hello wednesday.

thankful for Wednesday's. one of my favorite days of the week. we get to start slow because I only work after lunch and have to be in town for 10. so after breakfast we made swings and hide and seek.

a nice phone call from my mom made me even happier when she invited us for supper. after i got ready we played with stickers...

I dropped the boys off at the sitter's and I headed to bible study. Always a good time. The food is always a source of great anticipation. Today did not disappoint. Julie brought Pumpkin loaf with cream cheese, strawberries and some banana chocolate chip bread (not pictured) YUM-O.

After bible study I left for lunch at Gingerwood. Happy Administrative Professionals day to me! My two bosses took me and my co-worked out for a lovely lunch... which included the most heavenly turtle cake - oh wow! (yea it's a good food day). When I got to work after lunch my desk looked like this. I love all the homemade cards and treats from staff and students. It's nice to feel appreciated.

I picked the boys up after work and headed to my mom's where we played "chalking" and ate fruit bites.

I forgot to take a picture of supper it was GOOD!

I ended up driving to Altona to meet up with someone from the preschool to drop off all the Norwex goods.

Home to tidy up and hang out with Dave. Thank you Wednesday for a good day. See you tomorrow.

tuesday

today was really not a great day. i wanted to not even post about it but i guess that's how it goes.. you take the good with the bad.

our morning started like most mornings... picking cereal.

we take our cereal pretty seriously around these parts... and the boys like it mixed. has to be more than one kind. and some days we have cereal and we have oatmeal. today was one of those days.

this morning was a grumpy one... we had more meltdowns that normal. one of the more frustrating things lately is getting dressed. like me these days they won't wear pants with buttons.. ari refuses to wear anything but sweatpants and don't even get me started on the whole sock thing.. they fight me about the "bumpy's" or little grips on the socks.

anyways off to work after dropping the boys off.

normal day.... although why is there always someone in the bathroom when I need it.

We continued down the meltdown path... we need to figure out an appropriate quiet time method.. i think a little separation is in order.

We ate snack...

I unpacked my big Norwex order for the fundraiser I do for a preschool... It's a crazy amount of stuff.

We played outside and after numerous fights and complaints of how tired they were.. I gave in and we went for a drive.. by the time we hit Winkler they were fast asleep.

Supper was easy tonight and we ate it standing at the island cause of the state of the kitchen table.

We met my parents at TSC where we picked up this new friend...

for us a necessesity on our large yard. Don't get me wrong we are poorer than poor and had to borrow the money for it but we knew we wouldn't get very far without it so away we go. Dave liked the power and I imagine at least for this summer it will be a novelty.

Ari had been complaining of a headache for most of the evening... like really complaining. It was strange and then he puked.. all over his bed. It was gross and Noah said he never wanted to see that again.

After we had him all cleaned up he did a dance and said he felt so much better.. so here's to crossing our fingers for a good night.

Now I am cuddling a rootbeer and watching Lost waiting for tomorrow to come.. cause I just know that it has to be better.

welcome to a week in our life - monday.

so I decided to follow and do Ali's week in the life... not sure I chose the best week but we shall see. I did mange to take some photos today and of course forgot my camera when the best photo ops presented themselves.. so I hope to only improve over the week.

i am not totally sure what I hope to accomplish this week.. I do hope to document our days and see how being aware of even the small things will help me enjoy life. I do have a plan for compiling it all in an album using Ali's model so I hope to get that part done.. but if I don't at least I have this :)

it was a normal monday.. although I did sneak in another tim's run this morning. (don't tell dave).

I dropped the boys off at Shirly's and went to work. It was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining.

Work was good. Normal.

Picked up the boys from Shirly's. My favorite coversation went like this.

Ari (while driving past a semi) "Yesterday I told Auntie Crystal that I saw a semi when we were at the park"

Mom "Oh yea and what did she say"

Ari "She said she loves semi's! alot."

We went home and had a quiet time... snack of the day was crackers and marshmallows. we got ready and headed outside. It was amazing. The sun was shining strong. And although I am having a hard time revealing my pasty white skin these days I did manage to soak up some rays. So did baby J :)

Thanks to Papa and Grandma our new favorite thing to do is ride the gator.. It provides endless hours of fun. And today only one small tree was driven over.. they are improving their skills daily.

We headed to town and picked up some Norwex boxes (7 of them to be exact) The boys fell asleep in the van so I picked up my mom to wait with them. We went back to their house and my mom and I and the boys walked to the park. They played on the merry go round for almost 1/2 hour. The small things :) Noah referred to it as the dance parade??

After some swinging we headed back for some chalk art on the driveway and a sweet convertible ride to Iceburg's for supper and ice cream. Dave was away all day at some training and I was thankful to hang out with my parents. The boys were happy to play in the dirt pile at Iceburg although the missed having Ruby there and wondered why she was so late.... :)

It was home for baths and stories and a nice easy bed time.

Thank you Monday for a great day. Happy to see what Tuesday has in store.. this time I won't forget my camera at all :)

seriously random and hormonal

Today is a hormonally charged day. Nothing has gone wrong and in fact most things have been pretty good today.. but whoa my emotions are UP and DOWN.....

