A little Christmas Music recommendation.

I love Silver Bells on this album has me dreaming up a fabulous NYC weekend with my hubby.
Ok I borrowed this disc from the Library and I LOVE it... it is right up there with the beloved Johnny Mathis

There is nothing like Johnny's Sleigh Ride... You Whoo!!!
What are your favorites?

(both images from Amazon)

My Reader question...

I Asked Elaine from Clothed Much how the heck to wear my cute jersey scarf that I have wanted for AGES! She answered me! Check it out here! If you haven't seen her site before it is a fun one! She is Super cute and I love how she makes something out of simple things. Pretty much stuff I would never think to do which I why I read her blog! Thanks Elaine!

I need a new bag....

So sick of having the same old bag which I am sick of seeing other people with too... I need to get to crafting my own one of a kind beauty....here are some options.

Whip up has this old skirt turned Cute bag...

Love this one of a kind...But to find that perfect skirt that is the problem...Love it though

An old favorite from Tiny Happy...

I have actually made this one before but it was a bit to big for me so I ended up giving it to my sister in law.

Or just a simple tote from Skip to my Lou

Pretty Phoebe bag from Artsy Crafty Babe

I Love this one too... Oh so cute.


And this cute Pleated purse from My Spare Time

I love this one since it looks kinda like the skirt bag design, minus the hard to find skirt.

And Martha makes her entrance even, this one is a cutie too...

Well what do you think? Any favorite patterns you love?

12 Weeks Till Christmas!

Don't laugh, it is totally true!

Ok I will confess that I am SO on the ball usually and about half of my Christmas shopping is done by now, and if no I at least Know Exactly what I am going to be getting everyone...
Last year was even worse than normal since Phoebe was due Christmas Eve, I was all done by mid November, and I mean wrapped stored labeled All of it!

This year.....
I haven't even thought about it!

I have NO idea what I am going to get the kids, I haven't made a plan, OK I am lying a little, I made a plan for my in law siblings, I am printing them photos of my in law parents who are going to shortly be going on a mission for our church. And I did buy Allie and Phoebe matching Christmas PJ's back in the spring for about 5 dollars from the Carter's outlet...But that is it!

What is a organizational Freak to do? Well I guess 3 kids has pushed me over the edge, or maybe it was moving, or maybe it was the job? I don't know but whatever it was, I am letting go...I REALLY want to make stuff, but I just know right now I can't do it! So I am ok...BUT I want to share this awesome article I love it. And I am going to try to use it to the best extent I can!

Over at Simple Mom

She give you fabulous idea and resources to get you all ready for Christmas...
I love it Peaceful Christmas, Sounds Fabulous~
here is a snippet of her outline....

12 Weeks to a Peaceful Christmas

• 12: Solidify the Christmas budget
• 11: Organize your mailing addresses for Christmas cards, and explore alternative ideas
• 10: Start (or finish!) gift shopping
• 9: Research ways to donate gifts or time as a family
• 8: Inventory your holiday decor and list the items to look for on sale
• 7: Finalize the holiday calendar and schedule dates and events
• 6: Prepare a a new family tradition, such as a Jesse Tree
• 5: Design, buy, or order your Christmas cards and stamps, and address envelopes
• 4: Decorate for Christmas
• 3: Make meal plans; batch cook and freeze meals for the next few weeks
• 2: Make and freeze cookie dough, and prepare any food gifts
• 1: Clean the home, prepare for guests, or prepare to be a guest

Oh how I love easy instructions like this! Brilliant! Go read it, get prepared, I wish you all a happy Fall and a Peaceful holiday stretch! Especially Christmas!
Now where will we put the Tree in the new house????

Fall yummys for your tummys

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

1 can of pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 cup Veg oil
2/3 cup water
3 cups white sugar
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp ginger
1 bag of chocolate chips (or how many every you like, we happen to be chocoholics at our house)

Preheat oven 350 grease and flour 3 loaf pans
in a large bowl mix together pumpkin, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour baking soda salt cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients in to the pumpkin mix until just blended pour into the prepared pans
Bake for about 50 minutes Loaves are don when knife inserted in the center of loaf is clean.

YUMMY, this recipe was shared with me last year by my friend Rachel, it made me Very happy many a morning, it made my house smell like fall and yum, it made me fail my glucose test, it make my kids eat something yummy and learn and want to help me make bread....Thank you yummy bread! Now you too can have some...get baking. (unless you are lucky and it isn't already fall where you live then save it for a month or so)

My new headboard...

After realizing way to late I forgot to take a Before picture... I had to hunt for a picture from before... this was years ago.. so look past those cute kids and that was Before....
So I was totally inspired by Jodi at Simply This that and the other's end table project, and I went and bought my first can of spray paint.

