Forced family fun

Family fun was missing from our house last weekend.

Sure we were all together under one roof, but it felt lonely.  

Laptops, iPads, Harry Potter, and Angry Birds had swooped in and stolen the whole weekend away before I had even noticed it.

So I rallied the troops, loaded them into the car, and forced us all to enjoy cookies, hot cocoa and eggnog lattes together at the coffee shop. 

Just us. 

Harry and and birds had to stay home.

Cuz sometimes that's the only way you can make family fun happen.

white Christmas ornament wreath tutorial

I made something pretty this weekend and I want to show to you...

(I was inspired by a tutorial in this magazine.)


Gorgeous, righ?!  And would you believe easy, too?!
Wanna make one?  I'll tell you how...

What I used:

(I bought everything at Michaels)

~ 12" Styrofoam wreath

~ Wide white ribbon

~ Floral wire and cutter

~ 17 large white glass ornaments (they come in boxes of 8 at Michaels, I originally bought 2 boxes but ended up sending Corey back to the store because I needed 1 more...he loved that.)

~ 10 small white glass ornaments (if I was to do it again would buy 20 of these)

~ A whole boat load of other round white things...pom poms, floral picks that I snipped apart, painted acorns, etc.

~ copious amounts of hot glue

How I did it:

( This was made late at night so the "in progress" photos are less than stellar)

I started by wrapping the Styrofoam wreath with the ribbon, securing it with hot glue.  I don't know if this was really necessary since I was using a white wreath and covering it with white ornaments, but it would be if your ornaments were a different color

Then I made a hook out of floral wire and attached it to the top 

The next step was to start glueing the largest ornaments around the perimeter of the wreath.

*Super good tip* - keep the wreath laying flat on a hard surface as you do this step so that it will later on lay flat against your door or wall*

Once you have the large ornaments glued to the entire perimeter, start filling in the middle with some of the medium sized things.

If I was to do this again I would definitely also add ornaments to the inside of the wreath...I regret not doing that.

Lastly I filled in any little gaps with little things and in some places layered...I think more is more with this project ;)

 And then I hung this pretty little thing above my mantel, on top of my stained glass window (using a 3M hook)...and stood back and admired it...

I just love it.

I'm going to Hook Up With Hepworths so head on over and check out the other great tutorials and ideas!

Thanksgiving 2011

This year I am very, very thankful for the freedom, time, energy and support to do all of the things that make me happyfull. 

Thank you God for this amazing life of mine and all those that I get to share it with.

I am blessed.

No photo today

Life is a little ugly around here right now.
You don't want a visual.

Some sort of stomach virus has struck our house and taken poor little Shore down.  

He's in bad shape.

So much for hosting Thanksgiving at my house this year.

Has this ever happened to you?

My kids seem to always get sick on holidays. 

I'm just waiting for someone else to fall.

You know it's gonna happen.

Hope your Thanksgiving smells a whole lot better than ours.

Winter is here!

And the kids are so excited.  

Soleil was even able to build her first Snow Person of the season.

My goal is to try to embrace winter the way the kids do...

I do have snowpants.

I'm having one of those Mondays...

I'm a little low on energy.  My creativity seems a little dried up, too.

I've only been able to accomplish two things so far...

and

Maybe I need to start drinking caffeine again.

Here's to you, my sweet girl...

I recently took a photo of my daughter.  She was working hard at something and had this seriousness about her. As she concentrated, her little tongue stuck out of her mouth a little.  

I've seen this serious face of hers a million times, she's been making it since she was a very little girl.  There's something comforting about seeing it again.  Kind of a reminder that as much as things change, they really stay the same.

Sweet girl, I love you so darn much.

2nd baby clothes quilt top reveal...

The second quilt top made from baby clothes is complete!  

*Now remember, this is only the top layer of the quilt...there still needs to be the batting layer, the backing layer, and all the beautiful quilting stitches done*

But check out all of these cute squares made from little onsies, sleepers, and itty bitty shirts and pants:

I appliqued the boy's initials on some of the white flannel squares, just like I had done on his brother's.  This way he'll always know which quilt is his.

There are lots of little details that I love...tiny pockets, fuzzy velour, and sweet embellishments...

Imagine each little boy snuggled underneath their quilt...wrapped in their mother's love.

~These make me truly happyfull~

Quick shout out...

I'm super proud of my husband this morning.  His company, Naiku, was featured on the front page of the business section in the Mpls. Star and Tribune newspaper today!

Check out the article here: http://www.startribune.com/blogs/133699428.html

That's my man.  And to think, he can run a company AND look good in butterfly wings.  

