Welcome to our blog!

Thursday, October 27, 2011

what a girl will do for a tutu...

Hey all...
I have not been keeping up with the blog like I thought I would.  Sorry, for any of you who are interested and  actually want me to write on it.  Our whole house has had the HARDEST time getting well this fall.  I think I've pretty much been sick for a whole month.  Right now I'm in the throws of a bronchitis-sinus infection-ear infection....but I am getting better!  ...slooowly.  The rest of the house had a lovely stomach virus...not the "worst" kind of stomach virus you can get (if you get my drift) but one that nobody wants to get for sure....and that's all I'm going to say about that because I'm sure you don't want to hear any more.  Well, anyways, the rest of the house didn't catch my nasty sickness and I didn't catch theirs....weird!  But nonetheless we have all been sick. 

Amidst all of this sickness (well mine anyhow....everybody else is better now.  YES!), I've been trying to get Halloween costumes made and get ready for what is one of the biggest holidays of the year in our family.  First comes Christmas, then Halloween, then Easter...and then I want to say, fourth of july?  poor Thanksgiving gets no love around here...even though it's always been one of my favorites.  I've made both of my girls these amazing tutu dresses.  Isla is going to be a ballerina and Sophie is a ladybug.  I almost finished Isla's last night.  She just needs her straps sewn on...and I am close to finishing Sophie's as well...but I ran out of supplies, so I"ve got to get some more stuff today.  I will post again and show you all their lovely dresses very soon.  The boys are dressing up as very easy buy at the store Frankenstein and Dracula (another YES!). 

So today....I'm feeling sick as a dog.  I was up half the night, and look incredibly haggard.  I rolled out of bed, threw some clothes on Isla...pulled her hair back (which was crunchy with what I'm guessing was her cereal from this morning...lovely), and grabbed Sophie out of bed (no diaper change or anything), and rolled out to take Isla to preschool arriving 10 minutes late.  Pretty picture I'm painting right?  It was one of those days.  So I get there and all of these parents are walking in to the preschool....and all of these kids have on Halloween costumes?  What the!  Hoooooly CRAP!  her preschool Halloween parade was today.  She would have been devastated to be the only one with no costume!  First of all....let me set the record strait, there was no note sent home, nothing!  The teacher said that it was in the newsletter, but that's it.  So it really wasn't my fault....that's my story and I'm sticking to it!  So it's 9:15-ish.  The parade starts at 9:30.  I raced home grabbed her costume and a bunch of safety pins while I left the girls in the car.  We raced back to the school.  I parked in the middle of the drive by the front door!  (I had no shame at this point) I threw her costume on over her clothes (which consisted of a t-shirt and some leopard print pants--she was stylin) I basically pinned it on her and we ran in moments before they started their parade.....and we sat there with all of the other well dressed perfectly coiffed parents with me looking like death and trying to use my hand to cover the baby's bottom so nobody could see her huge diaper.  We made it though.  And I have the picture for her to look back at and say...wow, look at me, I was so cute.  That is what makes it all worth while....because she really won't remember this.  But she will remember that I would always put forth the effort and made it happen.   But one thing I will say :)  She had the cutest, most elaborate costume in the place...minus the leopard pants you could see peeking out from under.   And just because I have been going on and on about this costume...I'll give you a sneek peek.  But keep in mind that it's not all the way done, so stay tuned for a better picture :) 
they are a little blurry



okay this one is a lot blurry

lol....leopard pants!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Back Yard Blues

Hello!  Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  The weather was just incredible!  It's just starting to get cool here and with the turn of seasons brings so much excitement in the air.  I just find it intoxicating.  It gets me all excited for sweaters and hot coa coa and sitting by a fire on a chilly night.  I just LOVE it.  This is the time of year that I really wish we had a backyard that was suitable for all of the lovely outdoor fall festivities that I dream of....
 So this brings me to the topic of my back yard....let me tell you about my back yard!
When we built our home eons ago, I naturally assumed that the back yard would come with the front yard...kind of a package, well once we were all done and closed on our house I saw that they hadn't done anything with our back yard.  It was WOODS.  Well, since we've lived here, we have cleared it, and it's grown back, and then we've cleared it...and it's grown back...(repeat a few more times) and then you have it.  We have no excuse, but when ever we've gotten the money together to sod it and fix it up, something else has come up and the money has had to go to that.  It just seems the one thing we can never get taken care of.  Now granted, since we've moved in, we've increased our brood from 1 to 4 children....and our house itself has been in a constant flux of being broken and then fixed (repeat and then repeat and then repeat...you get my drift)....so you can see why the backyard has been neglected.

It's times like now that I really start to feel the fire under my feet to get working on the back yard.  I'm pretty desperate to have a cozy back yard with an amazing fire to roast marshmallows under a blanket.  We do Halloween at our house every year, and how I would love to fix it up for our family :)  Here are some pictures of what I have planned.  Hopefully, someday I can turn it into a reality.
I just love these lights...I want lights all around my back yard...you will find it a theme.  
 

We must have a tire swing also....my babies NEED a tire swing :)


My dream outdoor fire area


and then this takes the cake, I just love this...fire on one side of the yard and this on the other :)


no back yard is complete without a hammock


a few more things that I am smitten with...


Source: None via Anna on Pinterest

Source: lonnymag.com via Anna on Pinterest

this WILL happen...I'm going to make one of these even if it takes till I'm 80 to finish.


Source: etsy.com via Anna on Pinterest

So there you have it, now let's just see if I can make it happen....not to mention the garden and kid's playground I have planned for out there too, lol.  I'll keep you guys posted.  For now, I may have to just get a 20 dollar metal fire pit from Lowes and go hang out in the underbrush with some sticks and marshmallows, HA!

oh, and all of these images are from Pinterest  you can click the image to see the origin of the picture.  Don't you just LOVE Pinterest!