I Love You Because...

Simplifying and Organizing.

Over the last 6+ months our home has gone through some serious change... mostly all wonderful and good. Simplification has been the name of the game. 

Our motto has been easy. If it doesn't directly support and contribute to our family, our beliefs or our goals then it's nixed or tweaked until it does. 

It's one of the main reasons we decided to homeschool Ethan and then Lorali. It's the biggest reason we decided to get rid of Doug's BMW and swap it out for a more afffordable truck (cut the payment in 1/2). It is a major contributing factor to setting our schedules and planning our lives. We have less playdates with friends but way more family time. We have less TV and less arguing. We have less dates as a couple but, we actually have a stronger relationship.  We had to cancel things to make room for church callings and activites. We strengthen eachother a support everyones individual identities and intrests as long as it doesn't take away from the family.

While parts of it have been harder then others, overall it's been THE BEST CHANGE EVER for us. We're all happier, less stressed and more confident. Everyting that we do we try to make the most out of our time and efforts. No cutting corners just evalutating if we are spinning our wheels for a reason or just to move.... 

In the process of simplifying we've revamped our home to reflect that as well. We've organized so that theres a place for everything and (theortically) everything is (should be) in it's place. 

In Janurary, we realized that we were in desperate need of a defined library/homeschool space. In February, Husbandface built us these sexy things...

I mean seriously, I told you it'd be a thing of beauty but even I had no idea how wonderful they would turn out! I love the wallpaper back, I love the lights, I love that it gets my kids reading more, I love the storage space it provides, I love the decorators dream niches it give me, I love having all the kids school stuff close at hand and I LOVED unpacking 5 boxes from the old house onto it!! The best part?! It was a super simple, easy, AFFORDABLE project that totally transformed our space. I was worried it would make the room feel smaller but I have loved being VERY wrong! Thank you, Husbandface for another amazing creative home project! 

Want to know the secret? IKEA, baby! or more accurately... IKEA ,Billy! The main idea came from the amazing, creative Chris over at Just a Girl. She's brilliant. For ours since our room was wider, we got to include 5 billy bookcases and extentions and since our ceiling height is SUPER TALL we decided on library lights instead of more shelves. It's the perfect touch and Doug even wired it up to turn on with a light switch. (he's kinda amazing) A quick trip to Ikea for the shelves/extenders/lights, a stop off at Lowe's for some trim/wallpaper/l-brackets and we were set! I swear the hardest part was lining up the pattern on the wallpaper! It was such an awesome project that was crazy affordable. 

Cost Round-up-

 

Billy Bookcase in White (5 @$60/each)             $300.
Height Extention Units (5 @ $20/each)             $100.
Lighting (5 @ $20/each)                                            $100.
Baseboards/Trim (we had already)                       Free 
Crown Moulding/Wallpaper Glue                         $25.
Wallpaper (2 rolls @ $45/each)                              $90.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Total Project cost                                                            $615.00

*and since my parents gave us money for Christmas, we had it to spend so really it was basically free!* THANKS GRANDMA AND GRANDPA FOR AN AWESOME CHRISTMAS GIFT!!! WE LOVE IT AND USE IT EVERY SINGLE DAY!!!!!!! 

Thanks for catching up with us!! 
Joanna  

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Spring Break 2013

Last week went by too fast and in an effort to remember in my old age how wonderful my life was *at this moment* I'm going to do the uber fast- one-liner-recap of the week....

Monday- 
The kids BEGGED for a Happy Potter Read-A-Thon Day... we stayed in our jammies and read for hours and hours finishing book #2 just in time for dinner. 

Tuesday-

Today was all about spending time with the BFFs... Lunch w/ Cottrell's then Doug and I joined Phil and Alicia at a Pink Floyd tribute concert.

Wednesday-
 

The kids enjoyed some adopted Big Sister Time all morning, Owen went on a date with who he calls 'my miss rebbie', and then Doug and I took the kids to see Mary Poppins at the Fox Theatre! 

