And To All, A Good Night

Merry Christmas, y'all. I hope yours is full of meaning, love, good food and good company. Catch you in 2010!

Beginning To Look A Little Like Christmas

The girls and I are working on some Christmas cheer around here.

Who loves helping mom?

And who's here for the sugar?

Showing off their masterpieces:

I wanted to come up with a gift for Abbey's friends that she could actually help me make. Ashley from lil blue boo came through again (I love her blog!) We made almost 40 bean bags for Abs' buddies out of fabric scraps and food storage :)

Now off to bake/wrap/snuggle/deliver/sew/assemble some more Christmas goodness. This holiday is a lot of work!

(random pictures; i just can't get enough of this mug)

A Pretty Chloe Monday

Sorry, family. You get a repeat. My cousin posted this the other day, and I begged and 'pretty-pleased' her into letting me use it for Pretty Monday. I can't believe we missed living by Ms. Chloe by just a couple weeks. I have a feeling she and Abbey could rule the world together.

Fashion Tips from Chloe

1. Every occasion calls for a crown.
2. You can never have too many patterns.
3. Never leave the house without a scarf . . . even in the summer.
4. If you can't wear a boa, wear a bow.
5. Only buy shoes that sparkle.
6. Every outfit can be improved by adding a princess dress on top of it.
7. Don't wipe spagetti sauce off your face. It makes you seem more down-to-earth.

And you're welcome.

(Here Chloe demonstrates proper attire for taking your older brother to school.)


*thanks melissa*

It's Just Better Homemade

A few months ago I randomly got two requests for crocheted flowers in the same week. Nicole wanted some clips for her sweet Bridget and Tristie wanted yarn ones to go on her sweet beanies. In return? Perfect matching Halloween bags from Nicole, and to-die-for handmade beanies from Tristie. Not a bad reason to bring the ol' crochet hooks out of storage.

I started this hobby last Christmas when J's mom saw me looking at crocheted flowers on etsy. {My cousin, Jen, sent me some attached to hair clips for Abbey when Hayden was born, and I was smitten; I had never seen anything like it.} My mother-in-law can figure out anything crafty and by that afternoon, she was showing me how to make them myself.

I love working with my hands on stuff like this. My New Year's goal is to learn how to knit, I know I would really enjoy that. People here think I'm odd. I stay at home, I sew, I crochet, I grind my own wheat (that one really got them!) I was finishing up a flower at my friend's house on Sunday and she said I'm the oldest 26 year old she's ever met :) But I just can't think of many things more charming than something knit with love.

Tristie wrote me a sweet note when she sent the beanies and said she loved thinking of my girls as she made them. And every time I put them on, I think of that and her. You just don't get the love feelings with an Old Navy hat.



So it's been a while since the kids have had the lens stuck in their faces. They didn't know what to do with it. Here's pretty much what I was getting this morning:

And my personal favorite:

The Paparazzi

I found this on my memory card. J really likes the telephoto lens. And I wasn't aware it was being taken. And I'm glad my stalker's good lookin'. And I think Abbey totally looks like a celebrity's kid in this picture.

And I really hope I don't always look that angry and intense.

Thanks Dude

I'm noticing a trend. For the last 4 out of 5 Thanksgivings, we have been miles away from family and enjoying a feast with dear friends. Turns out we have picked up some pretty awesome ones along the way.

Last week we headed down to the Lifferths, some of our favorite friends from college. We had a beautiful dinner at Alanna's mother's house who quickly made us feel part of the family. She had two of her good friends there as well. Friends that over time have most definitely become family.

Over the next year, my family will just become more spread apart. It's hard. More and more I want all my siblings to leave their adventures and move home. But it was so good for me to see the Kiel family and their loved ones. Alanna's mom's friend watched the girls so we could eat, carried on easy conversation, then kissed me goodbye as we left. It was nice to see the familiarity and love between these women.

:: other highlights ::

-the coolest (albeit dimly lit) children's museum. And the sweetest, most endearing Santa I've ever seen. Seriously, how great does he look?

-lovin' on each other's kids. If you love your friends, I suppose it's natural to love their offspring. Hayden spent more time snuggling with Alanna and I ended up with more pictures of Keira than my own girls. And no kid can resist Randy.

-keeping our kids up all day then leaving them with a babysitter to go out to eat just as they're about to lose it :) That was brutal, but I think they crashed pretty early for her.

-introducing Randy and Alanna to Modern Family--have you caught that show yet? Love it.

-and, of course, global domination! What trip with the Lifferths would be complete without it?



J always intimidates me out of Australia and I flounder around Europe. Yeah, he took me out pretty early in the game. Blast his power of persuasion! But Randall gets to have the bragging rights until we meet around the map again!

