Lazy Weekends

It's very rare that we have a quiet weekend around here, and even rarer that we feel refreshed on Monday morning! We didn't do much for Valentine's day--just cards and nice notes and a few little things for Em. I gave her a certificate to go buy High School Musical 3 when it is released Tomorrow and she was very excited. For dinner, we celebrated with friends while Emma went to Nana and Papa's. Dave and Felicia made awesome steaks -just as good if not better that we could have gotten at a restaurant! It was a pretty low-key night--exactly what we wanted! Especially for Ry who says V-day was invented by guys who wanted to sell cards. So romantic. Ryan had ball practice Sunday afternoon so Emma and I were lazy and took naps and played Webkinz! It feels good to start the week awake!

My Scraproom

Welcome to my scraproom. I wish I had more time to play in here! I try to keep it super organized so it is easy and inviting to work in. My dad did most of the work in here with a little help from Ry. He installed all the drywall, shelves, cabinets, and countertops. This is still a work in progress-we need to install the trim and the drop ceiling and some other finishing touches. I didn't have a lot of room to work with--the other side of the room is the laundry area so I tried to make the most out of the space. This works out well for me anyway because I like to have everything at my fingertips. I love the height of the counters because they are low enough to be able to use a tall office chair but high enough to stand up and work, which I recently started doing a lot.

These are the supplies I use the most. I wanted to have both open and hidden storage so I could display the things that inspire me and keep the messier or unattractive things out of sight. The tall cabinet has household items and wrapping supplies. The two boxes on top of that cabinet hold all my pictures. I try to keep these very organized so it's easy to just pull out one event and scrap it. The top shelf holds all my ribbon and stamping supplies and the black boxes hold small embellishments. The second shelf holds all my main supplies: paper, letters, rub-ons, paint, flowers. This part of the countertop holds my must-haves. My paper trimmers, cutting mats, etc... are stored on the left by the cabinet. More on the rest later!

This is my main work area. The cabinets hold all my punches, extra adhesives, card making supplies, fabrics, glitter, paint brushes and lots of other odds and ends. The ledge holds all my buttons and more ribbon and some favorite pictures. Kiki's food bowl sits up here so Bruno can't get to it. She usually sits up here while I am working and keeps me company. To the right is a small t.v. and a mini fridge for beverages! My tool caddy holds all the everyday tools like scissors, adhesives, crop-o-dile, and pens. I like my area to be really clean when I scrap so I keep the paper towels handy! My paper and cardstock, sorted by manufacturer.

Buttons and ribbon. Acrylic paint. I haven't even used half of these but I love the display. Having all the bright colors around is definately inspiring!
Journalling spots, alphabets, rub-ons, and paper embelishments. I have a few of these white baskets sprinked around the room. I like that I can see everything in them but the supplies are contained.

Another basket--flowers in this one.
Chipboard and acrylic alphabets. I have them stored in hardware organizers found at Lowes.
The frog prince was one of my favorite stories when I was little so this little guy was an awesome find!

School Daze

Emma has been a busy little bee lately! Especially with all the activities at school. We had a lot of fun at her last field trip to the Children's Discovery Museum a few weeks ago. It was nice to see her interact with all her school buddies. They are a really sweet bunch of kids and very well behaved. I was a driver and having three girls in the backseat wasn't any louder than one-which says alot about Emma's volume!

Yesterday at Chapel, Emma's class did a little program where they dressed up as bees and encouraged everyone to "Bee Cheerful, Bee Positive, Bee Helpful, Bee Prayerful, and Bee Forgiving". It was super cute and Emma even got a little solo part! The other mom's and I joked that the three girls got the solo parts because they are probably the loudest in the class! We are working really hard on being all of these things at home so this was a very timely lesson. We are especially working on being positive and helpful and only saying nice things. It is definitely a work in progress! My faves the Avett Brother's say it best, I don't need those words to say what I mean. Correction, this says it best:

Watch the way you talk. Let nothing foul or dirty come out of your mouth. Say only what helps, each word a gift. Ephesians 4:29

We are going to make Em's Valentine's and decorate a box to take to school tonight. We haven't had a chance to do crafty stuff together lately so I am excited to see what we come up with!
I have been working in my scraproom a little more often these days. Making cards mostly since we have tons of Birthday's coming up.
I have had a few requests to see my scraproom so I will try to get pictures today after I clean it. ;)

About Time

I finally got around to uploading Christmas photos! We had an amazingly blessed Christmas this year. I had two weeks off after Christmas so we had lots of time to lay around and play with our new toys. We also made a few trips to Chicago. We went to the children's museum on Navy Pier--fun for younger kids I'm sure, but a little boring for Em. Good thing we went to build a bear afterwards--the highlight of the trip. Aunt Alli had gotten Emma a gift certificate to go since Bruno ate the bear Alli had made her when she was a baby. Em made a bunny with roller skates named Kit, cause if it's not an American Girl, it may as well have the same name as one!!

It was totally an American Girl Christmas. Mia is having fun getting to know her friends. We have had a few game nights with all of our new games. Em's favorite new game is Operation and the adults have had a lot of fun with Partini and Rigamarole--similar but fun in their own ways. Emma and I have been enjoying our Nintendo ds's but Emma is actually getting better than me at Mario Cart since I have no time to play these days. Was that me that thought things would actually slow down after the holiday's?

It always amazes me how Emma can find wonder in things I tend to take for granted! We had an impromtu pillow fight last night after a game of Clue jr. Daddy started the craziness by being a cheater pants and it escalated from there. It is moments like these that Emma says are the best times ever. I agree.

I'm still here!

Okay, so it's been a while. Give me a break, it was December! I promise to catch up with December pictures/happenings this week. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New Years!

Happy Birthday Baby Brother

Not the best picture ever but it is the most recent one I have of Matt and Em together. They were playing one of the racing games at Chuck E. Cheese and apparently concentrating really hard. We are going out to dinner to celebrate tonight so I need to get some pictures while he is in a good mood! Pizza, ice cream cake, and lots of presents might just do the trick. I can't believe my baby brother is 13--a teenager! We love you, Matthew!

Wicked Cool

In my best Bostonian accent: Wicked was wicked cool. The show was great--though a little slow at first. I don't think the regular theatre goers behind us appreciated Ryan's snoring! I loved the show -- especially the subtle, okay not so subtle, references to The Wizard of Oz. Some of the songs weren't as catchy as others but it was still really well done. We got to go on a backstage tour after the show (thanks to Rachael and her wicked connections!) and it was really interesting. We got to see all the props and some of the costumes. Lots of behind the scenes "magic". The show will be finishing its Chicago run in January so I am so glad we got to see it when we did.

After the show we went to eat at Brazzas, which is a Brazilian steakhouse where they bring the meat out on skewers and you pretty much eat until you sweat. They give you a little disk that you flip over back and forth and it tells the waiters that you either want more or need a break. It was sooo good. Who knew grilled pineapple could be so amazingly delicious? We were all so stuffed that we went back to Rachael's apartment and fell asleep. So much for a night out on the town! Seriously though, I am still full.

Oh and I am sick. Yuck. I have a cold and just feel blah. I am so excited for my Christmas break. I need it. My to do list grows by the minute. I really don't want to use my vacation to clean my house so I am trying to get everything done before then so I can sit back and relax. That is, if I remember how.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Emma had a great time playing with all her cousins and the mom's all loved the 2 minutes they sat still to have a semi-decent picture taken!