our guest room lately) I went to tuck her in and found her toys off of her bed (yes) but instead of being put away back in her room, they were strategically placed all around her.

Dolls and ponies enjoyed the view from the window.

Disney figurines took on the Twilight Series. (psst…Eclipse is the best!)

Additional ponies spent the night with classics like Lord of the Rings and A Tale of Two Cities. Can’t go wrong there.

And it seems the dogs were left to choose between Constitutional Law, Securities Regulation, and Comprehensive Criminal Procedures.

Poor poor dogs.

Have a great weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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Food and Cooking...or lack thereof

02.23.11

Healthy Eating

Just got back from the grocery store. I am TRYING to drop a very annoying, very unwanted, incredibly stubborn last 5 pounds of baby weight that just doesn’t seem to want to budge. But I am determined to lose it for good over the next few months. Of course I’ve been determined to lose it for good since last summer, but this time – for real. :) Here are my go to snacks/foods when I decide to kick it in gear and eat healthy.

{Favorite snacks}

Eating Right sugar snap peas (girls prefer them in the ground)
carrots
Smart pop popcorn
strawberries
Dannon light yogurt
Eating Right granola cereal with raisins (I love this w/o milk – just as a dry snack)
Claussen pickles (have to be refrigerated – so good!)
grapes
for my chocolate fix I love Eating Right jello pudding and Healthy Choice fudge bars

Oh…and I LOVE California cuties.

{Favorite fast meals}

Of course I always eat my turkey sandwich for lunch.

For dinner I love Eating Right chicken stir fry. So does Kenny. It’s just the right amount for the two of us and perfect for nights when we eat later after the kids are in bed.

You all know my addiction to Lean Cuisine pizzas. I like a lot of the Lean Cuisine meals.

I use the almond slices and cranberries in my Summer salad. I love that salad and it’s a pretty healthy dinner option as long as I don’t go crazy with the dressing.

I’ve found that the secret for me to stay on track with food is to prep everything as soon as I get home from the grocery store. If I wash and cut up the produce, wash the lettuce and make some salads it is much easier for me to grab something healthy when I’m hungry and in a hurry. If I don’t get things ready to go, I just grab whatever is convenient (usually not healthy) because I don’t want to take the time to prepare food. (more about my favorite cutting board in this post)

Some of these things may not be the healthiest thing out there, but they taste good to me so I don’t feel like I’m totally depriving myself and they have worked in the past when I’ve needed to drop a few pounds. What are your tricks to eating healthy? Any great snacks/meals that help you stay on track? I need all the help I can get! :)

xoxo, Erin

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Family

02.22.11

Favorite kind of weekend

Hope everyone had a great weekend! We traveled to southern Utah to hang out with family and check out the home show. It was a really quick weekend but we packed a lot in!

Dayna (my sister-in-law in the ever so stylish hat I bought her for Christmas) and I spent lots of time chillin’ with our boys. Drew is small and nimble. He is all over the place crawling and using the furniture to stand and walk. Kole is bigger and hmm…how should I put it…less nimble?

He’s doing the army crawl, but for the most part is pretty content to be held or to sit and watch Drew (his younger cousin) crawl circles around him.

But oh am I ever in love with this little guy. I don’t care if he doesn’t walk until he’s two. In fact, come to think of it, I quite prefer it that way. :)

We celebrated my brother’s birthday and my girls especially enjoyed the cake and presents. You can see the finger marks in the cake from two little ones who just couldn’t wait five more seconds to dig in.

They love spending time with their Uncle Austin. Uncle Austin is a VERY good sport. :)

And it snowed!!! So exciting! It never snows where we come from and it rarely snows in Southern Utah. My mom and I were so excited to wake up early one morning to find snow softly falling. I ran and woke the girls and they flew down the stairs and out the front door in their pajama’s.

They tasted the snow. And then danced in the snow. And yes. We all had a big old IT’S SNOWING party! I know that this isn’t exciting to most of you and our snow storm was pretty weak and misty and may not have even stuck to the ground, but it was snow none the less. And we were thrilled to see if for the first time this winter. Addison knew right off why it had snowed in the night. Because she was wearing her snow flake pajama’s, of course!