Monday, Monday

I Love My Job

Lately I've been loving this mothering gig. (Up until this morning when Abbey told me for the first time that she hated me. That stung a bit.) I love the phases they are both in right now. Abbey's mind is exploding. I think I would be amazed at her capabilities if I fostered it a little more. I've kept this drawing for weeks now:

It's true, it is the thing that nightmares are made of. And this image has haunted me, I'll admit. But I couldn't throw it away until I scanned it into the computer, I love it for some reason.

She was really sick the past week and her voice was quite raspy and high pitched. It was kind-of nice to snuggle all day with her and watch movies. That night at dinner, she was saying the prayer. In her squeaky voice, she said "Thank you, Heavenly Father, for letting us watch movies all day. You. (dramatic pause) Are. (dramatic pause) Awesome!"


Hayden is getting in on the snuggling lately as well. She wakes up around 5 am, I grab her some milk, and she falls back asleep in my bed. But she isn't content unless she is snuggled up in the crook of my arm. It makes me so happy.

She is a BULLY. She really loves to grab our faces. Hard. She almost made a grown man cry last night (I'm not naming any names...) It's completely unprovoked and random, so it's hard to stop. But she still gets in a lot of trouble.

So a few days ago, I was struggling with the squirmy thing to get her arms through her shirt. I said "Hayden! Push!" She stopped moving and looked right in my eyes. Then smiled and shoved me with both arms. This life can be confusing for a little person.

School Rules

I may need help from you on Pretty Mondays. It was my turn for preschool the last two weeks and now we probably have the flu floating around (not necessarily the cause of the other). So between playing catchup and trying to keep hands washed and cups separate, there really is nothing pretty to see around here. So wanna see what preschool was about last week?

The letter was 'H'. The theme was 'Houses'. The kids are awesome, I had such a great time, thanks to my incredible mom's perfect ideas.

The welcome exercises we do every day are so cute. We recognize everyone who is there and sing a song about their name. Then they each come and open their bus window and velcro their name to the front board. We sing about the day of the week and the weather then 'dress' our Bernstein Bears for whatever the weather is that day.

They are getting close to learning the pledge and they love singing 'You're a Grand Old Flag' and marching around the house behind the flag leader.

I found this idea in the "Teach Me, Mommy" book. I made each of them a house, with five or six pages behind for each room of the house. Then I drew furniture for each room and they colored and cut which ones they wanted in their 'house'.

We built houses for snack time as well. Sometimes they surprise me with their creativity.

The best part! Have you read 'The Mitten' by Jan Brett? It's about this mitten that gets lost in the snow and all the forest animals squeeze in to keep warm. It holds for the mole, rabbit, badger, fox, bear, etc. but explodes when the last little mouse makes the bear sneeze. So I made my own, giant, spandex mitten! They LOVED it. They'd each pick what animal they wanted to be then look through the book to see who got to go in first.

I knew moving here that I wanted to find a group of moms to do a preschool rotation. I happened to talk to just the right person at church who had done this before and was interested in doing it again with her youngest. She found the other moms, got us organized, and had great ideas to keep things consistent for the kids. All the moms are as excited about it as I am and I'm so happy to be a part of it. Abbey is learning things so quickly and also learning respect and invaluable social skills. Love it. And love that I don't have to do it again for eight weeks, ha!

Sensible Splurges

Do you use google reader to read blogs? There's a box on the right side that randomly shows 'recommended' blogs. I'd never paid attention before until sometime this summer I noticed my cousins' collaborative cooking blog featured. I was intrigued and wondered how a blog gets 'featured', so clicked on the next one in the list. How adorable is she? The latest post happened to be on estate sales and I fell in love with the milk glass she found. And I JUST realized that I ended up finding the exact same one, ha ha! Anyway, J has always loved garage sales and would usually just take Abbey because I wasn't that interested. Well, after seeing Leslie's post, I got interested! Plus I knew it would be something great to do together. The man seriously loves to find a deal. Let me show you a little sample of some of the pretties I found this summer:

It occurred to me that I could find framed prints, preferably in odd sizes, and have my own pictures printed to go in the frame. (found this one for $3) A few times I've been nervous as I'm taking out (and likely throwing away) prints that have certificates of authenticity on the back. I really hope I don't find out they were precious works of art some day. Although, I really doubt it. Who's Andy Warhol?

