Back at Christmastime, I was shopping for my kids and became incredibly discouraged to find so many cheaply made but expensive toys. I know, I should not be surprised by this anymore. After doing a lot of searching in stores and online for a well-made but not $300 dollhouse for my daughter, I gave up. I asked my hubby if he thought that maybe he could make one and I gave him some inspiration photos of ones I’d found online but, again, didn’t want to spend $300 on.

He said yes. Yes!

We went to the store to get the wood for it and spent a whopping $27. I can’t get a “cool” plastic piece of junk toy that was made in China for that at Target. I was a happy mama.

Then I did something that I never ever ever do and I didn’t boss hubby around on the project. I let him do it all himself without saying “oh, do it this way! Make more rooms! Make less rooms! Put stairs in! Put windows in!” I let him hide away in the shed and build his daughter a dollhouse. With the wood we bought, a scrap piece of beaded board we already had for the back and two small cans of oops paint for $2, we surprised our little girl with something she had no idea she even wanted but instantly fell in love with.

I don’t have a step-by-step tutorial and I do know that more went into it than just slapping wood together. I am trying to talk hubby into making another one so I can detail the process. And then he can sell it for $300.

The best part is that when she outgrows the dollhouse part, it can just be a bookshelf. We hope she gets many years of use out of it!

We recently started to do something new each night around the dinner table. The kids are still young and we all eat dinner together every night, just as I did when I was growing up at home with my parents. It’s important to me that no matter if someone has a busy schedule or the kids don’t like what I made that we still all sit together as a family and for that sliver of the day, spend that time to come together away from the crazy of it all to be in the same space to listen and to share.

In an effort to make the moments at the table a little bit less about whining about what is in the dinner I made that picky mouths don’t like and a little more about family time, I started asking my kids, “what was the best thing about your day today?” And they loved sharing little things that I might not otherwise have heard about – “My best friend laughed at my joke at lunch!” or “When you jumped on the hay bales with me!”

One evening, my question was answered with silence. My daughter couldn’t think of anything, but she did say “I can tell you the worst thing that happened to me today!” and she told us about the boy a grade above her in school who pointed and laughed at her in the lunchroom the day after the 49ers vs. Giants game when she wore her 49ers shirt to school in an effort to show she loves her team even when they lose. Tears came to her eyes as she recounted the older boy mocking her.

We talked about it, about how mean people can be. About how we love ourselves no matter what anyone else thinks.

Thus was born the nightly ritual of not only sharing the best part of each of our days – it’s easy to be grateful for the good stuff – but also each of us have begun to share the worst thing that happened to us each day.

Tonight, it went as such:

7 year old girl:
Best thing – playing on the playground
Worst thing – A boy hitting another boy in the pick up line at school

5 year old boy:
Best thing – Getting pirate treasure at school
Worst thing – A boy taking off his pirate costume at school

Hubby:
Best thing – coming home to his smiling family after work
Worst thing – finding out a friend has cancer

Me:
Best thing – nabbing a pair of 7 for all Mankind jeans at Goodwill for $5
Worst thing – going outside to play with my son this afternoon together and having our yard swarmed by other kids, leaving no quiet for me and my boy

The thing about this exercise is that usually, it brings about a whole lot of gratitude. My hubby and I say to each other often when one of us is complaining about something silly.”If that is the worst thing that happens today, life is pretty good.” And it’s usually true. And while it can seem like our lives are reduced to play time and bargains, sometimes it’s those little things that matter the most and can make or break the day. There is nothing better than looking back on a day well spent and realizing that even with the “bad”, life is still really good.

I have been a horrible, no good, terrible, very bad blogger. I can’t believe it is the last day of January and the last time I posted was the end of December. Hello!

I haven’t even been taking very many pictures…just sort of living life and the days are flying by. Too fast.

My 7 year old daughter and I ran a 5K together last week. It was so much fun. I have never run so slow in my life, but who cares. She did awesome – especially since she’s only ever run a mile straight. We didn’t run the whole thing. We ran to the 1st mile marker, then walked, then she whined about where the water table was and we alternated jogging/walking until we got to it. She was being so funny “I can’t go a step further without water!!” or asking “Can I sit down for a minute?” I told her, “We’ll run, we’ll jog, or we’ll walk. But there is no sitting!!” Am I mean or what? She raised money through sponsors for a local boy who is 14 years old and needs his second liver transplant. So while we were out there, we talked about him and that he couldn’t do something like run a 5K, so she said she wanted to keep going just for him. Love that girl.

