Easter Lie-in

(That's some terrible picture quality, sorry!)

 

In the past I've woken with the kids at 6am on Easter Sunday and pretended to care and be surprised at what the Easter Bunny brought this year.

 

This Easter morning you know what I did? Slept.

The kids ran into our room to wake us up, super excited that it was Easter morning. I rolled over and half smiled and told The Boy to take a couple pictures. Then started snoring once more. I think they were a bit confused.

(Doctor Who in the background while we dye eggs!)

 

When I did roll out of bed they were happy and excited to show me their mess of candy wrappers and little toys. I was rested and excited to see it.

(Walmart bag Easter basket... another first this year)

 

Do I feel guilty about it? No, if anything I'm proud of it! 

 

As my kids grow their needs change. I am so happy I get a complete full nights sleep every single night. I am thrilled that my kids get up with their alarms and get dressed for school and pour their own bowls of cereal (leaving me time to jump in the shower at a reasonable hour). We share books, we like the same movies (no more Finding Nemo for the 111th time), and heck, me and the boy even wear the same shoe size now (ha ha, though I won't let him borrow my pumps!) 

 

11 years later I think I've earned a lie-in Easter Sunday. I'm proud of it!

 

 

 

P.S. Christmas morning is a different story. The whole family's up at 5am, loving every minute of it!

Sneak Peak

 

It was a good day today. The UPS man brought me a box of goodies from Shannon Fabrics and I finally started quilting my pin wheels quilt.

 

A box of minky so incredibly soft I wanted to climb inside for an afternoon nap.

I can't wait to get started on some projects, so many fun ideas bouncing around my brain right now!

 

 

Sleepover Party Printables!

 

So little P turned 9 this month... I know right!? 9 years old!

 

For her birthday she wanted a sleepover with all her friends... and she specifically asked that her brother and sister NOT be there. I figured it's good for her to have some time without them occasionally.

 

In searching for a theme we came up with "Night Owls"

It worked perfectly because I knew there wouldn't be a whole lot of sleeping going on at this party.

 

 

This party was such a blast to put together because I remember being this age so well and how fun it was. Right on the edge of growing up but still young enough for silliness and dolls and best friends. 9 is a great age for a girl!

 

 

Our big craft project for the night were these scrappy slippers.

 

 

Fabric scraps came in very handy for this project. I threw in some super soft pink minky and fleece to make them extra cozy. I found the flip flops at the dollar section at my local Target.

 

 

Ok so I'm not a baker-ella. It was made with love though! I'm actually a big fan of these sugar sheets from Wilton that help people like me who otherwise have very little skill in the kitchen.

 

 

Her big gift of the night from Mom and Dad, LEGO Friends. I'm such a sucker for anything LEGO! My kids have more than I care to admit. I just got news that they will finally be adding a LEGO store to our local mall. Oh, my poor pocket book!

 

I had plans to take tons of great pictures of this party for the blog but getting six little 8 and 9 year old girls to hold still long enough is completely impossible! Besides, we were just having too much FUN!

 

I do want to share a few printables with you though. I loved the Night Owl theme, it worked so perfectly.

 

Here's the invite I created. You can save it and add your own text in a photo editing program (time, place, all that good stuff)

 

 

Just some little owls to decorate the table...

 

 

 

We made these fun door hangers too and I didn't get a picture. They turned out cute though! I had the girls cut them out and glue them to THESE door hangers. Then we added some sticker flowers and other decoration.

 

We cut these little owls out and glued them to the girls goodie bags to take home. You could also use them as cupcake toppers or decorations at the party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun night. I didn't sleep much. Neither did the girls. I was worth it though. I think P will remember this party and how fun it is to be a 9 year old girl for a very long time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Family

 

Wow! Too long since my last post! Sorry...

 

 

To be completely honest, it's the winter weather. I start singing the blues this time of year.

It's hard to find the motivation to do anything.

 

 

I guess I really don't belong in the Mountain West. For right now I'm stuck here though.

At least I have these little beauties to keep me company...

 

 

I'm feeling better. The sun is starting shine again. Spring has begun.

 

 

Spring here in Utah does mean occasional drops in temperature and sudden snow storms like we've had the past week.

 

 

But the worst is behind me. I'm ready to cheer up and get back to living.

 

 

 

All I can say is thank goodness for this wonderful family I belong to that keeps me on my feet and keeps me feeling loved!

Thanks to Camera Shy for these incredible family pictures!

