It's been a little cray

I'm home today. Tuesday is usually a busy work day for me but I have a kid who took a baseball to the noggin yesterday so we're staying home. He's currently alternating ice and Wii and I'm enjoying a moment to myself with the gazillions of posts filling up my reader (which is now Feedly, I love it.)

We've been busy with parties, weddings and such. Big had his first communion and confirmation complete with aunts and a sweet cousin from out of town, my sister in law got married and then the very next day was a fundraiser I'm involved with. I'm wiped. So today's little lie-in is a total lifesaver. I think since I'm home I need to organize my scattered life. I lost my keys in my house a week ago and still can't find them. Eek! My husband is sure I'm completely loco and I can't say that I blame him. Check in with me next week I might be the picture of tranquility and zen. There's always hoping right?

What's going on

Hola! Thought I'd pop in and see if there is still actually anyone out there. Maybe, maybe not. That's ok it still feels good to write things out into the void of the internet. My sister-in-law is getting married so we've been busy with pretty showers, parties and plans.

My sweet babies are getting after it in sports.

My husband is busy working, a lot.

As a family we've been doing no artificial colors, flavors or preservatives. Challenging at first but now it seems pretty old hat. Not to worry though there is still plenty of crappy food and sweets to be eaten  if needed! 

I'm still obsessed with Instagram and Pinterest. You can find more of me there these days, come find me!

Pool anyone?

Every January the blogs are filled with resolutions and goals, mine included. But I think for me that this year is the year of the house. This blog is going on five years which totally blows me away but I think that it's time for a little less inspiration and a lot more action. I have this large front room that has served as the play room since the boys were babies. I have a dining room table, buffet and a sofa and the rest has always been kidland. It served it's purpose and still does. The boys still have mean balltag games but I'm thinking it's time to add to our room.

So here's my thought, move the family room into the large front room and make the family room more of a game room. I know some of you might gasp at why I would think to put a pool table, TV, video games system but with two boys getting older every day I want them to want to be here. I want them to be able to bring their friends over to hang out, I want to be the fun house...or should I say the-in-the know/fun house. This is all in the planning stages and probably won't happen in the next few months but I think this is where I'm headed. Seen any totally awesome not too manly game rooms? 

{via}

Holiday Traditions

Every family has it's own traditions and things that they do to make the holiday season special. Holiday memories are always favorites so I try to do a few things that I remember as a kid and of course every family makes up new things as they go. 

• I make hot cocoa anytime it's requested.
• I waited it out as long as I could, but Jolly our Elf on the Shelf finally made an appearance last year.
• I use my Spode Christmas dishes the whole month of December.
• We do Zoo Lights every year.
• I always spend a lot of time wrapping gifts so they seem even more exciting to open.
• We do the Advent Wreath every Sunday night during Advent.
• Watch lots of Christmas movies.

This is us, I'm curious about other families holiday traditions. There might be something that we need to add!

{all images from Sarah's Fab Day Christmas Pinterest Board}

Let's toast!

I love days that end up with a good laugh. Sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl  because I have friends that don't think it's weird when I text to chat about raw apple cider vinegar, completely get my lame sense of humor, make up silly acronyms (#pwlu) and understand the black hole that is You Tube. 

Thanks friends for always being so awesome! So I think a cheers to friends are in order what do you think? Let's make a drink.

The Frenchy

• 1 1/2 oz Pear Vodka
• 3 oz Pineapple Juice
• 1 oz Cranberry Juice

In a chilled rocks glass filled with ice, add your vodka and pineapple juice. Top with a splash of cranberry juice.

I'm baaackk!

After a debacle at the Rome airport trying to get home we finally made it last night. We're officially in love with Italy. It was the trip of a lifetime. This isn't the best picture but it totally makes me laugh. This is how I will remember the kids on this trip. The kind of kids that surprise you with their patience, ability to just roll with it and still be totally silly.

Now I'm back home with pile of laundry and a very happy dog. How's your summer?

Little

Little often asks me, "Where's my brother?" and it always fills my heart with good stuff. When I hear him call Big my brother, I can hear it in his voice that he thinks of him as that protector, friend, confidante. Seriously there is nothing better for a mom.

It makes up for the other brotherly ribbing and bickering doesn't it? We'll save those discussions for another day shall we? 

PS - I know the poster has nothing to do with my littles but I think they would love it and I think it's pretty cool.  May the force be with you.

He's 8

Today Big turns 8. He woke up with the world's biggest smile like the world was going to tell him a secret now that he's a year older. I just know that he'll find one. Everyone always told me how fast it all goes, sometimes I can't even believe it.

