Possibilities...

Trying my hand at the positive...glass half full perspective today. Looking towards all the possibilities that are ahead. So far December has been a whirlwind. My focus this week will be to enjoy all the fun that this season has to offer. The kids are just full of the Christmas spirit and I am really trying to get on board. All I can think about is everything that I have to do! :) I tell you, I learn things from them everyday!

I will make friends with you December...starting now.

Sharing a few photos from my date with Tanner at his school gingerbread house making party. He told me before the parents left "Thanks Mom for coming today...I really appreciated all of your help." It was lots of fun! My first time volunteering in his new classroom (3o kids and all.) His teacher is a saint.

And in other weekend news...Minnesota's weather officially sucks. It has been snowy and stormy for the last 3 weekends. When is a girl ever to get her Christmas shopping done? Seriously? This is a shot that Chloe snapped on Saturday out the 3rd story hall window. We got at least 18 inches of snow Fri-Sat and had blizzard conditions to go with it. I had a 5 foot drift in my font walk...today was 12 degrees below zero. NOT a fan. Especially after chatting with my sister who informed me it was 60 degrees at home in Colorado.

But I will remain to have the "possibilities" mind frame this week. After all, it could not snow again the entire winter. OR warm up to say...I don't know...above freezing?? That would be nice!

Hmmmm...

Those are the thoughts running through my head tonight. I am sitting amongst a pile of boxes (yes I still have them everywhere!) but most of these boxes are Christmas decorations so that makes things a little bit better. My parents had to leave this week which is always such a bummer. I seriously cried when I hugged my sweet mom goodbye...in front of everyone eating lunch at Noodles & Company...and I didn't care who saw it! I enjoyed them so much! So I am trying to get the house picked up today and I am happy to report that all 4 loads of laundry today are folded and put away. I hung pictures in the kids room which was fun, and it's finally starting to look like home in here.  Since I never got a chance to share the photos of Thanksgiving and my parents visit, I thought I'd better do it before Christmas! LOL!

When we used to live with my parents before moving to Illinois, my Dad would buy us donuts every Saturday. The kids called it "donut day." They would frequently ask if it was "donut day." So it so happened that Nana and Papa were here on a Saturday so we just HAD to keep the tradition alive! Here we are at the Starbucks that's inside of my new Super Target. You can see the parking lot from the 3rd floor of my house! :) Love having it so close!

On Thanksgiving day, my new bosses had us all over to their house for an amazing feast! We all contributed and my Dad made a fantastic turkey (just like he always does.) The cutest guest award definitely goes to their sweet pup "Brinkley." He has stolen my heart I tell you.

This girl is pretty cute too though! And tonight she read me an entire book that she didn't know! I am amazed at how fast she is learning to read! Amazing! She also won the "Citizen of the Month" award at school for being an outstanding student! (Pretty impressive for it being her first month there and the fact that there are over 600 students!) She was so excited and got her picture taken to be hung on the wall in the front hallway. I can't wait to see it!

The adults table...minus me. Did you notice my sweet friend Amanda and her husband Eric? Super excited to have them around again. We are going to have SO much fun!

After dinner Papa entertained the kids with some conga-line fun! He is always doing something silly to entertain them. They had a blast!

Papa told us that he and Halle (my niece) had made up "fist bumps" for each month this fall. Novembers was folding your hands in prayer (being thankful) after the fist bump part. Here he is teaching Tanner the proper technique.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! 

Where has the time gone??

I must apologize for my enormous lack in the blogging dept! My parents arrived safe and sound Tuesday evening and have been spending the week with us...attending grandparents day at the kids school, cooking a fantastic turkey for Thanksgiving and also spoiling us rotten. I do mean rotten. Not like a $4,000.00 shopping spree rotten, but more like a "I'll paint some of your hideous walls a neutral color" rotten. Let's just say the house I bought had an "interesting" color scheme. Now if you have walls painted this color...please do NOT be offended. To each their own I say. I love color. LOvE. But the previous owner had painted my walls every shade of ugly. I mean not just once...but there are at least 4 coats of paint on any surface that has been painted. Right now I would like to give some mad props to Behr paint with the primer in it. Because other than my Dad who is doing all of the hard painting...it's pretty much my hero right now. Awesome...with a capital "A."

This hideous green wall is no longer...it is now painted a beautiful shade of grey. Hallelujah! I walked in Saturday afternoon and thought I must have walked into the wrong house...that is how much of a difference it made! Don't get me wrong...I love green, in fact it's my favorite color. But this green with burgundy, gold yellow, and turquoise painted under it...was just TOO much. The kitchen and the powder room has the darkest turquoise color painted all over it...and that will be transformed tomorrow also...I WILL be showing the transformation! Next up after that is the kids room. Oh my word...of all the walls in this house...these are hands down the worst. I would show them to you because I have taken before and after shots...but blogger isn't letting me post any pictures anymore. Boo!

