cracking up and cracking it out

Preslie is cracking me up lately. She loves to listen to music and is a wiz at memorizing song lyrics. BUT sometimes she misunderstands the lyrics...

Like the song "Tennis Court" by Lorde. 

The right lyrics: 

Baby, be the class clown

I'll be the beauty queen in tears

It's a new art form showing people how little we care (Yeah)

Preslie's version:

Baby be the class clown

I'll be the beauty queen in Sears

It's a new Iphone showing people how little we care (yeah!)

And the song "Girls Chase Boys" by Ingrid Michaelson

The right lyrics:

All the broken hearts in the world still beat

Let's not make it harder than it has to be

Ooohhhh it's all the same thing

Girls chase boys chase girls

Preslie sings:

All the broken hearts in the hospital bed

Let's not make it harder than it has to be

Ooohhh, so sick that 

girls chase boys chase girls

She cracks me up!

I took my girls to a Relief Society mother/daughter activity. We took a cupcake decorating class, and Quinn got her nails painted at the nail polish station. She was in heaven! I looked over at her and she said excitedly, "This is SO fun!" She also told me, "Your friend who was painting my nails didn't even mess up!"

We made dropcloth pillow covers. Mine turned out fun.

Mack was the "smile of the week" in his class and I helped him make his poster.

I may have swayed his answer on his favorite thing to do...

Dax's birthday kicked off the crazy season at our house! I made him a delux-o cheesecake like last year.

I love my little cuties!

I finished: Dax's closet is organized! 

His shelves used to hold his collections of manly gadgets and accessories.

 I installed a shoe organizer on the blank wall next to the shelves and put his collection of pocket knives and other stuff in there. I like this because it uses a space that previously had no use and it freed up his shelves for clothing.

Before shoe organizer..

AFTER:

The opposite corner of the closet looked like this:

Now it looks like this:

 I put up wire baskets (Ikea) to hold Dax's collection of hats and my FIL helped me screw a piece of wood to the wall so I could display Dax's collection of patches. I also attached bulldog clips (Wal-Mart) to the wood so it doubles as a memo board. I screwed a little magnet board (DI) under that so he could hang pics, receipts, and home teaching contacts.

I grabbed an empty pink leopard jewelry organizer from Quinn's closet and put in Dax's chapstick, earplugs, batteries, lighters, keys, and other random smaller items. It has pockets on both sides so it holds a lot in a small amount of space.

He likes the improvement, I think. He works really hard for our family and I want his closet to work for him.

I finished painting my bathroom. It only took a week and a half to get it done. It is frustrating to work that slowly but I'm still a Mom, Wife, primary worker, piano teacher, cook, chauffeur, maid, slave driver, etc.

I picked so many delicious raspberries from my friend's garden. OH they were yummy.

 My kids got out the Halloween decor and had a blast looking at it and leaving it all over the floor in the front room.

Mack's birthday came quick. He is my lucky Seven-year-old! Wow. That seems too grown up!

On Mack's birthday, I took the kids to see my parents. I told my Mom of my plans to makeover my bedroom and she immediately started orchestrating the making of my headboard. My mother LOVES projects and she is very fast and organized. That woman gets crap done. She also has MS and can barely walk somedays. BUT she had me set her up a station in the shop so she could chop wood for my headboard. She is so fun and amazing. I feel super bad that the chopsaw had a mishap so her fun came to an end. No one was hurt but the saw is out of commission. Boo.

The kids and I had a nice visit and listened to general conference with my parents and my sis and niece. Preslie and I did some thrift shopping with my sister and scored some goodies in her closet. I also brought home some rad furniture from Dax's bro's basement. It was originally from Grandma and Grandpa so Bro and Abbey were wanting to update and I couldn't pass up this badboy.

I asked Dax's dad about the couch and he said his Mom had it custom made in 1970 so the length would accommodate how tall he was (6'6"). Many a nap has been had on the couch. The chairs can also be turned toward each other to make a makeshift crib/nest for cousin sleepovers.

Back home, my bro Matt took me and my kids to his boss's house where it was DECKED out for Halloween.

Even inside their house was decorated wall-to-wall.

We're going back at night so we can see the music light show!

I think time is speeding up. The months go by so quickly like we are in fast forward. I am not a fast person and I don't like to be rushed. I feel the rush and the speed of time racing by and I don't like it! I feel a sense of urgency to do the most important things because there is little time for anything else. I will not be signing my kids up for soccer next year. I'm in the mood to simplify so my time can be spent on things that are top priority. My goals are:

Keeping our belongings to a minimum so there is less time spent cleaning and organizing
Building food storage
Paying off debt
spending quality time everyday with my family

spring blew in

HOW did it go from this..

..to bulbs sprouting up in my yard? I'm happy about it, but I thought I would have more time to complain about the snow and cold and now I'm left to complain about yard work! BOO. But yay. I love working outside but it is so overwhelming. I just want to do EVERYTHING right NOW. Project A.D.D is a struggle.

