color my world valentines and a giveaway

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Valentine’s Day is this week, and while I feel it is a bit of an over rated holiday (we SHOULD love our loved ones EVERYDAY) I still decorate for it and get excited about it.

More for my kiddos than anything else.

I wanted to go ALL OUT for Reece’s first Valentine’s party at preschool when he was 3, but held back because he was only in preschool.

Not to mention, I was an exhausted mom of a 3-1/2 and 1-1/2 year old and could only handle buying what was cheapest at the dollar store (is there such a thing?!) and MAYBE sign his name.

Last year, same story different year.

Although, I think I made HIM sign his name.

This year, I decided to do something fun!

Around here we are fans of maps and color, so I decided to combine the two…

valentines

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I found these adorable crayon packages at Target…

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Tear pages out of the atlas.

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Cut out heart shapes…about 6″ large.

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Glue a crayon pack onto one side of the heart.

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Write “You color my world, friend!” on the other side.

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Sign your name.

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Share the love!

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and a giveaway

In the same section of Target where I found the awesome packs of crayons I also found the fun felted heart garland.

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I swore that I could and would make something like it on my own, but gave in and bought TWO for our house.

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Then, I went back and bought one more…for one of you!

I know you won’t get it in time for Valentines Day, but this is something I may keep up in my house year round!

And, you can too!

To enter leave an answer to the following question as a comment:

What are your plans for Valentines Day?

Deadline is Wednesday, February 13th at 9pm Pacific.

Winner will be announced on Thursday, February 14th!

home is…sharing the love.

a beautiful day

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Yesterday we took a trip up to the mountain where the sun was shining.

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Reece got up on skis for the third year in a row!

We’re ready to hand him off to some instructors next time so he can really learn, but I think he is doing awesome.

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Lorelai  wasn’t ready to start skiing, but she had fun playing in the snow and making a fashion statement.

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Don’t be surprised if you start to see tutu’s over ski pants all over the slopes!

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She liked spinning, not skiing.

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Both of them liked throwing snowballs.

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It was a beautiful day!

home is…lots of smiles.

{hello friday} 2.8.2013

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Where did the week go?!

We spent ours…

drawing and writing: the kids love to make books. Reece draws the pictures and then sounds out the words to write what the picture is about. It is amazing to see him learning so much! Lorelai mimics her brother and likes to draw “naughty scribbles”.

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cleaning: Inside and out. Ryan cleaned up the yard last Sunday. The kids and I cleaned out their playhouse…the stinkbugs had taken up winter residence in there!

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thrifting: Treasure hunting for the shop. Treasure hunting for us. Enjoying a solo morning thrift while the kids were in school.

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playing: The kids absolutely LOVE all of the vintage Fisher Price toys I have collected.

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creating: New items for the shop and for our home. It fuels my soul to create.

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savoring: Moments like these. Holding little hands will only last for so long. I cherish every moment.

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trying new things: Sewing a doorway puppet theater. This was my second attempt (the first one was tossed because the striped fabric was going to give me a migraine). The third attempt turned out much better…after we added a second tension rod at the bottom of the “stage”.

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building: I bought a bunch of cups at Costco. Reece just started stacking…and stacking…and stacking. They played with these for hours…together…not squabbling (who doesn’t love Charlie and Lola?!).

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home is…a weeks worth of activities.

west elm spring social and paper flowers

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If you’ve followed my blog for a while you know I love flowers.

I’ve made button flowers, love sunflowers, have made rose hairclips, and, most recently, made paper flowers for Lorelai’s room.

So, this event at West Elm is right up my alley…

we-spring socialIf you are local in Portland you can attend this event at their store in the Brewery Blocks:

1201 NW Couch Street
(Corner Of Couch St. And 12th Ave)
Portland, OR 97209

I love their new collection of paper flowers…

Detailed View

Paper Flowers - Hellebore

Paper Flowers - Quince

Detailed View

home is…flowers, flowers, and more flowers!

saying no

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This morning we were supposed to board a plane and head to Colorado to visit my family.

Ryan suggested the idea and I came up with the plan.

He has a meeting in California over the weekend, so we figured that the kids and I could go to Denver and visit family.

We would go for a long weekend and attend the National Western Stock Show & Rodeo just like my sister and I used to when we were little.

We would visit with family and friends we haven’t seen in months.

I even printed out all the addresses for the Goodwill’s and other thrift stores in Denver.

It was all planned.

We were checked in for our flight.

And, it just didn’t feel right.

As much as I wanted to go all the signs were telling me that it just wasn’t right.

Lorelai has been sick, the weather was calling for freezing rain right when we were supposed to head to the airport, my body was losing the battle against the unending barrage of germs that it has been fighting off since the holidays, and I was not looking forward to flying through Seattle to get to Denver by myself with the two kiddos.

Yesterday afternoon I called my mom and let her know that we were planning to come, but would keep an eye on the weather…there might be flight delays.

Within minutes of getting off the phone Lorelai threw up in the kitchen. I’m pretty sure it was caused by a coughing fit, but that was the last sign I needed.

I cried, I thought, and I finally decided that we couldn’t go.

Ryan got on the phone with the airlines and canceled our tickets.

I called my mom and let her know we wouldn’t be coming.

The last two times I have visited Colorado I have been sick.

March 2010, we visited for Spring Break. While we had a wonderful time when we were there, I was fighting a cold the entire visit and ended up with walking pneumonia when we got back.

Thanksgiving 2011, I had Laryngitis the entire time. And, Lorelai was sick both times.

I decided to say no.

No to myself.

No to the plans I had made.

No to traveling alone with the kids while we are not feeling well.

I was afraid of disappointing everybody…my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, aunts and uncles, cousins, my niece, and Reece & Lorelai.

But, I had to say no.

home is…taking care of my family.

challenged

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He challenges me everyday.

He also loves a challenge.

He asked us for his own chalk bag and harness.

He also says he wants to be a rock climber when he grows up.

I’m pretty sure he already is.

home is…being challenged.