Revisiting My Early Twenties

This past weekend, Matt was away and so my wonderful in-laws took the kids for a couple days. 

On Friday afternoon when Ella got up from her nap, she came out of her room with her eyes still puffy with sleep, hair sticking in every direction and said 'Mommy, I'm going to sit in my yellow chair and wait for Nana and Papa'. 

So that's what she did. She pulled her yellow chair up in front of the door and with only a few short breaks to pack her sleep-over princess backpack, she sat from 3:30 to 5:30, waiting for her weekend adventure to begin. That's the way it goes around here. One night at the grandparents' is always a treat. But two? Two nights? There was no way she was missing that.

I had to take photos.

So Ella got to leave on Friday night and it was just me and Hannah.

I think she was excited to have mommy to herself.

There was a lot of this going on:





























The next morning I dropped Hannah off with her grandparents and sister, and suddenly had the strangest feeling.

I was driving away with no kids in the backseat and not even a husband around to touch base with. Nobody needed to know where I was or how long I'd be. I felt twenty years old again.

I could do whatever I wanted.

I decided to head towards the 'big town' about 45 mins away and go to stores that I'd never take my kids to.

I went to antique shops. I tried on clothes...more than once and without sweating. I went to Merle Norman and had my makeup done. I even wandered around Wal-mart for absolutely no reason, except that I could.

It was glorious.

Man I wish I had appreciated my freedom more when I was twenty! I would have learned more, explored more, and slept more.

That night I slept ten hours. Ten hours, people!!! That is like a decade to a mommy. I felt drunk on rest the next day.

Of course, by midday I was sick of reliving 20 and I wanted my husband and kids back. I missed my husband making me laugh, I missed the cute stories Ella tells and I missed hearing Hannah's little voice say 'Hi'.

What a wonderfully rejuvenating weekend. I'll tuck it away in my memory and pull it out whenever I'm feeling exhausted. I'll remember the peace and relaxation. The quiet.

But most of all, I'll remember how good it felt to come home to this:

A Place To Read

When I was young I loved to read. I had a special chair that I'd turn into a corner so that I could have privacy and still look out the living room window. It was my favorite spot.

This is the reason I love window seats.

Looking at scenery, reading, daydreaming.

Your own private little nook.

Obsession...uh, I mean 'Inspiration'

So a few months ago, I came across this photo on a blog:

And then this one:

And then before I knew it, it was 4:00am, I had backtracked through the entire blog and  was completely smitten.

These photos belong to Meg at Whatever.

She is a photographer, artist and a mom to FIVE kids! Plus she lives in the most beautiful house ever.

Whenever I'm feeling uncreative, I go to her blog for some inspiration. Looking at her kitchen alone makes me want to go out and try something new. She just has that ability to give regular life a fresh perspective, through her photos, her wit and her authenticity.

Try it. Go check out her blog. You'll leave with a smile on your face, I guarantee it.

Birthday Fun

Hannah is officially one year old. Is anyone else blown away when their second child hits milestones? It goes so much faster than the first child!

It feels like I was just in that hospital, waiting and waiting to go into the operating room and find out what we were having.

I remember hearing the complete elation in Matt's voice when he announced that it was another girl.

It feels like it was only yesterday that that tiny little baby was tucked into my chest and I felt such honor and awe that God had entrusted us with raising two daughters.

Now a year later, she is almost walking, eating by herself and even learning new words. This week she figured out how to say 'Ella', 'owie', and 'yes'.

It goes so fast!



Our baby girl is celebrating her post-birthday week by getting her 1 yr immunizations today.

To distract myself from that sick feeling I get when I have to take my kids for shots, I thought I'd update you on Hannah's party.


We had such a great time with family! Matt's sister and family even spontaneously decided to come from the coast. That was a great surprise!



I made a color coordinating banner out of cardstock and red ribbon. It took less than an hour. I don't want to throw it out.
My awesome sister in law helped me decorate the cupcakes. There was something about having 24 ladybug cupcakes crawling around on the table that totally grossed me out, so I had her make half of them green (as in grass) and then I sliced up orange mini marshmallows and made little flowers to put on top. The ladybugs are covered in red icing and then dipped in red sprinkles. I had to go get the girls dressed, so Matt took over. The ladybugs that are mine are the ones whose faces look like they hit a windshield and Matt's are the perfect replica. He acted pretty nonchalant, but secretly I think he was proud of this hidden talent.

