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Showing posts with label Daily Smiles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Daily Smiles. Show all posts

Saturday, May 31, 2014

This week

Almost a year and a half ago I decided to post a list of what I called "Daily Smiles" each week on my blog. I would jot something down each day that made me smile, whether it be Liam telling me that he loved me or seeing a bunny in our backyard. Forcing myself (willingly) to write something down each day made me stop and reflect on the simple, beautiful things that happen each day. 

Well...for Christmas this year my sister-in-law gave me a perpetual calendar where I write down a special tidbit or event from each day. It has become too time consuming for me to write a tidbit down in my perpetual calendar plus write it in my blog each day, so I've stopped adding Daily Smiles to this blog.

I thought of a more fun way to share the things that make me smile each week here on my blog - I'm going to start my Weekly Smiles. At the end of the week I will post some of my favorite moments via photographs. I take so many photos each week, on my Nikon, my iPhone and the iPad. So I figured, why not just download some photos and share them. It's fun for me and more visually stimulating for you.

And I'm changing it to weekly smiles instead of "daily" because, honestly, some days we don't even leave the house or the play/toy corner! I definitely smile at Liam and Chloe in the toy corner many times a day, but do you really want to see photos of Liam playing with Matchbox cars every day? And Chloe drooling on her play mat? And then there are some days when we actually get out and walk to the park or pick veggies from the garden and those days warrant more photos :) 


Finding time to blog has become a bit hard for me (toddler + newborn = not a ton of personal time). But blogging keeps me somewhat sane and I love doing it, so I'm going to try really hard to keep up with this.

So here it goes...my first Weekly Smiles...complete with photos and blurbs:


'Up north' at our cabin this past weekend my niece and nephew showed Liam how to fish...

Liam played nicely (most of the time) with his cousins...

Here are my niece and nephew splashing around in the lake. The water was about 40 degrees, but they didn't care at all! These are some true Wisconsin kids.

My niece turned 14!! How did that happen? I feel so freaking old. We celebrated 
with her at the cabin. Happy birthday, sweet Caroline :)

Matt and Liam sharing a moment. Makes my heart flutter.

I am obsessed with Chloe's little feet! I can't get enough of these cute toes. 
I already have a vast collection of Chloe Feet Photos :)

Our neighbor left a bottle of this by our back door this week. Who knew there
was a bottle of wine named after our kid!

I actually baked something. I found time! They are not from scratch (what. ever.) but they
were still yummy (yes, they're gone already).

Our perennials are finally blooming in our yard...

It was warm enough outside for Liam to play in his sandbox...

Chloe enjoyed the warm weather too. Although I'm a pretty paranoid mom
when it comes to keeping her warm, so she was still bundled up in a blanket.

We took a family trip to a local garden center (Caan Floral and Greenhouses) and bought some more perennials to add to the gardens in our front yard...

And I scored THESE at a rummage sale yesterday!! Liam, Chloe and I were out for a 
walk and came across some rummage sales in an alley nearby. And I found these
bad boys!! Can you tell I am excited? They are perfect for our kitchen and just the
right size for a small cup of coffee in the morning. And guess how much I scored them for?
$2 for the entire set!! And they're vintage Fire King

Lastly...we're chicken-sitting for our next-door neighbor this weekend. 
Look at what Matt found in their coop today? Fresh eggs...yeehaw!

And here's Matt putting them in their coop for the night. 
Note how Liam is intently watching his dad :)



Happy weekend to you all...

Friday, January 3, 2014

As the months go by

One of my favorite gifts I received this Christmas was from my sister-in-law Nici. She made me a perpetual calendar journal! Have you seen these calendar journals before? I've seen them on Pinterest and thought it was a really cool idea. They come in all different types of shapes and designs, such as:
From the Design Sponge blog
From the Joy Ever After blog
From the Lucy's Lampshade blog

This is how they work: At the end of each day you write a short tidbit about something that happened on that day (a meal that you cooked, a birthday you celebrated, a new park you explored, or just a thought that you wanted to write down). Then you place the card to the back of the stack and there's a fresh card to write on the next day. Each year you add something to the appropriately dated index card, so as the years go on you can look back and see what you did exactly one year/two years/10 years ago on that day :)

Here's the one that my sis-in-law made for me:

She bought a plain house-shaped recipe card box and told me I can decorate it however I want :)

She stamped a month & day on each index card...

...and then separated the months with Wisconsin themed postcards.

Hello from Wisco!

Here are my first two entries.

I'm so glad Nici gave this to me. I really do enjoy writing down little moments that occur each day. I attempted doing this with the "Daily Smiles" entries that I used to post on this blog, but it got away from me (oops)! So I look forward to, once again, writing down little personal mementos that I'm sure to cherish as the years go by. Thanks Nici!

Does anyone else have one of these? Do you love it? Like it? Dislike it? Please share.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Just beachy

Liam and I strolled on down to the lake today. We packed up the stroller with sand toys, bottles of water and snacks. We prefer going to our "secret beach" as we call it because there is barely ever anyone on the entire beach! You'll see an occasional dog walker or some middle school boys doing who-knows-what, but that's about it. It's hard to find a place to get onto this beach because it's surrounded by woods and a steep bluff rises above it, so it stays pretty secluded. But we've found our way to access it! When we get to the bluff with the stroller we bike-lock it to a fence and carry Liam/chairs/etc down a steep trail to the beach.

