a long post about where we hang our coats

Since the new year we've tackled a few home projects that have been on my to-do list for quite some time.

This is our entryway:

Unfortunately, these things are covered in coats or towels most of the year. It really drives me crazy. I hate that the first thing people see when they come to our house is a pile of  messy coats. And yet I consistently put my coat on the pile with the others so I really had no right to complain. I just stewed on the inside. Then one day I saw this cool idea on pinterest and thought it just might work for us! So nearly two years later we did it!

I don't have a great before shot of our hallway, in fact this photo of the kids with Will's friends is the best one I could find:

The wall between the door to our garage and the half bath and stairs is pretty empty. Basically a thoroughfare. Occasionally I would place laundry baskets or other random items in the corner, but that was about it. We decided we could give it a try and enlisted the help of my dad (and his truck, saws and nail gun). 

A few Saturday's later we had this:
 

 aerial view

filling in the gaps and then sanding them down

 Painting (no picture of this step)

hanging hooks

VOILA!

It's still a work in progress, which is why it has taken me so long to post about it. I want to put some sort of decor on the ledge above the hooks, but haven't figured out quite what yet, so it is still empty. Also, seeing how bright the white looks, I am now even more impatient to paint the rest of the dark trim white.

UPDATE (decor):

And the best for last:

 The view from the front door.

Even though the rest of the house is probably a mess, it is so nice having a cleaner, less cluttered entryway. Thanks to my dad and Anthony for bringing my dream to life!

sledding

I am not a huge fan of winter and snow. Cold and wet get me down I guess. But it hasn't always been that way! I've been trying to figure out what has put me so squarely in the anti-cold camp. My family lived in North Dakota for three years, so my tween winters (at ages 9, 10 and 11) were cold, long and full of snow.  I have a lot of fun memories of playing out in the cold and snow during that time. And in Kansas too, after we moved here, though there was never as much snow. In fact, after we moved here I probably looked forward to snow more than ever before because a lot of snow could mean a snow day. That's probably it. When I was younger snow got me out of doing stuff I didn't want to be doing and gave me an excuse to lounge. Now that I'm a stay-at-home-mom and pretty much do that everyday (haha) I feel restricted by the snow and cold. When it isn't keeping me from getting out it is making the process of getting out a lot more time consuming.

After our last snowstorm I was contemplating how much I used to enjoy sledding and decided that we needed to take Will and Lauren out after work one day.

We trekked to our beloved park because I had seen kids sledding there a few day prior.

Will did a great job of carrying dragging the flying saucer all by himself.

The "hills" weren't nearly as steep as I had thought, but we were still able to get a little bit of speed.

I know, it looks like we are cross-country sledding.

After a trip down with his parents, Will decided he could tackle the hill on his own.

He was quite pleased with himself.

Lauren loved it! She would count "1-2-3-go!" and then before the sled had come to a stop she was already calling to go, "Again! Again!"

It was a fun afternoon. I had forgotten that I like the feeling of having flushed cheeks. Maybe my negativity towards winter can thaw a bit after all?

2014 :: week 8

February 16

Sunday afternoon I had a lot going on. Visiting teaching, training with the Stake RS, and then a committee meeting. When I was done I walked into the TV room and found Will and TJ resting on the couch. Don't let the picture fool you--Will was awake. He wore Anthony out playing some of his favorite games--Spot It, Let's Go Fishing and Memory.

February 17

Will spent four nights sleeping on his mattress in the office while we painted his room. I had hoped it would only be three, but was still pretty pleased with how fast we got things done.

February 18

Tuesday evening was our Relief Society monthly meeting. Anthony came and helped with childcare. If you look closely at the Cultural Hall floor in the picture you can see where the floor is bowed. Back in January some of the pipes burst which led to flooding in parts of the building. The chairs are over the bump to keep people from tripping over it, though I still did at least once.

February 19

Wednesday after preschool we did our mega grocery trip hitting up Aldi, Hy-Vee and Costco. Will was upset because I wouldn't let him take rocks home with us "for his collection." The rest of the day he would randomly bring up how sad he was because he missed his rocks.

February 20

Thursday night as I was putting the kids to bed they both claimed to be "very hungry," despite both eating a pretty good dinner. While we read scriptures I let them each eat a piece of bread.

