a few of my favorite things

pictures by zula and how she cant wait to put them on the fridge.

making messes having fun with zula.

 

my built-in 

 

and the pretty things in it.

 

baking

what are some fun things you have been doing?

resolutioning

i have been procrastinating. i cant seem to finalize new years resolutions this year. i enjoyed them so much last year but this year....... i'm feeling unmotivated, uncreative and stuck.
i have decided to just focus on a couple small meaningful things this year.

#1  let house chores go and have fun with my kids.
this year i'm going to let the dishes sit in the sink so i can read to zula or play with effi. its easy to let house chores or my to-do list rule my day. i want to be better at putting my kids first.

#2  be better at trivia games.
the husby and i are a disgrace when it comes to trivia games. even as a team we hang our heads at how much useless knowledge we don't know. see we dont even HAVE trivia games.

#3  get up before the kids, sit in this chair and do nothing.

#4  save time and energy for my husby.

what are your new years resolutions?

happy almost new year

my christmas stuff is put away (though i will probably be singing christmas songs for another month) and zula keeps saying "christ is lord." it was the last three words in the verse we read every day as part of our advent calendar. so i guess she learned something over the holidays.
i was hanging out with my ladies the other evening and we were discussing how last years new year's resolutions had gone. i am pretty pleased with myself. i think i did pretty well on all of my resolutions. i dont usually make resolutions (last year was my first year) but one of my friends is always asking what our resolutions are. i really enjoyed having tangible goals throughout the year and am excited for this years resolutions though i'm still thinking about what my resolutions should be this year.
here's last years post if you are curious: 2011

i will leave you with a pretty picture :) it has been beautiful over here:

3 days and counting....

here i am; sitting at my parents, the kids are being entertained/held by other people, i have a cup of coffee and the husby next to me. all our gifts are wrapped and under the tree, my house is clean as a whistle and we're snuggling in for a couple days of fun and rest. i hope you are all doing the same. here's a quick peak at my presents. they are filled with mini-cookie-muffins that i passed out to friends. i lined my boxes with parchment paper, tied some vintage twine around them and finished them with vintage gift tags.

how did you wrap your gifts this year?

m

christmas wreath oh christmas wreath!

wreaths are super fun and easy to make. i made this one with a little left over bunting and some tinsel garland. you could make it out of anything really.  

like this:

or this one would be fun:

and you could put something like this in the center:

i just wrapped the garland around an embroidery hoop and tied my bunting in place. super easy and fun! be sure to share if you make one:)

baby, its cold outside

i am officially finished with christmas decorating! for about a week i felt like i was drowning, just a little bit, in craft projects, house projects, baking and christmas decorating! i have a hard time functioning in chaos, though i am much better than i used to be. it is especially hard when you have a little 4 foot "helper" who is constantly on the move! since having kids i have kept my house decorations simple. first of all because it is easier to keep things in their place when there is not too much stuff to be taken out of its place. secondly if there are toys all over the floor but my mantel is simple and clean i feel like my house is clean.  usually i decorate every room for christmas. i didnt do that this year. i kept thinking about having to put it all away :) wah wah....
here is our living room and dining room. i'm pretty pleased with them.

 

 

my colors this year are silver, red and teal. what are your colors?

december is for thankfulness??

i wanted to do one last thankfulness post but wasn't able to find time at the end of november, so here it is for you in december:)

i am thankful for seattle, for all our friends and the time we spent there.

i am thankful for the time i spent in seattle. it was the summer after my 18th birthday and my first time living on my own. aaron and i dated, got married and spent the first 3 years of our marriage in seattle/capitol hill. this place will always have a special place in our hearts.
while there we helped out at church of the undignified. our friends there are gems and the things we learned at that church were life changing. i am so thankful to have had that season in our lives. it really shaped our beliefs and stretched our faith. it was a crazy time; full of fun, scraping buy, exciting things, great worship and healing. i would not be who i am today if it were not for that church and community of friends we had there.

This is Anna Miller and me, (at her birthday party i believe).  this was the year we moved to yakima.

this is victrola coffee, where aaron worked for awhile. almost every apartment we lived in was walking distance to here. we were there alot. especially when he worked there, cuz we got free coffee.

this is at my bestie's wedding, she's the one in the wedding dress ;)

this was our first apartment we shared after we got married. we were in the basement back corner of the building. all our windows had a brick wall about 4 feet out from them, and it was cold! but cheap and perfect for us.

Aaron and i in Saul's apartment, just down the hall from Aaron's first apartment. we were engaged at the time.

Church of the Undignified being undignified