"Will it be Christmas after I rest?"

Gavin is very excited for Christmas! He has been talking about his wish list since July. He wants:
1) Electric guitar
2) wire for electric guitar
3) speaker for electric guitar
4) stand for electric guitar

I kid you not....this is what he tells me just about every day. Persistent, eh? Luckily for him Mama found him a Fender Mini Squire electric guitar on a FB consignment page for a steal in perfect condition. All it needed was a 99 cent string :-) I then found a pretty good amp (with headphone input....WOO HOO!!!) at a yard sale.

So he asked me if it would be Christmas when he was done resting today. I tried explaining to him that christmas was about  100 rests away....he measures most activities in 'rest' times. Afternoon down time = 1 rest time. Bedtime = 1 rest time. So most days are measured in 2 rest times :-)

He didn't want to hear it. He wanted to know when Mr. Christmas (elf on the shelf) would be coming to visit. If it was time to write his letter to Santa and if it we needed to stop by the Christmas tree farm by our house to pick out our tree. Love this kid!!

So in the spirit of Christmas, I let Gavin help me make our wreath for front door. He loved it!! We just used a straw wreath I found at Goodwill for $1, some silver garland, bells and floral pins to attach everything. He had a blast attaching the bells.

Cute, right? Super easy, cost me about $10 and Gavin had a blast. Eh hem...no I did not find this on pinterest!!! I had a similiar wreath in my hand while I was at Joanne's a while back. The price tag on this wreath was $45.00!!! WHAT?! I knew I could make it cheaper than that! Next on my list is to make an advent calendar :-) This idea I did get from pinterest but the tins I wanted to use were $1.29/piece... I need 25, you do the math. I could just buy one and save myself the work. I found clear plastic containers that I can paint and will be perfect! I have all the other supplies so this project will probably cost me around $12.00 and Gavin can help me with that too. Hopefully that will buy Mr. Christmas some time because I...eh hem, HE is not quite ready to get here :-D

I now understand why people with children decorate for Christmas before Thanksgiving, their excitment is very contagious! However, I am still sticking to my rule of no Christmas decoration until AFTER Thanksgiving....for now I am sticking to it. Never say never.....
 

coffee cup #3

Thankfully the boys cooperated this morning! We had a serious discussion last night before bed that I really needed them to sleep until at least 6:00 a.m., especially since coincidentally Marcin spent last evening in DC for a friends bachelor's party.....convenient right? AND he gets to sleep in and go to Redskins/Eagles game at 1:00, hmph. I think I will plan a night away next year for the fall back time change :-P

So it is only 8:45....I feel like it should be at least 10:30. This stinks, thank goodness I got a good nights sleep. I would love to get some cleaning done or work on my ongoing projects. I have learned to set very small, super tiny goals when boys are running around. I can never finish anything when I want...most days I can accept this with little fuss. Some days, not so much. I just want to finish a project in a timely manner. It is just impossible to do with 3 little ones wanting to help you. Bless their little hearts that they just want to help and learn, I do my best to be patient because I know its just curiousity but the non-stop talking wears me out! lol Gavin helped me paint the med cabinet the other day...I let him paint the back, he had a blast and kept telling me how cool it was. J&K were sleeping. I would never let them near a can of paint! lol Kaleb likes to use the little vacuum and do the rugs. He also wipes the table down pretty well. Jakob will bring me things to put away but thats about it, hehe Gavin is a great helper with pretty much anything we ask him to do unless he gets distracted, hehe

So here we are...yes my children are watching tv while I type this. Don't judge, its the only way I can get them to sit still and not argue over something for 20-30 minutes. It is a much needed break after our morning of adventures in the basement :-P

Thank you all for your help with the front door curtain! I like the circle one but I thought it would be too many circles for that area with the rug having circles also :/  Now I just need to find a coupon or hope website has a sale on the fabric. I was back at Joanne's yesterday and found another fabric I want to use for bathroom curtains. Initially I thought it would work for the front door but I prefer it for our bathroom. I am also going to attempt a DIY bench cushion..wish me luck. It may be a disaster but I found a few on pinterest that don't involve sewing so I think I can manage lol I wish I remembered how to sew :/ My grandmother taught me growing up but that was a long time ago :-P I remember buying a sewing machine shortly after Marcin and I got married. I tried it and became so irriated with it that I returned it. Thank goodness my MIL can sew and my good friend is willing to help me out with my lack of sewing skills :-)

