Merry Christmas :)

Summertime Pictures

Just a few pics to show you how everyone has grown :).  Their faces say how life has been lately.  We've had a wonderful summer together!  Hope you all have too!  

Fun Times

Finger Painting

Coloring Easter Eggs with Grandmom in Philly.

Easter Sunday. All as cute as buttons!

Jump rope

Waiting for the train to go to Center City Philadelphia.

Giggles with grandmom and grandpop on the train.

Visiting the Liberty Bell

Crayola Factory

Outside play

Making memories :)

Pinterest

So as you can see to the right I have a new button to follow me on Pinterest. I had heard about Pinterest for a while from friends, but was hesitant to join something else as I feel like I don't have much time for the computer these days. I am already on facebook and that, along with trying to keep up with my blog is about as much time as I have for the computer. I decided to give it a try though because of all the good stuff I had heard about it. I have to say that after being on it for about a day I was SOLD on the site. I have been loving all the new recipes, crafts, ideas for our home and activity ideas for the kids! It is a wealth of information on pretty much anything you can think of. From making wreaths (which has been my new 'thing') to themed birthday parties to endless ideas for home decorating to tons of recipes. You name it and you can find a cute, original idea on there! I have made many new meals from there and must say that almost every one has been a hit. And my dining room table is full of lots of crafts that I have learned to do on there :)! I also have some really fun things up my sleeve for the kids for Easter. It has been fun!!

Below are a couple things that I am working on right now. If you're already on Pinterest and you want any of these ideas, follow me and go to my 'Craft ideas Board' and you can see how to make your own! And if you haven't joined yet, I think you'd love it!

These small fabric flowers were super easy and can be used for tons of stuff! I have them grouped together here, but individually they can be used to clip in a little girls hair, as a pin on a plain shirt or glued to cheap flip flops to make them super cute! Put a few on a wrapped present or pin to a purse. The ideas are endless :). Below I put a few on a fabric wreath that I made.

This is a small version of the Valentines Day wreath that I made for my front door. The funny thing is, when I made that wreath I was not yet on Pinterest. I had no idea that step by step instructions were just a click away on that site. These are cute of course for the front door or hang anywhere in your house. Or, I am using this one as a center piece on our kitchen table with a candle in the middle.

And isn't this wreath fun?! It took me 20 minutes to make and I just love the flowers :)! Again, these flowers can be used for tons of things!

And these tissue paper flowers are so easy to make and sooo pretty! Above are large ones and below are small. Perfect decorations for any elegant event to hang from the ceiling or place around the table.

I had been looking for the longest time for a camo lamp for Jacob's room. He has a camo quilt and other camo accents in his room, but I couldn't find a lamp to tie everything in. Pinterest to the rescue :)! I found an easy way to just re-cover the lamp that we already had with camo fabric. This project put me back about $3!

And I had to put this on here too even though this wasn't a Pinterest thing. My Mother in law knitted all the kids blankets for Christmas (below). They are BEAUTIFUL and each so special and unique for each child! Of course when I saw them I wanted to learn how to make one so my Mother in Law patiently taught me how last time she was here :). I have been working on the above one for about a month now and it's slowly, but surely coming along. I'm sure if you don't have someone to teach you, you can learn how to make one on Pinterest :).

Let me know if you have any questions, and Happy Pinning :)!!

Happy Birthday Jim :)!

Instagram

My husband surprised me with this for Valentines Day

And I am loving all of these that I am taking with it!! It's so much easier to snap these pics all day of my kids with my phone then lugging around my big camera everywhere. And Instagram is just so much fun!!

I so love my family... and my new phone :)!

Cute, cute Caleb

Here's a little video of me and Caleb chatting. Be sure to pause the music so you can hear it. His personality is so sweet. He reminds me so much of how Abbey was at 2. He loves his mommy and I so love him too :)!

Happy (very late) Valentines Day :)!

So I'm a month late posting about Valentines Day, but better late then never, right?! We had such a fun day that I don't want to skip sharing about it.

But first... Life has been busy here. When I say busy, I don't mean busy with a full calendar of activities. I mean busy just keeping up with life. From meals, to laundry, to homework, to baths, to cleaning, to keeping nails trimmed and hair cut (to name a few things). Life with 4 little ones (and nannying a 5th) is busy! People have asked me how I have managed to get my weight down after having 4 babies. Come over someday and you'll see :)! I run up and down the steps countless times a day and usually don't have a chance to sit down till the kids are in bed at night. And I wouldn't change any of it for the world. Life has truly been wonderful. Everyone is healthy and happy and good.

This year Valentines Day was super fun. We have started a new tradition (I saw this idea somewhere on facebook) to do a scavenger hunt for the kids. I will explain what we did through pictures...

Each kid had their own color. I cut out 10 hearts in each color and wrote 10 things that I love about each child (1 per heart).
Once Jacob and Abbey got home from school, I had a snack ready for them on the table with their 1st heart that had something that I love about them on it. Each statement was a clue to find their next heart. For example... Caleb's 1st one said "I love to watch you dance to music" and his next clue was on one of the speakers where we play music and he dances. We had to help Micah and Caleb, but they still had fun!


One of Jacob's clues was "I love seeing your Lego creations" and he went to his Lego bins for his next clue :).
And I love the cute outfits that Abbey comes up with (clue on her dresser).
I love Micah's smile :). Mirror where he can see his smile...

And a little tangent here.... We just re-did this bathroom in our spare time - lol. It was too dark for the space and there was a lot of outdated gold in it. I'll post a couple pics of our updated guest bathroom at the bottom :).


At the end of each scavenger hunt, they each had some treats waiting for them. They were all smiles :).

This was an easy, inexpensive way to make Valentines Day special for the kids. You really could incorporate the scavenger hunt to any holiday. For St. Patrick's Day you could use shamrocks and say "I'm lucky to have you in my life because...." or for Easter you could use cutout bunnies and say "your a funny bunny because....". You get the idea. I love coming up with new traditions and memories that the kids will remember forever. This one was definitely a keeper.

And now for the pictures of our "new bathroom"...

Before

I know the wall color looks different in these two pictures, but you get the idea. I think one was taken with a flash and the other without.

And After :)

My father in law painted it when they were here a few weeks ago (thanks dad!) and Jim did the rest! I think they did a great job :)!

Now, off to take the kids outside to enjoy this beautiful weather! Hope life is well for you all! Thanks for checking in :)

Pray for Piper

I got on the computer this morning, planning on posting something completely different then I am posting about now. What I planned on writing seems totally unimportant. Life seems to stop when I hear about a little girl loosing her battle to cancer. My heart is aching for this family. I can only imagine the pain that they are feeling as they walk through these days ahead of them.

This is Piper. Isn't she precious? Piper has leukemia and just relapsed. My sister-in-law Alicia and her family are friends with Piper's family. Although Abbey's journey was different, one thing that helped so much as we walked through our scariest days was knowing that people from around the country joined us in prayer for our Abbey. Would you pray for a miracle for Piper and pray for her family today as they walk through the impossible right now. And if you feel led, please leave them a comment on their blog so they know that they are surrounded in prayer right now?

Sweet Piper with her family