Tuesday Talk...

• This poor blog of mine.  It certainly has seen better days!  Right?  Life has been happening.  Blogging has not.
• The older three boys combined received an overwhelming amount of Lego sets for Christmas from all of their gift givers.  I am embarrassed to put a number with the previous statement.  Add in Garrett's between Christmas and New Years b-day (that has yet to receive proper recognition on this blog) and we were left with Legos up to our eyeballs.  Quite literally.  Our need for Lego storage and display shelves quickly lead to an overhaul of sorts in both bedrooms upstairs.  A massive trip to Ikea was made.  Four Expedits and two side tables were purchased.  New bedding was purchased for the bitties (to coordinate with the canvases I had painted back in November!).  The bitties room has been painted.  Orange!  Three pieces of furniture have a new look thanks to a few coats of paint.  The single beds in "the boys" (aka my older two) room are no longer...they have become a set of bunk beds.  New artwork has been created and hung.  The wheels in my head are still turning and each room still needs a little more work.  Photos to come!
• I am left shaking my head that my first baby is turning 8 in a few short weeks.  8 years old?!!!  Nine days after Parker's Valentine's Day birthday, our baby is turning 2!  Hudson's 2nd birthday marks the first time one of our boys is turning two without a pregnant Mommy or newborn baby brother.  We have opted to throw each boy a birthday party on the same day.  Ambitious, I know!
• Eric gifted me a Kindle Fire on Christmas morning.  I AM IN LOVE and my love of reading has been re-born!  Since Christmas I have made my way through ten books including three of the Twilight books (guilty of never giving them a small thought before my Kindle), The Help, Water for Elephants, Room, and the first two books in The Hunger Games series.
• We are busily make camping reservations for this Summer.  I am eager to reunite with our camper!  One of our trips will include a stay without Daddy.  Yes, I may be a tad bit crazy to take four little dudes camping sans my parenting partner in crime.  That being said, my SIL (and her SIL) will be camping nearby.  The plan is for my Mom to join us as well.  A girls+kids camping trip should be endless fun.  The day I presented this idea to Eric, I got locked in the bitties room with Parker and Ryder (while Hudson happily made a run for "the boys" room to destroy Legos).  I called my brother for help (thankful for my cell phone in hand) and with that Eric's confidence in my ability to take our four kids camping without him was questionable.  Ha!
• We have recently made the decision to remain in our current 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom house for quite longer than expected.  Last fall we looked into a few homes currently on the market in our area.  Truth be told we were hoping to fall in love with a "new" home and move ahead with...well, moving.  There was no love at first sight and right now the idea of staying put is truly best.  With that in mind, we have some rather major home renovations planned to make our current home a better fit for our larger family.  One of Eric's goals always has been to own a good 5 acres of land with a barn and dirt bike track.  In an ideal world that land would also host our home.  'Eh, we are learning sometimes plans take a few twists and turns.  Our plans to purchase land very well may come sooner versus later; however, our home will remain here.  Crazy?  Perhaps.  Is it for the best right now?  We do believe so.   

Gift From The {Heart}

Source: handmaderyangosling.tumblr.com via Kelly on Pinterest

Sigh...

Swoon...

I have been bitten...

...by the chalkboard paint bug.

Who I am kidding...

Ryan Gosling makes my heart skip a beat, too!

(Shhhh...don't tell the hubby)

Alas, I did not find Mr. Ryan under my tree this (ahem, last) year...

....nor did I gift him to any loved ones this year.

These did make their way into the hands of our loved ones Christmas 2011...

...and they were a HUGE hit!

(and I am hitting myself for not making one for me!)

Cheap Wooden Frame (Wal-Mart) + Chalkboard Paint + Words + Simple Bow + A Perfect Picture = Gift Giving From the Heart Success