Power = Happiness

This week I am oh so happy to have power back on & I could have taken lots of photos to document this. Vacuuming made me ridiculously happy this week, eating hot home cooked meals = happy, as much as I like candles for mood lighting they just don't cut it for day to day life with 3 kids & a big crazy dog, having my computer back = happy, being warm anywhere in my house instead of right in front of fireplace = happy. A whole lot of happy going on right now!

Anyhoo here is this week's happiness shot:

All 3 of my kiddos enjoying cartoons together.

It's kind of a double happy since anytime all 3 kids do something together makes me happy.

They were oh-so-happy to have their tv back!

What is making you happy this week?

Arctic Blast

November 22nd we were hit with our first storm of the season. There were storm warnings for about week letting us know that it was coming, but really I think we all thought it was going to be no big deal. This is actually the first time that we have lived in Western Washington that really truly warranted the warnings.
It was supposed to start Sunday morning. The same morning as Maddie's birthday party, in another city about 45 minutes away. The only thing I was really worried about was her friends being able to make it.
On that end we did get lucky & thankfully the weather people were wrong about the time & the day.
Once we were all home & the grandparents were safely on their way home, I very happily did the "Let it snow!" dance. Sunday evening it did snow a little, just enough for a couple of dedicated little girls to make teeny tiny snowmen.

It was actually snowing Monday morning & if the girls had to ride the bus for longer than 5 minutes I probably would have just kept them home. I'm still not sure what the school district was thinking. As it turned out it continued to snow all day and around noon the district decided to send the kids home early.

This was about 8:30 in the morning before we went to the bus stop.

 This was about 3:30 in the afternoon.

What you can't really see is the wind was already blowing & it was really really cold!

Zander's first time playing in the snow.

I still think no one knew what was coming, but around 3 the tempature dropped even more & the roads got nasty. Thankfully I was about 5 minutes normal time from home, because I slipped & slided the rest of the way.
I tried to let my hubby know it was time to come home now, but he too thought it was no big deal. He didn't end up getting home until 4am. His work is only 15 minutes away.

Our power flickered off for a few minutes long enough to get the girls all freaked out about 5. I quickly finished dinner and while we were eating the power went off for good. Looking out our window we could see the glow from transformers exploding. The wind was blowing like crazy & the temperature was around 20 degrees.

I ended up playing Mouse Trap with the girls by candlelight while Matthew & a friend played on a laptop.
The game ended up being a lifesaver, keeping the girls from being distracted from the storm outside.
Maddie actually told Matt it was the best night ever!

When it was time for bed, the girls made a nest in front of our gas fireplace ~ seriously I don't think I will be able to live in another house without one of these. It has kept us warm on too many powerless nights!
We just started reading Little House on the Prairie & it was kind of fun to read with real sound effects in the background.

The next day the wind died down but the temperatures remained low. We were about 30 degrees below our normal temps and still with no power. We got about 5 more inches of snow. We spent the day just hanging out. What chilly day would be complete without a few games of Icebreaker. Or how about watching Frosty the Snowman on a laptop. Except for getting a little chilly the I think the girls enjoyed this little break.

All in all our power was out for about 28 hours, on some of the coldest days we have had while living here.
I think if my hubby could have made it home before the storm hit it would have been quite the fun adventure for the girls. We got lucky, and thankfully nothing was damaged or broken.
A few of my friends weren't so lucky & their pipes burst.
The schools closed for the rest of the week, which made the kids super happy.

Now I'm ready for a nice normal snow, just let me keep my power!!

Thursday at 4

This week the snapshot of life time was 4pm on Thanksgiving.

Normally I would still be putting the finishing touches on our dinner, but this year we went to our friends house. We were supposed to eat at 2, it worked out nicely though because the turkey didn't finish cooking until about 3. So for our photos we were in that post-turkey relaxing zone.

Just hanging out & visiting while the kids played. So thankful for good friends!

http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/

9 PM ~ Bedtime!

This weeks Snapshots of Life time was 9pm. Normally my kids would be all tucked into bed, but tonight they got to stay up to watch Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving. Wish they had kid shows on earlier!
So here are my girls at 9 pm:

Racing up the stairs to get ready for bed. Probably should have had them get their jammies on during the commercials ~ oops!

These two are too funny, their animals were also racing up the stairs.

