resolutioning: make more meals together

this was a couple weeks ago. this week we were sick (boo). i really enjoy cooking with the husby, even if i am only the sous chef. from this resolution i'm hoping to: have more pictures of us together, challenge myself to photograph food, think outside the box with my pictures and have quality time with aaron. check, check and check.

family walk

these pictures are from thanksgiving. thanksgiving! i know. but they are too cute to not share. :)

the other day, when the kiddos were entertaining themselves (!), i had a moment where i thought "what should i do." pause. breathe. "i dont have anything to do right now." i dont think that has happened for a year, literally. having two kids is alot of work, well having kids is alot of work. so i have been crafting and reading and playing guitar. the product of this is, i have some new posts in the works. i have lots of diys coming and i have an etsy shop that will be opening the first weekend of march! i'm more than a mom again! i have hopes and dreams and time, oh beautiful time!

ps i know that i have always been more than a mom, its just easy to forget sometimes.

pps. thank you all for your feedback concerning my blog, it was appreciated.

vintage diy

ever since christmas my poor shelves in the dining room have been empty. we had company over last saturday and what is better motivation to get your house together than guests? nothing. its a priority for me to have pictures in my house, so.... that's what i put there. unfortunately i didnt have any more frames or time to go get some. so i made something instead. i'm always the most creative out of necessity.

all you need is a piece of wood that will sit on its own (we have lots of stuff like this lying around), washi tape, and pictures (mine are from prinstagram). this is easy enough. i spaced my pictures evenly and hung them with washi tape. i thought it was feeling a little too rustic so later i added some gold leafing. which i love.

supplies

zula and polar

zula loves polar bear. she sleeps with him, eats with him, watches shows with him, and loves him. here they are having a snack together. nbd

vintage beauties

i've been trying to challenge myself in photography. i found some of this black paper (that i'm gonna make notebooks out of) and it inspired me. i am really liking how these turned out. i also used the "pretend" macro setting on my camera, which i had never used before.

also, i use this string for everything: bunting, wrapping, tassel-making. if you ever run across vintage thread/string grab it! it always comes in handy and then you can say "i wrapped everything with vintage stuff" this makes me really happy. i love reusing things that would ordinarily get thrown out.

also, i recently went to a church estate sale that had piles and piles of sheet music and old sunday school books. i wanted to take them all home with me. and do what with them? just look at them i suppose. obviously i didnt buy all of it but am sad to think that most of it will probably be thrown out. i did buy some old attendance forms that i cut up and will soon be notebooks that i'm really excited about. i will do a post about them when they are finished. the will be in my new etsy shop this spring! don't know what etsy is? you have to check it out

also, just kidding, that's all i got.

oh, just eating popcorn

our new go-to snack is popcorn. it's so delicious and nutritious (?) i dont really know if it is....... but it's better than chips right? i get points for that. we dont have a microwave so we make it on the stove. it's delicious.

here are cute pictures of my kids eating popcorn lol

honesty hour/restyled

 honestly, there are usually things under my couch, in my couch, on my couch. but i grabbed my camera for these ones.

post christmas decor always feels so fresh and clean after your house is crammed with christmas. do you feel this way? a sigh of relief when its all put away? well, i've been sighing.

since this is an honesty hour. i will be honest. i am feeling a little blah about my blog. i feel i need some new fresh posts and i would like your feedback. will you tell me your favorite thing/post i do? and maybe something you would like to see more of?

re-diy

here's a little re-diy idea for you. are you like me? not much time on your hands? itching to be creative? noisy kids sucking up all your time? well you are in luck this diy is so easy you can do it while your kids are running around (like i did).
the kiddos really, really wanted to help me with this one, but i said, "get out of town! paint pens are NOT for kids."

we've been using this vintage laundry basket in our room, i love it. as you can see, it has a cool little diamond pattern on it. and i thought "wouldn't it be cool if you could see that better" so i put a bird on it got myself a paint pen ($4!!) and colored it. suPER easy and suPER fun. i used a paint pen so that when i get tired of it i can spray paint over it easily. i picked gold because, well duh its beautiful. also this diy totally turns my cool hamper into an on trend masterpiece (metallics + geometric shapes = on trend)

before:

after:

this got me thinking. what else could i "on-trend" with a paint pen? you got any ideas?

vintage diy

i have been in a craft-funk. i'm itching to make but can't think of anything. i want to take pictures.... but of what? my kids? again? (jk)

also it's hard to get anything done (let alone be sane), when they dont take a nap.

so this project, from design sponge, was perfect. i actually had almost everything on hand. i was thinking i would have to go buy cedar shavings and then ashley english mentioned in her post that she raises chickens and so always has cedar on hand. oh yeah, i almost forgot, we have chickens (palm to forehead). zula and effi were very helpful at pulling the pine needles off the branches (effi was so into this), dumping everything on the floor (um... also effi), and almost cutting everyone's fingers off (that would be zula).


here they are, the little cuties.

as promised.....

here are my cute kids on that cute trolley ride we did before christmas.

thankfulness tuesday

today i am thankful for Guinevere. Guinevere is our cat. aaron has had her for ten years. he found her when she was a kitten and fed her with an oral medicine syringe. it's true, my sweetie is the sensitive sort. he also carried her around in his pocket for a couple weeks when she was too small to be left alone. needless to say he loves her. needless to say, she drives me nuts. we have a hate hate relationship (i hate her, she hates me), though i have decided to open my heart up to her and try to be nicer to her. she has accepted my attempts with the grace only a cat can give.

putting christmas away

usually i'm excited to put christmas stuff away so i can redecorate. not this year. i wanted christmas to last through january. why cant it? january kinda sucks anyway. good thing it's my birth month, otherwise it would have no redeeming qualities. january is the coldest month of the year. i'm sick of being cold. i'm enjoying sitting by the fire, especially when the husby makes it. he's really manly and makes amazing fires. i think that fires are kinda like sandwiches. they are SO much better when someone else makes them for you.

i took some pictures while i was cleaning up christmas stuff, cuz ya know.... i was bored.... not really. actually this really old christmas ornament told me to take it's pictures. isn't it pretty?

gingerbread houses in january?

i have tons of pictures from the holidays i haven't even shared! so instead of filling every post with holiday and kid related stuff i decided to spread the love, nice and thin, all the way through (hopefully) july. cuz who doesn't want to see pictures of my kids opening presents in july (just kidding). but i do want to post them and post them i will. if you get sick of them, just don't say anything. ever.

here is our gingerbread makin' party.