Step 1 was a coat of Black Primer....Which was Very hard for me to find...3 stores later and Voila:


Step 2, White Satin coat, But a mystery to me I started to get this Blistering popping up... Then came the big problem, it was running and so I stupidly Touched it.... NEVER TOUCH SPRAY PAINT! EVER! So I thought I fixed it then it blistered bad, so I just pulled it off, sanded it, and started over in that spot. It still looks badish, but then I just really distressed that area so it looked like something whacked it or something... and it is OK...So Step 3 was destress, which was less stressful than I had imagined...And here it is in my room....(don't judge me by that wallpaper boarder, it is a rental See below)
From something Free, that I really didn't like, to something I actually am loving...for about $10, I am thrilled! I admit it was kinda scary spay painting it, especially when the blisters popped up, but the small blisters actually look kinda cool now, and I persevered and I am Totally happy! My favorite part?

Have you seen these?

These Madsen bikes are so cute! I would love to peddle the little ones around in this thing...Did you know they give away a bike a week? Me either... But now I will cross my fingers!

Moving... So on hold here again...

(we are renting this beauty)So excited to decorate this porch for fall!
Aren't all the patio space awesome! I love it. bike riding ball bouncing areas! yeah!
Another Fabulous porch for Fall decorating!
so these are some of or new rooms....

One of my favorite parts Love this door and the little Mudroom it leads to! Where I will hang my IKEA coat rack, and hopefully find a cute little bench for my little ones to sit on and take off their shoes.Creepy laundry room which needs a coat of paint and a new light.

Below the Basement play/TV room...Which need a seriously deep cleaning and it is going to get carpet cleaned and a dehumidifier put in.

The living room Below Too bad our TV won't fit in the built in.

My little pantry! YEAH!

My kitchen...and hubby!

Middle size bedroom with the Stupid wallpaper boarder, WHY!!!!!! there is also a gap in it next to the right window Again...WHY!!!!! We could take down the boarder and paint the whole thing which is a Serious temptation!Baby bedroom, those window shades make that room about Blacked out which is AWESOME!I am not a fan of all the Flowery wallpaper and valences but whatever, I am down with the bench seat that has storage and cedar lined drawers...front entry with Huge closets for all our winter coats!
foyer...Not a fan of the big picture but hey what can you do... right?
bath, HUGE, Like one of my friends said Holy Flowery wallpaper batman!
Largest bedroom, smallest closet...Of course!

Good Causes...

Just thought I would share this very cool website that is Doing Something to make the world a better place, it is called Craft Hope They have done 2 "projects" already, one was sending childrens dresses and shorts to a shelter in Mexico, the second was sending dolls to children in Nicaragua, and they are wrapping up a third (hats, booties and blankets for newborns in India) with a fourth in the works... I am excited and plan to try to take part as long as my skills will be able to manage whatever the new project will be...

Also on a similar note, my friend Rachel is still collecting Blankets for Project Maxwell. She will be donating blankets to hospitals for those who have lost their infants. She has collected quite a few already but there is always room for more...You can also contact me for her information.So if you are interested Check it out here....Sugary Frogs

Fun Family Traditions...

Well I thought I would share a family tradition...The kids love making pancakes.. but when we make pancakes, we like to make them in cool shapes. Like...Bunnies...

Flowers...Snowmen....pumpkins...We have also had Mickey Mouse, lady bugs, turtles, worms, caterpillars and many other fun things. It also helps the kids actually want to EAT! Which is a win/win for us!~ Do you have any fun family traditions?

My To do list...

As I have been too busy to get much fun stuff done lately my To Do list has just kept growing!
With my babies 1st birthday in December when I saw these cute cupcakes I thought of her...So check out this cute site One Charming Blog for the tutorial

Then there is this adorable apron, I actually Did make this but messed it up by trying my own addition of a pocket so it turned out too short, and will need to be fixed at a later date....This is from Craft Stylish

I have been wanting to make a Camera strap cover for AGES and after our long vacation all over the place I really wish I had made one... Do you know how many Nikons are out there?? Tons!
Made by Petchy had a good tutorial hopefully I will get around to it!

I also am in LOVE with the coin quilts...Taffy talk had a good tutotial for using up scraps, boy do I have scraps! I think I like the plain white in the middle better, but this is dang cute too...
Below is another tutorial for the same idea but using charm packs which actually I think would be so easy since the cutting in minimal and it is my most hated part! I like the Brightness that the white brings to the "coins" This is from Moda Bake Shop

All pictures from the respective websites...

A come back...

It has been forever, hoping to get back on track soon, we have had graduation, Vacations, lots of driving all around the country, now we are getting ready for a move, Kindergarten, our new crawler.... Life has been crazy...I will see you soon!