Oh, I have to say more about the play because it was sooo flipping good! The songs were 'practically perfect' and the set?! HOLY COW, I loved the amazing 'pop-up' backdrop and colorful sets.  The kids were more then adorable and I found myself looking over at them AMAZED that they are mine. They were cracking me up during supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, just trying to sing along but not being able to even pronounce it. (don't worry, they've been practicing it ever since and have it just about down pat) I am soo blessed to be thier mommy and for reals, Husbandface and I make freaking cute kids! At the end of the show as Mary Poppins is saying goodbye she kisses Burt on the cheek and Owen (in a loud five year old 'whisper') says, "Eww! That's so gross! Now they're going to get sick! Only married people can kiss without getting sick. That's discusting." The entire time Doug and I are trying to hush him but we were laughing so hard he didn't really think he had to listen to us. It was adorable and a moment I want to remember FOREVER. I bought a Mary Poppins  Umbrella as a souvenier and the kids have just been praying for rain so they could fight over, play with it.

Thursday-

After living in GA for 9 years I finally made it to the Tellus Museum. I got to spent it with another wonderful friend from high school, Jackie whom, lucky for me, moved to Georgia because she missed me so much. (okay okay, it was because of her hubby's job but let's face it, I'm the one that benefits.) We took all the kiddos to the museum and I'm pretty sure they loved every minute of it. Ethan practically had to be yanked out of there and feels like he 'missed too much' because I was rushing in through exibits (5 hours wasn't enough time spent obsessing on science). It was such a great day! 

Friday-

We played in the dirt... ALL DAY. Doug and I are working on A MAJOR YARD WORK RENO and Friday was the day we told the boys they could get as dirty as they wanted, dig where ever they wanted and build whatever they wanted.... Needless to say I think they were in heaven. They even helped me move dirt and rocks and earned a few bucks in the process. My back still hurts from all the work I did but the kids? THEY had fun! (I'll post picts of the backyard project soon.)

Saturday-
MORE yard work but the highlight for all of us was....

Doug's nephew's coming into town to visit!! In Doug's family though, nieces and nephew's aren't what you're thinking. They're our my age. Seriously, Casey and Brandon are the coolest cousins ever and my kids can NOT stop talking about how awesome they are. They pulled out all the stops, playing Star Wars, Having a Rock Bank competition, Teaching multiplication and Poi and generally showering my kids with tons of love and attention. IT WAS SOOOO FUN TO HAVE THEM AROUND and I totally wish they lived closer.

We all hated saying good bye but were glad they got to stay all weekend. 

How do define a perfect Spring Break? You head out to a favorite location? or reach out to your favotie people? For us every year seems to be different. This is our Spring Break 2013. Yeah, no beaches, no crazy parties, no trips but still perfect for our cute family. 

Hoping not ever to forget how perfect it was,
Joanna  

 

 

 

 

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Butler's Pantry Done!

Okay so I think it's been almost a full year since I posted Round 1. This project has been on the top of MY Honey Do list since the day I posted that, but alas Husbandface just couldn't see the vision and it didn't make it to the top of HIS list until after the new year. After a lot of saving up and research on pintrest, and pricing out and even bringing in a kitchen specialist to design a space of us we decided that what we wanted was to utilize the space but not make everything matchy-matchy with the rest of the kitchen. So Husbandface decided that if what I wanted was so customized then he was the only one he'd trust to touch the project and a bonus? It saved us a lot of money that we had budgeted for this project and instead we got to use on something else just as amazing (I'll post that project soon!). After all that waiting and deciding and going back and forth between ideas and options and designs this is exactly what I wanted and I'm soo glad we were patient enough to wait until we could come up with an idea we were both on board with because I love, LAH-VE the finished product!

So I'm not much of a step-by-step instructions girl but, I do love to look at how other people bring everything together so I'll post a few picts of 'the process'...

JANUARY 2013- 
removing the door... a hole in the laundry room/looking into the kitchen. (Have to admit I was a little nervous at this point... 

FEBRUARY 2013-
 building the base and adding the stainless steel subway tiles (have to say these were my favorite part! Soo easy to stick on and work with, you can get them at Lowe's)...

putting up the 'floating' shelves, sanding and finishing up the tiles...

of course Husbandface gets bored when he's working on projects and always has to find a way to goof with what he's doing ... 

Then it was time to paint, stain and start organizing...

(I got the crates ($10/each) and plain chalkboards ($2) from JoAnn's then just stained everything and glued the chalkboards on the fronts.) 

So there you have it, another amazing "Honey-Done" project that makes this house a little more OURS.

Now we're on to the next thing!

