I am Thankful For...

My beautiful boys...
Silly grins...

Sweet smiles...

And catching moments like this...

To all my family, friends, and fellow bloggers out there...

Have a Happy & Blessed Thanksgiving!

Acorns!

I have a new addiction: Pinterest!
It is definitely a time-zapper, but the site has led me to lots of fun new crafts, decorating tips, recipes...you name it!
I recently found a fun Thanksgiving Treat that I tried out last night:

All you need to make your own little acorns:
Nutter Butter minis - I found them in the dollar section @ Target
Mini chocolate chips
Hershey's kisses
Melt half the bag of chips & use the melted chocolate as your "glue" to stick the kiss & mini chip to the cookie.
Super Simple & Super Cute!

Fall Leaves

This weekend was the perfect time for playing in the leaves.
All 3 of my guys got in on the fun!
Garrett enjoyed kicking the leaves...
...and running through them!
Always the protective big brother...

4 Months

Look who turned 4 months on 11-11-11!

Mission: Organization

Having two boys under the age of 3 has made me come to the realization that in order to maintain my own sanity, I must eliminate as much chaos in my life as possible. One of the main sources of chaos for me is the lack of organization within my home space.
Not long ago I opened up the door to my beloved craft room to find it filled to the brim with STUFF. I literally could not make my way from one side of the room to the other without having to step over piles that have accumulated over the past 3 years. I decided that my first step toward my goal would be to clean this room and turn it into a useable space again. I took a day off work and spent 4 hours rummaging through the contents of the room, getting rid of stuff I didn't need, piling together stuff to donate, and organizing the items I wanted to keep. I documented the process with my camera...but, honestly, I'm too embarrassed to show you the "before" pictures! So, following are the after shots!
What I love is that not every space of every shelf is filled...there's room to grow. There is even an armoire that used to be in Garrett's room, and is now mostly empty! Hard to believe that I was able to eliminate most of the clutter!
There is even space for Garrett's desk! Now he has a place to sit and be creative while I work on my own projects.
This weekend I started on the second step toward my goal, which is to clean and organize all of the closets in our home. I started with the kitchen pantry. I decided to create an information station on the back side of the pantry door. I put up a bulletin board to hold misc. notes, coupons, grocery lists, etc. I also added a wipe-off calendar board that I use to plan out meals for the month (which is also a sanity-saver). In the empty spaces I added some hooks for aprons, bags, and other misc. items to hang.
Sharing my goals with my readers is my way of hopefully inspiring you to take on your own chaos-causers. It's amazing how tackling projects around the house really makes a difference in my attitude. (That craft room has been weighing on me for years! I'm so glad to have my creative space back!)

Next step: Reorganizing my bedroom closet & installing a new hanging system (my current system conveniently crashed to the floor last week in the middle of the night!)

First of November

Reece is so cool he's gotta wear shades!
At the craft show we went to last month I came across this cute, crochet bear hat. The vendor didn't have Reece's size, but I was able to special order one via etsy! Too cute not to get a pic of to share!
Reece has really started to play. He loves toys that crinkle, rattle, and are easy to grasp. Garrett introduced Reece to his first tractor toy!
Do these 2 pictures look familiar?
(November, 2011)

(November, 2009)Reece & Daddy's Boots!
Sweet guys...

Fire Station Visit

Last weekend Garrett & Daddy went on an outing to the local Fire Station. Garrett was given the grand tour of the fire station including the kitchen that smelled like popcorn, the lounge, and the sleeping quarters (where I was told they had blue and green pillows). And then Fire Fighter Doug took Garrett to the garage where he was able to climb on the big, red fire truck! There was also a red "gator", an ambulance, and a yellow fire truck, which Garrett likes to talk about most.
While chasing Garrett around the station, Daddy did get a chance to snap a few pictures of the outing:

Inside the ambulance
Fire Fighter Doug showing Garrett the fire truck.
Here comes Fire Fighter Garrett!
Garrett's checking over every detail of the fire truck.