anthropology wanna-be

with the mirrors that we had lying around,

a couple i picked up at hobby lobby and the local antique shop,

i attempted to create a mirror collage

in the dining room

bless my husband's heart for all

the measuring, drilling, and hammering he did

it's not perfect by any means

but i like it that way

blah

it is cloudy today.  this is day, I don't know, maybe 10 of no sun, cold, slushy, foggy cloudiness. 

i feel blah!

what do i do with this feeling?

sit at the computer and look for color, beautiful, inspiring pictures...

eye candy

that'll fix this nasty feeling i have.

i want to re-do my master bedroom.  something in whites and blues.

calm, peaceful, clean.

with a little heather bailey beauty.

fresh... a pop of green.

and i have always wanted to do a mirror collage

in my dining room but wasn't sure to even begin.

on a whim, i searched anthropolgy yesterday

and found some inspiration.

now to just find the energy to get started.

i'm cleaning out

re-doing

purging

and freshening up

my home.

my baby's out of the crib

we had a couple extra kids for a week or so.  the littles had tons and tons of fun together.  you know the kids that you have over and it's almost no work because they all just play so well together?  no fights that you have to step in and referee.  it's.... nice.

all five of the kids played together, including little margo.  with school out of session and no schedule to worry about, sleep schedules were off the wall.  the kids were never in bed before 10... including little bit.  so what happens to a two year old who doesn't go to bed until after 10?  she sleep until lunchtime!

so with schedules so messed up, it was the perfect time to break down the crib (sniff, sniff) and put up her beautiful big girl bed that was found at an antique store and painted white by daddy.

i bought the bedding months ago through craig's list.  somebody had bought it at pottery barn and changed their minds.

the girls were all very excited.  actually, mere was jealous... she wants an old bed, too!

ignore the binky...please.

so after all the pink and brown and lots of white... is it just the middle of winter "spring fever" i'm feeling, or does the room need some color?

so we painted a dresser.  margo and i.

she was so proud of herself.  she did some drawers and then i gave her the extra special job of painting the back of the dresser.

i have yet to buy the glass knobs that go on the front.  target is out and i haven't made it to home depot. 

so after the dresser, i think i went a little crazy.  i painted a picture frame, mirror frame, decoupaged some letters, added fabric to a loom.  and i'm a little concerned i did too much.

i want the room to be a little funky and fun.

i thought it'd be fun to have the mirror be where margo could see herself. 

regardless, she likes it.  i still need to touch up the walls, change the baseboards and paint the trim.

overall, i like it.  it's a happy room.

and margo's been sleeping like (sniff) a baby in it.  even though, she isn't anymore.

she tells everyone that she's a "big girl now."

snowed in

the kids have had about three weeks off from school.  they were supposed to go back for the first time tomorrow.  as of now, we are experiencing blizzard conditions and are expected to have -20 to -30 wind chills.  so much for school.  so much for a clean house, a schedule, catching up on sewing or any other home project.  everything's on the back burner for now.

and you know what?

i'm kind of enjoying it.

while most moms are pulling out their hair and cursing mother nature, i've kind of enjoyed having my kids around, being forced to "slow down" because, this is like snowstorm number,

 i don't know, 4(?) since they've been on "break." 

we took down christmas decorations the day after and immediately put up valentine ones.  people have teased me. i think i'm just on a roll.  it starts with halloween, you take those down and then it's thanksgiving, clean up from that to decorate for christmas, and then... i need another "celebration." 

surely holidays aren't over.  valentine's day is right around the corner, so i decorate.

nothing big... just subtle decor.  a banner, some red candles, a hurricane of conversation hearts.

and since we are snowed in, we've done some valentine crafting.  the kids did a word search today.

we've made several batches of these.  and i bought a bunch of wooden hearts that the kids painted today.

i also continued the boredom busters that i used this summer and did one for the next couple of days.

the kids love to run over and check the list for fun things to do.

i just type up a list of things that they enjoy:

color, read a book, watch a movie, eat a healthy snack, do a word search,

do a dot-to-dot, have a fashion show, bake cookies, go on a scavenger hunt, etc.

the scavenger hunt was a blast for them.  i just typed up a list of random things for them to find around the house: paperclip, gray sock, pink crayon, webkinz, marble

i had them meet with their partner, come up with a team name, estimate the time it would take them to complete the "hunt" and look over the list.  they had a blast and were so dang cute doing it.

i'm finding that it doesn't take a lot of money to create great memories for these kiddos,

thank goodness.