In No Particular Order...

This week's been a busy one... pulling together some things for work... taking a trip into Vancouver to take pictures of a house that was renovated... taking the kids to the zoo... puttering around the yard... working on a sewing project... BBQ-ing, BBQ-ing, and more BBQ-ing... all good things!  But today it's a little rainy and I felt the need to sit down with a cup of coffee and just look at pretty things on pinterest.  So, in no particular order-- here are some of the things that inspired me.

Warning-- I'm feeling a little "random" today.  This could get interesting...

A pop of green... spring time in the bathroom is always a good thing.  Spring time in the bathroom--what does that even mean?  I don't know... but it sounded good.

Jas Design Build via pinterest

We haven't eaten dinner on our deck yet-- but come summer time-- we're out there pretty much every evening... if only dinner time on our deck looked this pretty... dinner time at our place usually includes kids refusing to eat food, spitting out food, throwing food, and then jumping out of their chairs and bolting for the swing and/or sandbox before we can stop them.

At least dinner time clean up on the deck is easy.  For me it usually involves pulling out the hose and spraying down the the table, chairs, and deck (and the kids-- I wish).  If Doug was to clean up he'd probably pull out the air compressor hose and blow it all off.  Oh how I long for warm summer evenings on the deck...

JL Designs via pinterest

I bought some boxwoods over the weekend-- now I've just got to find some old galvanized buckets to put them in and try not to kill them.  This could be difficult-- my plant killing skills are legendary.  Hopefully the boxwood's survival skills are stronger than my plant killing skills.

 Doesn't this look so charming?  I always have SUCH good intentions...

via pinterest

Um, so I bought myself a pair of coral skinnies.  And I love them.  If summer was a pair of pants-- I think they'd be coral.  Anyone out there want to disagree?

Pink Peonies via pinterest

Another charming bathroom...  This seems like the perfect bathroom to bathe a whole lot of squirming kids...

JAS Design Build via pinterest

Speaking of squirming kids in the bath tub...

You may laugh at this-- I did at first-- but honestly I think this is absolutely genius.  FOR REAL.  I wouldn't need this contraption for my youngest kiddo-- my oldest is particular skittish at the thought of getting water in the eyes.  I want one!  Do you think it comes in size 5T?

via pinterest

I warned you that this was going to be random.

This image reminds me that I have a stack of frames I scored at ikea for half price waiting to be hung in my office downstairs.  Gotta get on that!

Atlanta Homes Mag via pinterest

Cute kitchen clutter.  Not all kitchen clutter is cute (you should see mine right now-- not cute) but this is...

via pinterest

While this bedroom isn't particularly spring-y... I keep coming back to it.  I think it's all the layers that make it interesting...

via pinterest

Okay, that's it.

No, wait... I can't help but throw in a few pictures of the kids.

Waiting to get on the train at the zoo...

Caleb kept trying to play it cool-- but I caught him trying to cover up these HUGE grins as the train took off.  He loves the zoo.

And Eme in her pink croc's.  She's in love with them-- I think she'd wear them to bed if we let her.

K, now I'm done.

What's inspiring you these days??

Spring Sprung

Well I think we can officially say that spring is here?  Please let it be so...

Well, to kick it off-- I figured it was time to give the flannel bedding the boot.  A few nights ago Doug and I just couldn't seem to fall asleep-- the flannel was too much.  So I pulled out my white bedding.

But, I really need a little color in there.  It needs something fun.  Andrea and I signed out samples of the Dwell Studio/Robert Allen Vintage Plumes fabric for a client to see and now I want it in my house.  Having all kinds of gorgeous fabrics sitting around my house is going to be dangerous-- let me tell you.  So I'm thinking that the jade colorway would be perfect on the two Euro shams on my bed.  How fun would this be for summer?

The second runner up is the Vintage Blossom in Jade-- also a Dwell Studio/Robert Allen fabric.  I found this fabric locally for a great price-- but it's not quite as fun as the vintage plumes.

And I also like the Birch colorway in the living room.  How am I going to decide?

Enough about fabric.

