project simplify

i'm so excited to be participating in the {project simplify} challenge being held at the simple mom.  it couldn't have come at a better time for me.  i am in the process of putting our house back together after the water heater flood of january.  we still have a few items to be finished (paint and replacing baseboards/trim work) but for the most part we have been able to move the furniture back to its original locations.  i decided to use this time to clean out and declutter our house.  apparently the simple mom holds {project simplify} every spring, so this was perfect.

week 1 is all about kid stuff.  we have plenty of that...maybe too much of that.  plus the kids are getting older so everything needed to be purged and cleared out.  i focused on the playroom and the boys room.  mollie's closet is in desperate need as well, but i wasn't in the right mindset to go through all of her clothes just yet, i know i would try to hold on to too many of them.


yesterday i took the day off.  the kids still went to school and the babysitter, but instead of going to work i stayed at home.  it is absolutely amazing to me how much stuff i can cram into 6 hours without kids.  while the house isn't perfect, i have 3 large boxes of trash (mostly random magazines i was holding onto and about a thousand of those sonic playing cards) and 2 boxes of kids toys to donate.  in the midst of this crazy cleaning frenzy i even found the missing skeleton key to the airmoire that we keep toys stored in in the playroom.  this particular key has been missing since christmas.  this meant it was a good day.

i did a little bit of redecorating with the playroom also.  i started with my inspiration, the gorgeous, bright IKEA rug i had been eyeing since i was pregnant with mollie.  ikat is very popular and while i am not a huge fan of it on clothes, i loved the look of these pillows!  plus they make for comfy floor cushions.  i also got some poofs to brighten up the room and add more seating when we have friends over.  i scored these amazing curtains in grey (a pinterest find!)  i'm so happy with how the playroom turned out and the kids seem to be enjoying it too.  a clean playroom helps me stay sane.

i'm looking forward to more of {project simplify} over the rest of this month.

fashion remix challenge!

i love challenges.  for some reason attaching the word challenge to something makes me NEED to stick to it.  i'm in the middle of a fitness/health challenge, but that is totally separate from my latest obsession.  thanks to pinterest i'm all about pinning fashion inspiration and outfit ideas.  i'm not short on clothes, i have always loved to clothing shop, but i do get stuck in a rut of wearing the same things every.single.day.


the blog kendi everyday has lots of inspiration and she has a similar style to mine.  she wrote about a 30 day fashion remix here.  it sounded like fun to me.  i decided to start on march 1st thinking i would have enough time to get everything together...well of course that didn't happen.  i am doing it more haphazardly than i'm sure it is supposed to be done, but if i didn't give myself a deadline it just would have lingered on.


the rules.
some of these are from kendi's blog, some i just made up. 
- pick 30 items from your closet (shoes and clothes, accessories and jewelry are not included) and remix them over 30 days, trying to come up with different outfits.
- workout clothes and sneakers do not count.  i workout 5-6 days/week and at that rate my workout clothes would have taken up my 30 item limit quickly.  i don't wear sneakers for anything other than exercising, so i am not getting a bonus item in that way.  i did include 1 pair of yoga pants in my 30 items since i usually wear those on the weekends when i'm home or at night.
- no shopping.  well, no clothes or shoe shopping for 30 days....i think this may be my hardest to stick to :)


i would love to have some sort of beginning picture of all of my items, but that hasn't happened yet.  the closest i can come to is the shoes i picked out.  

shoes: tory burch/aiden tall boots; jessica simpson patent nude heels; toms/giselle flats; tory burch/sally wedges; jcrew glitter flip-flops; toms burlap cap toe flats.

i did go through and start with some of the basics that i KNEW i'd need in there.  and i'm trying to work with that right now and slowly add in the rest of the items as i go.  but basically if i wear it one day, then its stuck in there so i am trying to carefully plan out my outfits instead of just throwing something on.

amazing wedges/anthropologie

she also recommends a wild card item...something you don't wear all that much.  i bought these gorgeous red wedges from anthropologie several years ago and they hurt horribly to wear (and for me that means my feet were pretty much bleeding since i go through a lot for the right pair of shoes) so they got stuck into the back of the closet.  i found them as i was cleaning out and trying to pick my items and i thought they were the perfect addition.  a wonderful bonus is that for whatever reason, they don't hurt to wear anymore.


the outfits.