You'll just have to stay tuned I guess. I also have lots of fun Thanksgiving photos to share and so I will end by saying that I hope you all had a beautiful Thanksgiving! I have so much to be grateful for!

Monday!

Did you see that all my old posts have arrived! Woo hoo! The whole blog switch-a-roo was a little more complicated than I had anticipated. But Elaine (now new owner of Freehand Scraps) is blog savvy and she hooked me up! Thanks Elaine!! As we were trying to come up with a solution to swapping blog names I was reminiscing about all these years of blog posts and how much they really mean to me. It's been an online "journal" of sorts and I am so happy to have it all here. They say a picture is worth a thousand words...but with the words...they absolutely take me back to the moment I wrote them. How I was feeling, what was running through my head, and how much my life was changing at that time. I can't tell you how therapeutic it has been for me. I went from being married and being to a stay-at-home mom to a single mom who was taking on the biggest adventure of her life up to that point. Starting a business and trying to make sense of what was left of the pieces of my life. Sometimes I would write a blog post just to encourage myself. To remind myself that the sun would come out tomorrow! To focus on the strength that I knew God had promised me if I would just trust in Him. I learned so much, I grew so much, I had the highest of highs...and seriously the lowest of lows of my life. I am so grateful for this little place to just be me. And be real for heaven's sake! After all, life is just whizzing past. I'm so happy to have a little slice of our lives here. Thanks for reading...

and for cheering me on...and believing in me. You have blessed me so much more than you know. 

Seriously...

Saw these on Design Sponge...and am in love. If you collect globes like I do, this would be such a lovely addition! Don't you think? The one that says Bon Voyage is pretty awesome.

I think the "peace" themed one is pretty much perfect. Take a closer look HERE.

Snowy Saturday...

After a busy, busy work week I was really looking forward to today. NO plans, and snow in the forecast...means a guaranteed day at home! Just what we all needed I think. Even my silly dog was so excited that we were home with him all day long...he just kept coming over and playing with all of us...or at least trying to talk us into throwing a toy for him. The kids watched cartoons this morning as I continued to unpack. Seriously...as I was unpacking boxes...I just wanted to throw a ton of stuff away! I'm not sure how some of this stuff made the cut and got packed into boxes to make it all the way here. I cannot believe how many toys we have! I went through a bunch of books and toys and made a donation box. I just can't stand clutter and being stressed out by all of our "stuff!"

The kids played in the snow and sledded down the small hill in our front yard. They loved it, and finally came in for some lunch and hot chocolate. The temperature is supposed to be in the 30's all week long with more snow fore casted so it looks like there will be a lot more snow to play in. I just hope my little car gets us to church in the morning.

The best part of the snow today...besides being beautiful...is that I did not have to shovel. The association takes care of that. Hallelujah for snow removal. But I didn't get any photos taken and I do regret that. Maybe I'll get a few tomorrow? Hope you are warm and cozy!

P.S. I got this posted before midnight!! Woo hoo!

It's nearly midnight...

Why on earth do I only have time to post on the blog here at midnight? My bed is calling my name, but I still want to remember this day. It was busy and stressful at work today and I almost forgot to pick the kids up for school on time. I was one of the last mothers there. (Not a great feeling!) But they were happy as clams when I got there chatting with Chloe's new teacher all about how dogs can die if they eat chocolate and Mrs. Brandeen was telling them that if you give them hydrogen peroxide it makes them throw up and saves their lives. The kids thought that was fascinating.

They are excited everytime we pull into the garage that there is the possibility that there could be a dead mouse in a trap. So weird.

Chloe is eating bagels and cream cheese like they are going out of style. It's never a question what she wants in her lunch everyday. Don't even bother to ask if she wants turkey or peanut butter and jelly. It's always a bagel. I'm fairly certain I could wrap some up for Christmas and she would be over-joyed! :)

Tanner brought home a book tonight called "The Little Panda" which we have read the past 2 nights. He says now that the panda is his favorite animal and rode to school with his stuffed panda on his lap and played all afternoon with it. When it was nearly dinner time he came in and gave me a big kiss on the cheek and asked in his sweetest voice if we could please eat dinner at Panda Express? Of course the stuffed panda came also and one of the employees there told him she would trade him dinner for the panda. Tanner wasn't game, so she told them if they ate their dinner she would bring them both a treat. They both got a free chocolate chip cookie and I have a feeling they will be asking to eat there a lot in the future.

I cut Chloe's super long hair last night and we can finally brush through it again easily. It was out of control long. She wakes up in the morning and looks like she lived through a tornado.

I was uploading my iphone photos the other day and found roughly 245 photos that she had taken the first day we moved in to our new house. I thought it was super interesting to see the things she thought were worthy of taking photos of. Here are a few.

My new couch! :)

Looking through these just makes me laugh, those 2 bring joy and laughter and life and brightness to my life everyday! Just remembered I haven't made the kids lunches for the morning yet. Better wrap it up here! Good night!