the moments in between

one year later

last year at this time, we were doing a lot of thinking, talking and researching on one topic - whether or not we'd send sam to kindy, and where we'd send him if we didn't. he is a late summer baby, and his birthday falls 2 days before our districts cut off. oy. so much to think about.

once we fell firmly into the "not sending" camp, the question of where to send him came together rather quickly. three families from our old preschool were moving to the same one, and once we visited, we registered sam there as well. it's a 5 morning a week program, the classrooms are structured like they will be in kindergarten, and we thought it would be the perfect transition from preschool to full day K.

so we find ourselves here, a year later. the omaha symphony came to his school to give a concert / education program with the kids. they had spent  the last part of february learning about music and instruments, and this pulled it all together. it was an awesome experience, and par for the course with what we've seen at his school.

and here HE is, a year later. he got to play these bongo drums with the symphony. he's a leader in his classroom. he is more confident and engaged with what he's learning - to the point where he's up and started reading just about everything. i love that we gave him this year, and i love what it's given him.

the snow found us

yesterday, i left you with this sad photo of our "snow" day. this was around 10am.

around 1pm, the snow started. road conditions went downhill quickly. by 4pm, the storm was pretty dense and visibility was going downhill.

at 9pm, they cancelled school again for today. it snowed into the wee hours - some parts of the city got up to 8inches. today will be spent digging out and sledding. =)

i'm not much for digging out or sledding, so i think i'll stay in my little room and make stuff. i'm willing to make hot chocolate for icy boys, but i need to spend some serious time with my neverland kits. here's a peek at what i've finished - a PL week with the  neverland card kit : 

and a week with the neverland PL kit : 

here's to staying warm!

retail therapy

i *may* have done a little shopping while i was stuck in bed with the flu. the dangers of having too much time on my hands. ;)

i've been debating what album to use for my 2013 Project Life...  i finally settled on the seafoam album. i think. if i find one i like more, i'll move my 2011 pages into these, as those are currently in black binders (boring!). now that it's mid february, i figured it was time to embrace 2013 and get my album rolling.

ever since rachel at basic grey showed me these goodies at CHA, i've been dying to get my hands on them..  hey you, hey boy, hello (there's also a hey girl, but it's a bit girly for my house ;). since these lines released at joann's and my store isn't convenient, i bought some favorites online. i can also tell you that these lines will be popping up in studio calico kits. ;) 

InLinkz.com

i picked up this bin from land of nod to hold my project life kit, and loved it so much that when i saw they had a free shipping promo i had to grab this one to hold other kit goodies. i love that it gives me a place to put the smaller kit embellishments front and center so i won't forget about them while i'm working. i am seriously an out of sight, out of mind sort of girl. 

and last but not least, i popped in to archiver's while the boys were at my mom's this weekend... and was rewarded with new amy tangerine yes please, dear lizzy lucky charm and maggie's new line. LOVE. it all just came in at 2peas - here are some of my favorite pieces + a few from other lines that i've grabbed recently : 

InLinkz.com

now it's time for me to be good and SCRAP instead of shop. ;) today's a good day for that, we're home for a snow day. see?

they made the call last night for a storm that is *supposed* to hit today...  so far, it looks like it's mostly gone south. it'll be interesting to see if we get anything significant before the day is over. right now, there are a few flurries and a housefull of woundup boys. ;)

wordless wednesday : "these are the hands of an abstract artist, mom"

what goes undone

when the flu comes knocking, things go undone. dishes, blogging, and project life get displaced by watching fevers, starting yet another episode of mythbusters and finding blankets for sleepy sick boys. picking up the living room and answering email doesn't happen while you sleep for the better part of three straight days.

and that's okay. one week later, you start adding them back in. slowly. ben and sam bounced back quickly, but this mama was hit hard and is still not 100%. i forsee a lot of prioritizing in the next few days.

on monday, as i was finally starting to feel human again, my studio calico box came. could the timing have been any better? this month's kit names may be one of my favorite sets ever- sam and i had watched hook right before i saw these kits, and they just totally have a magical & playful feel. the above sneak is the lost boys addon - be sure to check out the sneak slideshow so you can see the stamp in this one. it's amazing. 

happy thursday - and happy valentine's day! we have a quiet (errr, as quiet as it ever is around here) evening at home planned. all i know is that i don't plan to cook. ;) hope you all have a wonderful day!

we went ice skating....

a couple of weeks ago, i got a text from a friend. they were going ice skating, AT MIDNIGHT, and did we want to join them?

