This Week....

This week has been a whole lot of nothing and a lot of major things all wrapped into one. And it's only Thursday. 

The kids have been crazy. I'm blaming the full moon and the fact that it's the week before Christmas. And A becomes a big sister on Saturday and man is she in for a world of hurt when she finally realizes it's not all about her (she may only be 15 months but man she's got a streak of sassy- as we like to call it). All of my Chrismas shopping is done and wrapped but yet I feel like something is missing. Not having my own house and my own decorations this year I think is part of the reason for my funk. A good friend was told last night that they were letting her go from her job Feburary 1st. She's a fellow nanny who I spend a good chunk of time with... So to say the least I am super disappointed. I don't know many of the details nor do I need to know them. But it was a schedule problem. But caught her by complete surprise. Can you say Merry F'ing Christmas...... So it makes me very thankful for my job and the fact that I work for family. 

Sorry about the rant but I needed some where to dump all of this- so why not blog land?!? They say it's the cheapest form of therapy....

~Erin 

It's Friday!!!

Is it 5 o'clock some where yet?!?

Here is my week in pictures

-B figured out how to color with markers!

-B all snuggly and not feeling 100%

-My Pinterest FAIL.... I blogged about it earlier this week. If I knew how I would link it but I don't. And I'm on my phone....

-My snowy puppies!!!

-The access panel I tapped shut so the cat can't hide anymore until her parents get back into town.....

-Said cat now hiding in the kitchen cupboard

-The nasty cold weather this week 

-P working hard on another Christmas craft I brought her!

-A all proud of herself after pushing all the buttons possible on my phone. 

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!! Hope everyone has a great weekend! 

My bestie (the other half of this blog) will be in town this weekend!!!! Yay!!!!

-Erin 

Pinterest Fail

I love Pinterest! It's my best friend. And the best place ever for ideas for the girls that I nanny. From projects, to food ideas, to time out solutions. 

Speaking of time out solutions..... When your 3 1/2 and you think you are the ruler of all.... Especially over your younger sister it tends to lead to a fair amount of time outs or breaks to cool off. So insert Pinterest. Glitter time out bottle. 

We had the perfect water bottle. So I grabbed the girls and off to target we went for the supplies.  

Goo Gone to get all the sticky crap off the bottle from the label. 

Next- a bottle of colored glitter glue, a bottle of loose glitter and warm tap water. Fill your bottle about 3/4 full with warm tap water, add glitter glue and glitter and give a good shake! Once it settles and you see how long it takes to settle you can either add more gel glue if it settles to quick or a bit more warm water if it's taking forever.  And super glue the cap shut.... We all know why. 

So finished product! It was taking about 4 minutes to settle which was perfect! I was so excited!! 

And then...... It sat over the weekend..... 

And it all settled into the bottom and stayed there.... 

PINTEREST FAIL

Oh well you win some and you lose some. 

~Erin

Lazy Sunday

Here is to staying in my pjs all day. Laying on the couch watching Netflix. With a hot cup of coffee in hand. And the dogs cuddled up close because they are refusing to go out in this cold weather. 

~ Erin

Happy Friday!!

I'm attempting to bake peanut butter kiss cookies with the 4 year old while the 15 and 18 month olds are running wild about the house!!

I may be crazy..... 

~Erin

Daily thoughts

                            ~Erin

Elf on the Shelf 2013

Post by Rachel

So this is my second year doing elf on the shelf. Sean (my son) named his elf "Criddle" and I have no idea why. So needless to say Erin wants me to post a picture everyday of Criddle.

December 1
Criddle was waiting on the couch with movies for Sean when we got home from Thanksgiving at Grandpa's.
(Will post this one later)

December 2
Criddle was riding Rex on the mantle...
(Will post this on later)

December 3
Criddle ate Daddy's advent calendar chocolate...

December 4
Criddle brought magic seeds!

So we planted them in sugar like it said!

December 5

The seeds grew into candy canes!

December 6

We decorated the house and Criddle climbed into Sean's stocking.

December 7

Criddle has found his way into Dan's boot I brought back from Germany... looks slightly uncomfortable. 

December 8

Criddle found the curtains. 

December 9

Sean brought home this "Memories" plaque from the school holiday sale so Criddle is making use of it. 

December 10

Not sure what he got tied up into today...

December 11

Criddle is not afraid of heights. These skis are mounted in the space above our stairs. 

December 12

Today was a hard day. Sean didn't find Criddle until dinner time when I opened the cupboard. 

December 13

Criddle helped me wrap presents... 

December 14 

Criddle came to Grandma and Grandpa's house! I hope he wasn't trying to peek up the angel's skirt.

December 15

Criddle was riding around in Santa's sleigh like he owned the place. 

December 16

In the last days, I think Criddle will be getting into some trouble...

December Quotes

XO,

Erin

Black Friday 2013

Well, with that being said how was your Black Friday!?!?

I've done Black Friday a few years in a row and yes I will admit there have been some Thursday shopping as well. However, lets be clear it was never planned, we were all sitting around and figured what the heck! I've never gone out for any of the huge electronic deals. My nerves could never handle that much crazy in one place.

After going through this years ads there was no I HAVE TO HAVE THIS!!! Which was just fine by me, really I would rather sleep in anyways. After looking at the ads again and a bit of pleading to Zach that he really needed to buy me a kayak for my birthday/Christmas we decided we would get up on Friday to go to Fleet Farm since the deal on kayaks was actually pretty good.