All I wanted was homemade chocolate chip cookies today.. in fact a co-worker had once brought me banana choc chip cookies and it's all I could think about. I looked forward to baking them tonight.. and then you wouldn't believe it.. no chocolate chips.. a whole pantry torn upside down and still no little dark morsels of chocolate.

Things with the nursery are coming along.. well almost. The dresser refinish project turned out to be a bit bigger than we anticipated.. Dave thinks he will work on it some more tomorrow.

I want to get it in there so I can start removing the random piles of stuff that are accumulating around my house. Why is it that you never get baby showers or gifts after the first pregnancy?? I mean are showers and stuff not meant to celebrate the baby?? Does the second, third, fourth and so on not deserve showering?? There are a bunch more things I need for the baby yet. Just a thought??

I went through my stuff the other day and realized I do not have many baby clothes.. I borrowed most of everything last time. I pre shopped a garage sale the other day and got a bunch of baby stuff which was nice.

In good news Dave is done school.. that was the longest 9 weeks ever.. emotionally and mentally it was stressful. We are thankful it's over and we can try to get back to normal around here. Only one more level left and we are DONE!!

Totally random.

nursery so far

This has been so fun. From planning, to buying some new things. From installing doors and putting up new paint. From refinishing old things to putting together new things. We are far from done but here is where we are now.

You may remember where we started... this is the landing at the top of the stairs.

I really enjoyed choosing colors for the nursery.. mostly based off of my original color palette of Grey, Blue, Orange and Green. We started by priming.. yuck!! The old owners painted the whole house in oil so we had to put the primer over so we could paint latex. I of course let Dave do that job. Our ceiling is wallpapered.. it is beautiful and goes with the character of the house. We painted this as well. The texture still comes through and I love the effect.

When we started painting the new color we had lots of help..

after the paint was done.. we started on the stripes.. inspired of course by a makeover I saw on Young House Love. Because we did only 12 stripes in random spots it didn't even take that long.. the reason the tape isn't all the way on some spots is because of the age of our house the walls are not strait so the laser level would not show all the way :)

and then you are left with this....

I love it!! The chair is the one I wanted from Ikea.. thankfully Baby J has grandparents who love to give gifts :) We have a few more projects but are close to completion. The crib is up and I made the curtain for the window. I'll post more soon. I love walking up the stairs and seeing this special space for Baby J. I'd love to hear what you think!!

And for the details... All paint by Benjamin Moore. Wall color HC-170 Stonington Grey. Stripes: 2146-40 pale avocado, 2136-40 aegean teal, 2155-40 semolina, cc-70 dune white. Doors are 2130-20 Deep Caviar.

And since we are poor right now.. we did it all on a budget. we bought the grey for the base. used primer we already had, the pale avocado and dune white we also had and we bought the testers in the other two colors for one cheapo paint makeover.

to do

on my to do list for the weekend

1. clean the floor in the nursery and take pics of the paint

2. big mcc run

3. blog nursery progress

4. scrapbook

5. clean up my craft space (it's overrun with baby stuff)

6. find someone to lend me a swing (for when baby comes)

7. finish some sewing for the nursery

8. play hide and seek in the "forest" with my boys

9. clean all bathrooms and floors (thats for this afternoon yet... sheesh)

10. a date night would be nice

so i will be back this weekend for a nursery post. stay tuned.

go texas??

my parents just came back from 6 weeks in texas.. this is what they brought us. priceless. (that is my nephew in the photo)

mamawrap ** edited

Found these online the other day. Mamawraps.ca

I think they are so lovely and soft. I am in love with Grey # 3.

I did see a tutorial on how to make these but I have so many projects on the go that I am unsure I would finish one... i think baby j would like it too...

** i can't wait to get mine... someone special is giving it as a gift!! :) I'll tell you what I think in 3 or so months...

drowning

source

I often refer to myself as drowning.. on the bad days it's the one thing that describes how I feel. Of course I have never actually drowned but I can only imagine...

Parenting for me often feels like drowning. I am not saying I am a bad mom or looking for validation in that department.. I am a firm believer that we all do our best with what we have and I know that I love my kids and they love me... but parenting and learning how to raise good kids is overwhelming for me. I find it hard to discipline, especially the follow through part. I would rather the whining just stop and often find myself doing whatever it takes to make that part happen. I gave it some good thought yesterday as to why I feel defeated by almost 4 year olds. I think it's because often I feel I have already failed and it's too late.. I have let it go for so long and they have developed bad habits so I kind of feel stuck.

Spring break was harder than I thought.. we fought alot. We had many many time outs and we cried some too (mostly me).

