Here and There.

We've decided to gut our master bathroom.

We were going to do this some time ago but decided against it, but recently one of the floor tiles chipped really bad, plus there are a ton of other cracked tiles, so now is the time.

Luckily we have 2 bathrooms. I don't even know what people do when they have 1 bathroom and need to remodel it. I can't imagine.

So today I went tile shopping. While I was there I suddenly felt very grown up. In my head I was thinking, "This is what grown ups do. They remodel their houses and pick out tile and toilets and light fixtures. When did I grow up?"

Really? The bigger question should be, "Why am I thinking this now as I'm picking out tile?"

I mean, I've gotten married, bought a house, had two kids....very grown up stuff.

But tile! Tile makes me think I'm finally growing up?

What the heck!

Speaking of growing up, I bought gold glitter nail polish today. My fingers are nice a twinkly. 

I feel festive and ready for the holidays now. Well at least my nails do.

Brett and I are going out tomorrow night. I'm pretty sure it's been over a month since we've gone out on a date. That's just not good. I'm not sure what we're going to do but I'm excited. 

I need to find a birthday gift for a little girl turning 5. 

I don't know what to buy 5 year old girls. Any help would be nice.

My nieces were over playing today and as Radley was leaving Ethan had this conversation with my Mom.

 Ethan: "Thank you for coming over." 

Mom: "Thank you for letting Rad come play." 

Ethan: "I take care of her."

I pray that he continues to say this forever and ever.

Oh how he loves his girls. 

He's a sweet boy, fast asleep on my couch right this minute.

I'm off to do more laundry, it never ends. 

And then Zumba tonight!

What are you doing?

Getting Crafty {Hoop Art}.

I don't consider myself a very crafty person, but when I started seeing all the fabulous hoop art making it's way around the blog I knew I wanted to give it a try.

I don't know how to sew or stitch but I do know how to use a hot glue gun so I went for it.

I pulled inspiration from this post and made these for our bedroom.

I got the wooden game pieces at the local flea market a couple of weeks ago. It just so happens that the A and B also have an E and J, for the boys. I didn't even realize it until I got them home. And the A and B numbers equal 4, the members of our family. 

I love how these little blocks have so much meaning to our family. 

I'm really happy with how they turned out and they are a perfect addition to our bedroom wall. 

I also made this.

 

I may or may not be making some of these for Christmas.

I love how tiny this is and it makes for a perfect handmade personalized gift. 

Like I said, I don't stitch, so it's not perfect but that's what I love about it.

Next up, fabric and yarn wreaths, if I can ever find the time. 

Have you made anything new lately?

A Lovely New Design.

I am so happy and excited to show all of you my new blog design!

Have you checked it out?

I've had several different layouts and designs over the last year or so but this is by far my favorite.

Everything else was ok but when I saw this I knew I had to have it.

Recently, Heather at Life Made Lovely opened up a design shop which includes premade blog designs.

When I clicked on over to her shop, I saw this design and loved it.

I am oh so happy and comfortable with my new little Internet space.

So with the new design there are also a couple of changes I thought you should know about.

I have a button! I feel fancy.

It's right over there on the right. Go grab it!

I've added an about me page. This was no easy task. For whatever reason I couldn't get the page to show. Thankfully Katy, who set up my design, figured out the problem and now it works. Woot!

You can now find me on pinterest and facebook. 

The links are also on the right.

You need to check out Life Made Lovely Designs. Seriously.

There is so much loveliness to choose from.

Oh, the holiday cards! How will I ever choose?

InstaFriday.

It's Friday!

Which means the easiest post ever!

Here's my cell phone pics of the week.

Mouth full of bananas. 

 First ever McDonald's breakfast.

 Movie night in the dark.

Ethan insists we turn off all the lights so it's like the "movie scream" (movie screen aka movie theater).

 A little hoop art.

This was my first time ever stitching anything. 