My parents hosted their somewhat annual Burns Supper. So much fun – a night full of tartan, bagpipe and fiddle music, yummy food and lots of laughs.

Can we talk about this guy for a second? My baby boy who spent the night of the party drinking ginger ale after ginger ale out of a shot glass. My little man who is about to be 5!!! That cannot be. I am going to look back and wonder where the days of him being completely enamored with little things like bubbles in a glass went.

My blog is being cranky about me uploading pictures and keeps shutting down every time I add one, so that’s all for now. Hopefully I’ll be back with something a little more interesting…or not…soon.

As 2011 began, I set my sights on some long put off goals and now that the year is over, I’m happy to look back and say I completed them.

I signed up for and ran my first half marathon back in February while my hubby and kids stood in the cold for 2 hours to cheer for me for the 15 seconds it took me to go past them. I still get choked up thinking back to that moment of running past my daughter with her “Go Mommy” sign.

I also signed up for and finished my final class for my bachelor’s degree and am officially a University of Colorado at Boulder graduate. Woo!

My two big goals for the year complete. What next? Probably a full marathon, maybe more school.

Around the house, we painted the kitchen a new blue.

We turned our guest room into a playroom.

We did a quickie little makeover at our entryway.

And added a beadboard headboard in our bedroom that just celebrated it’s first birthday.

In the rest of our not picture perfect ready for it’s closeup just everyday living life:

I spent a month cooking all new to me meals.

We spent another glorious summer at the cottage.

Back in January of this year, I wrote this post about The me I want to be and the struggle I was having with blogging, sharing, writing, taking pretty pictures and the pressure that I felt from all of it. I think that this year brought big changes to this blog. I stepped back a lot more. I didn’t share just to share. I took time off when I needed it. I enjoyed the moments and began to really live what is in my heart more than just talking about it. I think it’s safe to say now that the year has passed that I really did become the me I wanted to be this time last year. What a wonderful thing for anyone.

I thank you all for being here over the past year or years. I appreciate all of you and wish you all the best in the coming year.

Happy New Year!!

I had every intention of sharing some sort of year end wrap up post with you this week. I probably still will, but I can think of nothing at the moment but this, so that will have to wait.

Yesterday, I almost burned my house down.

My kids and I were readying ourselves to leave the house and I had eggs boiling on the stove. We have more backyard eggs at the moment than I know what to do with so I figured I’d boil 6 of them to make a big egg salad later in the day. As I helped my daughter with something in the kitchen (I still can’t remember what it was), I said to her “I need to turn the eggs off before we leave.” Then my son came to me with a hand in each shoe asking me which goes on which foot and I went to help him. Then we walked out of the house.

After taking my daughter to her friend’s house, my son and I headed out on a date day of starbucks, gift card using, hand holding and joke telling. We drove 45 minutes away from home to do all of these things after we’d spent over a half hour doing some around town errands. All that to say that it was intended to be a full day away from the house. We’d been gone just over 2 hours when my cell phone rang.

A neighbor had been outside walking with his daughter when they went by our house and heard my smoke detector going off. I guess it’s a good thing those suckers are loud. He called his wife and she called me. Said “I’m sorry I’m bothering you, I’m sure it’s nothing but he says the alarm is going off at your house and I just thought I’d let you know. There isn’t smoke or anything, so I am sure it’s fine!” I interrupted her “$%&$#@!! I left my stove on with eggs boiling!” I panicked. I was 45 minutes from home, felt totally helpless and my mind raced trying to figure out what to do. My son and I ran to the car and started to drive home, but I was 45 helpless minutes away.

I gave her permission to tell her husband to check all the windows and see if he could get in. At this point, they still thought it was just the alarms and not a big deal. But when he went up to my kitchen window to check if it was open, he panicked because my house was full of black smoke and he couldn’t see across any of the house because of it. He found a window that had miraculously been left unlocked by my dad when they were here for the weekend and he bent a screen to get inside. He turned my stove off, let my dogs out, and opened all of my windows and doors. The house still smells of nasty-campfire-burnt-egg-emily-is-an-idiot smell.

