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Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Garden. Show all posts

Friday, February 6, 2015

How the heck is it the year 2015 already?


Posting my goals for 2015 at the beginning of February (instead of the beginning of January) is totally me. I've thought about my annual goals and have been slowly adding them to my Notes on the iPad. I just haven't sat down and really thought about them.  Life is busy.

And so here I am a month into the year already.

January 1st is just another ol' day on the calendar anyways, right?

I didn't forsee posting my 2015 goals for all of the world to see (okay, not the world, but the 50 or so people that actually read my blog). But I figured if I post them on here then maybe I'll feel more accountable and be more likely to complete some of them? If my mom sees my goals/Matt sees them/friends see them, then maybe they'll help keep me pointing in the right direction if I start to swerve?

In my mind I have hundreds of goals I'd like to accomplish. But in reality I'm only going to write down the big/important/possibly attainable ones that I actually would like to accomplish over the next months. So here they are:

Personal

1) Get more consecutive hours of sleep. I can count on one hand how many times in the last ten months I have slept for 5-6 consecutive hours. I know that once I'm done nursing Chloe in the middle of the night that my sleep schedule will become more normal again, but in the meantime I'll try to get to bed a little earlier each night. And continue to persuade Matt to take turns "sleeping in" with me (sleeping in for us is often 7:00am).
Shirt via Zazzle.com
2) Get out of the house at least once a week without the kids, completely by myself. When I go to Zumba that does not count (I'm with other people). When I go to Crafty Club it doesn't count (I'm with other people). I mean STRAIGHT UP BY MYSELF. Either wandering the aisles of the library or wandering the aisles of Hobby Lobby. Or sitting in my car with an ice cream cone. So be it.

3) Keep incorporating exercise into my life. I'm not the gal that works out at a gym. I never have been and I'm pretty sure I never will be. But if I can golf on a golf course with a beer in my hand or walk with the kids to the lake, or play softball on a team, or garden in the yard -- that's the kind of exercise I'm talking about. I feel like it's attainable to me. So I will continue to do my Zumba (I've been doing it for a month and it feels like I'm dancing instead of exercising) and maybe sign up for once-a-week-yoga as well. And once it warms up outside I hope to walk a LOT with the kiddos all over the place. 

4) Delete emails after I read them/delete junk emails right away. This is how many emails I have in my inbox right now:
This is not a joke. I organized my inbox right before Chloe was born last April. So this is ten months of deletion procrastination 

Family

1) Be way, way nicer to Matt. I've been so flipping crabby lately. I complain all of the time. I shouldn't complain. But guess who gets to hear me complain? Matt. And because he works from home he EVEN gets to listen to me complain during lunch. Lucky him! I need to adjust my attitude somehow. I'm hoping that if I can accomplish Personal Goal #1 (more sleep) then maybe it will help in the crabby department? I hope so. Because I know I'm driving him nuts.

2) Reinstate 'No TV Tuesdays' in our house. We tried this a while back and it was nice. Matt and I would work on a project in the basement or outside instead of watching the boob tube at night. We got away from it. And we decided we'd like to try it again.

3) Kiss and hug everyone in my family every day. I kiss and hug the kids countless times a day, but Matt and the cats get the shaft. How's that for honesty? 

4) Start going to church regularly. I'm not saying that we can commit to going every single Sunday at this point in time (it's been so hard to get up and going with the kiddos on Sunday mornings), but we will try to make it twice a month. We recently found a church that we're really into too (great pastors, friendly people, a nursery/childcare for the kids during church, a feeling of community) so we really want to put some effort into this.


Kids

1) Stop freaking out and yelling at the kids for no reason. I also think this is caused by lack of sleep. So this is another area where accomplishing Personal Goal #1 will help! I just lose it sometimes. I'll be fine. And then Liam will poop in his pants and then roll around/play on the floor (those do not mix well) and will not let me take him to the bathroom. He'll start screaming and kicking. Then Chloe joins in on the screaming. And I lose it. I need to not lose it so much. But it just happens! I absolutely hate yelling in front of the kids. I wonder if more sleep and getting out of the house will help with this too?

2) Get Liam completely toilet trained.  We have been laxly working on this since he turned 2. He will be 3 in a couple of weeks. It's about time we get this thing done. But it's hard. I really don't think he's completely ready yet. But we will keep trying. We're almost there. I think I see Liam sitting on the big boy toilet the light!