Hmmmm.....the boys didn't even last the show. They all went to basement. Gavin tells me, "Mom, you don't need to come downstairs. You can finish on your computer. I am going to close the door, ok?' You stay upstairs." This could only mean one thing...and he just came upstairs to make sure I was still 'working' on computer. Going to check......oi vey, first I walk to the door and there are little white footprints on floor upstairs. Then I walk downstairs to this,

LOL Was I really just talking about how they were such helpers at cleaning up things? The entire canister of styrofoam balls and dust was dumped onto floor/rug :/  J&K used their sock mops to help clean up the dust. Gavin got the small vacuum and helped me clean up also.

Good thing I did NOT clean the floors yesterday like I wanted to, otherwise I would be pissed!!!

Finally it is 10:00!!! WOO HOO!!! Getting closer to nap time, lol enjoy your day!

 

Prayers for a sweet family please!

A friend of mine needs many, many of your prayers. She has two handsome little boys and just found out a few days ago that her youngest has a tumor on his brain stem. They have a long journey ahead of them and I know could use every prayer and/or thought you can send their way! She started a blog if you would like to keep up with them, http://www.graysonsavery.com/2012/11/an-upside-down-world.html

Don't forget to change your clocks back tonight!! Good luck to all the families with small kiddos who will wake up even earlier tomorrow, ugh! lol



 

Bathroom pics and need your help!

Well not the best pics because it is hard to get a pic of the entire bathroom but you get the idea :-P

So here are the builder oak cabinets when I started.....

No hardward on them, just plain on cabinets. White rugs and a white shower curtain and really just a hodge podge of things leftover when we moved that would work in there. It also had the really large mirror. We replaced the lighting in there when we moved in. Random but we must have found it on clearance or something lol

So here is after, we added hardware, painted cabinets, framed out mirror with painted molding, new rugs, new shower curtain and I installed towel hooks behind the bathroom door. I know this will come as a surprise to you but the boys all thought the towel rack they could reach was something to hang on, so it was time for that to come down. I also had to remove the toilet paper holder from under the window because they were using it as a step stool to look out window. Wine...anyone have some for me? A case perhaps? lol Anyways, here are the after pics.....

My girly shower curtain (yes this is girly in our house!) and new rugs....

The cabinets with hardware and you can see a little of the mirror.....

Nothing fancy but a big improvement to us!!! We really like the way it turned out!!

Now I need your help picking out fabric for front door side window panels. Remember this pic...

If you missed it, here is a recap. I want to do this but not with one long curtain rod. I want a 16 inch rod on each side to cover the side windows. Here is our front door....rug is cream background with circles in shades of blue, green and brown.

Marcin does not like green so that color is out. The walls are already brown so I decided to look for shades of blue. We narrowed it down to these two fabrics....which do you like the best?! Or maybe neither...that is always an option LOL I am still looking but these are the two we like best so far :-P

Back to my painting upstairs! Thanks for your help!


 

Almost done!!

Started on our bathroom yesterday....I need one more coat on the back of the cabinet doors which I should be doing now instead of trying finish blog, watching CMA's, checking facebook, chatting with Marcin and texting with my lil brother who found he is having a BABY GIRL!!!! OMG I GET TO BUY PINK THINGS!!!! So very, very, very excited for them and the fact that I get a little niece to spoil rotten because she will be spoiled rotten, no doubt!

Sorry...distracted, back to the bathroom. I used a Rustoleum Cabinet Transformation kit from Home Depot, AWESOME product.

Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about it. I am usually pretty skeptical of these types of products because it sounded way too good to be true! No sanding necessary. See, too good to be true, right?! It takes a few days because it is a 4 step process but I love the end result! I need to get to Home Depot and find hardware!! This bathroom is going to take a while but I will have it done by Thanksgiving, hopefully!

