I felt like such a cool Mom today when I...

...bought my very first snowboard!

Watch out below, that's all I'm gonna say!  =)

Okay, so it's for the boys, but still...I felt pretty cool.

I know, I know, that probably is a very clear example of how uncool I am.

Uncool but happy happy! And I may just get myself back out there on the slopes this year too! So, yeah, watch out!

We met Bill after work yesterday to check out a new hiking trail, and the drive through the town was so so pretty! Lots of farmland and pastures...I cannot wait to see it again once things green up! There were lots of metal sap buckets hanging from ginormous Maple trees, the kind with the covers, and when we asked Isabelle if she knew what they were for, she smirked as if the answer was obvious to anyone with a pulse and replied, "Yeah, so you can throw away your trashes in da woods."  HaHaHa

They had a wigwam!

It was really neat!

 

 I just had to include this one because he looks so cute...and his actions of late haven't been terribly cute so it's a good reminder that he is still my charming little boy.

We got to walk right through the wetlands on these boardwalks- so cool!

I love that even though they may complain or grumble about going on yet another hike, within minutes they're smitten with all that God has created for them to explore.

This afternoon we hung out at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center (Christa McAuliffe was a teacher in our school district who earned a spot aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986, which tragically exploded within seconds after take-off- every school in the state was glued to the television watching with wide eyes; it was a huge deal, and so so sad. I was in the 6th grade.)

 This makes me giggle.

 As does this.

You can even broadcast a weather report and watch yourself on TV! It's fun!

Then we saw one of the planetarium shows, which I may or may not have missed about five minutes of due to the fact that I've been wide awake since 3 am (ugh). It was a little long, and slow, and Isabelle was getting a little squirmy, which is what actually woke me up, so I suppose that worked out all right.

 Now I have to go make dinner. I think I want to hire a chef.

And a maid while I'm at it.

How to organize (completely re-do) a kid's closet for CHEAP!!

Good Monday morning to you all!

We are on our first official day of February vacation...some of us may still be in our pj's.    :)

My mister and I have been tackling some organization pitfall areas in our home these days. It happens every year around this time, when we've been stuck inside staring down the same irritating things for what seems like an eternity. So it's good in a way, kind of forces us to do something about it.

Our big project this weekend was revamping our roomies' room, more specifically, their shared ~ and rather modest 41"~ closet. We couldn't be happier with the results! Well, maybe the price tag...we did this all for around 75 buckaroos!

After a trip to Target, a couple hours putting together the pieces, oh, and a fresh coat of paint (from Kitchen MIScolor #2)...voila!

I must add that our pride took a slight hit because these are not primo-quality pieces here, folks, but they serve a purpose and they are sturdy. And while my mister can build something much better, we decided to put his skills to use elsewhere. It still hurt a little, though, until the whole project was completely finished in one afternoon (minus the painting of course.)

Really disliked the yellow in the kitchen, but it's a fantastic burst of color in this room which gets virtually no sunlight from November until March.

We were also fortunate that the existing shelf/clothing rod fit peeeeeerrrrrrfectly atop the two new stacked shelving units. These two units came with wooden dowels to fasten one to the other, and also some mounting bracket-thingys to secure to the closet wall. The shelves are also adjustable {plus} but they do not secure in any way {not so plus, as I found this out the hard way}

We all love it ~ even the boys are super excited about it!

I wasn't loving it too much when the original contents were vomited all over the room, the hallway, and even 

our bedroom! Purging hurts! Isn't that always the hardest part?

This is actually a shelf unit we used as a nightstand, and not it's sideways...and perfect for putting those silly wire shelves to work! Please note that this shelving unit is different from the ones we bought and stacked ~ these shelves are screwed in place and therefore don't...collapse when placed sideways, ha.

This is what the closet used to look like. Ugh. Not functional, or organized at all!

I did, however, love the hanging thingy for putting their outfits together.

But they're big boys now, they don't really need it.

I have to include this because it cracks me up.

I guess it's exhausting watching  me folding laundry, which obviously I'm taking a little break from at the moment.

Oh, I almost forgot. These two boys also needed a better place to hang their bathrobes and such, since their clothes are so long now they puddle onto the floor on the hooks we have in the hallway.
This is how cute it used to look. Sigh. Lately it had just been a mess.

 So we did this exciting thing...

Wow, right?

Wait for it...

Ta-Da!

I know a small thing of hooks probably doesn't get people really thrilled, but it makes me SO happy! I even had the hooks in my hand, thinking ahead to priming and painting a board, then screwing in the hooks, etc etc etc, so I wised up and just bought the darn thing at Target. It was on sale, and it probably would've cost me more to make it! Again, it's the pride that gets ya!

Lastly, here is a glimpse of the awesome color that Jonah picked out all by himself for a woodworking project he and his dad are going to do this week. That was a BIG deal for me, but I think he chose a great color!

Okay, really lastly, here is another glimpse of the hallway project I mentioned a couple weeks ago...I'll give it a proper post soon!

Have a great week!!!!!!

Linking up to the following fabulous sites...
Between Naps on the Porch

School Spirit

February vacation is next week, which means...

this week is school spirit week!!

Here are the highlights!

 crazy hair day

 tropical tuesday

 BGS pride

 Caleb had the clever idea of writing the letters across his face- it came out great!

I was beyond tickled that I was able to go straight to the Autumn storage bin and retrieve leftover Halloween make-up! Though I'm pretty organized, there are still some things that, well...so I'll call this one a SCORE!

I just have to add this last picture to show off those baby blues of his!

It STILL amazes me that my very dark brown eyes were able to help produce those!

