Well, it’s another Wednesday and here I am organized enough to share a couple outfits with you. Last week was so crazy that by the time I got home from work everyday all I wanted to do was put on pajamas and curl up in a ball. This week has been less crazy, thus I have been more patient with keeping my “stuffy” clothes on.

Monday, I wore this. Nothing too exciting, but it was comfy.

Pencil skirt with belt is Banana Republic from a local consignment shop, new with tags for $12. The short sleeved button up is JCrew Haberdashery from Goodwill, $4. I feel fancy in that shirt.

Please forgive my messy garden. I only have so much time in a day.

After work and before taking my daughter to her after school activities, I changed into comfier clothes.

Tank, JCrew, from goodwill new with tags for $4. Have I convinced you to shop at Goodwill yet?  Jeans, Seven for All Mankind from Ebay. Purse, Matt & Nat, Goodwill $3. Do you hate me?

I made hubby take one more picture that included my feet – because I was so excited that I could finally wear shoes that covered my feet after the traumatic blister incident from last week. I love my Toms. Thanks mom!

And Tuesday, nothing exciting again. But I did get dressed, there is that! I am sure my coworkers appreciated it.

Top, JCrew $4 from goodwill. Pencil skirt, Banana Republic $4 from Goodwill. Belt, Target. This outfit was so darned comfy that I got out of work at 1:30 and did not change until 8! Comfy.

And I put my hair into a sock bun. I was so proud of myself. I really loved not having my crazy hair all over the place all day.

And this next picture is just so you can see that I am a completely nerdy freak. If you didn’t know that already. It looks like the chicken is attacking me but really she was just trying to fly out of my arms after I picked her up because she was pecking at my feet. The chickens really want to be on the blog apparently. Oh…leopard flats are from Target.

That’s all for now. I have embarrassed myself enough for one day.

Head on over to http://thepleatedpoppy.com/blog/ to join in or just get some inspiration. Hopefully you won’t feel as frumpy as I do after visiting everyone else.

xo
Emily

Saturday, early morning, I took the kids to a local park where they could run and play. I started a new book (this is where I admit that I’m reading 50 Shades of Grey and can’t put it down) and I laid in the grass reading while the kids climbed like monkeys. Then we walked and walked and walked together and it was so nice. They laughed, raced ahead, showed me things, showed each other things, smiled for the camera. It was so sweet. We got some necessary things out of the way like getting some new summer clothes and a haircut for the little guy then grabbed some lunch and were going to head home, but I decided it would be nice to plant some flowers out front of our house. The back of our house is decent right now

But our house from the front is looking sad these days. So, I took both kids to the garden center at Home Depot and we all picked a few things and headed home. They happily helped me plant, and again, it was nice that everyone seemed to be patient and happy for the day. Perhaps they were feeding off of me…hmmmm…something to consider.

After all of that, we were all sweaty and needed to cool off so the kids asked if we could go to the beach. Usually, if I am in the mood for an outing, someone else is not, but we all were so we went the 4 of us and it was so nice. The kids played on daddy’s surf board, I played in the waves with my kiddos, and relaxed. So good.

What is it about that ocean? I can’t get enough of it. I used to really dislike the salt water and being hit by waves. The joy the kids have there helps me enjoy it more now, too. But I also only learned the past year or so how good it feels to lay on my back in the ocean and look up at the sky.

The rest of our weekend fun was spent at home, enjoying the space we’ve created here.

climbing the mulberry tree

goofing around with chickens

and enjoying the playground slide with water

It wasn’t all rainbows and unicorns. There was whining, arguing, complaining about what we weren’t doing while doing something super fun. There were moments that I was frustrated. But any weekend that I can blow up lots of water balloons and tie them all without getting cranky *and* do all kinds of other cool things with my kids, too, is one I have to celebrate. I hope your weekend was beautiful, too.

xo
Emily

I really love Fridays now. It’s not that the weeks are bad, but I really love waking up and thinking that this is the last day this week that I have to speed kids along in getting their shoes on and teeth brushed. It’s the last day of the week that I have to put thought into what I wear and spend the day in uncomfortable shoes. Speaking of uncomfortable shoes, I wore new shoes this week two days in a row and the side of my right foot is ripped up. I got a blister, put a bandaid on it, the bandaid came off and I still had to wear the shoes for 4 more hours then by the time I got home, the blister was gone and my foot was raw instead. That was Tuesday night and since then I have worn the only not flip flops but still open on the side sandals to work that I own and it’s been fine. But I had a running date with a friend last night and so I had to brave putting socks and shoes on. I got some moleskin and my hubby fixed me up so I could walk. It was still pretty sore, but I survived the run (after about a mile, it was numb anyway so I just couldn’t feel how bad it was, I guess). Today it’s throbbing and it seems I may just have to live in sandals for a while. Isn’t this fascinating? You are so glad I told you about it, I know.