Since the snow brought with it some chilly temperatures (yes, 55 degrees is chilly to us) we decided to stay in and do some crafts. I opened my mom’s craft cupboard and gave her the look. The look that says “are you kidding me mom….how are we supposed to find crafts in here?” Then she gave me the look. The look that says “I knew you’d be appalled enough to clean out my cupboard. That’s why I sent you to it in the first place.”

So of course some organizing was in order. I pulled everything out of the cupboard and got to work categorizing. Isn’t that the best word? Categorizing. I can’t say or think that word without smiling.

My mom had some little plastic baskets on hand so I put everything in its place…

And then back in the cupboard. Ahhhhh…

much better. Supplies are organized and easily accessible. Organizing is a perfect stay inside while it’s snowing activity, don’t you think?

The next day we went shopping and while my mom bought matching soccer outfits for two of the men in her life, Dayna and I found clothes and home decor in all sorts of bright colors. When we loaded our stuff in the back of the car we decided it looked like a spring explosion! I’m so so excited for March!

And one of my favorite things about visiting Utah. With mine and Kenny’s parents in town we have the best babysitters around…and you just can’t beat their hourly rate. The four of us snuck away to dinner one night and it was so fun catching up. THANK YOU to my parents and Kenny’s for spending so much time with the kiddos this weekend so we could play. My girls adore all of their grandparents. And Kenny and I think the four of them are pretty swell too. :)

A weekend full of baby watching, birthday celebrating, snow fall partying, craft cupboard organizing, home show viewing, Chinese food dining, spring time shopping, and LOTS of family bonding.

My very favorite kind.

xoxo, Erin

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home decor 2

02.19.11

Car’s House

Hi friends! It’s Friday night and a three day weekend ahead. YEA! Very much looking forward to the next few days. I’m also looking forward to the next few hours. In my pajamas. On the couch. :) When I went to visit my sister Carly a couple of weeks ago I snapped some pictures of her house. She and her husband bought their house about four years ago and have been giving it quite a make-over one step at a time. They love contemporary – completely different than my decorating style, but I still LOVE what they’ve done. And since I totally have house decor on the brain I thought I’d share a few pics with you! Wish I had some “before” pics to show, but since I don’t I’ll just share the “afters”…

They pulled up the original carpet in the living room and laid this wood floor (they’ve done a lot of the work themselves – DIY style). Car’s husband made the coffee and end table out of cement. Very cool.

Love this picture collage in their entry. I think they’ve repainted this entry at least five times. Every time I visit it’s a different color. :)

They got rid of the original black ornate stair rail and had this sleek steel railing put in.

They covered sheetrock beams in their dining room with wood and then covered a whole wall with brick (on the left).

Some shelves they installed in the kitchen. I love the purple scale. And the tidy upside down coffee mugs.

Their bedroom. Another room that has been painted multiple times. That’s the fun thing about paint. It’s an inexpensive way to completely transform your space. And if you’re my sister, you can transform again and again and again. Love you Car. ;)

Next is one of my favorite spaces in the house! They turned the loft at the top of their stairs into a TV/playroom for the kiddos. Love the wallpaper. This print is so in right now. Very fun.

Thanks for the warm welcome Car! :)

Next is another favorite room – Claire’s bedroom (their 3 year old)…

The dresser and nightstand Car used in high school. She painted them white and put new pulls on them.

Then she made these pink window coverings by covering a wood cornice with fabric.

Aren’t they so cute? Such a fun, creative, in-expensive idea.

Darling bookshelf. Darling picture displayed. May be a tiny bit biased. :)

This desk and chair were also pieces of furniture from our childhood that Car painted.

I also love the way she displays Claire’s artwork. She bought this display clippy thing (nice description, right?) at Ikea.

New baby boy’s nursery.

And this bathroom set was originally – hmmm – what’s the best way to put this – UGLY! Until Car spray painted everything white.