:)

One day, my friend Melody, (who I unreservedly trust with any design decision) mentioned I should find some sea glass for my bathroom. It's so funny how once you get an idea in your head, all of a sudden, you realize a lot of garage sales have them! I found the three matching ones from a woman whose mother got them as a wedding present. I felt bad she didn't find that sentimental, but I did! Even if it's someone else's mother :) And it's the perfect place to keep my wedding ring--I was always misplacing it when I didn't have a designated spot. Then the second and fourth one I bought from a woman who blows glass herself and sells them at art festivals. She was just getting rid of inventory and I was happy to take it off her hands (along with some bright green pieces that look great in my bathroom!)

Remember the chairs? Remember how I had grand plans of fun color schemes? The man at Sherwin Williams squashed the dream. I already had a gallon of paint and thought I could split it into quarts and have them tinted different colors. The guy was quite abrasive and condescending and I can't describe the confrontation very well, but I felt really stupid and really pressured to make a decision and ended up tinting the entire gallon 'spa' blue. I used a little over a quart for the piano... So... Two little chairs are blue now. One black. Two red. They look cute together. And SO cute with my preschoolers sitting in a row (who DO fight for the red ones, Melissa! You nailed it.)

the day j found the chairs (I think all 5 for $5) was the day he found:
abbey's first mac
($10!)

J mostly keeps an eye out for toys for the kids. Then his favorite thing to do is to come home and look up the retail prices online.

I've also been keeping my eye out for fun dishes to use at parties. Found a set of these cute plates and saucers for a few dollars.

I also have plans to do an Alice in Wonderland tea party for the girls' birthdays this spring. So I've been spotting fun tea sets for that. I hope their little boy friends (boy friends, not boyfriends) don't mind the seriously girly theme.

And then I love just finding random little things like this for a quarter. Don't you think that would be cute, filled with fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies as a thank you gift?

That's just the start. I'll do a whole other post on the stuff J found for the girls' room.

Does this all make me seem cheap? Tacky? I used to hate garage sales, I felt yucky. Recently a friend told me how her husband doesn't like to buy things on sale because it makes him feel cheap. I'm so opposite now. It is a thrill for me to find a great deal on something I adore. So maybe I shouldn't be announcing my cheapness or excitingly telling someone how cheap I found my girls' clothes. It's a compulsion.

A Pretty Picnic

The girls and I hit the road after church yesterday and spent the afternoon in the shadows of the Kirtland temple. It was a bit of a drive and there were a few reasons not to go, but one big reason to make sure it happened.

My little sis was visiting her in-laws for the weekend. The last few weeks have been a drastic mix of emotions for the Furniss clan and I think we all are feeling a strong need to be together. And I needed to see she was ok. This girl is incredible. I am completely amazed at her strength and maturity. Oh, it felt good to be with family. Thanks, Mom Riley, for spotting me some toll booth cash to get home :) It was a pleasure to spend the day with you guys.


Happy Pretty Monday

Something Wicked This Way Comes

That's Galinda with a 'guh'!
How awesome of a mom would I be if I actually dyed Hayden green?

I promised them a little sugar if they let me take pictures of them in their costumes. As we were walking downtown to find a spot, Abbey picked this cute cupcakery. In the meantime, a lady thought the girls were adorable (and who doesn't, really?) and gave us free smoothies at her shop. But I did promise a cupcake. And one that matched her outfit. I'm ready for this diabetes-inducing week to be done :) At least the sugar part.

My cousin, Nicole, made the girls trick-or-treat bags that go perfectly with their costumes. I'll have to post about my side of the bargain later. It made me feel better about not putting much of an effort into their costumes this year.

Happy Halloween, Y'all!

My Sherwin Williams 'Spa' Piano

I've met a little resistance with this project. Apparently it is blasphemous to paint over wood furniture. And when I told people I was painting my piano blue, well, I mostly got confused looks. But here's the thing. My Craigs List piano had carvings in it from the previous owner's grandkids that needed to be sanded out anyway. And one day I'll have a beautiful baby grand in my acoustically sound music room {that will be sound proof when the french doors are closed} :) For now, I have a piano that I paid less for than the paint it took to cover it.

And I LOVE it!

I haven't had a piano for nine years, so the only music I have is violin accompaniments. But I am so happy to have music playing in my house. It does good things to my heart.

Ashley's Institute of Music is now open!
I love this corner of my house.

Monday Pretties

Is it Monday? Did I promise something pretty every Monday? Whoo...well. I meant to write about these pics a while ago and since they are indeed, pretty, they will work for today.

Behold the Mexico Dresses:

J haggled for these in a little flea market in Cancun on our honeymoon. Yes, our honeymoon. He told me he eventually wanted little blond haired, blue-eyed girls. I (the brunette) told him (the dark, handsome one), "Good luck!"

The man gets what he wants. And six years later, both the (blond) girls fit into them perfectly.

PS: it's your turn next week! Look for something pretty in your space! Then email me at ashpace@gmail.com