Well, we definitely enjoyed the sun today.  We kicked off the day by taking the kids out for breakfast and then went to a local greenhouse to pick up some plants!  This is Eme's favorite face nowadays... every time we're in public and someone starts smiling at her she gives them a stone cold stare.  Just exercising her serious side I guess.

We took the kids to the petting zoo to see the goats and sheep.  I got my farm girl on and managed to catch one of the skittish little goats.  Doug was impressed.  It wasn't really that hard-- I was wearing a plaid shirt-- after all.  Eme kind of liked it at first...

But as soon as it even looked at her she would start running away as fast as possible, violently waving her hands back and forth, saying: "no, no, no, no, NO!!"  Guess she's not a farm girl at heart.

Then we headed home for the afternoon to do a little yard work.  I was working in the front yard with Caleb doing a little weeding and planting a few new things-- I head around back to grab something and find this...

We've been talking about leveling out a section of the backyard and putting in a little rock wall for a while now-- Doug figured there was no time like the present to get started.  As you can imagine-- Caleb was overjoyed at the fact that there was dirt flying everywhere.  He grabbed his own shovel and dove right into the middle of the action.

Next came a freezie.  And this happened...

Then he crashed from the sugar high a while later and almost fell asleep during dinner.  We decided to call it an early night and both kids were in bed by 7:15.  That almost never happens.

Well, hope you're all enjoying the weekend-- and a little spring time fun :)

Friday Night

It's raining like crazy... Doug's out of town for the weekend... and we needed dinner.

Crepes and blueberries it is!!!  Eme was a fan.  Quite frankly, I can't remember the last time I saw her shovel food into her mouth that fast.

Those of us that aren't allergic to dairy enjoyed a little whipped cream too.  Caleb said "Wow!  This dinner actually tastes really good!"  Guess I the non-sugary healthy meals I've been making for him lately have been missing the mark...

And... just when you thought we'd had enough sugar for the day...

Paska for dessert anyone?

Feeling Blue

I guess I'm a real sucker for punishment...

that and I'm running low on fresh fruit-- frozen blueberries may not have been the best idea...

On the bright side-- Eme's runny nose is much less noticeable.

As messy as this was-- they were a big hit.  Here Eme's saying-- "put the camera down and get me some more of those blueberries!!!!"

Or in Eme's words..."MOOOOOORRRR!!!!!"

After a good scrubbing she's now clean and in her bed.  Granted-- her hands do look like she has poor circulation and her chin looks like she has a bit of a five o'clock shadow...

My Shopping Buddies

I had no plans for today.  So when the day began just a wee bit earlier than anticipated (please tell me I'm not alone in thinking that 5:45 am is too early to be dragged from your bed) I knew we would have to do something with our day.  I suddenly found myself with too many extra hours in the day to be sitting around at home.  So I packed up the kids and headed across the border for a morning of shopping.

They were quite angelic.  And we all had fun.  I decided to do without the stroller and let Eme walk.  It was the cutest thing ever-- strolling through the mall-- Eme holding my left hand, Caleb holding my right.  It was a bit of a gamble, but as it turns out we didn't need a stroller or any real agenda-- all it took was some french fries and a whole lot of love to have a good time.

Cutest shopping buddies ever-- if I do say so myself :)

Puppy Love and a whole lot of Glitter

I woke up to two of the cutest little Valentines-- the hour may have been a little earlier than I would have liked-- but it's hard to be irritated over the loss of sleep when your greeted by this little cutie pie.

She was wearing her puppy love pajamas.  I am a fan :)

I'm not too sure... but I think Eme likes Valentines day.

Over the last few days Caleb and I have been making Valentines.  This year I decided to let him choose-- we could either buy Valentines for his preschool classmates and cousins-- or he could make them.  I secretly was hoping he would choose the pre-made toy story Valentines in Walmart.  But alas-- he saw the glitter glue pens and was determined to make them.  So-- after days and days of cutting, and stickers, and soooo much glitter, we finished them.

