All Because Two People Fell in Love

2011-12-14T12:00:00.000-06:00

Oh Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest. I had read all about this place through the blog world, everyone was talking about it, but I resisted not really understanding what all the hype was about. But then a few of my IRL friends started talking about it and I just had to know more. Well a few weeks ago I broke down and created an account, and that my friends was the beginning of the end! One blogger I read wrote it best "This place is like crack to the creative type" or those who just aspire to be creative like me ;) I have said it many times I am not creative but I am great at stealing other people's ideas! Well friends if that is you Pinterest is the place for you.

BUT good things can come from Pinterest. I figured if I am gonna spend countless hours scrolling though other people's boards I better have something to show for it. You would be amazed at what you can learn. Like for instance I learned that I can wash my shower curtain liner in the washer with some bleach and vinegar. Supposedly the vinegar cuts the soap scum and the bleach will get rid of the mildew stains.

click the picture it will take you to my cleaning/organizing board where you can click it to take you to the website that gives the instructions on washing your liner.

So I tried it, I threw it in the washer & they suggest you wash it with towels to help scrub away the gunk. Well I don't really have any towels that I bleach so I threw in some socks, undershirts and wash rags with it and OMG it really works, it came out amazingly clean!

But this wasn't my first project. I also got inspired to get some organization going on in my kitchen pantry and spice cabinet. Our pantry was just chaos and a bit embarrassing, it isn't tiny but it isn't huge by any means either so organization was gonna have to be the key to make the most of it. My spice cabinet was probably like most people's-tons of canisters of spices, miscellaneous cooking items and lots of disorder. Insert my Pinterest cleaning/organizing board I started looking for ideas & found tons of them & I was off to the Dollar Tree and Target to get bins and drawers and anything that looked like it would help me get things in order.

First I attacked the spice cabinet
Before:

It wasn't terrible but I usually pulled about 10 spices out before finding the right one

After:

I bought 2 bins at Dollar Tree and arranged all my spices into them, I used some Rubbermaid bowls I had on hand to get rid of the many boxes of random items in there and sorted all the baking items into another tub I also already had & then I printed out some labels using my label maker. All in all this transformation cost me $2!

Then I was onto the pantry.

The before:

I told you it was bad.

I started by pulling everything out trashing old stuff and sorting things to try to figure out a better system. The kids are always in there wanting something to eat and they never knew where anything was. Also Wyatt has really stepped up this year and gets himself up in the morning for school and gets his own breakfast while I am ~~sleeping a few more minutes~~ getting Abby up and ready, so I needed to make it easier on him to find what he wants.

Insert drawers, I went to Target and bought two of those 3 drawer bins. I decided what would go in each drawer and labeled each. Bars/Snacks, Crackers, Breakfast, Brownie/Cake mixes, Cookie mixes & decorating, Paper plates/napkins/plastic utensils. Now the kids can open a drawer to grab a snack or Wyatt can grab some cereal off the bottom shelf or something out of the drawer.


I plan on making the drawers a little prettier with an idea I found of course on Pinterest :)

The I organized the bottom shelf to hold cereals, my slow cooker, my super cute new cooler and a few other misc. items.

I also plan on getting some shelf liner paper to brighten up the ugly shelves

I bought a bunch of containers at Target and Dollar Tree to organize the massive amounts of chips, crackers, pasta etc.

Here are the final results


Much better right? Now I don't feel like stabbing myself in the eyes when I open my pantry.

I have also learned tons of hair tricks for Abby, since she started school this year I have been forced to do better than just brush and pull it back every day. Insert my hair board I have found some awesome ideas like the day I made her hair look like an "I". Just because it happened to also be her letter of the week and be share day doesn't necessarily mean I was trying to look like "that" mom.


ok ok I totally wanted to be that mom, and I didn't mind when I went to school that day and got more than one comment about how cute her hair was ;)

Just yesterday I learned how to make her hair curly with only a headband and had to try it last night! Click here to find out how

some of the best curls she ever had and it took me about 5min. last night

So if I have convinced you of the awesomeness of Pinterest and you don't have an account I will send you an invite just leave me your email address.

Look who's back!

2011-12-01T09:38:00.001-06:00

Last night our favorite "little" visitor arrived! Abby has been so excited for him to come she has been asking for weeks when he would be here. Wyatt is still excited he came and for now the tradition lives on with him also! Besides he knows the drill you don't believe you don't receive!!

Check him out on his first morning with us. Atleast he felt a little at home since it was a chilly 20something outside this morning.

Here's a closer view if you weren't sure who I was talking about.