Start capturing your own Snapshots of Life every week ~ join the fun!

http://www.eighteen25.blogspot.com/

Date Night 8/52

Date #8 was supposed to be at an arcade. I found one about 45 minutes away that specializes in games from the 80's. I really wish I had taken a picture of the big huge sign that said Open from 10 - 10! with a little bitty sign in the window that said closed. Someone is more confused than I am!

I had a quick moment of panic, we drove all that way, crossed a toll bridge and now what?!

Thankfully it was quick & I decided since we were out & about without kids, we could finish getting ready for our youngest's birthday next weekend. Our first stop was the mall to pick up the pillow pet she really wants. This was to be strike #2, she wants a snow dog & they are sold out. They should have more in about 2 weeks which really doesn't help much.

Next stop was Target. I love Target without kids. Matt on the other hand lasted about 30 seconds before asking what do we need here? He ended up warming up & helped me pick out goodies for the Operation Christmas Child boxes we needed to finish filling. While wandering we passed the pillow isle & he stopped & started looking around.

Come to find out after almost 3 months of denial he admitted that he covets the pillow I bought in Hawaii.

Seriously this cracked me up! He has been stealing my pillow on a regular basis but would not admit how much he liked it because he thought that I was being nutty for a.) buying a pillow because the hotels were so horrid & b.) managing to bring it home, he really thought it couldn't be done.

To round off our random bits date we stopped for coffee. It was the perfect way to end our date. We talked & laughed & made plans.

Even though it didn't go according to my plans we still had a great time.

Really isn't that what being married is all about?

Making the most of what you've got in spite of what you had planned.

For our next date Matt scored free tickets to go see Carlos Mencia. We've never been to any sort of comedian show so it will be totally new & different.

While blog surfing I found this fun idea for a date. It's based on those choose what happens next stories. I used to love reading those when I was a kid.
http://whilehewasnapping.blogspot.com/2010/09/thoughtful-thursday-choose-your-own.html
She's got great directions on how to make it your own.

Linking up with Simply Modern Mom

Giving Thanks

This is making me oh so happy this week!

(project instructions below)

Each of the number pockets has 5 things that we are thankful for.

One for each of us every day this month.
It is so much fun to see what we each come up with everyday.

This project started with this picture I saw on Facebook, I just couldn't figure out how to re-create it on my own walls.

I love this idea, it's such a fun way to show off photos.

Then I saw this one at tater tots and jello, 

That is when the idea finally clicked & I knew I could make it happen.

I found this frame at the thrift store for $5. It was about the size I wanted & in good shape although I wish it had more personality, it is a great guinea pig for this project.

I took apart the backing & removed the funky tree photo. As a bonus my 15 year old is really really amused with the tree, it is HUGE. He took it & put it up in his room.

I spray painted the frame black & put in 3 pairs of eye hooks. I used 4x6 photos to figure out my spacing.

Then threaded basic twine between the hooks. So it looked like this



Now black frame. Photo taken by my 7 year old who loves to help.

Eye hooks & twine.



I used some of the thick foam board that was behind the tree photo, trimmed down to just under 5x7 to mount the Give Thanks.



I made the Give Thanks using free digital kits I got from

Mandy King,
available at Scrapbook Elements http://www.scrappity-doo-dah.com/store/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=85

http://craft-tastrophic.blogspot.com/

Sweet Digi Scraps by Leilani http://leidee-q.blogspot.com/

Not free but part of one of Jessica Sprague's $1 Wednesdays
iKari Designs from www.jessicasprague.com
The number pockets & journal cards are also from Jessica Sprague.
They are part of the Hybrid project Friday, project 4, 30 days of gratitude.

I am loving these command strips! They are like super strong velcro & make it super easy to hang up items you might want to swap out. My plan for this frame is to have it be themed & now I can easily change it up every month.

I have the extra thankful cards & number pockets in a jar below the frame. Just waiting for our thankful thoughts!

What are you thankful for right now?

Snapshots of Life ~ week 3

The Snapshots of Life time
this week was 10am.

We were taking advantage of the brief break in the rain
which was a good thing because it was very brief!

Start capturing a random moment each week
head over to
eighteen 25
They always seem to have something good & fun going on too!



Date night 7/52 ~ The date that almost wasn't

We didn't really have a destination this week.

Last week we forgot to pull a new date out.

I didn't think it would be that big of a deal, and it really shouldn't have been.

Except Saturday ended up being one of those days that we were both off.