I arrived home about 30 minutes after he was able to get inside. He said that the eggs had exploded all over the kitchen – the dogs had cleaned them up (yuck!) – and I marveled that my pan had survived the incident. I couldn’t help but wonder how any of the flying egg hadn’t caught fire on my cooktop. Or how my pan hadn’t melted. I guess they are worth it. I thought about how if it hadn’t stopped raining then that my neighbor wouldn’t have been outside to hear the alarm – that I would’ve been away for hours more.

I shook and was on the verge of tears for hours. Sure, it’s just the house. Just stuff. I hugged my husband for too long, apologizing for almost destroying the one thing in his life he’s worked the hardest on – this place we call home not just because it’s where we sleep and live but because of all the heart that has gone into it.

I want to tell myself that it was a mistake. Could’ve happened to anyone. But I hate myself. I am so upset and embarrassed that I let this happen. Can’t stop thinking about what if it was worse. Can’t help but be very very thankful with a whole new view of having a cozy place to sit today, a comfortable place to sleep, this space we call home. Even if it does smell like really really hard boiled eggs.

On a whim I decided to do a craft with my kids a couple of days ago. Doing a craft with my kids really ended up meaning I did the craft while they played outside then when I was done, they came in and showed off “their” craft to their daddy like they’d done all the work. The circle banner garland thingy was really fun and easy. Just paper circles sewn together to make a big long tangly twisted garland that I hung as best I could considering the tangly twisted part.

Such is life, you do one little project that takes a few minutes and suddenly another project emerges. With our mismatched stockings hung below the bright and cheerful banner, I realized that it was time to get some new, nicer, matching stockings. Off to the store we went only to find that they are all cheaply made and ugly and expensive. So I spent a few dollars on felt and made my own. Seriously, I spent $4.62 and made 4 stockings. Please don’t think I enjoyed it – in my head, sewing is way more fun than it ever is while I’m doing it. But when it’s over, I look at a finished product and first, I wonder how all that swearing and needle breaking and such turned into something useable and then I pat myself on the back for actually sticking with it and miraculously turning all the frustration into something my kids adore.

And now, we’re 3 days from Christmas and I’m feeling weary and ready to rest from the lists and chaos. I want to be done so I can sit and enjoy – breathe – for a few moments before the day arrives and is gone in a blink. I don’t want to feel like I missed it.

Each night, the 4 of us have snuggled up and watched another holiday movie on instant netflix while eating popcorn. We’ve baked cookies together, wrapped some gifts with stuff we’ve found around the house together and we’ve had moments of quiet and still to remember what the season means beyond the stuff and the lists.

May the coming days be merry and bright for you.

Merry Christmas, friends!

Yesterday, I was honored to have been invited by Melissa at 320 Sycamore – one of my favorite blogs – to share my favorite things. You can find them here. While you are there – you have to also check out her kitchen remodel. But her post today is just awesome – you want diy reality?. I love seeing the real of our homes and lives. I always feel like I am the only one with insane messes all around my house while everyone else has a home ready for a photoshoot at any second.

Speaking of messy – I am at Simple Mom today sharing about The Messy Table.

Happy Wednesday!

Do you remember last year’s Christmas of Yes?

I’m doing it again.

It is December 5th. My house is decorated, meaning my kids put up the fake tree that I bought for $11 5 years ago and say every year that I will get rid of it this year and we’ll get a new real or at least big tree but still haven’t done it. Every year, the kids take that ratty little tree out and they put the ornaments they made in preschool on there and some lights and some shiny balls and their eyes are full of wonder. And so a newer, bigger, real-er tree will have to wait.

We also strung up some white lights in the living room. I love sitting in there at night or early in the morning with my coffee and just enjoying the quiet glow reminding me that it’s that magical time of year.

It is December 5th and I’ve finished my shopping. It’s easy when the list is small. Yet again, we’re doing 4 things each – something they want, something they need, something to wear, something to read. They get Christmas jammies on Christmas eve and some art stuff in their stockings. And too much stuff from the grandmas and grandpas. And for the next 20 days I don’t have to think about “do I have enough stuff for them?” Of course I do. It’s not about the stuff. I will enjoy wrapping the gifts that I know they’ll love instead of a bunch of junk that they’ll forget about 32 seconds after they open it.

