Wordless Wednesday- grace and nadiah

Happy Home Monday

For this instalment of HHM, I chose to work on an area of my house that I rarely/never think about.... my hallway. I have always wanted to hang pics of the kids in the hallway. Walter absolutely despises mix matched frames and pics randomly thrown on the wall, so he has been very resistant to me hanging anything in our very bare hallway. We both like black and white photos and black frames. The color of my hallway is called tuscan and it looks beautiful with the black frames.

This project took some time! I had to select my favorite photos, upload them to CVS and convert each one to a black and white shot. Then the fun part began... putting the pics into the frames. There are almost 100 pics hanging in the frames.

After we had the pics in their frames, we had to hang them. Walt and I avoid doing household projects together; he has a hard time with my perfectionism... I have a hard time with his un perfectionism:). We actually did a good job working together. I guess 11 years teaches you a few things about team work. It's also the first job that we've done and both been happy with. WOOHOO! He even said that I was right. Music to my ears... We liked the hallway so much that we added the white frames to our living room.

happy home making,

erica

Lucy, I'm Home

My Grandmother made a great comment the other day about Nadiah. She said, " I bet if you followed Nadiah around all day and just studied her facial expressions, body movements, and listened to what she said and didn't say(but you knew she was thinking it) it would be like an episode of I Love Lucy or a walking vaudeville act! HA how true it is.

Nadiah is my 3 year old daughter. She is absolutely gorgeous and fabulously intelligent. She's also incredibly stubborn and as quirky as they come!

Yesterday, I followed her around while she played and interacted with the other kids and I. She really is funny. She can't hide how she feels, you can read everything she thinks right on her face! She talks with her hands and it is hilarious, but she gets mad when you laugh at her if she's not purposely trying to make you laugh. She wants to look cute everyday, she gets dressed and takes a matching purse EVERYWHERE we go, but she hates people to tell her how cute she is.

She can add and she's 3...she can't say her ABC's yet. She loves for me to read to her and she knows when I skip some words....UGH! She loves for me to snuggle with her, but doesn't like me to breathe on her or put my arm totally around her. She's totally afraid of insects!!! Music is already her passion(she loves to sing with mommy), but she doesn't like how other people sing. She loves to play outside but hates to get dirty. She completely freaks out when the house is messy, but hates to pick up... she only likes to clean with spray and wipes.

She can hold her own with her brother, sisters, and cousins, but absolutely melts down when kids that she doesn't know well don't play nicely. She loves Dora and Diego, but can't sit still long enough to watch an entire episode. She loves to have her picture taken, but hates to be told when to smile.

This girl is just a series of contradictions!!!

As I was sharing this list with Walt, he said..... "that's because she's EXACTLY LIKE YOU"! What have you done to her?:)"

He is right( I hate to say that)! I have never been able to hide what i was thinking. You pretty much know what I think and where you stand with me by the expressions on my face. Most of the other above crazy things are just like me too, UGH! I don't want my kids to be as crazy or in Nadiah's case crazier than I am:)!

This must explain why she and I have such a strong bond and I'm the only one that truly gets her!!!!

trusting God for him to undo any permanent damage,

erica

Playing Catch Up

I have a bit of catching up to do... This is Hannah on her 1st birthday. She really loved her cake!



This last Friday night, we surprised the kids and took them to dinner downtown and then on a carriage ride. We had so much fun!

This is how my girls sleep. So sweet!


I found these little numbers at Cracker Barrel on clearance....couldn't pass them up!


This is Nadiah when she had her tonsils out on the 28th

We've had lots of fun! Now Sarah has the flu and Micah is sick today too..... ugh!

Wordless Wednesday

Happy Home Monday

I've been looking forward to this post for almost a week...

Lately, I've had several people ask how I am able to keep our house looking nice most of the time. I have one word for you....LISTS!!! I have a list for every day of the week and I don't go to bed until the list is complete. I love it. I don't stress about things that I have to do because I know that in the next couple of days they'll be done.