3) Love them, love them, love them. I already do this like crazy. But I want to remember to continue to just love them insanely every single day, because I know that time passes by oh too fast.


Home

Oh my, this list could be so much longer. I will never be done with house decorating/repairing/yard work/etc. That's part of the joy of owning a home, right? But here are my top 4 goals at the moment:

1) Finish the stairway/entry.  Now that our stairway is freshly painted I want to try hard to actually finish something in a timely manner! I'd really like to get it decorated and get our artwork and photos back on the walls. Also, I'd like to make new curtains and recover the window seat. And figure out what cool thing to do with the large landing at the top of the stairs (reading nook? storage shelving?)

2) Paint exterior brick and window trim. This has been on our list for the last 2 years. But then kids happened and it just didn't get done. Our house has siding, but there's three feet of 125-year-old brick foundation showing at the base of the house. The paint that's covering it is peeling and there's some tuck pointing work to be done. So in Spring we're hoping to pressure wash/scrape it all and then get it painted. All of the exterior window trim could use a fresh coat of white paint as well.

3) Put grip on our basement stairs. They're wood and they are way too shiny & slippery. I've fallen down them twice. And now with the kiddos being so mobile, I will not let that happen to them. WE hope to paint them (probably a funky color) and put some sort of grip on them. Our current 'scary stairs':

4) Have a garden again. We have a fabulous farmers' market here in town that we love to go to, so we won't go overboard on our garden. But some tomatoes would be nice again, as well as some peas and beans for Liam to pick. And maybe some pumpkins, so the kids can watch them grow and then decorate them come Fall. 


Fun

1) Spend a week straight at our cabin this summer + squeeze in one extra annual trip there. The cabin is heaven on Earth - it's relaxing, fun, rustic and just plain awesome. So we need to spend more time there :)

2) Get away with Matt for a weekend in the Fall or next Winter (if I'm done nursing Chloe by then), hopefully to visit Matt's sister in San Fran. 

3) Get a new raft for the cabin. We budgeted for this, so I just need to make the phone calls and get it done. I can't wait to see Liam jumping off of it and into the lake some day. We're hoping to get one that's similar to this:

______________________________


Sorry if this was a super boring post. I wrote it more for myself & Matt so that we can look back at this throughout the year and check every thing off of the list check to see if we accomplished anything. I added a reminder to my calendar at 6 months from now, to check in and see how we're doing:


Wish me luck!

Happy weekend...

Monday, September 29, 2014

Bittersweet

The end of summer is always so bittersweet for me...

I love, love, love summer. I love the sunshine, the flowers, the outdoor music & chilled cocktails. I love pontoon boat rides at the cabin, Liam playing in the sprinkler and nursing Chloe outside on the deck.

Yet as Fall starts to roll in I also look forward to throwing a sweatshirt on & going for walks in the cool, crisp air. There's nothing more comforting than making pumpkin pies, having fires in our fireplace and snuggling on the couch with my family under a bunch of fuzzy blankets.

So as Summer says goodbye and Fall says "hi" I plan to try and enjoy every little bit of it...

Goodbye warm breezes, hello coughs and sneezes.
Goodbye bees, hello colorful trees.
Goodbye tomatoes, hello potatoes.


Some things that made me smile last week:

Cooking with fresh vegetables from our garden and farmers market...


The normalcy of play time...


An abundance & assortment of tomatoes from our garden...


Flowers from Matt...


Liam playing under the birch tree in my mom's front yard 
(the same birch tree I used to play under when I was a kid)...


My usual breakfast as of lately - coffee and oatmeal with brown sugar, yogurt and fruit...


Surfers on Lake Michigan...


Our little sleeping beauty...


Liam so proud of his block building...


Chloe learning to sit up on her own...


Some cool graffiti art we discovered under a bridge...


And our cats snuggling. 
If only they knew they're brother and sister!!


Have a peaceful week,

❤️Erin 

Monday, September 15, 2014

A balancing act

I've been totally slacking in the taking-photos-of-the-kiddos Department. Life has been so busy.

We've been doing lots of fun stuff. In the past few weeks we've:
Attended two weddings.
Taken a trip to our cabin.
Spent a day at the zoo.
Enjoyed Bookworm Gardens twice.
Have been harvesting tomatoes from our garden.
Matt's been canning dilly beans and making homemade salsa.
Liam has done countless experiments with paint & glitter glue & play dough.
We've taken trips to the farmer's market.
Started potty training Liam.
Started giving Chloe cereal.