At the end of the day when I tuck my little ones into bed and we pray for a good sleep and we are thankful that we get another day to start again.. I am reminded of grace and how much they have for me... There is a line in a song that I love that says "If Grace were an ocean we'd all be sinking." It's going to be my new mantra... instead of looking at things like I'm drowning I need to be reminded of that.

inspiration

gloomy tuesday. it was supposed to be warm but they lied.. again. so far spring break has not lived up to any expectations.. the boys are extra irratiable, fight constantly and i am a bit worn out.. it's only tuesday.. so to make the most of it this is some lovely tuesday inspiration for you.

saw these at target.com they are LOVELY. and at $12.99 who can go wrong.. if only we had target here.. what am i saying.. i would surely be poor.

the lovely elizabeth kartcher over at dear lizzy was the guest blogger at ali edwards blog and shared the story behind this gorgous wall display.

you can check the full story out here.

this gorgous shirt from etsy here.

i have decided I do want to continue collecting owls... ceramic pretty shiney owls. I have this great shelf in my dining room that is screaming to be filled with owls like this one I found on etsy.

and this plate would look really good displayed on there too.

i love everything about these next two photos.. they make me feel hopeful about spring.

what is inspiring you lately?

diy

we have been all about the diy projects over here at casa difran. something so rewarding about doing things yourself.

ever since seeing this over at Young House Love (my fave decor blog) I knew our bedroom had to have one. I scoured the internet for the perfect houndstooth fabric (my big love).. couldn't find anything. When we were in Fargo a couple months ago I had a couple hours to myself to wander through Hobby Lobby. It was there that I found the perfec

t fabric. I knew it was meant to be.

We did wander some from their instructions and actually just used a piece of plywood as our base. Out of laziness and not wanting to get the staple gun out I glue gunned the batting and then the fabric. We had our plywood cut large enough that we didn't even have to hang it when it was done. It rests on the floor.

Here is our plywood before...

and here is the after effect.

the bedroom is still a work in progress and matching bedside tables is on the list.. we hope to get another white one on our next trip to ikea... some day :)

25ish weeks

I feel a bit bad about how I have not documented this pregnancy so I figured I should take a picture of my belly.. then I decided to compare from last time..

so here i am today at almost 26 weeks...

and here I am 4 years ago...

spring break plan

so spring break is only 3 days away!! this year i am really looking forward to it. of course I have high hopes for some things I want to get done.. not sure they are all realistic but a girl can hopes plus with kids who live to have jammie days.. it should make being home easier ;)

i want to clean out my pantry and tupperwear drawer.. both are a disaster.. do you have any organizing tips that work for you. i'm thinking i need to get some more baskets and stuff to hold random bits of stuff that just gets messy otherwise.

my other goal is to take out the million totes in our storage room that hold baby clothes and blankets... i have no desire to keep it all. seriously how much of a wardrobe can one baby have.. this kid will have endless options with two older brothers around.. so i hope to purge and pass on a lot of it.

i have a dresser redo project for the weekend so i will actually have somewhere to store these things. i'll post pics when i am done...

i have started a list of things we need yet.. you'd think after having twins we would have it all but it's actually quite the opposite.. we borrowed most everything we had because we were poor and alot of the stuff we did have was only practical in the we have two stage...

and now since dave is in school and we are once again poor i will have to rely on borrowing and being creative with what i need and don't need.

so for now i am on the look out for a swing... this was a must have with the boys and with three floors of house i figure it will be a nice thing to have on the main floor when i need both my hands.

we have also decided to go the cloth diaper route for a couple reasons. we can not produce more garbage and since we burn our garbage out back it's impossible seeing as diapers don't burn :) also i like the idea and wanted to do it the first time but i had twins and was crazy enough. i have already gotten some but would like to try the new flip system as well.

You can see more info HERE.

I also like that you can buy disposable liners for this system which would make traveling easier.

We decided to get my parents to pick us up this play yard from Target while they are down there. It will be where the baby will sleep in our room for the first few months (at least during the night). We decided on this one based on the great reviews, the price and also the incline feature... our boys had such tummy issues and being elevated helped in a huge way so we thought we would give this one a try. Its called the Bright Starts - InGenuity Playard.

We do have a basic pack and play but my hope is for it to be kept in the basement for when I need to shower and just need the extra hands.

Still needing a change pad to attach to top of dresser and also I want to get a large and medium wet bag for my cloth diapers...

okay that turned out to be much more than a spring break plan and it took me all day to write.

just saying

with absoloutly nothing better to write about.. I have been doing some searching for the perfect diaper/everything bag for when baby comes... with three square a husband I know my dream bag (this lovely juju)

is out of reach so I think I have settled on this one...

the classy classic by lululemon... lovely!!

okay

so what do you want to read here? i feel like i have less and less traffic so to solve that problem i am opening it up to you... please let me know what you want to see here? ask me a question? give me an idea of what i can write that will peak your interest...

spring

is here??? hard to say in this neck of the woods but we are most definitely enjoying the warmer weather and the sunshine. living outside of town has made it easy to play outside with a big yard and muddy driveway.. the boys love it.

the creek runs alongside of our property and we have been busy watching it rise. It's full and moving fast... with lots of snow yet to melt. the boys and i have had the talk regarding the creek and how we are never to go near it alone. they watched it yesterday and i think they get it...

this photo was taken over a week ago when there was still a ton of snow and we were living in a fog. that excavator has seen a lot of action over the last little while. and now there is barely any snow left from this view...

and of course what is better than coming inside to hot chocolate with marshmallows after a good play time outside.

and of course we leave time to ride horses... go cowboy!!