day ONE: flats/toms, tissue tee/jcrew, seven for all mankind/original fit

day TWO: red wedges/anthropologie, shirt/madewell, pixie pant/jcrew (these are quite possibly the most comfortable pants around), not pictured was a grey wool blazer from jcrew

day THREE: slacker saturday...i did not even leave the house.  dakota slippers/uggs (i'm up in the air about putting these as an item..i'm not really counting though since i'd never wear out of the house), t-shirt/local boutique, hoodie/jcrew, hatha workout pants/lucy

day FOUR: giselle flats/toms, skinny cargoes/jessica simpson, 3/4 sleeve sweatshirt/anthropologie, tree of life necklace/lovefeasttable (i can't even say how much i love this necklace...but you will see it a lot over the next 4 weeks)

partyin' angry birds style!

ethan is definitely obsessed with angry birds.  he actually quite good at it and can pass levels better than i can sometimes.  he's wanted an angry birds party since he went to a classmate's party last summer.  

what a fun theme it ended up being!!  had a blast putting things together and i'm so happy with how it all turned out!  i was just impressed anything got done since we basically had to pack up a portion of our house and move in the grandparents due to a lovely little flood.  but my wonderful in-laws were helpful as always and i was able to invade their house not only with the kids but with all of the angry birds supplies.  

we had the party at a local gymnastics place and it was the perfect place to let the kids run free for almost 2 hours.  my dear friend was so helpful in helping me set-up everything in record time. 

i did come home to this...but it was totally all worth it!  especially when ethan thanked me for all of the awesome party stuff.  :)

happy 5th birthday, ethan!  we love you so much!

on her way to TWO!

my little girl will be TWO in a few months.  it is hard to believe that this little bundle of energy and smiles is growing up so quickly.  

she has become adventurous.  she can scale the table, desk or counter top and she happily moves whatever stool or box she needs to get climb higher.  she is usually searching for the phone or someones laptop or ipod.  she is chattering away.  she pipes up during dinner and doesn't hesitate to join in in the conversation.  she is a little fashionista and loves to have on her shoes and accessories.  and while she can't shop for as long as she used to, she is still relatively happy being out and about and usually waves and talks to most of the people we pass in walmart.  she is a tiny thing and with her little bob she looks just like a pixie.  but do not be mistaken, she seems to have miles' fiery temper and she will hit and bite with the best of them...and she definitely knows how to turn on the tears and pout when she doesn't get her way.

we can't imagine our family without our little muffin.  onward to TWO and a life where we will not be bound by naptimes and diapers.

the birthday boy at 5

we celebrated ethan's birthday in school today.  i just LOVE how special they make it!  ethan got to color a picture of himself for his school scrapbook.  we also had a little interview to fill out together.  today in school he shared all of his answers and pictures with his classmates.

what is your favorite thing to play with at school?
blocks


what is your favorite thing to play with at home?
thomas the train


where is your favorite place to be?
dallas at chic-fil-a


what is your favorite cartoon?
thomas the tank engine


what is your favorite movie?
thomas and the misty island rescue


what is your favorite food?
steak (there was no hesitation when answering this!)


what is your favorite game?
hi-ho cherry-o (this was always one of my favorite games too!)

happy birthday to ethan!

he is FIVE!!

we had a perfect day celebrating the start of his fifth year!

we partied angry birds style.

it has been a while...

hoping to start the new year off right by getting back into posting.

happy new year from my three little monkeys!

hope everyone had a merry christmas.  ours was busy and crazy, but perfect.

christmas eve dinner.

merry christmas eve.

the kids and i ended 2011 with our last picture of our 52 weeks of photos project.  i really enjoyed doing these pictures even though some of the weeks we had to rush to get it in and quite a few of the pictures were similar.  it was okay though, when i looked through them all at once it is so neat to see the progression of our family.  you forget how much the kids change in one year...it is too hard to see it when you are looking at it every day but looking back there have been so many changes!  i am in the midst of doing a blurb book and hopefully will have it done soon.  i am so excited to see how it turns out.  i am definitely doing the 52 weeks project again, it is easy enough for me to undertake and it gets done...i'm trying to figure out how to document it this year.  i love the idea of an instagram book just because i think square pictures are fun, but not sure if i'll go that way or not.  either way, get ready to see 52 more pictures of us over the next year :)

52 weeks of photos: final week * december 30, 2011