And then painted the wall such a beautiful blue. She changed all of the hardware, laid down a new Anthro rug and wa – la! DARLING bathroom. I love this room. I love her whole house. It has been so fun watching this work in progress. They have worked really hard on this house and have done an amazing job. I love visiting them and continually seeing the progress they are making turning this house into their home. Aren’t home makeovers fun!?

Have a great long weekend everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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Scrapbooking

02.15.11

Project Life Tuesday

So the whole sharing a scrap space with Kole in his nursery isn’t working out so hot these days. The best time to work on the kids’ albums is when he’s asleep. And when he’s asleep, I can’t use the room. The picture above shows what our kitchen table has looked like on and off over the last two weeks. I may have driven my family crazy with requests to eat dinner on the floor, but the job needed to be done! I now have both of the girls’ albums caught up to Kole’s birth. Feeling pretty good about that.

Here are a few pages in Addison’s book I had to go back and finish from the summer of 09’…

I had so many pictures from this particular trip to Disneyland so I used a lot of collages I had put together in Picasa when I posted about the trip on my blog. Blogging has made this whole process so easy. My favorite pics have already been chosen, edited, and are ready to print.

Whenever I create collages for my blog, I make them 4×6. Then they’re ready to develop if I need them.

Yea! Seven pictures on one 4×6! A fun glimpse of time with the princesses without taking up a whole layout to do it.

More layouts where I’ve incorporated traditional scrapbook pages…

Cards on the left are being held in the pre-school folder I shared last time from Becky’s school kits.

We seem to have spent a lot of time at Disneyland this year. :)

For these Valentine pages I also included the hearts Addie put up on the door saying all the things she loves about her daddy. She couldn’t write at the time so I wrote them and she signed her letter “A” at the bottom of each heart.

End of March – 2010. Getting closer to my goal of finally being caught up on these albums. I think I can I think I can…….

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

xoxo, Erin

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Family

02.14.11

Thick Love

Happy Valentines day to my sweetheart!

I decided today I wanted to make sugar cookies to take to friends/teachers for Valentines day. Let me try that again. I decided today I wanted Kenny to make sugar cookies that I could take to friends/teachers for Valentines day. He not only made them for me (took three hours) but he also let the kids help (reason it took three hours).

They turned out a bit thick. I asked him if I should still deliver them and he said I just needed to put icing on the sides of the cookies to hide their thickness. We both looked at each other in our messy kitchen with our icing covered kids and our super-thick-not-so-edible sugar cookies and laughed our heads off. (It appears I’m not the only one lacking cooking skills in our family). This is what I love about Kenny. He makes sugar cookies for me. He involves our kids. And he always keeps me laughing. (Plus 18 years ago he totally saw past my super huge high school perm) {Our story}

Happy V-day babe. Still love you the most.

Happy Valentines day to my other three sweethearts…

And a very happy Valentines Day to all of you. Hope you all have a great day with the ones you love – delivering sugar cookies that turned out better than ours. :)

xoxo, Erin

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Food and Cooking...or lack thereof

02.11.11

Pasta and Ponies

In December when we were planning on building a house, Kenny and I sat down with our builder and went over all of the details. Things we for sure wanted to include in the house. When we were talking about the kitchen our builder said, “oh – and you’ll definitely want two ovens. And maybe a warmer also?” Kenny and I couldn’t help laughing out loud.

Two ovens? What in the world would I do with two ovens? And a warmer? Now give me two microwaves and we’re in business. :)

I so know that I am the last person on the Internet who should be sharing recipes. BUT. Many of you were so kind and encouraging when I shared my easy Cashew Chicken. In fact, one sweet reader said: “I know how you don’t like to cook or think you’re a good cook, but the recipe ideas you give are really great – especially for busy moms! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE share more of your recipes!” Oh how that comment made my day! THANK YOU anonymous commenter! I can’t say that Kenny appreciated the comment, however, since I proudly pointed it out to him flashing a grin from ear to ear and have been bragging about my culinary skills ever since. Maybe I DO need two ovens after all….. HA!