Presenting our little ladybug! The headband stayed on for about 5 seconds before it shot off the back of her head. She gets that from me.

Our attempt at taking a photo of both girls wasn't going well, until Ella realized that the ribbon on Hannah's tutu made a great harness
I don't have photos of the candle being blown out because our camera was videoing that moment. Hmmm, I'll have to ask the other guests. As soon as the cupcake was set down in front of her, she took a swan dive right into the middle of it it. No daintily licking the icing, no way. She devoured it faster than I've ever seen.


I saw her reaching up for her hair from across the room and yelled 'Hannah, stop!'

So she did. And then grinned evilly and proceeded to mash every finger into every hair.


I found these foam glasses at the dollar store for the party guests. Aren't they fantastic?! They even have uv protection, in case you want to be seen in public wearing them.


Gift opening, which wasn't nearly as interesting as the boxes.

This is Matt's grandad. He is the sweetest, gentlest old man I've ever met. My girls love him very much, so Hannah decided to end her birthday with a Grandad cuddle.


Happy Birthday Shnookums!

I read somewhere that your ceiling should be treated like your 5th wall.

Think about it, it is the largest blank space we have in our homes. No furniture leans against it, it's not interrupted by windows and doors. It is a blank canvas waiting to have something inspiring thrown at it.

One of my favorite things to see on a ceiling is tongue and groove paneling and big timber beams. I find it both rustic and elegant.

Ladybug Invitations

Hannah's birthday is this Saturday and I just got the invites sent out to family two days ago. Thankfully, everyone is able to make it so far.

I found a really cute, easy to make, ladybug invite idea online and thought I'd share (this is my first effort. The wording became much more centered after this attempt)



What you'll need:
-Red and black cardstock (I bought it in really big sheets from Wal-mart, in their office supplies section)
-scissors
-small scrapbooking brads
-gel pen

First I cut out two different sized circles. One for the body and one for the head. I used a soup bowl and a mug. I cut 1 black and 1 red soup bowl size, and 1 cup size.

Cut the red one in half

Next I layered the three circles so that the larger ones lined up and the smaller one peaked out the top.

Hold in place while inserting the brads into each side. I found it easier to make a hole first with a pin, so that the brads didn't bend while trying to stuff them through three layers of cardstock.

Next I cut small black dots, using a tea light for size.

Then wrote the birthday announcement in the center. Ok, seriously, the fact that this one isn't centered is really bugging me right now.

Flip the wings up and write all necessary info inside.

And there it is! Party photos to come next week :)

Birthday Tutu Tutorial

Hannah's 1st birthday is in less than 2 weeks (where does that time go?!?) and we've decided to make it a ladybug theme.

Remember my rant about needing to do Christmas big? I feel the same way about the girls' birthday parties. Matt and I celebrate our own birthdays in a very low key fashion. We have two kids. So twice a year we go all out for the kids birthday parties.

We don't spend a lot of money and we don't invite the whole community, but we do put up lots of decorations and have a theme.

Being that it's Hannah's first birthday, it will just be a small family party with one cute ladybug as the star of the show.

Of course, you can't make an adorable ladybug tutu for the one year old, without making a beautiful butterfly tutu for the almost three year old. Jealousy, and all that. Oh right, and also a matching one for her bear.

Here's some instructions so you can see how easy it is!


To start, I took a wide ribbon and tied two knots 20 inches apart (or whatever waist size you'll be using), leaving about 20 inches of extra ribbon on the ends of each knot.


I lay the tulle down, and rolled it. You'll want to roll it so that if it was folded in half, that's the length you'd want the tutu.


Once rolled, be sure to cut off the ends, so that your roll is even. Next cut the tulle to about 4 inches (it doesn't have to be exact). You'll end up with a bunch of short 4 inch rolls.


This next photo is slightly misleading because it's the much shorter tutu for Melmo the bear. Your length definitely shouldn't be that short, or your tutu wearer will be wearing a very fancy belt, instead of a tutu.

Next I took each short roll, unrolled it, folded it in half and tied it around the ribbon




Repeat these steps until you get to the second knot. You can use that extra 20 inch length of ribbon on either end to create a bow on the back when you tie it on.

I made Hannah's a solid red colour, but Ella and Melmo's were made using three different colours.



And there's your tutu! I had a very disagreeable model at first-I think she was mad that I ruined the outfit she had chosen for the day by adding the tutu


Of course, once I told her to jump and twirl, it was a hit


Hopefully she'll be just as happy when she has to watch her baby sister open all her gifts...