Well it's Jingles of course!!!!

I have on good authority that is is gonna be extra watchful this year (certain people haven't been on their best behavior here lately). They know he even knows what they do at school all day, luckily this is the least of my worries considering they are both complete angels at school and wouldn't dare get in trouble there!! Also I think Jingles has made a bunch of new friends since he was here last year and is gonna be a bit more exciting this year. Seems as though Jingles has been a boring fuddy dud just hanging out on the mantel and Christmas tree when he could have been:

Tp'ing the Christmas tree


Making "snow" angels


Or sneaking cookies-I am doing this soon I just put out our xmas cookie jar!

Maybe your elf will decide to spice things up this year also. Check out Pinterest there are TONS of ideas on there. What you don't know about Pinterest? oh your poor thing, email me & I will send you an invite but be warned you will get addicted.

Getting a head start on Christmas

2011-11-15T14:14:00.001-06:00

Well now that Halloween has passed you know what that means, Thanksgiving barely gets a mention and we are straight on to Christmas. So that means I better get started now or I will be so behind I will never be ready in time.

My first priority-Christmas Cards! Last year I used Shutterfly and I absolutely loved how my cards turned out.

They have tons of Christmas cards to choose from. You can get folded cards, flat stationary cards or photo cards. I usually can't decide on a favorite picture so I always pick the type that I can add multiple photos to here are a couple of my favorites.

But they don't just to cards they also have tons of gift ideas. Like photo mugs, Stickers (which are a great way to label all those things they take to school with them), & shopping bags just to name a few. You can also make calendars and come on what grandparent doesn't love 12mths of different pictures of their favorite little boys and girls and they also have photo books, which I have done more than once & they always turn out great.

Also right now if you head over to their Special Offers page they have some great deals on tons of items. So head over to their sign up page and you will get 50 free 4*6 prints just for creating an account.

*EDITED to add

I finished up my card today wanna sneak peek? Hurry and order yours, today is the last day to save 40% off holiday cards!

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Pumpkin Patch and Trick or Treating

2011-11-02T22:45:00.000-05:00

Last week Abby got to go on her first ever field trip, she was so excited! For the last 4yrs she has listened to Wyatt talk about school and field trips and now that it is finally her turn to get in on all the action she is loving it. She has really adjusted to school great and is still LOVING Kindergarten. She was also pretty excited to get to ride the bus, it was pretty funny when she asked where the seat belts were as they were about to load up :)

We ended up have a gorgeous day & seeing how just two days later it was raining and 40degrees I say we were extremely lucky!

They got to pick out a pumpkin

This is her "corn angel"

They also had a great Halloween, we went to our friend's house again for their annual Halloween Party.

One of her favorite treats! caramel apple

I have said many times that I lost my battle with Wyatt a few years ago on costume selection. Now he is what ever cheesy Star Wars character or Ninja that he thinks has the coolest accessories at the time of costume choosing. This year it was a Ninja (again), but hey at least it's easy and it makes him happy and that's what counts right? sure

But I can still ~~decide for~~ influence Abby's choice for Halloween attire, I feel like I have her for a couple more years at least :) This year I "helped" her decide to be a 50's girl. Her doll Ella also has an outfit so I thought they would be so cute together. I am glad I was right:)

Monday is also her 50th day of school and they are doing 50's day, she is super excited she gets to wear her costume again. They are gonna have a sock hop and make coke floats! It's no wonder she loves Kindergarten they are always doing some party or super fun activity.

What he does for fun

2011-10-27T22:28:00.001-05:00

Shane is back home after a 4day mancation-yes I just made that word up ;) but there really is no other word for it; it's not a real vacation-sure he is off work and yea he has NO kids to take care of but who the heck gets up at 4am on vacation? NOT this girl! But if that is what he thinks is fun, more power to him. I prefer warm sun on my skin and sand between my toes and sleeping til 8 or 9am.

He prefers this:

Yep that guy will be gracing the wall of his "man cave" by the end of next year. Oh & my hubby who hates all things Facebook has finally made his appearance on there :) you can check him out on Backwoods Outfitters page. The other guy on there is a friend that was on the trip and also shot a deer on the first day.

Arrington Vineyards

2011-10-20T22:26:00.002-05:00

A couple weeks ago Shane's work had a company picnic at Arrington Vineyards.

It's a beautiful winery that Kix Brooks started a few years ago and while we didn't run into the "Brooks" of Brooks and Dunn we did have a great time.

It was such a pretty day there was lots of food and of course wine. The kids ran around and discovered they loved to play corn hole, and believe it or not they even let me take some pics of them! and what's more unbelievable they acted like they liked each other long enough to actually get some good ones!