As you can imagine-- a glitter bomb went off in my house.  This morning I discovered streaks of crusty glitter glue in my hair.  I'm pretty sure it's been there since Sunday.

But Caleb had SO much fun making custom Valentines for all his little buddies.  Cars stickers for the boys and princesses for the girls.

Well-- I'm off to spend the day with my little Valentines.  The plan is to eat a lot of heart shaped food and head to the local recreation centre for a little gym time.  Hoping that a hour or two of running around will tire those kiddos out!!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

And this is why lunch time is followed by bath time

Not Exactly Picture Perfect

For the last week my living room has not looked like this.

Instead it's looked a lot more like this...

On Saturday I built Caleb the best fort ever-- complete with a tunnel that made its way around the entire room.  Needless to say-- he thought it was pretty fantastic.  Now every day is fort/tunnel building day.

And I try my best to look the other way when the cushions of my white slipcovered couches are dragged all over the house and somehow end up on my dirty kitchen floor.

And every evening-- instead of crashing onto the couch to watch some TV-- I begin my evening by reassembling my couches.  The cushions are usually stacked up like a tower on the floor somewhere.

Love it.

Just another morning at Costco...

I had some pictures to pick up from the photo department so I figured I'd run out to Costco for a quick trip this morning.  As I was paying for my pictures I realized I had to fill a prescription so I went and dropped it off.

An hour later...

I had about a $100 worth of groceries in my cart... we'd eaten many many free chicken fingers... Caleb had pointed and shouted FOOD STATION!!! about 20 times-- pretty much every time he saw 2 or more Costco employees standing in the same general location... the kids giggled and gave each other kisses for about %5 of the time (they were fighting the other %95 of the time)... Caleb had somehow managed to convince me to buy the hugest jumbo sized box of Kraft Dinner (that almost never happens)... my prescription was finally ready... oh, and I had picked out a new pair of glasses.  Ray Ban-ish frames?  Yes please!!

Man, I just love that kid.

So sometimes I don't love Costco all that much.  But I DO love that their carts can hold both my kids-- belted and restrained in their seats.  They may be screaming-- but they sure can't escape :)

And I love Costco's striped towels!  $7 blue striped towels-- I think yes.  And they're nice towels-- they really are a great deal.  And they have green striped ones too...

Anyhow... off to clean up all the kraft dinner that somehow managed to mysteriously make its way to my dining room floor... gotta love KD.

Snow Week Recap

What did we do during snow week... well... you're about to find out!

Some of us didn't really care for the snow...

But most of us thought it was pretty awesome.

Caleb spent some time working in his math books.

He's getting all ready for kindergarten!

Eme learnt how to stand in her high chair and crawl up onto furniture. (oh great)  She also found out that climbing onto chairs pushed up to the kitchen counter gives her access to all the good stuff I try to keep out of reach-- like glass jars full of animal crackers.

We had some interesting meals... like pizza for breakfast (mommy approves) and hotdogs with mustard for lunch (mommy doesn't approve-- gross.)

The kids played super mario together.  Eme was taking the game pretty seriously.

There was time to hit the hills and do a bit of crazy carpeting (although Caleb tells everyone that he went "snowboarding").  Afternoons of sledding resulted in rosy cheeks, lots of hot chocolate with marshmallows, and early bedtimes :)

And... I sold Eme's change table.  She's getting to be too tall for the change table-- so it's time for a big girl dresser!  Time to start shopping...

Happy Weekend!!

It's time to get Cozy

Snowy days...

plus flannel bedding...

... equals the urge to hit the snooze button, roll over, and pretend that I have all day to stay in bed.

That-- of course-- never happens.  Because at the crack of dawn I have two precious kids pulling my hair and jumping on me... eager to start the day.

Anyways... I would still fully endorse the flannel sheets folks... whether you get to sleep in or not!  Superstore has awesome striped sheet sets for a great price.  We are loving them.

About all that snow-- it's a winter wonderland out there!  We played outside.  It was Eme's first time in the snow-- she was not a fan-- particularly when her brother decided to teach her about snow balls and snow washes.  Guess you gotta learn about them sometime.

