Mother's Day

In honor of Mother's day, all listings in my Etsy shop are 20% off.
Please use coupon code MOMSDAY and happy gift giving :)

New digs

So 4 months have flown by in our new home and I would say that we are quite settled. It seemed as though we had more 'things' in our other home, as you will notice via the barren walls and lack of furnishings. I am a bit of a purger though and we escaped the move without hauling over tons of boxes of stored items. If there was a mental disease that was the opposite of hoarding, I most def have it. Or maybe its just called OCD. I don't know. Anyhow, here is a sneak peek at our new digs..... :)

current wreath adorned with tiny pom pom bunnies that

my mother made when I was a little girl.

littlest scavenger

the banana hanger is just for show

the table usually sprinkled with messes

Graham's room

Henry & Michael's room

Gabe's room

boy's bath

master Bedroom

the 'mysterious' master bedroom

master bath

boy's loft

laundry room(slash)studio

downy fabric softener happens to be one of my top3 favorite smells

the backyard- where we can be freeeeeeee :)

Packing up for the move

Studio space

Our new home is going to be fantastic for our family. Being a family of 6, it was difficult to find a home to suit our needs and STILL have a studio space. When it was just Henry and I (pre-husband , 2 step sons, and our new addition Graham) I had an AWESOME room in my house, solely for my creative splendor. Oh how I loved this room.

metal working station

I love tagua nuts and Ojime beads

When my husband and I married and he sold his home, this room became the bedroom of my oldest step son, Gabe. The walls are no longer bamboo green and it is now occupied with star wars lego and x box games. My studio downsized and was moved into the formal living area (which was a complete waste of space anyway) Who uses formal living rooms anymore? Anyway, this is what my studio looks like today. 

Graham aka 'Diggy' is not allowed in this room but snuck in during the photo shoot

The door is always 'jimmy rigged' with a silk ribbon

Its amazing that a silk ribbon is actually 'diggy proof'

He will push and squeal for a good 5 minutes before moving on to something else to 'dig' into :)

Sooooo......In our new home, I will have a very unique new studio space. It will be in the laundry room! I know, that sounds awful, considering that most laundry rooms are tiny. We lucked out with our floor plan and our new laundry will accommodate my studio bench!! Well, sort of. We have to ask our cabinet maker friend to saw 25 inches off the length of my bench. I'm a bit saddened by the loss but our brand new house makes up for it all. It is truly a blessing and I am very grateful!! 

We finally have a place for my unique mixture of a family to call 'home' :)

S'mores

There is literally a bazillion new recipes that I am dying to try because of Pinterest! Most of them involve chocolate or other sugary delights because I have a sweet tooth.... fo sho.
My Henry has been craving S'mores and we attempted to make them the other night. Sadly, the bag of marshmallows in the pantry were stale which made for not so tasty s'mores.
I found this great recipe for S'more bars and it is beyond easy! I opted for Hershey milk chocolate chips versus the semi sweet. The original recipe came from Macaroni and Cheesecake  and is as follows....

Ingredients: 
1 10 oz. bag mini marshmallows (Approx. 6 cups)
1 12 oz. package semi sweet chocolate chips
5 tbsp. butter (I used 2 1/2 tbsp. butter & 2 1/2 tbsp. smart balance to save even more calories)
8 cups Golden Graham cereal (one 12 oz. box)
1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Directions:
Place package of chocolate chips in the freezer to chill. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan, set aside.

Meanwhile, melt butter in a pot over medium heat. Once butter is melted, add in 5 cups of marshmallows and stir until almost completely melted. Stir in vanilla if desired. Remove from heat and transfer butter mixture to a large mixing bowl and add cereal, stirring to coat. Once cereal is coated, remove chocolate chips from freezer and add to cereal mixture. Also add in the remaining cup of marshmallows. Gently stir until evenly distributed.

Press cereal mixture into prepared baking pan. Cover and refrigerate until set. Turn out onto cutting board and cut into squares. Keep stored in an air tight container in the refrigerator.Makes approximately 20-24 bars depending on how big you cut them.

I have already gobbled up 2, ok, maybe 3, and Henry isn't even home from school yet. They are so delicious and I can't wait to share! 

Happy Thursday

Closing date is getting closer....

In a few short weeks we will be MOVING!!! YIPEE! Our boys are so very excited to spend Christmas in a brand new home! My husband and I completed our first walk through yesterday and we made a list of 'please fix'. My list was more like 'What the funyun!?! Why did someone do that!!' As you can see by this photograph, someone installed the interior foyer light off center. Seriously?

I am a firm believer that everyone should take pride in their work, whether its assembling a big mac, performing open heart surgery, or installing a light fixture.
Anyway... the builder has quite a list to remedy before our second walk through.....

Michael, Henry, and Gabe