If it's one or the other it's not a big deal.

Both of us though means crankiness & blah.

Added to the lack of enthusiasm was the not-so-minor detail

that Matt had to work again all weekend.

I had thought that we could go to the neighborhood coffee shop,

before dinner.

Matt thought we could go after dinner.

Really this should not have been a big deal, but it was.

All 3 kids told us we had to go out (love this!)

Matthew even pulled out our date night tin & started pulling out ideas.

He mixed up being silly & trying to be helpful.

He found the idea "dessert at a new restaurant" and

insisted it was perfect. Which really it was.

We headed out,
and decided to try a restaurant that we haven't been to in a long time.

When we share desserts I usually pick so this time I let Matt.

He chose lava cake.

Alghough I thought it was pretty good,
Matt has this memory of eating some very very good lava cake somewhere

in Oregon so this didn't make the tasty cut for him.

I have no clue where that was but

I now want to find a fabulous recipe to surprise him with.

All in all this ended up being a good thing.

We had some good necessary conversation &

learned some new things about each other.

We will definitely try this again when we are in sync.

For our next date I decided we need to do something fun.

So we are going to go to an arcade & play games.

It will be fun to act like kids & goof off a little bit.

Because I think you can't have enough help

 keeping your marriage alive & thriving

here is a link for

10 secrets to a successful marriage

Linking up with

International Digital Scrapbook Day

Did you know yesterday, November 6th,

 was International Scrapbook Day?

I got an email from one of the sites I like with a fun blog train.

Each site had a free digi download.

Happy day!

Even better ~ while I was hopping along the train,

I found 2 more sites doing the same thing.

Digi goodness galore!

Here is the original site with the blog train

m scraps

Blog train #2

shabby pickle designs

Blog train #3

scrap matters

This one has 49! sites to visit ~ all with a freebie!

Also Jessica Sprague who is one of my favorite digital spots to shop

has 2 $1 items & a freebie too.

jessica sprague

And last but not least

designer digitals

has a great sale going on.

Happy digi scrapping!

8am Wake up!

This week the fun ladies over at
eighteen 25
picked 8 am for the snapshot time.

For us that is what time the girls wake up.
I love how late their school starts!



I love how easy it (usually) is to wake these two up.

Not only that but they are happy!

 

See more snapshots & share yours:

You Capture ~ Halloween & Silence

This week the theme over at

I should be folding laundry

was Halloween & Silence

This worked out nicely since I am so behind & haven't shared

 any Halloween pictures yet.

Halloween:

This is one of my favorite shots of the girls.

I love how they are just a little blurry.

They were done with posing for the camera

& all about trick or treating!

Silence:

This is truly what silence looks like in my house.

See more & share yours at:

Here is the rest of our Halloween in photos.

Trick or treaters started around 4:30 which was about an hour early.

We were so not ready & it amped the girls up even more.

Handing out candy while waiting for it to get dark enough to go out.

This was Zanders first Halloween & he wasn't sure

what to make of it. He did enjoy licking lots & lots of kids though!

The only picture I got of all 3 kids.

Matthew went out with his friends this year.

Zander the squirrel dog.

Our "Mummy" dinner.

English muffin pizzas & bread stick wrapped hot dogs.

With fun jello for dessert.

Lime jello with gummy worms & bugs.

Love this idea that I got from

Random Thoughts of a Super Mom

She had the coolest containers for hers,

but I thought my Partylite mini barrel jars ended up cute too.

They kinda looked like witch cauldrons.

Marissa really really enjoyed handing out the candy this year.

I was SO ready to turn the lights out at 8.

She insisted on leaving them on longer & taking care of it.

Around 8:45 she was finally done too.

Our pumpkins.

And finally a few pictures of our decorations.

I almost bought some pom pom spiders at a gift shop.

Matt took one look at them & said you can make those.

I made a bunch of them & they ended up all over the house.

The cats like pom poms & thought they were great new toys.

The Frankenstein that Maddie made in 1st grade.

This was the one decoration she asked about & got so excited

once he was back in his spot.

Thankfully I was able to finish my Spooky blocks before Halloween.

I love how they turned out!

Matt is usually in charge of the outside of the house.

This year he just wasn't into it, so I put up just a few things.

The ghost was a big hit with the kids this year.

It moved & made creepy noises. It didn't have any lights

so I taped a battery tealight under him & it lit him up fabulously.