I'm a busy girl... my son plays hockey, daughters cheer, we go to church twice a week, husband is in school, sister has twins, and I stay home with my 2 baby girls. I have to stick with my chore chart in order to keep from feeling overwhelmed. I am easily overwhelmed by laundry and sweeping/mopping, so I keep it up in order to avoid the ugly o word. There are times that I do get overwhelmed, births of babies, when we come back from vacation, Christmas, and when I or 2 of more of our kids get sick. For the most part, my house is clean and happy. I know that the only way any of our days are happy is for my house to be clean.... we are all stressed when it's not.

SO..... Here's my list. I haven't shared it before,because I didn't really think that i had anything to offer. I have so many areas of my life that need to be improved on..... this is just one area that I've gotten decent at:) I also come from a long line of compulsive cleaners. I mean seriously compulsive! I'm nothing compared to my mother and grandmother!!!

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
Micah	Micah	Micah	Micah	Micah	Micah
Clean off Table	Unload Dishes	Clean off Table	Unload Dishes	Clean off Table	Unload Dishes
Put away Clothes	Dust	Put away Clothes	Dust	Put away Clothes	Dust
Pick Up Room	Put Away Clothes	Pick Up Room	Put Away Clothes	Pick Up Room	Put Away Clothes
Wipe/P-U Bath	Pick Up Room	Wipe/P-U Bath	Pick Up Room	Wipe/P-U Bath	Pick Up Room
Sarah	Sarah	Sarah	Sarah	Sarah	Sarah
Unload Dishes	Clean off Table	Unload Dishes	Clean off Table	Unload Dishes	Clean off Table
Dust	Put away Clothes	Dust	Put away Clothes	Dust	Put away Clothes
Put Away Clothes	Pick Up Room	Put Away Clothes	Pick Up Room	Put Away Clothes	Pick Up Room
Pick Up Room	Wipe/P-U Bath	Pick Up Room	Wipe/P-U Bath	Pick Up Room	Wipe/P-U Bath
Nadiah	Nadiah	Nadiah	Nadiah	Nadiah	Nadiah
Pick Up Toys	Pick Up Toys	Pick Up Toys	Pick Up Toys	Pick Up Toys	Pick Up Toys
Brush Teeth	Brush Teeth	Brush Teeth	Brush Teeth	Brush Teeth	Brush Teeth
Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away
Erica	Erica	Erica	Erica	Erica	Erica
Load Dishes	Load Dishes	Load Dishes	Load Dishes	Load Dishes	Load Dishes
Wash and Dry Clothes	Wash and Dry Clothes	Wash and Dry Clothes	Wash and Dry Clothes	Wash and Dry Clothes	Wash and Dry Clothes
Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away	Put Clothes Away
Change My Sheets Clean Kitchen	Wipe Down Couches	Change Babies Sheets	Wipe Down Couches	Change M&S Sheets	Wipe Down Couches
Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner	Dinner
Bathrooms	Dust	Bathrooms	Dust	Bathrooms	Dust
Pick Up Living Room	Pick Up LR and K	LR and K	LR and K	LR and K	LR and K
Bedroom	Pick Up Bedroom	Pick Up Bedroom	Pick Up Bedroom	Pick Up Bedroom	Pick Up Bedroom
Floors	Floors	Floors	Floors	Floors	Floors
Walt	Walt	Walt	Walt	Walt	Walt
Trash	Trash	Trash	Trash	Trash	Trash
Sweep	School	School	School		Swiffer Wet

Wishing you a happy home,

erica

it's been a long time...

Since I posted a blog. Sorry guys! I've missed you all very much. My sister had twins and life got crazy for a bit. One of our babies was in the nicu, so Sugie (that's what my nieces and nephews call me) was pulling the night shift and taxi driving my sis during the day for 10 days. Then they came home and the real work began! I had to recover my home from walt and the kids hangin out unsupervised:)! The only area of the house that wasn't destroyed was Sarah's room... no surprise there. Then Walt started back to school. This is always an emotional time for me.... makes life tough, not as tough as many... but tough. Next, I got my hiney back in the gym!!!! So, i've been a busy girl. I'm going to try to do a few posts a week. Glad to be back in the land of blogging!!!


This is Baby Eddie, I call him Ace


This is Isabella, we all call her Izzie.... she really loves her sugie!
Here are my little lovies... Until Andrea had Grace, I didn't know it was possible to love another child so much! I am crazy about these babies!