because i want to remember

organizing around here:

so far I have done:

 

laundry room, back hall closet and started on the basement.

 

 

we are anticipating on moving in the next couple of years (if it all pans out the way we would like) and

I do not want to leave this clutter for when we move!

I joined my friend becky & a bunch of her friends in the 30 bags in 30 days clean out.

I have not done it every day, but I did at least 6 bags of clutter out, so that's progress. I am super

super good at getting rid of clothes, books and things we don't use at the time, so I don't have all that

much to get rid of, it's more of an organization. especially the basement. that could take me 2 months!

first big snow!

yay, finally had snow!

and my girls have been out in it almost every day since!

it's almost melting already!

 

(he was barking at me to throw his ball)

 

( I went in the nice warm house, but they looked TOO CUTE out my office window)

 

piper LOVES it outside, he loves running after the girls, chasing and barking like a mad man....

I love seeing the girls out there, they look so happy. brings me back some good childhood memories.

except for we had  a LOT more snow back then (upper Michigan snows)....

 

fort:

it's hard to see how cool this is, but at the top of our loft, there is a little corner where there isn't usually anything in it, so I threw blankets on the top & sides and they now have a little reading fort. they LOVE IT! they spend a lot of time just hanging out talking in there too. so glad I did this for them, you are never too old for a fort!

life.

life gets busy.

I have been trying to get ready for our home-schooling, which starts

August 15th (my choice). we want to start early, so we have more time to

go to museums, take off mental health days or sick days when we need them

and not have to worry about being in school all next summer.

I did the Week in the Life project last week and I am still trying to put that together.

I got Day 1 finished! I need more page protectors that have spots for photos so I don't have

to actually scrapbook every single page....but I am just trying to take my time and enjoy

the process again because it's been so LONG since I have scrapbooked!

some random week in the life photos:

savannah's messy bed, good thing she doesn't sleep in it!

ava still asleep in the early morning hours....so precious.

 

me having coffee and meal planning. I love doing this!

ava's cute little legs.

 

 

ava brushing her hair.

 

at the video store, we rented Diary of a Wimpy Kid...

on the morning of her 10th birthday getting birthday hugs and kisses from me.

 

 

they love to cut up AG magazines and plaster the stuff on their "dolls rooms" which is their closets.

cutting up boxes to use as desk for their dolls...

 

I was watching one of ava's videos that she made and my hubby came up to snuggle, savannah snapped

this shot! so real life.

 

see that mess of a closet? that's savannah's dolls' rooms....they like to remind me that one day,

I will miss this mess that they make every day...I think I will, so I let it go and let them be little.

we got our new MANDIE COLLECTION in the mail, the girls were THRILLED. we read this every night!

there are 5 books in each one and there are at least 5 big books..we have the first 3 now!

 

we finally got a world map and a U.S. map, this girl could stare at them all day. she LOVES maps!

and learning about the world. I see her traveling someday!

a little grainy, but that's my dog giving me saturday morning kisses, still in my jammies. I love this dog!

saturday morning coffee with my husband = my favorite day of the week.

 

look at this face, how could you ever say NO to that face?! i can't!

my 10 year old needing some snuggle time...love it.

my 11 year old playing on her ipod touch. she loves this thing!

and probably my favorite photo of the whole week, a true, happy, loving mommy moment for me...goodness sakes, I love these two with all my heart.

 

and watching some t.v. they rarely watch t.v. unless they get really tired and I turn it on to watch it with them...otherwise they are off playing dolls or on youtube or editing photos or making videos.

 

ava still LOVES to play with her horses!

 

we made time to go to the pool as a family...love this shadow shot, ava saw it and told me to snap it. that girl has an eye for photography. one day I have to do a post just of her photos. she is better than me now!

painiting her doll's room stuff!!!

and lastly, a familiy walk to the park...I love summer. I love this project, now to get it all put

together.

random.

i am extremely crabby and mad at myself today.

ate bad, didn't workout this weekend = very crabby.

when will i learn? apparently never.

in other news: i have my meals planned out for the week.

1. creamy bow tie pasta w/ chicken & broccoli (food & family)
2. lentil sausage soup(not sure from where, i had written it out)
3. pomegranate chicken w/ walnuts (rachel ray magazine)
4. bbq chicken pita pizzas
5. chicken in wine cream sauce w/ wild rice & broccoli

i am finding that planning meals on sunday for the week works really well.

michael goes to the grocery store on sunday night. then i go again on wednesday.

then he goes again on friday. it's a good system so far!

finished the book: The Help  and oh my goodness how i loved that book.

i hugged it to my chest and cried when i was done, and i don't think i could

even give my copy away to anyone. it went right on my keep shelf! there are only

a handful of books on that keeper shelf...

Hobby Lobby has all of their scrapbook albums on sale, i need about 5868949495834 of them

to get my layouts FINALLY into albums. i  said i would buy 2 every time they are on sale

and hopefully in about 10 years i will have enough!

i said i wasn't going to scrapbook this year until all my layouts are in albums. i think

i may do some of those blurb books for 2010 and 2009 instead of scrapping.

i have only scrapped some dt stuff recently and that's IT.

this girl has been giving me a run for my money. she claims to have her bag packed for new york about 2x per week. meaning = she is running away from home. seriously, go. please. (just kidding people). i don't know WHAT i would ever do without her here to challenge me, make me insane, make me cry, laugh, and love harder than i ever have in my life. i adore her.

and this one? she's doing well. she is feisty and happy at the same time. she is wearing my flannel shirt in this picture....they raid my closet for dress ups an she ended up sleeping in this shirt. looks 100% cuter on her than it does on me, that's for sure!

