Upholstered Headboard

I have been wanting to make a headboard FOREVER! In fact, I bought my fabric 2 years ago! So, after getting several bids that were way more than i wanted to spend (and for just the frame) I decided to go for it and build it myself. I hauled the kids to Home Depot and bought all my wood and then went to work! The jigsaw was a little intimidating, i must say, and at times had a mind of its own! yikes!! the nail-heads were a pain until I stopped using the dang rubber mallet! After bending or breaking at least 100 of those suckers I started doing them one by one. Luckily i invested in a box of 1000! I have a few left over... it was quite a process but it is done, hallelujah, and looks fabulous. Headboard: check. I am glad to get that one off my list!

Marriage

Boy, January was a long month wasn't it? Maybe it was the gloomy gray skies or the 20 degree temperatures that made it feel so long. Whatever it was, I am glad it is over and here we are in February, the month of love. I actually kind of like February, it is cold still, but I love Valentine's day. I love frosting heart-shaped sugar cookies with the kids and making valentines for all our family and friends. So fun!

I did pretty well, I think, on my goals for January. Family prayer needs a little working on, we only did it a handful of times, but hey, it is a work in progress. I really did try to wake up happier. I felt when I was happy, everyone was happy, and then I was even more happy! It is much easier being a good mom when everyone is happy! I also became aware of how little affection I was giving my children. I definitely need to hug them and kiss them more, especially Ella who eats that up. When I started focusing on this, I noticed everyone was starting to do the same. Lucy would go up to Ella and ask for a "huggie". Brynn asks for a hug from Ella before she goes to school, I just love it!

So, this month I will be focusing on my marriage. You'd think after 13 years of marriage, we'd have things down, well unfortunately we do not. Sometimes I wonder if any progress has even been made! A few things I would like to work on this month are:

Go out once a week
Be more affectionate
Do nice things for him (with a happy attitude)
Be more open, share my ideas and thoughts with him
Lighten-up, joke around and be silly with him

We will see how this goes. I find it easy to be grumpy with joe, don't judge, I just do okay. So hopefully I can get my act together and be a better wife and friend to him.

Ok, bye.

Happy Home

As I mentioned before, I have been reading the Happiness Project. I am still not finished but have read it slowly and taken notes, so I too can have my own happiness project. I have come up with 12 areas that can use improving in my life and will dedicate each month to one of them.

January will be focused on creating a Happy Home. I have been advised to "...labor diligently to create a home that will be a refuge from the turmoils of the world. Labor diligently to make it free from contention and disharmony....that your home may be filled with joy and peace and happiness, and overflowing with love..." I can see how important that advise is now that my children are getting older. I want them to want to be home. I want them to feel love and peace when they are home.

I love the counsel given by Dieter Uchtdorf "...Happiness does not spring from perfection, but from applying divine principles...Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities."

So with that excellent advise here are some things I will strive to do this month:

* Have family prayer each night.
* Be more light-hearted. Joke, laugh and smile a little more.
* Apologize when I am wrong and be quick to forgive.
* Work together as a family. Give older children more responsibility around the home. 
* Sit down with the kids and play. Be actively engaged.
* Be more liberal in my affection to my children.

Randoms

I have not been motivated to do much thus far this year. Usually I am all about getting organized and all that jazz, but not yet! Today I did a little Jillian michaels workout while Lucy wanted me to "hold you" and Sadie screamed in her bouncer, wondering, I am sure, why I wouldn't pick her up when I was so close. Grrr...is 30 minutes too much to ask for, I think not and I am not going to feel guilty about it, dang it! Humph!

This month I am going to actually finish a room in my house, And the lucky room is...my bedroom, yahoo! I will post pictures when fully completed.

The end.

Half here I come...

Well hello there here i am back in the blogging world. I have signed up for a half marathon in June hoping to get me motivated and out of this funk I have been in the last month. Anyone want to run with me...anyone...anyone? Today was my first official workout...not a great one, but no need to get discouraged yet. I ran 3 miles in 33:15. I felt great the first mile and from a mile and a half on it was pretty sloppy. I need to remember to take it slow and at my own pace so I will enjoy the process instead of pushing it too hard.

I have been reading a couple books. The happiness project by Gretchen Rubin. She basically takes 12 areas in her life that she wants to work on and assigns each month an area with specifics for each week. I am so going to do this. I mean I am pretty much perfect and all but I am sure I could come up with at least 12 things I could work on. At least. The other is 50 shades of grey, which I stopped 100 pages in. That book is absolutely horrible in every way. First off, it is pretty much twilight but with sex. The writing is awful and it is a too graphic and disturbing for my taste. Just wanted to throw that out there in case anyone was planning on reading it.

My sweet little Sadie started on solid foods the other day. Mmmm...nothing like some rice cereal. Lucy thought she wanted some, so I gave her a bite. Her face was priceless! She didn't want any more after that. Go figure.

I guess that is all for today...ciao!

Well Hello There.

It's been awhile my friends. But I am back, at least for today. I really don't know where to begin. So, I will show you my sweet little Lucy. She is getting so big. I just love that she is so chubby and her cheeks are just so delicious. She's got a huge personality, and makes us all laugh until we cry! Mmm so stinkin' cute.

We have had so much fun having a baby around, that we went ahead and got prego with another. AHHH. Let me tell you this was quite a shock! But we are very excited. I just don't want Lucy to get lost in the mix. We are all guessing it is a boy (except Ella). I have felt so different this time around. I guess we shall see. I am due the end of the summer!

On to other news...if you haven't heard yet we are doing Piper & Chloe again!!! I wasn't sure if I would be excited, but let me tell you my friends, we've have some a.m.a.z.i.n.g.l.y. awesome vendors sign up. Yahoo!!! I am thrilled to be doing it again! So head on over to our blog if you would like to apply. Ciao!