A Little "Pinsperation"

Oh, Pinterest. I really do love you.
You have brought many, many creative ideas into my world that would definitely never have been.


Already completed

These are actually hanging in the kids' bathroom and you can find them here. Free printables, too cute.

I did a variation of this cake for Anna's birthday (the ombre layers) and Oliver's cake (the sprinkles) and it wasn't as much work as I anticipated.

A version of this is hanging in Anna's bedroom, just need to find fun lanterns like this.

To be completed

How cute are these bracelets? The tutorial for these is here.

And this makes me want to have a summer party.

And this recipe...with fresh blueberries?! Yum.

And I remember Philip's mom making these. So good.

What has Pinterest inspired you to do?

Patience or Lack Thereof

I have been struggling with patience these past few weeks.  A lot.
I have felt it rear its ugliness all throughout my day.

During outfit picking time.
While trying to get out the door.  On time.
Watching them fight over a game of Memory.
During ear-piercing screams when he doesn't get his way.
While giving them a bath.
When I try to show how to write the letter 'k' and she doesn't agree.

It's not pretty, my heart.
For a few weeks I have been trying to figure out what God is trying to teach me, 
how He is stretching me, how He is helping me grow.  
I think this is it, right now.

As I am trying to love, teach and train my kids, 
God is trying to teach me patience.

The Zoo

Our first trip to the Philadelphia Zoo   

Top three memories from the zoo:

1.  Watching a huge Galapagos turtle enjoy being scratched on the neck by a zoo keeper (see picture above).

2.  In the bird house, Philip was the only one who needed a wipe for bird poop that landed on his wrist.

3.  And last but not least...while we were observing an orangutan, he peed into a toy and then drank it.  This was all caught on video and witnessed by Anna and Oliver.  This is all Anna seems to remember from the day.

A Little Getaway

We started our trip in beautiful Ludlow, Vermont.

 We had never been but it was exactly like I imagined.  

Cute shops, organic farms, tons of skiers and sweet people.

Our cabin was nestled in the mountains about 2 miles from a paved road.

We literally were in the middle of nowhere.

We were having lots of fun with some good friends, when we just happened to look at the weather forecast...

up to 10 inches of snow was headed our way.

Oh, how we wanted to be snowed in!!  But we knew we had to be back on Sunday so we made the hard decision of leaving early.  

We were bummed.

Then we made a very spontaneous decision of heading to NYC.

We took a carriage ride around Central Park

Stopped at The Plaza to visit Eloise's home

  

 Did a lot of walking

  And the highlight of the day, for Anna, was a visit to the American Girl store.

Can I just say...oh. my. word.  That was quite an experience!

That store has all a little girl could dream of including a hair salon for their dolls 

with a 2.5 hour wait.  What?!

And although our getaway looked a lot different than we had planned...

(and Vermont only ended up getting 3 inches of snow!!)

we were thankful we could share our love of NYC with our kids!

It Doesn't Have to Be Perfect

I love The Nesting Place.  Love it.  So inspired by her decorating.  When she posted today about how our houses don't have to be perfect to beautiful...I looked around our home and agreed with her.

From an uncontrollable toy basket...

 A fridge cluttered with magnets and art...

 Wipes left on the table and play glasses hidden in pottery...

 A crack in my lantern from the move...

A bed unmade...

 To a sister and brother both wanting the same thing...

This is our every day.

Our un-perfect, beautiful life.

So far...

So far this week...


My favorite hair product, Argan oil, was spilled all over the floor and left there for me to find.  (Might I add it was fairly expensive and a Christmas gift?)


Oliver would rather be naked than wear clothing.


We left Target with Anna screaming crying, allowing for every person in our proximity to stop and look at a mom staring straight ahead, trying to remain calm, eyes on the door.  When we got to the car she proceeded to tell me that 'I ruined her life and killed her heart!!!'  What five year old says this?


I got pelted this morning in the neck by a rolled up dirty diaper.  The thrower shall remain nameless but claims he wasn't trying to hit me but be funny.  Hilarious.


Oliver dove all over my couch with newly washed slipcovers with fruit shake, containing berries, all over his mouth.


Oliver bit Anna's side while they were playing on our bed and it needed a bandaid.  She proceeded to stay in her room until he apologized while yelling, 'You will never be my brother ever again!!!'


Finger painting ended with Oliver's entire face being blue.

