I'm searching for some

motivation right now. The Littles are napping and the Bigs are holed up in the play room playing school. After spending the most of the morning with my Referee Hat on, the silence is golden and it's making it quite difficult for me to get off my rump to get some work done. :) It's bad.

I know once I hit the shower (I did workout this morning. Yay! That makes three days so far this week!), and throw my tennies back on, I'll be good to go. In the meantime, I'm watching the minutes tick by as I do absolutely nothing. Lazy moments are a vital part of life, right? ;)

One thing I have to get done today is make a dessert for tonight. We're going to spend the evening with a few other families who have kids the same ages as our kids. It'll be nice to not have to get a sitter. I was searching the cookbooks for dessert ideas when I remembered the gallon of whole milk in the fridge expires today. Viola! I'll use it to make some homemade custard. Vanilla crunch, here we come! A double batch of custard should use most of what is left of the milk. Easy peasy!

I did get some pictures of the light switch covers and magnets I got done earlier this week. If I have enough time after getting all my necessary things done, I'll try to do up a few more of them. I got a note via Facebook today from someone suggesting we raise our prices on the light switch covers. It's something I'll have to mull over. I haven't checked out the competition on Etsy for a while now so I really don't have any idea what other sellers are selling their's for.

The peace and quiet didn't last long as the Bigs have just piled out of the playroom asking if they can make homemade ice cream. (a combo of snow, sugar and milk) Sigh. Christmas vacation has gone amazingly well but in some ways, I think I'm ready for them to go back to school.

Looks like I better hit that shower before too many more minutes pass!

I hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's!

After lunch

I found these three hunched over at the table.Sketchpad and scrapping supplies spread out all over. They were all in their glory!

I hated to disrupt their concentration but I made them move their mess into the kitchen so I could spread out my sewing stuff on the table. Mean mom! :) Actually they didn't mind and soon we were all grinning and satisfied with how the afternoon was panning out.

I was sewing merrily along, in my own little world. I paused to turn the corner on the blanket I was sewing when all of a sudden my machine took off, sewing like mad all on it's own. I was just about to have a heart attack when I heard the squeal of delight from under the table. I peeked down to see Baby Doll poised and ready to have another to at the presser foot. She had been playing quietly in the living room and I didn't see her slip into the dining room to join the "fun". She was quite pleased with herself, clapping her dimpled hands together!

Take my word for it...sewing with a baby on the floor is not recommended!

Once she was distracted upstairs in the playroom, I was able to get a few more blankets done. It was positively blissful to spend some time sewing! I'm hoping to continue tomorrow afternoon. We'll see...

Tuesday Treasures, one day late

Better late than never!
I haven't yet done a feature on a vintage shop so let me show you daisytoad.
I'll admit, it was the colors of some of her items that first caught my eye. How cool is this hairdryer? Love the robin's egg blue!

This butterfly would be darling attached to one of my girls' backpacks or made into a zipper pull!

daisytoad has a huge variety of items in her shop. From typewriters
to shoes and everything in between. There definitely is something for everyone!

Last but not least...these are my fav from her shop. But then again, I'm a sucker for cute cups!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

We had a lovely and relaxing Christmas!

It was, of course, chaotic but that's nothing new and different. (I figured my Dad would appreciate this picture!) Can you see which are the presents and which is wrapping paper? ;) While cleaning up the mess, I found an unwrapped gift for Baby Doll!

My husband's sister and her husband flew in from MN on Christmas Day to spend a few days with us. It's always great fun to have family come visit!

On Sunday we took them to Arches National Park, turbo version. We didn't have much time there but were able to get the gist of the park.

We got a sitter and left a few kids behind. These three had a grand time exploring. You can't really see it, but we gave our son some binocs for Christmas and he's scanning the horizon for wildlife. I know it's still early, but so far, that gift has been a hit!
I love the fact that in the park, you have the red rock but also the snow covered mountains in the distance. It's an awesome contrast!

We had time to do a short hike to three arches. There were only a few other visitors in the park so we could do it in a short time. We kept remarking how packed it must get at peak times and how long it would take us to see it all if we had come at that time of year. I'm glad we came while there was still snow on the rocks, it was so gorgeous!

Our mini family posing at those three arches. I didn't realize until we got home that I didn't even get a picture of my SIL and her husband. Shame on me!

Now they're off skiing today and my goal is to get this house back in order. We'll see how successful I will be...