I'm pretty proud of myself.

 Jacob's new favorite snack, carrots and hummus.

 My kids have decided that tossing and throwing playing cards around the house is more fun than anything else. Why? 

I'm finding them everywhere! 

And yes, if you were to come over to my house in the middle of the day it most definitely would look like this.

A mess.

Have an awesome weekend!

InstaFriday {and Pinterest}.

I was really bad this week with taking photos, including ones on my camera.

So I only have a few to share. 

Our morning walks are getting a bit chilly.

And I suddenly have a 3 year old that doesn't want to have his picture taken.

 

 Ethan likes to wear his football costume as much as possible.

On this particular day he wore it from 11am until bath time. Nap and all.

 It's fun having nieces.

Doesn't he make an adorable flower?

 I got this ring yesterday at a charity boutique I went to.

I don't buy jewelry often, but when I do, I love it.

In other news...I've taken the plunge and joined Pinterest.

Oh how I'm hoping it doesn't suck hours of my life away from me.

I'm afraid it might, especially since my husband is going to be gone for 4 days. 

If you want to follow me click here and then I can find you!

Because I'm still figuring out how it all works.

I'm linking up here...

Halloween 2011.

My boys were seriously so cute this halloween.

Ethan chose his own costume this year.

He needed the one with the muscles.

I didn't find a Robin costume small enough for Jacob so we went with the superhero theme.

And boy do they ever make the cutest superheros.

I don't have too many pictures of just the two of them together.

Ethan was too busy saving the world.

He did stop for one minute to get a picture with Radley and Jacob.

After visiting my parents we headed home and Brett had pizza waiting for us.

Then it was time!

We only trick or treated down our block since that was more than enough candy for us.

I loved being out in the neighborhood seeing all our neighbors and meeting new ones.

I'm afraid the tradition of going door to door won't last forever so we're enjoying it while we can.

We had a blast of a night!

How about you?

p.s. My favorite part of the night was passing out candy with Ethan. He called all the trick-or-treaters "customers" and he took his job so seriously. The kid cracks me up! 

This Morning.

I've had a rough morning. 

Jacob has decided that 5ish or so is a suitable time to wake up everyday.

I've tried to convince him otherwise but he doesn't seem to believe me.

And when he wakes up, he's up. 

No cuddling or holding or laying in my bed. He's ready to eat, play and climb.

Which means no easing into the day. I have to be alert and on the ball.

I wasn't happy about that this morning.

I was instantly in a bad mood. 

It didn't take long for Ethan to wake up, since he could hear his little brother up and running around.

They soon started pulling and rolling around on one another which never ends good.

It wasn't long before I heard crying and screaming coming from them and it wasn't even 7am yet.

Breakfast wasn't going well, the kids were whiny, I needed coffee.

I started getting frustrated with the kids, being too harsh and short.

I complained and whined to my husband.

I went to the bathroom and cried for a minute.

All this just made things worse, obviously.

I dropped Ethan off at preschool, late, and headed to Starbucks. I needed it!

As I sat in the drive-thru I saw that a friend posted this on facebook.

It hit me right in the face.

It's not like this is a new concept, but I needed to read those words.

I'm sitting here crying and complaining, to my loving husband, in my cozy house about my two beautiful kids, while I really should be thanking God for all this and so much more.

Oh, how selfish and ungrateful I felt right then.

Now that doesn't mean I'm going to discount my feelings of exhaustion or being overwhelmed, but I most definitely do not need to take it out on anyone else, especially those I love the most.

 There are far too many days I choose to focus on what I don't have or what is not going my way, when I really should be focusing on all the greatness God has blessed me with.

It's really so simple when I think about it, so why do I make it so hard.

So I'm choosing to change my attitude today. 

Thank You God!

Thank You for all I have!

Thank you for all you have given me!

Thank you!

Have you thanked God today?

1 Thessalonians 5:18

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.