So Gavin decided he wanted to go trick or treating. He was under the impression that if people came to the house for candy, they could come inside the house and play. He got this idea from Doc McStuffin's. If you haven't seen the halloween epi they show a million times a day on Disney....Doc helps her dad decorate the inside of their house and people come into the 'haunted house.' So Gavin thought this was how it worked. He was sad but quickly recovered once he knew chocolate was in his future. We have a few dress up costumes here so his options were a fireman, spiderman, lion or a robot. He picked a fireman. Jakob and Kaleb only had a choice between a dragon or a tiger. Jakob picked the tiger and Kaleb reluctantly picked the dragon...he was NOT amused by wearing the costume but he came around. Gavin is an old pro at trick or treating so he tried to show his brothers how it worked but they were too distracted and slowing him down, so off he went. Kaleb did great in his cute dragon costume....he walked on the sidewalk carrying his little flashlight and treat bag. Kaleb had to eat a piece a candy as soon as it was put in his treat bag!!! Our passionate child, Jakob, was another story...he was very excited to  wear his costume and looked adorable! He took off running down the sidewalk. He kept bringing me his flashlight, treat bag, wanted me to carry him, would not hold my hand, would not stay on the the sidewalk...RRRRRR. At one point, Marcin was talking to someone, Jakob actually stopped and yelled, "TATA!!!!!!!!" lol I guess Marcin was taking too long :-P We made it back home in time for Gavin to set up his speaker and microphone in front of the front door so he could 'welcome' trick or treaters when we opened the door. LOL Followed by Jakob trying to dig in people's bags and take their candy!!! I am guessing Jakob saw an opportunity while the kids were distracted by a fireman on a microphone greeting them so he could snatch their candy while they weren't looking? oi vey...never a dull moment in my house, never!

It's November 1!!! Let the holidays begin!! Well not officially Christmas until after Thanksgiving but I have a feeling the Elf on the Shelf will be making his appearance well before Thanksgiving :/ Although at one of the houses we stopped at for trick or treating last night, their Christmas tree was already up and FULLY decorated. There was just something completely wrong with that.....you should not be giving out Halloween candy with a Christmas tree in the background....weird.

November also starts NaBloPoMo!!! You get to look forward to a blog from me every day!! This will be challenging...be prepared for some ramblings because my life really isn't that interesting to blog about every day but I am sure I will come up with something whether its a crazy story about one of the boys or a pinterest recipe/project gone bad, lol

ok I have seen Carrie Underwood perform on CMA's, now I can go to sleep.....LOVE her!!!

He is his father's son.....

LOL On the way to school this morning, Gavin informed me that he didn't want to go trick or treating. He said and I quote, "Mom, I just want to stay home and everyone can come to my house. I will give them candy." Seriously....pretty sure I have heard these exact words from Marcin at some time or another (minus the "mom," obviously:-P)  So we may or may not be trick or treating this evening and honestly....I am fine with that LOL J&K don't understand the concept at their age....I will happily struggle with them to put on their dragon costumes for 5 minutes and watch them run to the door full of excitement because our boys get so darn excited when the door bell rings :-D

Now if this was Gavin's 2nd Halloween ever....you can bet I would make him wear that cute costume I got for him and he would go whether he liked it or not. But as I am learning and I know others are learning....different story with more than one kid. My motivation just isn't what it used to be, HA! And well, Marcin will happily stay home anytime I suggest it so....works for me!

On another note, must thank my fantastic husband for all of his hard work preparing the house for the hurricane!!! We are always pretty nervous about the basement flooding when a heavy rain comes thru...Marcin slightly more than me. If we have done all we can, then I try not to worry because it doesn't help the situation. Marcin...he worries, alot. He rigged up a cover for our basement step to keep the rain out of the there (it worked great and with stood the wind!). He set up the generator in the garage (garage doors WERE open!) and ran all extension cords throughout house for most important things to plug in, including sump pump in basement. I had to crawl back behind the tv (CREEPY and I could only imagine the spiders excitement at fresh meat, EW!) to unplug and plug all this in. Being the awesome wife that I am, I made sure to stop by package store and stock up on Whip Cream Vodka (his fav lately) and later went back for the club soda I forgot. He started drinking at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, HA! hey....whatever works for anxiety, hehe So we made it through the storm safely with no damage that we could see. Those further north were not so fortunate :-( The devastation of mother nature amazes me everytime. I can't watch anymore of the footage...makes me feel helpless. I wish I could help everyone....give them food, place to stay, supplies, etc.

