Winter Fun

On a beautiful winter Saturday in January, while Todd was up north with the guys, the kids and I headed up to my parents' house to belatedly celebrate my birthday and play in the snow.  Mom and Dad made a delicious lunch and dinner, and it was a wonderfully relaxing day.

I had some assistants helping me open my birthday present.

Me and my snow babies!

Nathan fell in love with sledding!  I'm not sure who was having more fun, Nay or Mom!

Natalie and I took a turn down the hill.  She was quiet the whole ride down.  At the end I asked her, "Did you have fun, Beanie?" She nodded her head very seriously and said, "Yeah."

We were all very surprised and happy that Nathan decided he wanted to go down all by himself!

We wrapped up the afternoon with a walk before heading in for some hot cocoa.

It's days like these that make me so happy to live in a place with four seasons.

Kentucky Weekend 2013!

MLK weekend was again host to our girls' weekend in Kentucky!  This was our third annual gathering, and it has quickly become time that I look forward to all year.  It is pretty amazing that there are eleven of us from college who have stayed close and in regular contact.  This year was a relatively small gathering; three people were not able to make it, but were certainly there in spirit.  The thing that amazes me about this group of women is that even though most of us only see each other once a year, it only takes about 15 seconds for it to feel like we just saw each other the day before.  We don't do many activities, mostly just talking, laughing, talking, eating, and talking some more.  No topic is off the table from the silliest to the most serious.  I love it!  

This year we had gorgeous, sunny weather, and headed over to the state park for a walk.

Leslie and Sarah

View from the cottage's deck, overlooking Taylorsville Lake.

Ok, I lied. We did have a pretty serious puzzle assembly team working all weekend.

Our rule is that kiddos are welcome as long as they are not yet mobile.  Baby Edda joined us this year.  I don't think I've ever met a sweeter, more delightful infant!  She was absolutely thrilled to be with a whole group of very chatty women. :)

This is how I felt all weekend: so very happy!!

Stephanie, Lindsey, Gillian and Leslie

Caroline and Linds

Roomies!!!

Patti taught us all how to make sushi! Fun!

Annual family photo on the couch. I love these incredible, intelligent, funny, amazing women.

A Little Organization

On a recent weekend I went on a bit of an organizational tear.  I'm constantly trying to think of ways to make daily life just a little bit easier.  Here's my latest attempts, which I have to say are working pretty well for the most part.

I really should have taken a before picture of this one.  Previously the tupperware lids were piled haphazardly in an overfull shallow drawer, meaning that I'd have to unload half of it to find the lid I needed.  And the bottoms were piled in a cupboard on the other side of the kitchen!  I got a pot lid organizer from Meijer and decided to commandeer the deep drawer that had previously housed the baking supplies that I almost never used.  This has been a great change!!

Taking over my baking supply drawer meant that I had to clean out and reorganize my pantry to make room.  Wow, it had been a long time since I've done that!  Now I can actually see what I have, and 5 year old canned goods are no longer taking up space. :)

After the Christmas extravaganza I needed to organize the kids' playroom so there was space for their new chairs and shelves that keep some of Nathan's games and Legos out of Natalie's reach.  This has been a really nice set-up.

This is my favorite project in this post!  Previously I had a dark and disorganized cupboard for all of the kids' art supplies and play-dough.  An over-the-door pantry organizer makes everything easy to see and takes advantage of unused space on the back of the hall closet door!

Pre-K!

Nathan started 2013 with an exciting transition to the Pre-K room!  This is the "top of the heap" at daycare; he will be in this classroom until he heads to kindergarten.  I remember how exciting it is to be in the big kid classroom, and Nathan was just as excited!!  The other transitions to the different daycare rooms have gone pretty smoothly, but nothing compares to this one.  He was telling everyone he saw about how he was going to be a pre-K-er.  So cute!  And, when did my baby turn into such a big kid?!?

Road Trip to Ann Arbor

The first weekend in January we headed over to Ann Arbor for a long overdue visit to the Appledorns' new house.  Yes, I am aware that they moved in over the 4th of July!  Luckily Dan and Annalee still seem to love us even though it took almost 6 months to check out their new place.  Their new home seems to be a great space for them; my favorite part is their cozy family room with an awesome fireplace.  We just hung out watching the kids run around and catching up on our lives.  Have I ever mentioned how much I love these four people, and how awesome it is that we all get along so well? I have? Well, it's still true. :)

Mother-Daughter Weekend

The weekend after Christmas Mom and I had planned to visit my grandmother in Rochester.  A big blizzard throughout the Northeast caused us to cancel those plans.  We decided that Mother Nature would not get in the way of the two of us getting some much needed time together.  So I cashed in some of my hotel points and we spent two days exploring Traverse City.

Usually when I go up north, I don't spend much time in TC other than stopping for a bite to eat.  I've always had the impression that it is a really great city, but it's impossible to compete with the allure of the cottage and the bay!  

We spent our first evening checking out all the shops and boutiques on Front St downtown.  There was an amazing selection of home decor and clothing, although 99% of it was way out of my budget!  Saturday we had a leisurely breakfast and then spent the rest of the day on Old Mission Peninsula.  We began with an attempted snowshoe at the lighthouse; it turned into a winter hike due to the fact that the snow was only a few inches deep!  It was gorgeous and peaceful, and the only time that I got my camera out all weekend. After our hike we grabbed lunch at a local deli and went to a few wine tasting rooms. That evening we headed over to the Grand Traverse Commons to check out the cool architecture and cute shops.

It was an absolutely wonderful trip, full of great conversation and relaxation.  I am so thankful to have such an amazing mom and to live in such a beautiful state!