Icicles

Here's a photo of our playground.  The icicles have been here for at least two days.

Snow

Allison associated snow with Christmas since the last two years we've actually had a white Christmas.  This morning she ran into our room saying "Mommy, it's snowing, it's Christmas!"  Still working in that calendar concept.  

Allison's tree

One of Allison's favorite Christmas activities is un-decorating the Christmas tree.  This year we gave Allison her own tree to play with so hopefully she will leave the big one alone.  She's already decorated it and the ornaments are currently scattered all over the living room.

Safe

We are now the owners of a gun safe.  A couple friends came over after church to help Kevin unload it.  We originally planned to put it in our closet but decided the closet was small enough as it is without giving up a chunk of it for the safe.  This isn't the ideal solution but so far it's the best one we've come up with.

Spice Cabinet

Over the last few months I've had a nagging thought every time I grab the garlic salt or other savory seasoning from my spice cabinet "Are my cupcake liners going to smell like garlic or steak seasoning next time I use them?"  I finally decided to do something about it.

Before - not pretty, semi-organzied

Before re-organizing I did have all my baking jars on the left (vanilla, cinnamon, etc) and savory seasonings on the right.  Within each side jars were more or less alphabetical, with the front row being ones I use most often.  My stand with all the spices sat pushed over to the left, all the other stuff squeezed on the right (nearer the savory spices), although most of it was cupcake papers and other baking supplies.

After - so much better

First I emptied everything out, wiped down the cabinet and hand washed the platform stand the spices stack on.  Now with a clean start I could reload everything.  I kept my left side baking, right side savory because its what I'm used to and know that's where I reach for things.  I centered the stand this time, leaving room on both sides.  First I put in all the seasoning jars for each side, alphabetical left-right and front row to back row on the tower.  The front row is the stuff I reach for most often, for me that's burger seasoning, steak seasoning, red pepper flakes and an Italian seasoning grinder.  Large jars are on the right (seasoning salt, garlic salt) and some random things like toothpicks.

Savory seasonings - After

 Baking supplies went back in alphabetical, my front row being vanilla and almond extracts, and some individual coffee packets.  I have small jars and sprinkles containers in the very front because they are easy to see over.  On the left I have large jars of sprinkles, a big jar of cocoa powder (behind the cupcake liners) and a quart jar for cupcake liners.

Baking supplies are now with the baking spices

Cupcake liners in a quart jar

Blueberries

This year in addition to cherry tomatoes we are also growing blueberries.  I did a little research, and found an article on growing blueberries from A&M.  Anytime I can use an aggie example it's easier to get Kevin on board with my ideas.

It will be 2-3 years before we can expect good berry production, I'm keeping my fingers crossed I can keep the plants alive that long.  Our lime tree has hit the three year mark, but we've nearly killed it once or twice.  Gardening is not one of my natural gifts.  

We planted 3 different varieties of blueberry for cross-pollination.  Right now we have all three in a half-barrel.  I'm excited to see them budding now and can't wait to see how they do this year.  

article: horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/publications/blueberries/blueberries.html

Family Dinner

Last night Kevin's parents and my dad came over for dinner.  We had enough people we got to use our dining room table, a rare event.  Allison loved having everyone around to play with her.  I can't wait for all the grandparents to retire so we can have these dinners and visits more frequently.

New furniture

kitchen table and chairs

Kitchen chair

Over the last couple months we've gone through the process of replacing our kitchen and dining room tables.    First we sold our kitchen table to some friends, and used our craft table from upstairs as an interim for awhile.  Kevin and i picked out two tables from Pottery Barn and watched for sales.  In December I was able to get the price I wanted on a new dining room table and matching china cabinet - replacing the set my parents got before I was born (they passed it on to me during college).  In January we used rewards from the dining set to purchase a beautiful round kitchen table. We hadn't ordered chairs for either table - we couldn't find anything we agreed on.  Over Christmas I went to an unfinished furniture store with Stacey and Cathy and we picked out kitchen chairs and benches for the dining room.  They were then stained to match the tables and I'm so happy with how they turned out.

dining table & bench

bench close-up

dining table details

Big Girl Bed

Allison started climbing out of her crib a couple days ago. While we've been expecting this, it's a milestone we aren't exactly excited about. Tonight before scouts Kevin converted her crib into a toddler bed. This afternoon while trying to escape, Allison got stuck halfway out and panicked. She seems very excited about the new bed, saying "it's so cute."

New table

We got our new kitchen table today. Kevin and Allison celebrated by standing on it while watching me turn 15 different shades of red. Chairs should be here in a month or so. I am fully considering eating all meals on the couch for at least a week so I can ensure the table stats this pretty. Kevin frowns on this plan.

Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family around. Allison will have a hard time adjusting when it goes back to just me and her all day. My new dining room table came in time for Christmas so we enjoyed Christmas dinner at the new table. I still can't believe we had a white Christmas - it's something I always hope for but never expect here in Texas.

Allison was overwhelmed Christmas morning but by next year I think she will really get into it. She loved her new dress up box and shared her crowns and skirts with Bailey, who was a very good sport.

Allison opening toys Christmas morning

Bailey the Princess Dog

Playing in the snow on Christmas Day

My beautiful new table with Christmas Dinner

China Cabinet

Today I unpacked our wedding china and put it into our new buffet. It felt like Christmas to pull out the boxes that have mostly been in storage or packed away since our wedding. Our new table will be here in a couple days. Now I just need to find some chairs Kevin and I can agree on.

