New Year, New Ideas

With the new year comes some new ideas for projects around the house. Since the rush of Christmas is over and it seems as if we will be spending more time inside due to the lovely weather, I spent some time searching new projects I would like to try this year.

You might have noticed I added a couple new blogs to watch and they are really awesome! Here are some of my top picks to try:








Rain gutter bookshelves from http://www.familyfun.com/. How cute are these? A great solution to our overflowing selection of books!





Even though New Years is over I would love to make some banners for some of the upcoming holidays like Valentines and Easter. This would be super cute in the shapes of hearts or eggs. Just a little something to spruce up the kitchen and get us to Spring. From http://thecreativeitchboutique.blogspot.com/




















A great idea from http://www.howdoesshe.com/. I really need to focus on making more meals at home and this dinner questions jar is a great idea to get conversations going about our day. This blog is soooo cute. Check it out if you have time.















This is an old dresser drawer turned into a ribbon organizer. While I don't find myself buried in ribbon I have always thought these were cute. Plus you should check out what she did with the dresser that the door came from. http://www.bluecricketdesign.net/














This project display board from http://makeitandloveit.blogspot.com/ could easily find a home by our door to the garage. What a great place to hang notes, bills, and other stuff that needs to be taken along in the morning, but is usually forgotten.












http://www.simplymodernmom.com/ posted about using knobs as hooks when decorating your walls. So cute for frames or this display art projects from school. Anything to get them off of the counter and desk tops!!

I really want to start all of these right now, plus the 20 others that I found! But, I have to remember that winter is only just beginning and I have plenty of time (you know, days where the sun goes down by 4:30) to work on some of these. We'll see what I get done and of course, I will let you know how it goes! Have a great weekend everyone!!

Here we go again!

Once again snow is falling and it doesn't look good for tomorrow. I really don't need a snowday since I have only been back to school for 3 days, but Mother Nature could care less what works for me, so we'll just go with the flow!

Along with the snow comes wind and chapped little lips and faces. Tate would not let go of the chapstick and insisted "I do it". Needless to say his face was a greasy, shiny mess by the time he got done.

The kids decided to help unload the dishwasher while I made supper. They did awesome and I only had to put a couple of things away for them. Tonight was one of those nights where everyone was happy and nice to each other. I have learned to appreciate those times as the are becoming fewer and farther between.

Drying the dishes - love this kid! Again he was having a really good day. Tomorrow could be a whole new ball game.

Tate absolutely loves his Scout puppy he got from Christmas. He asks for it every night and usually falls asleep like this.

One of the reasons Tate was sleeping hard enough for me to get this picture was because we are all up late last night cheering on our boys! What an awesome win for the Hawks!!

I love that the games are becoming a family affair. Let the countdown to fall begin!

5 years? Seriously?

I found these pictures yesterday - yep, while cleaning the basement! They are from our bowl trip to Florida 5 years ago (ignore the dates on the pics - new camera!). I can't believe how fast time is going! What a great trip - here's to another Hawkeye victory!!

Every time I see a picture of Drew Tate I hear Stacy singing her rendition of "Hey Drew"! Awesome!!

The celebrations lasted long into the evening!

I also found these pictures. They also took place during an Iowa game, but when we were home.

This is how I found Teagan sleeping in her crib. She was exhausted!!

Those are the bar marks on her face. Never one to want to miss a party!!

Are those angels I hear?

I don't know about you, but I seriously have moments in life where I swear I hear the voices of an angel choir singing around me. This afternoon was one of those moments. What happened you ask? Here is the miracle - 8 years in the making:





















CLEANED OUT and ORGANIZED!!!!! Hear them? (Hallelujah, Hallelujah!!)























When we moved into our house we pretty much threw extra crap in this room and over the years more crap has been piled on top of it. Brad and I tackled it yesterday and today and I can officially say it is where I want it to be. Please don't ask about the other rooms since they are dealing with some of the overflow!

Even the decorations are clearly labeled and together in one place. Here are the trash totals for this one, yes one, room. 4 large recycling bags, 3 diaper boxes of paper, countless boxes broken down, a random oven rack, one lonely kitchen chair, and a mop that could be the lead in one of those Swiffer commercials. A great job done!