So this is an easy pasta recipe I often make because the whole family eats it (after I pick the peppers out for Ellie and the olives out for Addison of course). Here is what you need:

Oh – and some mozzarella cheese which I forgot to photograph. *on a side note: several of you have asked where I got these canisters in the background and my dishes that match them. I bought them years ago at a store in southern Utah that has since gone out of business. Sorry that’s no help! If anyone else has seen them somewhere, please share!

Cook pepperoni and pepper in a skillet (listen to me getting all chef like saying skillet) until the pepper is tender-crisp – stirring often. In another pot, cook some corkscrew pasta.

Then add some olives (if you like them). I love olives.

Then drain your pasta and add some Prego sauce.

Mix everything together and cook on low for about 10 minutes. Then stir in some mozzarella and if you’re feeling really chef like, add a bit of Parmesan. Fast and easy and really hard to mess up – my three requirements for a meal.

Then after dinner, store it in your gourmet gold pleated cookware and heat it for leftovers the next night. I think it tastes better for leftovers. Funny how some food always tastes better the next night. Maybe it’s just in my head because I’m so happy I didn’t have to cook again…

The meal tastes especially yummy when the My Little Ponies join in the dining experience. They’ve been joining us for dinner quite a bit lately. The ponies and their whole pony village. Pasta and ponies. Exciting stuff going on around here. :)

Have a great weekend!

xoxo, Erin

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home decor 2

02.10.11

Girls’ Bathroom

Well! Today was a busy day and I’m exhausted. Looked at several homes. One of which was once owned by a certain football player who Kenny LOVES. Kenny wants to buy the house of course. Just to feel some kind of Charger aura running through it. Me – not so much. After trying to figure out how to change the manly pool table/sauna room into a playroom for my kiddos and the bar and wine rack room into a scrap space for me I finally said — uh, no. Sorry honey. Not for us. :) House hunting is so hard isn’t it!? Just makes you want to take the yard from this house, the floor plan from that one, the location from this one, neighborhood and schools from another one, and mix it all in with my dream kitchen. Yea. I’ll take one of those please.

Just a quick few pics of my girls’ bathroom. Parenthood and Good Wife are sitting on our DVR waiting for me to watch them. And I think it’s rude to keep my shows waiting.

And a cute little hook on the back of the door. It used to hold just two towels…

and now holds three. :)

xoxo, Erin

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home decor 2

02.09.11

Decisions and the playroom

A while ago on my blog I mentioned some changes that had been consuming me. Kenny and I have been looking at homes now for over a year and after not finding anything we loved we decided that we were going to build. We found a lot and a builder that we were excited about and started planning our dream home. The lot was in a different area than the one we live in now, so last December was a crazy month for us. Aside from usual Christmas activities, we were busy talking to lenders, crunching numbers, and dreaming about cute kitchen cabinets and built in’s for a scrapbook room (ok – Kenny was busy crunching numbers…I was the one doing the dreaming).

I was also busy that month looking into other things in the area – schools, church, gym, grocery store (does the peppered turkey taste good enough?), best place nearby to get a pedicure. You know – all the important stuff. :)

Then the day before we were going to meet with the builder to put down our deposit I was seriously SICK to my stomach. I was so nervous and just had this feeling like we weren’t making the right decision. Kenny came home from work and he wasn’t feeling good about it either. We weren’t sure why, but we knew that wasn’t the lot for us. I cried and was so bummed. It is really rare to build around here because land is hard to come by (especially lots with big yards). But deep down I knew something else would come along that was a better fit for us.

Currently we are looking at another lot that hasn’t been released yet. Our names are at the top of the list so it’s ours if we decide to go that way, but in the meantime, we are still looking looking looking at existing homes. I love our realtor and it’s a good thing because we have been spending a lot of time together lately!