Easter bunnies

Happy Easter Weekend!

Happy Easter from "Thumb" silly Bunnies,
They were very easy..
So we made a bunch of these pretty cute huh??
idea was seen on Many a craft website/blog and easy to just copy...

pictures...

Yesterday was the nicest day of the year so far... So we got out and I messed with my Manual settings on my camera... It was fun, and it has been a long time since I did anything with them so I just couldn't remember what I was doing so this is what I got not bad for not remembering! Plus the flower are a lovely sign of spring! We have some friend who live in Rapid City, SD and well after reading her blog about getting 2 Huge snow storms in March and still having tons of snow, even today, I think I am liking buffalo a little bit better, Not loving it mind you but it is ok... we have NO snow, and it was almost 70 yesterday! I officially stop whining about the weather till next winter...

See this one not so good...

This one much better...

Here are the 1 Million cookies I made last week! YUMMY
but not so good for my diet!

Love this!

I found the Etsy shop Cinnamon Sticks through the Nifty Thrifty Homemaker, and I am in love! The artist does such a wonderful job, they look so lovely and I am totally in love with the Smaller eternity ring necklace...It is simple classic and just flat out Lovely! I want it!

And the prices are nice, I have seen much less for much more. Beautiful!

Missing...

My cutting ruler has been missing for Ages... I have fabric sitting waiting to be cut, and it has been sitting for months! I have plans for a baby quilt and a coin quilt, and that dumb thing was no place I thought of to look ... So my hubby told me today to clean out under the bed to get ready for out move...And you will never guess what was hiding under that bed.... among other things my cutting ruler! yeah old friend, I missed you and by the way What were you doing under my bed?

Photo from Michelle Sews
So as I said we are moving, we think we found a place it is close to were we live now but double the size, which is Lovely! So thing may continue to be slow here for a while... but I will keep you updated! May Spring be springing were you are.... I wish it would hurry up and arrive here!

Going winter crazy...

Well I sure have had enough of winter, my kids are going Nuts being inside, and I am not getting much of anything done! I have been wanting to get a crayon roll or 3 made but that hasn't even gone farther than looking in my fabric bin and seeing I had enough left over John Deere material to make my son one.
We all had colds and that was just lousy, really whipped us good...and really all I want is to see this long lost friend again....

And see the beautiful flowers again....But Alas... this is about as good as it gets!

Target = Winter time play place

Well when it is -6 outside, and there is a Global warming conference in town...what can a family of 5 do? Go to Target of course!

But you know things never turn out like you plan... My crazy kids chased balls, ran around like they had been kept in a cupboard under the stairs their whole lives, spilled drinks, begged for toys, ran away, hid, and almost got hit by a car ...It was eventful...But at least they slept well. And Momma got some new shoes for $5! They are pretty cute. They had them in Yellow which I love love loved but of course they didn't have in my size! Boo hoo!

Mission get organized...HELP

Not so shining sink, I made the picture small on purpose! I would hate to scare anyone!

OK so Three kids have beat us up...I was pretty well on my way to getting organized and before baby #3, I was pretty good 85% of the time... But now life is just one tired messy day after another...I am keeping my house clean for 5 of the 7 days of the week, dinner happens 4 of the 7 days, and I get rest 2 of the 7 days. Laundry is taking 5 of the 7 days instead of the normal 1 of the 7...things are getting backed up way too easy and I am passing out the second baby falls asleep, my hubby is wanting to crash about 8pm every night too. And the big kids are wanting to stay up till 10 at least...So you see the problem is we need to fix this problem!
Back in the Old days I had a friend who was a Fly Lady freak, (not that her house was EVER clean but I guess at least she was trying!) Anyway, I learned a few tricks like shine your sink, which have stuck with me and I love having my sink clean now...Weird I know! I joined their yahoo group today, and am hoping it will give me some more tips. I did already gleaned a great idea, I have never had luck menu planning, but she says for a month write down everything you eat then you know what you make and can go from there to make you plan, I thought that was a great idea!~ So I am going to try that out.
I need to find some way to get time for myself and create, but it just isn't happening, I don't have time with Hubby, and that I need too, he does too... when I forget to say HI how are you? and just look at him as he walks in and continue to do whatever it was I was already doing that isn't good!

But I guess my point is that I am calling out for help. How do you keep organized and what are your tips and tricks? I am open to any idea besides giving in and letting the kids run the place, since that hasn't seemed to work! :O)

I love this sign!

Super cute Etsy shop called Red letter Words They have some adorable stuff but this one is my favorite...It is from a scripture my husband read to me at our wedding... I love my man!