Nesting...

... Is the best pregnancy symptom. I've been feeling it big time with the holidays being over. There's a lot to get ready for the baby and school in the next 12 WEEKS! Where does the time go? With all of the nesting going on, I've been noticing how much clutter we have. Most of the visible places look fine but open a cupboard, closet, or unused room and it tells a different story.

Then yesterday, I saw this blog challenging to declutter 52 things in 52 weeks in 2014. Like I said, there's some serious nesting going on here. But really, I think it's a great idea. I love the idea of keeping things simple and getting rid of all the unnecessary JUNK that we don't use.

There are 2 things I think are key to decluttering:

1. Everything needs to have a place to be. I don't mean just thrown in a junk drawer or empty bedroom but a legitimate, organized spot where it belongs. 
2. If it doesn't have a place, then you either make one or GET RID of it.

So this is my plan for this year. I hope to end the year with a lot less clutter, and a lot more peace.

To start, this week I decluttered the papers on the fridge. It's amazing how cleaning such a small area can make such a huge difference in how the room feels.

I mentioned unused rooms... Well the next pictures are just a little embarrassing... It's basically a vacuum for all of the stuff I don't want to get rid of or needed a place to throw it, I mean store it.

Can you say hoarder? And there's MORE around the corner! Dont't worry. I have a plan. I'm only keeping what will fit in this closet. And it's going to be super organized!

Happy 2014!

The Final Countdown

December 15: We went to the family Christmas party. They have the kids dress up for a nativity scene while the Christmas story is read. Talon did not want to dress up as the shepherd but he eventually decided he could wear the headband to be like Kung Fu Panda.

December 16: We watched The Polar Express.

December 17: Talon wore the Christmas shirt he made. He's pretty proud of it .

December 18: We attempted to make jigglers. I don't thing I had the right amount of water because they didn't work at all. It didn't stop us from eating them though!

December 19: We made marshmallow snowmen!!! I learned that if you overheat chocolate it becomes a huge clump but if you put it in a cold bowl and mix in some cold pieces of chocolate and keep stirring, it becomes melted again. Pretty cool! Talon had fun putting the little snowmen together. My favorite is the one that has 4 or 5 arms with some coming out of its head. Don't you just love that chocolatey smile?

December 20: We wrote a letter to Santa and Talon drew a picture. He came up with what he wanted all on his own. :)

December 21: We had reindeer pancakes! Of course it needed "brows". :)

December 22: Flaming snowballs! What could be better than ice cream and fire! You just put a sugar cube soaked in lemon extract on top and light it up.

December 23: Ginger bread houses. The best part was how excited talon was when we built a house out of graham crackers. "Wow, that's cool!"

December 24:  Rice Krispie treats. Marshmallows + ANYTHING = happy boy :) 

It was so much fun to have something for this boy to look forward to every day. We would get home and Talon would always ask about his sock tree so we could see what it says. I can't wait until next year when he has a little brother to join in the excitement.

Christmas Week #2

December 8: We made sugar cookies! Talon loved cutting out cookies shaped like snowmen and "ginger men".

December 9: We read a Christmas book.

December 10: We made s'mores over the stove. We tried the fireplace but the wood was too wet. The boys still had fun lighting it though. I love this picture of the two of them.

December 11: We made popcorn. This is one of Talon's favorite things to do and asks to make it every time we go over to grandma and grandpa's. He had to shake his bowl just like grandpa does.

December 12: Talon went over to Grandma's Christmas party for the grand kids. They all come over and make treats and play games. Talon had so much fun! Thanks Grandma Peggy!

December 13: We went and saw the Christmas lights. There's a house that goes all out with Christmas lights every year. They have cut outs of hundreds of cartoon characters. The city also does lights. Talon  's eyes lit up with excitement when he first saw them. That's the best part. :)

December 14: Talon made a reindeer shirt with his handprint. He doesn't like to get his hands dirty but I think he liked it in the end.

Christmas Week #1

We had a fun first week of December! Talon loves to take the little sock off of the tree each day and unroll the paper to see what he gets to do. He'll say "Let's see what it says Mom."

So here's what we did this week.

December 1: We made Christmas candles out of toilet paper rolls and pipe cleaners.

December 2: We drank hot chocolate with marshmallows. Talon wanted cold chocolate. Anytime we eat something he says "Make it cold Mom."

December 3: We colored a Christmas picture. It's no surprise that he chose one with Mickey and Minnie.

December 4: We cut out paper snowflakes. Talon loved to unfold the paper and see a cool snowflake.

December 5: We made a Christmas star for our Christmas trees. Talon picked out the blue yarn for his star.

December 6: We bought a present for Dad and put it under the tree. Talon did a good job picking but I can't say what it is yet. It's not very easy to surprise this boy's dad.

December 7: We made play dough and made snowmen, stars and snakes. This was by far the funnest one for Talon. He sat there for at least an hour smashing the snowmen and rolling out snakes that were "too big" and "too little". That's an eternity for a 2 year old!

 

This was the smile he gave me right before saying "No more pictures Mom!"

 

Disclaimer: As the week went on, the dates really match the day we drew the paper from the sock, not necessarily the day we did the activity. I've learned that its more fun for Talon and less chance of procrastinating it if I have the things we need ready as soon as we draw the paper from the sock. We'll do better at that this week now that we're all caught up. :)

Christmas Countdown

This December, I wanted to start an advent calendar tradition. I wanted it to be super original and be a way to make fun memories with my kids during the Christmas season. So, I looked on Pinterest and saw one that used baby socks hung up like stockings with clothes pins. This one had them all in a row, but I thought that it would be fun to have them pinned to a Christmas tree. 