(for backstory, there's an outdoor ice rink at UNMC, which is about a mile from where we live. each year, they host a skate-a-thon to raise money for parkinson's research. our friends were planning to attend, and decided they'd go ahead and act on their kids' requests to skate after midnight)

so i pondered it for a minute, had a quick discussion with matthew (it was decided that he'd stay home w/ sam) and asked alex and ben before i could think better of it. because sometimes you have to be the type of person to say yes to crazy things like skating at midnight. 

it was cold, yes. and there was more on direction in the playlist than my boys preferred. ;) but we had a BLAST. we skated. we talked. we got to see a cool thriller performance. 

but when the 1am skivvy skate rolled around, we decided it was time to head home. there are some things you just shouldn't say yes to. ;)

hello, 2013

2012 ended here. three boys under the christmas tree. so love this tradition. this year we let sam stay up for the first time. and he almost made it. ;)

i've got the weekly challenge on the studio calico blog this week - along with lucy abrams. i'd love to have you check it out and play along!

InLinkz.com

and there's even more fun on the SC blog - we're revealing the cha-w 2013 lines! here's a peek at a page i made with here+there. i'll admit that this is my favorite of the three. =)

happy monday!! i've got one more day with all three at home, and then it's back to school. i can't wait. ;) poor alex had a stomach bug yesterday but is feeling better today..  now to cross my fingers that no one else gets it!!

wishing you...

wishing you all things wonderful this holiday season.

and lots of moments like this. xoxo from my house to yours.

in love with raskog

like everyone else, i've been stalking the cute aqua cart from ikea. i've watched it pop in and out of stock online. i looked for it at ikea when we were in minneapolis this summer. and i'd been stalking it's in stock status in the chicago stores in the weeks leading up to our thanksgiving trip. always no dice.

then i checked the night before we left town - most likely in stock. WOOHOO. i ended up grabbing two - one aqua and one gray. and now i want a third. i wasn't sure if the corner in my workspace could hold two, but now that i have them here i know that it will. score.

the aqua cart became an art cart. and i'm in love. now instead of all this stuff being crammed in a drawer and a cabinet it is out where they can easily use it AND (this is the best part) easily put it away.

alex built the gray cart for me - it's going to live in the bathroom, holding towels and tp and other useful things. if i get my hands on another aqua one, it will hold fabric and other bits and pieces.

so. it's easy to put together. it's super cute. the size is pefect. and it holds a ton. i love it when something i've been looking for lives up to my expectations!

34th street sneaks

34th Street. it's the perfect mix of frosty aqua, greys and pinks, with some brighter pops of color mixed in. perfect for winter, but not to theme-y that you can't use it for just about anything. with our thanksgiving trip, i was only able to get three layouts done - but i have a bit of time today reserved to sneak in another one. i really really really want to use the kris kringle add-on - i'm in love with the stamp. the leftovers from this addon will definitely be going into my december daily pile.

here's a peek at what i made this month : 

(34TH STREET)

(34TH STREET + PENN STATION + MURRAY HILL + HERALD SQUARE)

(34TH STREET + HERALD SQUARE + PENN STATION + MURRAY HILL + KRIS KRINGLE)

InLinkz.com

i also wanted to share a couple of cyber monday deals - studio calico has all past digi files available until 8pm EST. there are also a few new ones mixed in there - i love these tabs cut files and the 2013 new years brushes!

 

and this one started for black friday, but ends today. 40% off a LOT of new and cool items - including some of the SC lines. it's a great chance to pick up a little something for yourself, or for someone crafty on your gift list. ;) there are tons of good items for a dec daily album or project life, too.

happy monday!! we got home late saturday night and spent yesterday doing laundry, unpacking and trying to get back into the swing of real life. and today. SNOW! i don't think it will last, but it's the fun fluffy pretty stuff and not too cold. maybe this will be the push i need to get into the christmas mindset?