Goodbye 2012!

Spending the holidays with our family this year was amazing(like always!).  This is the time of year when I reflect, and it reinforces how lucky I am.  The wonderful support and love of our family is more that words can even express.  My husband and little guy are the rocks in my life and I feel so blessed!

This year has been a rough one... a lot of ups and downs.  I am happily closing the door on 2012, because I am a firm believer that when one door closes, another opens with bigger and better possibilities & triumphs!  Looking forward to opening the doors that 2013 has to offer us:)

We have been discussing our New Years Resolutions in our house the past few days.

Here are a few we came up with as a family:

1. Spend less time worrying what others think.

2. Have FAITH.

3. Say YES more often! (from my 7 year old!)

4.  Listen to that little voice.

5.  Do your best.

This year I am not choosing to eat healthier or even get to gym more, these are things we try to do every day.  A healthy lifestyle is what our family lives by anyway -most of the time!  Can we do better?  Absolutely! But for me it is a lifestyle and definitely will not be jumping on the "let's get healthy and exercise more", bandwagon!

Wishing you all a happy new year with all the best that 2013 can bring!!!

Christmas Is In The Air

It's that time of year! Christmas is in the air, the decorating has begun, and the crazy shopping is in full swing.

Look who we found hanging on our kitchen hoop this morning!

Our Elf, Gummy is here! He will be reporting back to Santa every night :) Brayden is very concerned about Santa's naughty list, and Gummy usually keeps him on his toes with his behavior.

Holiday crafting, my favorite thing to do this time of year! Some people bake. I cannot bake :( I do try. In fact I'm pretty sure in the next couple weeks something will catch my eye, I will get excited, purchase all of the ingredients and packaging -it will be an epic FAIL! I'm not sure why, but baking is not friend. I NEVER succeed. I envy the moms who bake the most amazing "themed" birthday cakes for their kids. I really wish I could! Instead, I can craft....

I have been seeing some cute cake stands on Pinterest, and have been wanting to try them out.

Supplies:
Christmas themed plates.
Liquid nails.
Glass candle stick holder.

These were so fun, and literally took 5 minutes! Well 5 minutes to apply everything, then you let it dry overnight. I'm sure after a couple hours it was ready, but I just left it alone until the morning.
I completed a couple more tonight...

Happy crafting!

Pumpkin Crafts

Felt Pumpkins!

I found this blog Clean & Scentsible on Pinterest. Not only am I excited to follow Jenn's blog, I can't wait to make these felt pumpkins!

Burlap Pumpkins!

A Life Reclaimed has an adorable Esty Shop.

We recently glued burlap to 150 candles for a bride.  I never thought I would want to work with burlap again, because it's so hairy & messy!  But I have so much left over, and burlap is so pretty -now I have a reason to use it!

Beautiful!

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These are absolutely beautiful & SO my style!

A beautiful tablescape!

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SUPER EASY & GORGEOUS! Simpley paint pumpkins, add some grape vine.  I love the colors that she used, creamy white & blues are so pretty with orange accents.

LOVE THIS!

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Get your acrylics, spray paint, stencils, and jewels!  How fun is this?

It's so fun to decorate in the Fall :)  Our house has been filled with Pumpkin & Apple scents.  Lots of candle orders being processed -my favorite time of year for our business.  Now just to get all of our decorations out, and the pumpkin crafts started!

Fun & Easy Ways To Organize

Everyday I am inspired by so many other bloggers, moms, and wives, with the ordinary day to day passion to create "controlled chaos" in their home.  I mean how can we not have chaos in our busy life? I find my every day life so scheduled (or over scheduled!) with "to do" lists,  laundry, dinners, cleaning, work, school, and of course balancing everything with family time. Are you constantly trying to find balance in your home?  I am always searching for new ways to keep our family on track with every little thing. Lately we have been trying to simplify. By organizing our schedules and every day tasks have been a small effort, and HUGE reward of sanity. Slowly but surely I have been going through everything room by room, closet by closet. I have got so many ideas from other awesome bloggers & pinterest users. I will be sharing lots of some projects and fun ideas for school, birthdays, and upcoming holidays!

Every Sunday, I have been taking an hour of my day to plan ahead my "to do" lists, dinners, weekly cleaning, schedules, and create my shopping lists. I totally live by lists (always have!), but now they are a little more pretty & organized.  These free print ables are all over Pinterest -I just love them!  

Presently we are in the middle of a school/work command center -I can't wait to share!  Until then, here are some of my inspirations for fun ways to organize your home life.

Isn't this the most beautiful family command center?  I found this on The Yellow Cape Cod, I love Sarah's blog! Each child has a tote bag with their clothes for the day, lunch money and special notes from Mom. The chalk board reminds them of their daily responsibilities.  I am addicted to family command centers!

This mom has everything covered!

I love the shelf with hangers.

I do love the wire organizers!

I Love this from Ikea.  A must have for me, but

of course it is an item that you cannot 

order (insert tear), looks like a road trip is in the future :)

Another essential for our family.  A place to

organize all the paper work for school.

All of these amazing ideas and command centers have been my inspiration 

for our family command center.  Project almost completed (wink wink)!

I'm amazed at how easy it is to simplify your life, by just really taking the time to plan ahead.  Creating a schedule for our family every week helps in keeping up with doctors appointments, planning meals, school work, chores, and work.  Communication amongst family members is key to balancing our home life.  When the hubby and I are on the same page as to what is expected in the week, we end up having more energy and time to put towards our son, and each other.  A little planning goes a long way!