Happy New Year!

Ugh. One of the things that I love to do at New Years (or at least for the last couple years) is go back and read the blog and remember all the funny times with the boys that year. Which is so fun except for the year that you didn't do a good job making time to blog and then, well, its a MAJOR BUMMER. I know probably no one reads this anymore-and to be honest the real reason that I am writing it is for a memory keeper. My kids are going to think that 2011 didn't exist! ;) Or maybe they'll realize that I had a baby and a job and it did exist it was just that I had to choose between feeding them and blogging and for 2011 I chose feeding them. 2012 - different story... blog all the way!

2011 has been an amazing year- one of the bests to date! 2012 has got it's work cut out for it ;) Kate is for sure the best baby that lived at our house (maybe the world). Jack and Thomas continue to amaze me at how unbelievably loving and great they are at being big brothers. They literally love her to pieces! These days are tiring but they are the best. One day soon they are going to choose their friends over me so I am trying to remember that even if i am not the best StarWars player- they will remember me playing StarWars with them.

There's no way I'm going to be able to remember all the giggles that we have had, but I am thinking i have enough scribbled on post it notes to do a top 10 or something for 2011. Or maybe Top 11. One of my resolutions is to be a better blogger so that the kids can have this to help them remember these fun days together.

Cheers to 2012- may it be a year filled with health happiness and lots and lots of wine - oops i mean laughter!

A day I'll never forget...

On April 17th at 8:03pm we welcomed little Baby Kate to our family! Katherine Ryland - named after my Nana and a building at the college where we met and got married. I am beyond excited to be a mom to a little girl and she is such a sweet baby. After having two boys and knowing we will get to do all the great things that come along with little boys- tball games, star wars parties, unlimited visits to the ER room. I am so excited to think that now we will also be able to experience all the great things that come with having a little girl... filling the house with pink, shopping the pink side of the stores, maybe someday throwing a wedding.. Oh right and not to mention I just know she will make sure that we go to the nicest old folks home when were old geezers. We couldn't be happier with the newest addition to our family. It now just feels complete.

Her brothers are pretty much infatuated with her. She's got them and her daddy wrapped around her itty bitty finger already! They are so sweet and curious and loving- I am sure there will be a day they want to send her back to the baby factory, but for now I am relishing in these sweet moments and hope I can bring them to the forefront of my memory when they are all fighting for rights to use the car one day.

Welcome to the world, baby Kate!

Richmond Thrifter Giveaway!

Run, Don't Walk to my sister's new blog, Richmond Thrifter. She posts all kinds of great ideas of how to class up your thrifting treasures. Today she is hosting her first give away sponsored by Tula Designs! Check out her super cute crafty ideas and be sure to let us know which Tula Designs is your favorite...

Copying is the greatest form of flattery, right?

you know the saying "my eyes are bigger than my stomach"... well unfortunately my taste is a bit richer than my pocketbook ;). And, you know me - I LOVE a good bargain... so that is the moral of the post- not necessarily --"ooooo, look at my boys new room. ;)"

Once I moved Thomas into a big boy bed in Jack's room- I started falling in love with this (and about 10 other) rooms from Serena and Lily's collection:
Here's the problem...
Twin Duvet .....................$150.00
Twin Quilt........................$180.00
Euro Pillow Sham.............$ 68.00
Regular Pillow Sham........$ 58.00
Initial Pillow Sham...........$ 58.00
Grand Total ............$514.00

AND... an even bigger problem... I have to multiply that by 2 twin bedding sets for a grand total of $1028- which clearly even if I did try to justify it every way possible... is just not realistic for something that is going to get peed on and barfed in (sorry but that is the reality of the situation at our house - pee and barf). Oh right, that and my husband would have shipped me off to the insane asylum before I could have clicked "check out" on the Serena and Lily website.

I was DETERMINED to DIY it. I loved, loved, loved the room just knew I (with a little help form my mom!) could do it for a fraction of the cost. It's not an exact match but I am happy with the final result- and I feel like the boys have a room they can grow into!

Here's my cost breakdown:
Twin Duvet and (7 yards of Ikea fabric $7.99/yd )...................~$56.00
Euro Sham (made from left over duvet fabric).............................$ 0.00
Twin Quilt (from Target --included regular sham! Bonus!).............$29.00
Regular Sham..................................................................$ 0.00
Initial pillow- Yet to be made! (**but lets be honest, my boys already have two more pillows than they use on their bed so I am sure that will get made sometime between now and their next room make over!)
Sub Total (for new bedding)/...............................................$ 85.00

Even if I include the accessories-I come in $402.00 LESS!:
Frame(Ikea) ......................................................................$ 14.99
Letter.................................................................................$ 3.00
Bookshelf (is really a picture ledge from Ikea)...............................$ 9.99
Grand Total Room Make-over........... ..........$112.98

And it really was a sinch to make... the hardest part was just dealing with the excess of fabric for the duvet...

So this is what I have been up to while hibernating this winter...

On a totally unrelated note... i almost started crying at my Dr. Appt yesterday... He told me I was 34 weeks.... I THOUGHT ALL WEEK I WAS 35 WEEKS! UGH!

What a difference an inch makes...

We were about 1 inch of snow away from a MAJOR meltodown of epic proportions today! Today we woke up to 3- 4 ish inches of snow...Today also marked the beginning of Jack's Student of the Week at school (a week that he has already managed to figure out is a special day short due to the Presidents!)... Today also happened to be the only day that "Dad" could join us for SOW festivities...

We have been SO happy with Jack's teachers and were ridiculously impressed with the efficiency with which they run their classroom...I think I witnessed a miracle, but I am not sure - there were no angels singing or lights shining, but as soon as his teacher said "1,2,3 eyes on me" The whole class stopped what they were playing with and said, "1,2 -eyes on you!" and proceeded to clean up the entire room. just like busy little bees... poof the whole room is clean. I could use some of that magic over here chez P...
We have the whole Star Wars theme going on for the week...Jack had to put together a poster of pictures (which he PRESENTED! to his class! Presented- like i would have lost sleep for 2 nights - he just got up and presented the pictures to his class!He clearly has his daddy's genes there) Naturally - he included a few from Disney where he "got his Jedi Training and defeated Darth Vader." AJ read a Anakin in Action - a family fave...Snack was chocolate covered pretzel "light sabers". Tomorrow we will play Star Wars bingo...

Without getting too cheesy - I can't believe his confidence! J, you impressed me so much today!

Happy (almost) Valentine's Day

I saw these on a blog and I can't remember where (which I hate when that happens cause I would love to give them credit! They clearly did the hard work and I am just a copycat!) I thought J. would have no interest but it looks like we have put off the Star Wars Valentine's for one more year!

brusha brusha brusha

We had been implementing the whole - sing happy birthday to yourself twice while you brush your teeth in attempt to actually get some of the sugar bugs out. Jdog totally caught on, Crazy T would put the toothbrush in his mouth and actually sing happy birthday... no brushing occurred per say.

My new obsession... picked up on a whim at Tarjay:

The boys love them and I am no longer having to be the tooth brushing police! The tooth brush flashes for 60 seconds - bonus is its even a bit longer than the old happy birthday song and dance... Eventually we will get to one flash for the top and one flash for the bottom... baby steps.

And... just for the record, no, i am not getting paid for this public service announcement... but if the fine folks at firefly want to hook a sista up... i'll happily oblige.