Coins

Our coin sorting system

Rolled and Done!

In the last year I re-organized my wallet and started using an envelope system for my cash (the Dave Ramsey method). Keeping change for each of those envelopes became annoying and heavy - not good. So Kevin and I decided to start putting all our coins in one place. We didn't have a clear plan on what to do with them, just to get it out of our wallets. Kevin kept coins in a beer stein on his dresser so we just stuck with that. As it started adding up, every month or so I would pour it out and sort it. I keep snack sized Ziploc bags at the bottom sorted by denomination. Recently the stein threatened to overflow, so it's time to clear it out. I called my bank to ask how I could deposit or cash it out. Wells Fargo said they would give cash on the spot for rolled coins.  If I didn't roll they could send it to be counted and deposited however it wouldn't clear to my account for roughly 10 days. We have a bag of coin roll papers that Kevin's probably had longer than I've been around, but now it's finally dwindling down. Since the coins were already sorted it only took 10-15 minutes to count and roll (hint - stack them in groups of 5 or 10, then figure out how many little stacks go in each roll). I ended up with $61.50 in rolled coins, and another $10 still loose.

We decided to use the money for a family day out this weekend to the zoo and our favorite mexican restaurant.  Here is a collection of ideas on how to use the coins - all of which I love and hope to use in the future.

Family Outing - Zoo, museum, theme park, concert tickets - whatever your family can all enjoy together.  You purchase board games, a cookbook - anything that you can all play/do/use for family time.

Vacation Fund - On your next vacation have a little extra money just for splurges.  We love to research trips before we go, so find something your wouldn't have otherwise done or might have been out of the budget.

Big Item Fund (car, college, wedding) - Coins aren't going to foot the bill for college, but every little bit helps.  Once or twice a year cash out the coins and put the money into a 529 or other interest earning account - that way it has a chance to grow and go even further.  If kids are participating this money could go towards their activity/sports costs or be savings for summer camp.

Gift Fund - I absolutely love to give gifts.  I enjoy thinking about what people want, shopping for them, wrapping.  Seeing the look on someones face when they receive a gift is so precious to me.  It's also a great way to not blow your budget when an unexpected or extra gift event comes up (weddings, baby showers, hostess gifts).

Giving Fund - One of the best blessings is the ability to bless others.  Consider saving coins all year and adopting a family at Christmas, or donating it anonymously to a family in need.  You could also decide as a family on a charity to donate it to.  This can be a great teachable moment with kids.
Here is a link with more information on donating a jar to others: http://www.squidoo.com/christmas-jars

There are tons of great ideas out there, these are just a few of my favorites.  I hope you are inspired ~ Lindsay

Towel rack upgrade

Here's the successful Pinterest project of the week - we replaced our old towel rack in the master bathroom with hooks and a shelf to add some display space in our bathroom.  We used to display the glass around the edges of our tub, but had to put them away once we started using that tub for Allison's baths.

Total cost: $40 - Hobby Lobby
Time: 2 hours - most of which was picking the letters, then sizing them

I was afraid I was going to pull down our towel bar cramming on the extra fluffy towels (it happened once at the last house).  I saw a couple ideas for hooks, and happened to see this shelf combo on sale a couple weeks ago - at about 1/3 of the price of ones I had been looking at on Amazon.  I wasn't looking for one with picture frames, but since this is what we had, I used another Pinterest idea for free letters and spelled out our last name.  I pulled the free letters, then sized them in powerpoint to print them.  I used regular paper - probably would have come out nicer on photo paper, but this worked.

Inspiration websites/pins:
http://www.shanty-2-chic.com/2011/11/letter-photo-art-for-christmas.html#comment-28729

http://pinterest.com/pin/140174607122200602/

New artwork

Yesterday we picked up artwork to go over Allison's crib. The wall has been blank for way too long. Kevin put it up after church today and worked on a bathroom project - pictures of that one coming soon, it's a work in progress.

Tomato Plants

Yesterday we bought our tomato plants for the year. Five different varieties of tomato, one snow pea plant and two basil plants. Now to hope we don't have any hard freezes. Last year our cherry tomatoes did amazingly well.

It's snowing

A new home for the SUV

My car has officially moved into the garage. Even if we had room for it Kevin's truck is too long to fit so it will remain in the driveway.
We had church this morning, pizza at Double Dave's, and a trip to Lowes to scope out materials for our next project - framing our bathroom mirror. After Allison's nap we took a family walk despite the overcast and windy afternoon.
Hope everyone had a great weekend and is ready for the next week.

A new home for the canoe

Kevin had the day off today and spent most of the morning in the garage. One of his Christmas presents was an elevated canoe storage system. It's really almost a present for me because this should finally get my car into the garage. The garage needs a few more hours work but I'm hoping my car can move in by the end of the weekend. This is a great start to our new year - we have a lot of DIY house projects on the list of things we want to do in 2012. More updates and pictures to come!

New Dog House

A couple weeks ago Kevin spent the weekend building Sophie and Haley a new doghouse.  We left the old one back in Spring when we moved.  This one is definitely bigger and better - the dogs each have their own space and Kevin used extra stone from our fireplace renovation on the outside.  The roof is hinged so we (meaning Kevin) no longer have to climb inside to put new hay in.  Hopefully the dogs will like it.  It's positioned on the porch to try and avoid the wind - not an easy thing here.  We had to take down our wind chimes only a couple days after we hung them up - they were loud and never stopped!

Haley posing with her new house

The roof opens!