It takes a big mess to make a clean space, right?

So, I'm hooked on Pinterest. Heard of it? I told my mom it was super for people who are indecisive (her) and people with too many ideas to keep up with them (me). It's a virtual bulletin board you can "pin" any idea you can find on the ol' world wide web. Brilliant, no? Although, I've been doing this for years.



See these notebooks? Years worth of printed internet pages and pages from magzines in plastic sleeves organized nicely with a table of contents {So yes, I'm that person.}.

Anyhoo, I've had wreath envy for years, but am too cheap to buy the kind of wreath that appeals to me (in the neighborhood of $100. What can I say? I have filet taste on ground round budget. Thankfully, I can improvise. :) ). I've attempted to make my own in the past but was not happy with the outcome. But, thanks to pinterest, I was able to gather ideas and combine them into one big happy wreath. Isn't she a beaut?



High on my success I decided that my laundry room {otherwise known as purgatory} could use a little face lift. I measured my space, went to Lowes, had the nice little man cut my wood and trim, painted them and then stood back to manage Chris as he put them together and hung them. :) I got all giddy with the organizational possibilities in my wee space so ran for Hobby Lobby to pick up coordinated accessories. Be still my heart (both to my man and all of the lovely baskets waiting to be nicely organized. I can breath in there again!). I picked up that little lamp from Target and slapped some pom pom fringe I had left over from another project on it. Love.



I want to get some vinyl words to put above this shelf. I'm thinking the "treasure today, tomorrow it will be memories" is appropriate as I spend a good bit of time in here, and am not always happy about it. :)



Keeping it real:



In the midst of looking for laundry ideas, I came across a picture of an old school shopping basket, which I just so happened to acquire from my grandparents when they moved, housing cook books. Perfect. I had been wanting to use it somehow, and my window of "use it or lose it" was fast coming to a close. So I dug all of my cookbooks out, got rid of the ones that didn't fit and went to put it on my counter. I love it. (and my kids are loving the cabinet space vacated by the books which is now play dough, stickers, paper and their craft boxes.)



One problem, where would my canisters go? So, I pulled everything out and organized my baking cabinet. {Yes, I have a baking cabinet}. The old baskets from my laundry room (that no longer matched my black and white theme) got re-purposed to hold baking supplies--one for all my chocolate chips, bark, baking chocolate etc and one for powdered sugar, brown sugar, and extra things like that). The canisters are in the baking cabinet all snug as a bug.



Then I sat down to enjoy my loveliness and realized I was exhausted. The end. :)

The mommy mantra

A friend posted a link to this blog on facebook and I finished reading in tears. I absolutely couldn't have written it better myself.

My Promise to my children ~

I am your Parent 1st – your Friend 2nd. I will stalk you, flip out on you, lecture you, drive you insane, be your worst nightmare & hunt you down like a bloodhound when needed because I LOVE YOU! When you understand that, I will know you are a responsible adult. You will NEVER find someone who loves, prays, cares, & worries about you more than I do! If you don’t hate me once in your life – I am not doing my job properly.

Some other gems from a book for mothers of sons:

“His tears will break your heart. So will his smiles.”

“If you make fun of him, he’ll learn to be shy.”

“He’ll continue to whine for as long as it works.”

“From you, he’ll learn the importance of telling the truth. Be a good role model.”

“Play catch with him. He won’t really care if you can’t catch a ball or throw a perfect pass.”

“Remember, your encouragement breeds confidence. It always will.”

“Don’t let his father forget that his son is still a little boy.”

“Don’t tolerate his tantrums. Ever.”

“Teach him how to set the table. This will amaze future girlfriends.”

“He’ll always look for you at his games. Sit where he can see you.” (Made me cry.).

“Remember, perfectly sane moms tend to freak out during soccer tryouts.”

I will absolutely be buying this book. Certainly some nuggets of wisdom

The queen

Last weekend was homecoming at Anna-Kate's school. There was a parade of the homecoming court in convertibles (driven by parents) plus all of the "festivities" as Anna-Kate kept calling them. The lower school walked the track and then formed a tunnel (of sorts) for the football team to run through. At first Anna-Kate didn't want to participate because she heard "run through" and thought Red Rover (haha). Once that was cleared up she was happy to oblige.

With two friends, Marin and Natalie.



Struggling a bit to make a "W" with their fingers.



Cheering for the team as they ran through.



She danced and cheered her little heart out.



SO proud of her paw print tattoo.





As the game was about to begin a student began handing out papers with the courts' info on it--name, activities, which church they attend etc. As we read through the list we came to a senior, Anna Kate. From that moment until halftime my Anna-Kate was cheering for (big) Anna Kate to win (and yes, the girls were no where in sight, the game was going on). She loved every second--the game, the court, dancing to the band, watching the cheerleaders and mimicking their moves...it was so fun to watch her! Finally, halftime came and the girls were presented. Some of my favorite quotes of the night: "What do I have to do to get one of those roses on my shirt?" (Me: that's a boutonniere, you are in the wrong line of work. You would need to be a daddy to get one of those."). Eyes big, "She's {the winner} so beautiful! One day I want to be the queen of my school." And then, wouldn't you know it? Anna Kate won! Yay! My girl went nuts. A friend from church who is a teacher in the highschool asked Anna-Kate if she would like to meet Anna Kate. {My} A-K's eyes got huge and she nodded and said yes ma'am and marched her little self right over, looked up and said, "my name is Anna-Kate too and I wanted you to win!". The "queen" said that she'd never met another Anna Kate and was thrilled to meet her and then asked if Anna-Kate would take a picture with her. Anna-Kate walked right over and gave her a hug and smiled so big--made my night!

He was on a roll...

Ryan's new obsession is Super Why--and I love that as it teaches reading skills. Anyway, he and I were playing a rhyming game in Publix...bell, sell etc. It was his turn, he looked at me, got all excited and yelled out "Oh! HELL!". I had been halfway paying attention, but he suddenly had my full attention. I suppose I didn't either congratulate or come back with my own quickly enough because he said, "Mama, hell, did you hear me? HELL!" There were a few people who stopped to stare. They were probably judging me.

***

Ryan tooted quite loud and I shot him a "say excuse me" look. Instead, he said, "know my what toot says?" "You need to go potty?" I ask. "Nope" he replied, "it says I STINKY!".

***

While playing Candyland, (which, side note it is SO FUN to play games with a kid who is competitive and enjoys games. I always felt like I was making Anna-Kate play with me. :) ) Ryan was on a "sticky spot" (licorice space) and when he drew his next card said, "woo-hoo, green! I'm outta here!".

Love that kid.

Quotes

We've been keeping busy with life, soccer and the amazing weather! We've had a lot of picnics outside, pulled the bounce house out and spent many evening at the soccer fields. :) Ryan is actually really good. In fact, he scored 4 goals at his first game! (my competitive side is thrilled to have a competitive child to watch. It just wasn't that way last year watching Anna-Kate). Anyhoo. I have officially forgotten my camera to both practices and the game. Shame on me!

Anyway, I read a quote that has really resonated with me:
Cherish these moments, tomorrow they will be memories.

So I've been trying to remember that, amidst the tantrums, homework and laundry. I know a day will come that I will long for today. :) So, that's where I've been. I have some catch up posts so stay tuned!