We have little fake pine trees decorating our family room so that part was easy. I already had the clothes pins and paper so I decorated those with a number for each day leading up to Christmas. Thanks to my mother-in-law who cut out the paper! I love how they turned out. (Sorry the pictures are kind of blurry).

The hardest part was finding baby socks! You would think that with Christmas right around the corner it would be a cinch to find Christmas baby socks, but it turned out to be impossible. I was super excited to find some online a week ago, but apparently no one makes them anymore and my order was cancelled. I finally went to the dollar store and found some little boy socks for a good price and I will keep looking for Christmas socks for next year. I'm sure I can find a use for all of these socks soon!

One thing that makes this advent calendar extra special is that in each sock is a piece of paper that says something fun we will do that day... This is the memory part of it. I have to give credit to my sister for that idea. :) 

I won't give away what's inside yet because that would kill the surprise. You'll just have to wait and see!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! I have so much to be grateful for this year. I have an incredible husband who is such a great father. A sweet little boy who wants to be just like his daddy and loves to give hugs and kisses. Another baby boy on the way that we can't wait to meet. Wonderful family members who encourage and support me in all that I do. Awesome in-laws that I get to live so close to. Our jobs, home, and friends. And... this awesome blogging app I just downloaded that is going to make blogging so much nicer! 

We had a wonderful dinner at Josh's parents house and a few of his siblings and their families. It's fun to get together with them. Talon's favorite things were the rolls, olives, jigglers and cheesecake. He would not touch the stuffing. We'll have to work on that one.

Blogging again

It's been a while, but I've decided to start blogging again. I didn't stop for any specific reason... I just didn't feel like blogging/didn't have a lot to blog about. There's only so many posts I can have about the dogs digging out or about teaching and I'm sure that gets pretty old to read. :) 

The most exciting thing that has happened in the last 5 months is that we found out we are expecting a BABY BOY in the spring! As you can tell from the picture, he's pretty excited about it too. Talon can't wait to be a big brother. He loves babies so it will be fun to see how he is with a baby brother. He suggested the name Nickel Claw but we'll keep our options open.:)

This pregnancy has gone much faster than the last one. I can't believe we're already halfway there! I keep waiting for the nesting symptom to kick in so I can start getting things ready. We already have TONS of boy clothes from Talon so maybe that's why I'm not so anxious this time around.

Birthday Boy!

This 2 year old...




Mickey and Minnie Mouse ... and some "Boom Boom" Trees.

Weighs 34 pounds and stand 3 feet tall EXACT.

Can say all his ABC's (big and small), 123's, colors and shapes. You love learning!

Says any word we ask him to say, but chooses to say "Braga" instead of "Grandma".

Loves to give and get kisses all the time.

LOVES Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.

Is a daddy's boy and loves to do whatever he's doing, especially Angry Birds.



Sorry this one's blurry... hard to catch him when he's on the move!

Is so energetic and positive: When you fall, you always laugh and get right back up. When someone is sad, you give them a kiss/pat on the back to cheer them up.

RUNS and never stops and reminds me to not forget to have fun.

Loves to sing, play the piano, guitar and drums.

I could go on and on. I'm so lucky to be this boy's mom. How awesome is it to be able to love and help and learn from such a cute person all the time. Happy 2nd birthday!!!




Cheesy smile... I can't get him to smile any different for pictures :) Love it!



Love my job!

This school year has just zoomed by! So many thoughts keep zooming around in my head about everything that has happened, everything that I've learned in the past year.  I keep writing things and deleting them just as quick because I'm not sure what to pinpoint here, but I do know I have a lot to be thankful for.

For as long as I can remember, I would count down the days until the end of school. This usually started right around Christmas. That second half of the school year would drag on and on until I was finally free! Not this year. I LOVE my job. I love my students. I love love love love love it!!

I am exactly where I am meant to be. This is where I'm supposed to learn about who I should be. I'm not even close to being the loving, patient teacher (and person) that I should be but I am confident this school is where I will learn that.

A few things I've learned from students...

• Everyone needs love. It's such an obvious idea, but believe it or not, not everybody feels love from their family on a daily or even monthly basis. Everyone needs a place to go where they know people care about them. I love that my school does just that. I get it now so I'm working on it.

• Time is worth everything. If you can stop whatever it is you are doing to help someone with whatever they need, it shows them that they are important to you and it transforms a relationship. This is true for any relationship: student/teacher, husband/wife, parent/child. I have a habit of keeping myself busy and always trying to do a million things at once to get everything done. My best days are when I can stop, breathe, and be there.

• Have fun!!!!! For some reason this one is hard from me. It comes from always being a workaholic. That is fun for me. I get joy out of making lists and checking them off. Math can be a lot like that so I guess my definition of fun doesn't quite match the definition my students have. I laugh a lot with them and joke around, but I could definitely be better at that.

7 more days of school... I so look forward to summer where I can spend every day, all day with my boy. I am so lucky to have a job that allows me to work hard for about 9 months and have a couple months off. The to do lists have already begun. :)

Before and After

When we got our fish tank it came with a nice sturdy table. The only problem was that it reeked of cigarette smoke. There was no way we would get the smell out so we made use of a small sofa table that we had.

It was definitely not sturdy enough to hold 50 gallons of water and a tank, so Josh cut out some boards to help support it... Not to mention I measured wrong so he had to slide cardboard underneath the boards to get the right height.

There are also a TON of wires associated with a fish tank. Who knew??

Well, long story short: it was an UGLY mess! 

You can see half the mess in this picture.

 So, (in all my craftiness) I MADE a dust ruffle... from scratch... with no pattern (and just a little bit of online help)!  I know, I'm surprised how well it turned out too. :)

It's such a small thing, but made such a huge difference in the room.