 

Check up on me at Twitter and Pinterest. I'm there far more often than I am at the blog. (Apologies ahead of time for all theSherlock/Doctor Who love. These two shows got me through a particularly difficult winter. Anyone else reading a big fan?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To Cheer Me Up

 

I need light, warmth... green stuff. January is so dark and cold, and a bit depressing after Christmas. This week we've had the worst air quality in the nation here in Salt Lake City, Utah. Every January we get a low pressure system, called inversion, that settles in the Salt Lake Valley and doesn't budge. It finally clears up some time in February, but until then there's really no going outside. It's too cold and too hard to breath. "cough, cough"

 

(Picture of Salt Lake City, Utah and the crummy air I'm breathing every day.)

 

 

Time to bring some cheer and warmth inside!

 

Target sells these great drum shades that are just begging to be covered. I've had a plain white lamp with a plain white shade sitting on my entry table that has been

calling out to me.

 

My lamp shade is nine inches tall. I purchased a half yard of the brightest, spring time fabric I could find at my local fabric store. This is from the line Simply Color by V and Co. 

  

 

Covering a lampshade is super easy, there are lots of tutorials out there, so I'll just give you an overview how it's done.

 

 

 

 

I basically just rolled the fabric on to the shade, smoothing and gluing as I went along. Easy.

 

 

At the end I folded my fabric over, overlapped it a bit, and glued it down into place.

 

 

Once my fabric was in place I carefully trimmed all the way around the lampshade and folded it over to the inside...

 

 

I was a little worried about making it look perfect on the inside, but it doesn't and no one has noticed. In fact, I've gotten TONS of compliments on it.

 

 

I used Aleene's Tacky Glue. It worked perfectly.

 

 

My little project brightened up my home and cheered me up quite a bit on an otherwise dark and dreary day.

 

 

Stay warm everyone! Spring is on its way.

Scouts

 

Have I mentioned before that we are a scouting family? I don't think I have. Which is strange since all 5 of us our involved in scouting. My husband is the leader for the 11 year old Boy Scouts in our area and my son started Cub Scouts at age 8 and now goes with his dad and all the other 11 year old's every week. Next weekend they are supposed to go a winter camp and spend the night in a cabin (thank goodness it's not a snowcave!) in these freezing temperatures. And I am the assistant Girl Scout leader for 2 troops, little C's Daisy troop and P's Brownie troop.

Today is the official day to start selling Girl Scout cookies. I was a little late on the draw and with 2 large troops in our area most of our neighborhood has been thoroughly combed already. I'm hoping to get a good response from coworkers and family. With 2 girls selling I'm already on the hook for 40$ worth of cookies, haha! I guess we'll be eating Girl Scout cookies for awhile. Actually, never mind that, they're so good I don't think they'll last long in this house!

If any locals would like to place an order, let me know! We'll be selling for the next 2 weeks and delivering cookies the last week in February. Yay Scouts!

A New Year

 

I made it through Christmas. I even had a little fun. Ok...we had a lot of fun this year, but I am glad to get back to our regularly scheduled program. That first day sending the kids back to school and cleaning up the mess felt SO GOOD. 

 

Christmas Eve I started to feel a little extra tired. By Christmas day I was sure I was coming down with something. The next 3 days were horrible. I spent most of my time doing this...

 

 

(Watching Doctor Who, my newest obsession.

 David Tennant is adorable!)

 

I had the flu. The real "couldn't breath, achy body, I think I'm dying" flu. I haven't experienced that in a while. It was shocking to say the least.

 

By the 3rd day after Christmas I felt well enough to don some jeans and head out for my birthday. The kids spent the night at grandma's and we had all sorts of grand plans. None of which happened because of how bad I felt. We got some Chinese and went to a local store to buy my gift...

 

 

Our family. I love it!

 

By New Year's I was feeling better, if maybe just a little extra tired. We stayed home and had a party with the kids.

 

 

The next day we headed to the ice skating rink. Only one out of the five of us can really skate, though The Boy tries really hard. My husband ended up taking turns towing us around the rink a few times before we left.

 

 

 She wouldn't let go of the wall.

 

 

We topped it off with a trip to the ice cream shop.

 

 

She's a little excited... I think there's more candy in that cup than ice cream.

 

 

Now it's 2013 and time for some New Year's resolutions, right? Well, here's what I'm going to do (or keep doing) this year...

 

I started a new quilt

 

 

I discovered at the mall that I fit into these size 4s! (haven't done that since high school)

They're even a bit baggy, but buying the 2s scared me.

 

 

And I'm going to keep this up.  

 

 

I still have a little way to go.