This was the first time we had ever been, but I would love to go back as soon as the weather is nice and warm again.

My little hair bow model

2011-10-07T11:42:00.002-05:00

So recently one of my good friends has decided to make a little extra money off of her favorite hobby & she has set up a brand new shop over at Etsy.

I am super excited about her new adventure, it is well known that Abby has lovely & long locks of blonde hair that I just happen to love to pin back with a great hair bow, barrette, or headband. She said she was gonna need an extra model in addition to her oh so cute Anna Grace (because lets face it we all know how temperamental those models can be) and Abby graciously accepted the offer :) So I got busy snapping some pics of Abby in the bows that she has already made for her.

Abby was sporting this on one of her first days of school!

I had to make her a shirt to match this one!

Gobble Gobble!!

You know how we love our baseball around here!

So go check out MooMoo's Boutique over on Etsy, she would love to have some new little girls to make bows for! Also be sure to check her store out often as this is a new adventure for her and she is adding things daily.

Fall has finally arrived!

2011-09-27T11:33:00.000-05:00

So after sweating our way through the summer months we are finally being teased by the cooler temps of fall. I for one am ecstatic, it was a miserably HOT summer around here where the kids wouldn't even think of venturing outside during the day unless forced to do so. So with the coolish temps showing up it was my motivation to get the fall decorations out.I started off with my mantel. Remember the hurricane vases I did last year, you can see them here. Well I changed them up just a bit this year by adding just leaves and little pumpkins & squash. I also put out different pictures, a table runner and a pumpkin candle holder. Which I have to add I scored at Kohl's for only $2.50!! (it was on sale and I had a $10 coupon)

Then I was on to the front porch. I hit up Michael's to get a hay bale and some other decoration, I finished it off with a Mum I picked up at Lowe's on Sunday for only $5. I got a new welcome sign at Joann's the other day for just a couple $$'s. Gotta love sales and coupons :)

So bring on the cool temps, bonfires, smores and more we are ready!

If this puts you in the mood to decorate and you need to do it on a budget there are great coupons out there. Go to Joann's website here and sign up for emails they will send you coupons all the time. Or if you're in a hurry you can text CRAFT to 56266, they will send you a 20% off total purchase right away and other offers occasionally. Michael's always has coupons in the Sunday paper, you can also sign up for an account here and they will send you emails about sales and coupons and you can print coupons from their website. You can also go to Hobby Lobby's website here and print a 40% one regular priced item.

One thing (or eight) that kept us busy this summer

2011-09-13T22:44:00.000-05:00

You've heard me go on and on about our crazy pack of dogs we have and love. Well over the summer we figured 4 dogs just wasn't enough that we should add more to the mix. I agreed because they only would be temporary residence of our house and come on who can resist brand new puppies and puppy breath? Also the last time we had a litter of puppies Wyatt was little bitty.

The black puppy in this picture is the mom of Wyatt's dog, Suzie

When we left for vacation we left a very pregnant Jet and when we returned we had these guys.

You counting? yep that was 8 more dogs around here

I know seriously how cute?

But like all Labradors they didn't stay small for very long. Soon they were escaping their pool and causing all kinds of craziness around here.

Shane's sister took this cute guy

As you can guess the puppies were a big hit with the kids and lots of hours were spent outside in the kennel with them. The little girl I babysit was obsessed with them she talked puppy the moment she walked in the door every morning and her mom said she talked about puppies all weekend long too:) I will say it is sad to see them go, but I also did a little happy dance with every departure, cause dang 8 puppies make a big mess:) We do still have one hanging out with us for the time being, so that makes everyone happy.

Cape 2011

2011-09-07T06:00:00.002-05:00

Well since the kids have been in school now for a little and I have some time during the day I figured I would finally get around to talking about out trip this year to the beach :) As I mentioned before we had another wonderful trip this year to our favorite sandy spot and we also decided that 1 week is just not enough time and have decided to figure out some way that we can squeeze more time out next year. This was our 7th year going and I still get so excited when we role into town, I seriously love this place and hope it never changes.

We took some friends this year and the kids had a blast having some friends there to play with. We also had to go early this year due to baseball and it was the first year in a long time Wyatt hadn't spent his bday at the beach. The boys were suppose to play ball on the day we went so the women decided we would pack up & head down solo before them not wanting to miss one moment of beach time. We wouldn't let Wyatt skip the game since we had committed him to the team and thought it was important that he not skip it just cause he wanted to do something else instead. But I know Shane and David were secretly doing a rain dance to keep it raining that morning and lucky them the games got rained out and they ended up only about 2hrs behind us.

acting goofing one night on the beach

As usual Abby was rocking the different bathing suit every day :) like I have said before it is so much more fun to buy them for her.