Since starting my job, my afternoons and evenings are full of all of the things I used to do during the day before. I did 6 loads of laundry on Thursday night and actually enjoyed myself. I know, I’m weird. I really like folding laundry, but I hate putting it away. I love folding and making piles and seeing how high my piles can get before they fall over.

My laundry might be done, but the rest of my house is a disaster. Maybe it’s because I am gone all day and when I get home I really just want to spend time with my kids doing something other than saying “Pick up your toys!” for 4 hours. So, I let them play while I enjoy them and the house falls apart. But it’s totally worth it. The other night, my kids made forts (and yes, the forts are still up in the kitchen and living room where we walk all the time and it should be annoying to have to go around them, but somehow it’s not). I know my house won’t always have blanket forts set up, so I am enjoying it. Anyway, so my son built his fort and was happily playing in it and my daughter built her fort, then instead of happily playing in it, kept “accidentally” walking by her brothers and almost knocking it over. Do your kids do stuff like that to each other? I don’t understand it. So, that drama all ended and I was sitting on the couch folding laundry and watching Wizards of Waverly Place (my favorite show, ha ha) when my 5 year old walks over to me and gently puts his cute little hand on my shoulder and says “If you want to hang out with me, you can come on by my fort later.” It was so so funny. I couldn’t stop laughing. My 5 year old awkwardly asked me on a date. I went and it was fun. He was very charming, polite, handsome and we had good conversation. I hope he asks me on another date soon

Today at work I am going to be showing my boss how to use his DSLR camera. So I get to spend a few hours in our adorable little downtown taking pictures. I have no clue how to teach people to use their camera and get good pictures, because really I only learned by a lot of trial and error, but I am going to try to see if I can somehow explain some of the basics. I still kind of can’t believe that I get to do things that I really enjoy when I am at work. It’s pretty cool.

Until the next time I have 20 minutes to sit at the computer…

xo
Emily

One thing that I love is pencil skirts. I think they work well with my body type and wow, they are soooo comfy.

This black with white pinstripes skirt was one of 3 Banana Republic pencil skirts I scored for $4 each. I love the pockets.

The chambray shirt is from Old Navy. It may be my favorite shirt. I really really love it and I really really wish I had gotten the red one too because when I went back to get it, they were all out boo hoo. Necklace that you can barely see is lisa leonard designs.

After work, I changed into comfier clothes for taking my daughter to gymnastics and lounging around.

The sequined striped tank top is from JCrew that I got on ebay. I also got the jeans on ebay – 7 for all Mankind. I love them, but refuse to pay $165/pair so I get them on ebay. The chickens wanted to join me for pictures. The bracelet is my favorite accessory and is from a local boutique here, but you can get one online if you like at their website goldfinch boutique. The leopard flats are from Target.

I have no clue why I look pregnant in that picture. I promise I am not.

Tuesday for work, I wore this dress that I got at Goodwill. It’s Shabby Apple and I got it for $6. I seriously grabbed it and RAN to the dressing room to try it on when I saw it. I couldn’t believe it. It didn’t come with the polka dot belt, it has a plain navy blue belt but I couldn’t find it so I put this other one on and then found the navy one but decided to be wild and crazy and keep the polka dot one on. I really live life on the edge.

See? Wild and crazy.

More outfits next week. I only was on the ball enough to have hubby take pictures the past 2 days.

Happy Wednesday!!

Head over to The Pleated Poppy to get some getting dressed in the morning inspiration!

All of that to lead you in to the excitement I have discovered now that my husband built me a pantry. I know, he’s a keeper, don’t you think?

My kids’ bedrooms are right off of our kitchen and when my hubby remodeled them, my daughter’s room was our room and my son was only a few months old. He built the room with an opening, a hallway of sorts, but really it was left open because we are parents who love being near our babies when they sleep and we liked the idea of connected rooms so I could swoop in there during the night to nurse the little sweetie pie when he cried. Turns out the kid slept like a log as an infant and I’d get 10 straight hours of sleep most nights and we never really “needed” the opening space. But soon, we moved out of that bedroom and my daughter moved in. The kids *loved* having their rooms connected. They could play together and it was just – neat. But, my daughter is almost 8 now and my son just turned 5. Turns out there comes a point in every person’s life when they find the need for privacy. My daughter complained when she’d go to her room to read or play and he’d come bother her. The time was coming for the “hallway” to be closed off.

These pictures are terrible, but I will try to show you what we started with. See if you can follow along.

This is taken from me standing in my daughter’s room, looking into my son’s room. See the mess? I thought about cleaning it up first, but then thought how he’d just mess it up again 5 minutes later and you’d just think “wow, her kid’s room is clean!” and that is so not true.