We did manage to finish the boys bathroom over long weekend! I will have to post pics next time. I painted the ugly builder oak cabinets a dark espresso, got a new ruffly shower curtain, super cute rugs at Target on clearance, Marcin added hardward and framed out mirror. It looks MUCH better, HOORAY!!! Yesterday I started on our bathroom! I hope to get the cabinets painted this week! Then frame out mirrors, cabinet hardware, install PB med cabinet that I got for a STEAL on my side so I can put things out of little hands reach ;-)Repaint it, it is a light grey right now, there is a darker grey I want (yep saw it in pinterest!) to repaint, it needs it. This color,

I then want to find some fabric for some type of curtain....can't decide what though. Some pics and wall decor, Eventually new lights and extend the shower but I can work on the other stuff for now. Once this is finished, really hoping to get laundry room more organized, curtains for front door side windows ( I can't stand the sheers over them now but we need some privacy there. I don't like people being able to see in the house:/) So something like this but not with the one long rod, I want to do one small 16 inch rod on each side,

Also a  little sitting nook for guest in our living room.

Perfect spot for this in the 'formal living room' and I pretty much have everything I need to do it, just need to refurbish a few things. Obviously it will only look nice and pretty for about 2.5 seconds because boys will see it as another obstacle course but you have to give me credit for trying! lol

Ideally I want to get this all done before my surgery in january....not sure if it will happen but I am going to try my best!! If kids would stop getting sick, hurricanes stayed away, laundry did itself and boys would share nicely then I might have a chance!

Happy Halloween everyone!! Stay safe!

Go Away Sandy!!!

So I figured while waiting on storm, I would catch up on my blog!!! My younger brother kindly pointed out it has been a couple of months....I knew this but I feel like we just celebrated J&K's birthday a couple of weeks ago, not TWO months ago!

I am sure you all have been super sad of my absence and your life has been incomplete ;-)

We are anxiously waiting to see what kind of punch Sandy is going to deliver. The latest news is that she again shifted south towards our area and expected landfall is between 6-8 tonight *sigh* We will definitely be moving downstairs to the basement. I am little pissed that New Jersey and PA are constantly mentioned in the news but no one says a word about Delaware, HELLO!!!?!?! We are between the two but no mention of our coast line on the major news channel. I am thinking they deserve a letter from disgruntled watcher. HMPH

We have been busy as usual around here! Marcin and I had a fun wedding in Dewey Beach mid-september. Seriously...it was a lot of fun! We even got to stay the night! WOOP! The wedding was on the beach and the band was fantastic. I don't usually like band but this band was like 311 and was singing anything from Bell Biv Devoe to Nicky Minaj, awesome!

Then the following weekend I had a night way with some great friends. We also went to the beach. It rained but we made the best of it and still had a fun time! We were able to go out to dinner and eat uninterrupted and slowly. It was fantastic! We also went to shop at the outlets and took.our.time!!!! Yes we browsed in Aerie for probably an hour....why? because we had no where to be! Amazing! By the time we finished a delicious dinner at Salt Air (seriously....if you are ever in rehoboth, GO THERE!!! I had chorizo grilled shrimp with cheese grits, YUM!!!) They also do NOT skimp on the alcohol! I ordered a cosmos because I didn't have to drive or get up early, so I decided to live on the edge lol Well the cosmo came out in the shaker....a full shaker (read: at least 3 full glasses, yikes!) I finished it...and a few shots later, oi vey:-P at almost 35 years old, you think I would have learned by now LOL The next day, we got up (When we wanted too =0) and had some brunch and went shopping, again! seriously....it was a fantastic 27 hours :-)

On another note, I believe I convinced Marcin for us to stay put in our house. He has some issues that he doesn't like with neighborhood, neighbors, yard size, etc. But let's face it, grass is always greener. I think the only way either of use would be completely happy would be to build the house ourselves on about 5 acres :-) We can dream......so we are back to my ever growing pinterest list of ideas I come up with that I NEED to do in the house lol The way I see it.....we are going to be here for a while, let's make it the way WE want it. We bought the house at peak of market and we are not going to make any money off house....maybe if we add some unique but sellable features, it will separate our house from the other cookie cutter houses in the neighborhood. We would like granite in kitchen, tile the powder room and morning room, extend master shower into sitting room and make sitting room into a pretty, girly closet for me :-) And a few other things here and there. We will get there eventually if we can find the time, keep kids healthy and not have anymore hurricanes, hmph.