My Kitchen is Sticky and Hairy

Bet you don't see that everyday.  I'm thinking you probably want the details,  Well-- there was a coke can explosion of epic proportions in my kitchen and then I decided to give Caleb a haircut shortly after.  Either event could be considered traumatic-- the combination?  Disaster zone.

So it all started when I was unpacking the groceries and loading them into the fridge.  The kids were at the table eating lunch.  As I'm loading the cans of coke zero into the handy dandy fridge door can holder the box tips and cans of coke zero plummet to the floor.  One of the cans must have been pierced because the next thing I know coke is spraying EVERYWHERE.  It was like a high pressure water gun-- spraying probably four or five feet.  I of course stand there stunned as coke is spraying me from head to toe.  My clothes and hair are drenched in coke.  Then the can shifts and suddenly it's SPINNING super fast in the middle of my kitchen floor-- coke is spraying round and round my kitchen like a sprinkler.  Picture spin the bottle.  FInally I come to my senses, grab the can, and make a run for the kitchen sink-- effectively spraying the upper portion of my kitchen in the process.

Finally.  After the can of coke is empty I collapse in the middle of my kitchen floor and begin to laugh uncontrollably.  At this point the kids actually looked up for the first time.  They stare at my like I'm a crazy person.  Apparently they were too engrossed in their lunch to notice what was happening.  Apparently I'd made a pretty ridiculously amazing lunch

So needless to say-- my kitchen was COVERED in coke zero.  There was coke spray inside my fridge, on every wall, a fine misting all over every surface of my cabinets, there was coke puddles and spray over the entire floor, down the hallway and into the dining room. There was coke mist on the windows 10 feet away.  On the table.  Everywhere.

After changing out of my coke drenched clothing I attempted to clean up the mess.  I gave up partway through-- it was a big job and my heart just wasn't into it.  At that point I glanced over at Caleb and noticed how insanely crazy his hair had gotten.  I decided to cut it.  Immediately,  As in "don't move-- sit there while I grab the scissors and clippers from the bathroom right now!"  Bad idea.

Caleb has serious amounts of hair.  It had gotten pretty long-- actually both my kids have been pretty stylin' lately.  Emerson's been sporting a very tangled (sometimes matted) short long for quite some time now and Caleb's hair was in the early mullet stages.  Check it out.

So after trimming with the scissors for quite some time (like the amount of time it would take for him to watch two episodes of Team Umizoomi on my laptop) I decided that it looked pretty terrible.  An exceptionally gifted hair cutter I am not.  So I broke out the clippers and buzzed the rest of it off. 

Then I turned around and saw what I had done to my kitchen.  Sticky coke sprayed all over every surface... piles and piles of Caleb's hair drifting and blowing all around me.  Of course, he then jumps from the chair shakes himself( and the towel) off and then proceeds to run all over the place.  Poor little guy was itchy.  And exceptionally hairy.

Then I bribed Caleb with half a glass of coke to keep him occupied at the table while I attempted to clean up the disaster zone.  It was one sticky and hairy kitchen.  I am one of those people who happen to be extra sensitive about my feet.  Can't handle having stuff stuck on my bare feet or shifty socks.  Cleaning up my kitchen was pretty much my worst nightmare.

I learned many valuable life lessons from yesterday afternoon.  Like...

 Coke and hair are not a good combination-- both on the floor and in my hair (sticky coke and hairspray residue do not go well together)

It's better to clean up messes immediately rather than wait till later.

I am not skilled in the art of hairdressing.

Instead of downloading two $1.99 episodes of Team Umizoomi on my laptop I am better off paying for a Great Clips professional employee to cut Caleb's hair.  While I wouldn't necessarily consider someone at Great Clips an amazing hair stylist-- they've got to be more gifted than I am.

Giving your child coke zero late in the day is never a good idea.  While it may be calorie and sugar free-- it's not lacking in the caffeine department.  And after cleaning up that kitchen I was in no mood for the pre dinner crazies.

And... even the stickiest and hairiest situations can be funny.  The next day.