annnnnd, done.

My finished January quilt block :)

And....my new milk frother is my new best friend. Don't ask me what happened to my old one because I still have no idea. It just disappeared. I'll give you three guesses as to how that could have happened ;)
Mmmmmm. the latte is back!

And I've been working on some things for a special little girl. More on that next time.

Off to get ready for play group! It's Play-Doh day :)

Stitchy

I been wanting to improve my embroidery skills. After all, it seems like there are such cute things out there these days that use embroidery. Sooooo, I decided to join this Block of the month club designed by Little Miss Shabby. The truth is, after I finished Natalie's quilt, I sorta missed the half-minded hand work while I lounged around in the evenings. Knitting is fun, but takes more brain cells than needlework and I want to be able keep up with Bones or Psych while I stitch :)
Here's my January block--well, the embroidery part--I haven't finished the block yet, obviously...

So much fun! I can't wait to see what February's block will be!

In other news, we have had our best homeschooling week yet. I actually went to Barnes & Noble on Sunday evening, ordered some tea and wrote out a lesson plan for the week and boy, has it made a difference! I know, imagine that.
On Monday we made nature journals and all three kids loved the new Crayola washable glitter glue I bought for the occasion.

I ran out of coffee beans this morning (don't worry, I got a cup in first). It would happen today, since my new milk frother arrived yesterday. Isn't that just the way it goes??

I think I have a sinus infection, but am trying everything possible to get rid of it myself. I got rid of my last one by making a tea out of raw organic honey, hot water and organic, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. It doesn't taste great, but it's a good solution if you want to avoid the, ahem, "other" kind of infection that inevitably comes with antibiotics :)

And....here's to big hair and lived-in dining rooms :)

What do you eat for lunch??

The other day, I handed the girls a bag of cards that Grandma had given them to cut up. Then I found them a couple shoe boxes when they asked for them. Other than that, I had absolutely nothing to do with this:

It's a fairy house, in case you're wondering.
See the little mailbox on the bottom left of the bigger box? That's my favorite part. And the calendar under the Santa sticker. And the clock above the mantle shelf is awesome.

This morning we thought our water heater was out...but Kelby had just turned the temperature knob down. Whew! Too bad we didn't discover that before I took a lukewarm shower, haha.

My back has been out all week. It's the pits. I don't like to take muscle relaxers, because they make me cranky. And then I sin toward my children :) so I suffered through and thankfully I started feeling better yesterday.

What do you eat for lunch?? I'm only asking because lately I'm bored with my at-home lunch choices. Casey usually takes all the leftovers, so I have to scrounge around for myself every day. Your ideas would be appreciated...today...because tomorrow is grocery shopping day, haha. 

This is adorable:



And that's all for today! Oh, except I almost forgot this:

HAHAHA! From left to right, the lovely Melissa, the very-pregnant-then-but-not-pregnant-now Becky, and me :)
Have a happy, happy Friday!

Bathroom!!

We finally got our hall bathroom all fixed up! This is the first of three bathrooms to get a make-over. I won't keep you waiting :) Here's the before:

The bones were good--although I wish I'd gotten a picture of the really ugly light :)  But, the mirror was already there, as were the shutters and the vintage countertop. Here's what it looks like now:

This may be the smallest room in the house, but I think it took the most work! I removed wallpaper (I don't want to talk about it) and Casey installed bead board. I then painted the walls and bead board, replaced the fabric in the shutters and spray painted the mirror. Oh, and Casey installed the light, which we got on Craigslist (I know, surprise, surprise). It's such a happy room now!

I need to get some new hand towels to match, but that hand towel holder is an old mail slot we found at the Salvage Lady. We were looking for an old door handle or something but found this instead and it's perfect! And, much cheaper than a store-bought one. (Anyone else think some things are just way overpriced?)

Since I finally got around to painting the girls room over the weekend, I couldn't help sharing a sneak peek :)

See that pink cordless drill up there? Yep, that's part of my new pink tool set that Casey got me for Christmas. I LOVE it! Use it all the time--it makes me feel so empowered, haha.

In with the new!

Ahhhh, we got new windows in our house this week! I am SO happy, because after a week of frigid temperatures, I was freezing!! They are so beautiful, totally worth it. Kelby watched the whole process, continually asking the guys what they were doing.