And then the alarm went off at about 5am and I rolled over and said Nope, not happening. They are online we will figure it out later. We both slept in, had breakfast and watched a movie. So I go looking online- Zach said he would buy me the Kayaks and we can order them online, Deal! Get all set to check out.... the shipping is outrageous!!!! Well dang... its now about 945 am. Alright lets get dressed and run up to Fleet Farm and if they have them great if not we lost out. Well....we lucked out! We got the last 2 of 3 that were in the building!! Win!! Fleet Farm was a bit busier then I expected, ok maybe a whole lot busier but Zach managed to keep his happy face on and help out a lil old lady! Everyone wins!!

Here are my new babies!!

 (Please excuse the mess which is 99.9% of my life in storage currently)

XO,

Erin

Happy Holidays!

We'll I think we can officially say that Rachel and I are horrible at blogging all the things we have made and done. We can go months without blogging at all. So in an effort to change that I'm going to turn this little blog of ours into more of a lifestyle blog then just a DIY. Not that anyone is actually reading any of these posts but oh well it's for us not any one else.

So with that being said I'm going to attempt to blog everyday of December. My plan for sure is a favorite quote or holiday song since it is that time of year!!  And maybe if your lucky you will get an update on Sylvester the Elf that lives at my cousins house. And boy oh boy does Sylvester need to show up soon for little Miss P! Being almost 4 and Christmas season make for a hard life!!

So with that being said here is my quote for the day:

At Christmas play and make good cheer, for Christmas comes but once a year. 
-- Thomas Tusser 

XO,

Erin

And I took the plunge....

The countdown is seriously on, the wedding is in like 6 1/2 months or 201 days to be exact. I found out that the YMCA was doing their $1 Enrollment and no fees due until January.

I did it, I went in and signed up.... Let's be real. I don't like to have to think about exercise. When I was dancing umpteen years ago (lets not actually count) it wasn't exercise to me. It was fun, I lived at the studio. If I wasn't dancing I was working on choreography with another teacher or working the front desk. I lived there. Then college and life happened. I love hot yoga but seriously who can afford to pay that much every month? I would love to try Barre because it brings me back to what I love and dearly miss, but again $$$$$. Not happening... remember we have a wedding to pay for in 6 months!!! And we all know working out at home isn't going to happen, lets get real.

I have to admit they made it super easy to sign up. I paid my $1 in change ( 3 quarters, 2 dimes and nickle to be exact) because I never seem to have cash when I need it. Really I didn't have $1.  Kinda sad but oh well. I paid my money filled out a quick form, took my hideous picture (oh well I'll always look like a train wreck when I'm there right?!!?) and out the door I went about 10 minutes later.

Now here is the real task, the accountability. My plan: Always have my workout bag with clothes in my car. I have to pass the Y on my way home so I need to go at least 3 times a week. I can handle that right??? I've got my choices of many different classes or I can just suck it up and go run for an hour. I CAN DO THIS!!!

How do you keep accountable?

xo,

Erin

Wedding Pillows

Did someone say Pinterst?!? Wedding planning..... Pinterest is your best friend and your biggest enemy all at the same time. Did someone say DIY projects galore!!!???

Between my MOH, bridesmaids and friends I think we have found enough projects to keep us busy until 10 years past my wedding. Not to say that I don't LOVE every single thing they send me, because truly I do and they know me to a T. But really who has the time, patience or money to make all of the said projects?!?!?

However, while scouring the Internet for engagement photo ideas I came across a great idea of pillows that have your wedding date on them.

So needless to say I of course ran out to HomeGoods to find a burlap pillows. My first thought was to make 3 pillows like the bottom right picture.  Of course I couldn't find the perfect pillows even after scouring many different stores. So change of plans and more Pinterest I found the middle picture and the perfect pillow at good ol' HomeGoods. A girl's best friend! So off to the craft store I went. 2 craft stores later I still haven't found the perfect sized numbers. REALLY?!?! You are a craft store how do you not carry different sized numbers and in different fonts. Moving on... I'll go home and get out my Cricut and print out my own. And problem 2,510 has now been shoved in my face... my Cricut that is less then a year old won't work!!!!! Crisis mode is now in full effect.  Really this project wasn't supposed to take days. (And the Cricut is still sitting on the shelf waiting to be plugged in and hopefully fixed a few months after said pictures were taken. Oops)

So back to problem solving mode. Later that night while out on a "date" to Fleet Farm... really when did dates to Fleet Farm, Home Depot, Gander Mountain and Cabela's become my new normal!??! Need to fix this stat... Ok off that rant! So the boy is off looking at some thing or another for hunting and I am off trying to find what I can come up with in the numbers department... Then it hit me!! Plastic house numbers! They are the perfect size and with a bit of flare! 

So here is said pillow front and back. I then took the insert out and placed a few ads on the inside so the paint wouldn't bleed through.  Grabbed a pencil, my house numbers, a few paint brushes and my black acrylic paint and I got to work. 

The first pictures is really hard to tell but it has the numbers traced on by pencil, the second is after painting and the third is the finished product! 

And for your viewing pleasure here are a few of our engagement pictures!! (A huge shout out to our friend Kimmie who took our pictures)

XO,

Erin

Gel Manicure Extender

I recently ran into a situation I feel like many people do these days. What do you when your gel mani needs a fill and your appt isn't for another week? Do you cave and go early and get a polish change? Maybe. This time around not going to work. My brother gets married this weekend and my appt is on Friday.

So like any girl I hop on Pinterst to see what my options are.  There are plenty of options on how to do an at home gel mani... not what I'm looking for. Then I came across the holy grail! Glitter nail polish.

So here is the before:

So I ran to my local Walgreens and after looking around I choose Essie " Set in Stones"

So here is the after. For a quick fix I think it looks fine. Because of how thick the glitter is I used 2 layers of top coat so my nails were more even and smooth. After looking around some more I came across a glitter polish I want to try next time. It was Sally Hanson Gem Crush which has plenty of glitter but its smaller.

So here is to the next time!

xo,

Erin