We love going to the bay while we are there. There is always awesome things to see and do, and the fact that we can catch our dinner is a plus also :) we got enough scallops to feed both families. We also found loads of Sand dollars, the friends with us had never found them before so we schooled them on it and soon they had tons to take home with them as souvenirs! They loved chasing and catching the little crabs as you can see Abby is not afraid of them:) The twins dad also managed to scoop up a Puffer fish and the kids thought it was great, that is it in the net Abby is holding it up.

We took them to our favorite places to eat down there and Wyatt really enjoyed showing the boys his crab leg cracking skills :) We love seafood and love showing others how good it can be if eaten at the right place.

I also managed to force Shane and the kids into another photo shoot while there :) I actually got some good ones of the kids believe it or not!

Daddy & Daughter Date Night

2011-08-22T06:00:00.001-05:00

Thursday night Abby and Shane got to go spend some good quality time together on a daddy daughter date night at Chick Fil A.

She was so excited to get to go out to dinner just her and daddy and that place really did it up good. They had the tables lined with table clothes, had flowers on the table and each little girl got a flower, they had candles, a violinist and even got to take a ride around the shopping center in a limo! Shane said it was great they served you at the table like a real restaurant and all the little girls were all dressed up having a great time with their daddy's.

I will admit to be just a little jealous :) considering I can't remember the last date night I got and when ever it was it most definitely did not include any of those things listed above!!

And I just had to add this pic because Friday was her first full day of Kindergarten and she was such a big girl and did so great when I dropped her off and didn't miss a beat and went straight to coloring on her morning work. She had lots of stories of fun times when I picked her up, which I almost cried seeing her and running behind big brother to the car it really sank in I think at that moment she is no longer a baby but a school age big girl!

Off to School

2011-08-16T10:17:00.007-05:00

WOW is that an echo I hear in here? :) sorry about that, my bad. We have been super busy all summer with baseball never ending and vacation and all that stuff that makes us crazy. But after today I will have Lots more time on my hands.

So why will I have so much more time on my hands you ask? Well this is why.

because I now officially have 2 school age children! Wyatt started 4th grade last Monday (I am not sure how this is possible and he has gotten this old but apparently it has) so he has been at it for a few days already, but today.

Abby went for her FIRST DAY of SCHOOL! OMG. She was super excited although last night she did seem to get a bit nervous, but this morning she was awake before anyone else and rushed thru eating and then got her self dressed and was off to brush her hair demanding she could do it herself.

Today is just a half day for her and Friday she will go for her first full day. So that means from the hours of 7:30 to 2:30 I will be without my kiddos. I will still have the one little one I watch But she naps and for 2 whole hours everyday I will be alone! OMG what ever will I do with myself? I haven't had just 1 at home since Wyatt started Kindergarten, on any given day over the past few years I have had anywhere from 3 up to 5 kids every day!

She did look SOOO cute in her new outfit, that BTW took forever to pick out :)

I was doing good til we ran into one of Wyatt's old teacher and she starting in with Oh My she has gotten so big. That's when the tears started but I was good and dried them up and said we weren't gonna mention it. But she did great and didn't mind me leaving her which made it easier. Well I am off to go pick her up, I can't wait to hear how her first day of school went!

9!!

2011-07-12T09:20:00.010-05:00

Wow he's NINE.

I could go on and on about how it just seems like yesterday he was itty bitty and brand new.

I could talk about how time has flown by and how my little boy is turning into a big guy before our eyes.

But really I what to talk about us, how we got to take him home with basically zero instructions. How no one even questioned us whether we had a clue as to what we were doing or made us promise not to break him. But we have done it, 9 years and we haven't messed him up! We have not broken him, lost him, or forgotten him. We have loved him, fed him and clothed him for 9 years and no one has congratulated us. I told him he needs to thank US and take us to dinner for helping him remain relatively unharmed over the last 9 years.

Happy Birthday Wyatt and congrats on surviving us! Thankyou for making us parents 9 years ago!

Wordful Wednesday-beach time

2011-07-06T07:41:00.005-05:00

We made it back from the beach the other day and had another wonderful time this year. As usual 1 week is never enough and I have already started plotting on how to squeeze two weeks out next year.

I have perfected posing for a picture in a bathing suit with my kids at the beach, the bigger they get the more they hide ;)

What to see more wordful/wordless posts?