This is from his room looking into her’s.

And this is the wall in the kitchen

So, basically, he put up two walls – one in each bedroom – and took down the wall in the kitchen. See?

I am afraid this isn’t making any sense and perhaps I should have just shown you the pantry to begin with and forgotten all about showing the process. But, it was a long process, drawn out and complicated, so I didn’t want to just show – “Look! A pantry!” and not give my hubby the credit he deserves for all the hard work he puts into my crazy ideas.

Here it is after

because the last thing we needed was another door opening into the kitchen to drive us batty, he bought a door panel and put it on a sliding rail thingy. I am pretty sure that is what the package called it.

(Now you know…one thing my hubby cannot do well is paint walls without getting paint on the ceiling. It is like this all over my house. But I don’t care. I love him anyway. )

This is the teensiest little pantry ever. It is annoying me that every time I type pantry, I type panty first and then have to backspace and fix it. Panty is my least favorite word in the english language. Maybe I can arrange to have a pantry called something else. Food closet? Hmmm.

Anyway, the pantry is only 18″ wide, but hey, 8 feet tall and 18 inches wide is a lot of space when you are going from no food closet to one. I love it. And I love that my hubby puts up with such crazy requests of mine.

The kids got new paint in their rooms because of this project, too, because of their new sections of wall.

My daughter’s room doubles as our guest room when we have company. Who wants to come stay in her very pink room?!?!

More soon.

xo
Emily

You may have noticed I haven’t blogged in over 2 months. Apparently I don’t do well with expectations, imposed by others or by myself. I can be stubborn like that. I feel too much pressure to do something all the time and do it really amazingly or not do it at all. I guess I hit the don’t do it at all phase.

I got a job.

Every morning, I drop my kids off at school like I always have and now instead of coming home to go for a run, do laundry and mop floors or go for coffee with friends, I go to work. It has been just over a month now and I am just starting to get used to it. It’s been a really weird transition for all of us, but good weird. I feel so grateful for the years I was able to stay home with my babies and watch them grow, guide them, and savor them. Once they were in school every day this school year, I felt a sense of purpose evaporate from my being. My reasons for being home vanished. I was fortunate enough to find a perfect job for me (I’m social media girl and using my writing and photog skills) and my schedule. I quite literally work just the hours my kids are in school. It was truly a blessing when this opportunity came up and it was one I couldn’t pass on.

For the weeks since I started, I have slowly tried to find a groove. I get up earlier now so that I have time to get my kids ready and get myself ready. How easily I slipped into a life of taking my kids to school looking a bit like a raggamuffin. It has been interesting finding the right balance of household stuff and work stuff. Just this past week, I finally felt like I could breathe and really enjoy this new place I’m at in life. For a number of reasons, the first couple of weeks were tears-inducingly overwhelming. But I finally can settle in and feel like I’m doing something for me – that benefits my whole family.

But finally, I’m feeling like I can actually juggle more than one role at once. I can pack lunches, drive the mommy bus, go to work, and still find the bottom of the laundry hamper once a week. Somehow, I feel like by becoming busier outside the home, I have more time for other things as well. I know I don’t actually have any more time than I did before. I just seem to be more willing to make it. I have started running with a friend one evening a week. I find myself making more time for me and with that has come happier everybody. Funny how that works.

I know there is no job more challenging and rewarding than the one I did right here at home for 6 years. I also know that I often felt under appreciated and under valued for the job I did day in and day out. But when I see my kids blossoming at school, doing the right thing, smiling regularly and in general being people I am so proud of, it tells me that I did the most important thing I could then and I am doing something really important for all of us now, too. I know there should be no war between mommies that stay at home or go to work. I know there is no one answer except the one right way for each family. It feels good to be doing something for me that is right for our family right here and now.

I have missed being here in this space and hope that now that I can breathe a bit more, I’ll be here regularly again.

xo
Emily

Just for fun, let’s take a look back at the kitchen from way back when we first bought this mess of a house.

Yes, that is me, many months pregnant in a rickety old kitchen with no wall.

My, how far we’ve come.

It went from that, to this:

Then we painted it a lighter blue last year:

And now, we have this:

I first saw this kitchen island, the Ikea Stenstorp for those that are curious, at my hubby’s family’s cottage. They have a tiny rustic little cabin in the woods up in Canada and did a few changes this past summer, which included adding this island to their small space. Well, the moment I walked into that cottage and saw the island, I knew it was perfect for my kitchen here at home in Florida.

I forgot all about it, as often those things we want but don’t need fall to the back of our minds.

Then, back in January, my mom and I went to Ikea together to get some dishes she wanted. I was strolling through the kitchen area and saw it and said “Oh! That is the island that would be so perfect in my kitchen!” My mom eyed it and agreed and we continued walking. She was going to surprise me that day and buy it for me, but it turned out that it didn’t fit in her car so we had to leave it for another trip with another vehicle (or at least one without kids in the back).