{1}

Me and the week

So Christmas is finally over, anyone with a post holiday hangover? Not quite yet for me other than averting my eyes to my kids' Christmas toy extravaganza. We had a great holiday filled with lots of fun family activities. This week has already flown by too, I'm not ready to send my boys back to school. This may or may not change by Monday but we'll see. 

This is what is on the agenda for this week:

• Make breakfast cookies. I think I saw the recipe in Bon Appetit, but I'm not sure.
• Make round 2 Butternut Squash soup with ginger and curry. I'm adjusting the recipe and when it's perfected I'll share here on the blog.
• Sort/toss/donate the kids' toys. We have lots. Thankfully Little is willing to part with them because he likes his stuff tidy, Big not so much. I will be sneaking bags of  his old toys into my husband's trunk at night I just know it.
• I'm going to Alt Summit in a couple of weeks with Marni and Jaimee and I need to plan outfits. They're having a white party. Yes you heard me right, now I have to find something cute and white for frigid snowy Utah.  Arggh, really people white?! I will most likely look like the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man because my idea of cold is 60 degrees. 
• Plan something fun for the kids on New Year's Eve. This is not my specialty so if you think of anything please pass ideas my way, I'm hopeless.

What's going on this week with you guys?

Best days

I'm loving today. Finally cool out with not too much to do. My favorite kind of day.

To-do this week:
Snap some pics of my littles in their adorable Tea Collection togs.
Decide what to make for contribution to Thanksgiving.
We're doing Elf on the Shelf this year so I need to pick one up.
Get out my holiday decorations.
Make holiday gift lists organized.

What are you guys up to this week? Are you madly making lists like me so you don't go crazy during the holidays?

{image via The Cherry Blossom Girl}

What I've been up to

It's finally here!!! Slightly cooler weather! Hip hip hooray! So even though I haven't been here much I still have been pinning away on Pinterest.

Blogging Fall over at The Invitation Lady.

And shamelessly promoting myself on Twitter. The pilates studio where I work and teach pilates certification is nominated for Best Alternative Exercise in Arizona Foothills Magazine. So if you have an extra two minutes click the link and vote for Moving Breath Pilates. Pretty, pretty please? You can vote once per day.

That's all for now. What have you been up to?

A week already?

So I guess I've made myself scarce this past week, sorry about that. Last Wednesday I had a little kitchen mishap which involved stitches so I've been a little off my game. My grand plans of organizing all of my piles and closets hasn't fared so well. That's ok I have plenty of time to procrastinate on that. In fact in a little effort to procrastinate some more I think I need to do/try/make/find the following items.

Chocolate Sorbet - Made by local lifestyle guru Jaimee. I must make this, yum.

Stalk the web for an astronomy print.

Read the following book.

Obsess about this handbag. I just noticed that they're selling the neon Cambridge Satchels at J.Crew. Thank you for making my stalking this item much easier.

Which kind of reminds me of this artist who I adore.

Hopefully this will keep me busy until the mood strikes to get productive again.

Do it :: Work Out

Summer has not been kind to me my friends. I've spent little to no time at the gym these past two months. It has started to catch up with me in a big way so I've got to turn it around now that they're in school. I actually love working out but the gym I belong to has no childcare in the afternoons and the kids activities were usually in the morning during the summer so you know what that meant; me hanging out getting flabby, tired, etc., etc.

{via pinterest}

Just a few reasons to get you motivated:
1. Working out makes your skin pretty! Your skin is your largest organ, working out brings blood flow and oxygen to the skin and gets rid of all those icky toxins that get stuck in there.
2. After working out there is much less to feel guilty about if you have a treat or a glass of wine.
3. Buying workout clothing is fun. (Especially if it's from Lululemon!)
4. Working out makes you sleep better at night and we ladies need our beauty sleep.
5. If you're stressy like me, it works wonders.
6. The obvs, it's just good for you!

So who's with me? Anyone else getting back into the groove after a summer layover?

We're off!

Everything's packed so we're headed off to the beach!

I'm dying for some cool weather. Literally. The kids were so excited that they couldn't sleep last night and what I couldn't say to them when I was begging for them to get into bed was, "Me too!"

{Actually we're here but I couldn't post this yesterday morning because Blogger was being a temperamental b*%#h.  Arggh Blogger, get it together}

{image from Etsy}

I NEED a new kitchen table stat!