Other than that, I haven't been up to much this week. So, I'll just point you in the direction of some things on the world wide web that I've enjoyed recently :)

1. My sister has been posting a series called Nitty Gritty Homeschool Tips. You can find them here. They have been so encouraging to me this past week, as I have a reluctant learner on my hands ;)
2. Then her husband, my brother-in-law, a pastor, posted some wise words for parents on his blog here.
3. There's a new series on TV called Cape. Casey and I watched the first two episodes on Hulu. Pretty good! We also like No Ordinary Family. Superheroes must be in vogue right now. Whatever, better than vampires, am I right?? 
4. I'm going to be painting the girls' room this weekend (pink, of course). I found this pattern while browsing the McCall's catalog online, bought it when it was on sale at JoAnn and am going to make one. I got some like-new sheets, some curtain panels and a vintage pink table cloth at the thrift store, so hopefully I'll have enough fabric. (It takes a TON!)    

                                                                                                  

     5. My Aunt led me to this fabric line this week. She wants the apples for her kitchen. Cute, right?

While I was looking, I spotted this one. It may turn into the inspiration for my sewing/guest room!

That's all, folks! 

Feelin' Good

I recently realized that I feel blah. Then I realized I felt blah last January too, I even remember blogging something along those lines. SO, this year, instead of wallowing in my unmotivated, antisocial, irritable funk, I did some reading and decided to do something about it. After reading plenty of information in this book (amazing resource, I use it all the time) and this book, I went out and got myself a good multi-vitamin, some Vitamin B1 and a St. John's Wort supplement. I started taking them all last week and started feeling a little better yesterday. Today, I feel a HUGE difference. Suddenly the foggy feeling in my head has lifted, I have more energy and the pressure is gone. I wanted to share that because I think natural supplements like St. John's Wort can make a big difference for people who deal with minor depression or those who want to help themselves out naturally, without pulling out the big guns.

Moving on :)
I was able to go to Archivers to scrapbook on Saturday night. I needed a night off and Casey is so gracious to manage the kids occasionally so I can get out, without ever complaining. We laughed a lot and had a great time. I only did two of these pages that night, but have been doing some pages here at home too. I think after all the Christmas sewing, I needed to switch gears for a bit :)

Looking at all these photos of my kids when they were tiny almost made me want to cry!!! I know they're still little, but MAN, it goes by fast.

Today I switched gears and finally added borders to this quilt top, since I'm working on getting our bedroom finished. I have some throw pillows to make, the bathroom to paint and some big maps to find for the wall, but it's coming along.

And, like much of the country, we had some big snow over the weekend!! The kids are lovin' it--and the hot chocolate they know they get after they're done playing :)

Stay warm, everyone :)

Layla's Birthday!

As promised, I have some pictures of Layla's birthday to share :) She wanted a Minnie Party, so we invited her best buddies over and had a blast.

On a side note, I've been pondering making up some PDF patterns for a few things that I've designed. This birthday banner could be one of them, but I'd like to know how much interest is out there before I go to all that work. Let me know in the comments if you'd be interested in something like that! 

I got this Minnie Mouse game at the Party Store for just a few dollars. It was fun! 

I wanted a picture of all the kids. Kinsley didn't want to be in it, though and this is the best I got, even though Natalie is picking her nose. Oh, well :)

Melissa made the cake. CUTE, right!?

There's the birthday girl! 

I'm in love with this next photo. Baby on the inside, baby on the outside, so cute :)

Natalie made Layla this Cinderella coloring book and wrapped it in a gift bag that she also made out of paper. It was too cute. (I'm the one with the really cheesy smile).

That was the party. But, on her actual birthday (Tuesday), I took some special picture of just Layla. I love this idea and would like to start doing this on all my kids' birthdays. They turned out so cute. 

Here's my happy 4-year-old!!!!

And my favorite...

Aw. Happy Birthday, Sweet, Sweet, Layla Jane!!!!!!

Whew!

Well, I have to say, I'm excited to get back to a routine tomorrow. Casey's off again today and has agreed to watch 6 kids, ages 2 to 5, so that 3 gals can go out to lunch for one of said gals' birthday :) What a guy, right??!! Then, tomorrow, it's back to the school stuff --both mine and the kids'. Which reminds me of one HUGE thing I did not put on my New Years list--I will (Lord willing, of course) graduate with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication this coming August!!!! At the same time, Casey and I will celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary and a few months after that, I'll be turning 30. So, it will be a big year! :)

I finished these hand warmers (sorry for the quick change of subject) and I think they turned out swell.

I'd like to make another pair, but longer on the hand part. Still, I like these a lot and am still proud that I have mastered the knitting beast :)

Also, since I need to keep the Mongolian grandparents happy ;) I can't have a post without a picture of at least one of the kids, right?? Here's my little thumb sucker.

I have plenty of pictures of the little birthday party we had for Layla! I'll share in a couple of days :)