February 21

Our kids really love music. Here they are rocking out to a Elton John song, played by TJ (not pictured).

February 22

Saturday afternoon our friends the Porters invited us to join them at Jumping Jax for a few hours. In between all the bouncing, Will really enjoyed shooting hoops. His shooting is really starting to improve. It is worth noting that he came home and slept for almost THREE hours. This is the first nap he's taken in the past 6 months when he wasn't sick. It was awesome.

2014 :: week 7

February 9

While we were at Stake Conference on Sunday it started to snow again. It was coming down fast and by the time we got home the roads were pretty slick.

February 10

Lauren has a scab on her chin. While she was watching a TV show Monday morning she picked it off and when I looked over at her her entire chin was covered in blood. We put a band-aid on it and she did a surprisingly good job at leaving it alone.

February 11

Will had a check-up with his ophthalmologist on Tuesday. Because his eyes are continuing to improve she told us we can take a break from the daily patch wearing. If the progress holds we may be done patching forever! Will was so genuinely excited it. I was pretty excited about it too.

February 12

Will had fun picking out Valentine's to give to his school friends. The cards he picked had fish and he addressed each one himself.

February 13

The kids and I made a few batches of sugar cookies Thursday afternoon. Will and I started making them and then Lauren started to "help" when she got up from her nap. She was really good at pressing the cookie cutter into the dough, but really struggled getting the dough out of the cutter.

February 14

Will is enjoying having a new cache of treats. Thank goodness for holiday candy or Will would never be motivated to eat. 

February 15

I've wanted to paint Will's room since we moved into the house, but have been intimidated by this shelf/drawer thing. We finally bit the bullet and started painting his room this weekend. Will is sleeping on his mattress in our office while we paint, so hopefully we can get it done quickly.

patch rewards

As mentioned previously, we reward Will with an activity of his choosing for a successful month of patch-wearing. He did it again, and chose an afternoon at Little Monkey Bizness (bounce and climbing house tailored to kids ages 5 and under).

The kids had a blast. They climbed and bounced and slid in a wide variety of forms. 

 Even Anthony got in on the action!

 The drinking fountain was an unexpected highlight for both kids.

Will rocked the zipline with a little help from Anthony.

We had a fun evening and I think the fact that Will "earned" the trip made it extra rewarding. He was pleased with himself for earning the outing, and we were pleased because he really is working hard to earn it. He hates wearing an eye-patch with a hatred that just seems to grow. But he still wears it every day with the only daily reward being a star on his chart.

a wintry mix

The average temperatures in Kansas in January are in the 20-40 degree range. 2014 ranks as one of the coldest Januaries ever. I have no (cold, hard) facts to base this on other than my own memory, but I'm pretty sure it is true. This past month was cold!

 Jan 5

The first Sunday in January church was cancelled due to subzero temperatures and a late-night snowfall. Late morning we all ventured out to "enjoy" the snow, if that's even possible when it's that cold.

We got about 4-5 inches of snow.

The snow was powdery and easy to shovel.  TJ and I made good time clearing off the driveway and sidewalks. Will was disappointed we couldn't build a snowman or have a very effective snowball fight.

This lady never stepped foot in the snow. She insisted on coming out, and I spent about 5 minutes getting her ready, but she whined and cried as soon as we got outside. Two minutes later I was back inside taking the snow clothes off and bundling her up with multiple blankets. I don't blame her for her icy reaction. But is there anything that takes as much work and yields as little satisfaction as getting a toddler ready to play in the snow?

Will lasted a bit longer. He did the best job he could with the kiddie dirt shovel. He's a hard worker when he wants to be.

January 26th

Not every day in January was freezing. Three weeks later it was unseasonably warm. I think it was almost 50 degrees. After church and naps the kids and I ventured over to the park to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible.

Climbing

Swinging

Hiding behind a tree pretending to be Swiper (from Dora)

Hiding under the slide pretending to be Swiper. The kids are really into that right now.

After I got tired of playing Swiper (basically hide-and-seek) we went on a "nest hunt" around the neighborhood. Because all the leaves are finally off the trees the bird and squirrel nests are quite easy to spot.

It was a gorgeous, abnormally warm January day. Why is that I enjoy unseasonable warmth so much more than the extreme chills?