I did get all of my Christmas stuff put away upstairs, but just can't get rid of these yet. I love walking by them and just looking at all the people who bless our lives. Thanks to everyone who sent one - we love them all!!

One of Teagan's presents from Brad and I were tickets to go see the Lion King in D.M. in 2 weeks. Oddly enough one of the hidden treasures was this soundtrack for the broadway show. Weird, huh? We are all super excited. Even downloaded some of the songs on Teagan's new MP3 players. Hakuna Matata baby!!

I also found this gem hidden in the back of one of the storage shelves. It is adorable and the copyright says 1959! Now I have to decide if I will actually let the kids play with it or hang it on the wall. I think option #1 will win. Unless someone out there can tell me it is worth something.

After supper at the Haus (so goodafter a day of cleaning - or any other day!) I filled some empty frames around the house. I am kind of notorious about hanging frames without real pictures, so this is a good job done for me. Here are a couple of my favorites:

Have a great Monday everyone! And to those of you heading back after a lengthy break - may the force be with you (and a lot of caffeine!)

Catching up

I am not exactly sure how I have been spending my time, but all of a sudden tomorrow is the last day of Christmas break and then its back to real life. I thought I would catch you up on the past week.

The day after Christmas we headed to Chicago for a couple days to spend time with one of Brad's uncles and cousin. We had a blast! We started the night with supper at Bucca de Beppo. If any of you knew my mother-in-law then you understand the rest of the family! They are an absolute blast and we love being able to see them!

Teagan and Rae get along super well. I am so glad they are growing up knowing each other!

Sunday brought Shedd Aquarium and a fun day. Seriously!

I will have more pictures later courtesy of my sister-in-law, but here is one I got before my camera died. Tate wasn't so sure about the hands-on activities, but he had a great day!

When we got home Aunt Beth stopped by to play with some of the new presents. I know I say this all the time, but she is such a good aunt. Especially for as young as she is. We are all lucky to have her!

Now back to my normal blogging activities - projects. Before Christmas I showed you a barn window I wanted to clean-up for my Mom for Christmas. Here it is finished. It took some more sandpaper and Windex - even after that it was still dropping dirt, but I got the name on and the pictures. Mom really liked it and it looks great in its new home.

This space really needs some TLC, but for know I am filling it with this picture from H.L. I love these letter pictures and have been wanting one for awhile. This was 1/2 off before Christmas. With a little extra decor I should be able to fill the space pretty well.

I also made a trip to Target for some 75% off decorations. I have been wanting the ornament garland and was excited to see they still had some - less than $4! The red and silver became a wreath (see below) the gold ornaments hope to find a home in my kitchen next year, and the little trees ($1.25 each) were just too cute to leave on the shelf. You can never have too many trees at Christmas right?

Ever since I made my tiny ornament wreath I have been chomping at the bit to do another one. What better time than with super cheap stuff? My hanger was super hard to twist at the top, so I gave up and covered it with leftover ribbon from gifts. It hung on my door for a day and it was then put away in storage til next year. I'm sure I will be just as excited about it then as I was last night!

This was my shopping partner (in crime)! She validated every reason I gave for needing something! Gotta love this kid! For her efforts she was rewarded with a new hat, which is for outside, but she wore it all around the house today. She loved it so much she wore it all over Target with tags on before we bought it! I have officially created a monster!!

Sunday will bring a day of organizing the basement store room (which was started today) and the kids are spending the afternoon with Aunt Jill. I think I might try and talk her into a little Pizza Haus for supper. Don't think that will take much convincing!! Have a great rest of the weekend!!

Christmas in Pictures

It has been way too long since my last blog, but it has been a crazy week!
We started Christmas Eve at my parents house with family and some close friends

Great Grandpa & Grandma with the great-grandkids. We are so thankful to be able to spend time with them!

You know what they say about getting kids an expensive gift and then all they do is play with the box? Well, here is the proof that is true! What a crew!

Then it was off to Christmas day with the Schaefer/Van Zee clan.

Playing piano with Aunt Jill. Again we are so excited to be able to spend time with her before she heads back to finish up her Peace Corps service.

Teagan got her MP3 player she had been asking for. Grandma was one of many listeners that night!