Life Does Go On After Christmas

I set a goal for myself that I wanted to get another post up on this here blog by the end of January.  And here we are with just three hours to go and I am achieving said goal.

Clearly, I strive for greatness.

Most who know me in real life know that I call January "let down month."  It truly does stink.  If I had to rank the months from favorite to least favorite, January wouldn't even make the cut.  All the festivities are over, school is back in session, and while I once claimed I like love winter, I've come to realize I simply don't.  What I do love is the fall/winter season right up until real life resumes the day after Christmas break. And then?  Well, winter might as well be done.  Which is truly discouraging, since according to that thing we call an almanac, says that we have about another 10-11 weeks of winter left.

Hmph.  

Now, if we actually got a little snow, that could certainly change my perspective, but the weather here has been very, very mild and I don't see any snow in our near future.  Not that I am a meteorologist or anything.

So, here are just a few highlights from the last time I posted.....

As I mentioned awhile back, my awesome dad has been working on the top part of our "built-in" desk.  I'm getting SO excited.....it's getting so much closer to being done!

♥

At Peanut's school, we have to put in volunteer hours for each student enrolled.  Because I have a two year old and a hard working husband that works crazy hours, I didn't feel comfortable committing to things/activities at school with never knowing what the Hub's schedule would be and not knowing if I would have someone to watch the boy.  So.  I signed up to help with a fruit platter once a month for the weekly staff meetings.  It was something I could do completely from home and I could just drop off in the office.  (Side note:  I was totally hoping for the muffins portion {so much cheaper!}, but they only had need for the fruit platter, which I guess is how God wanted me to bless them, so there you have it!)

Well, despite all my ranting and raving about the month of January, ironically, out of the three fruit platters I did (September, October, and January--November and December aren't done because of the holidays), January ended up being both the prettiest and best tasting month!

♥

On New Year's Eve, I was reading the little brother's devotion to him before bed and it talked about being thankful for all the blessings from the past year.  I asked him what he was thankful for this year. I kid you not, he looked at me and whispered, "Money in my piggy bank."

ALEX P. KEATON.

I couldn't make this stuff up even if I tried.

 ♥

We've had quite a few nice days in these last few weeks and so the kids were actually able to play outside.  The Peanut was all into her chalk drawings and the little brother was semi-interested in the chalk.  What he really liked was the small piece of bubble wrap I gave him to play with that was from a package I received that afternoon.  Yes, I know you aren't supposed to give small children pieces of plastic to play with.  #momfail


Peanut also got to have fun at her school's Family Fun Night this past Friday night.  She got to eat pizza, an ice cream sandwich, popcorn, and I even threw caution to the wind and let her get an orange soda instead of water.  Plus, she got to play in three bounce houses, get a balloon flower from the balloon animal artist, play the Plinko booth, shoot in a basketball shot competition, and walk in a cupcake walk.


Obviously, she was miserable the whole time.

♥

Daddy converted the little brother's crib and now he has a "big boy" bed.  He was just a little bit excited. He shows everyone who will watch how he can climb in and out "all by my-sef."  It's pretty cute.

Except when the 6 am wake up call comes running into our room.  #thatsnotcute

♥

My aunt and uncle got the Peanut a Lego set for Christmas.  WOW.  Had I known how enthralled she would be by them, I would have got her the set myself.  We did get her a very small set as soon as she was old enough (2.5-3 years ago?) and all she did with it was use the many pieces to "cook" with in her kitchen.  You know, sauteed Lego with a wine reduction?  I was less than impressed, because I knew the pieces were all going to wind up missing.  Anyhow, fast forward several years later and she hasn't stopped playing with it since Christmas.  Plus, she had some leftover birthday money and we let her buy another set off of Amazon.  Hours upon hours of entertainment, people!

And last but not least, I was getting all stressed about getting her Valentines done.  I was thinking they had to be done this week, but I guess I could use a calendar, because I actually had about two weeks to get them done.  Peanut filled out all the Valentines and I made the little pencil arrows to go with.  Thank you, Pinterest.  Once again.  Because we all know a Valentine is just a Valentine....unless we Pinterest it, right?  Yes, I realize I am part of the problem.

Our Mudroom that Isn't A Mudroom

When we moved back to Hometown nearly three (!!!) years ago, there were two projects I really wanted done.  This of course, was in addition to the cleaning, painting, and new carpet that needed to be installed prior to us even moving back in.  Ahem. 

The first item I really wanted was a "built in" computer desk in our family room area.  We have a three bedroom house and with the little brother on the way, we would no longer have a dedicated "office/computer room" and there was this perfect little alcove in our family room that would allow ample space for a nice big computer desk with plenty of room for the computer, printers, and all the computer/office related stuff.  My awesome parents got most of the desk done a little over a year and a half ago and it's just as gorgeous as I pictured in my head.  And rumor now has it they are starting on the top portion (shelving above the desk, complete with trim and cove molding) very soon.  As I said, the desk portion turned out beautifully and it has been more than functional for our every day needs, so please know I am not complaining at all! 

The second thing I wanted was a mudroom.  Don't we all, right?  Well, with our current house, the gorgeous mud "rooms" that you can find very easily on Google or Pinterest are pretty labor intensive if you plan to do it yourself.  Which we did/do.  (And we all know by now, that I use the term "we" very, very loosely, right?)  Plus, there are several other things we want to do with this tiny little space (put in a pocket door for the laundry room, which will involve moving TWO light switches to the other side of the door, not to mention ripping out all the drywall to install/reframe for the pocket door) and those things just aren't in the cards right now, with being both short on time and money.  So in the interest of making this space functional for our comings and goings, having it be somewhat temporary, and still aesthetically appealing and cost effective, the Hubs made this for me as my Christmas gift. 

This is our main entry point through our home.  We rarely, if ever, use our front door.  We go in and out through our garage door that is located in our laundry room.  The laundry room has space for a utility sink and in the sink alcove we have a clothes rack above the sink that we used at one point to hang clothes that needed to air dry, etc.  It was a nice little space for that.  Plus, the sink was there and we used it for stain treating clothes, cleaning muddy boots, and all those other things you use utility sinks for.  But somehow over the last year and a half, that rack has become a coat rack for us all and with that, we didn't really have easy access to our sink anymore, because coats were always hanging in the way.  Plus, when we were in a hurry (are you ever not as parents of littles?) taking all those coats down always knocked down the spray bottles on the sinks edge, so that was always fun.  Or not.

So now I have a nice little coat rack thanks to my mom's design (she did the same thing a few months back in their laundry room at their house) and Hubs hard work.  And as with the desk, rumor has it from Hubs that he would like to get the bench built in time for my birthday this spring!

That would be awfully nice, my dear.  Awfully, awfully nice. 




 

Many Blessings in 2015

 
Wishing you a wonderful new year that will be even better than the last.