Time to Get Organized!

The best part of Andy going to school full time for his Master's? School breaks! Right now he is on winter recess and it is fantastic! He makes breakfast for the kids every morning (on a normal work/school schedule he is gone well before anyone else in the house is up) does pick up/drop off, joins me at the gym and best of all....helps with all of the honey-do stuff!

Soooo, while I have him home for the next two weeks I have big plans!

1. Side tables for our guest bedroom

2. My craft room needs a full makeover!

3. The playroom needs some major work

4. Paint the Master bedroom

5. Organize, organize, organize!

Check back for pictures and progress! ;-)

New Year New Goals

It's 2015, where have the last 10 years gone?

Just to date myself for a second, I graduated college in 2005, it does not seem possible that May of this year will mark 10 years! In that time I have started and ended a career, gotten married, had 3 children, moved 6 times, lived in 4 different states and started Arabella's Bows. It has truly been a whirlwind! Before the next ten years pass me by I want to be sure to prepare myself.

When you move as often as our family does it is easy to get caught in the upheaval and lose track of the time that is passing. Like any family I think we take for granted the everyday moments and wish away the more difficult times. But what happens to all those moments in between? The "big" things are a given; birthdays, first days of school etc. But what about the in-betweens the idiosyncrasies that make your family yours?

My favorite picture from Thanksgiving is this family picture. We did get some that were better, but I think this is a better glimpse into our life.

 

 

 

I will admit that I told my brother NOT to photograph our feet (I was wearing hot pink fuzzy socks). However, Andy's face is perfect, picture taking with three kids and a crazy wife is NOT easy! Our mantel wasn't perfectly decorated and most of the kids are looking elsewhere or being securely held into place. I mean seriously, what's not to love about this?

 

 

These are the things I want to hang on to. Rather than struggling through and shaking my head (I do that often) I want to embrace the crazy moments with my wild and crazy kids and laugh at the absolutely ridiculous life we live. We can't slow down time but hopefully we can remember all the laughter!

 

Max's Birthday Party Mishap

Max recently turned 5! Every year, rather than buying gifts we throw the boys a birthday party. They get to choose the theme/location and then I spend weeks scouring Pinterest for ideas. This year was no exception! Max wanted to have a Superhero birthday party. We invited his entire class and were planning all of the superhero activities we would have. Everything was coming together and then one week before the party......

We had a leak in the kitchen that destroyed the floor..

  and the basement walls!

 

 

After A LOT of discussion we decided to keep with the original plan and we had Max's superhero birthday party at the house. I threw up some tacky fringe to cover the doors to the kitchen and didn't take ANY pictures.....oops!

 

But, the kids had a blast! They shot "webs" at targets, leapt over buildings, demonstrated their "super power" and earned their very own cape!

 

 

You never know where you'll spot a superhero around here!







 



Here are some pictures from Max's previous birthdays!

 

 

Taking Pictures with Babies

Christmas is rapidly approaching! I am always caught off guard at how quickly Halloween turns into Thanksgiving which turns into, "Oh no, we forgot to bake cookies for Santa!" Luckily, that only happened once and the boys were half asleep as we opened the cookie platter gift, we had just received, to set a plate for good ole St Nick. This year, however, is a whole new ballgame.

Now that I have an Etsy shop, I am prepping for Holiday items a lot sooner than I ever would have imagined. As the days pass I am shipping more and more orders and continuously creating new items to photograph and list. Sounds pretty straight forward, and it is, except for one thing....my model is a DIVA! Kidding! It's actually even worse than that, she's one and a half! So, without further adieu....here is a glimpse of what you don't see.

 

Whenever I take pictures in a tutu I give her the chance to wear it for a bit. I thought I would try to get some headband pictures in, but after one awkward pose the headband was off and so was she!!

 

 

 

More often than not, the accessory is thrown to the wayside as she takes off out of the room.

 

 

 

Other days she is eager to have her picture taken, but the "costume" is not quite right!

 

Then there are times like this. It's not something I would use in my shop but I LOVE it!

 

 

Arabella's 1st Birthday Party

As I mentioned in my previous post, Arabella's birthday party was held a month late.  Due to the move, we didn't plan anything!

 

Her actual birthday was spent sitting through a six hour trip back up to NY for the boys' last tee ball game.  Thankfully, our old neighbors are awesome and gave us a place to stay and baked Arabella a totally allergy-free cake!

 

Fast forward to our two-week long vacation back home and Arabella's 1st birthday party!!

 

Truth be told I love parties, kid parties especially. Throw in the fact that this was my first girly party and you have one excited momma! 

 

 

 

Since Arabella LOVES to dress up, that was the idea/theme behind her party.

 

Did I mention days before the party Andy suggested we have it at the park?!? Well, I agreed with him....BUT that meant I had a tiny table in a gazebo to work with!

 

The table featured rings, necklaces

bracelets and butterfly chalk.

 

 

Plus, dum dums and lip whistles!

(We couldn't forget about her brothers!)

 

Each guest got a plume wand

 

 

And a marshmallow pop

 

The marshmallow pops were a HUGE hit! Especially with my 85 year old grandmother who enjoyed eating all the "ugly" ones the night before!

 

 

 

Arabella enjoyed her watermelon "cake." This was NOT what it was supposed to look like. A total Pinterest fail!!

 

Overall, I think she had a good day!

 

 

Back to the Blog!

It's been over a year since I have blogged and A LOT has happened! Remember that nursery makeover we did? Well, we moved and left all of that beautiful wainscoting and crown molding behind! We did, however, find an unbelievable home in Pennsylvania and have fallen in love with the area! The boys (including daddy!) have settled into their new schools and Arabella and I have had more time to play dress up and create new designs!! She is quite the helper!

 

 

Here are some pictures from the last few months..

 

A rare family photo!

Taken at Boldt Castle in NY.

 

All 8 grandchildren during our summer trip back home

 

Arabella's 1st birthday party!!

(One month late...shhhh!)

 

Summertime fun for the boys!

 

 

The boys on their first day of school

 

She LOVES to dress up!

 

Honestly! She picked this one out herself!!

 

Other days she is a super, ahem, helper!

 

Don't forget apple picking!

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



What can I do with this circle punch??

While decorating our baby's nursery I ran into a problem. What do I put on the wall behind the crib? I don't typically adhere to all the infant guidelines (notice the crib bumpers). But, things hanging on the wall above the crib make me a little nervous. Luckily, I found this lovely tutorial on Pinterest (Dot mobile). It's light, cute AND I could finally reuse the circle punch I bought to make Drew's Lego invitations 6 months earlier! I bought pink cardstock and came up with this fun mobile!

 

While we were decorating I learned how fantastic Mod Podge can be. For just a couple dollars I was able to make these pieces for my baby girl's nursery.

 

 

It's amazing what a piece of wood and scrapbooking paper can become!