and here she is in a rather independant moment, having a massive bowl of cereal. yes,

that tiny little thing can eat more cereal than me! but in her defense, she doesn't have lunch until

1pm so she knows she has to eat alot to last her the whole day! from 8am til 1! crazy! she is starved.

i sometimes try to give her less cereal and give her instead an egg w/ toast and strawberries. but now

she decided she's allergic to strawberries (along with nuts, peanut butter & beef, don't ask).

and one of the ave, on our kitchen floor, in her jammies, stuffed animal tucked under

her arm, playing her ds, doesn't get any more "ave" than this!

alright friends, have a good day for me since i am being crabby and not having a good day.

i know , "happiness is a choice"....lifeiswhatyoumakeit and all that jazz. tomorrow is a new

day. i promise to be happy tomorrow. today, i want to be crabbY!

family self portrait.

i was just complaining to my friend that i don't have ANY family photos of

us since the end of 2008. that's crazy. as much as i like photography, i have

got to start setting my time more OR handing off my camera. so when

tara whitney had written on her blog about the challenge she is doing to get a family

self portrait every month for the year 2010, i thought, I am doing that too!  so

here is the first one...we were all up in my bed reading, playing ds games and talking...even

the dog (well he was up there he must have jumped down to get his ball when i set the camera up or he

followed me off the bed and hadn't jumped back up! silly)!

 i jumped up and put the camer on my bookshelf, kind of far away because i had

the 50mm lense on it, but i just left it because that's how it was and i wanted to capture

it just like the lense saw it, no cropping, just real.........

so that is februarys photo....i wish i would have done this for jan. but that's okay.

now i am aware of it and just want to do tons more family self portraits, so i may do more

than just the one per month!

edited to add some things about us right now**

• michael just started a new job at the end of jan. and loves it.
• michael has to wear a suit & tie every day now, love it!
• savannah now thinks she is allergic to strawberries, on top of beef & all nuts, peanut butter.
• savannah is a reading machine and can finish a chapter book per night
• ava is an awesome speller and even outspells savannah at most words.
• savannah joined the Battle of the Books at school and was the only one to finish all 5 books.
• both girls are addicted to electronics: ds and computer especially.
• both girls have their own blogs.
• i am working out 5 days per week and still getting nowhere, frustrating!
• the girls and i need a haircut but our person changed her phone # and we are going crazy!
• ava loves to fall asleep in our bed and have us carry her to her own bed.
• savannah loves to sleep on our floor. she started that again in jan when she had a dream.
• the dream was about the germans coming to take michael & i away (she was reading too many world war 2 books!
• i just finished the book THE HELP and loved it so much i hugged it and cried when i was done.
• i help out in AVa's class every week, mosly making copies, but ava loves when i come.
• both girls take lunches from home every day, i struggle with putting anything good in there because they never eat it!
• i have been doing meal plans on sundays and making some yummy meals! last nigh was pork loin chops w/ an orange sauce, new red potatoes w/ rosemary & roasted broccoli. my family is appreciative of my cooking and loves trying new meals. thankful for that because i make about 5 new meals per week. we aren't one of those families that rotates the same thing again & again, I am always making new stuff.
• i did 5 days of jillians 30 day shred and skipped one day so far since feb 1st. it does work as i can already see a difference, but not in the scale.
• i miss my old film camera & wish i wouldn't have given it away.
• i scrapbooked 4 pages and one mini book this weekend.

our week....

trying to just get the little bits of life captured.

a pretty non eventful week. although we did

have a birthday party at chuck e. cheese, but

i left my camera at home. i can't stand that germ

infested dirty place, but going to see matthew for

his birthday was worth it, he's such a sweetheart!

other than that, the girls painted on their day off,

we just did the usual everyday life type of thing.

have a wonderful weekend friends! click to make bigger!

 

painting.

my girls love when we have a painting day.

they ask to do it often. especially when we have

a day off such as we did yesterday. i am so not

creative,  but they like me to paint a picture too.

i set up the timer to capture us having fun.

i hope they never get too old for art time with mama.

click on picture to make bigger, may need to click again also. 

February Goals List:

• 30 Day Shred dvd by Jillian Michaels--Do Daily
• LA Fitness 4-5 days per week
• do a family portrait (set timer or ask someone to take)
• read 2-4 books (The Help, The Secret Life of CeeCee Wilkes, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming)
• call for Dr. and Dental visits for all of us.
• Make Ava's first grade mini book
• Read the bible every day (try to complete one of my bible study books)
• back up all photos from 2009.
• special person of the month *will explain this one*

I think that is all I have on my list for now. it's do-able right?!

my special person idea is: once a month I pick one person that i love and want to honor.

I write them a letter and send them some goodies that I think they will like. it doesn't have to

be their birthday or anything, it is just "because". although the first person I chose for this was

my sister in law jeannie and it happened to be her birthday, so it was a bonus.

what are your goals and challenges for this month? this week? this day?

share with me! I love having inspiration!

saturday

i was gone for the day with el.

my girls were instruced to take pictures

with my camera of their day, so i could

see what they did. they decided to put on a

"runway" show. (my girls are not allowed to

think of modeling as a career for themselves...EVER)>

it looks like they had fun though. it was so fun for me to come home to almost 100 pictures

to look at. i think i will let them use my camera more often. trying to make a list of goals

for the month of february like Daily Pleasures  did. love it! so far, i have :

1. jillians 30 day shred dvd. did day 1 today and i am already sore. back with my list later! thanks for the inspiration Amy!