Joanna

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Eu Te Amo, Babe.

xoxo
JJ 

Pinewood Derby 2013

Because these two seem to dream in Legos... even the Pinewood Derby car this year had to have an Ethan twist. Presenting the 2013 Imperial Intruder...

It started out as a Batmobile Kit... then the modifications started. They ALL loved every minute of building it. This process just about did Owen in because he wanted to make his own and race sooo badly.

and even though it didn't exactly win the most races (15th place out of 16) it was still worth the effort. (at least that's what I keep telling Husbandface to comfort him.) 

Ethan still misses the trophies/awards of our last den (2011)  but he still had sooo much fun. Plans for next year's car are already underway.

-J

 

 

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Star Wars Legos

THE HISTORY aka- How I got sucked into this world...

When I got married I had no idea what a big part of Lego's were actually going to be in my life or in the lives of my kids. I didn't grow up playing with Legos, I doubt there was even one single Lego in our entire house. Then I got engaged and as many engaged couples do... we registered. I took the little scanner to barcode for things like towels and plates. Husbandface? He scanned legos... and got them as wedding gifts! 

Thus began our family's Lego journey. Shortly after we moved into our first apartment. The piece of furniture I was most excited about was my curio cabinet. I had gotten it as a graduation gift from my parents but hadn't lived anywhere long enough to even take it out of the box. My wonderful Husband built it the first day we moved in... I started lovingly unpacking my Grandmother's Teacups and within minutes he was just as tenderly setting up his Star Wars Lego Collection inside as well. It was definitely something that I had to learn to compromise about. I certainly never thought I'd be the Mom researching Lego storage, buying sets of TOYS worth hundred of dollars for my husband or fighting the kids for computer time because they're too busy watching Lego videos on YouTube to share but, it is our world and oddly, I'm pretty happy with it...seeing them have something that they all enjoy doing and creating TOGETHER is my idea of a perfect Friday night.

(photo; My Nephew Courtland. Pawtucket, RI, December 2002)

Fast forward to our oldest son developing the fine motor skills for Legos and a new obsession in Star Wars and well... I'm pretty sure the Lego's are going to out live me. Apparently the Lego Birthday Party from a few years ago was just the begining! Let's be honest here, one of the main reasons Ethan got 'the big room' when we moved in was because Doug saw in his head the ultimate Lego space. After12 years the passion for these little toys has slowly spread from Doug to Ethan and now it's infected the middle two kids and it's only a matter of time before it's an all out fever in Cam and I.  So I  promised Ethan I'd put 'on the computer' (i.e. Blog)  his Lego space... Here's how it stands now (I've finally come to realize that this space for them is ever changing and that's part of the process...)

THE BUILDING SPACE aka The Main Table....

I'm sure this won't stay here forever because it's already too small for 4 builders but it's short enough for the 4 and 7 year old so it's staying for now. Daddy usually sits in the comfy chair and builds with the bins and kids spread all around him. 

 

The STORAGE aka It rarely looks this put away...

After searching the internet for ideas we combined our two favorite storage systems (Lego Storage Labels are available for free download from Heather Jones' Cute Blog, we just adjusted them for the way my boys organize and separate.) and the awesome Ikea Trofast storage idea I got from i heart organizing. Before I headed to the maze of an ikea store I had the boys come up with a list of ways they would separate is space wasn't an issue, what would go in each bin and what size they would need based on thier current inventory (frankly, a MAJOR flaw in the design, because they're always adding to it!) They decided they don't sort or search by color but by shape and size and function so that's what they got. Then it was about sorting it and deciding small/medium or large. Since I knew we wanted different sizes and since I knew the collection was so large already I bought two Trofast Frames and the storage bins to fit. Two of the small boxes don't fit in the width of the tower so we just matched them up and made them one unit....

(we've had it for over 8 months and it's holding up perfectly.) Now, we've already outgrown this set up so I'll be adding 2 more units exactly like this next time I am brave enough to head to the mega store. There's also a great idea from Jenn at Clean and Scentsible using a play table and since I have one of those currently not being used that might be re-vamped soon too. Basically now Lorali has a bunch of Lego Friends/Architecture  stuff that is currently homeless, they now have started into Harry Potter and Ethan's Christmas/Birthday presents added a lot of new Star Wars stuff. The drawers Husbandface built last fall have some legos and instruction books in them but also house other toys, it may get ear marked for Lego storage as well.