Once again...Meow.

Embrace the camera: bubble edition.

We're embracing the camera again this week with The Anderson Crew...and taking it to the bathroom 

(as I promised my eight year old, no private parts will be shown).

My kids still LOVE to take baths together...especially in the big bathtub in my bathroom.  I usually can think of a million excuses to say no to their bubble bath requests, but tonight I said yes...

I'll never get tired of looking at those sweet toes.

My feline fancy

When Corey shaved off his Obi Wan beard on Halloween night, it immediately took at least ten years off of him.  

I've been calling him "Babyface" all week and feeling very Cougar-ish.

-Meow-

I'm dreaming of...

I really want to love Pinterest.  It seems like it makes a lot of people really happy.  

I get that, and I wish that I could join them.  But it's kind of like Sudoku, cake decorating and spinning classes,

I've tasted that Kool-aid but just can't get myself to drink it. 

But I do like looking at things, becoming inspired, and saving them on my mental "to do list".

Here are my latest favorite things...

(for my family room):

Whitewashed hardwood floors from Lumber Liquidators

(For my eat-in kitchen table):

Garden Side Chair in Ivory from Home Decorators Collection

(For my master bedroom):

Claudette Headboard from Ballard Designs

I lay awake at night thinking about how these items would further my vision for a lighter, more Shabby Chic/Whitewashed home.  

Lovely

Peek of the Week...November 4th

I'm hooking up with Happily Homesewn to bring you my "Peek of the Week"...

We're two days into a loooong weekend here and the kids and I have been having a blast.

Today, while I was cutting out forty-four squares of white flannel...

The kids played "wedding"...

I'm not really sure if they were marrying each other, or Bella, or both?

Happy Weekending Everyone!

Here's to you, my sweet girl...

Soleil doesn't turn her schoolwork in on time.  I know this.  I've asked her in every way I can imagine, "why do you think this is a struggle for you and how do you think we could work together to find a way to change this?".  But of course I already know the answer, at least to the first part of the question...she has very little to no short term/working memory and is highly distractable which makes completing things very challenging.  

Completing schoolwork that she finds "not interesting, boring, or confusing"? Well, that's nearly impossible.

Tonight I am meeting with her third grade teacher for her first of two conferences this year.  Soleil has already prepared me that there are four books of schoolwork that the teacher will be showing to parents and her work is only in one.  When I asked her why her work isn't in all of the books, she told me that she ran out of time.

In her four years of public school, I have learned that there is a pattern to these conferences...during the first one (in the fall) her teacher, with a positive upbeat tone, will bring up things that are a "challenge" for Soleil and a few things that Soleil needs to work on.  The teacher will try very hard to balance all of the "challenges" with positives.  The teacher will stress that Soleil is a very bright girl that is well liked by her peers but she talks too often to them at inappropriate times.  The teacher will also describe times and situations when Soleil doesn't participate in activities or does something inappropriate in order to avoid work that she isn't interested in doing. The teacher will report that the lunchroom workers are concerned because Soleil doesn't eat at lunch.  The teacher will ask if there is a way we could all work together to help Soleil manage her personal belongings.  She will then probably show me Soleil's desk which won't close properly because it is a stuffed, disorganized mess.

These are all things that I know.  Things that I expect.  Things that I see every single day at home.  These are the challenges that my daughter (and honestly, my husband) will struggle with forever.  

I spend most of the day before conferences preparing myself for the discussions to come.  Thinking about how I'm going answer questions and how I'll react to issues brought up...because I haven't always done the best job, and I've made plenty of mistakes.  More than once I have made excuses or even apologized to the teacher during conferences.  Once I even lowered myself to rolling my eyes and comisserating about how difficult my daughter can be.  Those are conversations that I wish I could redo.  I became reactionary when I wish I would have been secure and steadfast.  When you have a child that has extra needs...or isn't like everyone else...or has raging ADHD...whatever you want to call it that day...when you have a child like that, it's easy to complain.  It's easy to get swept up in the moment and become catty about all of the headaches.  It's easy to throw your child under the bus.

But that's not the mom that I want to be.  And as my dear friend has always told me, "doing with right thing doesn't always mean doing the easiest thing".  So I'm going to arm myself with all of my daughter's strengths, all of her accomplishments and positive gains, and be the advocate that she needs me to be.  I'm determined to find a way to be empathetic to the teacher while maintaining my stance firmly in my daughter's corner.  Because what really matters most in the big picture?...in this whole life of ours?...one of the things that I have decided  matters to me is that my children know, without a doubt, that I have their backs...that I will always fight for them, even when it would be easier not to.