The boys....oh our silly, fun loving, energetic boys :-) They are doing great! Driving me a little nutty but I love them all the same. Gavin started 4 y/o preschool. The first few weeks were a little rough. He didn't want to go but he seems to be adjusting. He was also having some big tantrums and mood swings. I didn't know what to do....but the tantrums, screaming and back talking wasn't working for me (or Marcin). He stopped napping a few months ago. Sometimes he may take the occasional snooze once a week but otherwise he has 'rest time' for a couple hours while J&K nap. So by 5-6:00 p.m., he was a cranky,tired mess. But if we got in bed by 8:30...he would not be able to settle down until close to 10:00 for sleep. This seemed a little late to me, so we started trying to get him in his room by 7:00-7:15 on school nights. This put him usually asleep by 8:30....muuuucccch better :-D He wakes up earlier but so what....he is in a good mood and not falling out every hour = happy mama!
Gavin has also been doing great at his drum lessons! He really enjoys his time with Mr. Bryan at Drum School :-) I love to watch him because he listens so well and focuses on what he is learning. I hear him practicing it at home. He also likes to turn on music and then try to pick out the beats so he can play along his drums. Alot of the guys at the music store are in a band and are constantly commenting on how good he is for his age....makes me so very proud! His teacher tells me how he can hear/see Gavin's natural rhythm when he is just playing around. This combined with the structure he learns from lesson could make him into a professional drummer one day, if he keeps with it. If he continues to like, we are all for it! Of course, he would have to pick one of the most expensive instruments to play lol I keep looking at J&K because they are the same age as Gavin was when they were born and it a few months before this that Gavin's interest in drums/music really started coming out.

Kaleb is a funny kid with zero fear! seriously....the child will try just about anything and jump from just about anything. The funny thing is he seems to be very agile. He just rolls into a fall or jump. He doesn't normally cry when he lands on his head, just laughs and gets up to do it again! His speech is never ending! He points out everything over and over again! I do love making him food because he always give me a big, "YUM!" when he likes something which is just about everything. love that!He still loves his books, trains and cuddling with stuffed animals. Gavin was never interested in stuffed animals...Kaleb usually has a crib full to cuddle with :-) He is growing so quickly. I find myself seeing J&K as my babies and they shouldn't get big like Gavin lol But at his 2 year appt., he was 34 inches tall and 33lbs. Clothes -2t and shoes around 9 or 9.5! And he loves his brothers.....he is so cute when helping Jakob with something or listening to Gavin teach him something. love, love, love <3

Jakob....our passionate child :-D Jakob is the sweetest, most helpful child. He loves for me to pick him up and he will give me a BIG two arm hug followed by lots of kisses!!! however, when he gets mad....forget it. DRAMA....oops sorry, the passionate side of him develops ;-) He is so stubborn and strong willed!!! Kaleb and Gavin have simliar laidback personalities. Jakob....not so much. Must be the blue eyes lol If you tell him not to do something....he does it. He will walk by while someone is playing with trains or blocks...knock them over and keep going with smirk on his face :-P
He is really improving with his speech! He has so many more words, we are just working on him pronouncing them correctly. Continuous work in progress that I think he will be successful with, his speech therapist is great and he really looks forward her coming to play:-)

Those are all the updates I can think of for now....I am sure I am forgettting a lot but I am getting a little anxious for this storm and need to get some things down in the basement while i can still think cleary and boys are still upstairs!

Keep us in your prayers....we need lots!!! TIA! I am REALLY going to try and be better about blogging. I like it but these boys have been keeping me ridiculously busy lately!