memories made in the snow

The Pacific Northwest got a random blast of cold weather last week, which turned into snow!! Our last snow (if you can even call it that) was on November 23, 2010. It was a light dusting...but they still canceled school. Gotta love Oregon!

We were prepared for this "Winter Blast" and decided to pack an overnight bag and head out to Grammy & Papa's where my sister and her family are currently staying with my parents. We spent the day there on Wednesday and we thought it would hit by Wednesday night, but by 8:00 when it was time to head home...nothing. However, I figured that since we already had our bags packed, we might as well stay. And I'm so glad we did!!

Thursday morning we woke up to a world of white...it was so peaceful and serene! My parents live "in the woods", so it was fun to see so much snow covering the wooded area around us. After pancakes for breakfast, we bundled up all of the kids to head outside. My brother had brought over his 2 kids to play, as well. He has a pretty heavy duty truck, so he had no problem coming up the snow-covered, steep driveway. After at least 15 minutes of fiddling with zippers, and putting on hats, mittens, coats, and boots...the cousins were finally out the door!

All the cousins (minus baby Hannah, 11 months old, who was taking a nap)!
Mikayla (5 years), Hailey (2 1/2 years), Jacob (10 1/2 years), Noah (5 years), Austin (3 1/2 years), Hunter (3 1/2 years)

First...check out the snow!

Then...time for sledding!!
Getting ready at the top of the hill...

Noah & Hailey

Jacob & Hailey

Doesn't this look like they're bobsledding?

Trying to steer...
What a blast!!

After playing in the snow for at least an hour, the snow started melting away. Yep, that's Oregon for you!! The kids decided to come in for some hot cocoa...sipped through a straw, of course!


Hunter, Jacob, & Noah
And, then two hours later, it started to snow again...huge, white flakes. Another two hours later? Melting. It was fun while it lasted.

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Speaking of memories...I've been doing a lot of thinking about where I want this blog to go. I realize that I can only get out of this blog what I put into it. So, how much time do I have to put into it? Not as much as I would hope to! But...after looking through some older posts from when the kids were younger, I am SO VERY THANKFUL for the memories I was able to document, so why would I give that up? For now, I'll keep doing what I can do and documenting the memories. It's not about the number of comments I get or the number of people who visit my site, but it's about sharing the memories and helping to inspire when I can.

hair stuff organized

My daughter has been blessed with long, beautiful hair...

{Christmas 2010}

Most times it is a blessing, I should say. With that long hair comes many days when there are lots of tears (from both of us!) in the battle of wills to decide who gets to brush her hair. Often times we're scrambling to go somewhere and I just want to grab something to keep her hair out of her face, so I dig through the hair ties, bows, ribbons, headbands, etc. to only leave a mess that looks like this on the bathroom counter...


Here is what it looks like in the drawer every day...just a jumbled up mess that started out as "somewhat organized". (The hair bands were supposed to be in the green container and the ribbons, bows, and headbands in the purple container. Yeah. That system obviously failed.)

{BEFORE}

I decided I just couldn't handle it anymore, so I found the perfect solution!

This is originally intended to be a craft organizer, but the possibilities are endless with little containers such as these. I bought them in a 2-pack from Michaels when they were 40% off. They fit the small hair things just perfectly.


I took the head bands, bows, and ribbons and put them in another basket on a shelf that was actually empty.

And, now look at this drawer!

{AFTER}

This "tackle" took me all of 10 minutes to complete...now why hadn't I done this sooner? I will never know. Go find a 10-minute tackle and whip a drawer into shape. You'll be thankful that you did!

sending love

A couple of years ago I decorated these little mailboxes that I had found at Target in their Dollar Spot. I decorated one for each of us in our family. Last year during February we were in the middle of a move with packing boxes and such, so I didn't even bother to pull out any Valentine's Day decor, so I skipped these altogether. This year when I went to unload the box of my Valentine's Day stash, I realized there wasn't much. I'm not kidding. It was sad. I'm going to have to keep my eye out for some after V-day clearance for sure! However, I did find these mailboxes tucked away and I figured that, if nothing else, I would at least use these this year!


Starting Monday, February 7th, I am going to put a little surprise inside each day all the way up to Valentine's Day. I explained to Mikayla that if she sees the "flag" up that means something is inside. She got so excited! She even said that she was going to make mommy and daddy something and put it in our mailboxes when we were sleeping. How sweet! Tonight before bed, she came down twice (which is unusual), and each time she had something random to tell me (an excuse to come downstairs, obviously), but I could see her eyes wandering over to the mailboxes to see if the flag was up. One time she just had to go check and I let her...nothing was in there yet. I can't wait to see her expression in the morning when she sees that little flag up!

I don't plan on doing anything that is too over the top each day, but just a little something fun to show my kids just how much I love them! It doesn't take them too much to be happy about a little surprise. For Day One, I made them each a card with three conversation hearts inside. The words on the inside say, "Mommy and Daddy love you very much!"


I figure, it's not all about how much pink and red I have splashed all over the house. It's just about the simple things in showing my family just how much they mean to me. I suppose Valentine's Day is a reminder that we shouldn't just do this "once a year", but all throughout the year. Although, having a set day to share our love sure gives us a good reminder to do something extra special!

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One other piece of decor that I love bringing out each February, is this little candy bucket I made back in 2009. Apparently I haven't crafted much for Valentine's Day in 2 years. However, paper crafting is a different story...check out some fun Valentine's Treats I've created and shared over on my Stuck on Stampin' blog.