Hmm, seems I've missed one. Oh yes, mismatch day! That morning was hectic so I didn't get a picture, but they were in their inside-out, backwards, different shoe-wearing glory, believe you me! Tomorrow is sports (or fan-something) day, but I hear snow is in the forecast, so we'll have to see about that. Normally, I'd be all over snow by this point, but since we haven't had any since the storm on my birthday (in October!), I'm hoping to see a little powder on the ground by morning. Fingers crossed!  =)

What We've Been Up To

Isabelle just asked me what we are doing today. I told her "laundry." Without missing a beat she groans and answers, with great drama I might add, "Oh not again!" Ha! Funny thing about the whole wearing clothes and having to wash them routine! :)

Saturday was Jonah and Caleb's board-breaking ceremony at Tae Kwon Do...so cool! I forgot my camera, though. Boo. They did such a great job!

Before that, Caleb scored 2 baskets at his game! His coach called him "the secret weapon." That put a big smile on his face! I stayed home with the other kids, cleaning, which probably sounds totally lame but it felt so good! I didn't like missing the game, but sometimes the siblings need a little break too.

Oh, while I've got sports on the brain, we were able to get Ethan on an indoor soccer league, so he got to play Friday afternoon. I love watching him play soccer- he is so fast and agile! And you could just see all over his face how much he enjoyed being part of a team again! I LOVE watching my boys do all their different things!

We thought Saturday afternoon would be the perfect time for a swim so we drove over to the pool- it was so much fun! I guess I forgot my camera a lot on Saturday because I don't have any pictures of that either. We stopped by the grocery store on the way home to pick up frozen pizzas, a Pepperedge Farm chocolate fudge frozen layer cake, and I even got them a Cherry Coke! Gasp! I had to rush though because my girlfriends in our neighborhood were getting together at 7. There's just something so wonderful about connecting with other women- I am the youngest in our group (sorry girls, but it makes me feel good!)- and life's problems seem to shrink a bit after talking with a bunch of good friends.

And I was having a good hair day. Even after swimming, ha! I wasn't feeling so great last week about my hair, but now it seems to be working for me. Phew!

Yesterday's sermon at church was so powerful- it was about how we put limitations on ourselves that God never intended for us, usually because of addictions we fall into, or other sin that engulfs us. I find that so encouraging that God doesn't want us to settle for anything less than the very best- HIS best- for us! It doesn't mean we always get our way, but it's certainly a worthy assurance that we can trust God to fulfill us in ways we could never manage on our own. We just have to get out of our own way sometimes.

The sun was so brilliant and the sky so blue...it was just a glorious morning! My parents came over for lunch, the kids ended up playing with some friends, and then we headed to Oak Hill trail so Ryder could run off some energy. I couldn't stop thinking what a beautiful day it was! It felt like such a gift!
 

{atop the fire tower getting ready to toss the ball to Ryder}

I don't normally climb this because it scares me to death, but I have before, and the view is incredible!

{they all thought it would be funny to toss other things- like their hats and mittens...and shoes- over the edge}

I said no to the shoes, but the other stuff was neat to watch sail through the air

 this cracked me up...do you see why?

Jonah noticed it first

Okay, so not every minute is all sunshine and cherries...

{We found a sink hole. They were sinking, ha ha}

HaHa...I didn't notice Jonah's mouth until I uploaded this!

Last Sunday we celebrated Grandpa's birthday with Bill's family. I love that our kids know their extended families so well!

{Little Abby is getting so big!}

 {Sigh. Boys. }

 {Auntie Kristen with 4-month-old Naomi}

{Isabelle catches a ride with Uncle Jon}

Capturing a good group shot can be a challenge!

 ...going...

 ...going...

 GONE!

Officially lost them!

I've got to include one last picture here...

Look at all those LONG bouncy curls, people! It makes my heart so happy.

Have a great day! I'll be doing laundry.  :)

Hijackings and Hearts

I was really really surprised when I opened up my blog Tuesday morning and saw that there was a new post written...only I wasn't the one who had written it! My heart literally skipped a beat as soon as I began reading ~ actually I was shocked! And I think it's just about the sweetest thing I've ever read.

I know some people don't enjoy Valentine's day because of past wounds and such, but even on days when I was single, I was fortunate enough to get fussed over by my Dad, so it was always a happy day for me. Now that I'm a wife and Mom, I really enjoy trying to make the day extra special for them.

Ready for preschool with Valentines!

 {I totally recycled this outfit from last year, but I just love it! My good friend Kylee made the adorable barrette ~ thankyou!~ for Isabelle for her birthday, so at least she had on something new, ha!}

AND...how cute are those ponytails! Squeal!

Oh wait, I'm getting ahead of myself...

these two cuties had the first shift of our special breakfast

 {Cinnamon sugar french toast...yum!...and heart-shaped cantaloupes with berries and pink milk, of course}

 Second shift!

I don't have a picture of Ethan to share because someone decided to eat breakfast in his skivvies, ha!

My kitchen looked like a small army went to war in there by the time I was finished, and I was getting a bit, well, frenzied. I don't handle messy chaos-type stuff very well, and I just happened to be in the middle of painting the whole kitchen and hallway, so EVERYTHING from the walls was invading every ounce of table and counter space I had. Not pretty. Not pretty at all. But the smiles were worth it!

As for the kitchen...there has been some drama. Let's leave it at that for now.

 This last picture is from a little hike we took last week. I love how bright all of Isabelle's colors look.

 I don't remember why, but Bill worked from home that day, and it was such a beautiful day out we had to get outside for some fresh air. This trail follows the Merrimack River and is one of our favorites.

 While it looks completely snowy here, most everyone's yard is completely bare! Definitely NOT a typical winter in central New Hampshire! I'm just hoping we don't get dumped with powder in the middle of April when we're all going nuts with spring fever.