dear, dear silver tree

We have this silver Christmas tree. I purchased it about 5 years ago.... around the time the kids started bringing home sweet little handprint ornaments and popsicle reindeer and other tacky adorable handicrafts. All handmade, painted, funky, paper, etc. ornaments go on Silver tree. Silver tree has it's own special box and all the special ornaments go in the box with it. It's fun to get the box out every year and unpack all the memories. This year, I let the kids completely decorate Silver tree all by themselves. They were very happy.

I have another tree. It's my "don't touch under penalty of death" tree. I also have several other little trees around, but Silver tree is secretly my favorite. While the kids were decorating and giggling and sipping hot chocolate one of them squealed, "I will never forget this day!" And I whispered, "Neither will I."

christmas on the mantle

It's raining and cold. Cold, rainy weather gives me a perfect reason to allow Christmas to explode on our mantle. I mean, the kids can't go outside so they might as well grab an ornament or two (or eighty) and get to work. Anyone else decorating today?

hal's room

a sneak peek into baby's room

Here's a first look into Baby Quattro's room. It's almost finished. I will add more happiness to the walls after the little precious thing decides to come out and meet all of us. My mother made the crib bumper and curtains to match. Like, she MADE it. With her own two hands. I also painted two big paintings for Baby Quattro...

Many more photos to come of this sweet little space. Now come on, Quattro, don't make me come in there and get you out.

our bathroom

WHAT HAD HAPPENED WAS... On my birthday I purchased some (much needed) new makeup brushes. This was something random on my "before baby comes" to do list. After all, who wants their baby to come into this world thinking mama uses old, bacteria-filled makeup brushes. (Pretending like babies care about makeup brushes).

After the purchase of the fluffy soft bamboo brushes, I decided that I couldn't just throw them into my junky makeup area. (Pretending like makeup brushes care about where they are thrown). So I purchased a new little caddy for my brushes and makeup and such.

Then I noticed that our pink faux finish bathroom countertops would NOT be an acceptable home for my new brushes and the caddy. We had some white countertop finish in the garage from a previous project so I got to work applying the new countertop finish.

The pretty new countertops made me suddenly hate the yellow cabinets. I found a can of glossy white paint and quickly applied three coats to the cabinets. Charlie came home just as I was finishing the last coat of white and informed me that this was NOT nesting. This was a new level of some kind of crazy nesting weirdness. OK whatever, maybe he's right.

kid's room art display

The new "big kid sleeping room" is still a work in progress. The ceilings are pretty tall in there so it's difficult figuring out what to do with all that space. I'm slowly taking one corner to display art work and pictures that have been scattered throughout our home. I spray painted a few dollar store picture frames, cut out some cardboard, and put together the beginnings of a wall collage. I LOVE cluttered walls and sometimes it's hard for me to stop so I must limit myself to one wall and/or small area.

How do you display art?

sleeping room

Dean moved in with the girls. Baby Quattro will take over Dean's old room. Before Dean moved in, the girls had a very pink, very glittery room (see here). Now they have a very pink-ish, very glittery-ish half of a room and Dean has the other half. I set strict boundaries about how much "stuff" would be allowed in the room... only a few things on the bed and one bucket of toys for each child. Everything else is restricted to the toy closet.

They do lots of reading, giggling and playing in this room... not much sleeping. AT LEAST an hour goes by every night between bedtime and falling asleep time. O well, lasting memories are being made... right? Right.

one more time

Isn't family photo time fun? Why yes, yes it is! Enjoy these few snippets from our Sunday afternoon...

christmas around our house

Sharing a few of our Christmas decorations today. I love little trees and colorful things. Hope you are busy wrapping gifts and drinking peppermint tea!

it's the most wonderful time

Our house smells like sugar cookies! I'm busy making a few last minute gifts for some special little people. We're watching Christmas movies and eating candy canes. Hooray for the holiday season!