I had a GREAT birthday. I am 33 and wild and free. My Baby's breakfast is Ravioli. I love my life and my family. I'm busting out rhymes so call me Shorty.

Here are my boys testing out their egg-drop thingy for pack meeting. Hunter had the idea to get sponges and hollow out a place for an egg in the middle and then tie the sponges together.

I tell you, I am like the luckiest gal around because on my way to the store to buy the big sponges, a
HUGE thick long piece of really nice foam blew through the intersection I was approaching (the spring wind is unbelievable here- stuff blows around like mad) and I just about passed it when I said to myself, "Hey, that is a NICE piece of foam. I bet I could use it for something sometime." Then BAM! it hit me-- use it for the egg drop!

The boys had a blast making their egg-drop contraptions; Mack made one, too and competed at pack meeting. He is SO excited to be a cub scout. I am going to start him when he's 7 just on our own. The LDS church starts cubs at 8 but I need to foster this sooner while he's this pumped.

Mack is one in a billion. If you are not friends with me on Facebook, you need to be. That is, if you like to hear funny, cynical and/or messed-up stuff kids say. I have a whole notebook of things Mack has said starting at age 2 when he could speak in sentences. I post many of them on Facebook because it is just too good to keep to myself.

My Mack is a hard worker when it is his idea! He went out and dug weeds after school this day-just grabbed the shovel and went at it. He got obsessed with watching the YouTube video of Frozen's "Let It Go". It was cute/bizarre at first. Then really annoying.

So now that the snow is gone, my kids think it's summer. They BEGGED to sleep on the tramp so we put them off until the weekend and they held us to our word. We told them it was cold (in the 30s) and they insisted! They went out and all 4 of them fell asleep. When the temp dropped below freezing, Dax and I just couldn't let Quinn stay out there all night. We brought her in at 11:30pm.

In the morning it was 25 degrees and frost covered everything. I asked Mack if he had fun sleeping outside and he said, "Yes. My pillow was frosted!"

It warmed up in the day and Dax and I were able to work on our pile of rocks that isn't moving by itself. Moving a pile of rocks is about as unmotivating as it gets.

Hunter is the cutest, sweetest brother. I just love how he looks after Quinn and makes sure she is happy.
We went out exploring/hiking one day after church and the kids got all prepared..Quinn brought her backpack with a waterbottle and little wooden knife. Following in their father's footsteps..

Hiking and climbing enjoyed by all! Hunter is at the very top of this mountain..

It got tricky climbing amongst all the cracks and crevices..

Then Dax taught the kids how to baton wood with a knife. We ended up with perfect kindling for a fire. Which we built and enjoyed.

Scrolling through these pics to find a good one of all of us girls amused me...

Quinn's off..

Preslie's off..

um..

Preslie's dance teacher, Miss Heather opened up a 3-year-old class and I was able to get Quinn into it. She is so happy there; it is really cute to watch. She calls her teacher "Miss Feather".

 This is how my bar and counters have looked since my kids started school in August. It is so annoying and embarrassing and overstimulating. I get pressure in my chest just looking at the picture.. but the kids have so many papers that are "pending" and can't be put completely away. So my counters have become a dumping ground because there is always a pile, and that invites more piles. I finally came up with a solution!

 I bought a tiny set of wood drawers that fits papers in them perfectly. There are six drawers- one for each person's stuff. It sits between the bar and the window. My camera is lost right now so I can't take a pic. But AHHHHH! I can breathe! I can feed my children at the bar again!

The change of season motivates me to get to work in my house (and now yard)! I love to organize, rearrange, and de-junk. I love change and have so many projects on my list. The list grows faster than it shrinks but life is so so good.

Trash to Treasure (a peek inside my closet!)

Oh yes I did! I turned a baby gate that I took out of my neighbor's trash can...

 

into a super functional jewelry organizer..

 Every necklace, bracelet, and pair of earrings is now out where I can see them. Accessorizing has never been so efficient! WHY didn't I do this sooner? I had another organization system that worked OK, but I didn't love it. I love this. This wall was totally bare and now it is the most useful wall in my house (probably). I was going to make my jewelry organization all cute like I've seen on home dec blogs but then it HIT me. Just screw in some mug hooks and attach the thing to the wall. Oh my goodness...I love my closet now! And who cares if it isn't cute. It is a means to an end...that end being that I can be the one that looks cute...right?!

 So after I organized the jewelry, I just kept going on the rest of my closet. I'm hoping others in my family catch the bug..

 It is kinda embarrassing posting pics of my closet because I am well aware that I have a ton of shoes. And clothes. But remember, I'm a thrifter. I don't pay full price for anything. I have around 60 shirts hanging on the top rod in my closet. 50 of them I got from thrift stores or yard sales or clearance racks. The other 10 were from discount stores like Ross.

So are you motivated to go clean and organize your closet? DO IT! It is so much fun to get ready now.
Love, Tristie