Lots of timeouts, apologies, hugs and forgiveness.

How is your week going? :)

Our Story

In honor of Valentine's Day tomorrow, I thought I would share our love story.  I will let Philip share his take on things, too. :)

First time I saw you and first impression: 


Carrie:  It was sometime in 6th grade, at church.  Philip was a pastor's son, sang lots of solos in church and was the boy everyone thought was hilarious.  I am sure I laughed right along with everyone else in the youth group when he was silly.  No fireworks in 6th grade, though.


Philip: I remember being in a youth home group together and always thinking she was super cute.  Unfortunately, I was super chubby.  I also remember a youth retreat where I let her have an Out Of Eden cd of mine (I was pretty hood back then).


When I started looking at you differently:


Carrie:  It was the spring of my junior year of high school (yes, we had known each other for 6 years by now), and cuddly, huggable, silly Philip turned into quite the little hottie.  It was like all of a sudden I looked at him as a possible boyfriend. :)


Philip:  I was always attracted to Carrie, but when she invited me to her homecoming that made me really start to think about possibly dating her.  I think that I also heard from some of her friends that she had a crush on me.  


Who asked out who?


Carrie: (ahem) Yes, it was I who called Philip first.  Not only did I call him first and ask him to come to my Prom with me, I was shot down.  I repeat, he said no.  I was first, in shock and then it turned to tears.  (No, I didn't let him know how upset I was...never.)


Philip:  Let me clarify.  I was dating someone else when she asked me to the dance.  So out of respect I said no.  A couple months later I was the one who called her up and apologized and asked her on our first official date.  


First Date:


Carrie: He came and picked me up at my house in his Dad's blue Skylark.  Then, he asked me to drive. :)  He says it's because he was too nervous...but I think the Skylark was too much for him to handle.  I drove us to Border's bookstore where we talked for hours over steamers and magazines.  As I sat there sharing things with him that I had never shared with my friends, I knew that this was going to be something different.


Philip:  When I pulled up to her house I was so nervous that getting out of the car I lost all control of my body and accidentally beeped the horn.  I quickly ran to the front door so that she didn't think I was a jerk.  I remember thinking to myself that I would marry her without a doubt in my mind.


Proposal:


Carrie:  I went with his mom to drop him off at the airport because he said he was going to Florida to visit his dad.  So I said my goodbyes and his mom took me back to my house.  As I was going up to my room, Philip met me in the hallway.  I was in shock and I think I only said, 'What are you doing here?', like a million times.  My room was covered in my favorite flower, daisies, and he proposed.


Philip:  I remember planning for months to propose to her.  I wanted it to be perfect.  When I arrived to Carrie's house to set her room up with flowers I remember walking in the front door and seeing her dad with my arms filled with more flowers than I could carry.  I think he just shook his head and laughed.  I planned adventures for the next couple of days.  We went to expensive restaurants and to New York to see a musical.  


Funnest memory during the first years of marriage:


Carrie: Maybe it's because our Christmases (is that the plural form of Christmas??) look so different now with kids, and because we are smarter with money, but I loved our first couple Christmases because he would buy me tons of presents. :)  For example...diamond earrings, a down featherbed, and my favorite DVDs, all in ONE Christmas!  Or another year...designer jeans, Tivo, and makeup.  I like presents :).


Philip:  I used to love our trips to King Of Prussia.  We always had such good memories shopping and eating together.  We would always eat at our favorite restaurant Maggiano's.  For some reason in the early years of marriage we thought our money would never run out (we were sadly mistaken). 


How have kids changed our marriage?


Carrie:  Well, even when we were dating we talked about having a family.  We always knew that we wanted children.  I knew that he was going to be a really great dad and I was thrilled to start a family with him.  Kids have brought so much joy and love into our lives...and also exhaustion, not as many date nights, and t.v. choices limited to Nick Jr. and Sprout.  It has been so much fun and I am thankful we have each other to go through it together.


Philip:  We were so excited to be parents.  It has been an honor watching Carrie be a mom (she's amazing).  I miss our dates and alone time and some nights I can't wait until 9pm when both kids are finally asleep.  But I love being a dad more than anything and think Carrie and I make a pretty good team.  


What do you anticipate for the future?


Carrie: I expect lots of laughter, fun times and more kids.  Our life hasn't been dull yet and I don't think it will be in the future either! :)


Philip:  I think we'll probably be millionaires in a couple years :)