THE DISPLAY aka This is what separates the hoarders from the collectors (aka how Doug justifies the expense)...

 

The most recent sets usually get put onto of the Ikea Towers. They are also the ones that are deemed 'Playable' once it hits the other shelves the little kids can't touch...

We put up this 12 foot long shelf last November thinking it would hold everything... little did I know how big everything really was.... So Ethan's current school bookshelf is undergoing a few *major* changes and the school books are being kicked out... they'll have that Lego ready as soon as Ethan's done building Hoth. 

Ethan has also had these wonderful mini fig display shelves for years and while we all love them they only hold about 1/3 of his men... so the favorites go here and the rest the kids can play with. They're really well built and can be built to whatever size you need from Dan HERE. 

So there it is... for now... guess the fun part for me has been watching the evolution of the passion. 

 

Sincerly and Never Barefoot,
Joanna 

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I swear this Lego tradition is almost as much for the kids as it is for the Dad... almost... but not quite.

 

Another favorite Ethan Advent Calender Memory of mine? Two years ago. 

I sure do love these boys.

JJW

Happy Birthday Husbandface

Dear Husbandface

        I'm glad you were born..... You're an amazing, loving Dad and a hardworking, giving Husband. You are brillant and strong and so much fun to be with. You have overcome so much and you still teach me how to grow and be a better person daily. You love me in spite of myself and you have made dreams come true I didn't even have... HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BESTIE! 

Eu Te Amo,
JJ 

 

Patience and a not so Silent Saturday.

It may have taken the old washer to flood the entire room the day before my halloween party but I finally got the new washer/dryer I've been wanting needing for years!

while I have been home waiting for these to be delivered Doug took Ethan on a Man-Date. Might be the only time I ever say this but... Go Cougars! 

Dear Husbandface

Dear Husbandface

It is 4 am and I am up. Can't sleep tonight so I'm attempting to be productive, ya know? Catch up on blogs, check out the latest gossip on facebook and surf for the latest pintrest ideas to add to your honey-do list. The thing is, I'm trying to do all that and I want to be productive but all I can really think about is you.
You and Me.

and Us. 

and our family. 
I think about that first day you took me to Beaver Tail Lighthouse. I think about how young we were and how little we slept. We could get enough of each other. and we weren't even dating, yet. you were my best friend. it was awesome.

I think about the day you proposed. Walking up the trail, holding your hand, the sunset reflecting off your red hair. I think about your nerves and I can still hear your voice when you asked me to be your eternal partner. I responded by kissing you and you got flustered because it wasn't a yes or no. really? how could I ever turn you down? I remember your hand on my head. and smiling so big my cheeks hurt.

I remember being newly-weds and laying in bed telling stories. and coming up with dreams of our own. thinking about a future home or names for our someday kids. I remember talking about retirement and travel and you whispered in my ear that none of the specifics mattered as long as we were growing old together. it made me giggle. you were already old, right? 

Remember when Ethan was a baby and you'd lay on the bed with him on your chest? I'd complain that you weren't sharing him. You'd laugh and hold him tighter and as soon as he was asleep you'd hold me tighter. I like you holding me, I wish you were holding me now. but I won't go up and wake you now, because I love you too much.

I think about the trials we've been through. The scary moments and tears and lonely times that were only lonely because we loved each other so much. I think about how close I came to losing you and losing those dreams and it still hurts to remember how much I had forgotten that you love me. That's that hing though, you did always love me. even through it all I knew we had something special. I just didn't know what our forever would look like anymore. 

This past year in our lives has been amazing. The growth and the peace and the smiles and your strength. You were the best husband in the world this pregnancy, you know that? and I wasn't the best wife, which makes it even more amazing. You know the other day when you pointed out my first wrinkle? it bugged. but it didn't. you touched it and you loved it. then you kissed it and made me laugh. you're always making me laugh. probably because no matter how old we get together you will still be my 11 year old. Our kids are wonderful and lucky to have a Dad that plays legos with them and goofs off with them and answers their questions and shows them by example how to work hard for others. 

Speaking of lucky. The thought of spending eternity with you as your partner still gives me butterflies. Eu Te Amo.

Forever,

J