We’ll make cookies when they are out of school the week before Christmas. We’ll go to the Winter Wonderland and ice skate and pretend we’re not in Florida one day. We’ll read books and flip the tabs of the advent calendar and we’ll talk about the many things this time of year means other than what we’re going to get. It will be simple, plain, and wonderful.

I won’t do things I don’t want to just because I feel like I have to. We’ll stumble upon a new fun tradition by accident like we always do. That’s what happens when we let the season happen to us instead of forcing something out of it that isn’t real.

Yes, this will be the 2nd year of saying yes to the good stuff and spending these days soaking it all in rather than scrambling until it’s over and wondering how it went so fast.

We live half a mile from our grocery store, a nice shiny new-ish Publix. Pull out the driveway, turn left, make a right onto the main road and I barely have time to get going to speed limit before I have to slow down to pull into the parking lot. Because it’s so easy, I go often. Too often. To get one, two or five things. I’m lazy. And inefficient.

I decided that to motivate myself to be more efficient, if I needed five things or less, I was going to walk. This would make me think twice about what I really *need* at the grocery store, will motivate me to pay more attention to the contents of my cupboards and refrigerator and be more thorough when I do shop. And in the event I really do need 3 things, I’d get some fresh air and exercise.

Yesterday, the little guy and I headed out the door and down the sidewalk for our first adventure walking to the grocery store. He grabbed my hand, the way he always still does when we walk together. Tiny fingers weaving, clutching, reminding me he’s still little. His feet shuffled in his little boy way. He was a step behind all the way.

As we walked, he counted sidewalk squares, counted blocks we passed, complained he was hot, and we giggled at the critters on our path. We debated whether they were crickets or grasshoppers. He thinks they were grasshoppers because crickets only come out at night. He (wisely) shared that “grasshoppers are called grasshoppers because they hop over grass!” then told me jokes, “Why did the grasshopper cross the sidewalk? To get to the grass!” Smart and funny.

We looked at the clouds. He found a giraffe. I noticed a fence that I’ve never seen before on the many times I’ve run past it. We talked about ditches, dirt, counted steps until we got to the light to cross the big road. Young and frantic about traffic still, he clutched my hand tighter, his shuffling feet began to run, and he kept up with me as we crossed. Then back to his pace, his slow pace full of wonder and joy about the little things in the world around him.

As we strolled up to the store entrance, he marveled that “We don’t even have to park! We can just walk right in” while looking up at me with a sense of triumph, like we knew something all those other people didn’t. He felt special.

The walk back went faster. We took the other side of the road that was shadier. We counted together. I had to stoop to hear his little boy voice when he tried to tell me about the things he was seeing, many for the first time even though we drive past every single day. We both spent that time seeing the world in a different way just by choosing to take the same route on foot. Slower. Quieter.

Magical, really.

Emily at Chatting at the Sky has started up Tuesdays Unwrapped, a place to breathe in the big, beautiful magical moments of the day that happen between the loads of laundry and dishes. The moments that make the most mundane of days worth it. Head over there and join in or just read and feel inspired to notice.

I found out earlier this week that a family member that we see probably a total of 5 days a year came to visit us last year for 2 days and then told someone else behind my back that we don’t seem very happy. I was assured it wasn’t some assessment of our true happiness, but more of an assessment of the things we do and don’t have and an errant conclusion as a result that we must be unhappy – because of the things we don’t have.

from pinterest

I’d be lying if I said it didn’t bother me. It really did. But given some time to think about it, I went from being upset about something someone who clearly sees happiness as something you attain with the gathering of stuff, status, size to being grateful for her – because even in her unkindness, she reminded me to think about it – to make sure that I am grateful for what I have, that I am happy with where and what my life is right now.

The timing could not have been better as we approach this day of Thanks Giving. I am more conscious than ever of making sure I look around me each day and appreciate what I have and think less about what I don’t. I will embrace the morning hugs, the legos strewn about, the dishes in the sink, the clothes on the floor. For all those things mean that right now we have each other, we have fun, we have food, and we have comfort. We have far more than we need.

Happy Thanksgiving, Friends!