Another month passed and a couple of weeks ago my mom said she was ready to go back to Ikea to get me that kitchen island. I checked online and they had one left in stock. It’s a 2 hour drive each way. A little risky for one left in stock. And my mom remembered the one box we saw that day being damaged so she was worried about getting there and having it not work out.

In a fleeting moment of resourcefulness, frugality and wanting to save time, I looked on our local Craigslist for “Kitchen Island” and a looooong list came up. I scrolled through and there was “Ikea Kitchen Island”. Before I even clicked, I thought, “there is no way it is *the* kitchen island”, but it was. The listing was almost a month old. I thought, “there is no way it is still available”, but it was. I made arrangements to pick up that very island the next day from someone an hour closer each way and for $125 less. Score! My mom was thrilled, I was thrilled. We drove there together to pick it up in the pick up truck my father so graciously let us girls borrow. The girl had the stools I wanted also and threw those in for a few more dollars. We drove home happy as could be. Then it started raining. I kid you not, it has not rained here in Florida in months. The *one* afternoon that we are driving with a piece of furniture in the back of a truck, it downpours. I couldn’t make these things up. We stopped at my mom’s house and found a tarp and she and I stood out in the pouring rain, laughing at the ridiculousness of it all, while strapping the tarp down over it. I still had to drive it another 45 minutes to my house by myself in the storm – and oh, that storm followed me all the way home.

But when we pulled that island off the truck and carried her (congratulations! It’s a girl!) inside and set her in my kitchen, I just heaved a sigh of relief and laughed at what an adventurous day it had been.

She’s been in my kitchen just over a week or so now and I am seriously in love. The extra shelves with storage space.

The surfaces for my kids to do artwork and for my hubby to leave tools laying around.

I thought about straightening up, clearing everything out and making everything shiny and perfect before I took pictures for this post, but I decided against it. It can be so draining to see spaces online that have no signs of life in them. Yes, I love clear counters and I love clean floors. But we live here, too. So, today, you get to see art laying around, my hubby’s tools from the new project going on, and my running hat. I hope you’ll love me anyway.

Saturday, we had a party here at our house and I decided on a Lego theme. Over on Pinterest, I pinned a whole bunch of ideas. I love Pinterest for inspiration for things like this but I definitely had to swallow my pride and realize that there are some people who do really huge, really detailed, really perfect parties for their kids and I was just not going to be one of them. I tried to glean from different sites ideas that I could implement without spending a month’s pay or going so over the top that I was paying more attention to making a perfect party than just celebrating my little guy.

I tried to keep it authentic to us, and I think that worked out.

First, a few days ahead of time, I took one of his plain shirts and cut out a 5 and sewed it on. Easy, and he loved it.

The next big thing I worried about all week was the cake. I tried to make a cake that looked like a lego brick. Here is where I tell you that I have never ever done anything other than bake a cake and frost it with frosting out of a can. I don’t decorate cakes, I don’t make fondant. I knew I was attempting something I probably should’ve left to the professionals, but whatever. I baked two cakes and layered them, frosted over the whole thing and then stacked 6 sets of two oreos to make the little lego knobs, then frosted over all of that. It kind of looked like a lego brick, but not really. What I lack in cake making ability, I made up for by having my daughter put lego men on the cake holding little “5″ signs printed on red paper and using the lego font. I am pretty sure I am the only one who cared that the cake was a mess. It still tasted like cake

For goodie bags, I got plain colored bags in two colors, red and blue, and my kids helped me cut out 842 circles because we don’t have a fancy circle punch. We glued them to the outside of the bags to make them look like legos, too.

I bought a big bin of legos on ebay from a local seller, so for $10 had enough legos to fill a baggie for each goodie bag and send each of the 10 kids home with a stash to build with. The goodie bags were also used for a lego hunt and all the kids got to take home what they found. Lots of happy boys!

Let’s see…for games, we played pin the dot on the lego.

The kids loved that. Such a simple easy game made with foam board and cardstock paper, and each circle had a child’s name written on the back and had a little adhesive tab on it so we could keep track of whom they belonged to. The prize was…a baggie of legos.

I also set out a mason jar full of legos and some pieces of paper for each kid to write their name and their guess of how many legos are in the jar. The winner got to take the jar home.

Last, I printed out Lego coloring sheets and had them set out for the kids to do during the party. But all the kids were too busy playing outside on the tire swing, playing tug-o-war, or chasing our chickens around, so I sent a coloring sheet home in each goodie bag instead.

After the party was all over, my little guy claimed it was “super fun!” and I decided that meant it was a success.

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.