But it's really the daily to-do list that's been keeping us busy:
It's the laundry.
And the dishes.
And the constant layer of crumbs and stickiness on the kitchen floor.
The picking up of toys & socks & books & random everything.
The mowing of the law, de-weeding the garden, watering the flowers, etc.
Paying bills and getting rid of piles of junk mail.
Keeping the refrigerator stocked and the diaper baskets full.
Hosting friends and family at our house.
Double bath times. Double story times. Double put-downs-to-bed.

I've been struggling during the day with how to manage the routine stuff while also making time for fun and caring for two little kids. As soon as I think I've figured it all out, something changes or goes haywire. Luckily, when Matt's done with work for the day, he's an enormous help! When he's with the kids and I things are so much easier.

We have 2 kids and I get stressed out. My Grandma Bieniek had 8 kids and my Grandma Judnic had 9 kids!! HOW DID THEY DO IT ALL?

I've been super complain-y and crabby lately (I'm so sorry Matt) but I truly feel blessed to be busy and tired and surrounded by chaos sometimes. I would rather be busy than bored!

And so we truck on...
...trying to find a balance between fun and the day-to-day....


A few photos of things that have made me smile in the past few weeks:


This little sweetie keeps me smiling...

Liam loving the outdoors at our cabin...

 Kitchen chaos. 

At the zoo. Chloe's first train ride.

Afternoon snuggling with my peanut...

My nephew's 3rd birthday party...

Liam at the park

And last but not least...
(we're trying the "naked" potty training technique)

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...

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!

Sunday, June 23, 2013

Lemon grass

Liam and I walk to our local ReStore every couple of weeks. It's only a few blocks from our home. Liam LOVES looking at all of the things as we walk through the aisles.

In case you're unfamiliar with what ReStore is -- it's run by Habitat For Humanity and people donate used or unused home-type goods and materials. The store is always filled with goodies, and at excellent prices :) The store is a maze of wooden doors, used appliances, retro office furniture, ugly ceiling fans, cabinetry, mismatched tiles, etc.

Matt and I have donated a few things to our local store (kitchen cabinets and ceramic tiles) and we've also bought some things there (a sweet window seat that's currently being used as storage in our garage, a cool wooden box that we store firewood in, and a couple of other little doodads).

I bought this old black magazine rack a couple of weeks ago. I'm not big into decorating with the color black, but I saw potential when I spotted this. And it was only $5:

Hello weird ol' eighties-ish magazine rack...
I picked up a can of bright-colored spray paint and went to town on it...

Rust-Oleum in "Lemon Grass"

Two coats
I'm not exactly sure where I want to use it yet. And as I've shared with you before, I'm a bit of a magazine junkie, so I could really use it in ANY room in the house! But it will probably end up in our kitchen, living room or downstairs bathroom.

It's next to our couch for now

The lemon grass color matches well with my new LOVE pillow in our living room :)

And here's a quick show-and-tell from this week's Crafty Club. My friend Andi hosted craft night this past Monday and we worked on two paper-crafting projects:

We each stamped & put together six happy birthday cards

And we each made a bouquet of paper flowers

 ____________________________________________

DAILY SMILES
Things that made me smile these past two weeks:

6.10.13
Liam used a ton of words today: clock, kitty, dog, mama, ball

6.11.13
We hung out with Matt's cousin and her fiancé at their new place

6.12.13
Liam was amazed by the mice, lizards and fish at the pet store

6.13.13
I got some new running/walking shoes, which = happy feet!

6.14.13
I picked weeds and watered our garden in the sunshine

6.15.13
Matt and I had date night - we went to an outdoor private concert at a friends home

6.16.13
We had dinner on our porch with Matt's parents for Father's Day

6.17.13
I went to Crafty Club and enjoyed talking with my girlfriends

6.18.13
Liam and I had a sleepover at my mom's house :)

6.19.13
Liam ran around my grandma's yard, giggling like a giggle monster

6.20.13
I made home-made play dough for Liam and he loved it

6.21.13
We watched a movie once Liam was in bed - something we haven't done in a while

6.22.13
We walked down to the harbor and checked out the names on the boats

6.23.13
Sang happy birthday to Matt's grandma who is turning NINETY SIX this week!