It's official my kitchen chairs are falling apart. Sucks. Not that I'm not excited at the possibility of new furniture because there's nothing more exciting to me than new furniture, it's the finding the perfect thing at the perfect price. Oh the woes of a shopper on a budget and a family with two kids that still seem to get yogurt all over everything. (I find that s&*t everywhere! Seriously how does yogurt travel so far? Sorry I'm straying.) I've thought about getting a bench for the boys at the kitchen table, but then I think of how hard it is for regular (tall) adults to try and swing their long legs over and then I think not so smart. I think I've come up with the good old World Market solution that yes has been seen umpteen times but I still like it. Thoughts?

Starting with this

adding two of these at either end

and finishing the table off with four of these.

Pee Wee's Playhouse

On a scale of 1 to 10 how nerdy do you think it is that I sat through the HBO special Pee Wee's Playhouse?  I LOVED that show when I was a kid. I was even 11ish when it started but I still watched it religiously every Saturday. I thought it was hilarious and apparently still do. The fact that during Cartoon Time they showed Penny was the cherry on top.  Penny is the shiz. (Ooh this one is good too!)

I even had this magazine back in the day, my parents got it for me because I loved Pee Wee so much.  Anyone else watch it? 

Laundry or errands?

Dude I'm ready to pull out some hair. I've got piles of laundy and here I sit lollygagging. I have mucho to do today and I can't manage to pull it together. It's a very carefully orchestrated dance of procrastination. I really need to work out to get rid of all of this stressy energy but do I have the time today? I'm one of the chairs for Big's big school fundraiser so I'm feeling the heat, it's Saturday. It's a little earlier than normal because at a parochial school there's no partying during Lent so this year it's bright and early. So I have lots of annoying errands to run, details to tie up and then I can't stop thinking about the piles....And then to top it off if I'm doing something I can't just hop into bed and go to sleep I have to unwind for an hour or so in order to just get to sleep. I get insomnia when I have things on my mind and things to do. Oh and let's not forget Little's big 5 year birthday is tomorrow. Crap. I guess I should go and get some presents or something.

I won't kid myself, sorry honey it's the laundry that's going to have to wait! See you kids at the gym.

{This picture from Dillon Kyle has nothing to do with anything it just looks like a fun place to hang, gossip with my girlfriends while the guys bbq and the kids play hide and seek. Wanna join us?}

The weekend

Hi there. How were your Super Bowl festivities? Are you a big football fan? By the time the Super Bowl rolls around I could give a fig about any football. I check out around the college bowl season because I'm so tired of it. But hey if you're a Packers fan, woot woot! We took Little to Disneyland for his birthday, well it's not quite his birthday but it's when we could fit it in. He got to meet his idol Lightning McQueen and added a few more Cars items to his collection. We are a Disney marketers dream, he LOVES Cars.

When you're 5 you get to go all alone at our house, we did it for Big too and it ends up being pretty special. You get to do whatever you want without an impatient brother standing by, not to mention at 5 you're usually tall enough to ride most of the rides. When we went a couple of years ago for Big's 5th birthday we realized that you can bring food into the park now. No worries about eating the world's grossest lunch you can swing by Trader Joe's and bring it in. Thank goodness. You know Little doesn't eat anything so it came in pretty handy. I did however eat my weight in churros and had to have the yummy pineapple soft serve over by Adventure Land. I've always thought that churros in Disneyland taste the best, I can't be the only one.

He's 7

Did I tell you last Monday that Big turned 7?  Yes, 7!?! When I started this blog he was barely 4, I can't believe it either. My sweet little Mama's boy has now officially marched into kiddom. He says, "Mo-om!" when he thinks I'm being annoying and a little too weird.  He tries things on his own without looking my way for approval. He's a boy that is kind, silly and has never met a stranger. 

I say, "Wow, I'm so lucky." to myself every single day; as I'm sure all moms do. We are lucky aren't we?

Were you naughty or nice?

Morning friends! Did Santa bring you everything you wished for? We had a great, laid back Christmas. The kids had the BEST time (of course) and we had a great time watching them have fun. My favorite part has been that the boys have been so busy playing with their new toys and each other that we've all spent a good portion of our weekend in our jammies. I did do a little post holiday shopping yesterday and surprisingly came away with lots of deals. I finally found my black blazer at H&M which will be perfect for a New Years celebration. Thankfully for everyone the after Christmas letdown has been pretty minimal.

So tell me what your favorite gift you received was, here's ours:

Me: Kindle!! (Which of course led me to the what cover dilemma and for once practicality won over fashiony goodness.)

Big: The black Wii (he insists that a white Wii is just a Wii, because it's the original. The red and black ones must be prefaced with their color. Strange, but ok...)

Little: Mater's Monster Truck Wrastlin' (Cars obsession continues.)

Mr. SFD: ??

Tell me all about your holiday, try any new recipes, find some smokin' post Christmas deals??