I cannot even describe how much Liam LOVED the beach today! From the second I set him down by the water it was go-go-go for him! The water isn't even that warm, but he didn't care. At one point he walked out into the water a little too far and a wave sucked him in and onto his tummy (yikes). But no worries...super mom came to the rescue :) He didn't even seem to mind! He just spit out the water and giggled a bit, and kept on keepin' on. What a trooper he is!

Looking at the ducks...

Picking up rocks and throwing them into the lake...
Picking up rocks and throwing them into the lake...
Picking up rocks and.....you get the picture!

More rock exploration...

Investigating the green slime stuff....luckily he didn't try to taste it :)

My cutie's sandy little feet...

Snack break!
"Would you like a little applesauce with your sand?"

Okay - here is MY favorite part of our beach day (other than my amazingly cute little boy splashing in the water of course) - beach glass!! I just love beach combing. And finding beach glass is like an added bonus! I found ten pieces, which I think is pretty good. I'm excited to add it to our beach glass collection (yeah, I know, totally dorky).

Liam got a nice warm bath the second he got home. He had sand in places I won't even mention....eek. He skipped lunch and went right down for a nap :) Mama likes the beach.


And one more quick photo.
The Italian Zucchini I harvested from our garden last night:


DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

8.5.13
Hung out with friends & kids at the park, and said goodbye to some great neighbors

8.6.13
Liam said "applesauce" - ha ha!

8.7.13
We had a campfire on the beach with a bunch of neighbors/friends

8.8.13
My mom, niece, Liam and I explored a park

8.9.13
Enjoyed an outdoor meal under the trees at our friends' house

8.10.13
I watched a chick flick, because Matt was out of town

8.11.13
I got to sneak in an hour long nap



Have a nice weekend!

Monday, July 29, 2013

Files = smiles

I'm getting closer to finishing organizing my new desk area in the kitchen. I still want to paint the chair a funky color and upholster a new seat. But I have the essentials - a mini chalkboard, mini cork board, mirror, photo of Liam, computer, mail tray and Kleenex :)



The most important thing to me, when looking for a new desk, was getting one that had a file drawer. We already have a filing cabinet in the basement where we file paid bills, tax info, home repair receipts, etc (boorrriinnngggg).

But in the kitchen I wanted to place to file the fun stuff! Fun stuff like craft ideas, party ideas, restaurant menus, etc.

I'm always ripping articles and pictures out of magazines, whether it be books that I want to read, recipes that I want to try, or craft projects I'd like to attempt. And the little ripped out things end up sitting all over the dang house.
Home project ideas...
Craft project idea...
Party and entertaining ideas...
So now I have a place to file the things that make me happy :)
I bought some fun, bright colored hanging files at Target and shabam! Instant organization!




_______________________

DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

7.22.13
Liam helped me pick out a book to give to his cousin 

7.23.13
Liam and I enjoyed a play date with friends at a park

7.24.13
Matt rode Liam around in a kid-seat on his bike - both of them were laughing :)

7.25.13
I completed the finishing touches on a growth chart for Liam 

7.26.13
I caught up on reading some of my magazines

7.27.13
We celebrated my nephew's birthday in Madison

7.28.13
Liam said the word "octopus" while taking a bath
____________________


And an extra little photo...
 Mike Wizowski cake that my sister-in-law made for my nephew's birthday.
It was her first time using fondant and I think it turned out amazing!!


Thursday, July 25, 2013

Busy bodies

This past weekend was filled with many things.

On Friday night we did a little yard work, had some friends over for pizza and drinks, and then just Matt and I watched a movie once Liam was in bed. The movie we watched was The Host and I actually thought it was pretty good. Has anyone else seen this movie? What did you think of it?

On Saturday we attended the John Michael Kohler Arts Center Midsummer Festival of the Arts. And we purchased a painting from an amazing artist from Milwaukee. It's already hanging above our fireplace and we're in love with it. Matt and I bought it for each other for our anniversary :) Then we went to our friend's daughter's birthday party in the afternoon. Liam had fun bouncing around with the kids. Later in the evening Matt and I went to Stefano's for dinner to celebrate our 6-year wedding anniversary. 

On Sunday we went to Kohler-Andrae State Park for a hike in the dunes and a walk on the beach with Liam. Phew! What a busy weekend.

And on Tuesday and Wednesday Liam and I took a little road trip to my mom's house and Matt's parents' house. Liam had a blast playing with his cousin Rylan at my mom's house :) 

Here are a few photos of all of the above:

The painting we got for our anniversary :) It's a grouping of birch trees by artist Vicki Strobel.

Liam and his friend Cole at Bailey's birthday party.

The champagne we had at Stefano's (thanks mom!).



Walking in the dunes.

Liam and his favorite past time -- playing in his sand/water table.

Liam and Rylan playing in a tent at my mom's house.

Liam's cousin, Rylan.

My cutie.

____________________________

DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile last week:

7.15.13
Liam splashed around in the pool in our yard

7.16.13
We took a family walk along the bluff

7.17.13
I found two old photographs online of our home! Something I've been looking for for a long time.

7.18.13
We had an impromptu dinner outside with our neighbors (fresh caught salmon & local veggies)

7.19.13
We trimmed some bushes on the side of our house

7.20.13
Liam played with friends at a birthday party and loved it

7.21.13
Matt and I celebrated our 6-year wedding anniversary :)