This is the lot we are looking at as a possibility. It’s really beautiful, but in a lot of ways we’d love to find something already built and landscaped that we can just tweak to make our own. Kenny especially is NOT excited about building with me. I don’t know why? Maybe because I tend to be a bit picky and indecisive? Maybe. Just a bit. It’s a pretty bad combo. :)

I am really tired of a lot of my decor in my current house, but don’t really want to change it just in time to pack things up and move so I’m trying to be patient! I’m going to keep posting pics of our little house we live in now so we’ll always remember our time here. I started posting house pics here:

Home Decor #1
Home Decor #2

These are some pictures of our playroom I took last summer. It actually wasn’t part of the house when we moved in. It was just a tiny office with a big opening to the downstairs (and a hideous gold chandelier that made its way to goodwill with record speed!). We had a crew come in and build the space out into a room so the girls would have a place to play. It’s a small room, but has become one of our favorite rooms in the house. The girls live in it and I will really miss it when we move. My next playroom is going to have to have a bit less pink so that poor Kole has a fighting chance!

I have loved these bulletin boards over my couch. They are from Pottery Barn Kids and have made it so easy to change and display the girls’ art work.

Same picture – with an added accessory. :)

Many tea parties have taken place on this little white table! I have to say that of all of the toys my kids have, the table and chairs are my #1 playroom must have. My girls use them to play and color every single day.

And what playroom is complete without a TV? It’s so nice having a separate place for the kids to watch a movie so I can have peace and quiet downstairs once in awhile. Can anyone guess the movie Addison is watching?

Here’s another pic that gives it away. What a classic.

You can see that the bulletin boards aren’t the only place the girls end up displaying their art work.
They have had a thing with tape lately and it’s driving me nuts! They want to tape every single thing they make up on a wall somewhere. There will never be a shortage of butterflies, hearts, flowers, and sunshines around here!

Going to look at a few more houses tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me! I can’t wait to have a whole house that is begging to be decorated and organized. My kind of project for sure. :)

xoxo, Erin

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Family

02.08.11

Trip to SLC

I’m back! Back from the frozen tundra that is Salt Lake City. Back from a place where Uggs, scarfs, and seat warmers are actual necessities and not just fun accessories. :) It was such a quick trip, but I’m so glad I got to go spend some quality time with these two:

(Jonah and Claire – my nephew and niece)

Remember after my surgery when my sister Carly came for a week to help out? She brought me this little bell to ring when I needed her. I took the bell back and it this time it was her turn to do the ringing.

Car and her husband are so tired from their sweet little newborn! (Sleep deprivation is the cruelest joke ever, isn’t it!?) I mostly just helped entertain this little princess so her parents could get some much needed rest. Luckily I know just what to do with little princesses. We watched Miss Spider, dressed up in an assortment of fairy dresses and jewelry, and had lots and lots of tea parties.

Car and I did manage to change out of our sweats one night and ventured into the cold to go to dinner. I loved just hanging out with my sister. It’s so rare to have time like this for just the two of us.

But mostly we just stayed indoors and enjoyed this sweet little one….

Isn’t he a doll!? That picture of him yawning is my favorite. Such a sweet sweet baby boy. There is nothing like a newborn.

K – so I have to tell you all why I didn’t post last night when I got home. I sat down to upload my photos and instead of putting my camera card into the slot it belongs in on the left side of my MAC, I just popped it into a slot on the right side – a great big slot – the slot for the DVD/CD player to be exact. I thought “wait a minute, that didn’t feel right…” Then I realized that my camera card was lost somewhere in my computer and there was NO WAY to retrieve it. Are you kidding me!? What was I thinking? Well, clearly I wasn’t thinking. I had to take my computer into the Apple store today. Luckily, they didn’t have to take the whole thing apart. I’m not sure exactly what they did, but they took my computer in the back and came back a few minutes later with my camera card. I was so happy I almost hugged the sales clerk! This is not the only “are you kidding me!?” moment I’ve had lately. In fact, I seem to be working towards a world record. I’d share a few more of them with you, but then there’s a chance Kenny will read this and he just doesn’t need one more ounce of ammunition.

p.s. Project Life pics next Tuesday!
p.p.s. Today was 76 degrees and beautiful. Car – next trip you are coming to me!

xoxo, Erin

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